From the Principal’s Desk DEAR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS

Ballandella Road Toongabbie; Phone: 02 9631 3610 We would like to show respect and acknowledge the Darug People, the Traditional Custodians of the Land.

Newsletter: 19 March 2019 Term 1 Week 8 For further information, visit our web page at: http://www.toongabwst-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

If you would like to receive a newsletter electronically, please email toongabwst-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au and include your child’s name and class.

CALENDAR

19 Mar POSTPONED

Cross country carnival

23 Mar

Saturday

P&C Election Day Sausage Sizzle

26 Mar Cross country carnival

2 Apr Parent/ Teacher interviews

3 Apr School photos

9 Apr P&C Meeting

11 Apr Easter Hat Parade

12 Apr Last day of term

As I look at all the changes in education over the last few years, one thing has remained constant, in order to succeed we need to be able to read. In high school reading is vital in every subject in order to engage in them, to access information and to understand many issues in the news.TV is OK but we do get a more in depth level in the printed media, where often we can make our own minds up by studying in more detail the information. But even more important than that is to develop a love of reading, a book is a long-lasting memory, where we can see in our mind the pictures and settings being written in words. How do we do this, how do we learn to enjoy reading? At a very early age, we begin to model what we see around us. At school in kindergarten teachers read to children, they read with them and then listen to the children read. At home having books around and letting our children see us reading, bedtime stories and reading together are vital for children to see that this is something to be enjoyed. Research shows that children who develop a love of reading are among the most successful students when they leave school. So when you look at what is happening in the home or on trips in planes,

NOTE:

When filling out permission notes and envelopes, please remember to write your child’s full name, class and reason for payment.

boats, or trains make sure you take some books to share, read together or just read. The result for the future will be worth it. A reminder to all K-2 parents that going to the classes before 3pm is a distraction for students when they are being given information about tomorrow. If they become distracted by you then tomorrow they will not be ready for their school day. Please stay near the Library until the bell goes before you go down to pick them up. The weather is being rather persistent at the moment, with rain seemingly insistent on falling from the sky. Thank you to all of the parents/carers who are managing to keep school uniforms clean and available. Hopefully the rain will stop soon. Today due to the rain the Cross Country had to be postponed, next week we will try again and all the weather being on our side we will manage to complete it. SRC SILVER CENT DRIVE The SRC in conjunction with the PBL team are creating a friendship garden, which was initiated by a student’s suggestion. This will be created at the front of the office where the current garden is situated next to the COLA. It will be an area where students will be able to go and be supported in finding a friend or groups to join with and will be available for the whole of lunch and recess. This Semester the SRC are doing a silver coin fundraiser to help buy one or two buddy benches which will be placed into our new friendship garden. If you have any silver coins in your change, please give them to your son/daughter or child and they can add them to their class collection. The more funds we raise the more benches we can buy (one or better still - two). The winning class (based upon the funds raised) will receive a pizza party at the end of the collection period. To make it fairer for classes with a smaller number of students, the amount raised will be averaged out based on the number of students in the class. Kind Regards Mr Tasker and the SRC TELL THEM FROM ME – STUDENT SURVEY I am delighted that this term, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey 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 The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school. I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 11 March and 12 April. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. A consent form and FAQs for parents/carers about the survey is being sent home with students. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by Friday 22 March 2019. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents. (The consent form and FAQs are available in 23 languages.) 1/2H What a fabulous start to the year! 1/2H have been working really hard and adjusting to new routines in the classroom. The first few weeks were spent getting to know the peers in our class and creating our classroom rules. We have been looking at the author Mem Fox and reading her books including ‘Possum Magic’. The students really enjoyed this story as we were able to link it with our geography unit. We were able to follow Grandma Poss and Hush on their journey around Australia, learning our states and capital cities. 1/2H enjoyed making their season artworks using watercolour paint, dot

painting and oil pastels. They look so colourful on our window. The students are also learning about healthy eating in PDHPE and the healthy food pyramid. As a class, the students had the opportunity to create a food pyramid together. They did an amazing job putting different foods into the correct groups. 1/2H look forward to learning more new things each day. 1/2K All Stage 1 students were lucky enough to watch the brand-new demountable arrive last Monday and we are now just waiting for the final touches to be completed before 1/2K move in. Students from 1/2K are very excited about their new classroom. When asked what they were most looking forward to, these were their responses; “I’m excited to have a new room. The reading corner will be very awesome”- Logan “I’m looking forward to having our own individual trays”- Akshayan “I can’t wait to have a bag area to store our bags”- Gurnoor “I am looking forward to having a sink in our room for washing hands and paint”- Taha “I am looking forward to having new computers”- Sohil “I can’t wait to have an art area”- Abha “I am looking forward to having a bookshelf and a reading corner for reading books.”- Aarya “I am looking forward to moving the desks around”- Lily “Having a proper teacher’s desk will be good” – Jahziah

“I am looking forward to having space for games”- Ryliee “I am looking forward to having an area to roleplay quietly”- Skylah “It’ll be good to have our very own space to put our things”- Suyesh “A new smartboard for the classroom will be great”- Kaylee “I’m looking forward to having a new computer area”- Damien “I look forward to having a book area for reading because I love books”- Isabel “I look forward to having an area to play and learn”- Udham “I look forward to having our own area to learn”- Vrishali “I can’t wait to have new computers”- Cayden “I look forward to having a reading area with lots of books to read”- Haran “I can’t wait to have a place to put up our class work” - Amrudha “I am looking forward to having space for a word wall so we can go to it when we can’t spell a word” – Hamiska Miss K Hodgson

SPECIAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SRE) Dear Parents/ Carers SRE lessons are delivered to our students by voluntary teachers. These teachers are recruited, trained, and authorised to teach by an approved provider. Information about this and lesson content can be located at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/religion-and-ethics/approved-sre-providers 30-minute lessons are delivered each Thursday by the following organizations:

Students not attending SRE are provided with supervised 'Alternative Meaningful Activities'. These activities do not compete with SRE and are not lessons in the curriculum. Suitable activities may include reading, private study, completing homework or other activities as considered to be appropriate by the school community. PBL NEWS In Weeks 8 and 9 our school PBL focus is Be Respectful, with a specific emphasis on ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’. Teachers will discuss in the classroom how students can be respectful in different contexts both at home and school. This includes, listening and following teacher instructions, speaking politely to others, apologising when you have done the wrong thing, taking responsibility for your actions and looking after all areas of their school environment. Students need to learn how to be respectful towards others in different ways in order to receive it. Finally, congratulations to the students presented with PBL awards at our assembly on Thursday. Well done. THE PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2019 The PRC student site is available again this year! Students can search for books to read, add books to their reading logs, and track their progress throughout the challenge.

You can find the site at https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/studentExperience.html#/ and there is a useful help video available to demonstrate how the site works. Students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 will complete the challenge with their teacher. Students in Years 3-6 need to complete the challenge by themselves. They need to read 20 books and enter them online. 15 of the books must be from the PRC book list. The challenge needs to be completed by 30 August 2019.

SCHOOL PHOTOS REMINDER It is that time of the year again, brush the teeth and hair, check your best school uniform is on and put on a smile and the memory will last forever! Our school photos will be taken on: Wednesday 3 April 2019

SRE Group Years Organisation

Catholic K-2 Parramatta Diocese: St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church Toongabbie

Catholic 3-4 Parramatta Diocese: St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church Toongabbie

Catholic 5-6 Parramatta Diocese: St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church Toongabbie

Hindu K-2 The Saiva Manram

Hindu 3-6 The Saiva Manram

Islamic K-2 Islamic Charity Projects Association

Islamic 3-6 Islamic Charity Projects Association

Protestant K-2 Baptist Union of NSW

Protestant 3-4 Anglican Diocese

Protestant 5-6 Baptist Union of NSW

Please do not seal envelopes inside each other. Each child needs to have his or her own envelope on photo day. Photo order envelopes must be returned with children by photo day to the office. Orders will not be accepted at school after photo day. Payments can be made by cash (correct amount), cheque, or money order only on the day. For parents wishing to pay after photo day you can go to their website www.theschoolphotographer.com.au and select the “Click here for Online Payments” button. You will then be asked to enter details to make a payment online. Family envelopes are available at the school office upon request. Please ensure your child is wearing full school summer uniform on the day. 1/2S In 1/2S we have had an exciting start to the year! We have enjoyed making new friends and getting to know them better through some fun games and completing writing activities about our similarities and differences. We have learnt that we are all connected by our similarities and our uniqueness is displayed in our differences. We realised it would be pretty boring if we were all the same! We demonstrated our fantastic artistic skills when we created self-portraits of ourselves that show how individual we all are. We have been reading and discussing lots of great stories including ‘Magic Beach’ and ‘Are We

There Yet?’. These stories have helped us to talk about how we can make more interesting sentences using adjectives and to learn about the diversity of Australia. The students like Mr Hussain teaching them how to play the ukulele each week as they are really looking forward to playing a song by the end of the year. The students are learning to work together and always try their best in everything they do. I have loved being a part of 1/2S as they settle into 2019 but we do look forward to Mrs Skelton returning soon. Mrs N Woodley LEGENDS OF LEAGUE GALA DAY The Legends of League Gala Day took place last Wednesday on a cold and rainy day at Binalong Oval. Fortunately for us, the rain didn’t affect the day. The team of 13 students were excited about representing the school in non-competitive rugby league games. We played four games against two teams from Toongabbie and Kings Langley Public Schools. They played with true team spirit, with each player encouraged and praised by their teammates. The students that knew how to play were seen coaching and giving pointers to their teammates. Our students left the oval with smiles on their faces as they’d had a wonderful day representing their school and showing off their skills with great enthusiasm. Mr Tasker