The Grapevine
Term 3, Weeks 7-8 Edition, Volume 2021.3.7-8
Did you notice something about me? Look for the difference ;-)
Yes, our national AEA Excellence Award has been installed:-)
The Newsletter of Glendore Public School
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land.
We pay our respect to Elders past, present and future.
We recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of the Awabakal People.
We celebrate with and respect members of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations
Where Everyone Can Succeed
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Firstly, my apologies for the delay in providing the Week 7-8 edition of The Grapevine. We have continued our focus on celebrating all the positives of our CoL-WaH (Continuity of Learning - Working at Home) program and also wanted to wait for the NSW Government's advice regarding lockdown extensions.
This week is SASS Recognition Week, and we couldn't even provide cake! Well done to our 20 non-teaching staff at Glendore. What a wonderful bunch of people, who daily will back in our 45 permanent/temporary educators, our 10 casual staff, our 875 parents and caregivers and our 665 students. I even mean the shy ones, who wouldn't share their photo with us:-)
In fact, this week the staff were surveyed as to whether they preferred to adopt the standardise statewide base remote learning programs. They have elected to continue on with our CoL-WaH program. Why? well I'll let the three 'wordle's below speak for themselves. They have zoned in on the student centredness of our programs, the direct connection with regular, 'onsite' learning, and despite the additional hours of remote programming and preparation (both online and offline options), the outcomes were better support and familiarity for our parents and students.
I will republish this newsletter tomorrow afternoon with an Errata added. This will update the community based around the prevailing advice from the Premier's 11:00am Press Conference. In the interim, please access the pdf regarding the Term 4 Planned Return to Schools.
I take this time to praise our Staff and our P&C for their efforts in continuing to offer as much normality as possibly in these 'once-in-a-generation' times. Please look at the wonderful work occurring in our rooms across K-6; the wonderful Zooms of K-2 with Ricky Kradolfer, professional musician (as featured by 'The Today Show'); early advice of the fantastic opportunities upcoming for Year 3-6, including virtual excursions; and of course, our P&C fundraisers for Father's Day, the Thompson's Pie Drive, and many more!
What a wonderful school - despite COVID. Our plans for the $1M plus enhancements are about to go out to tender. I look forward to discussing these at our next P&C meeting as we have developed them even further. You won't believe what is coming! Until then, please notice the differences in our street frontage above, giggle at the 'Groundhoggedness' of 'The Lion King Jr' and keep being the positive and resilient community you are.
Thank you for your support. Take Care, Be Well, Stay Safe, Stay at Home,
Khalil Khay | FACE | School Principal | Glendore Public School
- This week our school has seen an increase in students attending school and we have attendance levels that are significantly above other schools in Greater Hunter and Greater Sydney.
- I want to remind all our families that there is minimal supervision on site at our school for those students, who cannot be educated at home, for example if their parent or caregiver is an essential worker.
- All students and families continue to be supported with learning from home materials and resources in full online, offline and blended modes.
- If you are working from home, and your child is able to be educated from home, please keep them at home.
- Thank you to all the families, who have continued to support our community by keeping their children at home to minimise movement in the community.
- Please reach out via the school email to get in touch with your child's teacher/assistant principal to discuss any additional needs for your child or family that supports you to continue learning from home.
- Thank you for your understanding and support.
- Our CoL-WaH programs are directly linked to our regular scopes and sequences for teaching and learning, assessment and evaluation and 'Where to Next?'
- These are offered in full online (MS Teams), offline (hard-copy pdf) and blended learning options (a mixture of both).
- An Assistant Principal or Deputy Principal site manages, with additional staff (Principal, Business Manager, School Admin Officers, General Assistant, Tech Support) in rotation.
- If children of 'Essential Workers' must attend, they are supported in double -classrooms within a class-size of 30 by a classroom teacher.
- Onsite "Essential Workers' students are supported to engage in the work programmed for the day in either the MS Teams or hard-copy CoL-WaH booklet excerpt.
- The latter will come home each day for parents/caregivers to continue with at home and should be returned weekly when collecting next week's workbook.
- Some activities may be attempted online if a child is onsite, e.g. Mathletics, Reading Eggs, Phonics Warm-Ups, VC's etc, even from Kindergarten.
- Please do not assume if 2-3 worksheets come home, that that is all that has been attempted by students and supported by staff on that day.
- On any single day, a roll-call and staffing organisation must occur, as the numbers of students arriving per grade based on parent's 'Essential Work' will vary.
- The complexities of managing this are enormous and will be explained at length at our next P&C.
- The School and the NSW DoE deeply value your support in keeping students at home.
- Here, we will continue to provide our 'gold standard' support in: remote learning, EALD and NAP Support, SLSO support, Guided Reading, First Nations opportunities, soon CAPA groups support and special, one-off virtual excursions.
- Please read the formal advice (in pdf) below - Thank you for your support
We are currently at Level 4.
You do not have to be a teacher.
Time Descriptions for Remote Learning.
- Please review the NSW Government COVID-19 news and updates for the venues and locations and adhere to the advice provided. This means that NSW staff and students can continue to attend school to work and learn, except for the following reasons:
- They must remain at home if they are unwell, even with the mildest of symptoms. If they are unwell they must receive a negative COVID test and be symptom free before returning to school.
- If they are travelling from outside the ‘border bubble’ defined by the map, they will need to sign the Service NSW declaration form in accordance with NSW Health requirements. This form can be completed in the 24-hour period before entering NSW or on arrival. The information gathered via the travel declarations is vital in allowing NSW Health to contact travellers if necessary.
- Attendance whilst Working at Home is very important. Rolls are being marked by teachers when students engage in Learning at Home. This is called Flexible Attendance.
- Flexible Attendance for Online Learning: Students engaging through class-based MS Teams meetings, completing set tasks and completing online programs.
- Flexible Attendance using Workbooks: Teachers will check who has collected and returned workbooks. If downloading and printing a workbook at home, please scan a completed workbook and email to the school. These students will also be marked as Flexible Attendance.
- Absent: Students who have not engaged in either online or workbook learning will be recorded as Absent-Unjustified.
- Sick Leave: If your child is at home sick, please send a notification as normal.
- Any hard copy workbooks either collected or printed MUST BE signed into our large purple-lidded tab, so that we can mark your child as being meaningfully engaged in 'Flexible Learning and Attendance' weekly.
- Online engagement (MS Teams) is able to be tracked and recorded daily via Sentral and MS Business Intelligence for 'Flexible Learning and Attendance'.
- We are still focused on our Semester Two Attendance Sprint to have over 90% of our students engaged in learning above 90% of the time.
- The NSW DoE's new minimum attendance standard (remote/later onsite) is 95%.
- If you have any questions concerning attendance please email the school.
- We were due to be performing at Callaghan's CPAC centre at Callaghan College Jesmond Senior Campus.
- This was supposed to be Week 8, Term 3, 2020 :-)
- Then COVID... :-(
- Then Week 8, Term 3, 2021 :-)
- Then COVID... :-(
- ... but we are resilient. We don't mind a bit of 'Groundhog's Day' :-)
- See you in Week 8, Term 3, 2022 ;-)
What might have been
Groundhog's Day! Surprise!
What will be in 2022!
No, we're not endorsing the product placement, but the sense of Groundhog's Day from 2020 and 2021 is certainly there:-)
- ABC Newcastle News
- Broadway on Demand
- NATSIA Art Awards and Virtual Art Gallery
- Whats on Newcastle
- Science Week in Newcastle
- Virtual Sydney Science Trail
- Make your own Space Food Sticks (52 years after Apollo 11)
- Sydney Opera House Escape Rooms
- Sydney Opera House Stream - Talks, Debates, Dance, Drama, Music
- Kindergarten have been learning about pigs and goats.
- They have been using lots of describing words to write information reports.
- Students are impressing their teachers with wonderful number sentences and sequencing events in Mathematics lessons.
- They have loved learning from cultural stories with Mr Cousins, the fun activities in our video calls, and especially our pyjama dance party on Friday.
- Kindergarten teachers also started guided reading groups with students this week.
- It was great to be able to work with small groups of students, supporting them with their goals.
- The Stage One team have been having a wonderful time engaging online in MS Teams.
- Teachers have enjoyed listening to their students read during Guided Reading Groups.
- Students have been busy learning about fractions and area in Mathematics, shadows and moon phases in Science, weather in Geography and dancing in PE!
- Some students have even shared photos of their pets, Lego creations and birthday cakes with their classmates and teachers.
- It's great to see all the happy faces in photos on the sharing spaces and in the Video Chats each day. Keep up the great work Stage One!
- Stage 2 had a great time connecting with friends and teachers on their daily video calls.
- We have been busy learning about representing seasons in Visual Arts.
- We have been leaping in PE, and studying 'Bike Safety in Health.
- Then there is 'Electrostatics' in Science and 'Survival' in Geography!
- The Premier’s Sporting Challenge is providing lots of opportunities to get outside and get active...time away from the screen.
- As you can see in the photos, it’s not all work and no play in Stage 2!
- 5A have been engaged and respectful during learning at home.
- The class has been supporting one another during video chats and keeping our class community strong.
- We have celebrated birthday’s and had a ‘Bring your Pet to Home School' learning day.
- In Science, students designed a piece of technology that would help to clean up space junk.
- 5A students displayed excellent creative, design and problem-solving skills. Well done.
- 5D Have enjoyed designing towns as part of our Geography unit.
- Students used items from around the house and Minecraft to design their towns.
- 5D thought about water sources, food sources and energy.
- They also considered where their citizens could and should live.
- Well done 5D!
- 5M have been do some significant learning this wek.
- This has included investigating the Declaration of Human Rights in English studies.
- 5M have created some posters, both digital and on paper.
- These display their understanding in a creative way.
- Well done 5M!
- 5/6L have been busy this week with their remote learning.
- This has included focusing on the Declaration of Human Rights in English.
- 5/6L students were also tasked with creating a poster to represent this.
- Students have also enjoyed explaining their understandings by completing procedures to build paper boats.
- Well done 5/6L.
- 6K had a fun and relaxing Video Chat on Friday in their PJ’s.
- Ohhh. too much snoozing...
- Where is our report?
- Wake up Jeff :-)
- 6T have had another busy week of online learning.
- They have showcased their artistic skills by recreating animals in nature.
- Students have worked hard on their Declaration of Human Rights posters.
- They also constructed forts and obstacle courses, whilst at home.
- Well done 6T!
- Premier’s Sporting Challenge was temporarily put on hold to allow students to have a few weeks ‘rest’ while adapting to Remote Learning.
- We are ready to continue the challenge and what better way to ensure your kids are getting active and away from their computers!
- We will continue to track our participation for the remainder of Term 3. Class Teachers are reminding students to track their physical activity each day and on Monday the following week.
- Teachers will ask the students what award they have achieved for the week (see below).
- This is a link, including videos for ways you and your family can get active at home. Please click on either K-2 or 3-6 as appropriate.
- Remember any sporting or PE activities set by the class teachers as part of Remote Learning count, as well as playing in the backyard, bike riding, walking the dog etc.
- We look forward to seeing how active everyone is and what awards we can achieve.
- Children’s University members have been added to a Team. Attached to the Team is a Class Notebook where students can track their hours to be signed off, as they would in their passports.
- There they also have access to their CU Online Portal logins, which have lots of fun activities that can be done online.
- Miss Meaton has also posted some challenges in the Class Notebook.
- Miss Meaton will let the students know when we can all meet again for a Video Call to answer any questions.
KG - Samuel, Abby, Alexandra, Nixon
KC - Annika, Hudson, Kade, Zoe
KR - Masoud, Teah, Amelia, Zoey
KB - Ryan, Sukhad, Nate, Blaize
1L - Cody, Olivia, Jonas, Oliver
1M - William, Thea, Ollie, Stella
1N - Xander, Hamza, Daniel, Aleeia
1P - Charlotte, Tex, Claire, Lilah
2B - Ivy, Bentley, Amelia, Tate
2ED - Brayden, Samuel, Hudson, Brittany
2M - Eloise, Dylan, Connor, Azraa
2P - Joshua, Ashton, Logan, Kayleigh
3K - Ruby, Abby, Lihan, Asher
3M - Omar, Olivia, Erica, Evan
3Q - Charlie, Layla, Rubine, Dylan
4G - Jake, Hayden, Scarlett, Heidi
4H - Charlotte, William, Ayden Tariq
4R - Cooper, Isabella, Thomas, Ananta
5A - Riley, Rochelle, mason, Mia
5D - Charlotte, Payton, Vansh, Kayd
5M - Alexis, Oliver, Cooper, Georgia
6K - Isabel, Madelyn, Zander, Sally
6T - Inez, Harrison, Chaise, Layla
5/6L - Sophie, Keira, Jai, Amelia
- Who should you reach out to?
- Information located on our online sites should assist.
- If not, please contact the school office to make a time to:
- a) Talk to your child's Classroom and/or Support Teacher if education related, or
- b) Talk to our Office team if related to school administration, or
- c) Email the P&C if it is a Uniform-related item. When you do reach out, please leave some information as to the nature of your inquiry as this will better enable us to support you;
- If you cannot resolve your query at this level, please reach out via our office to make contact with one of the School Executive. This includes your child's Assistant Principal or possibly our School Administration Manager.
- If you are unable to resolve your queries or concerns at this stage, you may wish to contact our Deputy Principal and in some cases, e.g. Canteen, our Business Manager.
- Should you need further support and have been unable to move to a resolution, please reach out via our School Office to make time to connect with the School Principal.
- Students, parents and carers may be interested in Studiosity, an online tutoring service for students in Years 3 - 12 available through Newcastle Libraries.
- Online tutors are available for one-on-one assistance daily from 3pm to midnight.
- For writing feedback, users can submit a draft at any time of the day or night.Studiosity will endeavour to return it with expert feedback within 24 hours.
- Study quizzes are available 24/7. This includes hundreds of Australian Curriculum-based practice tests for Years 3 - 12, including NAPLAN.
- For more details see the Newcastle Libraries website below
- Studiosity app now available! - City of Newcastle (nsw.gov.au)