Dudley Public School · - School Sport Casual Dress Day Our new Student Representative Council ( SRC ) discussed the news we received regarding our Intern teacher from 2014 on 5/6H

Dudley Public School PO Box 2208, GATESHEAD NSW 2290

Boundary St, DUDLEY 2290

Phone: (02) 49447203

Fax: (02) 4942 6097

www.dudley-p.schools.nsw.edu.au Monday 23 February, 2015

School Strategic Directions 2015

Consistent, high quality engaging learning

to provide student success as learners and

leaders.

Consistent, high quality educational

practices and student learning driven by

assessment evidence in line with best

educational practice.

Cultivate consistent, high quality

collaborative processes within the

Whitebridge Community of Schools to

enhance the quality of teaching, learning

& leadership.

What’s Happening This Week

Week 3, Term 1

Mon 23 Feb - Zone Swimming Day 1

- Creative Arts Groups

Tues 24 Feb - Scripture & Ethics

- Staff Meeting

- Newcastle Herald Leaders Photo

Wed 25 Feb - Kinder Mid-Week Final Break

- Zone Swimming Day 2

- WCoS AP Meeting

Thurs 26 Feb - Learning Support Team

- SRC Meeting

Fri 27 Feb - Assembly Item 5/6S

- Schools Clean Up Day Zone Swimming

Today students who qualified for the Zone

Swimming Carnival will compete in heats of

backstroke, butterfly,100m and medley events

from 11am - 3.00pm at the Swansea Swimming

Pool. Kate Sullivan and Peter Adams will be

attending to support students.

On Wednesday 25 February the second day of

this carnival will take place. This involves the

finals of the above strokes, freestyle races and

relays, which will run from 9am - 3pm at the

same venue, with John Costolo & Kate Sullivan

supporting on the day. We wish all our talented

swimmers a great carnival and expect to hear

that some personal best times are achieved.

Our Team have been talked to regarding false

starts which will result in disqualification at this

zone carnival.

Congratulations to Oscar McGill who received

his Principal’s Award for the quiet achiever

award & great getting along skills.

Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all students in Years 2 - 6 for

their excellent efforts at the swimming carnival.

All students were actively involved in the carni-

val and we had good weather on the day.

Special thanks to John Costolo & Kate Sullivan

for their wonderful organisation at the carnival

and to our group of hard working parents.

Following are the results:

1st place - Macquarie, 2nd place - Jeffries

3rd place - Shortland, 4th place - Shortland

Junior Girl - 1st Emmy Ormandy, 2nd Lara

Horvath, 3rd - Jordan Byrne & Jemma Pollard

Junior Boy -1st Brodie Wright, 2nd Sam Bloom-

field, 3rd Liam Lieschke

11 Years Girl - 1st Bailee Pappas , 2nd Jade An-

drews, 3rd Grace Baker.

11 Years Boy - 1st Saij Carson, 2nd Tom Bailee,

3rd Jonah Finlay

Senior Girl - 1st Aarkey Kneen, 2nd Serena Di

Pietro, 3rd Holly Ormandy.

Senior Boy -1st Jayden Wright, 2nd Finn

Todhunter , 3rd Brayden Park

New Records

Aarkey Kneen - Senior Breastoke & Backstroke

Brodie Wright - 9 Yrs Freestyle & Jun Backstroke

Sam Bloomfield - Jun Breaststroke.

Weeks

5 & 6

Principal’s Award - Week 3

Thank you to all staff for their wonderful efforts at

the carnival and to the many parents &

grandparent supporters on the day.

Congratulations to the parent relay teams for

their great win.

School Photographs

We have changed our School Photos date

again to Wednesday 11 March to avoid a clash

of dates (my apologies regarding this change).

We sent home an information note on school

photos last week with instructions on how to

order photos, with this new date.

We would like all students ( boys & girls ) to wear

their new unisex shirts for the photos. We will

provide the new shirt for those few students

without it on the day.

The Tell Them From Me student feedback survey

I am delighted that this term, our school, like

many others in the state, will participate in a

Department of Education and Communities initiative: the “Tell Them From Me” student

feedback survey for Years 5 & 6. The survey aims

to help improve student learning outcomes and

measures factors that are known to affect

academic achievement and other student

outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is

on student wellbeing, engagement and

effective teaching practices.

More information about the survey is available

at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-

for-parents

The survey is a great opportunity for our students

to provide our school with valuable and quick

feedback on what they think about school life

and how engaged they are with school.

School Assemblies

Our whole school assemblies will take place

each Friday in our Fairleigh Hall from 10.35–

11.10am. Parents generally try to attend the

week that their child’s class presents a class

item. At this assembly we present class merit

awards, principal’s awards, class items, recite

school pledge & prayer, sing national anthem

and make various announcements.

School Leader Photo:

Our school captains & vice captains will have

their photo in this Tuesday’s Newcastle Herald

newspaper as part of a local feature on school

leaders.

Congratulations to Matisse Murray who

received her Principal’s Award for always doing

her personal best & great getting along skills.

School ANZAC Service

We have planned for our school to

commemorate the centenary of ANZAC in a

service to be held the first week in Term 2 on

Thursday 23 April at 2pm in the Fairleigh hall.

Karen Murphy will co-ordinate our school

service and would like to include students who

have relatives who served at Gallipoli in 1915. If

you can help please contact our school office.

Kinder Final Mid-Week Break

This Wednesday will be the final Kinder Mid-

week break. Our Kinder teachers have been

completing Best Start individual testing of each

Kinder student in literacy & numeracy areas.

We have been delighted with the excellent

start all our kinders have made to their

schooling experience.

Creative Arts Day

If you’re new to Dudley, your child will

experience the most wonderful and creative

day at school this year. We will hold our bi-

annual Creative Arts Day in Term 2 ( week 6)on

Wednesday 27 May. On this day students

complete 3 quality artworks throughout the

whole day at school, lead by parents in small

teams and supported by class teachers.

Maureen Piper will co-ordinate the day and will

gain parent support leading up to this amazing

day. Please see the special Creative Arts

coming home with this newsletter, which

requests parent volunteers.

Page 2 Dudley Primary School ~ NEWSLETTER 23 February 2015

Principal’s Award - Week 2

CREATIVE ARTS DAY IS COMING!

WEDNESDAY 27 MAY! NEWCASTLE MORNING HERALD—TUESDAY 24

FEBRUARY—SCHOOL LEADERS PHOTO

School’s Clean Up Day

This Friday 27 February is School’s Clean Up Day,

where we join schools throughout Australia in

removing rubbish from school grounds and

bushland. This year we will focus the clean up on

the school grounds, Dudley oval area and the

Awabakal Reserve area .

We will hold our clean up activities before lunch

and students are asked to bring a glove, tongs

and a shopping bag for the clean up.

What’s Happening Next Week

Week 6

Mon 2 March - Creative Arts Groups

Tue 3 March - Scripture & Ethics

- WCoS Staff Meeting

Wed 4 March - Casual Dress For Rachel Patch

- Executive Meeting

Thurs 5 March- Learning Support Team

- Interrelate Family Night

- Regional swim Carnival

Fri 6 March - Assembly Item 4/5AM

- School Sport

Casual Dress Day

Our new Student Representative Council ( SRC )

discussed the news we received regarding our

Intern teacher from 2014 on 5/6H class, Rachel

Patch. Rachel was the person badly hurt by the

massive wave on Newcastle Harbour breakwall

recently. An article appeared in last

Wednesday’s Newcastle Herald.

Our SRC has requested that all students dress

casually in ocean colours of blue & green for

next Wednesday 4 March and donate $2.00

each towards helping Rachel with the large

medical costs for her recovery.

A fundraiser dinner at Saluna on March 4 will be

held for Rachel - ph 40238774 for further

information.

Family Interrelate Evening

We have booked Interrelate to present a family

sexuality and relationship program for students

Years 3-6 and their parents. This will be held on

next Thursday 5 March in our school library as

follows:

Year 3 & 4 - Where did I come from?

6.00- 7.00pm .

Year 5 & 6 - Preparing for puberty 7.15 - 8.15

The cost per family is $25 for one session or $30

for 2 sessions. Year 5/6s who missed the Yr3/4

program 2 years ago can also attend this

session. We will send a further information &

permission note this week.

Congratulations to our Swimming Age

Champions pictured above.

Student Book Packs

We still have $6,000 outstanding for student

book packs which were purchased with school

funds. These costs were outlined at the start of

term and we need parents to complete

payment by the end of Term 1. Please contact

our school office if you have difficulty in making

payment before the end of term.

Sporting Achievements

Congratulations to Isabella Milajew who was

placed 1st in the State Trampolining

Competition in Sydney last weekend. She will

now compete in the Nationals in Melbourne in

May.

Congratulations also to Tristan Clinton-Muehr

who was selected at the PSSA tennis zone team

to compete in the Regional tennis on March 4.

A Special Thank You:

To Mitchell Cousins who has built the framework

and shelving in the school canteen to help

improve these areas.

Special thanks to Andy Wright & Cathy De Pietro

for their outstanding support with our swimming

carnival.

Also a big thank you to Kathy Sloss for her

continued outstanding leadership with our

P&C.

Old School Uniforms

The boys grey shirt will cease to be worn at school from the end of Term 2, which finalizes

the required 18 months period of phasing in the

new uniform. Already a large majority of our

students are in the new uniform, which looks

very smart!

Please send any disused school uniforms into

our school office by this Friday as they will be

sent off to a group in need.

Page 3 Dudley Primary School ~ NEWSLETTER 23 February 2015

Page 4 Dudley Primary School ~ NEWSLETTER 23February 2015

From the Library….

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is due to begin

on 2nd March – and students received information and a

permission slip last week. Permission slips should be

returned to the Library and put in the box provided on

the counter. Students will then receive their reading

record sheet and we will register student names online

from the 2nd March. K-2 students will have their

username and password written on their sheets.

Reading records need to also be entered online to allow

them to be validated at the completion of the Challenge.

This can be done at the same time as the paper copy, or

when the student has finished the required reading.

A reminder that you have until 21st August to finish the

required reading – so that gives our K-2’s almost 6

months to read, or be involved in reading their 30 books,

and the Year 3-6’s their 20 books.

For anyone interested I will run three sessions to

further explain the PRC and demonstrate using the

website. These will run next week on Tuesday and

Thursday afternoon, 3/3/15 and 5/3/15 in the Library

from 3.00-3.30pm, as well as Wednesday morning

4/3/15 from 8.45-9.10am.

For any queries don’t hesitate to see Mrs Warren in the

library on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursdays. At

Dudley, we are aiming to continue our impressive

record of increased student participation in this valuable

reading programme.

BODYROCK

Fun & Fitness For All!

Jazz, Modern/Contemporary, Hip Hop, Pom Style Cheerleading

Areas: Dudley, Charlestown, Garden Suburb. Affordable classes & costumes, friendly teaching

staff. All students receive end of year trophy

Catering for Ages 3 – Adult. Beginner – Experienced dancers welcome!

Principal; Michelle Fleming (Coach of the Newcastle Knights Cheersquad)

Phone: 49544300 / 0439434294 Email: [email protected]

Visit our website: www.bodyrockdancestudio.com

INSIGHTSBuilding parent-school partnerships

parentingideas.com.au

Stay one step ahead of your kids with great ideas & expert advice from Michael Grose. Join

Michael’s NEW Parentingideas Club today at parentingideasclub.com.au. You’ll be so glad you did.

WORDS Michael Grose

© 2015 Michael Grose

10 golden rules for parenting

success in 2015The requirements for eff ective parenting

are changing rapidly, just as the profi le of

parents is changing. Australian parents

are now older than ever (30-34 is now the

peak child-bearing age group). Families

are smaller than ever (over 50% have

two children or less). And as children as a

percentage of the population shrink (1 in 6

of our population is under 15, compared to

1 in 3 in developing countries), we are less

knowledgeable about children than ever.

If you add to this mix that children

are growing up at the speed of light,

information technology can make

parents seem redundant, and increasingly

parents claim lack of time is their biggest

impediment to eff ective parenting. So what

is a parent to do?

Here are 10 golden rules to guide you along your parenting journey in 2015:

1 Talk more With families shrinking, kids getting busier

and tech devices rapidly multiplying the

opportunities for family members to engage

in face-to-face talk is under serious attack.

Regardless of their age, the best way to

infl uence your children is talk to them. The

kitchen table is one place to do this, but

there are plenty of other places where you

can talk. If talk becomes diffi cult, try driving

with a child or young person in the car with

the radio off . They are bound to break sooner

or later.

2 Lean on othersA recent Australian survey found that 50%

of parents are seriously struggling with

their parenting, yet only 10% of this group

would ask for help. I suspect there are many

reasons for this including fear of being

judged a poor parent; that parenting is

expected to be hard; and lack of trustworthy

support networks. Author Steve Biddulph

once said that parents don’t parent well in

isolation. He’s right. It’s incredibly important

to build your support networks and get

‘sparents’ into your child’s life. Start by

working closely with your child’s teacher; a

natural ally!

3 Build confi denceWith so many parents reporting that they

have a child experiencing anxiety it would

seem that we are currently experiencing a

crisis in children’s confi dence. It would also

seem that we have somehow forgotten how

to absorb children’s fears, insecurities and

anxieties, and instill a sense of confi dence

that these can be overcome. Using a mixture

of coaxing, coaching and cajoling parents

need to fi nd a way to impart in children a

sense of courage to put themselves in new

or potentially awkward social situations; to

have a go at activities where failure is a real

option; and to contribute to the wellbeing

of others, which reduces anxiousness and

fear. 4

4 Aim for redundancyThe great irony of modern parenting is that

as families have shrunk parents actually do

more, rather than less, for their kids. There

are many reasons for this including lack of

time to teach; it’s simply easier to do a job

ourselves, and the new expectation that

‘good’ parents do everything for their kids.

The new ‘strict parent’ is someone who

expects their kids to wash their own clothes,

cook a meal, and read a book to a younger

sibling. The impertinence! Here’s a six-word

slogan to help you remember: “When kids

can, let them do!”

more on page 2

Building parent-school partnershipsBuilding parent-school partnershipsWORDS

As the requirements for effective parenting shift and there seems even less time to juggle family life, here are 10 golden rules to guide you on your parenting journey.

... 10 golden rules for parenting

success in 2015 ...

2

parentingideas.com.au

Stay one step ahead of your kids with great ideas & expert advice from Michael Grose. Join

Michael’s NEW Parentingideas Club today at parentingideasclub.com.au. You’ll be so glad you did.

INSIGHTS

Building parent-school partnerships

Michael Grose

© 2015 Michael Grose

5 Lead the gangParenting is now an individual endeavour.

There is a place for parenting the individual

child, but there is also a place for parenting

the whole gang (even if you and your child

make up the gang). Your ability to pull

your family together and get them singing

off the same song sheet will impact on

your family’s harmonious relationships;

your children’s sense of other (empathy)

and their general resilience and coping

mechanisms. There is nothing so magical

to witness as a family pulling together

when the chips are down. This doesn’t just

happen. It takes real leadership by parents

to make a family act like a family!

6 Build developmental knowledgeMany challenges parents experience with

their children are due to a developmental

mismatch. That is, parents raising their ten

year old as if they are eight. The nuances

of parenting are age-related, yet due

to inexperience we so often don’t read

the cues. Recently, I witnessed a mum

and dad tearing their hair out trying to

communicate with their nine year old

son. For the fi rst time he was saying no

to them. They thought him stubborn

and disobedient. I thought him normal,

as nine can be a problematic age, where

usually malleable children suddenly start

changing. Puberty is stirring. When this

couple’s second child turns nine she will

experience the benefi ts of her elder brother

paving the way and breaking her parents

in for her.

7 Practice problem-ownershipPlease, please, please allow children to own

their own problems. Children of all ages can

be creative when they have problems to

solve. Everything is a potential problem to

kids and they need opportunities to resolve

them themselves. By all means, coach,

guide, give hints but give them a chance

to sort out relationship issues; challenges

with teachers and academic challenges

themselves.

8 Swim against the tideListen to talkback radio, read the headlines

of a newspaper or watch a current aff airs

TV program and you’ll realise that, right

now, we live in an incredibly judgemental

society. Parents are harshly judged as well.

Allow your kids to walk to school and you

risk being judged as negligent. Drive your

kids to school and you risk being told that

you are spoiling them and neglecting their

physical wellbeing. It takes a strong parent

to swim against the tide of popular opinion.

It also takes a strong parent to deny her

child say a mobile phone when every other

child has one. It helps to say “This is the way

we do it in our family.”

9 Be bravePerhaps the biggest challenge facing

parents, and their children, is the ability

to let go of their parental reigns and give

kids the freedom they need to develop

autonomy. It’s relatively easy to develop

children’s independence at home as the

stakes aren’t as high. If they can’t cook

a meal then you just have to do it for

them. However, developing children’s

independence outside the home is a

diff erent story. Many parents feel decidedly

wary about granting children and young

people more freedom. There is the

perception that the world is a dangerous

place. Granting kids freedom has an

element of risk; that’s why parents need to

be brave. Having the courage to let go is

a basic requirement of parenting. It won’t

stop you worrying, but that’s part of the

game.

Add emotional intelligence to your parenting mixWith kids experiencing mental health

challenges at a depressingly high rate it’s

time to add some emotional intelligence

to the parenting mix. While many schools

are now introducing emotional and social

programs on the curriculum, it’s important

that parents develop a deep understanding

of how emotions work: how emotions can

be recognised; how they can work for us

and against us; how we can regulate our

emotions so they don’t overwhelm us;

and how to recognise and respond to the

emotions of others. These sound like life-

changing skills that if learned, are capable

of impacting signifi cantly and positively on

future generations.

10