Teach your children well

SCHOOL

INFORMATION

Address: Derribong Street (PO Box 6) Trangie 2823

Phone: 6888 7578

Fax: 6888 7602

Email: trangie-c.school@ det.nsw.edu.au

Website: www.trangie-c.schools.nsw.gov.au Principal: Anne Holden

Deputy Principal: Gary Hansen (Relieving)

Head Teachers: Sarah Press (Relieving)Liddel Seymour (Relieving) Jessica Skinner Kate Wilson

Assistant Principals: Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh

Welfare Coordinator: Cheryl Rowley

School Admin Manager: Jaye Milgate

Parents & Citizens Association

President: Holly Anderson

Vice President: Emily Seccombe

Secretary: Samantha Dumbrell

Treasurer: Jaye Milgate

Trangie Central School Newsletter

26th March 2020 Term 1 - Week 9

What’s On

P & C Meeting

Tuesday 19th May 2020

3.30pm TCS library

Wk 10 30/3 Yrs 3-12 Cross Country - POSTPONED

3/4 Yrs K-12 School Photos - POSTPONED until Term 4

Wk 11 8/4 Yrs K-12 Clean Up Australia - POSTPONED

9/4 Yrs K-6 Jump Rope for Heart - POSTPONED

9/4 Students Last Day for Term 1

Wk 1 28/4 Students Return for Term 2

Teach your children well

From the principal Hi everyone – In Trangie, Tolerance and Kindness is our Norm Thumbs Up

In these very difficult times I can truly say how glad I am to be living in Trangie. Trangie spirit was very evident when we met with business leaders last week to work out a way of protecting our most vulnerable community members. In Trangie we think about others as well as ourselves. In Trangie we do not need security guards to protect our elderly whilst they shop. Nor do we have brawls in the toilet roll aisle, but rather community members are calling on those who may be at risk to make sure they are OK. We still have groceries on the supermarket shelves because we do not have selfish, crazy, panic buying with no thought for anyone else.

We would like to recognise the importance of those people in our community who are still working so that the rest of the community can be provided with essential services. This extends to our teachers, support staff and our administration staff. Our school had remained open so that these people may send their children to school if they need to or if they wish to. We are doing our best in challenging times to roll with ever changing instructions. Our sole purpose is to continue to meet the needs of our students and our community. We have only ever wanted the best for our students and our being here is testimony to that. Despite teaching the students who are actually present, we are also creating packages of work for students whose parents notify us that they have chosen to keep their children at home. We are also devising systems to ensure that our Stage 6 students can continue their learning as they progress towards the HSC.

There are also many people in our community who are at work at this very moment keeping open the services that are considered essential. We have local businesses and services who need our support and our thanks. We really appreciate your efforts to keep a tiny semblance of normal in our lives. If we do not support them now, when this is all over they will be gone and maybe gone forever.

AND FINALLY if we are to reduce the risk of this terrible virus we need to practise good hygiene and STAY AT HOME wherever possible. Let’s all do the right thing. I for one am sorely missing schnitty night, and trivia night with the winning Trangie Teachers’ Trivia Team – The Bretags. NAPLAN We have been notified that NAPLAN has been cancelled for 2020 and at the risk of sounding very politically incorrect, this is a very small glimmer of light in an otherwise dark horizon (but don’t quote me). Finally …….. My door is and always has been open – whether you are happy, sad or mad. I need to know if we are not doing something right but I also need to know that you trust our motives and our intentions. I do teach, so if you need to talk to me for any reason, just call the office and arrange a time that I am not on class or in a meeting. Also, don’t forget our suggestion box at each side of the school.

Everything we do, every single day is for YOUR children. If we can do it better, tell us. Facebook is definitely for cowards – so please tell us to our face!

Also, give your child the most valuable gift in the world – a good education – so send them EVERY day. We have a great school and it is such good value for very little money.

Walanginya Yawarra-ndhu (Be good, be careful) Anne Holden

Be Considerate

and Think of Others

Staff Smile of the Week (Week 8)

Goes to Scott McDonald for being a mentor in my daily new teacher struggles (Dane).

Teach your children well

SECONDARY Deputy Principal

Gary Hansen (Relieving)

Head Teachers Sarah Press (Relieving)

Liddel Seymour (Relieving) Jessica Skinner

Kate Wilson

Trangie Central School Easter Raffle

Supporting Jaide Scott (Year 12, 2018) in her battle with Leukaemia.

$2 per ticket or 3 for $5 Tickets can be purchased from the

Secondary Admin office.

Drawn Week 10, Term 1

Please return money & tickets to the Secondary Admin office as soon as possible.

Deputy Principal Report As our school slows down due to the implementation of precautions against COVID-19 transmission, our students have shown tremendous resilience and flexibility. Students who have been able to attend school have done so with a great learning attitude, and I am impressed with the number of students who have come in to collect work to complete from home. Although we don’t have a crystal ball to predict what is going to happen in the longer term, it is important that we as a school follow the advice given to us from the Department of Education and reassure parents that we are taking appropriate hygiene precautions to prevent any transmission of viruses. The school is not closed and we will cater for all students who come through our gate.

All teachers, office staff and teachers’ aides are doing a tremendous job in keeping the school functioning as close to normal and getting things sorted out for those unable to attend, including looking at ways that social media can be used to address wellbeing issues for those who are in socially isolated situations. I would like to thank everybody for their hard work, dedication and effort.

Last week during the Outdoor Education Interest Group, students learnt how to effectively construct a campfire from the fuel available to them in the bush, such as leaves, twigs and larger branches. Students were educated about how to safely site a campfire, clear fuel from the surrounding area, and safely put the fire out when leaving it. They were also able to identify that they needed to check the Rural Fire Brigade website to see the fire rating on the day and to check the advice about fire danger. Some students were thrilled that they were able to get a fire going without the need for liquid fuel and firelighters! The marshmallows tasted so much better! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to go fishing next week as planned, so I’ll be unable to demonstrate my tremendous fishing skills! Ah, maybe next term!

Gary Hansen

Deputy Principal

Teach your children well

SECONDARY Deputy Principal

Gary Hansen (Relieving)

Head Teachers Sarah Press (Relieving)

Liddel Seymour (Relieving) Jessica Skinner

Kate Wilson

Students at Trangie are regularly using a number of programming languages in school. These vary in nature from the somewhat entertaining Cubetto (Google it and watch the Video if you don’t know what it is) to some fairly sophisticated stuff based on Visual Basic. Sitting somewhere between these is “Scratch”.

Scratch was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is free to all users. One way to use this very versatile language is as a tool for producing geometric designs. As a Maths teacher I’m fascinated by the endless opportunities that this affords and have been working with various groups of students to achieve bigger and better things.

A current project involves the creation of a 12 pointed star and then tessellating this to produce further shapes. The Stage 5 students who took this project on all achieved the basic outcome whereby they created a set of computer instructions that in turn produced the design. Most then went on to use graphics software to enhance the result.

People sometimes dismiss Scratch as being a bit of software intended for “kids” but this is far from the truth. The “click together” nature of the instructions is becoming the norm rather than the exception. We at Trangie also use this approach with the Lego EV3 blocks that have been used for the last few years in “Interest Groups”. Anyone who thinks that these are just toys should Google “Massive Lego NXT automated warehouse Mindstorms”, a project that was done using the older Lego programmable brick “NXT”. I’ve yet to see anything on this scale done using EV3 but given that EV3 is more powerful and versatile I suspect it soon will be.

If you want to do more than simply use the apps on your phone, Scratch is a great starting point and I noticed that at least one of my colleagues has created her own game type app. Personally I’ve done several of these and the students have shown a degree of willingness to take the basic structure that I give them and develop it further. As I said, there are endless opportunities and our students are starting to show real promise.

Andy Holden

Mathematics Teacher

Teach your children well

Assistant Principals

Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh PRIMARY

Assistant Principal’s Report

Anti Bullying Day Last Friday, students across the school participated in lessons to enhance our current student wellbeing practices.

This National Day is a positive day of action to empower students and unite school communities in finding workable solutions to address bullying and violence.

Last year a total of 1,721 schools and 708,922 students participated in the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence in NSW.

A whole-school approach Bullying is less likely to occur in a caring, respectful and supportive teaching and learning community.

Understanding bullying Bullying has three key features. It:

1. involves a misuse of power in a relationship.

2. is intentional, ongoing and repeated.

3. involves behaviours that can cause harm.

Bullying can be physical, verbal, or social. Bullying can be easy to see (overt), or hidden (covert), such as spreading rumours about another person or excluding them.

Bullying can also happen online using technology such as the internet or mobile devices. This is known as online bullying or cyberbullying.

A person can be bullied about many different things such as how they look, sound or speak; their background, religion, race or culture including Aboriginality; having a disability; their sex; because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or intersex (LGBTI); their size or body shape or any other ways they may be different.

Some students are bullied about their academic or sporting achievements or hobbies.

What bullying is not A single incident or disagreement between peers is not bullying. However, these behaviours may lead to bullying and should be resolved.

Teach your children well

Assistant Principals

Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh PRIMARY

Elements that contribute to a planned whole-school approach The following five evidence-based elements, based on the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework, help schools to implement a planned whole-school approach to promote student safety and wellbeing and effectively address bullying behaviour.

Leadership Bullying is less likely to occur in a positive environment. Principals and school leaders play an active role in building a positive learning environment where the whole school community feels included, connected, safe and respected.

Inclusion Bullying is less likely in a culture that promotes inclusion. All members of the school community are active participants in building a welcoming school culture that values diversity, and fosters positive, respectful relationships.

Student Voice Incorporating student voice in decision-making is a key contributor to a positive school culture. Students are less likely to engage in bullying behaviour when they feel valued. Students are active participants in their own learning and wellbeing, feel connected and use their social and emotional skills to be respectful, resilient and safe.

Partnerships Bullying is a whole of community issue which requires a whole of community response. Effective schools have high levels of parental and community involvement, which is strongly related to positive student behaviour. Families and communities collaborate as partners with the school to support student learning, safety and wellbeing.

Support Actively involving staff, students and families in promoting positive behaviour reduces bullying behaviour. School staff, students and families share and cultivate an understanding of wellbeing and support for positive behaviour and how this reinforces effective teaching and learning.

2020 Moorambilla Voices 1st Round Offers Congratulations to the following students who have been offered a place in the 15th year annual Moorambilla Voices program:

Voices Boys Voices Girls MAXed Out Noah Clark Phoebe King Heterick Troy Sibley Jake Foster Carmen Su Marley Kerr Cam Broughton Maddison Reynolds Josh Toby Christian O’Neill Dakota Kennedy Koby Kilgour Thomas Ashby Remy Gleeson Toby Greenwood Mana Skinner Indiana Davies Richard Glover Ayrian Gordon Lacey Holack Katelyn O’Neill Narelle Shillingsworth-Budd Athena Metcher

Teach your children well

Assistant Principals

Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh PRIMARY

CWA Research Success Each year, students all across NSW look forward to the annual CWA Poster competition. This competition involves the students researching a country as decided by the CWA and then making a poster presentation for display in the CWA halls.

We had some wonderful news on Tuesday, with three of our students being recognised and receiving awards from the local CWA committee. Our congratulations to Zalia Terry (2nd place), Jock Kater (Highly Commended) and Reggie Thomas (Judges Special Award) for their achievements.

The CWA judges write very thorough feedback for each student who enters the competition to help them improve. Comments include suggestions such as; “When quoting population figures, please quote the year the census was taken” and “Think carefully about the map you use. Try to use one that gives clear information about the location of the country, major cities/towns, rivers and mountains.” This sort of feedback is very time consuming for the judges but gives each student great opportunity to improve.

Thanks as always, to our very community minded CWA women. You are a beacon of hope and positivity for us all.

Reminders ….. Please be sure to notify the school if your children are away. Office staff will then inform you about how to collect the working from home packs for your children.

Parents, the prepared working from home packs are a suggestion for tasks that you can have your children work on. Please don’t get too stressed out by it all and feel as though everything must be completed. We understand that everyone is feeling quite fragile at the moment and you may prefer to spend the time with your children doing other things. That is absolutely your prerogative. If your family has committed to social isolation, please keep your children away from the shops and other social gathering places! Keep an eye on our school Facebook page for important updates and changes.

Jacky Murtagh Assistant Principal

Teach your children well

Assistant Principals

Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh PRIMARY

Gymnastics - the best subject at school!

Hello everyone! We are up to Week 7 of our gymnastics program and students have been having a blast. I am so impressed with the level of improvement and I have been able to observe each student and record an assessment for five key skills. They are forward and backward rolls, balance, side bunny hop and landing. Each student demonstrates a positive attitude during gymnastics and they have all achieved or are working towards performing movement skills in a variety of sequences and situations.

Well done to each and every one of you! I can see a little gymnast in all of you. This week and next week will be our last sessions of the 8 week program. As we are all aware of the impacts of Covid-19, we have put many measures in place in order to keep everyone safe. The next two sessions will have minimal students. When students arrive they wash their hands. After each session I will be wiping down all surfaces with disinfectant spray. Students will also be washing their hands at the end of the session before returning to class. Finally, we will be adhering to the physical distancing of 4 square metre while waiting in lines (this will be minimal).

If you have any concerns or questions or just want to chat about your child’s gymnastics development, please feel free to give me a call during school hours on 6888 7578.

Alissa Miller Gymnastics Coordinator

Teach your children well

Assistant Principals

Jo-Anne Ellis Jacky Murtagh PRIMARY

Teach your children well

Parent info