Heights Happenings
Winston Heights PS - Term 1 Week 10 2023
⭐ PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE ⭐
🌏⛩🧡 HARMONY DAY AT WHPS 🧡🗼🌎
Harmony Day is a government initiative that recognises the importance of inclusiveness to all Australians.
Did you know?
- Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
- We identify with over 300 ancestries.
- Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi.
- More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
At Winston Heights PS:
- In addition to English, 47% of students speak another language at home.
- The most common languages spoken at home include English, Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi, Cantonese, Persian, and French.
This year, our school community acknowledged this special day on Wednesday 29 March. Throughout the day, students engaged in a variety of activities. They created artworks and posters, listened to stories that reflected the values associated with Harmony Day, and wore orange clothes or traditional costumes in recognition of their cultural backgrounds.
A big thank you to our team of canteen helpers who embraced the day by decorating the canteen with colourful country flag bunting and selling orange themed foods.
👩🏫 STAFFING UPDATE 👩🏫
The School Administration Manager (SAM) Position
The School Administration Manager (SAM) position was recently readvertised in accordance with merit selection procedures. I know you will join me in congratulating Mrs Carolyn Leverton, who was the successful applicant. Mrs Leverton’s passion and dedication to our school community has been evident in everything she does and through every interaction she has had with our students, staff, parents, and carers. Congratulations Mrs Leverton!
Mrs Kula
As you may be aware, Mrs Gemma Kula will be commencing maternity leave at the end of this term. Her last day teaching 1K will be Thursday 6 April. I know she is very excited about the special times ahead for her family, however she is also incredibly saddened to be leaving 1K. We wish Mrs Kula all the very best on the safe arrival of her baby and the parenting journey that awaits her. I am very excited to inform you, that Mrs Mila Harris will be the new teacher of 1K. Mrs Harris will start teaching students in 1K from Wednesday 26 April (first day of Term 2 for students). Our students would be familiar with Mrs Harris, as she has engaged in casual work at our school this year. I know you will join me in warmly welcoming Mrs Harris to Winston Heights PS.
🚨 EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE - LOCKDOWN & EVACUATION 🚨
Under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) policy, schools are responsible for the safety of all students, staff and visitors.
At Winston Heights PS, emergency drills (lockdowns, evacuations, off-site evacuations, etc) are scheduled to test and validate the effectiveness of our site-specific emergency management procedures so that staff and students are prepared in the event of an emergency.
Emergency Drills
As part of our emergency management drills:
- prior to a lockdown/evacuation drill teachers calmly explain the need to practice the drill to students
- teachers use our school emergency management procedures when explaining the lockdown or evacuation response to students
- depending on the age of students, teachers may role play the lockdown/evacuation drill with students in a supportive and calm manner
- on the day of the lockdown/evacuation drill, teachers tell students that we will be having a drill and remind them of what to do
- during the lockdown/evacuation drill, teachers monitor students and provide direction and reassurance if required
- following the lockdown/evacuation drill, teachers monitor students and provide reassurance and support if required
Following every emergency drill, the staff at our school:
- debrief to discuss what went well and what could be improved
- review our emergency management procedures and arrangements
- incorporate anything learned from the drill
- communicate changes to emergency management procedures and arrangements with all staff.
Lockdown
A lockdown is a procedure intended to secure all or part of a facility to protect people from an occurring or imminent threat that has the potential to cause harm. It minimises access to the school and secures staff and students in rooms away from the risk of harm. Examples of possible threats include dangerous animals, a severe storm, dangerous airborne particles, threat relating to a person with violent intent, or similar emergencies that cause concern for the safety of staff, students and/or visitors.
During a lockdown all staff and students move inside; doors and windows are locked, blinds are closed, students move away from windows and doors, and remain quiet. All staff and students remain in place until an all clear is announced.
Evacuation
An evacuation is a procedure used after the decision is made that it is unsafe for students, staff, and visitors to remain inside buildings, or on school grounds, due to an immediate or threatened danger at the school. Examples of possible threats may include a fire, bomb threat, gas leak etc.
When a decision to evacuate has been made all staff, students and visitors exit the buildings and move to an identified on-site assembly area (back oval). Once assembled, class, staff and visitor rolls are checked. Everyone will remain in the assembly area until further instructions are received.
🚫 SCHOOL OFFICE CLOSED - MONDAY 24 APRIL 🚫
The Term 2 Staff Development Day is scheduled for Monday 24 April and is for staff only.
On this day, all teaching and non-teaching staff from our school will participate in the combined hills schools Staff Development Day at an off-site location. Our staff will join teachers and admin staff from eight local primary and high schools for a day of professional learning.
The school office will be CLOSED on this day. There will be no staff on site to answer calls or respond to emails. Our admin team will endeavour to read school emails and pass them on to staff at their earliest convenience. The office will reopen on Wednesday 26 April.
👩🏽🤝👩🏻👩🏽🤝🧑🏼👬 PARENTS & CITIZENS (P&C) ASSOCIATION 👬👩🏽🤝🧑🏼👩🏽🤝👩🏻
The aim of the P&C at Winston Heights PS is to promote the interests of the school by bringing parents, students and teaching staff into close cooperation. The P&C assists in the provision of desirable and valuable resources, supplementing those funded by the Department of Education through various fundraising events. The P&C works closely with the school to build a strong school community.
Our P&C are integral to providing the following opportunities for our students and families:
- operating a healthy school canteen
- selling quality school uniforms
- enjoying many band activities
- representing parent voice
- supporting school outcomes and goals
- creating close school community ties through school and social events
- organising fundraisers for students and parents
Supporting our P&C Volunteers
All P&C members are volunteers who generously give up their own time to get involved and help support our school. Our P&C volunteers organise and attend regular meetings, oversee the financials of the P&C, manage the canteen and uniform shop, organise everything to do with our band and keyboard programs, and liaise with the school to organise fundraisers and events.
Every week our volunteers give up hours and hours of their own time to run the P&C, and to manage the canteen, uniform shop, and band programs. These responsibilities are all unpaid volunteer positions. People who have volunteered to take on these responsibilities have their own families, jobs, extra-curricular activities, and other life demands to juggle.
Our P&C volunteers provide exceptional service and support for our school community, however from time to time, we understand there may be enquiries about a canteen order, uniform order, or fundraiser. The P&C appreciates that your enquiry is important, and they will endevour to respond to your enquiry in a timely manner - generally within 3 business days. This is the same timeframe that a staff member is expected to acknowledge and respond to a parent enquiry. Your patience and understanding while waiting for a response from the P&C is respectfully requested.
I would also like to remind parents - if waiting for a reply from the P&C, please check your junk emails, as we have found this is often where P&C emails end up.
Thank you to our P&C volunteers for their generous and ongoing support of our students, school and community.
🏫💰 GUIDELINES FOR THE BACK TO SCHOOL NSW VOUCHERS 💰🏫
Every primary and secondary school student in NSW is eligible for three $50 vouchers, totaling $150, to help pay for school supplies.
Each $50 voucher can be used separately, or multiple vouchers can be used in the same purchase.
Each voucher can only be redeemed once. If the transaction is less than the total value of the voucher, the remaining balance is forfeited and cannot be used in another transaction, e.g. if the transaction is $96.50 and two vouchers, totalling $100 are redeemed, the remaining $3.50 is forfeited. Schools will receipt one transaction of $50 redeeming one voucher and another transaction of $46.50 for the second voucher.
No refunds can be claimed for products redeemed with a voucher. Vouchers are valid for use by 30 June 2023 (end of Term 2).
Eligible expenses
Eligible expenses are for goods, supplies or services that are available for purchase. Purchased goods/supplies are then owned by the student.
Back to School vouchers can be used for:
1. School uniforms, including shoes and socks, hats, and sports uniform and shoes.
2. School equipment, including school bags, lunch boxes, drink bottles, umbrellas and/or raincoats. In addition tools or equipment specific to sports or other programs (for students participating in sports, art or musical classes, who may require sporting gear, art supplies or musical instruments).
3. School-prescribed textbooks or other reading material.
4. Lesson resources including the purchase of licences for online learning resources, such as Mathletics are considered an eligible expense.
5. Other stationery, including but not limited to exercise books, pens/pencils, coloured pencils/crayons, textas/highlighters, erasers, pencil cases, rulers, sharpeners, glue, scissors, calculators, or geometry sets.
6. Technology for the purpose of school work - computers, laptops, keyboards, headphones, mice, and tablets.
7. Customers may also use vouchers towards the costs of school excursions that are organised by the school in which the child is enrolled, domestic, and taking place during the 2023 academic year, transportation to and from the school excursions, incursions and/or extracurricular activities.
Excluded expenses
Back to School vouchers cannot be used for:
- Hire of supplies, equipment or instruments
- Services
- Venue hire costs
- Fees, charges or levies for access to communal (school-owned) supplies such as stationery, printing or technology
- Voluntary contributions
- Credit towards future expenses
To find out more about eligibility for the Back to School vouchers and to apply, visit Service NSW or visit a Service NSW Center in person.
🚧 PLANNED MAINTENANCE WORK AT WHPS 🚧
As part of planned maintenance work at our school, the carpet and vinyl flooring in many classrooms will be replaced during the school holidays. Old tiles in the wet areas do have asbestos-containing material, which if undisturbed, are completely safe. As these old tiles are being removed, the following will be observed:
- Asbestos-containing tiles will be removed during the school holidays in accordance with SAFEWORK NSW guidelines
- A permit for the removal, has been submitted and approved by SAFEWORK NSW
- A clearance certificate will be provided at the completion of the removal of the old tiles
I will continue to work with all parties to ensure the works are carried out in accordance with SAFEWORK NSW guidelines and protocols.
⭐📕✏ LEARNING SNAPSHOT - 2G ✏📕⭐
Last week during our teacher curriculum release time, groups of teachers observed a mathematics lesson that was taught by Mrs Kennedy, our Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction (APC&I), and Miss A, our Assistant Principal Learning Support. Each lesson highlighted a deep, rich maths task based on the concept of area. In the lesson below, students in 2G were asked to select informal units to measure and compare the area of their leaf. After much discussion, all students agreed that the most appropriate unit to measure the area of their leaf was the 1cm cubes. Teachers then supported and extended student learning through questioning and targeted prompts. We were very impressed with the mathematical language used by students when articulating their mathematical thinking and reasoning. Well done to our mathematicians in 2G ... we think you are all SUPER STAR learners! ⭐⭐⭐
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Winston Heights community for their continued support of our school, staff, students, and each other during Term 1.
After such a busy term, I hope you are looking forward to the school holidays and spending some quality time with your family, friends, and loved ones.
Happy Easter!
See you on the other side of the school holidays!
Mrs Terri Bullock
Principal
🐛📚 NEWS FROM OUR LIBRARY 📚🐛
Premiers Reading Challenge Update
I am happy to report that we currently have 240 students registered to participate in this year’s Premiers Reading Challenge. Of these students, 11 have already completed the challenge with 3 students returning their confirmation note to receive their PRC bookmark and have their reading log validated online. Congratulations to the following students:-
- Iori G 2M
- Raihan J 3C
- Chester O 4E
It’s not too late to get started if you haven’t registered yet. Our Library Monitors are happy to help every Wednesday and Thursday during “lunchtime in the library’ if you need someone to register your reading online. Remember Kindergarten, we are all participating together as part of our library program.
Scholastic Book Club
Book Club Issue 2 was delivered last week. Thank you for supporting our school by placing these orders. Every order earns our school bonus reward points to help purchase more books and learning resources for our library together with end of year awards. Keep an eye out for Book Club Issue 3 coming early in Term 2.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the students and their families a Happy Easter and a safe and relaxing holiday. Remember, holidays are always a great time to curl up with a good book, especially when eating chocolate 😊
Kerrie Pennell
Teacher Librarian
Debating Camp - Katoomba
Debating Camp was an amazing experience with so much to learn and so many fun things to do. On the first day we learnt how to develop and construct a debate on the topic: "We should allow celebrities to have their privacy". We were also given ideas and tips on how to prepare our arguments. The last activities for the day were student sessions on different parts of debating such as using PEEL or Teamlines. On Day 2 we spent the morning preparing for our debate, then in teams with other schools we did our debates. Everyone did a great job!
Thanks Mrs Sim for taking us and giving us your time and support.
- Charlotte -
Second Day
On the second day of Debating Camp, after breakfast, we had a quick lesson on Manner, which is how you speak and hand gestures. Manner isn't the most important thing in a debate so you can't lose a debate because your manner is incorrect. But manner can affect your debate, if the speaker can't be heard, we don't know what they're saying. After the manner lesson, we worked with our groups of three and expanded on our arguments. Then, we practised speaking our debates and thinking of how we can rebutt the opposing teams arguments. Finally, we debated. Overall, the affermative teams won the majority of the debates, which all of us were on.
- Lily -
Drama Games
In the afternoon we played one debating game and one funny game. The funny game did not have a name but it was like charades. The second game was trying to convince all of the people there that you need to stay for some sort of important reason.
- Ryan -
Best thing about camp
A great thing about debating camp was that we got to meet a lot of new people. All of the debaters were grouped up with debaters from other schools and leart to play by each other's strength. That meant we needed to get to know each other to see what everyone could do. It led both to good friendships and fantastic fun debating together.
- Ebba -
The Cabins
Once we arrived at Katoomba, we got assigned to different cabins. Charlotte, Lily, Ebba and Elise were in cabin 23 and Ryan was with a mixture of boys from different schools. Their room was 3.
They had different states as parts of the cabins.
- Elise -
Well done to these PBL Award winners who have been Safe, Respectful & Responsible Learners:
K-2 PBL award winners :
3-6 PBL award winners : Chloe, Payton & Maddy
⭐⭐⭐ ASSEMBLY SUPERSTARS ⭐⭐⭐
Week 9 Award Recipients
KT: Charlie, Boris, Aria & Wyatt
1K: Iverson, Veda, Mariam & Rhea
1T: Ariah, TJ, Levi & Ellie
2G:
2M: Paarth, Clara, Iori & Darian
Library : KB, Kt
Studio : KT, Sophia
Week 10 Award Recipients
3N : Sienna, Nicolas, Parmin & Chloe
4H :
4E : Anisha, Mackenzie, Beau & Lachlan
5O : Cooper, Walya, Harley & Oliver
5P : Hannah, Jessica, Abi & James
6B : Dawood, Stefan & Cavan
6S : Georgia, Violet, Neek & Ryan
Library : 5O & Benjamin
Studio :
🎯 FROM THE OFFICE 🎯
FEES NOW DUE:
- Year 6 Jacket $70 - now overdue
- Purchase of Recorder $14 - now overdue
- Motive8sports Athletics Program $35.00 - now overdue
- PSSA Soccer - $70
- PSSA AFL - $134
- PSSA Netball - $134
- PSSA Newcombe Ball - $98
- Tennis - $66
Payments can be made online or via cash or EFT at the Office.
Other News
Wishing everyone a safe and happy easter.
We look forward to seeing everyone on the first day of Term 2, Wednesday 26 April 2023.
Mrs Leverton, Mrs Calvar and Miss Griffin
📆 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 📆
TERM 2 - 2023
April 2023
Mon 24 - WHPS office CLOSED - all staff off-site
Tues 25 - ANZAC Day Public Holiday
Wed 26 - Students Return for Term 2
Wed 26 - ANZAC Day service (Performance Band playing)
Thur 27 - Performance Band playing at Assembly
May 2023
Mon 1 - Year 6 Primary Links
Tue 2 - Motiv8 athletics (every Tuesday in Term 2)
Thur 4 - Selective High School Placement Test
Fri 5 - Mother's Day Breakfast in the hall
Fri 5 - Winter PSSA - Round 1
Mon 8 - Year 6 Primary Links
Mon 8 - P&C Meeting at 7pm
Thu 11 - Mother's Day Stall
Fri 12 - Winter PSSA - Round 2
Thu 18 - CHPSSA Cross Country
Mon 22 - Tues 23 - Band Camp
June 2023
Mon 5 - P&C Meeting at 7pm
Mon 12 - King's Birthday Public Holiday
Wed 14 - SW Zone Cross Country
Wed 21 - SRC Disco
Sat 24 - P&C Trivia Night
Tue 27 - Athletics Carnival & P&C sausage sizzle
Term 3 2023
July 2023
Tue 18 - Students Return for Term 3
Thu 27 - OC Test
Mon 31 - Fri 4 Aug - Education Week
August 2023
Tue 1 - Education Week Open Day
Tue 15 - K-2 Athletics Fun Day incl. P&C sausage sizzle
📅 2023 TERM DATES 📅
Term 1 - Tuesday 31 January to Thursday 6 April 2023
Term 2 - Wednesday 26 April to Friday 30 June 2023
Term 3 - Tuesday 18 July to Friday 22 September 2023
Term 4 - Monday 9 October to Monday 18 December 2023
Please note:
- 27 January, 30 January, 24 April, 17 July, 18, 19 December 2023 are staff development days. These days are for staff-only.
- Dates and events advertised above may be subject to change.
- Further information will be sent home closer to the events being held.
⭐🎤TERM 2 ASSEMBLIES 🎤⭐
Week 2 - Years 3-6 Assembly - Thursday 4 May
Week 3 - K-2 Assembly - Thursday 11 May
Week 4 - Years 3-6 Assembly - Thursday 18 May
Week 5 - K-2 Assembly - Thursday 25 May
Week 6 - Years 3-6 Assembly - Thursday 1 June
Week 7 - K-2 Assembly - Thursday 8 June
Week 8 - Years 3-6 Assembly - Thursday 15 June
Week 9 - K-2 Assembly - Thursday 22 June
Week 10 - K-6 PBL Badge Assembly - Thursday 29 June
***all assemblies will start at 2pm and will held in the school hall. Please enter the school via the lollipop gate on Langdon Road.
⚾ PSSA Draw 🏉
Students will travel by walking or bus, leaving school at 11am and returning by 1pm.
Round 1 - Friday 5 May 2023
Football - bus to Francesco Reserve
Netball - bus to Kellyville Netball Courts
AFL - bus to Hills Centenary Park
Newcombe Ball - at school
Round 2 - Friday 12 May 2023
Football - walk to Max Ruddock Reserve
Netball - bus to Kellyville Netball Courts
AFL - bus to Hills Centenary Park
Newcombe Ball - at school
Round 3 - Friday 19 May 2023
Football - walk to Max Ruddock Reserve
Netball - bus to Kellyville Netball Courts
AFL - bus to Hills Centenary Park
Newcombe Ball - bus to Carlingford West PS
🍎🥪 CANTEEN NEWS 🥗🧃
Coming Soon at the Canteen:
- Spriggy Schools will replace Flexischools from Term 2 for online ordering at the canteen
📢 P&C NEWS 📢
The much-anticipated Election Day BBQ and Cake stall was back for the State Election was held on Saturday 25th March.
It was marvellous to see so many of our bakers whip up some excellent cakes, slices, biscuits, and muffins. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone who came down and supported the P&C by purchasing a sausage sizzle, bacon and egg roll or a delicious cake or two!
We raised a little over $3000 on the day.
And a HUGE thank you to our amazing volunteers who cooked and served up a storm. We couldn’t have had the successful day we had without you.
P&C Meetings
From Term 2, P&C Meetings will be held every 3rd and 7th Monday of the school term at 7pm. These will be conducted as hybrid meetings, onsite at the school and via zoom. Our next meeting will be held on Monday 8th May.
P&C Easter Raffle
WINNERS!!
Congratulations to all our Easter raffle winners! 🐰 🐰
We can't thank you enough for supporting our raffle. All proceeds go back into making our school an even more awesome place.
A HUGE thank you to our sponsors Fortuna Gardens Chinese Restaurant and Winston Hills Mall.
Mother's Day
Mother’s Day is fasting approaching and will be here not long after we return from Easter break. This year the P&C have decided to run two events, a Mother’s Day Breakfast on Friday 5th May and the Mother’s Day Stall on Thursday 11th May.
Please keep an eye out for further information.
Business Supporter Opportunities Available
The countdown is on for our TRIVIA NIGHT on SATURDAY 24th JUNE, and we have some amazing opportunities for local businesses in our community to get involved!
Your business can become a TRIVIA NIGHT SUPPORTER - just by donating a prize or becoming an event sponsor!
Your generous donation will be acknowledged on our FB page and to our broader community through our newsletter and on the night. How awesome is that?!
Plus, you’ll also get a big dose of the warm and fuzzies for helping the best school (if we do say so ourselves) reach our fundraising goal.
If Trivia is not the thing for you, other sponsorship opportunities are available throughout the year - please reach out for more information on what these provide.
Interested? Please send an email to event@winstonheightspandc.com
Upcoming P&C Events
Term 1
5 April – Easter Raffle
Term 2
5 May - Mother's Day Breakfast
8 May - P&C Meeting
11 May – Mother’s Day Stall
5 June - P&C Meeting
24 June – Trivia Night
Uniform Shop
Uniform Shop has been approved to accept the NSW Back to School Vouchers!!
You will be able to use your NSW Back to School Voucher via Flexischools or in person at the uniform shop. You will need to add the item "Back to School Voucher" to your cart and fill in your voucher numbers in the fields provided (up to 3 vouchers can be used).
Reminder: Winter uniform will begin in Term 2.
Winston Heights Public School P&C Association is on Facebook!
🚨 COMMUNITY NOTICES 🚨
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