THE BULLETIN Kentlyn Public School

Ph: 4628 2455 - Fax: 4628 4365 www.kentlyn-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 3 Week 4 Always Our Best

**** All notes sent home and newsletters are now available on our website and SkoolBag ****

UPCOMING DATES

Friday 16 August – GALA Day Monday 19 August – P&C meeting 6:00pm Friday 23 August – K-6 Assembly – Leaders Monday 26 August – Premier’s Reading Challenge closes this week Tuesday 27 & Wednesday 28 August – 2/3C and 4K Camp

Thursday 29 August – KD – Calmsley Hill Farm Wednesday 4 September – Zone Field Events Thursday 5 September – Zone Track Events Tuesday 10 September - Premier’s Spelling Bee Regional Finals

Dear Parents / Carers,

In week 3 we celebrated Education Week, which this year had the theme of Every Student, Every Voice. Education Week is a celebration of student empowerment and how the NSW public education

system gives students the skills they need in order to have and express a voice during their own educational journey and as engaged global citizens. Education Week was celebrated at Kentlyn with a number of activities and events, where students could demonstrate their skills, interests and achievements to the school and the wider community. Thank you to all the staff, students, parents and parent volunteers for an amazing week.

Premier’s Spelling Bee Finalists

Congratulations to Antoni, Yasmin, Indianna and Cruz. They will be representing our school at the Regional Finals on Tuesday 10 September 2019.

Elite Dance Group A very big thank you to Mrs Bretnall and the Elite Dancers for their fantastic performance.

Students from Kentlyn and Ruse Public Schools combined their amazing talents to dance a routine they previously performed at the ‘In the Spotlight Dance Festival ‘ held at the Seymour Centre earlier this year.

As a special surprise, all the students from Kentlyn joined the Elite Dance Group for an impromptu performance of a dance routine that formed part of the school’s Dance program in Term 2.

Open Day Assembly We were pleased to welcome Mr Glen Patterson, Director of Education Leadership, to our Education Week assembly, to speak on this year’s theme of Every Student, Every Voice. Classes showcased their learning in a range of informative and engaging presentations, demonstrating Kentlyn’s core values of education. Students from each class were awarded certificates to celebrate their consistent positive attitudes to learning.

Open Day After our Education Week assembly, parents and carers were invited into their children’s classrooms to share in learning activities, before a picnic lunch including a sausage sizzle prepared by our staff. A big thank you goes to Mr. Bird for cooking all the sausages to feed some very hungry children.

Book Parade Students and teachers came dressed as their favourite book character, with many elaborate and interesting costumes on display. Classes showcased their outfits to the school and parents with a parade accompanied by music in the school grounds. There were even a number of siblings that came dressed up as well!

Athletics Carnival

The 2019 Athletics Carnival was held last Friday. I know the weather was not the best that we’d ever had, however, the day was a total success with friendly team spirit pervading all activities. Thank you to our students who tried so hard to achieve their personal best and enjoy the day. I was very impressed by all our students’ behaviour, manners and friendly encouragement. There were some very strong performances by our runners who have progressed to zone level. Thank you to Mr Connors for his outstanding organisation of the day. Thank you also to all staff for your help and support and for helping to make our athletics carnival such a great day. Thank you also to the parents who assisted, cheered and supported the students.

Ribbons for both the field and track events will be handed out in our K-6 Assembly in Week 5.

Congratulations to all students that will be representing our great school in the Zone regionals that will be held on Wednesday 4 September and Thursday 5 September 2019.

K-2 Athletics Activities Students from Kindergarten to Year 2 enjoyed a range of sporting games and activities organised by Mrs. Davenport and Mr. Elvis after their running events. We were very lucky to have a group of hardy parent volunteers to assist the children and make these activities an enjoyable success.

Kindergarten 2020 Enrolment It is that time of year again when we are accepting Kindergarten 2020 enrolments. I highly encourage you to enrol your child this term as our Kindergarten Transition program starts in Term 4. The transition program is integral in your child having a successful start to schooling. If you know someone in the area that is looking to enrol their child please encourage them to do this prior to 23 August 2019. Please note that as of Term 4 the Department of Education is bringing in a new enrolment policy that changes the guidelines of accepting students who are out of our local catchment area. If you are unsure of what school is local to you please go to https://education.nsw.gov.au/school-finder Swim Scheme Next week is the last week to enrol your child in the Years 2 – 6 Swim Scheme program. The School Swimming Scheme is an intensive learn to swim

program, which develops water confidence and provides students with basic skills in water safety and survival. The scheme is conducted over ten days. Each daily lesson is 45 minutes.

Instruction this year will take place each day for two weeks. If you did not receive a note please either see your child’s class teacher or the lovely ladies in the office. We will be extending the due date for the notes and money to be returned until Friday 23 August 2019.

Thank you to Mrs Meek for the absolutely fantastic Dinosaur display in our library and for organising

our book fair. Sales totalled $2048. Seesaw App For the last few years we have introduced a number of electronic social media and learning systems in order to increase our engagement with families and the community and we are proud to say that these programs have been successful beyond what we expected. In particular, Seesaw has been our most successful family engagement platform. Seesaw allows teachers to digitally post student work. This can be accessed by family members (of that student) on the Seesaw mobile phone App. Family members can directly comment and like each post and engage with their child through Seesaw. Seesaw is also a useful communication tool allowing families, students and teachers to communicate by messaging each other through the Seesaw App. It’s important to remember however, the tool is designed to share and celebrate learning. Any urgent communication messages for teachers still need to be face to face or through the front office. Families are loving Seesaw and taking an active part in their child’s learning. The sense of community and connection Seesaw has allowed us to achieve is amazing and students are enjoying sharing their learning with families in a safe digital space. If you haven’t connected to your child’s Seesaw profile yet please talk with your class teacher and they will help you get connected. Seesaw is a free mobile phone app and is very easy to use.

Skoolbag App This app is another platform that Kentlyn Public School uses to inform parents of all our school events, notes and any important updates or information. Skoolbag is also a free mobile phone app that is very easy to download and use.

Premier's Reading Challenge There are only a few weeks to go in the Premier’s Reading Challenge, as it finishes on Friday 30 August 2019. All students wishing to complete the challenge for this year and be eligible for their certificate need to have their reading records finalised by this date. Please follow the link below if you need to update your student reading record. https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.htm Twilight Fair

We would like to thank the following companies and community members for their contribution so far:

● Scholastic Education ● Captain Cook Cruises ● Ingleburn RSL ● West Tigers ● Office Max ● Vital Office Supplies ● Bunnings Warehouse Campbelltown ● McDonalds Woodbine ● Mrs Hagedoorn ● The Hayter family ● Vital Peripheral Supplies ● Dumaresq Street Cinemas ● Event Cinemas ● Modern Teaching Aids ● RHS Sports ● Cleverpatch ● Engadine Music ● Commonwealth Bank ● Macarthur Tavern ● Wests Ashfield ● Ms Rebecca McCabe ● Mrs Tamahra Gray ● GWS Giants ● Mrs Heather Campbell And once again, an extra big thank you to Ava Aarts Family Company, ‘Majestic Commercial’,

for their very generous donation of $1000. All donations will go a long way in assisting our school to raise much need funds.

Twilight Fair Raffle

As part of our Twilight Fair fundraising, each family will have received a raffle book with 20 tickets, with a major prize of a five night holiday at

the Sea World Resort and Water Park on offer. This holiday package is valued at $3,300. We have a total of 300 booklets to sell. Ruse Public School will be selling 700 booklets. If both schools are able to sell all of our booklets, we will raise more than $35000 on the raffle alone! Each ticket costs only $2.00 and extra raffle ticket books are available from our school office.

Reminder: Recycling at Kentlyn PS Just a reminder that we are inviting parents/grandparents and friends to support our school by dropping off any recyclable cans, bottles or containers that can be redeemed for 10 cents. Please place any recyclables in the bins located outside of the sports shed. The SRC will be redeeming the recyclable materials at a local collection depot to raise money to support school initiatives. Please read the following guidelines to help us collect recyclables that will earn a refund:

Most drinks containers between 150ml and three litres attract a refund. They need to be in good condition (not broken or crushed), be empty and have the label attached. The containers can be made of

● Plastic; ● Glass; ● Aluminium; ● Steel; ● Or liquid paperboard (cartons).

For more information visit https://returnandearn.org.au/how-it-works/containers/

P&C News

Canteen Volunteers We are still in need of parents/helpers to volunteer a few hours to help out in our school canteen. If you think you may be able to spare some time, please contact the office ASAP. P & C Meeting Please note that the next meeting of the P&C will be on Mon 19 August at 6pm.

Purchasing School Uniforms Remember that if you need to purchase any aspect of our school uniform please come and see the lovely ladies in the office and they will assist you with your request.