Kotara South Public School Newsletter A Great Place to Be! · Hunter Valley Zoo Last Tuesday, Year 1 went to Hunter Valley Zoo. We went by bus and it took about an hour. When we arrived

Kotara South Public School

Newsletter A Great Place to Be!

[email protected]

[email protected]

(02) 4957 5319

150 Rae Crescent Kotara South 2289

16 May 2017 | Week 4 | Term 2

From the Principal Welcome to week 4. I hope all those lucky mums, nans, aunties and special ladies had a lovely Mother’s Day and received their amazing gifts from the P&C Mother’s Day stall on Sunday morning. A huge thank you to the parent volunteers who ‘manned’ the stall and wrapped all the presents. They looked terrific and my mum loved her pot plant from the KSPS Mother’s Day stall.

A big well done to all the year 3 and 5 students last week who sat their NAPLAN tests, they met the requirements in a calm and clever manner. The tests were sent away Friday and we look forward to our results later on in the year.

I met with the Canteen Project Manager from Unique Builders and the DoE Assets Manager officer today to discuss the progress of the canteen. I am pleased to say that all systems are on track for completion by the end of term. Some exciting new additions of a stove and cooktop, a dishwasher and air conditioning will make volunteering in the canteen much more comfortable. The wide-open space created from knocking down internal walls will also be a much needed positive addition to the canteen.

Last Wednesday evening at the P&C meeting, KSPS received our annual P&C contribution of $7000. This goes directly towards $3000 for the purchase of further books in the library, $3000 for curriculum support (Maths, English, Science, etc), $700 towards Presentation day costs and $300 for the Leadership team to attend the Halogen Leadership Day in Sydney. KSPS highly values the contributions made by the P&C and all the hard work that is done to achieve these contributions. The Mother’s Day stall is but one of the many fundraising activities that our P&C support.

Last week at Assembly, athletics placegetters in their age events were presented with their ribbons. The Runners Up and Age Champions were also presented with their certificates and medal. Congratulations to the following students:

Junior Boy / Girl 11 Years Boy / Girl Senior Boy / Girl CHAMPION Kyran Whiteman & Cameron

Oliver and Chloe Henshall Cameron Doughty / Olivia Jones

Eddie Blake / Melati Siswoyo

RUNNER UP Luke Fuller / Libby Blake Harry Martin / Tahlia Ottery & Emerson Wilson

Joe Dunne / Grace Shoesmith & Phoebe Gower

Our Kinder Readiness parent session will take place on Monday evening the 5th June. If you know of any parents who live in our Kotara South PS zone and are looking to enrol their child in 2018, please encourage them to come along. The details are further on in the newsletter with a copy of all the Kinder transition sessions for 2017.

If you are unsure of our school zone, please go the Department of Education’s School Zone Locator tool at:

http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/our-services/services-locator

Our school will be taking part in our first National walk to School Safely day, this Friday 19th May. Please see the special message from Cohen and Georgia our Student Ministers and Miss O’Reilly who are leading this special project. Teachers will walk with students and meet them at the designated ‘pick up’ points. A map is attached for parents so they know the routes to school. Please note this is a one-way trip to school only.

This is the final week for Parent feedback regarding HOMEWORK. Please take a moment to answer this simple survey. We value your time and feedback on this topic. It will help shape future decisions about homework at KSPS. The link to the survey is https://docs.google.com/a/education.nsw.gov.au/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxgmzA0AYHU-ycwSAKQkbFowsGltDBQINUimOqjNkWPfccig/viewform?usp=sf_link

This week has started in a rather cool way. On my many trips around classrooms and out in the playground I am noticing there are some children who are wearing non-school jumpers. We have many ‘un-named and un-claimed’ jumpers in the lost property. I will be sending home some of these spare jumpers with children so they always have a school jumper to wear, keep them warm and to wear with pride. Our uniform shop is mostly open twice a week and I encourage parents to make use of this service.

Stewart House Donation Drive 2017. Your donation supports the 1,800 children who attend Stewart House each year. Donation envelopes will go home tomorrow with oldest child in family. By donating you have a chance to win a holiday of your choice to value of $4,000! All monies must be into the office by Monday 22nd May.

Have a great week learning and thanks for making #KSPSagreatplacetobe Susan Maxworthy – PRINCIPAL

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School News NATIONAL WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY Our special project is National Walk Safely to School Day, which is this Friday the 19th of May and is free of charge. It is a national annual event to encourage school students to walk safely to school. It is an important day as it promotes a healthy lifestyle and it gives children the confidence and skills to walk to school safely. We encourage all children to participate in this event but it is optional. There will be two different routes to walk to school. One starting at Nesbitt Park and the other on Springfield Avenue via Joslin Street. Teachers and student ministers will be at both meeting places to walk with the children safely to school. Parents are still responsible to pick up their children after school. We are looking forward to seeing many children walking safely to school.

Route #1 Nesbitt Park to KSPS. Starting point: Corner of Casey Ave and Boundary St (clubhouse carpark at Nesbitt Park).

Pick up point: Corner of Boundary St and Joslin St.

Pick up point: Corner of Moruya Pde and Joslin St.

Pick up point: Lower end of the walk through lane to Rodway Pde.

Route #2 Springfield Ave via Joslin St to KSPS. Starting point: Corner of Springfield Ave and Rae Cres.

Pick up: Corner of Joslin St and Rae Cres, then walk along Joslin St.

Pick up: Pedestrian crossing on Joslin St, then walk up lane way to Rae Cres. Cohen Wubbles and Georgia Dunn – STUDENT MINISTERS Miss O’Reilly – ORGANISING TEACHER

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YEAR 1 EXCURSION

Hunter Valley Zoo Last Tuesday, Year 1 went to Hunter Valley Zoo. We went by bus and it took about an hour. When we arrived we put our bags on the reserved seats, got some animal food and our clipboards and then we were ready to explore. We saw meerkats, lions, emus, camels, spider monkeys, snakes and more. My favourite animal was the white lion. by Archie 1G

My favourite animal at the zoo was the meerkat. If I was to be an animal it would be a white lion because they get to lay around all day. I liked feeding the kangaroos.

By Orla 1G On Tuesday, 1O’R and 1G went to Hunter Valley Zoo for an excursion. We went to the zoo on a bus. When we got to the zoo we had fruit break. After we had fruit break we got told to go into our groups. I was in Mrs Hulsman’s group with Ashley, Sonny, Reed, Caleb, Rhys and Koen. We then went to the toilet, got our clipboards and feed bags. Then we saw some animals. We fed the kangaroos and goats. I liked the meerkats and the kangaroos. After we saw all the animals we went back to school on the bus.

Indri – 1O’R Yesterday, when 1 O’R and 1G went to the Hunter Valley Zoo we had our fruit break. I was in Miss O’Reilly’s group. I got a feed bag. We walked around and looked at the animals.

Alexander– 1O’R

STAR STRUCK AUDIENCE YEARS 2-6

Matinee Performance Excursion Kotara South P.S is holding an excursion to the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Friday 16 June 2017 to watch the matinee Star Struck performance. We have students from our school participating in Star Struck ‘SHINE ON’ in the choir as well as in dance. It is a wonderful opportunity for your child to watch a fantastic show and support our participating students. There are now only 41 tickets available to attend the matinee show – once these tickets are sold there will be no more available. The cost of the excursion will be $35.00 which covers the admission ticket and bus fare. If your child is interested in attending the excursion they will need to collect a permission note from the office or visit the school website/Skoolbag for further details.

Please note: Payment is by cash, cheque or card only, at the office. No online payment is available due to limited tickets sought. Ms Gibson and Miss Martin – ORGANISING TEACHERS

K-6 PUBLIC SPEAKING Our KSPS Public Speaking class presentations will take place next week (Week 5). Each student should be prepared with a topic to speak about that they are comfortable with and interested in. Please see your child’s class teacher if you have any questions or if you are unsure of your child’s speech date. Each class teacher will select two successful speakers to compete in KSPS stage finals and stage winners will then have the opportunity to compete at the local Zone level competition. We are amazed each year by the originality and creativity of our students’ speeches and are looking forward to their efforts this year.

Miss Partridge and Miss O’Reilly – PUBLIC SPEAKING CO-ORDINATORS

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ATHLETICS AGE SPORTS CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS UP A huge congratulations to the students who were named Age Champions and Runners Up at our assembly on Friday. All age groups were tightly contested with particular age groups having joint winners. Our Zone team is looking strong for the Zone Athletics Carnival to be held in Term 3 on the 7th and 8th of August at Hunter Sports Centre, Glendale. The team will be announced closer to the carnival. Well done to all students

Boy Age Champions Girl Age Champion Junior Champion Cameron Oliver

Kyran Whiteman Junior Champion Chloe Henshall

Junior Runner Up Luke Fuller Junior Runner Up Libby Blake 11 Year Champion Campbell Doughty 11 Year Champion Olivia Jones

11 Years Runner Up Harry Martin

11 Years Runner Up Emerson Wilson Tahlia Ottery

Senior Champion Eddie Blake Senior Champion Melati Siswoyo Senior Runner Up Joe Dunne Senior Runner Up Grace Shoesmith

Phoebe Gower

Paul John – SPORTS COORDINATOR

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Canteen

The Canteen will be closed Term 2 for renovations.

Assembly Awards

WEEK 3

KC

Alex Vincent Ava Buchanan Jacob Gundry Lia Sheldon

2M

Mathew Zerndt Joel Dagwell Myah Konjarski Rhiannan Hall

4/5JE

Tahlia Ottery Tindra Zentner Nathan Palmer Gabrielle Collaros

KP Jada Capriotti Josie Farrow Mia Clarke

2J Sarah Hopton Jaylen Heenan Yulanda Thompson

5P Connor John Ruby Sharkey Chase Hurley

KG/S Matthew Hopton Eleanor West-Sooby Mia Mclvor

3F Sophia Hall Cooper Sturgeon Madden Willott

6W

Grace Shoesmith Mitchell Sands Eden Keats

1G

Bella Vaughan Koen Martyn Jackson Pinchen Brayden Van Vugt

3/4W

Clare Gascoine Luke Forrester Arabella Bourke Angelia Ottery

HSUB Leo Albanese

1O’R Kayla Konjarski Alexander Maytom James Seivl

4G

Alex Belcher Leo Mackie Lily Dunn

Important Dates This Week

19 May National Walk Safely to School Day

This Month 24 May Disco Canteen Stall 24 May Disco Junior K-2 5-6pm

Senior 3-6 6-7:30pm 24 May Yr 5 & Yr 6 Debating 30 May Crazy Hair Day

This Term (2) 14 Jun P&C Meeting -7pm Library 16 Jun Star Struck Performance 18 Jun Gardens & Grounds

Volunteer Day 1-23 Jun Cadbury Chocolate fundraiser

For more details and events visit http://www.kotarasth-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/calendar.

MERIT AWARDS Gold No recipients

Silver Toby Beker Jessica Kelly

Bronze No recipients

EXECUTIVE AWARDS Lucas O’Connor

Olivia Baker

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P&C Association 2017 FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY The P&C is committed to raising funds that will directly support the school and our children in their learning. At our last P&C meeting we were happy to provide the school with our annual contribution of $7,000.00. This money will go towards curriculum support, new books for the library, the student leadership program as well as presentation day.

Since the start of this year we have raised over $5,000. This will contribute to the final appliances and items needed in the new canteen, such as purchasing a drinks fridge and commercial grade dishwasher. We would love to see fresh faces at our next P&C meeting to contribute ideas and participate in discussions on what the school needs our support with.

Event Money Raised Term One Disco $130 Easter Raffle $1,900 Athletics Carnival $1,000 Bunnings BBQ One $1,150 Mother’s Day Stall $1,000 The Athlete’s Foot $220 Total $5,400

Thank you to all the families who helped with the Mother’s Day wrapping night and the stall last week. There were so many reasonably priced choices for the children. It was lovely seeing them excitedly come into the hall to find a special gift for their mum or grandmother. We raised over $1,000 on the day!

Term 2 Disco The Term 2 disco will be next week Wednesday 24th and the P&C will again have a canteen operating from 5pm till around 7:15pm. We need at least four helpers for each session so if you are available, please email [email protected] or come and see us on the night. Entertainment Books now available

Entertainment memberships are now available for 2017-2018. Purchase your digital or book membership at https://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/orderbooks/346s62. Alternatively, books are available for cash purchases through the school office.

Cadbury Chocolates

Our Cadbury Chocolate Fundraiser will run from 1st to 23rd of June. Preparations for distributing the chocolate boxes to all families through the eldest child are being made. Details will be provided soon.

If you prefer not to participate this year, please complete the opt-out form and return to the school by 27th Friday. (You do not need to complete the form if you want to participate in the fundraiser)

Cadbury Chocolate Fundraiser 2017 Opt-Out Note

Please select an opt-out option below.

We do not wish to participate in the Cadbury Chocolate Fundraiser this year.

We would like to donate the money that would have been raised ($20) instead of participating in the Cadbury Chocolate Fundraiser this year.

Eldest Child’s Name: Amount Enclosed: (if applicable)

Parent/carer Signature

Next Meeting: 14 Jun

7pm in the Library

[email protected]

Kotara South Public School P&C