(02) 63 555 233 | Vale Street Portland NSW 2847 | portland-c.school@det.nsw.edu.au portlandc-schools.nsw.gov.au | facebook.com/PortlandCentralSchool

Superhero Mia! The hero of

Portland Central School!

A fantastic day was had by all last Friday as we

held our Superhero Day fundraiser for Mia.

Students and teachers donned their

superhero outfits and generously donated to

the cause.

Primary students tested their superhero

abilities of speed, strength, flight, and

overcoming obstacles, competing in their Peer

Support groups before a hotdog lunch.

Votes were placed to dye Mrs Curran’s hair,

and at the end of the day, though it was close, Mrs Curran’s hair was dyed pink.

A special thank you to Leanne Grant from Shmik Hair Design for generously

donating the time for Zarlee Bennett to make the change, and thank you to all

families for your support in making it such a successful day.

All funds raised were used to help Mia in the rehabilitation phase of her recovery and transition to

schooling at Westmead Children’s Hospital. On behalf of the school a care package was purchased with a

variety of things to keep her mind and fingers busy and make her stay in hospital and Ronald MacDonald

House more comfortable. Items such as craft and stationary supplies, books, construction sets, beanies and

warm clothes were included. Mia is making great progress in her rehabilitation, smashing her goals and

earning herself weekend day passes to visit Ronald MacDonald House where her family are staying. She is

sitting unsupported, standing and taking a few steps. She still has a long road ahead of her but is showing

amazing strength and determination.

Portland Central School “Opportunity, innovation and student success”

Week 8 Term 2 2019

Important

dates:

25 June 2019

HSC Seminar Day &

Online Agriculture

Careers Expo

26 June 2019

Vaccinations: Years

7 and 10

1-5 July 2019

NAIDOC week

2 July 2019

P&C meeting

5 July 2019

Formal assembly

James Cathie to compete in State Cross Country James Cathie represented Portland Central School at the District Cross

Country last week, competing in the 16's Boys category.

James came 5th out of a total of 60 runners and will now progress to the

State Cross Country championships.

This is a massive achievement for James, who represents the school with

pride and a positive can-do attitude.

We are very proud of James' achievement in running and wish him all

the best at State Cross Country.

From the other student’s to compete at District, Lachlan Piggott came

4th in 10’s Boys and Penelope Cavill-Low came 6th in 12/13 Girls. Both

have made it through to Western Cross Country.

Congratulations to all our students for their wonderful efforts!

Students experience first day in

High School

This week we held NXT7, a program for Year 6

students to prepare themselves for high school.

Ten eager students chatted excitedly as they waited

for their first 'High School' day to begin. The day

started in Food Technology, where students cooked

burgers with Mrs Mclean, doing a fantastic job and

enjoying it very much. Next they went to English

with Miss Yeo, where they took part in short story

analysis before

completing some comprehension questions and a quiz at the end.

In Period 4 the students studied Science with Mr Kumariah, looking at how air

pressure affects objects, specifically an empty fizzy drink can. The students

were able to see it crush under the air pressure and were surprised by the

noise it made.

To finish the day, students attended Metal Work with Mr Batchelor, creating

spinners made out of aluminium and sheet steel.

The day was a fantastic experience for students! Sincerest thanks to all

teachers involved in creating such fabulous lessons and giving their time.

For full galleries of images from this week’s stories, please visit our website.

HSC Seminar Day & Online Agriculture Careers Expo

25 June 2019 | 8:00AM – 4:00PM | Charles Sturt University, Bathurst Campus

Students are invited to attend the HSC Seminar Day at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. Seminars will be

presented on HSC subjects by experienced HSC teachers. Students will have the option of attending a

range of seminars throughout the day including English, Modern History, and Mathematics.

The Online Agricultural Careers Expo has been designed for Year 11 and 12 students interested in a career

in agriculture with speakers from some of Australia’s most successful Agricultural companies. Topics

include: Working in Agriculture, types of jobs, salaries and conditions, Scholarships, graduate and

traineeship programs.

Vaccinations: Years 7 and 10 26 June 2019 | 9:30AM – 11:00AM | Portland Central School

NSW Health offer free vaccines to school students. Year 7 will receive vaccinations against Diphtheria-

Tetanus-Pertussis (dTpa) and Year 10 students will receive the Meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

NAIDOC week 1-5 July 2019 | Portland Central School

This year’s NAIDOC week theme is ‘Voice. Treaty. Truth.’ It acknowledges that

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have always wanted an enhanced role

in decision making in Australia’s democracy and would like to work together

towards a shared future. To celebrate NAIDOC week, Portland Central School will

hold a ceremony to officially open our Yarning Circle.

P&C meeting 2 July 2019 | 6:30PM – 7:30PM | Portland Central School

Portland Central School's Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) is a group of

parents, caregivers and teachers that work together to assist the school in

fundraising and student support, as well as playing a role in the general running

of the school. We encourage all members of the community to come along to

one of our meetings as a great way to be kept up to date with what's

happening at the school.

Formal assembly 5 July 2019 | 12:00PM – 1:00PM | Portland Central School

Join us to celebrate the success of our K – 12 students. Students will be presented awards for their

application at different levels beginning at sound and moving to high and then outstanding. This gives

students an opportunity to demonstrate their improvement throughout the year.

Upcoming events Upcoming events

Keep up to date on our events by visiting our website or download the Skool Loop App.

As we are busy completing all our examinations and reports for Semester

One, it has been great to see the maturity of our student body as they

have worked extremely hard to maximise their performance. It is

pleasing to note the improvements in so many students this year, both in

attitude and their academic performances. Reports will be distributed for

all Year groups K-10 during the final week of term and parent/teacher

interviews will be held shortly after. We hope that both students and

families use the feedback provided to enhance future learning.

Superhero Day last Friday for our Superhero Mia was an outstanding

success, with so many students and staff involving themselves in the fundraiser. Almost $1000 has been

raised due to the generosity and hard work of so many of our students, staff and community, and I would

like to thank Mrs Alissa Curran and all of her team for their outstanding coordination of this event. I know

the family greatly appreciate your support.

Last week our school was audited in our procedures for Vocational Education and Training (VET). The

results from that audit were fantastic, totally displaying the professionalism of our VET staff, excellently led

by our VET coordinator, Mrs Leigh McLean. Be assured that this area within our school is a true example of

“best practice” across the education system. Last Monday we held an afternoon for the HSC Minimum

Standards, a new initiative from the Department of Education, to ensure that all students who sit the HSC

have completed examinations in literacy and numeracy proving they have the required skills to complete

the HSC course. It is crucial for all of our junior secondary students to perform at their very best in state

wide testing to prove their qualification for the HSC, accepting where you are at may not be good enough

at this point.

The P&C had a wonderful meeting last Tuesday, with many great ideas again provided for us to move

forward together as a school. We held our first transition day for Year 6 into Year 7 (NXT7), had an

excursion to Charles Sturt University for our SLR students and catered for the district in SCOUT training.

The highlight of the fortnight was the magnificent performances of our cross country team at Geurie, with

special mention to James Cathie of Year 10 who has qualified for the state cross country championships in

Sydney. Our wholehearted congratulations to you James, and all the best as you compete again at state

level. Next week we have vaccinations for Years 7 and 10, HSC Seminar days at Charles Sturt University,

and a parent evening for the HSC Minimum Standards. The events keep on coming, so please keep a look

out on our website and Skool Loop app to stay informed.

If you have concerns at any time regarding your student’s education, please remember to phone the

school first and make an appointment to speak with primarily your student’s classroom teacher or Year

Advisers, Ms Rissman (7-10) or Miss Cullen (10-12). For more serious concerns, you can call the executive

of the school and make an appointment. We value your input and look forward to addressing your

concerns promptly and professionally. Remember, by working together we can and do make a difference.

Best wishes until our next newsletter.

Murray Borham, Principal

Principal’s message

PCYC KidzCare Holiday Programme

Lithgow PCYC will be hosting a KidzCare Holiday Programme on week days from Monday 8th July to

Monday 22nd July.

Activities include:

Crafts and painting (plastic straw craft, stuffler animal hats, pipe cleaner bunnies, and more!)

Group games (space ball, musical games)

Movies (Toy Story, How To Train Your Dragon, Blinky Bill)

Cooking (milk and milo fudge, chocolate chip cookies)

NAIDOC Day Tuesday 9th July (animal dot painting, making damper, Wiradjuri wall art handprints)

Superhero Day Friday 12th July (Superhero ID’s, Pom Pom launchers, capes, photo booth)

Excursion to Lithgow Adventure Park and Jenolan Caves

Physical activity (parkour, laser tag, outside play)

Science afternoon on Friday 19th July

End of holidays Disco

To book or for further information visit Lithgow PCYC at 7 Hoskins Avenue, phone (02) 63 512 510, or email

lithgow@pcycnsw.org.au. You can pay as little as $9.00 per day with Child Care Subsidy. All costs are subsidised and on some

days there are added costs to cover excursions and materials.

Community notices

Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers

Free 2-hour workshop

Parents and supervisors of local learner drivers are encouraged to attend a free workshop which will

be held at the Lithgow Workmens Club (Waratah Room) on Thursday 27th June, commencing at 6pm.

This free two hour workshop, Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers, will offer parents and

supervisors hands-on advice on how to provide the most effective driving practice for learner drivers.

The workshop will also offer practical advice to parents and supervisors on how to help learner drivers

become safer drivers.

The workshop covers the licencing system, how to use the Learner Driver Logbook including the use of

digital logbooks, licence conditions for learner and P-plate drivers, the benefits of on-road driving

sessions, tips on supervising a learner driver and more. Parents and supervisors who have attended

this workshop in the past have found that it boosted their confidence, helped them better plan driving

sessions and allowed them to share their experiences with other parents and supervisors.

Light refreshments will be available.

Bookings are essential and can be made by calling 0447 831 413.