Lynwood Park Public School 87 Turner Street Blacktown NSW 2148 T 9622 2659 F 9831 6727 E lynwoodpk-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.lynwoodpk-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Another busy fortnight has passed, and only three more weeks till the end of the term. Looks as though the year is going to pass too quickly again!

Congratulations to our wonderful swimmers who represented our school and our region so well this year. At the Zone Carnival Lynwood Park PS came 4th overall, which is a fantastic effort when you consider the size of some of the schools that we competed against. As a result, we sent six students, including our senior girls relay team, to represent our area at the Regional Carnival last week where we had several PBs and a student going through to represent our region at the State level. I am proud of each and every student who has made an effort to compete at the swimming carnivals this year - regardless of the level of the carnival. Well done to all of you! You are wonderful representatives and ambassadors for our school.

A note has gone home this week with details of this year’s arrangements for parent-teacher interviews to be held in Week 11. Please read the note carefully and return it, with your preferred time clearly marked, to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. We make every effort to meet requests with times as close as possible to the ones asked for, and we also try to accommodate parents who have more than one child and therefore multiple interviews. The logistics of this takes time to organise, so the more time we have to do it, the better.

This week we celebrated Harmony Day as a school, which is an annual event held on March 21st around Australia to celebrate our cultural diversity. March 21 is also the United Nations day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Harmony Day aims to encourage Australians to:

* Take a stand against racism, prejudice and intolerance

* Help build a peaceful, productive future for our children

* Make the most of our racial, cultural, social and religious diversity, and

* Practice the traditional values of justice, equality, fairness and friendship

This year was a particularly poignant day considering the atrocity of the mass killing perpetrated in New Zealand last week.

Before the end of term, our Year 4 through to Year 6 students will be participating in the Tell Them From Me online survey for the first time. This survey is commissioned by the NSW Department of Education every year as a means of capturing data and attitudes from school communities regarding what is being done well in NSW schools and where we can improve as a system of education. Later in the year, teachers and parents will also be asked to complete their own survey. The data collected is completely anonymous - no student or teacher or parent can be identified individually from the survey, but it will give the students a valuable opportunity to have their voice heard as a collective group.

21st March 2019

Date Event

27th March BFOPA Choir Rehearsal

2nd April P& C Meeting 6pm

9th April Parent /Teacher Interviews

10th April Parent /Teacher Interviews Longneck Lagoon Leadership training day

11th April Easter Hat Parade 10– 11am Café 11.00am –11.30am Parent /Teacher Interviews

12th April Last day of term

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

29th April School Development Day -No Students

30th April Term 2 - Students return Anzac Assembly

NB: Check the calendar regularly in our Newsletter, on our website

and on our school app—updates/changes are made as required.

Lynwood Times - a newsletter for the community of Lynwood Park Public School

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Zone Swimming Carnival 2019

On Thursday 7th March Lynwood Park sent 21 representatives to the

Wentworthville / Seven Hills Zone Swimming Carnival. We had all

competitors perform to the best of their abilities, working together to

bring in enough points for the school to achieve an outstanding 4th

position overall. This was made possible through the enthusiastic

involvement of all team members both in and out of the water.

A big special thank you to all parents who helped with transportation

and with managing the team on the day. This allowed Mr Blume to

perform his duties as a timekeeper without having to worry about

organising students for their events.

Thank you to the parents who have made their Voluntary Contribution to the school - it is very, very much appreciated. Sadly, the response is still very disappointing. I repeat the information I provided in the last two newsletters:

Our Voluntary Contribution remains at a very reasonable $45 per child or $70 per family. While public education is “free” in the sense that there is no charge or fees payable for the delivery of the core curriculum subjects - English, mathematics, science etc; the extra-curricular activities and opportunities offered by a school are paid for by the school and not by the government. We do not charge for text books, exercise books or stationery and other resources consumed by our students. In schools that require parents to purchase text books, a single maths text will cost anywhere between $20 and $30 dollars. Also, we aim at all times to subsidise where we can, any excursions, sporting experiences, excursions and incursions for our students so that all may attend and participate. For example, the cost of attending our Swimming Carnival this term was subsidised by the school and our wonderful P&C in order to keep the cost down. Text books, stationery, excursions, transport, building maintenance etc are all paid for by the school. $45 per student works out to be only $1.13 per week across a 40 week school year. Not a huge amount of money when you think about it. If you can’t afford the full Voluntary Contribution, any amount that you can afford will be greatly appreciated and put to good use for our students and their learning.

Please return your payment, in an envelope labelled ’Voluntary

School contribution, to your child’s teacher.

If making a family payment, please send the money with your

eldest child.

Alternatively, you may make an online payment through our

school website. Go to our home page and click on the ’Make a

Payment ’ link in the top toolbar. Enter ’ School contribution 2019’

in the payment description in Voluntary School Contribution.

Thank you for your continued support of our wonderful students.

Have a great fortnight!

Mrs Leigh Bade

Principal

Quote Of The Week

“Animals don’t hate, and we’re supposed to be better than them.” - Elvis Presley

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews will take place during the last

week of term, from Tuesday 9th April to Thursday 11th

April.

This is a great chance to let the teacher know relevant

information about your child and to discuss areas of strength

and areas for development for your child.

21st March 2019

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Sydney West Regional Swimming Carnival

In all, 6 Lynwood Park students made it through to the Sydney

West Region Carnival on 12th March, with a special mention to

Liam who made it through in all 6 of his individual events.

Liam’s younger brother Oliver and Izabella both went through in

their individual events.

The Senior girls relay team achieved a fantastic combined effort to

get through to Region. (Madison, Jessica , Kaylen and Izabella) .

At the Region Carnival, conducted at Sydney Olympic Park, our

swimmers all represented their zone with the same enthusiasm

and effort that they displayed at the

previous carnivals.

Congratulations to Oliver who has

progressed through to the State

Swimming Championships.

Well done to all of our competitors!

International Competitions – ICAS 2019 The International Competitions & Assessment for Schools were first

introduced in Australia in 1981 and are run by the University of

NSW. The Competition provides an opportunity for all students to

gain a measure of their own achievement in an external assessment

situation. It provides schools and teachers with comprehensive

reporting of results and also gives parents helpful information

regarding their child’s performance in the areas listed below.

The tests are done at school in school time and on-line, with

the exception of Year 3 & 4 writing, which is paper based. All

students receive a certificate and an individual results letter

indicating which questions they answered correctly, as well as the

average mark for their state. Certificates are awarded for each Year

Level as follows: High Distinction to the top 1% of entrants in each

Year Level in the state; Distinction to the next 10% of entrants in

each Year Level in the state; Credit to the next 25% of entrants in

each Year Level in the state; Credit to the next 10% of entrants in

each Year Level in the state; Participation to all other participating

students. Medals are awarded to the top student(s) in each Year

Level in each state, at the discretion of the ETC.

Apart from the Writing competition, the answers are multiple choice

and are marked by computer.

I hope that you take up this opportunity for your child, and if you

have any further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me.

The cost of the competitions has changed .

All competitions are $14.50.

The dates of the competitions are as follows:

Digital Technologies -Tuesday 3rd September

Science -Thursday 5th September

Writing - Tuesday 10th September

Spelling -Thursday 12th September

English - Tuesday 17th September

Mathematics -Thursday 19th September.

If you would like your child to be involved please complete and re-

turn the note and the correct money or receipt number, (if paying

online) to the school by Monday 25th March 2019.

Please note: Entries cannot be accepted after this date.

Thank you

Mr McMasters

ICAS Co-ordinator

Lynwood Times - a newsletter for the community of Lynwood Park Public School

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‘

From the Office - Notes sent out :

Longneck Lagoon Leadership note

Student / Family Information note

Easter Raffle note

Parent Teacher Interview note

Stewart House envelope

K - 6 Assembly Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received awards

at the K-6 assembly in week 8.

Principal’s Award

Oscar K-2 Kaden 3-6

Citizenship

Mason Peel K-2 Aiden 3-6

Fairplay

Aislin K-2 Sienna 3-6

Value of the Month – Awards

Value Awards K- 2

Micah Eve

Value Awards 3-6

Mere David

Naplan online

Our school will be transitioning to NAPLAN Online this year. This

means our students in years 3 and 5 will complete the NAPLAN

assessments online this year rather than pencil and paper.

The Year 3 writing test will continue to be paper-based, but all

other Year 3 NAPLAN tests will be online. Our school has

participated in a series of activities to prepare for the transition to

NAPLAN Online. These preparation activities confirmed that our

school is ready to transition to NAPLAN Online in 2019.

Our teachers and students will be involved in preparation and

practice activities in the lead up to NAPLAN this year. This will

include participation in a practice test during weeks 9-10, where

students will have a further opportunity to become familiar with the

online platform and the type of questions they will be asked in

NAPLAN Online.

More information about NAPLAN Online, including the latest fact

sheet for parents and carers, can be found on the NSW

Department of Education’s NAPLAN Online website:

education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-andlearning/student-assessment/

naplanonline/getting-ready/parent-information

Mrs Stewart

21st March 2019

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Attendance To ensure our students have access to the best education they can it is important that they attend school each and every day. It is your responsibility as parents and carers to ensure your children arrive at school after 8:30am and before the morning bell rings at 9:00am. On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

being sick or having an infectious disease

having an unavoidable medical appointment

being required to attend a recognised religious holiday

exceptional or urgent family circumstances (eg) attending a funeral Parents must complete an absentee note explaining reason

for absence after missing time from school.

Partial absences such as your child arriving late to school

or leaving school early MUST also be explained.

If a note has not been returned to the school within 2 days after

the absence, the classroom teacher will send home a blank

absence note requesting completion.

Each week the office will print off absence explanation notes for

all unexplained absences.

These absence notes will be printed on yellow paper and sent

home for distribution to students for unexplained absences and

partial absences.

If you receive one of these yellow forms please complete this

and return it to the classroom teacher asap.

Parents are also able to notify the school of absence reasons

through a telephone call to the office or through the school app

(School stream).

Thank you for your co-operation.

Learning Snapshot

Focus on History and Geography

Students have been learning a range of new

skills and information during History and Geography lessons.

Each stage completes units of work within both of these subject

areas across the school year.

In K-6 students participate in lessons that cover the world around

them and how it impacts how and where people and animals live.

Students build an understanding of the events of the past and

their impact on the present, setting the stage for the future.

Kindergarten As students have been learning about themselves

and each other, they have also begun learning about

their families. Each family has a unique story, herit-

age and culture and in keeping with our Harmony Day

focus Kindergarten students are learning to identify as

Australians, acknowledging their unique cultural herit-

age. Students explore how their family has changed

over time and how photos and stories can help to

share personal histories.

Stage 1 Classes have been investigating the natural and

human features of places. They have been inter-

acting with and learning how to care as well as

explore ways to represent and interpret geograph-

ical information.

Students are learning to record their knowledge

using digital technologies. Stage 2 This term stage 2 are investigating celebrations

and commemorations that are observed around the world. They have also been learn-ing about Aboriginal symbols and the floral emblems for each state of Australia. This week Stage 2 will be looking at state and national flags.

Stage 3 Stage 3 students are investigating how people

influence and change the natural environment in

Australia and other places around the world. They

are also exploring how the environment influences

the human characteristics of places. Students are

researching the Taronga Legacy species and

discussing the best ways to help endangered

animals.

Web wonders- History and Geography

Try these games and activities online!

www.kidcyber.com.au Learning and enquiry activities

organised by topic areas

www.natgeokids.com/au (National Geographic for Kids)

Positive Behaviours for Learning -

Fortnightly focus

Students are encouraged to

remember to:

Look at and listen to each presenter Celebrate the efforts of others Use appropriate applause

Value of the Month

Great people are…

Be respectful

at

Assemblies

Lynwood Times - a newsletter for the community of Lynwood Park Public School

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Debating Camp – Katoomba

On Monday and Tuesday in Week 8, four members of our

debating team travelled with Mr Blume to Katoomba to

participate in a 2 day debating camp. The camp was held at a

conference centre in a relaxing location looking out over the

valley to the Three Sisters, however the peacefulness of the

setting was disturbed for the 2 days by the noise made by

120 students from all over Western Sydney enthusiastically

practising their skills in debating on a variety of topics.

The culmination of the camp was a debate on the topic

“That Australia faces a bright future”. Emma, Danijela, Arjun

and Mannat were placed into different teams with students

from other schools to prepare and present the debate.

Everyone did a fantastic job, enthusiastically participating

while interacting socially with students from many schools

and demonstrating the behaviour expected of Lynwood Park

students.

Our team are now looking forward to putting their new skills

to work in our first debate in Week 10 against Marayong

Heights Public School.

Mr Blume

Debating Co-ordinator

Stewart House Recently envelopes were sent home for Stewart House donations.

Thank you to those families who have already returned the enve-

lopes. Stewart House are asking children to donate a gold coin to

their charity. The charity is a worthy cause that provides public

school children throughout NSW opportunities to take part in

activities they would not usually have the opportunity to enjoy.

I encourage you to donate a gold coin to this worthy charity, which

is proudly sponsored by students and staff in NSW public schools.

If you donate, you are eligible to go in the Stewart House prize

draw to win a family holiday worth $4,000. All envelopes must be

be sent to school by Friday 10th May.

The Lynwood Park annual Easter Hat Parade and fundraising

raffle will take place this year on Thursday 11th April.

This is always a wonderful, fun event for students, staff and the

community and we would like to invite you to be involved.

The parade will take place on the lower K-2 quadrangle from

10.00am to 11.00am.

Easter hats , masks, eggs and baskets may be decorated at

home and displayed in the parade.

All children are encouraged to participate in this parade.

A café will be operating during recess(1.00-11.30am) , where

tea ,coffee and cake will be available for sale.

Please allow your child to bring their decorated hat to school

with them on the morning of the parade.

We will be asking all families to donate chocolate Easter eggs

and baskets for our annual Easter raffle to make our prizes

amazing.

We will be sending home raffle tickets soon. If you require more

tickets please enquire at the office.

Tickets will cost 50c per ticket or $5.00 a book.

We can’t wait to see all of your beautifully decorated Easter

hats and baskets.

K-2 Teachers

Easter Hat Parade 2019

Recorder and Choir Rehearsals

Recorder and Choir students have begun rehearsals for 2019. Students are encouraged to attend regular lunch time rehearsals as well as make time to regularly practise at home.

Recorder- Monday lunch (KBlue room)

Choir- Thursday lunch (K/1Green room)

To assist home rehearsal, Mrs Thompson and Miss Gross are happy to provide rehearsal tracks to students who bring a USB to school. Parents are asked to label the USB in an envelope or zip-lock bag and students can then hand these to either teacher before or after school in the Kinder-garten classrooms. This music can then be added to stu-dent's personal devices for daily rehearsal.

Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to working with our musicians as they prepare for upcoming concert and performance commitments in Term 3.

Miss Gross (Recorder and Choir) and Mrs Thompson (Recorder and BFoPA Choir

Lynwood Park P&C News

CONNECT WITH THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

To keep informed about what the P & C are up to Like us on Facebook.

www.facebook.com/lynwoodparkpandc

P & C store – Change to opening hours

The P & C store is now open every Monday afternoon from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

Our next P&C meeting

When: Tuesday 2 April 2019

Where: In the staffroom

Time: 6 pm

Enter via Turner Street gate

Children allowed though we ask if you could please bring a quiet activity to occupy them.

New faces welcomed!!!

SAVE THE DATE! SATURDAY 14th April

Bunnings SEVEN HILLS.

Let us know if you are able to assist on the day. Even if you can only spare

an hour, your help will be appreciated. Please contact us on our Facebook or

Email lynwoodparkpandc@gmail.com or Bec 0404 081 748.

NSW Lynwood Park Public School87 Turner St BLACKTOWN NSW 21480450 273 651 (07:00 -18:00)

Creatures & CreationsMonday, 15 April

Full Fee: $53.88

Deep in the jungle, there's mystery in the air. Today is yourchoice, speak to your Park Ranger about what you want to do.

Enter the Jungle LabTuesday, 16 April

Full Fee: $71.38

Get your science kit on, today we're entering the Jungle Lab.We'll be making our own soap & bath bombs with a surprisetwist at the end...

Movie Madness at Hoyts CinemasWednesday, 17 April

Full Fee: $85.88

Are you ready to join Emmet, Lucy & Batman on anadventure? Join us to see the new smash hit movie, The LegoMovie 2.Please arrive by 8:45am.

Crafty little thingsThursday, 18 April

Full Fee: $53.88

ART-iculate yourself! Today we're creating whatever our 'artsdesire.

No ProgramFriday, 19 April

No ProgramMonday, 22 April

GlobetrottersTuesday, 23 April

Full Fee: $53.88

Passports and backpacks at the ready, today we're going tolearn about different countries and get into some culturalactivities.

Camouflaged CreaturesWednesday, 24 April

Full Fee: $70.88

Today, we're facing off with the beasts of the jungle. We'll useModroc to sculpt animal masks and then embark on a junglehunt.

No ProgramThursday, 25 April

Game On: Sport ManiaFriday, 26 April

Full Fee: $53.88

Get your game face on! Today, we'll get together and play ourfavourite sports.

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