- Ironbark Ridge PS

Cnr. Ironbark Ridge Road and Withers Road, Rouse Hill, 2155 Ph: 8814 5687 Fax: 8814 5698 Email: ironbarkrg-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Webpage: www.ironbarkrg-p.schools.nsw.edu.au Nurturing personal growth through inspired learning…

Newsletter 2017

Term 4 Week 3 27th October, 2017 Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful

DATES FOR THE DIARY

OCTOBER 30th – School votes for School Leaders

NOVEMBER 1st – Kindy Orientation morning 2, 1B Assembly 2nd – Be Skilled Be Fit – Yrs 3 – 6, Schools Spec. Combined

rehearsal 3rd – PSSA Sport 4th – Band Camp 7th – 2pm – Yr 2-5Band Demo Concert 8th – KM Assembly STAR Awards 9th – Be Skilled Be Fit – Yrs 3-6, Kindy Orientation Morning 3 10th – PSSA Sport, Remembrance Day assembly,

Schools Spec. Rehersal 3

** Subscribe to our ‘Ironbark Ridge – Events’ Google calendar (see the app or the school website)

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Working hard towards the completion of a year’s learning can seem a frenetic and arduous task for all involved, yet it is one with many rewards and satisfying accomplishments. Challenging ourselves is exhausting! Our Ironbark Ridge students and their teachers have spent the past three terms building new knowledge on existing, extending skills through practice and transferral to new situations, and forming deeper conceptual understandings through analysing and critical thinking. The feedback our students receive from their peers and teachers is crucial in this learning process. Most importantly, the honest feedback students give themselves will govern how much they take responsibility for their own learning progress and growth. Remember we are aiming for at least a year’s growth from every student, teacher, leader, parent and friend for every calendar year spent as part of our learning community! New little Ironbarkers!

This week on Tuesday morning we were joined here at school by about 120 new youngsters preparing for a move into Kindy here at Ironbark Ridge next February. It was busy, exciting and certainly for many a little bit daunting as they all met with new friends and new teachers in new classrooms. From all reports our future Kindy students are a bright and ready bunch who will fit

well into our bustling, dynamic school when they do arrive. Unfortunately it was my turn to play host to our parents… unfortunate only as it meant I was unable to get into the classrooms to meet some of our new friends. Hopefully next week (Wednesday 1/11 @ 9.30am) I’ll be able to get up there to be a part of the fun

Trash ‘n’ Treasure thanks Thank you to all who attended our festive Sunday fundraising event last weekend – the Trash ‘n’ Treasure sale. The hard work of all of our P&C Events committee is greatly appreciated as these fundraisers are time-consuming and hard work. To have such a generous small group of people is so important to our school and learning community. Thanks also to all who had stalls and ran activities on what was a beautiful sunny day together here at Ironbark Ridge. This weekend we have family portraits here at the school so again huge thanks to the organising committee.

Ongoing excellence in… This week our sensational debating team won the local Blacktown District debating competition. Congratulations to the team and their coach, Ms Puddy (6/5P) for a wonderful effort. I agree that Year 12 should be compulsory… I wouldn’t want to have an argument with you four! Last Thursday our chess players proved extremely strong at the Hawkesbury District One-Day Chess Tournament, taking out places 1st, 2nd and 3rd along with several other top ten spots. The depth of our playing talent is outstanding and special congratulations go to Imran (Year 6) who was undefeated with 7 wins from 7 matches at Board 1, and his amazing team of Moazam (Year 5) and Aneesh (Year 5). This team will represent our school at the state final at North Sydney Boys High in a few weeks’ time. Fete… Save the date! With about a year to go our P&C Events committee held a meeting this week for all interested parents to assist with the long-term planning for next year’s school fete. If you were around a couple of years back when we celebrated our school’s 10th Birthday, you’ll know that a rollercoaster in the carpark and giant swings and slide on the oval next to the dodgem cars certainly draws a crowd! The food and stalls were amazing as well! So I’d advise marking the following date in your calendar now so your children are not disappointed and you can answer their nagging with “Yeah, we’ll be there!”: The Fete date: Saturday 27th October, 2018 Contact our P&C for further opportunities to add your volunteer efforts to this fundraiser. Congratulations Two of our temporary teachers have recently been appointed permanently to our teaching team through a highly competitive Merit Selection process. We are excited to have the ongoing amazing work of Ms Antoniazzi and Ms Stewart at Ironbark Ridge for the years to come. Congratulations to them both as this is recognition of their outstanding talent and dedication to teaching and their own professional growth. A third teacher, Ms Laura Wilkinson, was also appointed through this same extremely competitive process. She will join our team from the beginning of 2018. Unfortunately for us, but with great congratulations to the sensational Ms Walker (3W), we will be lending the talents and leadership of Ms Walker to Kenthurst PS for 2018 as a relieving Assistant Principal. Ms Walker has always been a leader at our school, highly respected by students, staff and parents for her outstanding contribution to Ironbark Ridge. We hope to have her back in the future and will greatly miss her input while she is gone. Our loss is Kenthurst Public School’s gain! Writing Workshop – our Teachers seeking continuous growth On Monday afternoon this week a number of our teachers attended an inspiring professional learning course ‘off-site’, focussed on innovative and effective strategies for the teaching of writing. The teacher growth, professional dialogue and enthusiasm generated by these sorts of courses, often conducted by the NSW Dept of Education’s expert staff, are a reminder to me of the growth mindset and desire to learn our teaching staff model to each other and to their students. Much of our professional learning happens here at school with teachers observing each other teaching and providing each other with critical feedback for reflection and planning. Our ongoing development of expert maths teaching strategies is a good example of this sort of ‘in-house’ professional growth program. We are fortunate indeed to have such a learning-focussed, collaborative team of teachers and support staff here at Ironbark Ridge. A good cause When Chelsea, Year 6, approached teachers with the idea of getting her friends and other Ironbark Ridge families involved in the donation of Christmas gift boxes for underprivileged children from developing countries around the world she no doubt hoped to inspire a few others to help out a bit. This week charity volunteers collected over 95 gift boxes from our office foyer thanks to your generous support for this worthy cause. These boxes will be delivered in time

for excited children overseas to open them at Christmas celebrations where they might otherwise receive no gifts. Congratulations to Chelsea for such a successful campaign and for your generous thought and hard work over the past term. Once again we are inspired by our amazing Ironbark Ridge students. Humanity Award

Yash and Chelsea (Year 6) were awarded a Humanity Award from the Fred Hollows Foundation on Monday this week for their volunteer work, making our community a better place. These awards are presented to Year 6 students from across the state who have shown themselves to embody the values of compassion, integrity and kindness, just as Fred did. Brianna, Anoushka, Darshanik and Trinica were also nominated and received certificates at Assembly this week, acknowledging their positive contributions. How wonderful it is to be able to celebrate these caring students. Yash and Chelsea are shown here at the event with Gabi Hollows and Rob Stokes, NSW Minister for Education. Congratulations to all of these students for this highly distinguished and well-deserved award. You all certainly make Ironbark Ridge a better place, too!

Let’s all work together to maintain our stamina and remain focussed on our collective sprint to the finish-line of 2017, so we can maximise everyone’s personal growth this year. Stay strong together with us all in the pursuit of excellence, Nick Thomson Principal

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT World Teachers’ Day World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia today, 27th October. It’s a great opportunity to acknowledge the hardworking teachers in our classrooms and to celebrate their dedication and commitment in educating our students. On behalf of the community and staff, I would like to thank our teachers for the inspirational work they do everyday.

Congratulations Lucy! We are very proud to announce that Lucy has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Peter Davis Outstanding Athlete Award for Athletics, Swimming and Soccer. This award is the highest sporting award offered in School Sport in Sydney West PSSA. It follows an incredible year of sporting achievements. She has represented our school at all Ridges and Sydney West carnivals, and represented Sydney West in State Athletics, Swimming and Soccer.

Lucy will receive her award at a special Presentation Evening on Tuesday 5th December. Congratulations Lucy on your remarkable achievement!

Celebration Day – Save the Date! Our Celebration Day will be held on Monday 11th December in the Rouse Hill High School Hall, starting at 9.30am. During this assembly, we will present P&C Citizenship Awards, Class Merit Awards, several major awards as well as announce our student leadership team for 2018. You will be given an invitation to attend if your child is due to receive one of these special awards. Kindergarten and Year 6 students will also be recognised during Celebration Day. Due to the growing population of our school, space and time constraints, we will be modifying our usual program. All Kindergarten students will receive their certificates and have an opportunity to have their photo taken on stage. All Year 6 students will receive their graduation certificates and we will enjoy a slideshow dedicated to them. Year 6 students will also be recognised during a fun send-off on their last day of school, at 2pm on Friday 15th December. We thank you in advance for your understanding.

Selective High School Placement 2019 Parents of Year 5 students intending to apply for their child to go to a selective high school in Year 7 of 2019, need to submit the application by no later than Monday 13 November 2017. All applications must be made online through an Internet connection. The website where you will find all the necessary information, including the list of selective high schools and the application portal is: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7 If you intend making an application, it would be appreciated if you could please inform the school by completing the Intention to Apply letter and returning it to school ASAP, this will enable the school to submit the relevant documentation. Please note: the Intention to Apply Letter is not the application form. Parents must apply online through the portal above. Selective HS Placement Test is Thursday 15 March 2018. Ridges Festival of the Arts Congratulations to our talented dancers and speakers for their terrific performances at the Ridges Festival. We enjoyed an amazing evening of entertainment, which is only possible with our excellent parent support. Thank you to our talented dance teachers; Mrs Nahirny, Miss Furnell, Mrs Ingrey, Mrs Goddard, Mrs Pratt, Mrs Barton, Miss Bartholomew and Mrs Sexton for their support of the performing arts at IRPS. If your child is in a dance group this year and you would like to donate their costume back to the school, please send it with a note to your child’s dance group teacher. We do like to keep costumes where we are able to. However, of course you are more than welcome to keep the costume as a souvenir!

Keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for fine weather next Friday so that our Summer PSSA season can continue! Kind Regards Kerrie Pho Deputy Principal

Ironbark Ridge Public School Parent Planner Term 4 2017

As at 27.10.17 ** Note: All dates on this planner are subject to change at the discretion of the school.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 9th October Students Return

10th October Schools Spectacular Rehearsal 1

11th October Pulse Choir @ Jamisontown 4/3B Assembly

12th October Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 Group Photos

13th October Ridges Festival of the Arts Daytime rehearsal & Evening concert NO PSSA

2 16th October Whole School Photo (9am)

17th October

18th October KC Assembly 7pm P&C Meeting

19th October Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6

Diwali

20th October Summer PSSA Kidz Biz

22nd October IRPS Trash & Treasure Sale!

3

23rd October Schools Spectacular Rehearsal 2 2018 Student Leader nominations due

24th October Kindy 2018 Orientation Morning 1

25th October 1E Assembly SRC DISCO 5pm – K-2 6.30pm – 3-6

26th October Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6

27th October Summer PSSA

28th -29th October Family Portraits

4 30th October 31st October

1st November Kindy 2018 Orientation Morning 2 1B Assembly

2nd November Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 Schools Spectacular Combined Rehearsal

3rd November Summer PSSA

4th November IRPS Band Camp

5 6th November 7th November

8th November KM Assembly – STAR Awards

9th November Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 Kindy 2018 Orientation Morning 3

10th November Summer PSSA Remembrance Day assembly Schools Spectacular Rehearsal 3

6

13th November 14th November

15th November 5/4K Assembly – STAR Awards

16th November Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 PULSE Concert

17th November Summer PSSA

7

20th November 21st November Kindergarten 2018 Information Evening Awards of Excellence Morning Tea

22nd November Schools Spectacular Combined Rehearsal 1pm-8pm 3S Assembly

23rd November Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 Schools Spectacular Combined Rehearsal

24th November Summer PSSA Schools Spectacular Preview and Evening Performance

25th November Schools Spectacular Matinee and Evening Performance

8

27th November 12pm Swim School

28th November

29th November Student Leaders Assembly 7pm P&C Meeting

30th November Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6

1st December Summer PSSA

9

4th December 12pm Swim School

5th December Public High Schools Orientation Day OC Orientation Year 6 Farewell

6th December Whole School Assembly

7th December Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6

8th December

10 11th December Celebration Day

12th December

13th December Party Days – Stage 2 and 3 No Assembly

14th December Be Skilled Be Fit 3-6 Party Days – Kindy and Stage 1

15th December 2pm Year 6 Assembly Last day for students

11 18th December Staff Development Day (No students)

19th December Staff Development Day (No students)

ADMINISTRATION NEWS

There are a number of wallets, purse, glasses,jewellery etc in the office. If you can come and check and identify any of these items we can return the items to their rightful owners. Just a reminder, that the term 4 Accounts have been emailed to all

families and final payment with permission notes are due next Friday 3rd November. Allison Batten School Administration Manager

END OF YEAR SCHOOL LEAVERS - KINDERGARTEN TO YEAR 5 We are starting to plan classes for 2018. If you know that your child/ren will definitely not be

returning to Ironbark Ridge next year or will be returning late at the commencement of the 2018

school year, please complete the slip below and return it to the school office as soon as possible.

Please disregard this letter if your child/ren are continuing at Ironbark in 2018.

Nick Thomson Principal ________________________________________________________________________

My child _____________________________________________ Class ______________ My child _____________________________________________ Class ______________ My child _____________________________________________ Class ______________ Will not be returning to Ironbark Ridge PS next year. Destination School __________________________________________________ Will be returning late. Date returning ____________________________________ Parent or Caregiver Signature: ______________________________________________

Canteen News We are in desperate need of volunteers to help out in the canteen for just an hour or so any day. Don’t think that you will need to do any ordering, we just need someone to help our Canteen manager to pack lunches for the lunch time rush,so the students get their lunch on time. Any time you can spare, would be appreciated. Please pop by and have a chat with Doris.

Doris Cull School Canteen Manager

WEEK 2

KBB Travis, Evan, Emaan, Dante, Lucy K C Ethan, James, Koby, Nethuki, Autumn K T Nithum, Saxon, Akshara, Ciana, Vinuk 1 B Anna, Micha, Ella, Akshaka 2 P Noah, Eric, Ashlee, Benjamin 2T Chelsea, Lachlan, Stephen, Ruan 3 B Rohin, Sam, Emily, Ashlee, Benjamin 3 W Harmony, Alisha, Mackenzie, Riley, Jayson 4 L Lucia,Harrison, Tori, Sophie 5/4 K Ben, Zarwa, Ayan, Prisha 6/5 A Donny, Sophie, Mitchell, Kirsten 6/5 M Kushal, Zara, Charlotte, Yohan, Olivia 6/5 P Byron, Ayesha, Amnah, William, Aly Principal Ironbark Dance Teachers Library 5/6M, 3W, KB Chinese 6/5P, Evette (6/5P) Amnah (6/5P) Art Sanjana (W), Rija (2TL), Jasmin (2/1J) Nicholas (KC), Ava (4L), Yousef (6/5M),

Lincoln (2/1J), Joon (5/4K) Jasmine (5/4K), Devkrish (/4)

WEEK 3

K M Samim, Amelia, Brylee, Eric K S Cameron, Adam, Alexis, Amira 1 E Shobit, Aarav, Tyler, Megan 1G Eva, Zac, Branden, Isabel 2 C Hoyeon, Ruby, Ryan, Riona 2W Isabella, Ali Alyan, Isabella, Jahan 3 S James, Ebony, Fizah, Arya, Parth 4/3 B Gurkirat, Soham, Austin, Namood 4 K Lauren, Luke, Cooper, Kiarna, Hanna 4T Ken, Isabel, Ashley, Eden Jorge 5 K Daniel, Riya, Amudha, Jaden, Bryan 6/5 F Ansh, Cassie Chantal, Haya 6/5 S Skye, Adrian, Josh, Jayden, Tegan, Christine 6 H Natalie, Darshpreet, Trinica, Ray, Sienna Principal Semester 2 SRC Representatives Library 4/3B, Ekam (4T) Chinese 1E, Megan (1E Art Charlie-Rose (6/5F, Aleisha (6/5F), Amelie (KS), Ciara (1G), Ryan (KM),

Francesca (1E), Tam (6H), Amelie (6H), Olivia (3S), Suphi (3S), James (3S) PSSA SPORT: TERM 1

STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN PSSA TEAMS (EXCEPT NETBALL) ARE REQUIRED TO BE A SCHOOL ON FRIDAY MORNINGS IN TERM 4 AT 8.45AM FOR AN 8.50AM SHARP DEPARTURE. IF STUDENTS DO NOT ARRIVE ON TIME THE BUS WILLNOT WAIT AND YOUR CHILD

WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING IN PSSA ON THAT FRIDAY. WEEK 4 3rd November AFL BYE SOFTBALL/T-BALL Hills Centenary Oval CRICKET Jonas Bradley Oval 165 The Ponds Blvd, The Ponds NRL TAG Russell Reserve, Withers Road, Rouse Hill (Field 6) NETBALL Hills Centenary Oval WEEK 5 10th November AFL Wrights Reserve, Pye Road,m Quakers Hills SOFTBALL/T-BALL Newbury Oval, Pefection Drive, Kellyville CRICKET Newbury Oval, Pefection Drive, Kellyville NRL TAG Russell Reserve, Withers Road, Rouse Hill (Field 5) NETBALL Hills Centenary Oval

WEEK 6 17th November AFL Wrights Reserve, Pye Road, Quakers Hills SOFTBALL/T-BALL Jonas Bradley Reserve, 165 The Ponds Blvd, The Ponds CRICKET Hills Centenary Oval NRL TAG Russell Reserve, Withers Road, Rouse Hill (Field 4) NETBALL Hills Centenary Oval KINDY CAPERS

Kindergarten students have settled back into routines for our last term of Kindergarten! How time has flown! Students have been working hard and experiencing lots of tales related to our ‘Fairytales’ literature unit for the term. During this unit, we will be designing and making alternative items in science from the fairytales such as building a new castle for Cinderella, making a stronger bed for Goldilocks, growing a beanstalk like Jack,

redesigning the 3 pigs houses and getting the cookies to Grandma’s house without going through the woods. We are all enjoying reading stories about our favourite fairytale characters. Look out for princess crowns, shoes and magical wands coming home!! Last week we celebrated Diwali and enjoyed learning some facts about this celebration. We were amazed by the beautiful Rangoli designs near the office. We also had a lot of fun at the Halloween themed disco. It was a great way to have some fun dancing and playing games with our friends!

Notes have been sent out via email regarding the Kindergarten end of year movie day. Please ensure payment is received before the cut-off date as it would very disappointing for any Kindy students to miss out. Further details will come home later in the term. Kindy Orientation for 2018 students began this week on Tuesday the 24th. This year’s Kindergarten children have been visiting the other grades during this time. Our next

Orientation day is Wednesday 1st November, Week 4 where the Kindy dance group will be performing (a note went home today) and Thursday 9th November (Week 5). Kindy Seahorses had 2 special visitors this week – Mr Thomson and Mrs Pho. They were both visiting the shop that Kindy Seahorses have set up. By the photos below it looked like lots of fun and lots of things were sold. Kindy Teachers The ES1 Team

STAGE 1 SNIPPETS This term Stage 1 has been exploring persuasive texts during literacy sessions. Did your child persuade you to give them money for the KIDZBIZ Market Day which was on last Friday? The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience of going shopping. There are only a few weeks left for the children to bring in coins for the “5 Cent Coin” collection. Thank you to those families who have contributed so far. The children are excitedly adding coins to their class jar as they are eager to win the pizza party for collecting the most money! Well done to the dancers who danced at the Ridges Festival of the Arts at Hillsong. You all did a great job and should feel very proud of yourselves.

As we still have a lot of learning to do before the year is over, please double check with your child and see how their stationery stocks are going, particularly pencils and glue sticks.

Just a reminder that permission notes need to be returned to the front office by 3rd November 2017 for Swim Scheme and Movie Day.

Stage One teachers

STAGE 2 SNIPPETS

Schools Spectacular

Schools Spectacular is an outstanding showcase of the talent in NSW public schools. In terms of sheer size, scale and scope, Schools Spectacular is unequalled in the world with a 2700-strong choir, 2300 diverse dancers, an 80-piece symphony orchestra, a world-class stage band and a huge number of outstanding solo performers.

This iconic cultural event engages and showcases students of varying ages, cultures, skills and socio-economic backgrounds; from metropolitan, rural and remote regions of NSW.

Our amazing dancers will be performing on Friday 24th November at the Qudos Bank Arena. We are lucky enough to be able to take students from Stage 2 and 3 to watch the amazing performance. Notes have been handed out and need to be returned ASAP. There are only a few places left!!!!!! Make sure you don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity!

Kind regards, Stage 2 teachers.

STAGE 3 SNIPPETS Term 4 continues to fly along at a busy pace in Stage 3 at Ironbark Ridge PS. As soon as one exciting event or special occasion is finished, there’s another one on its way up ahead. Our Year 5 students with leadership aspirations have spent weeks preparing themselves for the upcoming votes for school captains and house captains. They’ve been practising their speaking posture, timing their speeches, and fine-tuning their arguments. The first round of elections will take place on Monday the 30th of October with all of Stage 3 casting their votes.

Just as exciting are our upcoming Star Award assemblies. These extra special certificates are awarded to students who have displayed exceptional levels of academic improvement, school participation and consideration of others, over the course of the year. These distinguished assemblies will take the place on Wednesday the 8th and 15th of November. Be sure to be there to give these great recipients a well-earned round of applause

The 2017 School Spectacular will take place on the last Friday and Saturday of November. This amazing showcase of public school talent is enormous, featuring more than 2000 choir singers and dancers, as well as an 80-piece orchestra! Our school is sending 13 talented performers to this event, which promises to be unforgettable. Don’t miss this truly spectacular show. Stage 3 would like to say a big thank you for supporting our Year 5 entrepreneurial and financial literacy program. Students were very excited to be selling products they'd made, and found that the retail business is not as easy as it looks! Valuable lessons were learned, along with them having a bit of fun.

Stage 3 Teachers

Chinese News! Nǐmen hǎo! 你们 好!

The opportunity to travel to China in 2018 is now closed. Those students who were successful will be notified in writing by Week 4. A meeting for those students and their parents will be held later this term to discuss the next steps in the process. Xiè xie

Mrs Linda Przyrembel Chinese Teacher K-6

Garden Club

Last week was an exciting week for our enthusiastic Garden Club. It has begun! Our first project is to build a vegetable garden. Last week, students were involved in setting up the garden beds and filling them with soil. This week we will begin planting seedlings and learning about plant care.

Thank you! The Garden Club teachers want to say a huge thank you for the donations of seeds, seedlings, tools and equipment that have been received. The generosity of Ironbark families is amazing. Thank you for helping us kick start our Garden Club!

COMMUNITY NOTICES

WESLEY GIANT GARAGE SALE

Where: In the Wesley Uniting Church grounds at 32 Showground Road, Castle Hill.

Dates/Times: Friday November 3rd 2017 (operating from 8:00am to 1:00pm)

Saturday November 4th 2017 (operating from 8:00am to 1:00pm)

Sale items/Stalls will include Books, Records, CDs, DVDs, Christmas, Clothing, Electrical, Furniture, Manchester, Plants, Toys, White Elephant, Jewellery, Fine Art and China etc.

We will also be providing refreshments (tea, coffee and cake) during sale hours, together with a Sausage Sizzle for lunch on both days, and Bacon and Egg rolls for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Enjoy the friendly atmosphere, and pick up a bargain (or two) knowing you are helping those families who need our assistance within the Hills area.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE:

Due to current roadworks in the area, parking will be PROHIBITED on both sides of Showground Road. Parking on the north side of Showground Road will be possible in Kentwell Avenue, Worthing Avenue or Castle Street, whilst on the south side parking will be possible in Cheriton Avenue or Cecil Avenue.