From the Principal …

Welcome to Week 5. It is scary to think we are approaching the midway point of Term 1. It has already been a busy but very positive and productive start to the school year.

Community BBQ – What a huge success our BBQ was last Wednesday evening. We pride ourselves on the positive relationships we build with across the entire school community. This event surpassed even my own expectations. It was fantastic to see so many of our community members come along to support our event. The feedback from staff, parents and students has been overwhelmingly positive. It was fantastic to see parents and teachers meeting each other and discussing the start of the school year, as well as some of our new families interacting and making new connections as part of the Governor community. A huge thank you to the staff for giving their time and assistance in setting up, serving and being available for the evening. Thanks to Mr Samuel and Mr Hoyle for cooking 1000 sausages on the BBQ’s. A very special thank you to Mr Gee for setting up the pavilion and packing everything away on Thursday morning. The level of community support ensured our event was an outstanding success; an initiative which we will now include on the annual calendar.

New Infants Seating – Yesterday we installed some new seating in the K-2 area for students and classes to use throughout the day. We are hoping this will provide a nice quiet area for students to sit and enjoy lunch and recess breaks with their friends.

P&C Fund- Raising – On Monday we held the first P&C meeting for 2019. We decided that the focus for all P&C fund raising efforts this year will focus on the installation of shade sails in the K-2 area over one of the new artificial grassed areas. We are hoping our community will get behind all of the events the P&C plan and implement throughout the year.

Cyber Safety Talks – Last Thursday, Constable Green presented a cyber safety talk to Stage 3 parents. As a parent myself, it was extremely informative and a little confronting to realise how exposed and vulnerable our children can be when interacting on-line. We are holding another session for parents on Thursday 7 March at 9.15am. I would encourage any parent who is available to attend. It is vital as a parent to be aware and knowledgeable about the interactions that take place when our children are on social media. All parents and caregivers are welcome to attend.

SkoolBag Calendar – Mr Hamilton has added upcoming school events to our SkoolBag app. This provides all community members with access to school events and activities. Parents are encouraged to use this feature as well as watch for reminder alerts (as well as the information in our newsletter and via notes that are sent home). To access the calendar in SkoolBag simply click on the events icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the calendar appears any date with a white dot on it indicates a school event. Tap on the day and the event is displayed. We anticipate this will provide on-going updates for parents about the events across our school.

Week 5 Term 1 26 February 2019

Second Hand Uniforms – if you have any second hand uniforms at home that could be donated to our school it would be greatly appreciated. Any uniform items can be handed in at the front office. We then pass these items on to the P&C for the second hand uniform stall.

Have a great week!

Jason Corcoran Principal Pinafore Orders - All orders must be prepaid and students must try on samples for sizing. There are no refunds or exchanges. Prices are as follows:

Sizes 4-6 - $44 Sizes 8-10 - $49 Size 12 - $52 Sizes 14-16/Special orders - $53.

Summer PSSA Sport – Results Round 2

Team Results Player of the Match W/L/D Score Junior Cricket W 90-71 Dishant Lal Senior Cricket W 78-13 Thang Huynh, Munib Smajic Junior Girls AFL BYE Senior Girls AFL BYE Junior Boys T-Ball W 17-13 Andy Nguyen Junior Girls T-Ball L 11-13 Alannah Osman Senior Boys Softball W 7-0 Xavier Williams Senior Girls Softball W 7-5 Valentina Acevedo Senior Boys Touch L 1-3 Anthony Truong Senior Girls Touch D 2-2 Bree Brunetta

This week Cricket, Softball and T-Ball will play at Allambie Road Reserve (across from the school), AFL and Touch will play at Endeavour Sports Reserve, Maud Street Fairfield West. Values Education - The value for Weeks 5 and 6 is Self-Esteem or Self-Acceptance. Self-Esteem is feeling confident and good about ourselves and Self-Acceptance is being able to recognize who we are and accepting ourselves whilst continuing to strive to attain our personal best. It is an acceptance of all aspects of ourselves “warts and all’. The effect of students having positive self-esteem on others is that they can be inspired. Self-acceptance leads to self-confidence which we all need at some time. Please have discussions about these values with your child/children at home.

Upcoming Events Week 5 Thursday February 28 – Year 6 St Johns Park High School Taster Lessons Friday March 1 – Clean Up Australia Day Summer PSSA Round 3

Week 6 Tuesday March 5 – Whole School Assembly at 12.45pm under the pavillion and netball court areas Wednesday March 6 – Horsley Zone swimming carnival Thursday March 7 - Stage 3 Parents Talk at 9.15am in the AV room - Cybertalk and High School School Disco: K to 2: 4pm to 5.30pm, Years 3 to 6: 6pm to 8pm Friday March 8 – Summer PSSA Round 3

GPKPS School Disco All GPK students K-6 put on your dancing shoes and come along to our annual school disco.

WHERE: GPK School hall

WHEN: Thursday 7th March 2019

TIME: Kinder, Years 1 + 2 @ 4pm to 5:30pm

Years 3, 4, 5 + 6 @ 6:00pm to 8:00pm

COST: $7 which includes a drink and packet of chips.

Please note: • Children are to arrive only a few minutes prior to the commencement of the disco. • Parents are asked to pick up their children promptly at the conclusion of each session. Parents

will enter through the side door (pavilion side) and exit through the back exit (next to canteen). Children will not be allowed to leave the hall alone.

• Parents, toddlers or ex G.P.K.P.S. students are not allowed to enter the disco!

On Friday the 1st of March is Clean Up Australia Day, and Governor Philip King Public School will be participating!

Every year, schools across Australia pick up rubbish in their local areas to show respect for the environment. Our whole school will be making GPKPS a cleaner place to enjoy by picking up rubbish that has made its way into our school. This will be done on Friday the 1st March 2019.

To make this day a success, the GPK Student Parliament ask that you send your children to school with:

• Gloves • Tongs • Plastic bag

It would be a good idea to send these in straight away and leave them in your classroom so that you don’t forget on the day. Remember to write your name on your plastic bag with a texta so that it doesn’t get lost.

Thank you! Miss Natali, Mrs Kahila and GPK Student Parliament

Deputy Principal’s Message

The first four weeks of Term One have been a positive start to the school year for our students, staff and the community. Our school has implemented many new initiatives that are supporting the learning environment as well as adding value to the current programs we offer at GPK.

Based on feedback from our families, Mr Corcoran and myself held a Kindergarten Information session last week. We discussed relevant information that parents/carers have already received, outlined the key learning areas for our Kindergarten students, explained current and future events, introduced the Kindergarten team and answered questions. We are sure that this session was of value to our community.

Last week, we held our first ‘Meet the Teacher’ BBQ. It was great to see so many members of the community at this event talking to the teachers in an informal setting, enjoying a sausage sizzle, chatting with other parents and watching our students playing together on the top oval. We received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback and hope to continue this event in the years to come.

Two new and exciting initiatives that have commenced this term are the GPK Little Athletics program for Year 1 and 2 students and the Drawing Club for Years 2-6. The GPK Little Athletics program is a great way to get our younger students active and to improve their skills which will be valuable for the Years 2-6 Athletics Carnival later this term. The Drawing Club for Years 2-6 provides students with the opportunity to improve their artistic capabilities. Judging by the overwhelming response, this is a welcoming activity for our students. Thank you to the dedicated teachers for providing our students with these extra-curricular activities.

Students in KGK and KCW started Yoga lessons with Mrs Gaul who is training in yoga for young children. Each yoga session is themed based, such as the beach, garden and farm, and incorporates Values, such as respect, concentration, peace and kindness. Students have the opportunity to develop balancing skills, self-regulation, listening skills, coordination, self-awareness and their social skills. They also learn calming techniques through breathing, awareness of body parts and how to stretch correctly.

KGK and KCW will continue yoga sessions this term and next term. Students in KSM and KPS will participate in yoga lessons in term three and four. A dedicated team of teachers have been coming in on the weekend to repaint both sides of the wall located in the top playground. It is close to being finished. We are looking forward to seeing the final masterpiece. Thank you to all of the teachers who have been involved in this initiative, especially Mr Lorello.

Thank you to the parents/carers who were able to attend the first P and C meeting for 2019 and I’m looking forward to our first whole school Assembly next week. Have a great week.

Heidi Hosking Deputy Principal

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