Clunes Public School Newsletter

28 May 2020 Week 5 Term 2 Learn to Live, Live to Learn

Respect |Responsibility | Integrity Our school stands proudly on Bundjalung land

Walker Street, Clunes 2480 Phone: (02) 66291278 Email: clunes-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Principal: Michelle Slee Fax: (02) 66291040 Website: https://clunes-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

SCHOOL CALENDAR We are an accredited Waste Wise Ways School

WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 All students return to school unless unwell or they have a medical certificate. Parents must adhere to 1.5m physical distancing rules. Only essential visitors on site and all must sign in at the office.

Monday 1st June - P&C meeting via ZOOM at 6:30pm

Monday 8th June - Queen’s Birthday Holiday

A proud member of the First North Community of Schools and The Rivers P-12

FABULOUS FIRST FULLTIME ATTENDANCE WEEK BACK Students and staff enjoyed a great first week back, settling into both old and new routines, including the new class structures. Teachers have been supporting students to adjust to school life with structures, time allocations and many other classmates sharing their learning experience again. Playtime has also been a delight with many friendships renewed and students of all ages enjoying each other’s company. Students are loving running around the open space with imaginative play. Our students appear to be using integrity in their continued and thorough hand washing and this will hopefully reduce the spread of all viruses and infections this year. There would have been mixed feelings for parents this week with some relief in having well deserved “me” time, a sense of normality and/ or hopefully a return to employment for others. I’m sure there was also little separation anxiety as so

many families enjoyed an enforced simpler way of life with quality time for the family. We would like to thank everyone for: • Ensuring children came to school with a water bottle, a

hat and warm clothes. • Only visiting our school site for essential reasons (in and

out of school hours) and signing in at office first. • Adhering to physical distancing rules at drop off and

pick up points (even when greeting friends for the first time in weeks)

• Beginning to return loaned resources.

MUSIC TUTORING MAKES A WELCOMING RETURN The amazing sound of students playing instruments and singing echoed through hallways this week. Our drummers are reminded to bring their own drum sticks for lessons with Mr Cameron on Friday.

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING TO PARENTS Teachers are working together preparing reports to be distributed to parents at the end of this term. These reports will not have A – E grading nor will they report on remote / online learning during the Covid-19 restrictions period. This is in keeping with current NSW DET reporting guidelines. It is also an equity issue for teachers to pass accurate judgement on student progress and achievement without passing judgement on access to curriculum and technology at home, parental support and evidence of children completing tasks independently. Teachers will provide a report on student progress which has been assessed at school in the early weeks of Term 1 and from weeks 5 to 8 of Term 2. Our aim is to provide useful information on focus learning areas and future directions for your child. Teachers have committed to completing these Semester One reports this term and, with no further restrictions, will start a new schedule of teaching and learning cycles to provide more comprehensive reports for Semester Two. When deemed safe and appropriate, we will contact our parents whose children have personalised learning plans. We encourage parents to contact the school if they would like to discuss any aspect of their child’s education and teachers will also contact you if they feel there is a need to discuss your child. Communication is an integral part of ensuring “Every student is known, valued and cared for. RECONCILIATION WEEK AND NAIDOC WEEK LESSONS Although we currently cannot conduct excursions and special events for important historical and cultural learning and acknowledgement, students are participating in lessons this week and later in the term, as we continue to instil knowledge, understanding and respect for Aboriginal people and important events in Australian history which impact on the people of our country. Michelle Slee Principal

EXPECTATION Always show kindness and gratitude.

A Balance for our children

Although there are quite a few physical activities we cannot yet participate in, there are many ways we provide a balance of physical activities, sedimentary activities and enough hours of sleep for our children as we start to emerge from lockdown. Technology skills are still essential for children and adults, however we must start to regain a sense of balance. Teachers are very aware of this and have focused on movement between lessons, physical activity and other learning strategies with children returning to the classroom. Last year we provided lots of information regarding the use of technology, cyber safety and social media in the home. One suggestion to remove conflict in the home is to turn off Wi-Fi at a set time in the evening.

Below are some guidelines from the Australian Department of Health you may find interesting reading.

National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep Recommendations for Children 5 - 17 years, 0 - 5

years and adults 17 - 64 years.

• Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Young People (5-17 years)

• Guidelines Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years (birth to 5 years): An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep - PDF 150 KB

• Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Adults (18-64 years)

• eSafety Commissioner website about managing online time

Return of Library Books With students returning to school, we are asking that library books and home readers please be returned on your allocated library day. Books need to be placed in the specially marked crates outside the library. All books will be ‘rested’ for 48 hours prior to being available for loan.

Payments for textbooks, uniforms etc We ask that, if at all possible, payment for uniforms, book club, textbooks etc be cashless (i.e. via eftpos or online).

Book Club

Issue 4 of Book club was sent home this week. Your orders need to be back at school by Monday 15th June. Thank you. P&C News The P&C warmly welcome all the children back to the school this week, and know that Michelle and the whole teaching staff have been busy preparing for this week and excited to see you all back again. The next meeting will be held this Monday night at 6.30pm. We welcome new faces or anyone interested to attend. It is currently being held on zoom, which has been great way to

meet and have your slippers and pj's on if you like! For the meeting link contact Bron at bronwyn@hinterland.com.au or myself at douglass.anna@gmail.com. If you are unable to attend meetings please contact Bron or myself for any fundraising ideas you may have. At this stage we are not doing any fundraising events, but as soon as Covid-19 restrictions lift and we get the go-ahead from the government we have some exciting events to run. Clunes OSHC This week at Clunes OSHC we have had many of our children return to Afterschool Care and it has been wonderful seeing their smiling faces. This week we experimented with marshmallow slime and quickly learnt that following the recipe including the specific ingredients is really important to achieve the desired result.

In the marshmallow slime’s case don’t swap baking marshmallows for large marshmallows. We continued our journey through the wonderful world of weaving, creating friendship bracelets by weaving/plaiting four threads together. We decorated pool noodles to

become lightsabres. And the children have been working their imagination in a game where some of them pretend to be horses training in horsey events like jumping and dressage. Only five more weeks till we are all back on school holidays

and the children have come up with some great

ideas for the July vacation care. We will be working on the program and hopefully have it out to you in Week 7. We still have spaces for afterschool care. If you would like your children to attend after school care please call or text us on 0437 362 834 or email us clunesoshc@nrcs.org.au.

Laura, Tom and the COOSH te