Murwillumbah Public SchoolPromoting Excellence in EducationNewsletter 17th May 2017 Week 4 Term 2

PUBLICSCHOOL

Prince Street 6672 1467Murwillumbah

Principals Message I hope all our mums had a wonderful Mother’s Day last Sunday with family and friends. A huge thank you to our fabulous P&C Committee for their coordination and success of our 2017 Mother’s Day stall. Many thanks to the parents and grandparents who were there to assist the students in choosing from the wide selections of special gifts. I do hope all the mums, grandmothers and aunts enjoyed receiving their gifts – they were chosen with much love and thought! Can I thank all of the families who supported the P&C Mother’s Day Stall. I hope all of the mums and grandmothers enjoyed their gifts.You may see a new face in the office throughout this term. I would like to welcome Mrs Tegan Pochodyla who has joined our office staff. Tegan will be working on Monday and Wednesdays. Mrs Price will be starting some long service leave today. Miss Underwood will be teaching KP until the 13th June while Mrs Price is on leave. Last week our Year 3 and 5 students sat the NAPLAN test for 2017. I am so proud of our students – they showed grit and applied themselves to complete the set tests. NAPLAN is a ‘point in time test’ that provides us standardised

results that are aggregated across the state to determine areas of expertise in our students and areas for us as teachers to further focus on. It is an invaluable mechanism for us as a school to indicate where we need to focus on in our teaching and learning practices K-6.Keep in mind the Year 7 NAPLAN information is just as important. We focus on our growth Years 3 – 5 and then again Year 5 – 7. All teachers in all grades contribute to the ongoing learning of our students therefore we share the responsibility and celebrations collectively. Once the results are returned to schools we will discuss our next actions with you in a parent forum. Thank you to all the parents of the Year 3 and Year 5 students this year who were most supportive in reassuring our students that this was just another day at school completing an assessment task. Very much appreciated!The Annual Report for 2016 is complete and you can find a copy of it on the school website. The report gives you valuable information about how our school is achieving the improvement focus set out in our school plan for 2015-2017. It includes information about the school, NAPLAN results and how funding has been allocated and used to improve student outcomes.

School News

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Early next week will be shortlisting for the classroom teachers’ position advertised through closed merit selection. This will be followed by interviews. We are looking at this position commencing straight away. This will be dependent on DoE staffing. I want to thank Nat Hall as the P&C representative and Barb Power as the staff representative. Under DoE guidelines, volunteers in schools need to apply for a Working With Children Check. There is no cost for volunteers. Parents who transport students to sporting and other outside of school activities will need to present their WWCC certificate to the office for our records. How do I apply? Individuals are responsible for obtaining their own WWCC clearance. The application process is prescribed by the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) on its website www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au.We are now taking enrolments for Kindergarten 2017 – 2018. The Department of Education and Training enforces the policy that children who are enrolling must be known by the name that appears on their birth certificates, unless

the parent enrolling the child can demonstrate that they were in fact already known by the new name. Therefore it is essential that you present your child’s birth certificate to the office staff for enrolment purposes. Immunisation Certificates & Birth Certificates must be sighted before the child can begin in Kindergarten.Have you had a chance to look at the “Schools A to Z” website recently? Schools A to Z is a departmental website aimed at helping to keep parents up to date and informed on issues within schools with particular regard to supporting strong bonds between home and school. The website features articles on a range of topics including school curriculum, student well-being, managing homework and technology.

Have a great weekLes DaleyPrincipal

Merit Awards CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR MERIT AWARD WINNERS FOR WEEK 3 TERM 2KA: Damon, Saanvi 3/4L: Tess, NateKP: Lara, Riley 3/4S: Lincoln, Apryl1K: Scarlette, Cash 5/6G: Anthony, Noah1S: Izzy, Jyles 5/6P: Luis, Zali, Robert2M: Poppy, Jayla 5/6R: Evie, Dylan, Johnny, Zack2W: Nathan, Charli Mrs Taylor: Eli, Nate3/4J: Cowan, Summer Music: Abigail G, Kaitelyn, Cooper,

Aurelia

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR MERIT AWARD WINNERS FOR WEEK 4 TERM 2KA: Kalia, Seth 3/4L: Acer, Eryn, HayleighKP: Seth, Marli 3/4S: Angel-lee, Vanessa1K: Nathaniel, Ivy 5/6G: Kyson, Talia1S: Chloe, Katie 5/6P: Ella, Josh, Rhiannon, Annalee2M: Samuel, Mathew 5/6R: Locklan, Nick2W: Lachlan H, Jesse Mrs Taylor: Apryl, Acer3/4H: Arden, Chloe, Abigail Computer/Library: Sophia, Marlie, Cree, Maighsi3/4J: Leah, Zion Other: Luke

Principals Message News

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Big Vegie CrunchWHAT IS THE BIG VEGIE CRUNCH? Did you know that only 5.4% of Australian children eat enough vegetables? To encourage students to eat more vegetables, our school will be taking part in The Big Vegie Crunch (as part of Vegetable Week) on Thursday 25th May at 10 am. Schools across NSW will be joining together to break the record for the most students crunching vegetables simultaneously.

What can you do to help? • Pack a container of vegetables (not fruit) for your child to eat on the day• Keep serving up the vegetables at home!

If you require more information on what activities our school is doing over Vegetable Week, please contact the school or your child’s teacher.

Louise WatkinsVegetable Week School Coordinator

Walk Safely to School DayWalk Safely to School Day (WSTSD), 19 May 2017, is an annual, national event when all Primary School children are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a community event seeking to promote road safety, health, public transport and the environment.

For those students who live too far to walk to school, a suggestion is to walk from Knox Park up to our school.

Friday the 26th May is National Sorry Day. Sorry Day recognises the negative impact of Australian policies, practices and attitudes on Indigenous people, and in particular, the stolen generation. The stolen generation refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who were forcibly removed, as children, from their families by government, welfare or church authorities. On the 26th May we reflect of this sad and painful history and recognise moments of resilience, healing and the power of saying sorry.

We would like to invite the students to wear a red, yellow or black t-shirt to commemorate this day. They will need to wear their sports uniform shorts or skirt and sports shoes as usual, and their school hat. We will be introducing some classroom activities and a colouring competition on Sorry Day, which will be due in the last week of term, in time to celebrate NAIDOC week.

National Sorry Day

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May is National Family Reading Month, and the focus this year is for families to read aloud together.

Every student has been given a red sheet with a calendar for the month of May on it, so that they can keep track of who they read aloud with during May. This is aimed at every student from Kindergarten to year 6.

Each student that participates goes into the draw to WIN 1 of 50 $100 book vouchers. You can enter your child online, or they can let me (Mrs Scott) in the library know they are participating, and I can enter them online. This has to be done before midnight 31/5/2017. There are also 25 teacher prizes to be won. The log must be filled in, because if your child is a winner; they need to provide the completed log, signed by a parent. The PRC challenge is also still on, until the 25th of August. We have some students who have already completed the 20 books required, however are still reading to try and complete as many books as possible. This is a great opportunity to read a variety of books, and it could also link in with reading aloud in May.Students have also been enjoying the opportunity to take home some old School Magazines to read. These magazines have some great stories, comics and crosswords in them. You might even remember reading them when you were at school!

Library News

Community NewsMISS TWEED BALL SERIES

May 20th TumbulgumMay 27th BurringbarJune 3rd Crystal CreekJune 17th UkiJune 24th TyalgumJuly 29th ChillinghamAugust 5th Final in Murwillumbah

The evenings start at 8pm and tickets are available at the door. The evening is planned to have something for all the family with no alcohol. The dances are mainly ‘old time’ with a few new vogue, a short set of rock’n’roll, and some old favourite line dances. The dress code is semi-formal, but many of the girls go formal. You may participate in the title dance which is a Pride of Erin, or choose to just watch. After the titles dance there is a supper break provided by the local hall included in your admission price. The evenings conclude at midnight. The music is provided by the band Trilogy.

CHILDREN’S BUTTERFLY TRAILChildren are invited to join Earth Learning artists to celebrate the important role BUTTERFLIES and other insects have played over millions of years in pollinating flowering plants. Bring your children to help draw, colour and display our butterflies in the riverside park next to the Bridge.Free fruit and juice provided thanks to the butterflies.Date: Sat 27 May Time: 10.00 am to 12MD Cost: Free Venue: McIlwraith Park, Commercial Road, opposite Murwillumbah Services Club. Enter through first opening in levy wall just along from the bridge.Children’s Butterfly Trail http://www.themurwillumbaharttrail.com/events-and-workshops/#/childrens-butterfly-trail/

Hockey Report

Last Friday, 55 students represented our school at the District Cross Country, at Murwillumbah High School. 8, 9 and 10 year old boys and girls ran 2km. 11, 12 and 13 year old boys and girls ran 3km. All of our students ran well and displayed exceptional sportsmanship cheering each other on. 10 of our students placed in the top 10, resulting in them moving on to the Far North Coast carnival to be run on Friday 24th May at Yelgun. Our school finished 4th overall in the pointscore.Cooper (1st) Leah (4th)Charli (4th) Zack (7th)Anna (9th) Nick (9th)Nate (10th) Noah (10th) and Kodi (10th). We wish them all the best for FNC.

District Cross Country

On Thursday the 4th of May, the school girl hockey team played Centaur at the Murwillumbah hockey fields. As we arrived, Centaur was already there ready to play. We took the field and spread out, the whistle blew, the game had begun. As we started off we got up near the goals and had a shot which was then stopped by a Centaur girl’s stick, she flung it back down the other end. Our great goalie, Talia, stopped it. As we ran more we finally got it back up the other end, Maisy scored a goal! Then the halftime bell rang. We all ran over to the side where we then got our new placements. We then made our way back on to the field, the whistle blew once again and we got it back up the other end, where Ebony then scored, which made the score two-nil. We then held that score right until the end. This won us the game! We now get to play again sometime this time this term against another one of the winning teams. A special thank you to Luke and Jason for being the umpires. By Mahli

School NewsHEAD LICEWe suspect that nits/head lice are present in the hair of some students within the school.The source of hair lice is almost impossible to trace, but we do know that the infestation travels quickly. Would you please check your child’s hair tonight and if you find any eggs or lice then please commence treatment as recommended as soon as possible.CONDITIONER AND FINE TOOTH COMB METHOD1.Apply conditioner to dry hair aiming to cover each hair from root to tip with a layer of conditioner.2.Detangle the hair using an ordinary comb.3.Immediately comb the hair with a fine tooth comb.4.Wipe the conditioner off the fine tooth comb onto a paper tissue and look for eggs and lice.5.Repeat the combing for every part of the head at least 5 times.6.Also examine the comb for lice and eggs.The Department of Education considers that the detection and treatment of head lice in children is a parental responsibility.

School News

CALENDAR

Term 2

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

417th May 18th May 19th May

Walk Safely to School Day

522nd May

FNC Touch Football

23rd May 24th May 25th May

Big Vegie Crunch

Last day of Peer Support

26th May

FNC XCountry

National Sorry Day

629th May 30th May 31st May

FNC Dance Festival

1st June 2nd June

75th June 6th June 7th June 8th June

Yr 6 WHS Problem Solving

DayRugby League

Knockout

9th June

NC XCountry

812th June

Queen’s Birthday Public

Holiday

13th June 14th June 15th June 16th June

School Athletics Carnival

919th JuneFestival of

Performing Arts Verse Speaking

3-6

20th JuneFestival of

Performing Arts Verse Speaking

K - 2

21st June 22nd June 23rd June

1026th JuneFestival of

Performing Arts Choirs 3-6

27th June 28th June 29th JuneFestival of

Performing Arts Choir K-2

30th June

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS - MONDAY 3RD JULY 2017 TO FRIDAY 14TH JULY 2017Staff Development Day - Monday 17th July 2017

STUDENTS RETURN TO SCHOOL TUESDAY 18TH JULY 2017

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This Calendar is updated as new information becomes available,so please continue to check over the course of the Term.