hLooki g Engaged

E

Ermington Public School Newsletter

Week 3 Tuesday 11th Feb Wednesday 12th Feb Friday 14th Feb Week 4 Wednesday 19th Feb Week 5 Tuesday 25th Feb Thursday 27th Feb Week 6 Thursday 5th March Week 7 Wednesday 11th Mar Week 9 Monday 23rd March Tuesday 24th March Wednesday 25th Mar Week 10 Wednesday 1st April

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 5M & 6G Quarantine Station Excursion P&C Meeting – 7pm - Library PSSA Summer Competition commences Student Leaders Bushfire Fundraiser – Mufti Day Meet the Teacher evening Planetarium Incursion – Stage 3 students School Swimming Carnival Scripture Commences Zone Swimming Carnival Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Class / Individual photos day (more information to follow via eNews next week)

CURRENT NOTES/PAYMENTS

Backflip Against Bullying Show (Years 1 – 6)

Payment to be finalised Swimming Carnival (Years 3-6 + Year 2’s turning 8 in 2020 that can swim 50m)

Permission note and payment by Wednesday, 20th February

Quarantine Station Excursion (5M & 6G)

Please finalise Planetarium Incursion (Stage 3 students)

Permission note and payment by Tuesday, 18th February

Winbourne Street, West Ryde NSW 2114

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

Phone: 02 9874 4109 Fax: 02 9804 7552

Week 3 Term 1 Wednesday, 12th February 2020

ENGAGED PROUD SUCCESSFUL

Engaged – Proud – Successful Congratulations to all of our students who are settling in so well to new classes and are adjusting to new routines and learning expectations. It has been outstanding to witness quality literacy and numeracy programs already being embedded within classes. Our teachers have had a comprehensive handover and discussed student learning and wellbeing needs with the previous year’s teacher. The Learning Success and Engagement Team have been analysing needs of students across the school to ensure data informs quality teaching practices. Yesterday, we were fortunate to have visitors from the Department of Education visit our wonderful school and engage with students and staff. Our visitors included Brad Griffith (Director Educational Leadership: Ryde Network), Liana Downey (Acting Deputy Secretary Strategy and Delivery) and Lisa Harrington (Executive Director Office of the Secretary). We appreciated the visit to Ermington PS and I was very proud that our students were able to articulate the learning intentions of their lessons and be confident in answering complex questions. School Communication Procedures Ermington PS has clear communication procedures which assist parents to meet with an appropriate staff member to discuss any concerns.

Our Stage Leaders/Assistant Principals are: Narelle Mackenzie (Early Stage One - Kindergarten), Lucy Workman (Stage One – Year 1 and 2), Connor Whyntie (Stage 2 – Year 3 and 4) and Glenn Lawless (Stage 3 – Year 5 and 6). Mrs Mandy Ennion and I oversee the Learning Success and Engagement Team.

Principal Report

Student Executive – Fundraising for Wires Initiative Last week, I met with the 2020 Student Executive Team and they are already identifying initiatives that they would like to lead within the school. They have decided to commence with a Bushfire Fundraiser. All students are welcome to wear Mufti clothes on Wednesday, 19th February for a gold coin donation. All proceeds will go to WIRES to support injured wildlife. The students were able to develop an understanding of the impact the fires had on communities thank to our resident Fireman George who also works on a temporary basis at Ermington PS ensuring Information Communication and Technology is coordinated effectively across the school. Meet the Teacher Evening – Wednesday, 19th February Due to the success of last year’s Meet the Teacher evening the school will continue to provide the opportunity for parents to attend more than one session if they have children in different classes throughout the school. A repeat session has been coordinated for each class. All sessions will be held in classrooms. We look forward to parent attendance at this event. Please note that this is an event for parents. If you need to bring your child/ren please ensure you are responsible for supervision as no teachers are available.

Time Session

4:30pm Kindergarten to Year 2 (Session 1) Location: Classrooms - KC, KS, KY, 1A, 2/1W, 2D, 2T

5:00pm Welcome – Principal’s Address, Learning Success and Engagement Team Information, Meet the P&C, talk to Marsden HS representatives and enjoy some light refreshments. Location: COLA

5:30pm Kindergarten to Year 2 (Session 2 – repeat of Session 1) Location: Classrooms - KC, KS, KY, 1A, 2/1W, 2D, 2T

Year 3 – 6 (Session 1) Location: Classrooms – 3J, 3W, 4L, 4D, 5H, 5M, 6/5L, 6C, 6G

6:00pm Year 3 – 6 (Session 2 – repeat of Session 1) Location: Classrooms - 3J, 3W, 4L, 4D, 5H, 5M, 6/5L, 6C, 6G

Thank you – A Thriving Community I am very appreciative of such a supportive community. There have been a number of challenges of late for communities in NSW including the impact had from bushfires, Novel Coronavirus concerns and flooding. There have been outstanding examples of compassion and care for each other that have been portrayed at Ermington PS over the last few weeks. While I understand it was an inconvenience for minimal supervision to occur on Monday, it was a necessary measure. On Sunday, a contained area of the school was flooded, no power was available and some classrooms and the administration block had significant leakage impacting on resources and technology. Brush Rd was not accessible from the Marsden High School end. I appreciate the swift and incredible clean up from the Health and Safety Team, our General Assistants and Administrative Staff so that we could resume for business as usual. We still have some technology issues across the school which we anticipate will be resolved within the next couple of days. A Safety Message from Ausgrid Ausgrid has been working to ensure the network is safe and to restore power as quickly as possible. I look forward to seeing parents at the P&C Meeting tonight, held in the library at 7pm.

Ms Jen Riley Principal

Kindergarten Kindergarten had a great first week. It was fantastic seeing all the children transition into big school. Students learnt about the 's' and 'a' sound and this week Kindergarten will be learning about the 'n' and 't' sound. This term Kindergarten will be talking about their family. Please provide your child’s teacher with a family photograph so your child can tell the class about their family during Week 4 news. Stage 1 Welcome to Stage 1, 2020! Our students have kick started the year with great enthusiasm and are settling into their classes. This week, we will continue to focus on school and classroom expectations and routines. The children will be engaging in literacy and numeracy activities, as well as, take part in some assessments. Assessments will be used to track and monitor student progress and growth, as well as determine the direction of our programming. A few reminders to bring in stationary, garden gloves, headphones and paper towel/tissue box donations. Please label all your child's belongings with their full name. Stage 2 This week students have started to familiarise themselves with their student Wellbeing Journals. The activities so far have included Exploring My Best Possible Me and Our Circle of Safety where the students identified people they trust who can help them. We have started some wonderful artworks including directed drawing, Australian animals with an indigenous theme and learning how to draw self-portraits. This week we endeavour to begin our mathematics program and our English program on narrative texts. Students are continuing to develop their knowledge of the school expectations in and around the school. Explicit lessons are being taught, including walking to and from the hall, before and after school expectations and appropriate behaviours in different settings around the school. We would like to encourage families to look at the equipment list as outlined on eNews. Students need to ensure they have a 30cm ruler that is wooden or solid plastic. Ear buds are more manageable in the classroom than larger ear phones. Have a great week!

Stage News

Stage 3 Thank you to all those parents who sent supplies such as tissues, paper towels and soap. Please check to see if all your child's belongings are clearly named because the lost property is piling up again. 5M and 6H are off to the quarantine station yesterday, a fascinating historical landmark in Sydney. Some books were sent home last week to be covered, so could these be returned promptly. Next week for "Meet the Teacher" evening more information will be forthcoming concerning expectations and happenings this year. This week Mrs Nosworthy will be measuring the children for the Year 6 hoodies and children will need to think about the name they wish to print on their jumper.

Student Leadership Team - Fundraiser The 2020 student leadership team has decided to raise money for the bushfire appeal through a mufti day. The mufti day will be held on Wednesday, 19th February (Week 4). Each child is encouraged to bring in a gold coin donation and hand in to their class teacher. All money raised will be donated to the wires charity to help Australian wildlife. Lost Ring An expensive ring has been handed into the office. It was located near the OOSH building. Please come to the school office and describe the ring to claim it.

Around the school

EOI for Gardening Club Please send an expression of interest to the school for anyone who loves gardening and would like to be part of a support group that supports the garden program run in the school. We are looking for people who have experience or expertise in gardening that they could share with the students their love for the natural world. If you are interested and would like to be a part of this Miss Taylor (2T) will be holding a meeting in her classroom next Wednesday afternoon or you could express your interest by sending an email to the school attention to Miss Taylor. Quarantine Station Excursion – 5M & 6G On Tuesday this week the Year 5 and 6 OC classes visited the Quarantine Station in Manly to see the setting of our class novel, Ghost Boy. We had a very enjoyable time visiting old sites from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. We became forensic investigators as we unpacked old bags full of artefacts and engraved our names in clay. We all had a memorable experience. Annabel, 6G

From the Library Welcome to 2020 in the Library. It's great to have such enthusiastic students in the Library this year and it will be wonderful monitoring our teachers' reading goals throughout the year. Scholastic book club orders are due this Thursday, Feb 13th. All orders are placed electronically through Scholastic's LOOP system https://scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/ to avoid cash at school. Vouchers can be entered online as well. Books will arrive approximately 7-10 days after the order closes. Scholastic offers some great bargains and always has their finger on the pulse of what the kids like to read. Any points the school earns from Scholastic are used to update the Library collection. Our students are very excited when new books arrive in the Library and we thank the school community for supporting our Book Club. The Library will be organising some book covering working bees later this term and in term 3 we will be having a book fair and would love some parent helpers for both. Keep an eye on future newsletters for details and dates. To celebrate Book Week this year we've invited celebrated author Dr Cameron Stelzer to come and present writing workshops for our students. Cameron's books will be available for sale before this event and will

even be signed by the author himself. The program is very exciting, Cameron is inspiring and I am looking forward to seeing our writers bloom. Donating to the Library: We would appreciate cotton bags that could be kept in the library as 'boomerang library bags', so that all students have the opportunity to borrow each week. If you are spring cleaning and have any old Duplo or Lego, we'd love to add it to our small collection for our keen lunch time builders. The same goes for matchbox cars or track for our car enthusiasts and wooden trains for our budding train drivers. PSSA Summer Competition The competition is set to begin this week if we have no more rain. There needs to be further tryouts this week as the rain hampered the selection last week. T-ball teams need a lot more players so if your child is in year 3 or 4 please encourage them to tryout even if they have never played the game. Miss McMurray is keen to teach them how to play. P&C MEETING The P&C General Meeting will be held tonight (Wednesday, 12th February). This meeting will be held in the school library at 7:00pm. At this meeting we will be electing President and Secretary for 2020 and we invite everyone to attend and have their say. There 2 executive roles to fill a brief description can be found below: Main role of the President:

Chair P&C meetings

Ensure the objectives of the P&C Association are met

Ensure that the P&C takes part in decision-making processes in the school

Foster fair participation of all members and ensure that all new members are made to feel welcome

Consistent adherence to the constitution

Act as the P&C Association’s spokesperson when public statements or actions are needed

Setting up lines of communication with the Principal

Being signatory on the Association’s bank accounts Role of the Secretary:

Responsible for carrying out the administrative tasks

Prepares all meeting agendas.

Takes notes during the P&C meetings and produces a set of Minutes for subsequent distribution to all financial members

Receiving and tabling all correspondence as well as writing and dispatching outgoing correspondence

Issues notice of all meetings and maintains official records of the P&C Association such as the constitution, ABN details, list of financial (voting) members, Minutes, Attendance book.

If you would like to nominate yourself or another individual for a position please contact or email the Vice-President at sammy_g1983@hotmail.com with the nominees name and position they are interested in. Uniform Shop The uniform shop will be open this afternoon (Wednesday, 5th February) before the P&C meeting from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. We suggest that parents place online orders will still be processing during closure times of the uniform shop. The uniform shop order form can be obtained in the school office or on the school website.

Sport News

P&C News

Volunteers needed: The Uniform shop is in need of helpers to support our current volunteers on Tuesday mornings. Changes to work schedules have affected some of our volunteer’s availability to help out during shop opening times. Instead these volunteers will be filling online orders at other times on a more frequent basis. However, there is still a need for the Uniform Shop to be open for size fitting and second-hand clothing sales. If you are someone who would be able to help one Tuesday morning a month, then we would love for you to join our team. No training is necessary, and you will be rostered on with a current volunteer who will process payments and operate the computer system. If you are able to help, please email your full name, child’s name and your mobile number to fionahooper@yahoo.com.au Fiona Hooper - EPS Uniform Shop Secretary ONLINE ORDERING SYSTEM The Uniform Shop uses My School Connect for their online orders. This is same system currently used by the Canteen. I ALREADY HAVE 'MY SCHOOL CONNECT' If you are already using My School Connect for the canteen you will see a ‘My School Uniform’ icon/application on the Dashboard which is how you place an order for the uniform shop. Payment is by credit card or PayPal or you can use your existing account balance in My School Credit. I DONT HAVE 'MY SCHOOL CONNECT' If you are not already using My School Connect for the canteen then you can sign up to order uniforms as follows:

1. Go to www.myschoolconnect.com.au 2. Click on ‘Register’ then click on ‘I’m a Parent’ 3. In the box ‘For Which School’ type Ermington (the name of the school will appear in the dropdown box)

click on this. 4. Fill in all the fields and set a password to use each time you log in. Scroll down, fill in the ‘Captcha’,

accept the ‘Terms of Use’ and press ‘Submit’ 5. Add students and classes, fill in all the fields and press ‘Submit’ 6. Now you can go to the Dashboard to top up your account (or you can pay as you go by credit card or

PayPal). You can top up your account via credit card or direct debit. Funds transferred via direct debit may take a couple of days to appear in your account.

7. Click the ‘My School Uniform’ icon on the Dashboard to start ordering. There is no fee to place an order however fees are payable when paying by credit card or PayPal. There is also a free MySchoolConnect App that you can download and use for orders.

VOLUNTEERS ARE STILL NEEDED! Thank you to those people who have just joined our canteen community. We now have enough Monday volunteers but we still need volunteers for these days: (We work on a monthly roster) Tuesdays - 3 more people needed for the 1st, 3rd and 4th Tuesday of each month Thursdays - 3 more people needed for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Thursday of each month Fridays - 4 more people needed for each Friday of the month. Please contact Wendy (Canteen Manager) on 0412 154 004 or wlarocca5@gmail.com if you can help. ONLINE CANTEEN For ALL users of My School Connect - The new classes have now been updated. It is your responsibility to place your child’s name in the correct class (before you place your first order) to ensure your child receives their order in the correct lunch basket. WHEN USING THE ONLINE CANTEEN - Please check that you have ordered on the correct day/date as children often

ask for their lunch when they do not have an order. Lunchtimes are extremely busy and we don’t have the time to

continually check the computer for orders which have not been placed or placed on the wrong day.

Always make sure your children know if they have an online order. The cut-off time for online orders is 9am (except if ordering sushi on Fridays - 8.20am). CHANGE Please give your children coins if possible when ordering over the counter as we are always in need of small change, no large notes, please. ROSTER

Mon 10 Feb Canteen closed Mon 17 Feb Wendy, Nirmali, Danielle Tues 11 Feb Canteen closed Tues 18 Feb Wendy, Nancy Wed CLOSED Wed CLOSED Thurs 13 Feb Wendy, Vera (am), Xiaomin (pm) Thurs 20 Feb Wendy, Alison B, Xiaomin (pm) Fri 14 Feb Wendy, Vicky Fri 21 Feb Wendy, Belinda

Newsletter Deadline Newsletter articles need to be submitted to the school email by Monday 1pm. These should be

sent to: ermington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Subject: Newsletter

The school often publishes information on behalf of community

groups – parents need to decide on the appropriateness of

activities involving their child. It is the responsibility of each

parent to research the bona fides of any organisation in which

you wish for your child to be involved. The school accepts no

responsibility with regard to advertisements placed in the

newsletter. Parents and guardians should make their own

decision.

Canteen News

KIDS ON KEYBOARD Kids on Keyboard is a fun and easy way to introduce children to the world of music and the keyboard. Class is open for students from Years 2 to 6. It is run before school on Wednesdays. If you are interested in enrolling your child for 2020 or want more information please contact Christine Dieckmann on 0409 247 424.