The newsletter for our school community

Passfield Park School

53 Guernsey Avenue Phone: 9820 1700 Minto NSW 2566

Passfield-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.passfield-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

Diary Dates………

Parent Information Tuesday, 27th August Session Friday, 27th September Last day of Term 3 Monday, 14th October First Day of Term 4 Saturday,12th October Shopping Trip Saturday, 26th October Trivia Night Friday, 29th November School Formal

Dear Parents and Carers

Information Session A number of senior Department of Education staff will be visiting our school next Tuesday, August 27, 2019 from 1:30-2:30pm to talk with parents and discuss the current site status. Please come along to hear what they have to say and to ask any questions or advise them of any concerns you may have.

Mould Issue Please have a look at the Passfield Park School website to see specialist reports for readings of mould within the classrooms. There is a full set of reports commencing in July 2017. When monthly air testing occurs, current reports will be uploaded as soon as they become available. If you require further information, please call the office on 9820 1700. www.passfield-s.schools.nsw.gov.au

Education Week The theme of our Education Week this year was ‘Celebrating Passfield Park School’. Parents enjoyed watching their children participate in class music programs. Students loved showing their parents their musical instrument talents

August 23, 2019

Valuing and respecting student and staff learning in a safe 21st century learning environment

Our charity, Passfield Park Kids Inc. was set up in 2013 to support the therapy needs of our students. The committee meet once each term. If you would like to find out more or be a part of this wonderful charity, please call Cheryl (in the office).

From the principal……

and singing for them. The music program is run by Daniel from The Rhythm Village and is a weekly program enjoyed by all students and staff.

NAIDOC Celebration Indigenous students attended a Community of Schools NAIDOC event at Sarah Redfern HS. The theme of this year’s celebration was Voice, Treaty, Truth. The day started with an assembly and was followed by lunch and activities. At Passfield Park School, we held an assembly with each class showing art, craft and literacy projects. Sarah Redfern HS Aboriginal Education officer, Katrina, read an Aboriginal story to the group.

Fathers’ Day Stall We will be holding a Fathers’ Day stall between Wednesday, August 21 and Friday, August 31, 2019. Students may bring $2 or $5 and choose a gift for Dad or a loved one. If you require further information, please contact the office on 9820 1700.

High School Camp High school students have spent a wonderful three days at Wedderburn Christian Campsite with students from Mary Brooksbank and Beverley Park Schools. They enjoyed a range of high adrenalin, educational and creative experiences which I am sure you will hear about after they have had a good sleep. Thankyou to all staff who attended or volunteered. Amazing effort. Kind regards, Wendy Low

CLASS NEWS

Green Class Blue Class

Blue Class has had a fantastic start to Term 3. This term we have been working on lots of new units of work including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Healthy Eating and Chemical Reactions. All students in Blue Class have been enjoying exploring their class text. This included making and eating cabbage soup. One of the highlights for the students in Blue Class is our weekly music session. This term we have been looking at African music. Everyone enjoys experiencing the music and instruments of Africa. We also enjoy cooking with our neighbours in Green Class. This term we are learning to make individual pizzas. Congratulations on a fantastic term so far Blue Class students. Holly and Rami

Green Class has had an excellent start to Term 3. We were lucky enough to welcome Emily to our class. Emily has done well on the transition and feels like she has always been with us. We have been able to experience many different things this term including Community Access Groups. Staff and students in High School split into groups to practice different tasks to support the development of skills which will be helpful in the community. Students have enjoyed going to various parts of the school and working with different staff each Wednesday. Green Class students really enjoyed Passfield Park School NAIDOC celebrations and were able to showcase, the work we completed as part of these celebrations. Apart from these activities, Green Class has also been exploring Australian landforms, healthy and unhealthy foods (and trying some of these foods during our cooking lessons with Blue Class) and working towards identifying what are their favourite parts of the school day. Here are some examples of what we have been up to. Alana and Nicole

CLASS NEWS

Purple Class

We have had a fantastic start to Term 3. Community access began in Week 3 and we have been developing independent living skills. This term, we are learning about African music in our weekly lessons with friends from Rhythm Village. In history we are learning about how our local area and daily life has changed over time. We had a great time celebrating Education Week and NAIDOC Day! Our high school students had a great time at camp this week and can’t wait to tell you about their experiences. Cameron and Julie

Orange Class

Welcome to Purple Class. This term, we have welcomed Sarah as teacher and Daniel to our class. Sadly Kaley has moved, but we wish her all the best at her new school. To celebrate Kaley’s time at Passfield Park School, Purple Class went to Minto McDonalds where we had loads of fun. Thank you Mrs Smith for organising this celebra-tion. This semester, Purple Class is studying Australia for History, Geography and Science. We are focusing on drought and bush fires for Science, features of a place for Geography and gold rush for History. We are excited to learn about these topics. Sarah and Kris B

Pink Class

Pink Class has been busy enjoying activities involved with NAIDOC week. We have also been learning about Australian animals, reading stories like Wombat Stew and How Echidna Got It’s Spikes. This week we made these fantastic echidnas. Well done students !

Marlene, Mandy & Jeanette

White Class

CLASS NEWS

Wow what a busy and exciting term we have had so far. Community access began in Week 3; so far we have been to Koshigaya Park Campbelltown and Winifred Pest Park Mittagong. We are practicing using Opal cards to tap on and off at different stations. Our history unit for this term is Community Through Time; looking at how places change over time. We are taking photos and researching to discover what the places we visit on community access looked like in the past and what we think they will look like in the future. We are looking forward to getting our ceramic fish back after they have been fired in the kiln. On Fridays, some of our classmates attend TAFE. They are learning a variety of hospitality skills including making hot chocolates and lattes. We had a great time celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture during NAIDOC Assembly. We are very excited about camp and can’t wait to tell you all about it! Karen and Rob

Yellow Class has made a great start to Term 3. We continue to tend the vegetable garden and learn how a green house nurtures and protects young plants. Students love the repetitive wording during read-aloud of our focus book Hattie and the Fox. They practise saying the lines and acting out the part of their favourite animal characters in the story. We are also creating hand puppets to add to the drama. For communication skills, students almost independently complete Today in Yellow Class sheet every afternoon for families to know how the day went. Could we please ask parents and carers to make time to complete the Weekend News sheet with their child. Thanks to those who are already doing so. Students share their news with peers on Monday mornings and then write the weekend activities in their journals During music sessions in Education Week, students explored African songs, dance, beats and rhythms. They loved playing on the balafon, a popular African musical instrument and dancing to the drum beat, all draped in colourful costumes. Thanks to parents who attended the Open Day and supported and encouraged their children with their presence.

Sukhraj and Sharon

Yellow Class

Check out our school website www.passfield-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

Silver Class

CLASS NEWS

Silver Class has had a fantastic Term 3 so far. Each student continues to make major gains with their confidence and use of personalised communication systems. Our daily targeted communication sessions now have an increasing focus on reading and writing skills as students understand and are comfortable using the communication systems. Well Done ! Silver Class thoroughly enjoyed immersing ourselves in Aboriginal Culture for NAIDOC Week. We experienced Aboriginal music, even creating some of our own! We also made a variety of artworks within the theme and read some traditional and contemporary Aboriginal stories. Amanda, Lucinda and Di B

Teal Class has been working hard this term. We started a unit of work titled Safety. We are learning about crossing the road safely, playing safely in the playground, the importance of wearing seatbelts, using walking feet inside and being safe around minibeasts especially bees. We put our road crossing safety skills in practice every Wednesday on our way to Minto Mall.

Wednesday community access outcomes are: to sit and wait for food to be ready, buying food and crossing roads safely. Students always look forward to walking to Minto Mall everyday. A big welcome to Kris Weekes, Ayush Pandey and Brodie Ellul to Teal Class.

Tapiwa, Kris W and Michele

Teal Class