Girraween Public School phone : 9631 3650 fax: 9896 3392

9 Bando Road, Girraween, NSW. 2145

Website: http://www.girraween-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

email: girraween-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Term 4, Week 2~19 October 2017

Diary Dates

DATE DAY EVENT/ACTIVITY

Term 4 25/10/17 Wednesday Kindergarten excursion to Calmsley Hill City Farm

25/10/17 Wednesday Year 1 & 2 School Disco- 4-5:30pm

25/10/17 Wednesday Year 3 & 4 School Disco 6-7:30pm

23/10/17 Monday Swimming Scheme- To approved students only. Finishes 3/11/17

26/10/17 Thursday Kindy School Disco- 4-5:30pm

26/10/17 Thursday Year 5 & 6 School Disco 6-7:30pm

30/10/17 Monday Healthy Harold Finishes 24/11/17

2/11/17 Thursday School Spectacular– participating students only

7/11/17 Tuesday Games-a-thon

Note Grade Due Date Comments

When returning notes to the Office please write your child’s FULL NAME and CLASS

E.g JOHN SMITH 6P

Notes to Parents

Notes sent home will have a deadline for payments and for notes to be returned to the school. No payments or notes

can be accepted after the deadline has passed. Please ensure that you meet the deadline so as your child does not

miss out. Unfortunately we cannot offer refunds for payments made for excursions. All excursions are paid for by the

school based on the number of students enrolled. Please make sure your child is able to attend excursions before

making a payment as there will be no refunds given.

Thank you.

Principal Message

Dear Parents,

Welcome back everyone. I am sure all our families enjoyed the two week holiday break. This term has be-

gun very well, with our students focused on their learning and ensuring the final term of the year is produc-

tive and enjoyable.

Our Multicultural Day was a huge success. On Tuesday students were involved in games, dances and

music from a wide range of cultures, many of which are represented in our school. Greek, Lebanese, Turk-

ish, Canadian, Afghan, Indian, Japanese, Aboriginal and Australian music, dance and games were ex-

plained and taught to students in their K-6 house team groups. Students were dressed in their cultural her-

itage and it was a very colourful day enjoyed by everyone. Thanks to Mr Hutchinson and teachers for the

excellent organisation of the Multicultural Day.

Applications for Selective High School are open until 13 November. This is only one pathway for stu-

dents to take in their education. Selective high schools cater for students achieving at the highest academ-

ic level. This year 14,458 year 6 students sat the test, competing for 4226 places. Entry to selective high

schools is very competitive. For many students it is not appropriate to sit this exam. Parents are advised to

discuss their child’s level of achievement and if selective high school is appropriate with their teacher or

our assistant principals.

Kindergarten 2018 enrolments have begun and information is available at the school office. It is im-

portant to note the new enrolment catchment area from 2018. This is a reduced area to manage the in-

creased enrolments at our school. At present we are only able to accept student enrolments from families

living the 2018 catchment area. There is strict proof of local address requirements for enrolment. Enrol-

ment area maps and information is available on our school website.

Next week we begin our annual ‘Learn to Swim’ scheme. This is aimed at non-swimmers developing

their swimming skills over a two week period. Our school has very limited numbers of students who are

confident swimmers. Students are at risk if they cannot swim and are near deep water in swimming pools,

at the beach or near creeks, drains and rivers. Students can learn basic swimming skills in this two week

period. They will require more time in the pool to develop confidence in the water and to be good swim-

mers. Parents should make time to develop their children’s swimming skills over the summer season. Be-

ing able to swim can save your life.

Summer sport has begun for our Year 3-6 students. Sport and PSSA will be held each Friday morning this

term. Good luck to all our teams and their coaches. Our senior boys cricket team will be competing in the

Milo T20 Blast School Cup next Tuesday. All the best boys.

Happy Diwali to all our Hindu families. Enjoy the lights and celebrations!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Regards,

G. Walker

Students in KT enjoy working with their

buddies in Self-Organised Learning

Environments to investigate answers to

a question.

They collaborate with each other, sharing

resources such as books and posters to

help them find answers. They share their

knowledge with one another, and record

their findings on post-it notes.

Then, they present the results of

their investigation to the class.

KT have lots of fun working with their

buddies during S.O.L.E. lessons, and

they learn a lot about their topic and

about working as a team.

On Monday, 11th September

2017, 3W joined the rest of

Stage 2 for an excursion to

Taronga Zoo. We went there

to learn about plants and

animals from the Daintree and

Sumatran Rainforests.

We were able to pat a blue

tongue lizard, snake and a ring-

tail possum called Cheezul. The

classroom was beside the seal

tank and we could see them

swimming.

Did you know only around 6% of

Earth’s land surface is

rainforest but about half of all

animal and plant species in the

world live there!

We saw a Sumatran Tiger. He

was still in his night den and a

bit hard to see. Of course, we

also saw the Elephants – you

can’t go to the zoo and not see

elephants!

On Tuesday 17/10/2017 Girraween Public School celebrated Multicultural Day. Many stu-

dents wore the national dress of their country to school. The day was filled with games,

dancing and lots of activities to celebrate the many nations that make up our very culturally

diverse school.

Alkira Challenge 2017

On the 17th October, Pravin, Advith, Hillary and Swathika attended the Alkira Challenge at

Greystanes High School. This challenge includes History, Science and Drama. The first chal-

lenge included a quiz that was controlled by Kahoot. There were 7 schools that did the chal-

lenge and we came 6th. However, we did not care about what place we got as it was about

having fun.

The next challenge was science. For science, all seven schools had to build a bridge with a

variety of materials. The aim was to make a bridge that can carry the most weight and suc-

cessfully we won.

The last challenge was drama. We had to make a play using three scenarios. We made a very

good play, but we don’t know the scores.

The overall team that won was Sherwood Grange Public School. We came third and came

back to school in a happy mood. Thank you to Mrs Needham for supporting us.

Special Religious Education – Combined Assemblies Term 4

This term our school will continue to recognise different events on the various cultural calendars. Our

Special Religious Education (SRE) groups will be hosting two assemblies to mark special events:

Week 3: Diwali - coordinated by Hindu SRE

Week 8: Christmas - coordinated by Protestant SRE

All students are invited to attend each assembly as a way of recognising and celebrating our diversity.

Should parents prefer to withdraw their children from any of these assemblies, we ask that a written note

requesting withdrawal be sent to your child’s class teacher. Our school is committed to respecting your

request.

If you have any questions please contact Miss Cecilia Parada, SRE Coordinator.

Week 8

Thursday 30/11/2017 Combined SRE 9-11:10

Thank you Morning Tea 11:10-11:30

Week 9

Monday 4/12/2017 Presentation Day assemblies

K-2 11:30-12:15, 3-6 12:30-1:30

Wednesday 6/12/17 Presentation Night 6-8pm

Friday 8/12/17 Picnic Day

Week 10

Monday 11/12/17 Year 6 Graduation/Farewell Toongabbie Bowling

Club

Tuesday 12/12/17 Semester 2 reports go home K-6

Wednesday 13/12/17 Carols Night

Friday 15/12/17 End of Term. Last day of school.

Are you the life of the party and always making your friends laugh?

Do you consider yourself to be a bit of a comedian?

We are introducing a new competition to all of the students at GPS.

If you have a funny “Dad” joke and would like to enter our competition please

write your funny joke down and place it in the mail box at the Office. Please

make sure you have your full name and class on it.

There will be a winner from K-2 and 3-6.

Winners will be published in the newsletter and receive a special prize!

Who is the best dancer at a

monster party ?

The Boogie man!

Mrs Cowan

What time did the man go

to the dentist ?

Tooth– hurty!

Miss Isabella

Why was the math book sad?

Because it had to many problems!

Mrs Birks

How does a banana answer the

phone?

Yellow?

Miss Klish

School Discos You’re invited to attend the Girraween School Discos!

Theme: Dress up/Halloween/Mufti (No clown costumes please)

Cost: $5 (includes glow product!)

When: Year 1/2: 4-5.30pm Wednesday 25 Oct

Year 3/4: 6-7.30pm Wednesday 25 Oct

Kindergarten: 4-5.30pm Thursday 26 Oct

Year 5/6: 6-7.30pm Thursday 26 Oct

Lots of glow products on sale $1-5.

Money and permission must be returned to the office by Friday 2oth October.