IN THE LOOP 6 February 2020

Term 1 Week 2 6 February 2020

Message from the Principal Welcome to the 2020 School Year!

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all new and returning families to the 2020 school year! I trust

that everyone has had time to relax and rejuvenate with family and friends over the vacation period

ready for an exciting year ahead. The staff and I are looking forward to a fantastic 2020 with the SSPS

community.

Classes and Staffing 2020

Mrs Brandtman will be on personal leave for approximately four weeks and Ms Julie Lennon will be

relieving as Deputy Principal for the duration of Mrs Brandtman’s absence. Ms Mel Thomas will relieve

as Kindergarten (ES1) Assistant Principal for this period.

With new enrolments now stabilised, we were able to form classes last Friday. Students have been

placed into their 2020 class and teachers are establishing class routines and beginning learning

programs. The organisation of 2020 classes has been a complex task and I can assure parents that

class it has involved significant input from previous teachers, the executive team, support staff and has

taken into account many factors, including parent requests based on extraordinary grounds. The needs

of the entire student body are carefully considered when new classes are formed and we strive to create

safe, supportive and engaging learning environment for all students through a combination of straight

grade and multi-age/composite classes across the school.

Dates for Your Diary

Thursday 13th Feb Swimming Carnival

Friday 14th Feb Summer PSSA Tryouts -1

Monday 17th Feb Kindergarten start at 9.15am

Tuesday 18th Feb Scripture classes commence

Wednesday 19th Feb Meet the Teacher Stage 3

Thursday 20th Feb Music Groups commence

Friday 21st Feb Summer PSSA Tryouts –2

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Students are expected to quickly settle into their class; with their new teacher and classmates to

begin enjoying the challenges of the new school year. I appreciate your support in encouraging and

reassuring your child within the first few weeks and throughout the year.

The school enrolment has settled at 635 students with 26 classes and approximately 52 teachers,

support staff and School Administration and Support Staff (SASS Staff) in total. The staffing

allocation includes; Release from Face to Face teachers (RFF), a teacher librarian, a visual arts

teacher, English and Language (EAL/D) Learning and Support (LaST) and Community Language

teachers, a school counsellor (Lenore Derbyshire), as well as a number of Learning and Support

Officers (LSOs) and a General Assistant. As a number of our teaching staff work in a permanent/part

time capacity, some positions and classes will have the class teacher role shared.

Classroom Requirements, School Levies and Voluntary Contributions

Tomorrow a note will be sent home requesting payment for classroom requirements, school levies

and a voluntary contribution. This year a decision has been made to give families the option of

paying the levies either in a lump sum or over two semester payments. Families may also choose to

pay the voluntary contribution. The amount requested varies for each grade and will be and includes

a number of items listed on the note. It is preferred that parents utilise the online payment facility

(available through our school webpage) to make school payments, although the options of cash or

cheque payment are also available, on request.

Parent Teacher Information Sessions

Attendance at the Parent / Teacher Information sessions in Weeks 4 and 5 is highly recommended

as these meetings will outline the class and stage routines for the year, as well as major events,

syllabus requirements and homework expectations, amongst other topics. The days and times for

each Grade or Stage Information session will be staggered to help eliminate clashes for families with

more than one child. A detailed note will be sent home this week. It is important that parents

establish early contact with the class teacher to ensure open and effective communication. A positive

partnership between parents and the school will contribute greatly to students reaching their potential

during the year. Late in Term 1 there will be an opportunity for individual parent teacher interviews to

discuss individual students’ progress.

Welcome to Kindergarten students!

This year's Kindergarten students are off to a smooth start; very quickly settling into class

routines. This has been mainly due to students and parents attending orientation sessions and the

preparation staff and parents have done leading up to the start of the 2020 school year. The

kindergarten teachers would like to say a big thank you to all the parents for having lunch boxes, hats

and clothing marked clearly with child's name. Also, a little reminder that currently we are not

allowing kindergarten students to order lunches or go to the canteen for the first two weeks until we

have lunch routines in place.

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Sport In Schools Athletics Program (Year 2-6) 2020

In Term 1 students from Years 2-6 will be participating in an Athletics Program provided by the ‘Sport

in Schools’ company. The program will consist of eight 40 minutes lessons throughout Term 1,

preparing students for participation in the school athletics carnival in Term 2. The providers will also

be on hand to run the K-2 Athletics Carnival at school, on the same day as the 3-6 carnival is held.

The lessons will be part of each class’s PDHPE program and will be delivered by qualified PE

teachers who will provide expert tuition on all athletics events using high quality equipment. The

program cost is included in the Classroom Requirements & Levies note. This program has been

successful in 2016 and 2018 and the school has once again engaged in the program to benefit the

students from Year 2-6. The program will take place on Mondays, commencing next week. Year 2-6

students are to wear sports uniform, including sports shoes on Mondays for Term 1 (starting Monday

February 10).

School Swimming Carnival

This year’s School Swimming Carnival will be held next Thursday, 13th February. Students should

come to school at the regular starting bell time in the morning prepared for the carnival even if

the weather is overcast/raining. Please do not contact the school. Family members are most

welcome to join us at Sans Souci Leisure Centre to cheer on our swimmers. The carnival is

organised in two separate sessions shown below:

• Junior session (8, 9 & 10 year olds) 9:40am-12pm

• Senior session (11 & 12 year olds) 12pm-2:30pm

All students in Years 3-6 are expected to attend and encouraged to participate. Last day for

payment is Tuesday 11th February. Students should wear their House colours on the day, i.e. Apollo

- Yellow, Saturn - Red, Mercury - Blue, and Gemini - Green and support their house when not

competing. Good luck to all participants and please contact Mr. Knight if you have any questions

about the carnival.

Mr M. Knight and Mr R. Hoff – Carnival Coordinators

Friday Sport Changes for Year 3-6

The Botany Bay PSSA executive has made some significant changes to the way PSSA sport will be

organised in 2020. This will impact on how Sans Souci Public School organises sport.

There will no longer be summer PSSA sports competitions in Term 1. Winter PSSA sports

competitions (Soccer, Oztag and netball) will commence in Term 2 and will run until approximately

August. Summer PSSA sports competitions (cricket, AFL and softball) will commence in Term 3

(August) and conclude in late in Term 4.

Throughout Term 1, students in Year 3-6 will have the opportunity to trial for selection in both winter

and summer teams. These trials will be held on Friday mornings starting from Week 3 (February 14).

As a result of these changes, the school will not be offering optional sports such as swimming and

gymnastics in Term 1 but will be offering some optional sports in Term 2, Term 3 and Term 4. More

information will be sent home regarding these optional sports later in the term

During the year, the school may organise registered sporting providers to teach structured activities

as part of the school sport program.

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Maintenance Update Over the vacation period, some areas of playground asphalt have been repaired to eliminate trip

hazards from tree roots. A new fence has also been installed on the border of the Year 1-2

playground. In coming months much of the school will undergo internal painting in classrooms, stair

well and corridors. This may mean that classes may be temporarily moved as each room is

completed.

P&C Annual General meeting

The Parents and Citizens (P&C) association will hold the P&C Annual General Meeting (AGM) on

Tuesday February 18 at 7pm in the school library. This is a great opportunity for parents to become

involved in a range of school community initiatives and to support the students of Sans Souci PS. All

executive positions on the 2020 P&C will be declared vacant and will be put to nomination for

election at the meeting

2020 Bully Buster Training

All Year Five students attended Bully Buster Training sessions this

week. During these sessions students were acquainted with the

roles and responsibilities of Bully Busters and practised strategies

to help other students in the playground. The Bully Busters are

school leaders and fulfil a very important role in our school. We are

looking forward to the launch of our 2020 Bully Buster team.

Mrs Thompson – Bully Buster Coordinator

Library News Welcome back everyone. Borrowing commences next week for year 1 to year 6 classes. Please

keep your library bag in your school bag for now so you will be ready to borrow. If you still have

books at home from last year please return them as soon as possible. The 2020 PRC begins soon

and this year the theme for Book Week is "Curious Creatures, Wild Minds".

Happy Reading, Megan Holmes

Staff Professional Learning

All teaching staff took part in a Technology Workshop as part of the Staff Development Day on

January 28. Leaders from the Technology Team led staff through a series of workshops developing

knowledge of current technologies being utilised across the school and particularly the new

technologies available in the Innovation Learning Lounge Area. Stage teams were able to experiment

with a range of technologies that will support and enhance learning from Kindergarten to Year 6.

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Band News

We are excited to get started with another musical year of the band program at SSPS. Performing

Band, Training Band and Tutorials will begin this year on Thursday, 20th February. There will be a

smaller Ensemble to challenge the more experienced players. This will be held Thursday mornings

in the MPLC. Start date for the Ensemble will be in a couple of weeks - band members will be invited

to attend. All tutorials will be held after school between 3.20pm-5.20pm. A timetable will be issued by

early next week with tutorial times. We look forward to seeing more of our SSPS students shine

through music.

Mrs Kennedy & Mrs Watson

Band Coordinators

New Parking Restrictions on the Boulevarde

As we welcome the community to the 2020 school year, I re-mind you that in 2019 the Georges River Council conducted a review of parking regulations in the vicinity of the school. As a result there has been some significant changes to parking re-strictions in some areas of the Boulevarde, including:

No Parking between 8-9:30am and 2:30-4pm on school days

Additional No Stopping zones

Essentially, this makes the newly signed No Parking zones, a pick-up and drop-off zone. These changes have been enacted to improve the line of sight for students and parents entering and leaving the school and have been endorsed by the school staff and P&C Committee as a safety measure to protect our children from potential danger. This may mean that parents who regularly park at the rear of the school in the mornings and afternoons may have to now park in unrestricted zones away from the new signage. Please be aware that the Georges River Council Parking Rang-ers and Police Highway Patrol will be enforcing these new regu-lations and fining drivers for not obeying the signs.

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Stage 3 BYOD Program

A notice to Stage 3 parents that your child will be commencing their BYOD

program from Monday, 17th

February. In preparation to students bringing

their iPads to school, they are currently undergoing a unit of work on “Digital

Citizenship” providing them with information on being a safe and responsible

user of technology when going on-line. Students will soon be given a student

user BYOD contract that needs to be signed by themselves and a parent and

returned to class teachers before they can use their iPad at school. Stage 3

teachers have developed a variety of engaging and enriching learning activities

which they are keen to implement once students commence bringing their

iPads to class.

In the Spotlight…

This week’s feature – Student Leadership Team

Mr Knight and Mrs Lennon are our Executive staff who will be supporting the Student Leadership Team in carrying out their duties this year. Being an elected position, these students not only have a passion for leadership, decision making and public speaking but also embody the values expected as role models for all our SSPS students. This week we interviewed some representatives of our Student LeardershipTeam and enquired about their expectations for the year ahead.

Nikash (Captain) – I am excited to talk at and organise assemblies. Assisting students and teachers is a part of my role I’m also looking forward to.

Theodora (Captain) – The expectations for me are going to be high by being in my uniform every day and making sure I’m the best role model I can be.

Ari (Vice-Captain) – I’m looking forward to assisting all teachers and taking part in all school events.

Emily (Vice-Captain) – I am looking forward to the opportunities that come with my leadership role and helping my peers and running assemblies.

- Spotlight journalist: Nikash T

Next Newsletter’s spotlight feature:

Sport Captains

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Dance Groups

Dance Groups 2020 will be announced tomorrow (Friday). Notes will follow next week.

Year 2 Choir

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for our Year 2 Junior Choir. If your child is successful they will be required to attend a matinee and evening performance at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre later in the year. There will be a cost of approx. $50.00. Please discuss this with your child as it is a yearly commitment and places are limited. If your child will be absent during tryouts next Thursday, please see Mrs Dobosz prior to the day. Mrs Dobosz Year 2 Choir Co-ordinator

Upcoming Dates…Years 3-6

13th Feb Swimming Carnival

14th Feb Summer PSSA Tryouts #1

18th Feb Scripture classes commence

19th Feb Meet the Teacher – Stage 3 (4pm)

20th Feb Band Program commences

21st Feb Summer PSSA Tryouts #2

24th Feb Meet the Teacher – Stage 2 (4pm)

26th Feb Stage 3 Science incursion

28th Feb Summer PSSA Team Tryouts #3

6th Mar Zone Swimming Carnival

6th Mar Stage 3 Cyberbullying incursion

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9Canteen Roster

Thursday 6th February HELP NEEDED Thursday 13th February Christine S

Friday 7th February RIMA

ANGELA

Friday 14th February ANGELA

Monday 10th February HELP NEEDED Monday 17th February HELP NEEDED

Tuesday 11th February HELP NEEDED Tuesday 18h February HELP NEEDED

Wednesday 12th February NATALIE Wednesday 19th February BRIANNA

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FREE EVENT—Everyone Welcome! Discover Sailing day at Georges River Sailing Club The only equipment needed is shoes and clothing suitable for use in water. The event is being held from 10am - 2pm, Sunday 9th February.