The Punchbowl Press

Punchbowl Public School

Term 1 Week 5 February, 2018

Mr Cameron Smyth-Gapps, Acting Principal Tel - 9750 5055 Fax - 9740 4242

Our vision is to create an inclusive learning environment with high expectations

which enables students to become independent, successful lifelong learners.

On behalf of our Punchbowl Public School Community, we pay our respects to Elders,

past ,present and future and acknowledge the Bidgigal people of the Eora nation,

who were the traditional custodians of the land on which we are learning together

and growing as a safe, respectful and united community.

Developed by student leaders, Lesley Marks, Carol Brown and Rose Manousaridis on 18 August, 2016.

Term 1

COMING UP at PPS !

On Wednesday 21 March, our school held an AGM

to establish a new P&C. We thank all members of

our community who came along to be part of the

meeting.

Congratulations and welcome to the following

community members who were elected to be part

of the Punchbowl Public School P&C committee.

President: Zena Arja

Vice President/s: Sosefina Lokuwithanage &

Abeer Arja

Secretary: Oula Arja Treasurer: Lance Posesione

Our Punchbowl Public School community look forward to working with

our P&C to support the learning and wellbeing of our students. The

P&C encourages parents and community members to attend future

meetings. The SkoolBag app now has a designated section for P&C

news where you will be able to keep up to date with information and

events.

Wednesday 28th February FREE First Aid Training

Thursday 1st March The Big Vegie Crunch

Friday 2nd March Clean Up Schools Day

Monday 5th March Parent Workshop

(Emotion Coaching)

Wednesday 7th March Parent workshop with

Campsie Police

Wednesday 7th March Stage 2 Meet the

Teacher afternoon

Thursday 8th March Stage 3 Meet the

teacher afternoon

Tuesday 20th March K-6 School Photos

Wednesday 21st March Harmony Day

Friday 30th March Good Friday

(No School)

Monday 2nd April Easter Monday

(No School)

Wednesday 4th April Parent workshop with

Campsie Police

Friday 13th April End of Term 1

The new year has certainly got off to a busy start! A variety of initiatives are already up and running this term and the school has plans for many new programs across the year to support the academic, social and emotional development of our students. Recent events have included

the Swimming Carnival, a gymnastics program for students in our support unit and a visit to the school by the Canterbury Bulldogs Rugby League team. Our trials for PSSA teams will commence in coming weeks with the view of the competition commencing in Term 2.

Professional learning for teachers has also been a focus at the beginning of the year. Teachers have commenced training in L3, TEN and THRASS to ensure that our students in Years K-2 are accessing the best teaching practices in Literacy and Numeracy.

The school’s directions for the next 3 years have been shared at recent parent meetings and are also available for you to look at on the SkoolBag app. Parents with feedback regarding our directions for 2018-2020 are encouraged to share their feedback by emailing the school at punchbowl-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Feedback should be addressed to the Principal and received by the school no later than 9th March, 2018.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our parents who were recently elected in executive positions on the school’s P&C. I look forward to working with our dedicated parents to improve community-led initiatives and fundraise for the benefits of our school and students. All information pertaining to the school’s P&C can be located on the SkoolBag app. We look forward to having many parents attend future meetings.

Stages have also been holding information sessions for parents in the past week. These sessions provide a great opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher, ask any questions that you may have and to learn about the many programs that your child will be involved in across the

year. Kindergarten and Stage 1 information sessions were held last week and we look forward to the Stage 2 and 3 sessions being held in the near future. Advertisements for these events are attached to the Punchbowl Press.

Thank you again to our parents and community for the support and encouragement that you have offered both myself and the staff since the beginning of the year. We highly value our partnership with the community and look forward to growing the school together across the year.

I recently placed a Principal’s Welcome on Skoolbag which outlines other important information about our school, staffing and programs. You are always encouraged to approach the office or speak to me directly if you require any clarification about the information that we send home.

Mr C. Smyth-Gapps , Acting Principal

2018 Swimming Carnival

Results

1st

place on 495 points is Thorpe.

2nd

place on 457 points is O’Neil.

3rd

place on 423 points is Freeman.

4th

place on 403 points is Bradman.

On Wednesday February 14th 2018, Stage 2 and

Stage 3 participated in the annual School

Swimming Carnival which was held at Enfield

Aquatic Centre. We absolutely enjoyed the

activities and wearing our house colours. The

students really enjoyed having to compete in

races and being cheered on by their team. The

students also really enjoyed having to compete

against each house team to see who could

cheer the loudest and gain points for their

team. We thank the teachers for organising this

event.

Maysaa Assaad, Jayden Agaya & Sarah Ali (Stage 3, 5/6T)

Welcome to our Preschool students and their

families

We look forward to a great year of learning at Preschool! We are learning through

play, providing children with a variety of experiences to learn how to

communicate, problem solve, explore and be creative.

Belonging is an important part of preschool. We have been getting to know the

children individually. They are making friends and getting familiar with the

Preschool routine.

We have been learning about healthy food options, self-help skills, such as

washing our hands and looking after our belongings and cleaning up after we

play.

Stage 1

Students in Stage 1 are off to a flying start with their learning for

2018.

Students have been working really hard to learn new

routines in their classrooms, particularly during Reading Groups.

During Reading Groups,

Year One students have

been learning to roam

between independent

reading, writing and

word work tasks to

practise and develop

their literacy skills.

Year 4 Writing So far this term, writing lessons have been based upon a shared experience of the text “Schumann the Shoeman”. Students have been learning to use descriptive language in their writing. This is important because using descriptive language makes the writing more interesting for the intended audience. In order for students to know if they have been successful learners, they needed to use adjectives to describe people, places and things. Students

also needed to use alliteration in their writing. Alliteration occurs when a series of words in a row (or close together) have the same initial sound. Can you spot some examples of alliteration in some student work samples below?

As Schumann stepped down from the ladder his foot got tangled in his long beard and he tumbled to the ground. Silence.

The next day the big, bouncy, blue bunny was so sad. She held a big, beautiful bouquet of fabulous flowers. She placed the red, rosy roses next to his grave and wiped away her tears. The big, bouncy, blue bunny spoke sadly and wanted to remember him happily. The big, bouncy, blue bunny was so sad that she cried and cried. She remembered the first day that she met him when he welcomed her into his shoe shaped home. She was feeling gloomy as she said goodbye to her old friend. The big, bouncy, blue bunny and the other forest animals would remember Schumann for his splendid, stylish shoes.

By Ali Sleiman 4V

As Schumann stepped down from the ladder his

foot got tangled in his long beard and he

tumbled to the ground. Silence.

The next day the miserable forest animals buried

Schuman the Shoeman and his handy tools

beneath a dark oak tree. It was a very dark

gloomy rainy day after Schumann’s death. The

blue bunny placed a beautiful bouquet of flowers

in front of Schumann’s gravestone. The

beautiful, blue bouncy bunny said her very last

goodbye. She only had the splendid, stylish

shoes to remember her dear old friend Schumann

by. Bunny remembered when Schumann made

her a pair of colourful, creative shoes for her. All

the forest animals stood there and remembered

the good times with Schumann the Shoeman.

By Aden Pham 4V

8102اليوم الدولي للغة األم

International Mother Language Day 80 February 8102

Welcome to another year of learning

and discovery. As part of our efforts

to promote Community Language our

students are learning about the scope

of language diversity through

acknowledging the 81th UNESCO

(United Nations, Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organisation)

International Mother Language Day.

Speaking another language is

something to be valued because it is

part of one’s culture.

Students created posters using

adjectives to describe their home

language (Mother Tongue), Arabic.

They produced their work using an

online program (tagxedo.com)

creating word clouds.

Parents are encouraged to speak to

their children in their first language, it

is proven to help literacy in second

language learning.

لغة األم جميلة

أحب اللغة العربية

Students currently in Year 6 or Year 10 2018 enrolled in public or non-government schools who are seeking

entrance into Year 7 or Year 11 in 2019 in Dance, Drama or Music at Newtown High School of the Performing

Arts, must participate in audition workshops.

Auditions will be held between Monday 25th June to Friday 6th July 2018.

Please Note: To be eligible to apply, candidates must be Australian Citizens or holders of a visa granting

permanent resident status in Australia on the day of their audition.

Initial registration for an audition is required online via our website

www.nhspa.nsw.edu.au

Newtown High School of the Performing Arts provides specialist education at the highest level to

students having outstanding potential and/or achievement in, and commitment to, Dance, Drama or

Visual Arts Term 1 2018

Children have been learning about Shaun Tan an Australian author and artist. They have enjoyed reading and recreating images from “The Lost Thing and “The Red Tree”.

Preschoolers awesome attempt of drawing “The Lost Thing”

Parents required in the Library to help with

covering books.

Please see Julie Kelly in the Library on Mondays,

Tuesdays or Wednesdays to discuss.

Our voucher collection box is in

the office area. Please keep

collecting your Coles vouchers

and support our school!

FREE PARENT WORKSHOP—Emotion Coaching

On Monday 5th March 2018 from 9am-10.30am, the Got It! team of

specialised child health clinicians, will deliver a free seminar on the popular

Emotion Coaching approach for ALL parents in the SaCC room.

Emotion Coaching is a parenting technique that helps children understand

and manage their feelings. When parents emotion coach, their children learn

how emotions work and how to react to feelings in healthy ways. Parents who attend seminars on

Emotion Coaching report being able to better teach their child skills in understanding and regulating

their feelings, and to problem-solve through challenging situations.

Please join the Got it! Team for tea and coffee at 8:30, with the workshop starting at 9am to learn

more. Mrs Fifi Fakhouri, will also be available to assist during this workshop.

Please speak to Mrs Kontakos, Assistant Principal-Student Learning and Wellbeing, if you have any

questions. Information is also available on Skoolbag

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Punchbowl Public School is participating in the Getting on Track in Time Program (Got It!) in Term 1, 2 &

3, 2018. Got It! is an early intervention program for children in Kindergarten to Year 2 aimed at

developing children’s social and emotional wellbeing and supporting them to manage emotions and

behaviors at school and home.

The Got It! program provides fun and valuable social and emotional learning for students. Through the

program, all students in Kindergarten to Year 2 are offered classroom-based learning in resilience and

social skills. An additional small group of children and their parents will be invited to participate in a

small therapy group delivered during Term 3.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) explores the thinking, feelings and

behaviours of your child. The questionnaire will assist in identifying which part of the program will most

benefit your child and will be treated confidentially by the Got It! Team and the school.

Please complete the blue form and return to your class teacher by Friday 16th March.

The Got It! Team will be available to provide

information, answer any questions, and to help parents

to fill in the form after school on Wednesday 28th

February and before school on Thursday 8th March.

Surveys are available in other languages. Please see

Mrs Kontakos or the office for copies in Arabic, Khmer,

Urdu or Bengali.

FREE First Aid Training in the SaCC Room When: Wednesday 28th February

Time: 10.00am – 2.00pm

Where: Punchbowl Schools as Communities Centre

This course is designed for parents and other carers of children, to provide the essential skills and knowledge required to provide emergency first aid for common child related injuries and illnesses.

Course duration

4 hours

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Assessment

There is no assessment for this course.

Outcome

On completion of this course, participants will receive a Statement of Participation.

Numbers are limited, so please call Kim Harley on 0419 410 874 or Asenati on 0449 195 181 to book into the course.

Cancer Council NSW launches interactive Healthy Lunch Box website for families

The task of packing healthy school lunch your kids will love is now easier with Cancer Council NSW ’s new Healthy Lunch Box website (healthylunchbox.com.au).

We know that 93% of children don’t eat enough vegetables and 22% are overweight.

The website includes recipes and tips on how to include more fruit and veg in the family’s diet and is complete with an interactive lunch box builder to involve the kids, at home, or on the move with a smartphone or tablet.

The website has been launched as part of Cancer Council NSW ’s Eat It To Beat It program which runs free sessions and workshops for parents of primary aged school children, helping them to understand why fruit and vegetables are so important.

Visit healthylunchbox.com.au to pack a quick and healthy lunch box today!

On Thursday 1st

March at 10 am our

school (P-6) will be joining hundreds of

schools across NSW to break the record

for the most students crunching

vegetables simultaneously.

But we need your help to make it a success!

On Thursday 1st March, please pack your child a

container of vegetables (not fruit) for them to crunch on.

Click on the link to access The Vegie Crunch Song

and sing along when you hear the school bell!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12LSia0i8yI

THE SCHOOL CANTEEN WILL HAVE A VEGETABLE SPECIAL DURING WEEK 5.

Learn Arabic on Saturday from

9:00am -1:00pm.

This program is run by The Lebanese

Muslim Association on the grounds of

Punchbowl Public School.

Phone Mrs Hawat on

0401571382 for more

information.

Please be advised that there has been an increased number of

incidents of head lice reported at our school recently.