Ironbark Ridge PS Withers Rd, Rouse Hill 2155 Ph: 8814 5687 Fax: 8814 5698 Email: ironbarkrg­p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Webpage: www.ironbarkrg­p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Newsletter ‘10 Term 1 Week 8 18.03.10

Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful DATES FOR THE DIARY

March 19 th PSSA 22 nd Stage 3 and ES1 Three Way Interviews from 3.15pm 23 rd Western Sydney Regional Swimming@ Homebush from 2pm 24 th 1.50pm 3/4Darling Assembly 26 th PSSA 28 th P&C Fireworks and carnival night 30 th Stage 1 and Stage 2 Three Way Interviews from 3.15pm 31 st 1.50pm 3Tuross Assembly, SRC Dances: K­2 5pm­6.30pm, 3­6 6.30pm­8pm 1 st Harmony Day and Easter Activities 2 nd First day of Easter break Students return for Term 2 on Tuesday 20th April.

CURRENT NOTES Yr 5 Milton Island Camp – Deposit due 26 th March Yr 6 Milton Island Camp – Deposit due 26 th March UNSW Competitions – due a.s.a.p.

Dear Parents and Friends,

Congratulations to our Kinder team whose excellent implementation of the Best Start Assessment program have for the second year running led to our selection as a Western Sydney Best Start Lighthouse school. This will give us the opportunity to further develop our action learning project in numeracy and develop stronger and broader links with surrounding pre­schools. Kinder Three Way Interviews will include a discussion around the Best Start results and progress that students are making in both literacy and numeracy development. Thank you to Miss Dennis for her promotion of Ride 2 School Day. It was great to see the number of bikes and scooters at school yesterday. All students who rode to school will receive a certificate. Congratulations to our Zone Swimming Team for great team and individual performances last Friday. Mrs Burns is to be congratulated for the great job leading our staff team in the organisation of the zone swimming carnival. The PSSA president, Luke Hogan wrote about the high benchmark for organisation that has been set. Good luck to all swimmers attending the regional carnival next week. Thank you to Miss Purser for conducting a “Meet the Teacher” evening this week for 5Murrumbidgee parents. Hopefully the turn out was so low because Three Way Interviews will be held next week, although the purposes of the two events are totally different. Extra­curricula events that we take so much pride in offering and which the children enjoy so much are only a part of the total picture at Ironbark Ridge. Our executive team are involved in leading many aspects of our school that are often taken for granted and they are not given the pats on the back that they deserve. Mrs Burns has a particular passion and talent in the extra­curricula activities that we often have cause to celebrate including debating, public speaking, eisteddfod, competitions and Tournament of Minds. Mrs Stokes works tirelessly leading the Student Welfare team. The scope of this team is huge including attendance, behaviour and learning support. This is often a thankless task which she approaches with dedication and sensitivity. Mrs De Jager has hit the ground running with her curriculum portfolio which includes professional learning, quality teaching and co­ordinating our

Australian Curriculum trial. We have participated in some excellent professional learning on Tuesday afternoons, thanks to Mrs De Jager. Mrs Johnson has been working hard to get our technology running more efficiently, co­ordinating installation of Interactive Whiteboards and co­ordinating our many creative arts programs such as choir, dance and instrumental music. All of these responsibilities are carried out on top of their supervision of staff and teaching of their own classes. We are lucky to have all four of our Assistant Principals. Our fourth Assistant Principal position will be filled through advertisement. Interviews should take place early in Term 2. The panel comprises Mrs Stedman as the P&C rep, Miss Short as the staff rep and Mr Lees, an AP from Crestwood as the representative of the School Education Director. I would like to thank all panel members for giving up their time to be part of this important selection process. I am sure that parents and students will take advantage of the Three Way Interviews offered over the next two weeks. It is a great way to involve your child in their learning: reflecting on achievements and setting goals for the future. Regards,

Kerry Poole Principal

Week 8 Principals Award 3 Tuross for great participation at our swimming carnival KSwan Kellyanne Wilson, Layne Crosbie, Cooper Stone K/1Alligator Sapphrine Andrews, Alyssa Flanner, Tristan Sahib 1Torrens Curtis Alexander, Olivia Scott 2 Yarra Emma Corey, Avishma Lohith, Darcy Andrews 2/3 Derwent Benjamin Creer, Harry Johnson, Isabella Coelho 3 Tuross Kaitlyn Raeburn, Emma Jones, Anthony Sultana 4/5 Lachlan Sejal Madan, Jamie Rix, Alistair Wood 5 Murrumbidgee Sid Nand, Asuntha Samarakoon, Jade Henry 6 Macquarie Jaewook Ahn, Zoe Rix, Jeremy Grieson Chinese Ashton Matthews, Monique Urio, Maddison Moog

From the Teachers PSSA PSSA – Cricket 19/3/2010 – Hills Centenary Park, Rouse Hill PSSA – T­Ball 19/3/2010 – Hills Centenary Park, Rouse Hill PSSA – Oz Tag 19/3/2010 – Second Ponds Reserve, Withers Road, Rouse Hill PSSA – AFL 19/3/2010 – Wright Reserve, Pye Road, Quakers Hill

Ridges Swimming Carnival Congratulations to our Ironbark Ridge Swimming Team who competed at last Friday’s Ridges Carnival at Blacktown. We had a very successful day and we were very proud of the speed and determination of our swimmers. Ironbark Ridge Public placed third in the straight point score but with the adjusted point score (based on school numbers) we were the winning school, congratulations!!!! Individual performance highlights include: Blake Meyer 3 rd Jnr Boys Backstroke, 2 nd Jnr Boy Breaststroke, 2 nd Jnr Boys I.M. Doris Mo 3 rd 11yr Girls Backstroke, Rory Davis 3 rd 11yr Boys Backstroke, 3 rd 11yr Freestyle, 2dn Snr Boys I.M., Liam Davis 2 nd Snr Boys Backstroke, 2 nd Snr Breaststroke, 3 rd Snr Butterfly, Dylan Gray 3 rd 8yr Boys Freestyle, Monique Urio 1 st 8yr Girl Freestyle, Lucas Van Dyke 1 st 9yr Boy Freestyle, Jake Bayfield 2 nd 11yr Breaststroke, Mitchell Clayton 3 rd 11yr Boys Butterfly, Grace Meek 3 rd Junior Girls I.M. and congratulations to the Jnr Boys relay team who came 2 nd and to the Snr Boys relay team who came 3 rd . Congratulations to Blake Meyer who was named Runner up Junior Boys Champion for 2010. Congratulations team, your results were fantastic!!!! We would like to thank the wonderful Emma and Angus McDonald who were excellent runners at the carnival, many principals and teachers from other schools commented on how mature and reliable they were in their positions. Also, thankyou to Mrs Davis and Mr Meek for your assistance during the day, your help was very much appreciated. Finally, congratulations to Mrs Burns and the Ironbark Ridge team for organising such a successful and well run carnival. A huge amount of organising and planning goes into running a carnival such as this and Mrs Burns did a fantastic job as the coordinator, thank you and well done Mrs Burns. The Regional Carnival will be held next Tuesday 23 rd March at the Homebush Aquatic Centre. Miss Dennis and Mrs Walker will be attending as Team Managers so competitors please bring your notes in ASAP. Ridges swimming caps will be on sale for $4.00 and you can purchase those on the day of the Regional from Miss Dennis or Mrs Walker. Shirt orders have been placed and we will hopefully have those available at the carnival. Regards, Mrs K Walker

KINDY CAPERS Next Monday we are having our 3 Way interviews where we will discuss how your child has settled into ‘big school’ and the related challenges they have met. We will also present the information we collected from our Best Start assessments. You will be provided with strategies to further assist your child with their development. Please remember that these fifteen minute interviews provide an overall view of your child’s progress in their first term of school and if you require further discussion then an appointment will need to be made on another date. Our teachers have certainly worked extremely hard to provide the appropriate learning programs and support that has been required to ensure such a smooth and productive start to mainstream schooling for our youngest students. Each term Star Awards are presented to some students in our school. This prestigious award is presented once each term and students are only nominated once a year. Our Kindy teachers will be presenting their nominations at next term’s assembly to ensure that each child will have the opportunity to demonstrate the necessary requirement. In the last week of this term our Kindies will be able to attend their first SRC dance. We have been busily learning new dance steps such as the Macarena and Nutbush so that our Kindy students can showcase their talents on the night. There will be more information closer to the time. Kindergarten teachers

5 Nepean

Ride2School­ Working to get more students walking and riding to school more often

TOUR DE IRONBARK I thought I was in France yesterday morning, as I watched a convoy of students flooding through the school gates with their bikes, ripstiks and scooters. All 153 students were participating in National Ride2School Day, what a remarkable number of participants!! Today students will be presented with a certificate and the K­2 students will also receive a sticker. All students who participated went into the draw to win one of 30 fluro yellow wrist bands. I would like to thank the 5 students in Nepean who helped me with the raffle and drew the names out. Congratulations to those students who were lucky enough to win! Some students enjoyed a healthy breakfast of fruit, juice and milk from the school canteen and I thank the canteen committee for their support in promoting this event. All students have the opportunity to enter a helmet artwork design competition. Bicycle NSW are asking students to create the artwork for a new helmet. There will be 1 winner from each region of NSW who will win a bicycle and helmet. One of the regional winners will be selected as the overall winner, having their artwork used on a limited edition helmet. The overall winner will also win a cycle skills workshop for their school. Teachers have the helmet design sheets and students will be working on their designs in class. The competition closes on Friday 28 th May and I will be sending all entries in by this date. Full terms and conditions are available online at www.bicyclensw.org.au

Miss Dennis Coordinator

6 Macquarie Students from Macquarie have been competing in many sporting activities, and succeeding, as shown by the large number who have been selected in Zone teams. Congratulations; Angus, Zoe, Sean, Jeremy, Emma, Shouvik and Andrew. The students presented a very entertaining assembly incorporating all the usual assembly activities into the story of the Macquarie River with a feature film “The Story of IO”. Well done everybody!!! Monday the 22 nd March is 3 way interview night and most children have been given a time. If the time doesn’t suit you please let me know and we can make alternate arrangements. So far this term the children have produced outstanding work in all areas, it is lovely to teach such a talented group and to see how much they have improved since last year. Every one has made a big effort to achieve in the areas they felt they needed to when setting goals. Most of the class will be sitting the Selective High School exam on Thursday and I wish them luck. Just remember if they are not offered a place I am sure they will succeed at what ever high school they attend.

Zone Swimming Carnival. A big thank you to Mrs Walker, Miss Dennis, Mrs Paton and Miss Penhall for doing such an excellent job at this carnival. When schools have to organise carnivals it is a huge job and takes many hours of work but it is worthwhile when you have a team like that to help out. And some fantastic results from our students. Judy Burns

SRC News 2010 Well we are off to a good start this year. The children are attending the meetings on even weeks, lunchtime on a Tuesday. Many good ideas have been put forward by the representatives. Next week we will be supporting Bandaged Bear to help children in hospital. We will be selling Clip on Bears $3.00

Pens $3.00 Hacky Sacks $2.00 Notepads $2.00 Plush Bears $7.00

The articles will be on sale at recess and lunch.

Please help us in such a good cause. Easter is with us again and our fund raising this year will be an Easter Egg Competition ­ 3 guesses for $1.00. Again your support is much appreciated. Marg Shorten SRC Co­ordinator

Scripture There seems to be some problems with students in the wrong scripture group or not in scripture at all. This appears to be mostly affecting our kindergarten students. Most of these problems relate to the details provided on your child’s enrolment form in the section requiring the nomination of a religious denomination being left blank or simply ‘christian’ being entered. I realise that last year families were asked to complete a form indicating their child’s scripture group, however the teacher that coordinated this task has left the school and the information gathered seems to have left with him. There are three groups this year for scripture: Anglican, Catholic and non scripture. If you have a problem with scripture please let the office know in writing which group you require for your child. We will let Mrs Przyremble know of the request and then we will update your enrolment information on our system to reflect this request so that in future years the coordinating teacher can have a computer report that is accurate. Therese Fox, School Administrative Manager

Band News All band lessons are now up and running. I’d like to thank all band students and parents for their patience during the set up period. As I am sure you realise, organizing a time table for 120 students, with 10 different instruments takes a great deal of time and planning. Students who are hiring instruments should all have received their hire agreement notes. Once these are returned Mrs Talati will distribute instruments to students on their lesson days. Instruments are being distributed in this way so that students can be shown how to care for them properly. These instruments are brand new so please ensure that students look after them carefully. The school will pay for maintenance costs to hired instruments unless they have not been cared for properly. In this case you will need to pay the cost of maintenance/ repair. Parents have been invoiced for music lessons. Some students have had more lessons than others. If you are one of the parents affected by late instrument hire or lesson start you should have received an amended invoice earlier this week. If you have any questions about the amount you need to pay, please don’t hesitate to contact me at school. Please note: If your child is away sick on their lesson day, you are not required to pay for this lesson. If however, your child forgets to attend their lesson or forgets their instrument you will be required to pay for their lesson. Don’t forget to remind your child to practise their instrument If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Alison Johnson (Band co­ordinator)

How much fruit and vegetables do children need? We are encouraged to go for 2 fruit and 5 vegetables every day. The amount children should eat depends on their, age, appetite and activity levels. With the emphasis on ‘Go for’ it is valuable if children learn they should be aiming to eat 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables every day. The emphasis in education should be on eating a variety of fruit and vegetables (including raw, cooked and different colours). This provides a wide range of nutrients. The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommends that children and adolescents eat the following number of serves of fruit and vegetables per day.

Age of child (years Fruit (serves) Vegetables (serves) 4­7 1­2 2­4

8­11 1­2 3­5

12­18 3­4 4­9

The recommendations are: What is a serve? A serve of fruit is equal to an average sized piece of fruit.

A serve of vegetables is equal to one medium potato, ½ cup cooked vegetables or legumes or 1 cup salad.

It has been fantastic to see children in all classes enjoying a fresh piece of fruit or veg and a sip of water! It is a perfect boost to their learning in the mornings. Thank you too, for sending large pieces of fruit, eg apples, in small bite size pieces. It is impossible for a child with wobbly teeth to get through a whole apple in a reasonable amount of time, so the small pieces are a great help.

Thank you for your support of Crunch&Sip ! Miss Penhall

LOST PROPERTY Last week at the zone swimming carnival at Blacktown Pool, this pram was left behind in the Ironbark team area. If this pram belongs to you, please collect from the school office. The goggles also belong to one of our swimmers, and they too are at the office for collection if they belong to you. Miss Penhall

UNIFORM SHOP NEWS We now have stock of Fleecy Baseball Jackets, Sleeveless Polar Fleece Vests, Boys & Girls Grey Bootleg Winter Pants, Girls Tartan pants and Girls White Blouses. The Microfibre Tracksuits, Unisex Long Sleeve Polos (green & sports), Girls Tunics & Scrunchies are all due in by the beginning of Term 2. We will let you know as they come in via this newsletter. Microfibre Tracksuit SPECIAL Order & pay for a Microfibre Jacket & Track Pants and SAVE $10 off the regular price. Order & pay for a Microfibre Jacket only and SAVE $5 off the regular price. Welcome to Clair who has joined our team of volunteers. If anyone else is available to help on Wednesday afternoons (2:30­3pm) don’t be shy, please let us know ! Everyone who works in the Uniform shop is a volunteer and as a result we do shut the shop promptly at 3pm on Wednesdays to allow our helpers to get their own children home from school. Please note that to process Credit card sales you must be present with your card. Our terminal does not allow us to process manual transaction without the credit card. We can provide direct deposit details if required. If anyone receives fruit and veg deliveries we will gladly take the small cardboard boxes off your hands if they are in good condition. We currently are in need of quite a few to fill our shelves and hold our stock. Opening Hours during school terms : Wednesdays : 8:30 – 10am & 2:30 – 3pm Monthly P&C meeting nights : 6pm – 6:45pm Phone 0451 016 283 – during shop hours only Hope to see you soon, Wendy, Sonia, Jo, Cristina, Deanne & Clair.

Ironbark Ridge PS 2010 Carnival & Fireworks Night Sunday 28 March 2010, 3.30­8.30pm

RSVP for –

Family Name: ________________________

No. of adults: ________________________

No. of children: ________________________

Handicapped parking space required: Yes / No

Food likely to be purchased (please circle one or more): Gourmet pies/sausage rolls

Hot Dogs

Pizza

Sushi

CANTEEN NEWS NOT LONG NOW TILL THE LONG AWAITED IRONBARK RIDGE FAMILY CARNIVAL & FIREWORKS DAY – SUNDAY 28 TH MARCH­ FROM 3PM TILL LATE

THE CANTEEN WILL BE SELLING THE FOLLOWING:

Timber Towns Famous Pies and Sausage Rolls (Simply the best money can buy) Sausage Rolls $2.00 Cheese & Spinach Roll $2.50 Roadie Style Mince Pie $2.50 Roadie Style Potato & Mince Pie $2.50 Gourmet Chunky Steak Pies $3.50 Gourmet Pepper Steak Pies $3.50 Gourmet Chicken Pies $3.50 Gourmet Beef, Tomato & Onion $3.50 Gourmet Steak Dianne $3.50 And Ridgey Didge Hot Dogs $3.00 Cans of Drink $2.00 Bottles of Water $1.50

Packets of Chips & Grain Waves Ice Creams for the adults $3.00 (yet to be confirmed) SEE YOU THERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankyou to everyone who has decided to become involved in this event

As we are coming to the end of the term, when you are placing an order, could you please include a second choice as some of our items are running low and we will not be reordering until next term. Thank you

FUNDRAISING NEWS Wednesday 24 th March – mark it in your diary ­ first Fundraising meeting for the year!! Being part of the fundraising committee is a fantastic way to become involved in your child’s school, and gives you the opportunity to make a wonderful network of friends with some of the other Mums and Dads and help provide much needed funds to benefit our children’s education! Our agenda is to finalise the Fundraising Calendar of Events for the year ahead, with coordinators already allocated to most events. We really need people to volunteer to help out with the various projects like…

• help wrap presents for the Mother’s & Father’s Day stalls,

• help sort pies on delivery day of our Annual Pie Drive in June, • volunteer to cook for a couple of hours at our Bunnings Sausage Sizzle at the end of the year,

etc, etc.

Any amount of time or involvement you can give is always greatly appreciated, and the children absolutely love seeing their parents involved with school whenever possible. With our fundraising events throughout the year, we try to offer a wide variety of things, so that families can choose which things they are interested in, and would like to support. We try to do things that are fun and interesting, and where ever possible, things that the children can get involved with and enjoy as well, eg. Mother’s & Father’s Day stalls, Camel Calendars, Family Movie Night, Pavers etc… The fundraising committee meets just once a month (from Term 2 ­ it will be the the 2 nd Wednesday of each month after school drop off in the morning), where we discuss where we’re at, what we’re doing next, and who needs help with what … etc. If you would like to be on the fundraising committee, or would just like to find out more about what’s involved, we’d love to see you at our first meeting next Wednesday 24 March. It will be in the Assembly Hall from 9.30am (as that is when the hall will be free). Great opportunity to grab a take­ away coffee from the shops, then come back and find an easy park after crazy peak hour is over! If you’d prefer to stay straight after 9am drop off, that’s fine as well, just come in and we’ll meet outside the hall and have a chat. If you can’t make it to the meetings but would like to receive emails about what is happening, have any questions or ideas, or would like to volunteer your time to help with a particular project, please send me your email address at yabsley@y7mail.com. This is my 2 nd year on the committee and my first year as the coordinator. I spent my first year on the committee as a Kindergarten parent in 2008 and I met so many other parents and found it an invaluable experience! This year I have my son Jeremy in year 2 and my daughter Ella in Kindergarten. Hope to see you at the meeting, and am looking forward to a fun and busy year on the Fundraising Team! Debby Yabsley

To Enter purchase 2 products and enter online. NOTE you need to keep your receipt as you need to enter the number. More info at http://www.spcardmona.com.au/ Don’t forget to credit your shopping loyalty points/vouchers to the school when you shop at Franklins in Rouse Hill (ask at the till), IGA in Beaumont Hills (put your receipt in the IRPS box by the door)or Good Guys in Castle Hill (ask at the till).

Vision Portraits This bi­annual service was provided last weekend at our school. Thank you to all those families who participated and helped make it a fun and successful day. Congratulations go to the Watson Family from 3 Tuross. They were the winners of the raffle drawn by Mrs Poole for the $195 photo package compliments of Vision Portraits. And the icing on the cake; we raised $738 for the P & C just for having it here! Look forward to seeing you next time! Donna Wright.

Tennis is a fun way to get active and learn new skills

Lessons are great value: $25 30 min private $20 45 min semi-private

Experienced and enthusiastic coach

Excellent facility in Kellyville, casual court hire available

Phone Lara Winston: 0432 839 467

http://sites.google.com/site/winstontenniscentre/

The Hills Family Centre offers free family support and group work programs to families living in the local area. Their new premises are at T1 level 4, Unit 437, 14 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista. For more information or support, please call us on 8805 7288.

Make 2010 A HIT!!