The West Weekly

Issue 73- Term 4 - Week 9 4th December 2017

Principal's Message

What a fantastic evening it was last Friday! Thank you to all those who came along to celebrate our wonderful multicultural community, to all those amazing teachers and community members who supported our children in their performances and to the fabulous organising team - wow!

Look out on Facebook for some happy snaps capturing the feel of the night.

This week we continue our celebration of our multicultural community. What does it mean to live in a multicultural society? How can we educate our children to live happily and successfully in our multicultural community?

“Australia is a multicultural country. Australia’s multicultural policy embraces our shared values and cultural traditions. It also allows those who choose to call Australia home the right to practise and share their cultural traditions and languages within the law and free from discrimination.

Almost a quarter of us were born overseas, and four million Australians speak a language other than English.

Australian culture is as broad and diverse as the country's landscape. Australia is multicultural and multiracial, and this is reflected in the country's food, lifestyle and cultural practices and experience.

Australia is a society of people from a rich diversity of cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have inhabited Australia for tens of thousands of years. Most Australians are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants who arrived over the last two centuries from more than 200 countries.” https://www.livingsafetogether.gov.au

I encourage parents to have conversations with their children this week about your cultural background, how you celebrate this in Australia, and how we can be accepting of how others celebrate their cultures.

School reports

Children will bring home their final reports on Friday this week. This report is a summary of the second half of the year. I encourage you to read it with your children, congratulate them on their achievements, and discuss with them the areas that they will be working on next to achieve further improvements. If you would like to discuss any aspects of the report with your child's teacher, please contact them or the school office to make an appointment.

When you are reading the report, please remember that a grade of C is the expected, average grade. A C means that your child has learnt the required information and developed the skills for this period of time. The grades represent the work done in the second half of the year, they are not a summary of the whole year. If the grade is the same as it was in the half year report, it means that they are continuing to progress at the same rate.

Staffing 2018

The panel formed to appoint a new principal for 2018 has not been able to identify a suitable candidate, so the position will remain open and be re advertised at the start of next year. As a result of this, Mrs Rhodes will be acting principal, at the start of next year. I have complete confidence that she will look after the school and the best interests of all children, teachers and the school community.

Mrs Cotter, who has been a teacher at Parramatta West for over 40 years, will be finally retiring at the end of this year. She has had an amazing influence on many students and teachers during her time at the school, and will be sorely missed. There are also a number of parents at our school who were themselves taught by Mrs Cotter! We wish her all the best for a very happy and well deserved retirement.

Mrs Allen has been supporting our special needs students for 20 years, but at the end of this year she leaves us to move to a school closer to home. Saving two hours travel a day will have a positive impact on her life, but PWPS will miss her care and support for our students. We wish her a happy time at her new school.

End of year events

Parramatta West has an amazing team of parents who support us in so many ways - the P and C, the home reading mums, uniform shop, the parent / student reading program, in class support, the Community Action Team, interview panels... the list goes on.... we want to thank you for your support, so please come along on Wednesday to enjoy morning tea with us!

Next Monday is our presentation day for our K-2 (9.15am) and 3-6 11.30am) children. Parents are of course most welcome to attend. We plan to be outside under the COLA this year to give us a bit more room.

Next Tuesday (12th) morning will be our Sports Presentation for 3-6 children from 9.00am.

On Wednesday (13th) evening we farewell our Year 6 children, and on Thursday (14th) all classes will have their end of year parties.

Friday 15th is the last day for our students, when we will have the talent quest and the passing out parade of year 6 students and all leaving students and staff members - guaranteed tears!

2018

The school year starts for years 1-6 on January 30th if you are going to be late returning to school for any reason, please make sure that we know so that we can ensure that we hold a place for your children in classes.

Kindergarten will be having their Best Start Assessments in the first week, and will start full time from Monday February 5th.

Enjoy the end of the year with us,

Anthea Donaldson

Principal

Stage News

Kindergarten

Welcome to week 9! It was wonderful to see so many families at the Festival of Cultures on Friday night. It was an amazing display of all the talent and diversity that we have at Parramatta West Public School.

Sight words

This weeks focus words are: off, by, be, house

Maths

We will continue revising all the various topics we have taught this term, with a particular focus on number.

Topic talks

This week students are to discuss how they can make new friends: What do they like to do with their friends? How could they ask someone to be a friend? What could they do if they see a child playing on their own?

Reports

This Friday you will receive your child’s yearly report. Spend time looking at it with your child and praise their efforts. They have completed their first year of school – a very big and exciting milestone.

Library books and Home Readers

If you have any library books or home readers still at home please return them ASAP.

Have a great week!

Mrs Armour

Year 1

What a great way to start Multicultural Week with the Festival of Cultures! It was amazing seeing so many families enjoying the wonderful performances. We also had the amazing multicultural parade this morning. It was wonderful seeing so many cultures represented.

Topic Talks

This week’s topic talk is about this year. Tell the class the 5 most important things you have learnt this year. What do you hope to learn next year?

Party Day

Notes will be going home on Friday for Party Day. It will take place on Thursday 14th December. Students will be asked to bring a few snacks to share with their small group during the picnic and a game to share with one another.

Year 1 Master Chef Cupcake Challenge

As part of Science unit students will be asked to provide some decoration things for the cupcake challenge. Only send the amount

to school that they require for their cupcake to avoid having leftovers in the classrooms.

Reports

Reports will be sent home on Friday with your children. Please be aware the ‘c’ grade means students have learnt all the required skills and content at a Year 1 level. Please read through these and discuss them with your children so they know what they can work on for next year.

Coming up…

Don’t forget the secret events for Mrs Donaldson on Thursday. Further information is on the Facebook pages. Also next Monday 11th December is Presentation Day.

Miss McSpadden

Year 2

What an amazing turn out to our Festival of Cultures. It was so lovely chatting to everyone and watching the many fabulous performances. Well done to all of our performers for putting on a great show. I hope everyone had a great time, celebrating diversity and multiculturalism. We continue our celebrations this week, with Multicultural week taking off today. If you were at this morning’s parade, I’m sure you would agree we are most definitely Multicultural. The Multicultural Parade is a demonstration of many cultures represented in Parramatta West Public School.

We hope to see our wonderful parent helpers at our Parent Helper Morning Tea at 10:55am, on Wednesday 6th December. Invitations have been sent home, but please feel free to come along if you have helped out the school in some way, and may have not received your invitation.

Party Day is another way that we celebrate with our students. Classes are busily preparing and planning their picnic. Your child will bring home their plan over the next few days and discuss with you what they have volunteered to bring along to share with their group. Party Day will be on Thursday 14th December and is just for our students. Please speak with your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

Just a reminder that all home readers and library books should have now been returned to the school. If you still have them at home, please return this week, otherwise payment must be made to the school to cover the cost of replacing the book.

Important dates

Week 9- Christmas Service at 9:10am on Wednesday 6th December

Week 9- Parent Helper Morning Tea Wednesday 6th December at 10:55am

Week 9- Parrachatter at 9am

Week 9- Reports sent home on Friday 8th December

Week 10- Presentation Day K-2 at 9:15am. You will receive an invitation if your child is receiving an award

Week 10- Party Day Thursday 14th December

Week 10- Talent Quest Friday 15th December and last day of school

Weekly Learning Focus

Spelling- tri-graphs

‘dge’ as hedge, bridge, ledge, badge

Grammar- Punctuation

This week we will be revising common punctuation used in sentences.

Speaking and Listening

Continuing with SOLE lessons, research and presentation opportunities, as well as Multicultural Week activities.

Writing: Reading, writing and viewing persuasive texts.

Maths: Data, graphs and chance • use picture graphs and bar graphs to solve problems

• use data to describe events as more likely and less likely

• record and analyse data to determine if an event is certain, possible or impossible

• record and analyse data to determine the probability of an event occurring

Hoping everyone has a great, second last week of school.

Mrs Batac

Year 3 and Year 4

Wow! I think you will agree with me that Friday evening’s Festival of Cultures was a fantastic event! It was wonderful to see our community come together, watch our talented kids perform and celebrate what makes Parramatta West a special school to be a part of. Congratulations to all of our Stage 2 students who sang, danced and acted on Friday – you impressed us all!

This week is Multicultural Week and we will be celebrating diversity as a school community this week. This morning we opened the week with a parade of national costumes, representing all of the cultures that make up our PWPS community. In our classes this week we will be learning about diversity and multiculturalism. I encourage you to have a chat with your kids during the week about what they have learnt.

Important dates coming up over the next two weeks: • Christmas Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea – Wednesday 6th December

• Presentation Day – Monday 11th December

• Sports Presentation Day – Tuesday 12th December

• Party Day – Thursday 14th December. Students are planning their picnic for Party Day with a group of friends as you would have seen on the note. Please help them to be organised, so that they bring whatever items they have agreed upon with their group.

• Last Day of Term 4 + Talent Quest – Friday 15th December

In Stage 2 classes over the next two weeks: • English – Finishing up our study of Shrek and other stories which have been created using elements of traditional fairy tales. We

will also be concluding our writing unit on persuasive texts.

• Reading Challenge - As the end of the term draws to a close we are also reading, reading, reading, hoping to reach our 40 Book Target!

• Maths – Revision of concepts taught throughout the term.

• Science – Finalising and presenting our clothing designs.

• Music – Finishing up our musical compositions.

Reports will be going home on Friday this week. The Stage 2 teachers are so proud of all the learning and progress our students have made this semester. I encourage you to discuss your child’s report with them and celebrate their success! Acknowledge your child’s effort, as effort is a very important quality in a successful learner. Also remember that a ‘C’ grade indicates that a child is working at expected grade level and has achieved the standard of work expected for their grade. If you have any questions regarding your child’s report, please make an appointment to see your child’s teacher next week.

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Miss Stuart

Year 5 and Year 6

The multicultural parade was lovely to see this morning, thank you to those students who participated and to the parents who helped them get ready. Seeing this parade after last week's Festival of Cultures really makes me proud to work at such a special school!

Year 5

The 2018 Leadership elections are being held Tuesday afternoon, all 2-6 classes and teachers will be voting during that time. We wish those student presenting the best of luck and congratulate them on making it this far!

Year 6

The last few weeks will be very busy for our Year 6 students, as they begin to face the reality of finishing their Primary schooling. This week they will be receiving a note about the graduation night and the expectations of the last few days. The graduation night is next Wednesday the 13th of December. During the day they will be going to the venue for a practice. Permission notes with all the details will be handed out in the next few days. If your child is not attending please send a written note to a year six teacher.

Let's enjoy the last few weeks

Miss Richards

Library News

The last Bookclub for the year has been ordered and is expected in school sometime this week.

Many children still have library books out. Please keep returning your library books. Look every where for them.

If they cannot be found please pay for them as the overdue notice remains under your name until they are found or paid for.

Mrs Sell

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www.parramattw-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

SRC News

This year the SRC will be organising giving tree located at the front office. We are asking families to donate non perishable items, and new toys which will help those less fortunate than us to have a happy holiday. These donations will be passed onto the Red Cross for distribution.

Parramatta West Public School Cnr Auburn & Young Sts Parramatta, NSW, 2150 P: 02 9635 9347 F: 02 9687 1151 E: parramattw-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

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