Message From the Principal

Copacabana Public School NewsletterCopacabana Public School NewsletterCopacabana Public School Newsletter Excellence in a vibrant, caring learning environment

Term 1, Week 2

6th February 2014

Principal: Ms Cherie Bourke

Pueblo Street

Copacabana NSW 2251

Ph: 0243821766

Fax: 0243811427

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

Dear Copa Families,

Welcome back to 2014 and what we hope will be a challenging, happy, adventurous and

fulfilling learning journey for your children.

Welcome especially to all our Kindy students and their families and new students and their

families, to the Copa school community.

I could list many things in detail that we had achieved as a school in 2013 and that we

mark with pride. Those more obvious successes, though important, are not the only suc-

cesses that I will remember. Our greatest achievements last year are the things that are

not obvious. Our true successes are measured by the extent to which we have instilled

within our children, our staff and our community the core values by which we carry our-

selves on a daily basis. The values of Excellence, Participation, Respect, Care, Cooperation,

Fairness, Integrity , Responsibility and Democracy, wherever you look, in every classroom,

every corridor, on the playground and any time, you will see evidence of children’s learning

and success as individuals as they develop an ever-growing sense of community.

This year we will build on our successes and our focus will be on Student Welfare. We have

developed a whole school plan for Values Education that will instill in our students a sense

of pride in themselves, others and community.

There will be a new value addressed each month. Students will participate in lessons and

discussions throughout the month to reinforce learning about that value. An award for one

student from each class will be presented at the whole school assembly on the Friday of

the last week of that month.

These are the values for each month.

(March/Honesty/Integrity, April/Excellence, May/Respect, June/ Responsibility,

July/ Cooperation, August /Participation, September/Care, October/ Fairness,

November/ Democracy). We would love it if each month families also reinforced the value

of the month through family conversations.

Further to this we will be implementing the new English and Mathematics curriculum which

will be our main focus for fund raising.

Message from the Principal Continued….. We have set up new committees to drive the management plan in the

areas of Creative and Performing Arts, Gifted and Talented Students,

Environmental Ed, Aboriginal Perspectives and Informational Technolo-

gies. If you have any expertise in these areas we would value your sup-

port and contribution.

This year we are hoping to have an Infants Choir and Primary Choir. If

your child is interested in joining please see Mrs Lanning. We also have

dance groups this year. If interested please see Miss Holmes. Chess will

be offered second semester.

I am very keen to get a concert band and/or rock band running at Copa-

cabana P.S. If some kind person out there has any expertise and excit-

ing ideas in this area, I would love to hear from you. A drama group and

gardening group would be great also!

I would like to welcome on board to our team Patricia Sharp, who was

successful in gaining the new position as our SAM. She came to us high-

ly qualified in all aspects of a SAM position and I welcome her to Copa-

cabana P.S. Please introduce yourself and make her feel welcome into

our lovely school. Patricia and Jo are in our front office and are happy to

address all parents’ and students’ needs with expertise and in a friendly

manner.

I would also like to welcome Chris Mensforth who will be looking after

the 4/5 class.

There are 12 classes this year that commenced on Monday. Kinder will

be joining us on Wednesday after their Best Start assessments. These

assessments ensure that staff know your child’s capabilities and can

best program for their individual needs.

Classes for 2014 are:

KB – Mr. Baker, KS – Mrs Sutton, 1N – Mrs Lucas, 1H – Miss Holmes,

1/2D – Ms Drennan, 2L – Mrs Lanning, 3/4L – Mrs Lamm, 3/4W – Mrs

Walters, 3/4M – Mrs Mumford, 4/5 M- Mr Mensforth, 5/6 F – Mr Frew,

5/6 W – Mrs Woodham.

Well done to all students who participated in and contributed to our

wonderful swimming carnival on Friday. As always I was very proud of

your cooperation, sportsmanship and manners. Well done to all those

who were successful in their events. Thank you to Mrs Lucas and all

staff for your hard work and organisation on the day.

Warm regards,

Cherie Bourke

Copacabana P.S. Principal

UPCOMING EVENTS

FRI: 7/2/14 Assembly Swimming Ribbons

TUES: 11/2/14 Basketball Trials

FRI: 14/2/14 Assembly Integrity and Honesty

TUES: 11/2/14 P&C Meeting

6.30PM - All Welcome

School Attendance

A continued focus for Copa is to reduce the

number of students arriving late to school.

Legitimate reasons for absences are under-

stood, however, we do have students who

continually arrive late to school. Students

need to be at school by 8.55am. The morn-

ing session is our peak learning time and it’s

important for students to start the day to-

gether in class. All students should be at

school each day during the school term.

Parents of students who regularly arrive late

will receive a letter of concern from the

school and the home school liaison officer

will be contacted.

Attendance Exemptions

A reminder to parents. If you are aware that

your child / children are going to be absent

from school for a longer period of time, more

than 5 days, an exemption from attendance

is required. Please collect this certificate

from the office, prior to your child’s absence.

Before School Procedure

A teacher is on duty from 8.25am each day.

If a student arrives before 8.25am they must

sit in the COLA area and wait for the teacher

to commence duty. From 8.25am as

students arrive at school they must put their

bags outside classrooms and return to the

COLA/basketball court area. No students

should be in classrooms or the areas outside

their classrooms.

Health Issues

A reminder to parents to notify the school about

your child’s health. We welcome information

from parents about your child’s health, even if

you are not requesting specific support from our

school. Our school asks for medical information

when you enrol your child. It is also important

that you let us know if your child’s health care

needs change or if a new health condition devel-

ops.

Information about allergies, medical conditions

such as asthma and diabetes and other health

care related issues (including prior conditions

such as medical procedures in the last 12

months) should be provided to the school by

parents. Please provide this information in writ-

ing to the principal. This will greatly assist our

school in planning support for your child’s health

and wellbeing.

Please also remember to notify staff in the

school office of any changes to your contact de-

tails or to the contact details of other people

nominated as emergency contacts.

We appreciate your assistance in this regard and

assure you that any information you provide the

school will be stored securely and will only be

used or disclosed in order to support your son or

daughter’s health needs or as otherwise required

by law.

First Primary Assembly

Our first Primary (3-6) assembly will take place

on Friday the 14th of February at 2.00pm in the

school hall. This year Primary Assemblies will be

Around the School

First Primary Assembly cont….

hosted by a class group.

The first class group to host this term

will be 3/4W….. Mrs Walters’ class. All

parents are invited to attend.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Anaphylaxis

Just a reminder that our school is a

‘nut free zone’. We do have

students allergic to peanuts and nut

products. In an effort to eliminate the

life-threatening risk posed to some

students who suffer severe

anaphylaxis, the school has asked that

there be NO consumption of nut

products at school. I also urge par-

ents and caregivers to refrain from

using any products, especially

Nutella and Peanut Butter in their

child’s packed recess and lunch meals,

either at school or on excursions. Your

support is appreciated.

P&C Meeting

The next P & C meeting will be held

on Tuesday, 11 February at 6.30 pm

Hope to see you all there!

Student Banking

Student Banking is every Thursday

morning.

Around the School continued…...

Library News

I would like to wish everyone a great start to the new school

year! The children are welcome to visit the library first half of

lunch from Monday to Thursday. There are many activities

available to them from colouring-in to chess. We have puppets

in the pit and puzzles and games for the children to play. This

year we also have available at lunchtime the Library IPad,

which has some interactive stories for stages 1 and 2 as well as

some educational games for the children to play.

PRC

Although the Premier’s Reading Challenge has not officially

started the children can begin their reading for their reading

record. All library items are marked with coloured stickers if

they are on the Premier’s Reading list. For more information on

PRC you can visit the link below.

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Donations happily accepted

Donations are gladly accepted and very much appreciated! Any

donations must be in good condition and appropriate for

primary students. If you have any pre-loved books or DVD’s

that you no longer want, please consider donating them to the

school library. Each book donated will have

the family name placed inside as an

acknowledgement.

Happy reading everyone!

Teacher Librarian Cathy Shearer

SPORTS REPORT During the school holidays, some

of the students at Copacabana

Public School achieved some

outstanding results in a variety

of sports.

These include:

Finn winning Gold in Jiu Jitsu in

the Under 11s at the Pan Pacific

games in Melbourne.

Charlotte placing in the top 7 in

the state in Gymnastics.

to all the teachers and parents

for supporting our first school

carnival for 2014. Your encour-

agement and assistance is great-

ly appreciated.

SCCPSSA Swimming Carnival

The Southern Central Coast

Swimming Carnival will be held

on Tuesday 11th March 2014 at

Woy Woy Peninsula Leisure

Centre.

Jack , Ashleigh Tyler and Cooper

making the state team for their

age groups in OzTag.

Kobe competing at the National

Futsal competition.

Cooper winning an under 14

surfing competition at Wam-

beral.

Hayley and Jade placing 1st in

their relay at State Nipper carni-

val.

Lily placing 1st in the under 12s

at the Regional surfing competi-

tion at Shelley Beach, and 2nd at

the State competition at Marou-

bra.

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

C.P.S Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all students

who participated in our 2014

Swimming Carnival on Friday 31st

January. The day was a big suc-

cess, with students and teachers

having a great time and 13 school

records being broken. Ribbons,

awards and the annual trophy will

be presented at a whole school

assembly on Friday 7th February.

A huge thank you to those parents

that were lifeguards and thank you

Charlise placing 5th in the 50m

freestyle at State swimming,

placing 3rd in the individual

sprint at the National Nippers

carnival and 1st in the relay.

Congratulations to all

students who have achieved

sporting success!

Mitch Frew

Sports Co-Ordinator