EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

POTTSVILLEBEACH PUBLIC SCHOOL

Wednesday 6 May 2020 Term 2 Week 2

PRINCIPAL AND DEPUTY NEWS

How amazing is the Pottsville community! Congratulations on leading the way in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. I have always been proud to be part of public education and the community response and support has been simply outstanding. I’d like to acknowledge the incredible work of all the staff at Pottsville Beach Public School. We have had to learn and evolve into a new method of delivery of learning and I have been so impressed with the commitment, focus and determination to ensure all of the students who attend Pottsville are still able to learn even if it is remotely. There are challenges that are still before us and we will attack each one as they present moving forward. One of our biggest challenges will be when all children start returning to school one day per week commencing on Monday 11 May. We will be balancing supervision, planning, touching base with kids and families as well as providing feedback. With the numbers increasing coming back to school, we will continue to use class teachers to supervise the learning at school which will mean on some days, there may be a delay in providing feedback to all students and it may not be as immediate. We will try and balance as best we can to ensure teachers can communicate in some form every day. It’s been great to see the take up of ZOOM contacts. Each stage will advise you of what it will look like for them. We know that ideally you would want your child’s teacher to be the teacher with them when your child starts returning to school. We will do our best to ensure that your child’s teacher touches base and connects with the students coming to school on any given day. Some of our teachers and staff are working from home at the moment due to medical advice but they will return to working at school as soon as it is practicable to do so. To ensure we can try and cater for the needs of all student coming to school and learning remotely, we will try and place your child’s class teacher on as the supervising teacher. Every teacher is missing not having their class physically in front of them every day and we all can’t wait for school to return to some sort of ‘normal’. We’ll do our best and happy to receive feedback. If you know your child is concerned about coming back to school, please contact your child’s teacher to discuss further.If you haven’t yet completed the survey about how many days your child will be attending school from Monday 11 May, please do so at https://forms.gle/rqmmKWKExkMbSpLaAIt closes on Thursday 7 May. We are still open every day for families who need to send their children to school. We would still like you to complete the survey as that will help us determine the level of staffing required on any given day. Whilst we have been told we don’t have to enforce social distancing in schools, we will still be implementing measures to ensure the health and wellbeing of students and staff is important. A note was sent via Skoolbag and Facebook with detailed information. We are trying to use double classroom spaces where we can and as larger numbers of students return, we will have to use single classroom spaces as needed. We will still be limiting parents in school and if you do not need to be in our school, we ask that for now, you con-tinue communicating with us via phone and email. It is hoped that by still enforcing some of these measures, we will be able to see the return of students to school on a full time basis happen more rapidly. Thank you to the P&C for contributing towards the purchase of the book, skipping rope and handball for every child. It was so good seeing so many of you at our drive through last week and thanks for supporting the initiative. We managed to drop off items to families who couldn’t make it in. It was a big task but one we managed well! It was great for me as I’m still getting familiar with street names in Pottsville and it certainly helped with deliveries!Our community support and praise has been well received by all of our staff. We truly appreciate all of your kind words and know that it’s also been difficult for you. We’d like to acknowledge the hard work of all of our families supporting your children through this unprecedented time. What we take out of this is our community has become closer and stronger. It will shape our relationship with you moving forward and we can’t wait to have you able to come into school again. We were due to roll out the extended use of Sentral as a communication tool this term, however we have delayed that as we think everyone has enough going on at the moment. We will continue to keep you updated via Facebook and Skoolbag.

Brad Lyne Jenny FosterPrincipal Deputy Principal

Tweed Coast Road, POTTSVILLE NSW 2489 T 6676 1161 E pottsville-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au W pottsvi l le-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

POTTSVILLEBEACH

NEWSLETTERPUBLIC SCHOOL

EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

ES1 NEWS Seesaw - Thanks to everyone for all your fabulous posts on Seesaw! Kindergarten teachers love seeing all your fantastic learning. When uploading a video or photo, please ensure everyone is suitably dressed and sitting or standing in a position that is safe and appropriate. Please keep uploading photos and videos, they are amazing! Kindergarten teachers are working hard to ensure all Seesaw posts and questions are approved in a timely manner. Please understand that teachers are supervising students at school and this may mean that we may not get back to you or approve posts until later in the day. We aim to get back to you as soon as we can, but if you have a concern or question that is time sensitive, please contact the school office.Remote learning packs and timetables - All our Kindergarten remote learning packs were posted out to families during the holidays. If you still haven’t received your pack, please contact the school office. In your pack, we have provided our students with a variety of learning booklets. These booklets will be referred to in our remote learning timetable for students to complete certain pages. We hope you child is enjoying the book Animalia by Graeme Base. We will refer to this book in our timetable, but you can read it at your own leisure or read the page that matches with our letter for the day! When your child returns to school, they need to bring their scrap books, school device (if you have borrowed one) and if you would like, their own headphones. Our Week 3 and 4 remote learning timetables will be available on Seesaw. We will upload these the week before on the Friday afternoon. PM - We hope you have been able to log onto your PM eCollection and read some of your books. This term the teachers will set a book to read on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This book is available to read for a week. You will find the set books at the top of your bookshelf in a yellow box. Currently, the PM eCollection app is undergoing site maintenance and this is affecting access to assigned books and most books will not be available until after 10.00am. This could be an ongoing issue but we will keep you updated as best we can. If you’re having trouble accessing the PM app, please feel free to try again at another time during the day. Starting Week 3, Kindergarten will timetable reading in the middle session. Students are encouraged to read once a day, recording it in their book in their home reading log. Once a home reading log is completed, send a photo on Seesaw to you class teacher and a home reading award will be ready for your child when they return to school.Eleanor Collier - Relieving Assistant PrincipalSTAGE 1 NEWS Stage 1 Remote Learning - I would like to congratulate ALL Stage 1 learners and parents for the way they have taken to using Seesaw for remote learning. It has been a learning curve for all of us but we have risen to the challenge and have a lot to be proud of indeed. Teachers will be archiving activities every 48 hours. We encourage you to do as much as you can get done but do not stress if you do not get it all completed.Week 3 and 4 timetable and Seesaw activities will more closely reflect the recommended three hours for Stage 1 student learning and also looks a little more simplified. We will have a weekly overview for Spelling, Reading, Mathematics, PE and our Integrated unit ALL A-BUZZ (Science & Literacy unit on BEES). For example:

This format will allow for more differentiation for our students who will be accessing tasks assigned for them by their class teacher on Reading Eggs, PM ecollection, Year 1 and 2 Soundwaves, Year 1 - Mathseeds and Year 2 - Mathletics.These overviews will be attached to Seesaw with links to go directly to sites. A more detailed letter will go out on Friday with parent information. We appreciate the ongoing feedback and comments that our families have given us as this is the way we can ensure we make this process more user friendly and get through this together.Premiers Sporting Challenge - Please complete your form each week.If parents have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact us via telephone, email or Seesaw message.Kathy Frost - Assistant Principal STAGE 2 NEWSSome classes in Stage 2 have begun using Zoom. It has been wonderful to be able to see and speak with students but we do respectfully ask that parents not participate in these whole class or small group meetings. If you have a question regarding learning from home or school work, please encourage your child to ask these questions during the meeting, otherwise please contact your child’s teacher. If your child is coming to school please send the work packs and their devices with them each day, especially if it is a school borrowed device. If your personal device cannot go to school we have some laptops available for students to use. Every Stage 2 student has received a copy of Charlotte’s Web. We encourage students to read this book for pleasure and it is not mandatory to read now but they can if they want. Zoom you later! Rod Ryan - Assistant Principal STAGE 3 NEWSThe Stage 3 teachers would like to thank parents/carers and students for the commitment and persistence they have shown to online learning. This term we have enhanced communication by holding Zoom meetings with class groups. The purpose of these meetings is to allow students to connect and share and for teachers to give important messages and to answer questions about learning. The students have impressed us with their ability to navigate this technology. Thank you parents and carers for your assistance.This week we will be resuming the star award system to acknowledge the efforts made by students. Your teachers will let you know if you have received a star award and have it ready for you to collect when we go back to our usual method of learning.You all would have received your learning packs by now. We have moved to a blend of booklets and online learning based on feedback we received from the survey data. If you return to school at any time, even just for one day a week, you must return with this pack as you will need it for your lessons at school. A huge thank you to all the teachers and to Lauren, Max, Heath and Oliver, who assisted with the delivery of these packs. What an awesome effort! We hope you are all well and look forward to seeing more students at school as the restrictions are lifted. Leonie Richards - Assistant Principal

POTTSVILLEBEACH

NEWSLETTERPUBLIC SCHOOL

EXCELLENCE INNOVATION SUCCESS COMMUNITY

OFFICE NEWS Kindergarten Transition Program (KTP) - Is currently being organised. Times and dates will be advertised shortly. In the first instance if you have a child, neigbour, relative or friend that you are aware is attending Kindergarten in 2021 please ring the office or go to our school’s facebook page and complete registration details via this link https://forms.gle/hFXLzGpvKACrh7B78Emergency Contacts Update - If you have a change of address, mobile number or work number or wish to change your emergency contacts. Please remember to notify the office.Sue Matheson - School Administrative ManagerNDIS INFORMATIONThe NDIS from our local area, are providing further information for those that require it in how to better understand the processes involved with the NDIS. A virtual NDIS connection desk will be available over the next three Wednesdays beginning Wednesday 13 May. A NDIS representative will be available online via zoom or via phone so families can have all their NDIS and early intervention questions answered. The representative can advise families on how to access NDIS, how to use their plans etc. Please find a copy of the flyer below providing information for your assistance.Jenny Foster - Deputy PrincipalUNIFORM SHOP NEWS The uniform shop will reopen on Tuesday 12 May. Hours of operation will be 8.45am-9.45am. It will then operate every Tuesday thereafter. Orders will only be taken via FlexiSchools. Back orders should be able to be filled next week. All orders when completed will be sent to the front office for collection. Only our uniform shop coordinator Sue, is able to be in the uniform shop on Tuesday. Thanks for your patience and understanding. P&C SCHOOL-LINK NEWSLETTER (NSW Health) Please find the Term 2 School-Link Newsletter on our school website. This edition is an easy guide to the large number of resources out there to support young people during these challenging times. We have also included a number of great activities for younger children and families. For those of you who are keen to read something different, there are a couple of book recommendations included too.

NDIS & ECEI Virtual Connection Desk

at Pottsville Beach Primary School Our local NDIS & ECEI representatives are available for

virtual meetings via Zoom or phone calls.

Make an appointment via our school office to talk with representatives from NDIS & ECEI, and find out about the

range of services available.

Appointments available 10.00 - 11.00am | 11.30-12.30pm | 1.00 - 2.00pm

Wed 13 May | Wed 20 May | Wed 27 May

Wed 4th March | Wed 18th March

Wed 1st April

For further information please call (02) 6568 1800

Kindergarten Enrolments

Please ring office on 6676 1161 to register your

child for Kindergarten 2021.

Singing and Piano/Keyboard Lessons All ages and levels welcome from beginner to advanced Individual and group lessons available Creative Kids vouchers accepted www.tarawilliamsmusic.net.au email tara@tarawilliamsmusic.net.au or contact Tara on 0414 479 103