Calendar

2 Aug Debating round 4

5 Aug City of Sydney dance eisteddfod

6 Aug Education Week Westfield performance

7 Aug Sydney swans visit St George dance eisteddfod

8 Aug Education open day Kindergarten 2019 information night

10 Aug Zone athletics day 1

13 Aug Stage 2 Taronga Zoo excursion

14 Aug Science expo - Festival of flight

16 Aug In the Spotlight drama festival

17 Aug SSSMF junior choir rehearsal

20 - 29 Aug Life education visit

21 Aug Year 4 touch football gala day

22 Aug Sutherland library - book week visit K-2 Singsations concert

23 Aug Book week parade

24 Aug Kindergaten Woolworths fresh food kids visit

LAGUNA STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL TERM 3 | WEEK 2 | TUESDAY 31 JULY 2018

Newsletter

DEAR PARENTS AND CARERS

It was been an incredibly busy start to Term 3 with multiple events happening already this term. One big event was the implementation of our new PA and phone system. I’m certain that if you haven’t heard our new bell yourselves, that your children would have come home telling you about it! We had lots of lovely feedback from students, teachers, parents and some community members about the positive impact of the music that forms part of the new bell. Last week the main songs for the week were “I’m a believer” which is one of the songs from our upcoming musical as well as “Happy” which was a wonderful note on which we were able to end the day. After a suggestion from a parent we have implemented a process in which the K-2 ‘class of the week’ from assembly votes for the end of break ‘get ready’ music and the 3-6 ‘class of the week’ votes on the final bell music of the day. We are also open to requests, and theme music will be played to coincide with certain events.

Beside the fun, wellbeing aspect of the new system, there are many many other benefits for the school and community in terms of communication, safety, efficiency and learning. We are very appreciative of the efforts of the P&C fundraising team, the previous Year 6 fundraising team and students, and the P&C for making the decision to financially support the school for this initiative.

A huge thank you to Tanya Lovell and other parent volunteers who gave up some of their time over the break to do some preliminary work on the P&C toilet beautification project. This project will see the toilets cleaned up, some walls painted and some positive messages posted on the walls. We are having a working bee on Friday afternoon to paint and prepare the area and would love your help if you can spare the time. If you can assist please contact Tanya on 0420 879 697.

Thank you also to parent Jason Salmon for his ongoing hard work at our school, which included most recently planting trees as part of ‘National tree day’ on Friday.

I am currently recruiting a permanent teacher for the school after going through a similar

recruitment process at the end of last term. This recruitment process involves a panel with a teacher representative, a P&C representative and myself. I will be in a position to announce the outcome of these panels in the coming weeks.

I would like to acknowledge the continuing efforts of our hardworking teachers who contribute many hours of their own time to make sure that our students have fantastic learning experiences outside the day to day work in their classrooms. Some of these have been outlined in this newsletter, others on the P&C Facebook, school Instagram and the school website. Please check these out when you get an opportunity.

Have a wonderful week

Rosie Di Mattia

STEWART HOUSE BAGS

Each family will receive a Stewart House bag. Please show your support by collecting any unwanted clothing, manchester and accessories you no longer require. Please place bags outside the uniform shop on wednesday afternoon from 3:15-3:45pm and friday morning from 9-9:30am only. Further bags can be obtained from the uniform shop. Stewart House bags will need to be in by Wednesday 22 August for collection.

Mrs Foley

COMMUNICATION CORNER

If you have rung the school this week you will have noticed a big change to our phone system! In an effort to improve communication and keep you better informed and up to date, we have included some pre-recorded information. These recordings will be updated regularly and include information on up coming school events ie. education week, excursion information and PSSA information. You will also have the option of advising us of a student absence. Please note that if you do leave a message regarding a student absence, we still require you to follow this up with a written note.

We would like to thank the P&C for their generous contribution to our new phone system.

Jo Flitcroft

School Administrative Manager

IN THE SPOTLIGHT DRAMA FESTIVAL

Tickets are available now from http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=NIDADRAM18

MUSIC LESSONS

Wednesday afternoon music lessons at Laguna Street are progressing very well with each student showinf improvement on their chosen instrument. Now it’s time to offer opportunity to year

3 students and other who want to commence learning a concert band instrument. Year 2 students should also consider applying in preparation for 2019. Instruments taught are flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba and french horn. No previous music experince is needed, An SMS to Mr Don Callaghan on 0404 443 999 will start the conversation.

KINDERGARTEN CELEBRATES 100 DAYS

Our Kindergarten students have been excitedly counting down the days to their celebration of 100 days at school. Thursday 26 July was the big day and they had lots of fun. The children made a pair of 100 day glasses to wear, they brought in collections of 100 objects and counted things around the classroom that added up to 100. They also made some yummy fairy bread to eat. Why fairy bread? Because it has hundreds & thousands on it! At the end of the day they received a certificate and a box of smarties for being 100 days smarter. The children are looking forward to the next 100 days.

STATE MUSIC CAMP

Last week I had the opportunity to participate as a vocal tutor in the 2018 State Junior Music Camp. Ella H, Ava A and Jessica E also attended the camp as part of the vocal ensemble. I was lucky enough to work alongside some of the most talented music educators in NSW and I’m blown away by how much I’ve learned and will be able to take back to Laguna Street. It was a physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting week (6 hours of rehearsals a day) but I don’t think the girls or I would change a thing. They worked tirelessly every day and I’m so proud of what they achieved. Ella, Ava and Jess conducted themselves like true professionals and it was a pleasure to perform alongside them

Mrs Vogt OUR WEEK AT CAMP

We were chosen to sing as part of the vocal ensemble, with Mrs Vogt being one of the three vocal tutors. All of us were away from our loved ones for 5 nights and 6 days. Our vocal ensemble conductor was Paul Jarman, a world-renowned composer, musician and conductor. He even composed two of the songs performed at the camp, including a song commissioned this year in Beijing called “I Can Dream Anything”. We were lucky enough to be part of the Australian premiere of this piece when it was performed at camp on Friday night. We learnt many skills from Paul and the other tutors and we have definitely improved as singers.

We also had the opportunity to perform as part of the music theatre ensemble. We sung and danced to “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from the musical Hairspray and Mrs Vogt choreographed our dance moves. We had lots of fun performing this piece! In our small amount of spare time, we got to play fun games and recreational activities. We did things like rock climbing, team building activities and tabloid games to keep us fit and healthy. On Wednesday night we even had the Australian Navy Big Band perform for us which was really entertaining.

On Friday night, after all our hard work and hours of rehearsals during the week, we finally got to perform in front of our families. We sang three songs as part of the vocal ensemble: “Recognise”, “Whenever the Wind” and “Praise His Name”. At the end of the

show, the symphony orchestra performed while everyone else sang “I Can Dream Anything” and “Ederlezi”, a Romani Gypsy song. We had an amazing week and made lots of new friends.

Ella, Jess and Ava

NATIONAL TREE DAY

This week Laguna Street Public School celebrated National Tree Day and Schools Tree Day by planting around 300 plants. In total as part of our Eco School Project students will plant almost 1000 native trees to regenerate the area behind the K-6 Oval and create an Eco Trail highlighting native plants.

KOOMURRI

During NAIDOC week last term, Laguna Street was fortunate enough to be visited once again by the highly talented Koomurri group. The day commenced with a traditional “Smoking Ceremony” during which native plants were burnt to produce smoke to ward off bad spirits, acknowledge ancestors and pay respect to the land and sea of country. The smoke is believed to have healing and cleansing properties.

Following this, students participated in a number of highly engaging activities – artefacts and weaponry, bush survival and history, Aboriginal song and dance, didgeridoo, painting and storytelling as well as boomerang throwing. The day was a huge success and enjoyed by all! The artwork completed on the day will be displayed shortly, for all to see.

Nada LeBreux & Shayne Lines

(NAIDOC Week Coordinators)