Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our Week 8 newsletter.

Purple Day

I had a very proud moment on Tuesday where I saw student action in full flight. Led by Mrs Kane, our Parliament Ministers voted to support Epilepsy Awareness Day. Students organised a fundraising purple mufti day where students also had the opportunity to have their hair spray painted purple. Through their leadership and commitment, students raised $440. At Prestons we are raising kind and thoughtful students, and this was another great example of what they could achieve.

Staffing

You may see some new faces around the playground the next few weeks. Let me introduce you to some new staff who will be joining our team to help students achieve their goals. Mr Pangano, Mr Scholze and Miss Otalvaro are supporting us through day to day casual work. Mrs Mehandru and Miss Hunt will be supporting in class as interventionist. Miss Cataldo and Miss Kokkinis will be supporting in classes. Mr Tomlin will also be supporting Kindergarten on Thursday and teaching K Wombats on Friday. We wish to welcome them all to our lovely school and can't wait for them to see all the amazing things we do at Prestons.

Passion Groups

Last Monday we started our passion groups. You may have seen photos on our social media or your child would have come home full of energy and excitement wanting to talk about their group. Our teachers have gone above and beyond to organise and prepare each carefully selected group so that all students feel their interests are heard and catered for, thank you to all our teachers. I'd personally like to thank some of the parents who also volunteered their time to come in and support us with this new project. Thank you to Mrs Ibrahim, Mr and Mrs Tagaloa and Mrs Higgins for sharing your expertise. I for one have not been able to stop talking about the fun I had with the Islander Cultural Group and can't wait for our next session.

NAPLAN UPDATE

All Year 3 and 5 students have now completed their writing and reading assessment. Next week they will be sitting the language conventions and Numeracy assessments. These assessments are completed on a device and require logging in and completing the assessment in a set session time. Can I please encourage students to be at school on time so that assessments can be completed within the allocated time. I again remind parents to support their child with a good night sleep, a healthy breakfast and the mentality to try their best.

HARMONY DAY

Did you know we have 580 students at Prestons? 444 of our students have a language background other than English. We have over 47 different languages spoken. We are fortunate to be at a school with such a rich and diverse background. It is why every year we celebrate Harmony Day. This is a day to recognise diversity and inclusion. This year, our school will be celebrating Harmony Day on Monday 20th March. Students are asked to wear orange and will be participating in a range of activities organised by teachers.

Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to ask your child what they are learning at school.

Mo Lloyd

Deputy Principal

Monday 20th March - Harmony Day

Tuesday 21st March - Year 3 & 5 Language Conventions NAPLAN Assessment

Thursday 23rd March - Year 3 & 5 Numeracy NAPLAN Assessment

Saturday 25th March - State Election Day

Tuesday 28th March - Easter Mufti Day

Friday 31st March - Year 6 to 7 EOI Website Closes

Tuesday 4th April - Easter Hat Parade

Thursday 6th April- Last day Term 1

Friday 7th April - Good Friday

Tuesday 25th April - Anzac Day (Public Holiday)

Wednesday 26th April - Students return for Term 2

Wednesday 26th April - Anzac Day Assembly

Friday 28th April - School Cross Country

Tuesday 2nd May - Parent Forum K to 2 English

Tuesday 9th May - The Rocks Museum Excursion (Year 5)

Wednesday 10th May - The Rocks Museum Excursion (Year 6)

Friday 12th May - Winter PSSA commences
Tuesday 16th May - P&C Meeting

Tuesday 23rd May - Zone Cross Country

Thursday 25th May - School Photo Day

Monday 29th May - Friday 2nd June - Reconciliation Week

Week 10 - 29th March (hosting 2 Zebras)

Parents and carers are welcome to attend in the school hall.

week 10 - 28th March (hosting 5 Rosellas)

Parents and carers are welcome to attend assemblies in the school hall.

Students will depart school by bus each day at 9.15am and return to school at approximately 12.00pm. Parents and carers are welcome to attend.

• T/Ball and Softball - Hammondville (Moorebank)
• Newcombe Ball - Childs Park (Chipping Norton)
• Oz Tag - Woodward Park, Liverpool

If PSSA is postponed, we will advise via Skoolbag and our Facebook page.

Please ensure that your child has the following items for PSSA:

· Hat

· Sunscreen

· School Sport uniform

· Water

· Packed lunch with piece of fruit

Congratulations to:

Farouk - 2L

Ryan - 3/4S

Karan - 3S

Amar - 3JF

Khaled - 4 BB

Mohamed - 5R

Elma - 5F

Jesse - 5 R

Gold Banners

Congratulations to:

Khaled - 4 BB

Sophie -6 Eagles

On Monday 20th March our school will participate in Harmony Day.

Harmony Day is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.

All classes will participate in a Harmony Day activity in their classroom.

Students are encouraged to wear the traditional colour of orange on the day to show their support and to bring in a gold coin donation.

All money raised will go to a local charity ‘STARTTS’ that helps people and communities from refugee backgrounds.

*Please note that students MUST wear closed-in shoes. No sandals or thongs.*

The department has digitised the Year 6 to Year 7 transition process. In 2023 parents and carers will go online to complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) and Placement not Required (PNR).

EOI and PNR forms will be available on the enrolment page on the Prestons Public School website from 6th March - 31st March 2023.

Enrolment - Prestons Public School (nsw.gov.au)

To celebrate the final year of primary school for our Year 6 students, we are offering an opportunity for you to buy a special Year 6 polo shirt. This can be worn as part of your child’s daily school uniform.

We are asking for orders (and full payment that is non-refundable) over the next 3 weeks in order for us to purchase the shirts as soon as possible.

Please see attached note for all the details.

On Wednesday, 26th April, Prestons Public School will be holding an Anzac Day Ceremony at
10.20 am for approximately 15 minutes.

Parents and friends are welcome to attend.

Students are encouraged to bring flowers to place under the flag poles during the assembly

Students in Stage 3 will be attending an excursion to The Rocks Museum on Tuesday 9th May, 2023 for Year 5.

Pieces of the Past is a Sydney Learning Adventures’ program that allows students to travel back in time to meet the residents of The Rocks in 1800s and learn about their life through the eyes of archaeology.

Payment of $35.00 and permission slip to be sent to office by Friday 28th April 2023.

Please see attached note for all the details.

Students in Stage 3 will be attending an excursion to The Rocks Museum on Wednesday 10th May, 2023 for Year 6.

Pieces of the Past is a Sydney Learning Adventures’ program that allows students to travel back in time to meet the residents of The Rocks in 1800s and learn about their life through the eyes of archaeology.

Payment of $35.00 and permission slip to be sent to office by Friday 28th April 2023.

Please see attached note for all the details.

What is the purpose of a Voluntary Contribution?

A voluntary contribution is a payment requested by schools to supplement existing funding. The purpose of these voluntary contributions is to support additional resources and to enhance educational programs.

Our school voluntary contribution amount for 2023 is $30 per family.

Voluntary contributions can be made at the office or online at www.prestons-p.schools.nsw.edu.au.

Payments can be made to the office by cash, EFTPOS or by the school’s preferred method of POP (Parent Online Payments). POP payments can be made by visiting the school website, www.prestonsp.school@det.nsw.edu.au and using the Make a Payment tab. Money and permission notes need to be sent to the office first thing in the morning. Please encourage your child to do this as this will establish a sense of responsibility. Payments and permission notes are best sent to the office in a sealed envelope marked with: Your child’s name and class, what the money is for (If making a cash payment please endeavour to send correct amount).

4 Bluebottles are having so much FUN in Year 4! We love working together as a team and showing Miss Truong how well we work together to solve challenging tasks.

This term we are learning to use a range of comprehension strategies to become fluent readers and develop a deep understanding of complex texts. We are also focusing on using spelling rules and improving our vocabulary to write engaging persuasive texts.

For Maths, we are learning to share our flexible strategies to solve Maths problems, applying our knowledge of place value.

We are so lucky to have Miss P as our RFF teacher who will be teaching HSIE and Science this term.

4 Bluebottles have a very exciting year ahead and we look forward to many more learning experiences as a team!

K Wallabies have had an eventful week of learning. It has been lots of fun learning about the different sounds and creating letter crafts. The students have been working hard practicing their name writing.

The class have also met their Year 6 buddies for the first time and enjoyed comparing the lengths of different objects. The buddies also read some books to K Wallabies which they loved.

Miss Chen is looking forward to the amazing learning that will come in K Wallabies.

Such talent at passion groups this week.

Prestons Public School had a great day on Tuesday, raising funds for the organisation, Epilepsy Action Australia. Purple Day is held each year to raise awareness about epilepsy and fundraise to support the range of services Epilepsy Action Australia provides.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition that affects over 150, 000 Australians, causing recurring seizures.

Some students at Prestons Public School suffer from epilepsy. To support this cause and our students, Prestons held a purple mufti day and ministers coloured student's hair purple to support the day.

Our fundraising efforts raised over $440 for the organisation, an outstanding effort!

Zak in 3 Rainbow Fish stated "it was so fun! My hair looked really cool, thank you for letting me help and spray children's hair".

Thank you to everyone who supported this great cause.

Breakfast Club happens every day before school in the community room.

All students are welcome.

We would like to thank our Learning Support Officers and our parents/carers for their time and help at Breakfast Club.

Many thanks also to Woolworths Prestons.

Instructions on how to order will be sent out to students shortly.

See below for pricing of packages.

Skool Bag is a mobile app that communicates directly to parent smartphones. It provides access to key school information via one single Communication Centre for both students and parents. You are also able to inform your child’s school of their absence simply by logging and submitting their reason for leave. Simply search for Prestons Public School in the app store for iphone/apple users or the google play store for android users and install the Skool Bag App for free.

Our School community supports the wearing of school uniform to encourage pride in our school. Our school uniforms are sold from Moorebank Uniforms & Embroidery located in Liverpool and Moorebank. They can be contacted on 9601 0812

Orders can also be made online. Simply visit www.moorebankuniformsandembroidery.com.au

Enter the Password PRESPMUE2019 to shop online.