Term 4 Week 8

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents, Thank you to everyone who attended last night’s Kinder Connections picnic on The Flat. It was great to have so many of our current kindergarten students and their families in attendance and it gave us a great opportunity to welcome many of our new 2015 kindergarten students and families to Floraville PS in a relaxed and informal setting. Good luck this week to our students who are in Sydney to perform at School Spectacular. This is a wonderful opportunity and I am sure they will do a fantastic job. Presentation Days Each year at our Presentation Day assemblies we attempt to recognise some of the special achievements of our students from throughout the year. Each year the assembly seems to be getting longer and longer as we acknowledge the many achievements of our students. This year we have attempted to streamline these presentations so as to reduce the amount of time our special guests and parents have to give up in order to attend. Consequently, Presentation Day itself (11

th December)

will consist of three separate ceremonies and is anticipated to run as follows: 9:15am to 10:15am K-2 Presentation Assembly 10:15am to 10:45am Morning Tea 11:00am to 12noon 3-6 Presentation Assembly 12:30pm to 1:30pm Major Awards Presentation Assembly Of course parents are welcome to attend any or all of the assemblies however if your child is receiving an award the invitation will specify at which assembly the award is being presented to enable you to plan your day. As well as our normal Presentation Assemblies we have introduced a special awards assembly which will be held on Monday 15

th December from 1:40pm. At this assembly many awards including PSSA sporting representation, debating, public

speaking, spelling and more will be presented. Award recipient’s parents will also receive an invitation to this assembly. Different Types of Writing Your child may be asked to present an assignment in a particular text type. Text types mean writing according to a purpose or an audience. For example, factual texts inform and literary texts entertain. This fact sheet gives several examples and the purpose of different types of writing. Find out more: https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/eppcontent/glossary/app/resource/factsheet/4108.pdf Choosing a Book for Your Child What makes a good book for young children? Usually anything that they want to read. Resist the desire to choose only books that you read as a child. Good books teach children things subtly while still telling a great story. Find out more: http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/english/my-book-club/what-makes-a-good-book-for-young-kids Thank you. David Robson Principal

Thought for the week: The wishbone will never replace the backbone. -Will Henry

VIRTUES EDUCATION This week’s virtue is CREATIVITY: Creativity is the power of imagination. It is discovering your own special talents. Dare to see things in new ways and find different ways to solve problems. With your creativity, you can bring something new into the world.

Assembly Class of the Week – 3H Banking Champions – KB & KS

Term Calendar

IMPORTANT DATES Week 8

27/11 – School Spectacular Dress Rehearsal 28/11 – Primary Assembly 12.20pm 28/11 – School Spectacular Performance 29/11 – School Spectacular Performance

Week 9

1/12 – Whole School Assembly 2.20pm 2/12 – Art Gallery Opening 2/12 – BHS Parent Information Evening 5.30-7.30pm 3/12 – Year 6 High School Orientation Day 4/12 – Year 6 Funday

Week 10

8/12 – Parent Helper Morning Tea 11am-12 noon 8/12 – Whole School Assembly 2.20pm 9/12 – Year 3 & 4 Party Day 9/12 – Year 5 Party Day 9/12 – Year 6 Imax & Luna Park 9/12 – P&C Meeting 7pm 10/12 – Infants Assembly 2.15pm 10/12 – Carols on the Green 11/12 - Presentation Day 12/12 – Infants Party Day 12/12 – Primary Assembly 12.20pm

REMINDER OF MONEY DUE

School Band Fees – NOW OVERDUE School Aerobics – Term 2 & Term 3 NOW OVERDUE School Aerobics – Term 4 Fees now due Aboriginal Art Class - $36 NOW OVERDUE Aboriginal Art Class Term 4 NOW OVERDUE Infants Party Day $10 now due Years 3 & 4 Party Day $18 now due Year 6 Imax & Luna Park $60 now due Year 6 Farewell $30 now due

News from the Office Office Hours 8.30am to 3.15pm Please make sure you have the correct money when paying for activities or excursions. Please note we now have parent online payments. Eftpos is still available, transactions incur a fee of $1.00. These charges will be added to your transaction.

Sport Sport News Photos As this is our larger ‘Bulletin’ edition of our weekly newsletter, we are able to include photos from events that have taken place since the last Bulletin in Week 4 of this term. The articles relating to these photos can be found in newsletters that were published at the time of the event (since Week 4 of this term). Photos from the recent visit from the Jets W-League players Term 1 2015 Primary Sport (For students currently in Yrs 2-5) Last week’s newsletter gave an overview of how we co-ordinate the primary summer sports program in Term 1 and Term 4. If you still have questions (after reading that article and the Sport Nomination Form), please don’t hesitate to come and see me at school or pop your questions in a note or phone message to me. Any late Sport Nomination Forms can now be handed in at the office. Please note: Water Polo is for confident swimmers (can confidently swim 50m) and Sailing is for students who can confidently swim 100m. Sports Awards and Sports Assembly After considering feedback we have received, we have planned for some changes to Sports section of Presentation Day to reduce the length of the Presentation Day for our students and guests. Sports Awards will be removed from Presentation Day except for the two major awards (Male & Female Sportsperson of the Year). Academic Awards, the Pencil Awards and the major awards are still recognised in the various sections of Presentation Day which will be explained in the Principal’s Report of the newsletter.

Jets W-League players in each photo above: Angela Salem #6 (left) and Katherine Reynolds #5 (right) Top left photo: Girls’ PSSA Soccer team Top right photo: Boys’ PSSA Soccer team

Bottom left photo: Salem scores a cracking goal at the Jets home game. A number of Floraville students received free tickets to this game.

We will be holding a separate Awards Assembly on Monday 15th

December and parents of award recipients will be invited to attend along with anyone else who is interested. This assembly will recognise the following students:

Zone PSSA representatives (who competed at Regional titles)

Hunter PSSA representatives (who competed at State titles)

State PSSA representatives (who competed at Nationals)

The Male and Female Sportsperson of the Year (briefly acknowledged again after being officially announced at the Major Awards Presentation on the Thursday prior to this assembly)

There will be short intervals where the aerobics teams will perform 2015 Sporting Calendar Many of the sporting dates have already been set for next year, including our carnivals, PSSA trials and more! You can log onto the Floraville app, click on ‘Calendar’ and then click on the arrow at the top-right of the calendar to scroll across to see the Term 1 to Term 4 calendars. More dates will appear as soon as they are confirmed. Carly Erich - Sports Co-ordinator

OTHER SCHOOL NEWS Showcase On Thursday night 6

th November the Showcase concert did exactly that! A packed hall witnessed the talents of the students

of Floraville Public School in various items, performed by the majors and mini minors’ school band, junior and primary choirs, boys’ vocal group and solo instrumentalists and vocalists. Thank you to all the performers, family and friends who attended the concert and supported Performing Arts at Floraville. After trying to fit everyone in and find extra chairs (hundreds of people attended!) the concert ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all. We look forward to your continued support and stage musicals next year!

Library News Congratulations to the following students who have received a 2014 Premier’s Reading Challenge certificate. Kindergarten Tom Campbell, Robbie Freeman, Scarlett Halpin, Connor Mackle, Callie Manderson, Luke Mantle, Zane Mulvaney, Angus Nagle, Reuben Pedonese, Hollie Purcell and Keegan Rowe

Year 1 Rhys Barry, Andrea Battye, Siarra Bendeich, Cayden Berbatovci, April Brackley, Mitchell Chung, Bella Ciarrocchi, Cooper Clark, Nathan Connor, Daniel Cross, Lachlan Dobb, Joshua Halls, Douglas Hanson, Caitlyn Holland, Penny Hollis, Mahney Jenkins, Lara Kennedy, Matthew Kerr, Riley Kerr, Tyler Marshall, Gemma McNamee, Max Morrissey, Matthew Mulvaney, Lorelei O’Grady Pont, Kaden Pinfold, Angus Reid, Nash Thirkettle, Ellen Traynor, Harper Wall, Taj Waters and Caitlin Woodyatt

Year 2 Jessie Rose Bradburn, Chelsea Brogan, Gabby Brown, Blair Christian, Kristen Fletcher, Ethan Gardiner, Eddie Gardner, Connor Halpin, Sienna Harvey, Maddison Jennings, Thomas Kennedy, James King, Tye Rachubinski, Will Ryan, Ben Seu, Mia Walton, Zali Waters and Adam Wonser.

Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 Grace Kim, Brock Ayliffe, Cameron Burt, Riley Gardner, Keeley Halls, Cassandra Jarvis, Jake Robertson, Ava Traynor, Matthew Whelan, Cameron Wood, Hayley Woodger, Ashby Allen, Tamsyn Capararo, Isabella Halpin, Makenzi Harvey, Esther Kim, Tara Nuss, Madison Andrews, Mikaela Jensen and Emy Liao

Gold Award Presented to students who have completed 4 Premier’s Reading Challenges. Liam Crawford, Hannah Kerr, Joel Mason, Dakota Naszka, Leah Wood and Brayden Woodyatt Platinum Award Presented to students who have completed 7 Premier’s Reading Challenges. Will Bradburn, William Burt, Harrison Chung and Tilleah Kerr

Stocktake and Return of Library Books Stocktake will begin on Monday 1

st December. Library books will need to be returned by Friday 28

th November although

students using the Lexile program will be allowed to continue borrowing 1 Lexile book at a time. If students are having difficulty finding missing/overdue books I have suggested they get an adult to help them have an ‘adult look’ at home. If they still have no luck, please let me know via a note, an email or in person. I will take note of the missing books and will contact you later in the year or early next year if the book/s appear on the list of missing books from the stocktake. Thank you for your support in returning or searching for library books. Lexile Reading We are currently in the process of migrating our Lexile files over to our new reading program, Literacy Pro. This means, we no longer have access to the Lexile website. Hopefully, Literacy Pro will be up and running sometime next week. I will let students know access details once I’m informed of them.

Debating This Semester an outstanding group of Stage 3 students represented Floraville Public School in the 2014 Lake Macquarie Debating Competition. These students gave up their own time, challenged themselves and worked hard learning new debating skills. Each of the three teams prepared and presented five debates against other Lake Macquarie schools with confidence, enjoyment and professionalism. The standard was extremely high and we are proud of the efforts made by all of our participating students. Special congratulations go to Emy Liao, Abbey Crosdale, Tilleah Kerr and Jasmine Theuerjahr who were successful getting through to the ‘B’ Division finals, which they convincingly won. A special acknowledgement also goes to the ‘A’ division team Lily Robards, Lucy Foster and Lily McCudden who were supported by Tilleah Kerr, Emy Liao and Makenzi Harvey. They mentored the ‘B’ division teams and debated very strongly, narrowly missing out on winning their finals. Well done to Alexia Street, Ruby Davis, Ella Agland, Tara Nuss and Ashleigh Ball for their fine efforts too. Congratulations to all debaters! Class 1N win a laptop! Congratulations to 1N who are the proud owners of a brand new laptop. For the past few weeks, classes have been working extra hard with the Mathletics program to win a computer. 1N have won the weekly trophy more than three times this term and deservedly earned the prize. Well done!

Landcare It has been a very busy and productive past few weeks for our Landcare group. We have been working hard helping Mr Lee fix the flat, spreading top-dress soil and planting new grass seeds. Landcare has also been giving our beautiful gully and bridges some much needed TLC. So next time you’re in the school have a look at the gully bridge, the flat, our vegie garden with lovely corn or our terrific tomato plants near the staffroom. Any parents / grandparents that would like to help each Thursday from 1:30pm – 2:10pm please contact the front office. No special skills or experience required.

Forensic Science Workshops Last Tuesday, students in Years 3-6 were able to discover the role of forensic science in solving crimes through a hands-on workshop. Stations were set up around the hall for students to gather evidence and build a case. These stations included UV light tents, microscopes, DNA puzzles, a life-size crime scene display and more! The workshop was a great way to learn about this field and perhaps it has inspired some students to consider science as a career path.

Science Club Budding scientists from Years One and Two have been learning about many scientific concepts over the last semester including; the differences between solids, liquids and gases, how micelles are formed, Newton’s Third Law of motion in action and creating electrical charges, just to name a few. Science club has been very popular this term and the children have had lots of fun participating in experiments each Wednesday at second break. Mrs. Fiona Nelson

Year 6 Buddy Morning Tea On Wednesday 29 October the Year 6 students spent a fun-filled morning with their Kindergarten buddies in what is now a tradition at Floraville Public School. They enjoyed a delicious and healthy morning tea supplied by the Year 6 students and their families. Colourful fruit platters, vegies and healthy dips were gobbled up by lots of hungry students. The Year 6 buddies also set up activities on the flat which all the students rotated through in groups. The weather was beautiful and a wonderful time was had by all the children involved. A special mention must go to the Willmot family who provided two amazing fruit ‘art works’ – a frog and shark made out of whole watermelons with a cast of other supporting fruit characters. They were truly amazing!

Year 6 Excursion to Canberra We began our adventure at 6am on Monday the 10

th of November. The coach ride was fun and we finally reached our

nation’s capital approximately six hours later. We visited Parliament House, old Parliament House and the Australian Institute of sport on the first day. A highlight of the trip for most Year 6 students was visiting Questacon where we learned about science and technology and also enjoyed the Free Fall ride. Old Parliament House was fantastic as we sat where the members of Parliament used to sit and it had a great discovery zone. At the wonderful Australian War Memorial we respected our ancestors. After a long coach ride home on Wednesday we arrived at Floraville to see our wonderful families. Year 5, you are in for a great time in Canberra next year! Harrison Chung, 6F

Carols on the Green Thank you to all parents thus far who have volunteered to help on the night for our Carols on the Green BBQ and merchandise stalls. If you are able to help out for half an hour on the night, it would be greatly appreciated if you please complete the red volunteer note handed out last week to note takers and return to Miss Strong by this Friday. Confirmation slips of your time slot will be sent out by the end of Week 9. Thank you for your support. Hope you have been practising your carol singing and we look forward to seeing you on the night!

Year 5 Great Aussie Bush Camp

P&C AND CANTEEN NEWS The Belmont BETTA store continues to sponsor Floraville School P&C. With any purchases at BETTA please bring a copy of any receipts from the store to the school office. We receive 1% commission for each purchase.

Uniform Shop

Uniform shop hours are now: Wednesdays 2.30 pm to 3.15pm Canteen News

These next 3 weeks are going to be extremely busy at Floraville with all of our upcoming events! Christmas Lunch Bags have started & will be available through until Friday 12

th December inclusive! Check our School

website/App for details on bags available! Monday 1st December - 6.30pm - Canteen Christmas Get Together. Don’t forget to put your name down on the list in the canteen; we would love to see you all there. Wednesday 10

th December – Red Day!!!

Wednesday 10

th December - Carols on the Green

Thursday 11

th December – Presentation Day – CANTEEN WILL BE CLOSED.

Friday 12

th December – LAST CANTEEN DAY FOR 2014!

Please be aware that the canteen WILL NOT be open for lunches the last 3 days of term, being Monday 15th

, Tuesday 16th

& Wednesday 17

th December. Canteen will be closed for cleaning in readiness for 2015.

Roster Thursday 27/11 – Kylie Hanson, Kim Brewster, Amanda Jackson, Emma Holbrow Friday 28/11 – Lisa Booth, Kristina Love, Nicole Lowry, Erica Pedonese Monday 1/12 – Lisa Kerr, Leone Robertshaw Tuesday 2/12 – Pam Taylor, Christine Mitford, Kristie Davies Wednesday 3/12 – Pat Whyte, Maree McCulloch, Karen Collins, Marion Van Zeeland

The P&C still have the magnetic display folders for sale if you require any, order form is below. They hold notes that can be stored on the fridge, please hand orders into the office.

Floraville Public School Merchandise Order

Name: ___________________________________________ Class or Phone: _____________

Magnetic Display Pockets A4 Size__________ @ $4.00 each = $ _________

Total enclosed $ _________. Please make cheques payable to the P&C Association.

Healing Haven Markets Dudley School 3rd Saturday monthly Next market 20th December stalls, fresh produce,,health foods, alternative therapists, live music, workshops, fair trade & sustainable goods and activities for the children www.healinghavenmarkets.com

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