Newsletter Term 2, Week 3. Thursday16 May 2019

Term 2 Week 4 Thursday 24

May 2018

Whole School Concert

Our School Concert is fast

approaching. It will be held on

September 11th and 12th. All our

students have been involved in

dance or other concert related activities. Apart

from being part of our curriculum, our whole

school concert is really an event that assists in

moral building for everyone at Gwandalan PS

as everyone is involved in this event. It gives

everyone something to work on together and of

which, to be proud. Please allow your children

to be part of this valuable activity. I know those

who miss out on performing will feel left out.

Tickets will go on sale very soon. We currently

have students designing these.

Zone Athletics Carnival

We have 42 students off to the zone athletics

carnival on 29th August. Congratulations to

these students and well done on reaching this

level.

Swimming School

Our students appear to be enjoying

swimming school and I am pleased

to see we have 60 students attending each day.

This is such an important skill for them to learn.

Book Week Parade

Our book week parade will be held

on Friday 6th of September at 10am.

The Theme is “My Secret Power”.

There will be more information in the

next newsletter.

Sensory Garden Working Bee

Following our Book week Parade

on the 6th September we are going

to hold a planning meeting for our

sensory garden that we want to build. If you

have skills in concreting, building or just are

great at creating gardens, we need you. Please

come and join us on the oval after the parade

at around 11am.

Safety to and from School

We have again had some

issues reported to us with

students being on the road or

causing other students to go onto the road on

their way to or from school. Students should be

aware that school rules do apply while they are

walking to and from school and consequences

for reported behaviour problems will be

imposed. It has also been brought to my

attention that some of our older students go to

the skate park on their way to school from as

early as 7.30 am. Although we have had no

reported incident, students of primary school

age being alone at the skate park for an hour

or more could potential be problematic.

NEW KINDERGARTEN Students for 2020

It is again that time of year where we start to

organise our Kindergarten Transition to School

program. We ask our community if we have any

families that may have a child that is starting

school next year to please come into the school

office and put their name down so that they can

receive all the information directly. This year we

are going to continue our extended transition

program starting with our Picnic in the Park

later this term. During Term

4, we will run 4 transition

days for students and their

parents. This is a great

opportunity for our students to get a wonderful

start to their schooling journey.

Term 3 Week 5 Thursday 22nd August 2019

REQUEST FOR ALL SCHOOL MAINTENANCE LOCAL TRADES PROVIDERS AND SUPPLIERS

The NSW Government has committed the largest investment in planned maintenance at public

schools in the history of NSW. A record $1.3 billion is being spent on an ambitious delivery

program, focused on employing local businesses and contractors across the state.

To assist in addressing regional school maintenance issues and at the same time provide work for

local trade’s persons and suppliers across the Hunter / Central Coast regions, over $100 million is

being invested to upgrade and maintain our school infrastructure.

Given this record spend by School Infrastructure NSW, you are invited to an Asset Management

Unit industry breakfast briefing. This will provide information to existing and new contractors on how

you can get involved.

To find out more by attending our Industry breakfast register at

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/industry-engagement-information-session-tickets-65766578607 or

contact your Asset Management Unit on 4088 3500.

Regards Sandy Notley Principal

Our students attending the Swimming Scheme are doing amazingly well. This is an Intensive Swimming Scheme that runs over 10 days. Students attending will gain skills that will stay with them forever.

They are having lots of fun as they learn.

This year Gwandalan Public School will be participating in JERSEY DAY. Students are encouraged to

wear their favourite jersey. No gold coin donation required.

JERSEY DAY is all about promoting awareness of The Organ and Tissue Authority and the DONATE LIFE

network.

On Friday August 30, 2019 we are asking schools and workplaces across Australia to allow students and

employees to wear their favourite sporting jersey to school or work to show their support for the DONATE

LIFE network and begin the conversation with their friends and families about Organ Donation.

JERSEY DAY has been inspired by the story of NATHAN GREMMO who was tragically lost in an accident in

May 2015. Nathan’s family chose to give the gift of life to others to honour the legacy of Nathan’s generous

personality.

This campaign is all about raising awareness – there is no requirement to raise funds. Simply wear your

favourite sporting jersey to school or work on Friday August 30, 2019 and begin the conversation with your

friends and family about organ donation.

Calendar Dates Friday 23rd – Friday 30th August Swimming Scheme continues

Tuesday 27th August Kindergarten Excursion

Jolly Bops Performance

Primary Assembly

Wednesday 28th August Spelling Bee

Debate

Thursday 29th August Wallarah Zone Athletics

Friday 30th August Fathers Day Breakfast

Fathers Day Stall

Jersey Day

T2 Cricket

Tuesday 3rd September Infants Assembly

Wednesday 4th September The Great Book Swap (Gold Coin)

P & C Meeting 6pm

Girls League Clinic

Bees It’s sad to lose any animal, but to lose bees would be to lose nature’s hardest worker. Not only are they important to the production of food through pollination, they also help to support a large variety of wildlife. With fewer bees, other plants and animals in the environment could be in trouble too. So, let’s appreciate our fuzzy friends but doing what we can to help them. That’s why we planted sunflowers in class because bees love gardens that are full of flowers!

Butterflies We all love butterflies for their beautiful, brightly coloured wings. But did you know these fab flyers begin their life as something completely different? As they grow, they undergo a complete transformation known as metamorphosis. The four stages of a butterfly life cycle are: Egg – Larva (Caterpillar) – Pupa (Chrysalis) – Adult

Butterfly

Gorillas Year 3 students were lucky enough to see a gorilla and her baby during their excursion to the zoo! Did you know? Gorillas live in small groups called troops or bands. In each troop, there is one dominant male (Silverback), some female gorillas and their offspring. They sleep at night in nests. Baby gorillas will stay in their mother’s nests until they are around 2½ years old.

Dinosaurs The Stegosaurus was a large dinosaur which lived over 150 million years ago in the later Jurassic Period. It grew to about 10 metres long, comparative to a modern-day bus! Given its large size, it was equipped with an unusually small brain. The Stegosaurus was a herbivore, which means that it ate plants. It mainly ate plants that were low to the ground as its neck was only about a metre from the ground.

The Great Indigenous Book Swap Donate a pre-loved book between Monday 12 August (week 4) and Friday 30 August (week 6) Purchase a book on Wednesday 4 September (week 7) The Great Book Swap is a fundraising event where students make a gold coin donation and swap books with one another. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation raises awareness and funds for children in remote Indigenous communities across Australia. Last year, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation raised over $270,000 from the Great Book Swap. In 2019, their goal is to raise $350,000 to gift 35,000 new books to remote communities who want and need them. Students are invited to bring a book from home that they have really enjoyed but can bear to part with. Ideally, books should not just be an unwanted item but a book that they think someone else will enjoy as much as they have. Students are to bring their book to school in advance of the swap, between Monday 12 August (week 4) and Friday 30 August (week 6). Books can be placed in the collection box which will be available in the office foyer. Students will be invited to buy a book by way of a gold coin donation on Wednesday 4 September. After all, how can you learn to read without books? Help us help them by donating to our Great Book Swap fundraising page: https://go.greatbookswap.org.au/EventDetail/7011J000001RnSKQA0/gwandalan-public-school-great-book-swap For more information about The Great Book Swap please refer to the following website: https://www.greatbookswap.org.au/ The Aboriginal Education Committee

UNIFORM SHOP

Our uniform shop is open:- Wednesday Mornings 8.30-9.30am Friday Afternoons 2.00-3.00pm You can also shop on line at www.gtschool.com.au Laybys are also welcome. A 20% deposit of a cash payment is required. We now stock Polos and Hoodies up to size 24.

Please find an order form later in this newsletter for your convenience.

5/6H

Each Friday 5/6H students activate

their critical and creative thinking in

STEM time.

We have thought about ‘What if”

questions and have constructed

paper towers.

STEM encourages teamwork and

creative thinking in order to solve a

problem

2019 Uniform Order Form

ITEM PRICE SIZE QUANTITY PRICE

Micro Fibre Jacket $45.00

Tunic (Dress) $40.00

Hooded Jumper $45.00

Micro Fibre Shorts $20.00

Polo Shirt $30.00

Micro Fibre Track Pants $25.00

Skirt $30.00

Culottes $20.00

Hats (sizes s/s, s/m, m/l) $10.00

Student’s Name ______________________________________________________ Class ____________

Parent/Caregiver’s Name__________________________________________________________________

Telephone Number______________________________________________________________________

Payment by Cash enclosed$___________________________________________________________

Order Online-www.gtschool.com.au

- Click on “your school uniforms”

- Click on Gwandalan Pubic School

- Order and pay for your items

- Pick up your order from the Uniform Shop during opening hours.

Opening Hours-Wednesday 8:30am-9:30am Friday 2:00pm-3:00pm

Email: gwandalan-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Envision Hands – An Environmental & Humanitarian Project

Envision is a small community focused organisation. They have worked throughout Victoria and Tasmania to engage disadvantaged job seekers in fascinating projects that get them work-ready and motivated. Following on from a very successful project with Salvation Army Employment Plus (Plastic Fantastic), the Envision team has been collecting bottle caps from schools, building machinery and extruding filament for 3D printers. During the project Envision discovered a fantastic initiative called e-Nable. This initiative links people in need of a prosthetic limb with volunteer 3D printers.

Envision accesses e-Nable’s 3D printer designs to make simple, self-powered prostheses. The e-Nable designs are made with standard 3D printing materials such as ABS plastic, however Envision have found a way to incorporate recycled materials such as bottle tops into the fabrication feed stock. Envision are working their way through the e-Nable library of hands, building prototypes and with their great advances in 3D technology, making hands that will only become more flexible, giving greater dexterity for the beneficiaries, the children and people in the most need. This collaborative project – Envision Hands – is the only project of its kind to make prosthetic limbs from recycled bottle tops. It aims to make 100 prosthetic limbs for disadvantaged people and communities throughout India and other 3rd world countries. Envision will continue to work with the community and business partners endeavouring to spread the word on reducing waste, while gaining support in both bottle top collection and fundraising activities which support these incredible environmental and humanitarian projects.

Gwandalan Public School is now a collection point. Please save your bottle tops and place them in the buckets in the office foyer

From the Office

Our office hours are 8.15am to 3.30pm. We accept cash, card and Parent on line payments

(via school website). Notes can be dropped off at the office and put into the payment box at

the front counter.

Notes

We sent a note home last week in regards to The Great Indigenous Book Swap happening on

Wednesday 4th September please continue to bring your donation of books to the office. We

still have some spots left for Eye Spy Tour / Possum Magic for Kindergarten $25 and Great

Aussie Bush Camp Years 5/6 a $50 deposit is due now and total payment of $340 is due by

18th September. There is a payment card issued on receipt of deposit, this can be returned

with each payment for your tracking purpose, Jollybops Science Show Years 1 – 6 a cost of

$6 per student. We are sending invoices home for The Dance Workshop at a cost of $20 per

student and Bookpack part payments that are outstanding from Terms 1 & 2.

Kindergarten Enrolment 2020

We are now taking Kindergarten Enrolments for 2020. Contact the office for enrolment

information packs or queries.

Attendance

Again this term we are sending out sms messages to parents when students are absent.

Please ensure that we have your correct mobile as we ask that you reply to these messages

by phoning the school or recording the absence via the skoolbag application.

Medication

Is your child on medication at School?

If so, we would appreciate you arranging to have your child's medication prepared into a

Webster pack. This is prepared for you at the Chemist. Many Chemists do this as a free

service. However some charge a small amount.

Skool Bag App

Have you got our skoolbag app? If not, why not download it to keep up-to-date with all the

latest news happening around the school. Just go to your application store and search

Gwandalan Public School.

Second Hand Uniforms

We are always looking for donation of second hand clothes

Payments Due

Bookpack part payments – due now

Dance Workshops – due now

Yr 5/6 Camp – deposit due overdue - Final payment 18th September

Yr 1 to 6 Jollybops Science Show - due 23rd August

Kindergarten – due 23rd August

Gwandalan Public School presents

Our SCHOOL CONCERT is fast approaching and promises as always

an event not to be missed! Your children have been busy

rehearsing for this very special event since last term and are

looking forward to showing you their wonderful dances and acts.

Dates for the school concert are as follows:

Wednesday 11th September, 2019- Matinee- 9.30am start

Wednesday 11th September, 2019- Night performance- 6.00pm

Thursday 12th September, 2019- Night Performance- 6.00pm

Information concerning costumes for your child’s dance/act will be

or have been sent home from your child’s teacher.

See you at the concert!!