2 May 2023
In this Issue
- Principal's Report
- Citizenship of the Month Award
- Year 6 Say Thank You
- Applications for Year 5 Opportunity Class Placement in 2024
- Stewart House Donation Drive 2023
- P&C News - Mother's Day Raffle & Stall
- Athletics Carnival Recap
Moments in Maths
- Library News - Bookclub Issue 3 Open Now
- UOW Learning Labs
- School Student Travel - May 2023
- 2022/2023 NSW Term and Vacation Dates
- Easter Hat Parade Photos
- Photos of 1B Showing Their Writing
- Year 6 Fundraiser - Disco Photos
- Canteen and Uniform Shop
- Community News
- Contact Us
Principal's Report
Welcome Back!
Welcome back to Term 2. A term that will no doubt disappear amid ten weeks, filled with loads of wonderful opportunities that will see the teachers and students busily working away. Already our school ANZAC Day Ceremony has occurred this term. In the coming weeks we will see more sporting opportunities for students, our K-1 Cross Country, 2-6 Fun Run, our Mother’s Day Stall and much, much more. All the while our dedicated staff will be working away on the Semester 1 reports. Term 2 is going to fly!
Social Skills
Our Social Skills program has received very positive feedback and will continue throughout Term 2. Social Skills focus will be as follows:
Week 1 – Asking someone to play
Week 2 – Playing a game fairly
Week 3 – Dealing with losing
Week 4 – Wanting to be first
Week 5 – Waiting your turn
Week 6 – Joining in
Week 7 – Feeling left out
Week 8 – Deciding if it’s fair
Week 9 – Dealing with unkindness
Week 10 – Dealing with fear
Each week, teachers introduce the skill on a Monday and then take opportunities throughout the week to reinforce the skills focus. We encourage parents to discuss these each week with your child, as a way of further reinforcing the actions and behaviour around these skills.
Term 2 Staff Development Day
On Monday 24 April, our staff participated in a day dedicated to Aboriginal Education. Under the guidance of Sharon Hanlon, a proud Dharawal woman from the Illawarra, our school collaborated with Bellambi Public School to have an On-Country experience. Our day incorporated the sharing of stories and the true histories of the local area, reflecting on policy implementation and what we can do to further enhance our understanding and implementation for the benefit of all students, as well as learning about the Aboriginal Country Map and Artefacts. The day concluded with an enlightening “I can’t ask that question, but I really need to know” Yarning Circle that helped build knowledge and dispel misunderstandings.
K-1 Cross Country
The Kindergarten and Year 1 Cross Country carnival will be held at school on Thursday 4 May. All students will be participating and need to wear their sports shorts and a shirt in their house colour (if they have one) or their school sports shirt.
The Cross Country carnival will be held between 9:10am and 10:30am on the school ‘flat’ and spectators are welcome to sit on the hill in the marked spectator zone. Ribbons for placegetters will be handed out at the conclusion of their race.
If it is raining on the day, the Cross Country will be postponed. An announcement will be made via the Parent Portal, the Woonona Public School Facebook page and on Seesaw.
Thank you to our staff for bringing this together and to the many senior students who will assist on the day.
We thank you in advance for your support and hope to see many of you there!
Community of Schools Twilight
In Week 3, our school will join forces with Woonona East PS and Russell Vale PS staff to complete a twilight session of professional learning. Throughout the three-hour session, that will run from 3:30pm – 6:30pm, each school will share their expertise and knowledge across three curriculum areas – reading, numeracy and writing. We look forward to sharing with our partner schools and learning from the knowledge they have, as we look for ways to continue to enhance the knowledge of our staff within and across settings.
District Cross Country
This Friday, a team of 48 students will head off to the District Cross Country Carnival. I know we will have some fantastic results and wish all our competing students all the best as they challenge themselves on a difficult course. I’m sure you will do yourself and our school proud – good luck! Thank you to Mr McMullen and Mr Samuel who have been working behind the scenes to ensure the team is ready for the carnival.
Check-in Assessment
In Week 5 and 6, the Department of Education’s Check-in Assessments for students in Years 4 and 6 will take place. These assessments provide our school some of our most valuable data as the information is almost instant, showing trend data that is used to direct our cycles of learning.
South Coast Teams
2023 is turning into a very sporty year, with great success for many students. Congratulations to all our sport representatives. A special congratulations to the following students who have been successful in achieving selection in South Coast teams that will compete throughout the year, and across the state, at various state carnivals.
Touch football – Lennox, Xander and Jimmy
Hockey - Archie
Rugby League – Lennox and Hunter
Parent/Teacher Interviews
It was great to see so many parents attend Parent / Teacher interviews at the end of last term. I have had fantastic feedback from parents and staff. The opportunity to meet early in the year and to get a clearer understanding of how your child is performing has again been appreciated, with everyone seemingly enjoying the opportunity to also meet face-to-face.
P&C Meeting
Our next P&C meeting will be on Wednesday 10 May, at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held in the school staff room. We hope to see you there!
Easter Hat Parade!!!
Our school held our Easter Hat Parade, on the last day of Term 1. It was great to see so many students proud to show off their creations to family and friends. It was so great to see our families turn out in large numbers to support such a memorable event. A big thanks to Mrs Banzon for coordinating the event and well done to all our students and teachers for coming up with such fantastic designs for their Easter Hats.
See more photos further down in this newsletter.
State Swimming Carnival
The final two days of Term 1 coincided with the State Swimming Championships at Homebush in Sydney. I would like to congratulate our team of 11 students who participated in the carnival. We had some amazing results that are outlined below:
- Junior Boys relay (made up of Bob, Jimmy, Reg and Archie) came 24th.
- Junior Girls relay (made up of Logan, Indie, Tayla and Halle) came 12th.
- Jimmy had 4 individual events with two PBs and a top finish of 13th in the 50m backstroke.
- Maddison had 5 individual events with 1 PB and a top finish of 7th in the 50m backstroke.
- Logan had 2 individual events with 2 PBs and a top finish of 4th in the 50m freestyle.
- Zoe had 5 individual events with 5 PBs and a top finish of 8th in the 100m freestyle.
- Cameron had 1 individual event with 1 PB and finished in the top 30 in the 50m freestyle.
Amazing individual and collective efforts from our students who attended. To make it to this level is very special and we congratulate them all on their performances against the best swimmers in NSW. Our school is very proud of you all.
ANZAC Ceremony
On Friday morning, all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 participated in our School ANZAC Day Ceremony. I would like to acknowledge our school leaders, who worked with Ms Gibson to bring together the ceremony. At 11:00am the Captains and I laid a wreath, which was a fitting way to conclude an important tribute to those who have fought for our country.
Mother’s Day Stall
On Friday 12 May, the P&C will be holding our Mother’s Day stall in our school hall. Gifts are either $5 or $10. Thank you to Tarsha and Claire for coordinating this highly important and appreciated event. There will be some very happy mums next Sunday morning, as I know how much time and care has gone into providing great options for our students to purchase.
Further information and photos of gifts for purchase can be found further down in this newsletter.
Mr Tim Fisher
Principal
Citizenship of the Month Award
These amazing students were awarded the 'Citizenship of the Month Award' for March, in recognition of their exemplary standards of conduct and service to others. Well done and congratulations to:
Zayne KG
Kamarlay 1S
Talon 3-4S
Jordan 5-6A (with Kalani proudly accepting the award for her brother in his absence)!
Year 6 Say Thank You
Year 6 would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to our school community for supporting our fundraising events in Term 1. We are greatly appreciative of everyone who purchased tickets in the Easter Raffle and to everyone who attended the discos. We are really proud about how both events went, and we know all those who attended the disco had a great time. Lastly thank you to all the teachers, Year 6 helpers and parent volunteers who supported the disco and helped it to be so successful.
See more great photos further down in this newsletter.
Applications for Year 5 Opportunity Class Placement in 2024
Key dates:
- Applications for Year 5 entry to opportunity classes in 2024 open on Thursday 30 March 2023 and close on Monday 15 May 2023 at https://education.nsw.gov.au/oc.
- All candidates are required to sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test on Thursday 27 July 2023.
Please read further important information for applicants in the attachment below.
Stewart House Donation Drive 2023
Stewart House has been very good to our students over the last few years and depend on fundraising assistance to provide valuable services to public education.
Donation envelopes are going home with your eldest child today. Please enclose $2.00 or more and return to school by Friday 12 May.
Each entry will go into a draw to win a $4,000 gift voucher.
P&C News
P&C Mother's Day Stall - Friday 12 May
Where: Woonona Public School Hall
This a P&C fundraiser that supports your child's amazing school.
Gifts are $5 OR $10.
Children are welcome to buy two gifts. Please send your child with cash on the day and we encourage writing down who they are buying for and the price range to help them navigate gift selection.
Click above image to buy tickets.
Athletics Carnival Recap
The 2023 Athletics Carnival for Woonona PS at Beaton Park was a fun day and the weather was amazing. Some of our favourite events were the 100m and 200m sprints and the high jump. The students V teachers relay was fun to either watch or participate in too! Congratulations to the winning house of the 2023 carnival which was Hume.
By Maddi (Hume Captain) and Ryley (Oxley Captain)
Also a big congrats to our Age Champions:
Archie
Lennox
Ben and Rocco (Joint Winners)
Harper
Arabella
Charlize
Moments in Maths
In Term 2, all students at Woonona PS have picked up where they left off at the end of Term 1, by diving straight back into some brilliant and challenging maths work.
Stage 2 have been looking closely at whole numbers and how these numbers can be represented in a variety of ways. They have worked hard to connect their knowledge and partition 4 and 5 digit numbers in standard and non standard form!
Stage 3 have been drawing on their knowledge of multiplication facts to work with factors and multiples. They have been investigating prime and composite numbers and solving "Who am I riddles?" based factors and multiples clues.
Tune in to our next newsletter for a close up look at that is happening in K-2 Maths!
Library News
Please remember only online orders will be accepted. No CASH payments.
Happy reading,
Mrs Carroll
Librarian
UOW Learning Labs
School Student Travel - May 2023
School student travel information for parents and students
Students who require a School Opal card or travel pass but have not yet applied need to apply or update their details as soon as possible.
In the Opal network, students should travel with a Child/Youth Opal card until they receive their valid School Opal card. If outside Greater Sydney, parents should contact their local bus operator to discuss their travel needs.
New Student Opal cards (including new Term Bus Passes) will be sent to the student’s nominated postal address within two weeks of their application being approved.
Students living in rural and regional areas will receive their travel pass from their nominated transport operator. It may be issued via their school or be sent directly to them at home. Note: some rural and regional operators do not issue travel passes.
Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.
Terms of Use
Students using Opal cards must tap on and tap off in line with the Opal terms of use.
All students are required to comply with the Student code of conduct. The code of conduct aims to ensure the safety and well-being of school children and other passengers. It is important that parents ensure their child is aware of this, as failure to comply with the code of conduct can result in a suspension from travel.
Further information can be found at transportnsw.info/school-travel
Enquiries can be submitted at transportnsw.info/passes-concessions-feedback
Easter Hat Parade
1B Showing Their Writing
Year 6 Fundraiser Disco
Canteen and uniform shop
Onsite uniform shop closed until further notice.
School Canteen
Uniform Shop
Co-operation - respect - effort - responsibility
Community News
South Coast Writers Centre- Young Writers Program- Term 2
The Young Writers Program at the South Coast Writers Centre is a thriving program that has been running since 2014, offering creative writing workshops for young people aged 10-18. The program is built on active, workshop-based learning and practice, with the aim to be both a class and community, where young writers can develop their craft and create work they are proud of in a relaxed, inclusive, and supportive space. LATE ENROLMENTS WELCOME - Enrolments made after the starting week will automatically be discounted the cost of the missed week/s. Please email the course facilitator if you have any enquiries about the program - rhys.lorenc24@gmail.com
YOUNG WRITERS GROUP - Tuesdays In-Person (Wollongong Library) (ages 10-13) with Rhys Lorenc Tuesdays, 4pm-6pm for 9 weeks
YOUNG WRITERS GROUP - Wednesdays (Coledale Community Hall) (ages 10-13) with Rhys Lorenc Wednesdays, 4pm-6pm for 9 weeks In the YWG workshops, students will respond to writing prompts every week, read out their work and give each other feedback.
Booking Link: https://events.humanitix.com/scwc-young-writers-groups-term-2-2023