A lot can change in a week…We find ourselves walking into the unknown. With student learning, good teaching practice is to start with the known and then connect and build into the unknown. So as learners, we may all feel a little lost as the wave of Coronavirus impacts on us all in ways we would never have anticipated.I just wish to thank parents for your calm and measured support as we continue to follow guidelines provided by the NSW Department of Education and Department of Health.We are following the recom-mended procedures at school of rigorous and thorough hand-washing, turning away and coughing or sneezing into an elbow, trying to limit touching our faces and social distancing (a challenge!). Students have embraced these measures with an

Fairfax students are practising their teamwork

FAIRFAXPUBLIC SCHOOL NEWS

Term 1 | Week 8 | 20.03.2020

2227 Harparary Road|Maules Creek|NSW 2382|T 02 6794 4502|F 02 6794 4547|fairfax-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Greetings everyone,excellent attitude and should be commended on their efforts.We will just take each day by day and not get too far ahead of ourselves and continue to enjoy the wonderful learning environ-ment that is Fairfax Public School.Unfortunately, we are seeing the cancellation of many events both sporting and cultural. Fortunately, we had not put too much planning into our Sydney Excursion as it is now a dream for another year. Our local Narrabri Show has also been cancelled and right on our doorstep the Maules Creek Campdraft. Hopefully, the season will be good to us, crops will be planted, stock will continue to grow and regular rain will result in a good harvest.The opportunity for families to reconnect at home seems to be positive for the near future.

Parents and staff are meeting throughout this term to create our Window of Certainty. This involves creating a vision state- ment, identifying the beliefs and values that drive our school culture and the out- comes we expect to achieve. Representatives from all our families met to create our vision which encompassed a deep connection and value for Fairfax PS as a centrepiece of the community and student learning. Thank you to parents for your contribution reflecting a deep understanding of our unique context.

Vision Statement

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Congratulations to our recent award winners:Blake Nobilo Efficiency converting between units of measurementHezzy De BuschMaking a great start to learning at Fairfax PSElijah De Busch Making a great start to learning at Fairfax PSMolly Murphy Articulating her learning confidently and thoughtfullyChelsea Nobilo Sustaining her focus on learning and improvement

Weekly Awards

Last Friday we welcomed Mr Jorge Morago and Mr Andrew Garratt from Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Mine. It was an excellent opportunity to welcome both gen-tlemen to the Maules Creek district as both are relatively new in their roles. Mr Garratt was treated to a light lunch created by Ms Smith

and students. Students thoroughly enjoyed Mr Garratt’s company and I am sure the same could be said of Mr Garratt! Mr Morago was able to join parents and staff later in the afternoon. Staff and P&C enjoyed showing off our little school. We appreciated the visit from our neighbours nearby.

Visit from Whitehaven Representatives

Glad to provide some hospitality to Mr Pat Murphy, Mr Steve Bradshaw and Mr Brian Dampney who were finally able to dispose of the considerable fire risks

Burning Offaround our school. Thank you very much gentlemen for this service. Fairfax students were eager to lend a hand!

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MaxFMUnfortunately, our students did not hit the airwaves yesterday morning. We’re not quite sure what happened but let’s blame a technical glitch! Therefore, as students were unable to share their news, their articles have been published in this newsletter. Thank you to Blake, Chelsea, Eileen and Molly with a little assistance from Ms Smith. I am impressed with the improvement in the students’ ability to create a text for the MaxFM audience. Well done Primary!

Namoi Principals’ Network meeting This week COVID–19 resulted in attending our Principal Network Meeting by Skype. It is a practice to be perfected but provided an insight into forming our goals in meeting the new Department school targets focused on reading, numeracy, wellbeing and attendance. Student wellbeing and attendance at Fairfax PS are pretty impressive so our two areas of focus will be numeracy and reading. Achievement of our school targets will be evident in 2022 NAPLAN. Therefore, we will be working to establish sustainable practices from now until then.

Mathematics This fortnight students are learning about Multiplication and Division and Data. Please reflect on daily learning with your children. Homework for the older students is focusing on times tables. So Mum and Dad, why don’t you impress your children with your ability to recite your tables? Who can say their 2x and 4x the fastest?

English“A Waltz for Matilda” continues to engage primary students. What a talented author Jackie French is. Please read Eileen’s reflection on Matilda.

CricketStudents have made considerable improvement in their catching and throwing skills due to our continued practise in PE. Bowling has been our focus this week with the game on Friday for Sport as a highlight.

ScriptureWe finally welcomed Mrs Whan back to Fairfax to deliver our Scripture program on Tuesday. Monthly, on Tuesdays, Mrs Whan will conduct Scripture lessons between 2-3pm. However, we will be having our next lesson on the 7th April – just in time for Easter.

Parent SurveyParents recently received a survey to reflect and provide feedback on 2019. This feedback helps assist with evaluation of progress of the School Plan and the School Self-Assessment Framework. Ms Smith and Mrs Burtenshaw recently attended PL in Narrabri to assist in this self-reflection process. Students will be completing their own surveys next week.

Growing Great Leaders Professional LearningMrs Burtenshaw travelled to Sydney a fortnight ago to participate in one of the conferences rolled out by the Department in the Extended Principal Induction Program. I feel very privileged to receive this excellent profes- sional learning which has focused deeply on developing my capacity as a leader in my context of a Teaching Principal in a small school. Small but Smoking!

Welcome back…Fairfax says welcome back Mrs Joan Bradshaw to Maules Creek. Good to see you up and around.

Our diary has become qui-eter and quieter over the last week. We will have another attempt at MaxFM on Thursday 2/4/20 Week 10

We are supposed to be having NAPLAN practises throughout Week 9 and 10 but will update parents when this is confirmed.

Week 11 Tuesday 7 April Scripture

Thursday 9 April Last Day

Unfortunately, the emails sig-nalling cancellation of events have been rolling in. The following have been officially cancelled: Narrabri Show, Narrabri Eisteddfod, Narrabri Science and Engineering Challenge and Boggabri Arts and Craft Exhibition. Commemoration services for ANZAC Day have also been cancelled but Fairfax PS will definitely hold our own school event.

We will continue to advise as notifications are forthcoming. The positive is lots of learning at Fairfax!

Quote„Teachers who love

teaching, teach chil-dren to love learning.“ -Robert John Meehan

(Definitely the case at Fairfax!)

Dates for the Diary

Term One 2020

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COVID-19 The Fairfax community was so excit-ed about an excursion organised for Week 9. We were going to go to Sydney for a week. We would have had to catch the train there. Whilst in Sydney, we were going to the Royal Easter Show and looking at other things in Sydney connected to this term‘s learning. Enter COVID-19 and sadly but understandably, our excursion was cancelled. COVID-19 has also affected the Fairfax community because it has caused the postponement of the Maules Creek Campdraft. Again, this is very dis-appointing but understandable. We really hope the campdraft can go ahead later in the year. Like all schools, Fairfax has been implementing procedures to in-crease our hygiene in response to COVID-19. We have been washing our hands with soap for 20 seconds frequently throughout the day and using hand sanitiser. We have also been coughing into our elbows, trying not to touch our face and giving each other more space. Blake

Whitehaven comes to Fairfax Last Friday, Fairfax Public school students had two special visitors from Whitehaven Coal. General Manager, Mr Morago and General

Manager Community Engagement Mr Garratt accepted our invitation to come and visit our school. We invited them to build a friend-ship with Fairfax. Two of our dads work at the Maules Creek mine so it plays an important part in our school community. Before our guests arrived, the Fairfax students began preparing a light lunch for them. We split into three groups to get lunch pre-pared. Elijah and Blake made pizza bread with olive oil and oregano from the kitchen garden. Molly, Jackson and myself made sweet zucchini muffins. Eileen, Grace, Hezzy and Ms. Smith prepared guacamole and a salsa. Elijah, Blake and Mrs Nobilo also did the very important job of washing up. The students and Mr Garratt ate lunch together. Mr Garratt an-swered questions prepared by the students. We learnt a lot about each other. Everyone enjoyed their lunch, especially the zucchini muffins! Chelsea

A Waltz for Matilda This term, Fairfax primary students have been reading‚ A Waltz for Matilda‘ by Jackie French. Blake, Chelsea, Molly and I are really enjoying this novel. The main character Matilda is a young girl

who is 12 years old. The book is set in 1894 in Gibbers Creek. It documents the struggles Matilda faces as she loses all the people she cares for. Spoiler Alert! The whole class was devastated when we read that her father, who she was just reunited with, died. Gibbers Creek is in drought and has experienced bushfires. It sounds just like Maules Creek. This helps me connect to the story. We all can‘t wait to see what hap-pens next. Even some parents are reading the novel! Eileen

Scripture resumes at Fairfax On Tuesday the 17th of March, Fairfax students had their first scrip- ture lesson for 2020. The lovely Mrs Whan returned to our school to share her Christian knowledge and values with us. Our first lesson was about Abraham. We learnt how Abraham and his family ended up in Egypt, not the land they were promised by Jesus. We also played‚ get to know you games‘. They helped us get to know each other even better. All students are looking forward to the next lesson with Mrs Whan. We all wish we had more scripture lessons. Molly

MaxFM Reports

Good for Kids

HNELHD-GoodForKids@health.nsw.gov.au http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/

Good for Kids

HNELHD-GoodForKids@health.nsw.gov.au http://www.goodforkids.nsw.gov.au/