Picnic Point Public School

Picnic Point Public School

                                                                                       Kalori 11
                                                                                      August 2020

                                  Whole School Information
UPCOMING EVENTS:                                                           WHAT’S DUE NOW
 Mon 31 Aug – Yr 5/6 ICAS Mathematics 7:45am                              Premier’s Reading Challenge
 Tue 1 Aug – Yr3/4 ICAS Mathematics 7:45am                                finished today
 Wednesday 2 Sept- Father’s Day Stall (Pack a reusable bag)

HAPPY SASS WEEK!
                                                        I am sure that you will agree that we are so blessed
                                                        to have the best SASS staff in NSW! This week we
                                                        celebrated everything that Mrs Trees, Mrs
                                                        Dilonardo, Mrs Pryde, Mrs O'Donovan, Mrs Pascoe,
                                                        Mr Campbell and Mr Dwarte do for our school,
                                                        with a special morning tea and hand-made gifts
                                                        made by students and staff.
                                                             They truly are!

THANK YOU BOOK COVERERS
A big thank you to all of the families that have been helping to cover our new reading resources. Your support
means that these books are able to be used by our children as soon as possible. There will be some more
books to cover in the coming weeks, so please contact the Office if you can assist.

THE HUB
It is exciting to see that the refurbished Hub hand-over will be this Monday. We are very keen to start to use
this great new space for learning. The uniform shop will continue to operate out of the hall for the remainder
of the year, as it allows for easier access for parents and better capacity for social distancing.

UPDATED TECHNOLOGY
This week we had installed 12 new IWBs to replace our aging technology in the classrooms. I am sure that
our children will enjoy using this new technology to enhance their learning experience at school. We are very
thankful to Mrs Chatt, Mr Narris and Don for assisting in the transition of these devices. Our old devices are
being collected by an organisation for recycling of usable parts.

FATHERS DAY STALL
Next Wednesday we will be having our Father’s Day stall outside the hall. Our Year 6 school leaders will be
assisting, to reduce the number of parent volunteers required. Classes will be assigned a time to visit
the stall across the day. Presents will be $5. Please send your child with a reusable bag to put their
present in to take home. Thank you to our P&C parents volunteers for organising.

PREMIERS READING CHALLENGE (PRC)
Congratulations to the 181 students who signed off on their NSW PRC today, demonstrating consistent
reading over 6 months. Certificates will be presented next term. Congratulations and keep on reading!

CHECK IN ASSESSMENT
Over the past two week Year 5 sat their ‘Check-In’ Assessment. We are so proud of the way the students
approached the test with a positive mindset. Year 3 will be sitting their ‘Check-In’ during Week 10 this term.
There is no need for any special preparation beforehand, it will simply capture student achievement in
reading and writing at this point in time.

SPECTACULAR K-2 SPEECHES
Congratulations to all of our students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 on doing a wonderful job with their
speeches. I was very impressed with the standard of speakers at the Public Speaking Finals on Wednesday.
See below for the finalists and winners.

WRITING PROJECT
This year all of the teachers have been involved in further
professional learning to enhance their capacity to teach writing,
being led by the very talented Mr Belgre. The staff have collaborated
to design the Picnic Point PS Writing Cycle posters to assist students
when writing. The very creative Mr Bowen has drawn up these
posters incorporating our Learner Qualities and The Learning
Process. On Monday, our visiting Director Education Leadership, Mrs
Green, was very impressed as she watched Mr Burdon deliver a
lesson embedding this professional learning.

Karen Sellick
Principal

                                Shared Language of Learning

                                         Be Optimistic
The key message about being optimistic is to see a challenge as temporary, isolated and changeable. It is
seeing a challenge as an opportunity for growth. One's thoughts and actions directly affect their experiences.
You can become aware of your thoughts and catch them. You are about the; evaluate, replace and de-
catatrophize they negative thoughts. We all can choose our own thoughts!

Your challenge for the week is to find a task that seems difficult or insurmountable. It might
be something that you may have been putting off because it seems too overwhelming. Break
the task down in manageable steps or parts and set a goal for how many of those you want
to have accomplished by the end of the week. If you can, try and include the whole family in
the activity and at the end of the week have a think about the quote that “often the first step
is the hardest in a journey.”

Early Stage & Stage 1 Information
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Over the last 2 weeks all students presented their speeches in class and the teachers were very impressed
with their efforts. A huge thank you to all parents for their support in helping to prepare their child for their
speech.
Finalists from each class were selected to participate in the stage finals of our public speaking competition
this week and it was a very difficult decision to select each grade winner. It was a very high standard and
teachers were very pleased with all students’ efforts, confidence and oral presentation skills.
Kindy Kyoto             Chiara Pinna, Marcus Tanner
Kindy Koi               Henry Tju, Manon Bayley
1 Osaka                 Zara Bahamad, Alessia Timihou, Harper Zoghbi
1 Tokyo                 Graeme Thai, Angela Zhou
2 Pokemon               Dean Afungia, Chloe Zhang
2 Nintendo              Tarn Ward, Lilac Suleiman

Unfortunately, there is no District Public Speaking competition this year, but a huge congratulations to our
grade winners who are named above in bold. Well done!

KINDERGARTEN ORIENTATION
Our Kindergarten Transition Program for students for 2021 will not be held this year. PLEASE NOTE the
following dates for 2021 Kindergarten students will take place next year:

                                               Term 1 ~ Week 1

                                  Thursday 28 January ~ 8:50am – 12:15pm

                                   Kindergarten Orientation 1 for students

                                               Term 1 ~ Week 1

                                    Friday 29 January ~ 8:50am – 12:15pm

                                   Kindergarten Orientation 2 for students

                                               Term 1 ~ Week 2

                      Kindergarten students to attend Best Start Assessment on either

                      Monday 1 February, Tuesday 2 February, Wednesday 3 February

                                                   Times TBC

                                               Term 1 ~ Week 2

                                   Thursday 4 February ~ First day for Kindy

                                             Staggered times TBC

I am currently in the process of putting together a DVD for our Kindergarten 2021 students which will be
sent home next term, along with an information pack. I will also be conducting preschool visits over the next
few weeks so please ensure that your enrolment form and preschool form have been returned to the office.
Thank you, Mrs Austin.

Stage 2 Information
GOLD PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS
Congratulations to the following student who has received a Gold Principal’s award at assembly.
       Leanne Abdulwahab                                     Gabriel Abdulwahab
       Theresa Li                                            Wali Sheikh

UPCOMING EVENTS:
ICAS Mathematics 7:45am              Tue 1 Aug

ICAS
Please be reminded that the ICAS maths competition will be held Tuesday 1 Sep 7:45am. It is important that
students are at school on time so we can make a prompt start. Make up tests can only be conducted during
Week 7; however these are for students who are absent on the scheduled day of exam and not because they
were running late.

SPEECHES
Speeches will be conducted in classes next week. Please use the time over the weekend to prepare and all
students should be ready to present their speech on Monday. Each class will have their own organisation
around when students will be presenting. Stage finals for the speeches will be held later in the term.

OPPORTUNITY CLASS PLACEMENT TEST
As a result of the most recent advice from NSW Health, the Opportunity Class Placement Test has been
rescheduled to 18 November 2020. The test will now be held at school. More information on this will be
provided closer to the date. In the meantime, the OC Practice on a Wednesday morning will return to Mrs
Stawski’s room next week.

PLAYGROUND
At times, students face problems in the playground. It is essential that you reinforce with your child to
speak with a teacher as soon as any incidents take place. Incidents that are dealt with on the spot are much
easier to resolve. Encouraging children to ignore undesired behaviours and moving away is a good strategy
in the moment, but does not resolve the issue. This means issues can bottle up overtime before teachers
become aware of the situation. Please encourage your child to move away and inform a teacher so the
incident can be resolved.

                                       Stage 3 Information
GOLD PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS
Congratulations to the following student who has received a Gold Principal’s award at assembly.
       Madeleine Ward
UPCOMING EVENTS:
ICAS Mathematics 7:45am              Mon 31 Aug

ICAS
Please be reminded that the ICAS maths competition will be held Monday 31 Aug 7:45am. It is important
that students are at school on time so we can make a prompt start. Make up tests can only be conducted
during Week 7; however these are for students who are absent on the scheduled day of exam and not
because they were running late.

SIGNATURE BEARS
The Signature Bear order form went home last week. These are lovely mementos that the student can have
of their primary school years.

All orders must be returned by Friday 18 September. Unfortunately no late orders can be accepted. The
students will receive their bear on the night of the farewell, they will then be able to bring it in during the
last 3 days of school to get it signed.

SPEECHES
Speeches will be conducted in classes next week. Please use the time over the weekend to prepare and all
students should be ready to present their speech on Monday. Each class will have their own organisation
around when students will be presenting. Stage finals for the speeches will be held later in the term.

UNIFORM
At Picnic Point, we are proud of our school and all students should wear their school uniform with pride.
We have started to see these rules being deliberately flouted. When wearing sports uniform, children are
only allowed to wear white socks. Black socks, grey socks and socks with logos are not permitted. Please
ensure your child has the correct socks to wear. Also, students should wear plain white sneakers.

HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION
As we head towards the end of the year, Year 6 generally begin transition programs and testing for their
chosen high school. This year will be a little different. Some high schools have started to make contact with
us and we will be doing all we can to support them as they prepare for our students next year.

INCURSIONS
Throughout this term and next, the Stage 3 classes will be endeavouring to complete various digital
incursions that have been offered by sites we intended to visit on our trip to Canberra. A special thanks to
Mrs Colusso who has found numerous digital incursions we can attend to support our learning of
Government. In Week 8, we will have a visit from Wendy Lindsay (State MP) who will talk with the students
about the three levels of government and her specific role in the electorate of East Hills.

                                                  Library
PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE
The 2020 NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge has now closed. It is wonderful that so many students have
been regularly reading and have completed the Challenge this year! CONGRATULATIONS to all of the
following students who have recently finished:

K Kyoto - Elias Coli, Jake Colusso, Eleanor Craig, Leo Dassakis, Gabriel Dowidar, Lincoln du Bois, Siyanna
Elmir, Daniel Fang, Noah Kontos, Nicolas Law, Tristan Le, Kaia Mina, Gene O’Rourke, Flynn Pearson, Chiara
Pinna, Ariana Prabu, Jade Robalino, Tahlia Sage, William Savage, Noah Thambyah, Aleira Tuhetoka Lagasila
K Koi - Manon Bayley, Ibby Charbaji, Abigail Cheng, Owen Deng, Hazel Fakhry, Joe Gavin, Victoria Huang,
Liliana Medlej, Deen Nellis, Roman Pandaram, Aliyah Reed, Armaan Singh, Lana Tang, Henry Tju, Makore
Ualesi, Asher Xu, Andrew Zuo
1 Osaka - Jordan Augustus, Zara Bahamad, Blake Bell, Yared Botha, Kaitlen Chung, Levi Dassakis, Olivia
Dzheoshvili, Alicia Greguric, Yousef Helwe, Isaac Hourani, Millie McDonald, William McGuigan, Salim
Medlej, Zachary Mitas, Melody Pan, Ali Paterson, Ira Paudel, Eliza-May Savage, Safa Safi-Stanley, Ve’a
Tavita, Alessia Timihou, Leila-Jireh Tuhetoka Lagasila, Nathan Ualesi, Zoey Vella, Emma Yan, Harper Zoghbi
1 Tokyo - Ali Abi-Ghaida, Jude Ammoun, Nicole Batty, Louisa Chen, Catarina Disalvatore, Brooklyn Doherty,
Indy Haggett, Junayde Hamze, Elise Hounslow, Vera Ly Lac, Anushka Lee, Kobe Lyons, Jace Necovski, Dylan
Rafter, Emma Riley, Gisele Sabbagh, Awa Salt, Harrison Shipley, Zachary Smith, Zac Spirov, Bella Tamati,
Graeme Thai, Selena Toumazis, Christian Tran, Eleanor Tran, Taiana Vaisima, Angela Zhao

2 Nintendo - Sienna Belgre, Hazel Curtis, Aaliyah Elmir, Natasha Irhandie, Joanna Li, Ryan Li, Lachlan
Murray, Jacinta Naumovski, Harlem Nimarota-Brown, Aidan Pearce, Thomas Phan, Sophie Sarmento
Araujo Sete, Lilac Suleiman, Iriana Tohilima- Gardiner,Amy Vidanovski, Tarn Ward, Andy Wen, Kaley
Winata, Sonny Yang
2 Pokemon - Chris Dassakis, Lucas Huang, Alex Lee
3 Kumano - Ethan Lui
3 Manga - Justin Zhao
3/4 Hakuba - Tina Wang
4 Kabuki - Angelina Nikolovski
4/5 Bonsai - Sebastian Musumeci
5/6 Kaizen - Leisha Bui, Nick Nguyen, Leo Ohandja

                                          Band and Choir
POSTPONED THIS TERM
Sadly, we have had to postpone Band or choir at this stage due to new Department restrictions brought in
on 17 August. Please be assured that all decisions are made in consultation and collaboration with our band
teachers, Mrs Stewart and Merv and our choir teachers.

                                                  Chess
CHESS ACADEMY
Unfortunately due to extra-curricular activities being cancelled, Wednesday afternoon chess academy has
been cancelled until further notice. Tuesday and Thursday lunchtime chess groups have also been cancelled
until further notice.

                                                   SRC
SRC, although we have not been able to meet, are planning to run a ‘Crazy Hair Day’ in the last week of this
term. Watch for more news in the next Kalori!

                                          Gardening Club
                                   As Gardening Club is an outdoor activity, it has been allowed to continue.
                                   We have been working hard to trim back our abundant parsley plants and
                                   get ready for our spring crops.
                                   Our strawberries are being replanted and some are already starting to
                                   bear fruit. In the next few weeks we will start planting beans, which 1
                                   Osaka have started growing in their classroom, and new tomato plants.

                                   We can’t wait for Spring!