Term 1 Week 10 March 29, 2017

WHALER NO 5

Website: www.mosman-p.schools.nsw.edu.au Phone: 9969 9325

Email: mosman-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Fax: 9968 1324

Dates to Remember

Follow this link to the yearly calendar: www.mosman-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/calendar

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

This is the final Whaler for this term and I take the opportunity to thank all my staff [teaching & administration] for their tireless work in catering to the needs of your children. We all deserve a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday. Term 2 commences for all students on Wednesday April 26 at 9am with a whole school assembly on the Gouldsbury playground. At that assembly, students will meet our newest permanent member of staff – Miss Kate Leary who will take over the teaching of music. Mrs Caroline Cady will finish her temporary teaching contract with us next Friday, marking the end of 9 terms of hard work supporting not only every student’s musical learning, but also the entire Instrumental Program. Mrs Amanda Munro leaves us for a seachange with her family. Mrs Munro has been a teacher here at Mosman Public School since January 2004 and will be missed by students and staff alike. Ms Janneke Thurlow will replace Mrs Munro. Mrs Dreverman also returns to us at the beginning of Term 2 following her secondment to the Department. Thanks to Ms Thurlow for getting 2D off to an amazing start in Term 1. The last fortnight has been very busy across the entire school and great thanks go to:

Michelle Brown [aka Disco Queen], her team of parents and teachers who organised 3 thoroughly enjoyable discos;

Ms Haverkamp and her team of teachers who organised a respectful and enjoyable Harmony Day celebration [see article later in this Whaler];

Mr Lu and parent helpers for the Zone and Regional Swimming carnivals [see article later in this Whaler];

Cherelle Martin, her team of parent helpers and Mrs Cady for running a hugely successful and educational band camp last weekend;

The Community Engagement Group [CEG] who meet twice per term to discuss issues that arise in the school community. We’re looking for 2 new members, so if you’re interested, please email the school; and

The Senior School Team of teachers and Year 6 students for running today’s Year 6 Fair [photos following].

The Senior School Canberra overnight excursion is on next Wednesday to Friday and wishes for good weather and restful nights go to all ‘campers’ and a great big thanks to Mrs Tauber, Ms Burnet, Ms Higman, Ms Hudson, Mr van Biljon and Mr Lu for accompanying our Senior School students on this worthwhile excursion to the Nation’s Capital. Whaler distribution - following the analysis of responses to last year’s parent survey, combined with discussions with community members in the playground, and in an effort to streamline communication, the Community Engagement Group has proposed to trial a revamp of the Whaler next term, which will see it sent home in week 2 and week 6, with an End of Term Bulletin sent home on the last Wednesday of each term. The End of Term Bulletin will also include information about school holiday activities.

Steve Connelly – Principal

K-2 Easter Hat Parade - Thursday April 6 The Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 Easter Hat Parade will take place on Thursday April 6. The parade will begin at 9.30am and will take place in Belmont playground. Parents, grandparents and friends are welcome to attend. Check in your child’s bag for a reminder note to put on the fridge. Family and Group Photographs – May 8 2017 Performing arts groups, PSSA groups, Year 6 group and family photos [only for siblings attending Mosman PS] for all years will be taken on Monday May 8. Full summer school uniform will be required. The groups who will be photographed are:

Yrs 1 & 2 Dance Drama

Yrs 3 & 4 Dance Yrs 1 & 2 Choir

Yrs 5 & 6 Dance Yrs 3 & 4 Choir

SRC Yrs 5 & 6 Choir

Debating Debating

All band ensembles All string ensembles

All PSSA teams Year 6 group Ordering and online payments for all group photos will be taken after June 1. If you would like to view the group photos prior to ordering, they will be on display at the school office and online. To order group photos go to www.theschoolphotographer.com.au and select the ‘Click here for online payments’ button. Nadia Tobia - Deputy Principal

ANZAC Day – Friday April 7 at 11:45am

** Everyone please bring a flower to decorate our Mosman ANZAC sign ** We will be commemorating ANZAC Day on the last day of the school term, Friday April 7 at 11:45am in the Gouldsbury playground. As part of the service we will be joining the junior choir in singing The Last ANZAC and participating in a wreath laying ceremony. Students are asked to bring a flower to school on Friday April 7 to lay on the wooden ANZAC sign [see picture below] located under flagpole in the Gouldsbury playground. From these flowers, we will create our very own wreathe to lay at the Mosman Cenotaph.

Clubs – Term 2 sign up We have commenced sign up for our Term 2 clubs. Some of the clubs on offer this term are Yoga, Design and Make, Film Making and Board Games. Clubs in Term 1 were a huge success and we are looking forward to offering more students the

opportunity to participate in a club next term. Please read the SRC report about clubs which appears later in this Whaler. Remember, if your child misses out on joining a club in Term 2 there will be further opportunities in Terms 3 and 4. SLIPS (Student Leadership in Primary Schools) This year we commenced a new leadership initiative for our Year 5 students – SLIPS. The program enables all students in Year 5 to engage in targeted leadership lessons, complete a leadership log and journal and to participate in reflective tasks linked to effective role models and the development of life-long leadership skills. SLIPS is a full year teaching and learning program designed to assist us in determining our 2018 student leadership team. Kerry McConaghy – Deputy Principal

STUDENT HAPPENINGS

Zone and Regional Swimming Carnival Report

For some of our students, it’s been a very busy few weeks of swimming! On Friday, March 10, we had 32 students representing

Mosman PS at the zone swimming carnival held at Lane Cove Swimming pool. This was a

wonderful opportunity for these swimmers to compete against the best swimmers in our

zone of 15 schools. Thank you to Ms Haverkamp and Ms Murphy for accompanying the

children and to our wonderful parent volunteers, Slava Bryan, Tammy Hewlett and Nicole

Nowland for managing the Mosman PS team.

Junior Relay team – not only did they come second at zone, they also managed to swim

their way into the finals at regionals!! Well done girls!

5 students went on to compete at the Regional Swimming Carnival held on Monday,

March 20 at Homebush, having qualified for this at the Zone Carnival. Congratulations to

Leo, Bridget, Ava, Aaliya and Joely for this fantastic achievement.

Hao Lu – Sport Co-ordinator

From the SRC The Mosman Clubs began in week 4 and are running smoothly. The SRC surveyed some students in the 9 clubs and the feedback they received was tremendous. Many of the clubs were rated 10 out of 10. Students liked that they had to use their brain in the Creative Thinking Club and got to talk about the books they were reading in Book Club. The year 5/6 Drawing and Painting Club was described as calm and they loved the freedom to draw what they wanted. The Lego Club is a big hit with the year 1 and 2s who love to build Lego cities. After a big day of school the Yoga and Meditation Club is a winner with the year 3 and 4s, they have really enjoyed participating in posing and breathing exercises. The SRC would like to say a big thank you to the teachers for running such fantastic clubs.

Year 1 and 2 Craft

Club

Year 3 and 4 Craft Club

Year 1 and 2 Lego Club

Stage 3 Debating Workshop 2017 On Wednesday, March 15, the two MPS Senior School debating teams went to Collaroy Plateau Public School for a debating workshop. The school was a lot bigger than ours; they had 2 basketball fields, a huge hall and a great canteen.

The workshop was mainly about training for debating. There were multiple groups with different tutors. Mosman Public was in group one and our tutor had an orange beard and was a chef before he became a debater. We got to learn about how to debate and how to become better. One of the things we got to do was use random words to create a new product. Ours was a table phone which is a table that you can put your phone in and then use the whole table as your phone. We got the most votes for our product and won the challenge.

Overall, it was a great day and we all did a lot of talking. If I could do it again, I would! Sholto – Year 5

On Wednesday, week 8 we were invited to a debating workshop. It was so much fun. Our debating teacher was called Luke. Our group included students from Mosman, Killarney Heights, Collaroy Plateau and Cromer Public School. Our group was the smallest by far. I learnt all about rebuttal (which is saying that the other team is wrong and trying to prove that you are right, which is usually done by the third speaker), what each speaker says and so many more things. In one of the games, we had to give Luke lots of nouns and he gave us a random pair of words. Our one was ‘Table, Phone’. We had to think about what it was and then we had to do a 5 minute prepared speech. In that speech, we had to try and persuade the people to buy it and why it was better than all of the other gadgets. Everyone had a vote, and they chose us as the winner! I now know a lot more about debating and I love it. That was a day I’ll never forget. Lucy – Year 5

Harmony Day Harmony Day was celebrated last Wednesday at MPS. It was a wonderful day of cultural respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. It was lovely to see all the students had made an effort to dress up for the occasion in their cultural clothes or in orange. Thank you to the canteen ladies for organising the Harmony Day treats, the finger buns were a huge success. All the students from K-6 decorated a hand template to promote our cultural diversity and these can be seen in the library.

P&C NEWS

Mother’s Day Fundraiser Thursday May 11 2017 Our annual Mother's Day Fundraiser Stall will be held on Thursday May 11. Children are given the opportunity to purchase something special for their Mum, Grandmother and/or carer. Gifts cost $10 each, there is a great selection available and gift wrapping is included. Your child may purchase more than one gift. Gifts must be pre-paid, otherwise the children will be unable to attend the stall. This ensures we have no money handling on the day of the stall and that we have plenty of gifts for all the children to choose from.

Please look out for the Mother’s Day Note in your child’s schoolbag next Wednesday and help support our school. We look forward to seeing your children at this very special event.

If you can complete the form and return it to your child’s class teacher, regardless of whether or not your child is participating, this would help the P&C enormously. This way we don’t miss anyone who wishes to be involved, and we don’t keep asking if you wish to opt out! Mosman Public School P & C