News

Coronavirus - Department of Education statement

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 18:55:38 AEDT

The department is working with the Ministry of Health to monitor and respond to the unfolding international novel coronavirus situation.

Get up-to-date information about the department's response to novel coronavirus.

#Ready2020 – a great year starts here

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 13:06:50 AEDT

Starting school is a big moment in a child’s life. Here’s how to make the most of it.

We can’t wait for you to join us for a great year – the first step towards a lifelong love of learning.

Visit the department’s primary school resources for hints, tips and checklists to make a great start to the new school year, whether your child is starting Kindergarten or Year 6.

You’ll find:

Getting ready for primary school booklet – everything you need to be #Ready2020
Daisy’s First Day – the story of Daisy the koala’s first adventure at Kindergarten
advice from teachers – they’ve been through this before.

Video – #Ready2020: First day of Kindy

Duration – 1:00

Staying healthy into the new school year

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 16:21:05 AEDT

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way to protect your family from harmful diseases this holiday season and into 2020. Visit your doctor for general health and vaccination advice.

Immunisation not only protects you and your family but also others in your community, by reducing the spread of preventable diseases.

Children starting school in 2020 must have up-to-date immunisations to enrol.

These vaccinations help protect children from highly infectious and severe diseases including whooping cough and measles.

Travel health

If you’re travelling overseas during the school holidays, you may need vaccinations or medication – both for general health protection and for region-specific diseases.

If you’re travelling to the Northern Hemisphere, you may even need a flu shot.

Find out more about staying healthy while travelling.

It's a Wrap!

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 20:26:13 AEDT

Thank You and Happy Holidays!

Our school year comes to an end this Wednesday. It has been an amazing year of learning with some real positive points of growth in the school. Our teachers and administrative staff have all worked hard to provide our students (your children) with great learning opportunities across the curriculum and even beyond and between it. Next year will continue this trend with lots of new and exciting projects already in the pipeline. We will see the development and probable completion of the oval playground project and finally the completion of stage 2 of the WestConnex project, hopefully reducing the impacts of this project on the school. Ms Salter will take over as Acting Teaching Principal for at least Term 1 next year and there will be process for the appointment of a new Teaching Principal put in place by the Director, Educational Leadership for Marrickville - Virginia Pacey.

For most of the past four years I have spent Sunday evenings writing these newsletters to provide timely news affecting the week ahead. You may notice I always write from the school’s perspective which is deliberate. It is not about me, it is about the school. This is the last newsletter for this year and last one that I will write. Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunity to be Teaching Principal of this wonderful school. The past five years has flown by, yet in some ways seems like a very long time. I have learnt so much and have tried my hardest to meet the needs of this community. Through trying times of WestConnex and the almost endless changes in road access conditions. Irrespective, the school has flourished and grown. As it should be, the focus has been on the students, your children. It’s why I love doing what I do! Thanks and I hope to visit in the not too distant future to see how you are getting on!

Botany Bites- School Canteen

Just remember that there will be no Botany Bites school canteen this Tuesday so a packed lunch will be required. With Botany Bites serving the school on Thursday’s as well as Tuesday, the first day of Botany Bites in 2020 will be Thursday 30 January and orders will be made available through the usual Flexischools app.

Last Reminder Presentation Day

A FINAL reminder that our annual Presentation Day will be on Tuesday 17 December. This is a big celebration for the school year and involves all students at the school. We would love to see you there as it is our chance to say thank you for your support in 2019. We will start at 9:20am sharp to ensure that we get through all of our presentations. See you there.

Art Show Wrap up

Thank you to everyone who came to Art Show on Thursday night. A wonderful time was had by all. The event has raised a great amount of money for the school; the total will be announced at the whole school morning meeting on Tuesday. A special mention to Kate Hafey, Belinda Doley, Belinda Rickerby and the SPPS staff for their phenomenal support.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions you would like to share with the Art Show team please fill in an anonymous survey:

https://forms.gle/CcQR1s758VHiFD5r9

Counting Out...

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 19:53:16 AEDT

Bushfire Appeal

On Friday the 22nd of November, St Peters had a Mufti Day to raise money for The Salvation Army, a charity that is helping those affected by the bush fires. The SRC are very proud to announce that we have raised a total of $345.00 in donations! We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported this very important cause and donated. We would also like to say a special thanks to the SRC for their awesome efforts in organising this fundraiser. Well done, St Peters!

Art Show

Our school led Art Show fundraiser is fast approaching this Thursday and a note went home on Friday to let you know all about what is available. This is a school initiative to raise enough money for an interactive board in our school library. It will be a fun evening. Please pop in and spend as much money as possible having fun, buying artworks and bidding in our silent auction knowing that you’ll be helping to help us improve you child(ren)’s school. All gates and the car park will be open.

Botany Bites- School Canteen

We’re excited to announce that following a successful year of Tuesday Canteen as supplied by Botany Bites, the P&C have struck an agreement for an additional day - Thursday’s. This additional day will run as a trial in 2020 and will continue provided that it is utilised and does not massively affect the demand on the established Tuesday. It is thus up to us all to utilise it on both days. The staff are excited and we know the kids will be happy to receive high quality food from a provider on an additional day.

The first day of Botany Bites in 2020 will be Thursday 31 January and orders will be made available through the usual Flexischools app. With Presentation Day happening on Tuesday 17 December, there will be no Botany Bites Canteen on this day. This week is thus the last week for school canteen in 2019.

Presentation Day

A reminder that our annual Presentation Day will be on Tuesday 17 December. This is a big celebration for the school year and involves all students at the school. We would love to see you there as it is our chance to say thank you for your support in 2019. We will start at 9:20am sharp to ensure that we get through all of our presentations. See you there.

School Reports

School Reports will bes sent home with your child on Friday afternoon in a sealed envelope and emailed to you. These reports provide a summary of learning in Semester 2 of the 2019 school year commensurate for the year of learning of your child. The reports attempt to provide you across all Key Learning Areas: a summary of the learning that has been taught; areas of learning strength; areas for learning development; and some ideas for how you could support this development at home. It is a continuation of the parent teacher interview conducted at the end of Term 3 and the Semester 1 school report. We do not hold parent teacher interviews at the end of the year but should you have any further questions about it, please email the school email to contact your child’s teacher.

Staff changes for 2020

At the P&C meeting, Mr Lavitt and Ms McIntosh announced that there would be few staff changes in 2020. Sadly Mrs Iriarte will be moving on. She is seeking some different challenges and will be next year teaching at Punchbowl Public School. Mrs Iriarte has been a much respected teacher of St Peters in 2016 and 2019, and a relieving Assistant Principal in 2018. We wish her all the very best next year. Ms Cusack, Dr Cooper, Ms Davies and Ms deGraft-Johnson will all be continuing on at the school and Ms Yoo will be joining us 5 days a week for 2020. The staff have already been planning for 2020 and are greatly looking forward to another fantastic year.

Fun Day and Darling Harbour Notes

Please ensure that you bring all of the payment and permission notes for the Fun Day we are holding this week as well as for the Darling Harbour excursion. These should be paid to ensure participation in the bouncy castle at the Fun Day and the Darling Harbour excursion.

School Office Holiday Shut down

Please be advised that the school office will not be available after Thursday 19 December. This will be the last chance to purchase uniforms before Tuesday January 29.

Week Ahead in Learning

This week will be the last week of the Week Ahead in Learning. This reflects the much shorter week in week 10.

Week 8 News

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 17:05:41 AEDT

Shade Structure

The poles are in place for the shade structure and the canopy will be fitted on Monday. In anticipation that this won’t be finished before assembly time. Please enter the hall through the St Peters Street entrance if you plan on attending the Echidnas assembly on Monday.

Art Show Fundraiser 12 Dec - Please be there!

The Art Show is fast approaching and there have been many questions about what to expect on the night. The goal of the Show is to raise funds for a new interactive whiteboard in the school library, so please make sure you come along and show your support through spending as much as you can!

Kids and adults alike will have a heap of fun on the night. Kids can expect face painting, jumping castle and craft making. Adults can look forward to seeing art making from parents and grandparents from the St Peters PS community and finding out more about how these extremely talented individuals create their wares.

Each class has been creating art to be displayed. Every student has an individual artwork that will be available to purchase on the night, but if you can’t make it to the Art Show a note will go home as a chance to buy any leftover artwork. The classes have also created larger, collaborative artworks that will be sold via silent auction. The auction will include other art that has been generously donated by the St Peters community. If you have anything you’d like to donate to the silent auction please let Miss Davies know via this link:

I want to Donate Something for the Silent Auction

Perhaps it might be an unwanted gift, something you have made that is special or you just want to donate or it could be a service a business you own or work for is willing to offer.

There will be lots food and drinks for kids and adults, so please bring a hungry tummy! A BBQ is being held in the courtyard serving a sausage sizzle and chicken skewers and there will be popcorn, cold chips, lollies, ice-blocks, water and juice (and cans of drink for the grownups). Wine and cheese will be available for adults to purchase and consume only in the School Hall as you peruse the local artmaking.

The Art Show Committee is looking forward to seeing you there!

Executive Directors Unit

Last Friday the Executive Directors unit led by Dr Sylvia Corish left the St Peters Public School site. Dr Corish is responsible for over 300 schools in the Metropolitan South area of Sydney. Her office has been here since term 3 2017 and has greatly added to our wonderful site. Indeed, Dr Corish is responsible for the wonderful refresh of the Aora Meeting room which was in very poor shape at the end of 2017. This revamp has turned this room into a wonderful asset for the school. Dr Corish is also responsible for the electronic gate which has significantly enhanced the safety of our car park and security at the site. They leave for the Sydney School of Languages in Petersham and their permanent office. The school deeply thanks her for her support of our school and wish her unit well at their new location.

Well Done Ms Caponas!

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 18:53:45 AEDT

Well Done Ms Caponas

We wish to express our extreme admiration for our great music teacher Ms Stacey Caponas for receiving a Classroom Teacher Award at the 2019 Combined Marrickville, Kogarah, Canterbury and Georges River Principal Networks Awards on Thursday 22 November at Ashfield Boys High School. She was nominated by Mr Lavitt and the Principal of Marrickville West Public School Ms Ruth Bradfield Ling where Stacey also works. Ms Caponas has made a massive difference to our music programs at St Peters evidenced by the enthusiasm and quality of performance of the children at assemblies and out of the school. Well done Ms Caponas.

Shade Structure

The shade structure promised for the courtyard area is finally coming in week 7. It will take a week to be fitted with the posts being erected on Tuesday 26 November and the canopy on Friday 29 November.

On these two days, the courtyard will be closed and families will have to enter and leave the school via the main gate in the school office.

School Reports - Semester 2

Your child(ren)’s teachers are currently preparing their school report. These reports are based on work that has been completed and assessed in the past two term (Semester 2). These report are a continuation of the learning journey that your children are making and should be used in conjunction with your face to face meetings with teachers that happened at the end of term 3. The reports will be handed to all students at the end of week 9 and emailed and made available via the Parent Portal.

Art Show

Our Art Show which will take place in the late afternoon/evening of 12 December is taking shape. We are still looking for local artists (sculptors, jewellers, craft makers, photographers) to showcase their work. If you are or know an artist who would like to display, demonstrate and talk about your art at the Art Show please contact Miss Davies directly or fill in this Google Form:
Art Show Expression of Interest to Present or just call the school office on 9519 6307

Movie Night

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 08:40:22 AEDT

School Movie Night

Today, the school’s P&C will be hosting Movie Night. The P&C run movie night every two years and proceedings start at 4pm. There are lots of fun activities for the kids to join in with and food and non alcoholic beverages will be available. Entry is free but entry to the Kids Fun Zone is $15 per child. The movie will start at 7:40pm as the Sun sets. Looking at the weather forecast it looks great for the event with a chance of some showers later. Fingers crossed. The school would like to thank the P&C and all of the volunteers who are giving up their time to make this event work. A poster and order form for kid zone bands is attached later in this newsletter.

Shade Structure

The shade structure promised for the courtyard area is finally coming in week 7. It will take a week to be fitted with the posts being erected on Monday 25 November and the canopy on Friday 29 November. The shade structure will transform our morning and merit assemblies with the space finally to have all of our children under the shade again. We used to manage it many years ago in the main playground but this structure will also allow us shade finally in the play area.

End of Year Activities

As the end of the year approaches, your child(ren)’s teacher(s) are busy writing reports. However, they are also busy preparing for end of year activities with the Art Show on Thursday 12 December, the Fun Day and year 6 excursion to Darling Harbour as well as a possible school disco assuming the PB for L goal is achieved. Then there is Presentation Day where we celebrate the end of the year with some great performances and celebrations of learning as well as farewelling year 6. Watch out for notes next week.

Assembly Traded Awards

Bronze: Aaliyah, Adam, April, Ashimar, Charlie, Charlotte, Diane, Elif, Evie, Frankie O’D, Jasmine, Kara, Lara, Mylla, Oscar, Paulo, Rada, Ren, Rienn, Smriti and Sofia. Silver: Aaliyah, Aitor, Lara, Smriti, Sofia, Tilly, Toby B, Toby McL Gold: Lola

Home Reading Awards

At the assembly on Monday these students will be receiving their reading awards

Bilbies: James H and Ariana

Echidnas: Jae

NSW schools respond to bushfires

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:48:10 AEDT

Many schools are responding to the catastrophic fire rating that is affecting communities across the state this week.

We are continuously updating the School safety page with a list of government and non-government schools, as well as TAFE NSW campuses that are currently non-operational.

While some schools are temporarily non-operational due to localised fires, many others in high-risk areas are non-operational as a precautionary measure.

Schools in some areas are being used as emergency evacuation centres at the direction of the Rural Fire Service.

For schools that are currently operational, school pickups and dropoffs will continue as usual. If your school is currently non-operational, it will likely remain so tomorrow.

Large scale distressing events affect our school communities in many ways. Headspace’s mental health support resource (PDF 100.52KB) is available to help students, teachers and school staff respond to the bushfires.

Visit the School safety page for updates. The department’s Facebook and Twitter accounts will also provide updates during this period.

A Week of Big Events

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 19:41:54 AEDT

Public Speaking Grand Final

This Wednesday, St Peters Public School will once again be hosting the grand final of the Metropolitan South Operational Directorate Primary Schools Public Speaking Competition. This competition involves over 190 schools across the southern part of our metropolitan area divided into 15 network competitions. There will be 60 candidates across 4 divisions (Kindergarten, Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3) representing their school and network in a bid to become the Grand Final winner. Mr Lavitt is the Chair of the competition and has coordinated a group of educators to bring this group of talented speaker together through school and network competitions. Our Stage 3 students will be helping out on the day by compèring, time keeping, greeting guests and other actions. While the competition is running, the rest of school activities will continue with the exception of Chess which will be held in the Echidnas and Koalas classrooms and recess and lunch which will be in the main playground. The competition rooms are the School Hall and the Aora Conference Room. On this day only, our school oval will be opened for parking to allow the higher than expected volume of parking than is normally expected. We request that for this day only you consider dropping your children via the Church Street entrance. If you do use the car park, please understand that there may be more vehicles than usual. Also due to the higher expected volume of traffic, please be careful with your children’s safety in the area of the car park.

School Movie Night

This Saturday, the school’s P&C will be hosting Movie Night. The P&C run movie night every two years and proceedings start at 4pm. There are lots of fun activities for the kids to join in with and food and non alcoholic beverages will be available. Entry is free but entry to the Kids Fun Zone is $15 per child with reduced costs for Early Bird and multiple kids. The movie will start at 7:40pm as the Sun sets. Looking at the weather forecast it looks great with highs of 25 and lows of 16 Celsius. The school would like to thank the P&C and all of the volunteers who are giving up there time to make this event work. A poster and order form for kid zone bands is attached later in this newsletter.

Shade delay!

Sun, 03 Nov 2019 15:32:32 AEDT

Courtyard Shade Update

We had hoped this week to have our new shade structure fitted. The poles were to go in on Monday and the canopy on the Friday. Unfortunately, the cloth material that we have been waiting for is still not in the country. Although we could have elected to use another material, we have decided to wait. Consequently the shade structure will not be installed until the week beginning 2 December. We’ll keep you posted.

Leaving the School?

In order to finalise our numbers and correctly resource the school for 2020, could you please advise the school if you will not be coming back in 2020 - year 6 excepted. Some already have and thank you for that, but it helps if you formally let us know by emailing the main school email address at:
stpeters-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au . Thank you so much!

St Peters After-School Tech Club

We will be commencing our years 3 to 6 after-school Tech Club on Tuesday this week. If you returned a tech club note for your child last week, you will receive a final confirmation note on Monday 4 November. We are looking forward to learning and having fun with technology.

Uniform Proposal Update

We’re still looking for responses to our uniform proposal. At this point we have 44 responses with 2/3rd saying yes to the proposal and 1/3rd no. If you haven’t responded you can do so at: We would like you feedback: https://forms.gle/u2PyFAYeNYoEWcpw9 so we can get a more authentic response. Our next step assuming we improve the yes vote would be to have a public viewing of the new uniform items and finally there we will ask the P&C to organise a subcommittee to take the proposal forward. At this stage the current uniform is in place and you needn’t wait to purchase. No changes in the near future!

Assembly Traded Awards

Bronze: Augie, Benjamin, Billie, Cameron, Eli, Felix, George, Marlow, Michelangelo, Olivia D, Reece, Toby M, Violet. Silver: Lilly A, Lillian U, Marlow, Tully. Gold: Billie

Home Reading Awards

When they have read 100 times at home they receive a special reading certificate. This certificate is equivalent to a bronze award.

Wombats: Aasha Bilbies: Olive and Augie Echidnas: Danielle and Mitchell

Uniform Progress...

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 21:39:57 AEDT

Uniform Proposal Update

Thank you to all who responded to the proposal. From the 34 responses that we received, just over half of you liked the idea and the other almost 46% did not. Some of the comments that argued against the suggestion were that three shirt colours would be too much; that all navy would not look good and they would fade; also that the white shirts were smart. Those for the proposal were mostly relieved at not having to fight white shirt stains and some suggested bleaching was not good for the environment. Based on this response this proposal will not be taken further.

However, we do have a second proposal. This proposal considers some of the concerns about too many different shirts as well as the concerns about all blue. The proposal and the call for comments is detailed on the next page but the school wishes to make it clear that were this proposal to be developed and instigated, a plan of phasing in the changes would take place. The school currently has over $5,000 of existing stock. In the call for comments survey we would welcome your ideas as to how to phase this in. See newsletter for information.

Save the Date - Presentation Day

Our Presentation Day assembly is held at the end of the year on Tuesday 17 December - in week 10. This is a special day for the school where we get to put all the students on the stage to celebrate their successes through the year. You are all invited of course and our assembly starts at 9:15am and finishes around 11:10am. We look forward to seeing you all there.

What's Your Opinion?

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 15:01:17 AEDT

We Need Your Opinions - Tell Them from Me

So we can make our school a better place, we need your help in providing us some feedback on your views as a parent at St Peters. This survey called Tell Them From Me is also used by the Department of Education to understand how its community feels about its schools. This years survey is now active and can be answered at the link: 2019 Parent Partners in Learning Survey Or you can type in your browser: http://bit.ly/2MeCBdH The survey closes on Friday!

Come and See the Draft Oval Playground Design

This Wednesday evening Urban Landscape Projects will be coming to the P&C meeting to show the first draft of the design for work on the oval. We have already had a preview and it is amazing. For those who attended the focus group session it includes aspects of this as well as the feedback from the students late last year. The meeting is at 7pm in the school library. The Silver Street gate will be open as will parking at the Church Street side of the school.

Proposed Changes to the School Uniform

Following a discussion with several parents an opportunity has now arisen for some simple changes to the school uniform that will provide families with what could be a better solution for them going forward. As you know, our white shirts are lovely but are very prone to becoming dirty and showing that dirt very quickly as well as being difficult to clean. Henceforth, we propose the following changes:

1) The main shirt colour of the school will become the same navy blue colour as the current Loyalty shirts.

2) The house Loyalty shirt colour will change to green. Their existing blue shirts will be usable as normal shirts.

3) The white shirt will be retained for special occasions including school photographs, out of school activities as well as days such as ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day, Open Day and Presentation Day.

4) A new year 6 shirt design will be created that is the navy blue with additional white details.

If it happens, the change would happen from the beginning of the 2020 school year. Any new parents for next year that have bought excessive numbers of white shirts would be able to swap them for blue shirts of the same size.

We are keen to see what you think of these proposals at the following link: Proposed Changes to the School Uniform.

The survey will close this Thursday!

Save the Date - Presentation Day

Inspire Art Merchandise

Class artwork merchandise that was completed to support The Sydney Children’s Hospital last term is on sale on REDBUBBLE!

Parents, carers and friends may purchase student work on a wide variety of items including t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and even clocks and shower curtains!

A portion of the price (20%) goes straight to The Sydney Children’s Hospital, with REDBUBBLE keeping the remainder for their service.

Click the following link to be taken to the site where you can order and buy.

This Weeks Traded Certificates

Bronze: Aitor, Alex, Danielle, Dylan, Evie, Frankie O’D, Inara, Jae, Kiki, Leon, Lola, Mitchell H, Owen, Phong, Rada, Ren, Sean, Sebastien G, Thidarat, Tully.

Silver: Billie, Danielle G, Max.

Gold: Grace, Danielle, Frankie O’D.

Grab a ticket to Schools Spectacular 2019

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 14:15:50 AEDT

Will you be joining us at Schools Spectacular 2019? Tickets are on sale now. Experience our live show featuring a cast of thousands of public school students from across metropolitan, rural and remote regions of NSW.

Students from different ages, cultures and backgrounds will share the spotlight as they dance, play and sing for you. Choose from one of our four massive performances at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday 22 November and Saturday 23 November.

This year's events will feature:

more than 380 schools
5,500 performers
a 3000-strong choir
2,300 dancers
an 80-piece symphony orchestra
a world-class stage band.

Group bookings

Need to make a group booking for over 10 people? Complete the Schools Preview Order Form 2019 (PDF 110KB) to attend the discounted 11am Friday matinee. The Friday matinee is discounted for school students and accompanying teachers.

If you’d like to grab a spot at one of the other three remaining shows complete the Group Booking Form 2019 (PDF 110KB).

Tickets for you and your family and friends

Save you and your family a spot online or by phone on 132 849.

Video – Schools Spectacular 2019

Duration: 0:26

Final Quarter

Sun, 13 Oct 2019 20:15:44 AEDT

Welcome Back

It only seems like yesterday that we were all saying goodbye for the holidays. We do hope that you managed to get some family time with the children and were able to relax and perhaps enjoy some of your interests or perhaps a holiday. Even though we seemed to lose an hour by putting the clock forward, it is now nice that we are getting the extra light in the evenings. We have another action packed term of events... the last one of 2019. For at least the first half of the term there will be a big focus on classroom learning with fewer extracurricular events happening. We will be keeping you informed of all events as they come up and please be assured that if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer.

Chess - Term 4

Chess continues in Term 4 and all families doing chess are required to re-enrol for Term 4. An enrolment form is attached to this newsletter. This will be a 9 week chess term with Chess continuing to the December 11. All students even new students are welcome to join.

We Need Your Opinions - Tell Them from Me

So we can make our school a better place, we need your help in providing us some feedback on your views as a parent at St Peters. This survey called Teel Them From Me is also used by the Department of Education to understand how its community feels about its schools. This years survey is now active and can be answered at the link: 2019 Parent Partners in Learning Survey

Or you can type in your browser: http://bit.ly/2MeCBdH

Assemblies

Assemblies for Term 4 start next week and will be held in week’s 2, 4, 6 and 8. There will be no week 10 assembly due to Presentation Day. As usual, awards that are traded will be presented at this assembly.

However, for a certificate to be included, it will be necessary for it to be placed in the box in the office by the latest Friday lunch time. Any certificates placed after this time will be included in following assembly. Please do not ask Mrs Ross to sneak your certificates in on the Monday. She is too polite to refuse but this does cause disruption to her busy work schedule.

Spring Back...

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 20:08:03 AEST

Enjoy the Spring Holidays

Yet another 9 weeks has passed which means that this week is the last week of term 3. It has been yet another successful term with so many highlights and events. It has also been an amazing term of learning. The spring holiday is traditionally one with good weather and also one with a long weekend, grand finals and of course not to forget the clocks going back allowing an extra hour of sleep.

Importantly, please remember that we all start on the Monday 14 October. There is no School Development Day as there is in Term 1 to 3. We all hope you have a chance to spend some time with your children, perhaps through a holiday and we hope to see you again refreshed for the final term of 2019.

No Lunch Orders this Tuesday

There are no lunch orders this Tuesday as Botany Bites take a well earned rest. They will be taking orders again for Tuesday 15 October. Please ensure that your child has a lunch with them. There will be the healthy food peer support party on Tuesday as well.

K-2 Excursion - Botanical Gardens

This Friday K-2 will all be celebrating the end of the term with an excursion to the Botanical Gardens. If you have not already paid to provide permission to attend and your child is in K-2, please ensure that you pay online or by cash straight away.

Merit Certificates and Arch - Thursday

As this Friday will be an excursion day for K-2, we will be holding our merit certificate assembly for week 10 on Thursday. Sadly we will also be saying a big goodbye to Isaiah from the Bilbies in our time honoured fashion of a leavers arch.

St Peters Street Car Park Gate

The gate will finally be commissioned on Monday. It will be open as indicated last week and there is a loop that will automatically open the gate if closed as you leave. Please be patient.

Home Reading Awards

Home Reading is one of the most important homework activities. Research shows that regular home reading with your child will help in all learning areas of school, such as comprehension, vocabulary development, spelling and writing. To encourage home reading with K-2 students they have been keeping a reading log and receiving stickers at different milestones. When they have read 100 times at home they receive a special reading certificate. This certificate is equivalent to a bronze award. We are beginning to have some students reach this great accomplishment. At the assembly on Monday led by the Koalas these students will be receiving their reading awards:

Wombats: Felix

Bilbies: Max and Isaiah

Echidnas: Danielle, Tilly, Charlie H, Evie, Ren, Inara, Mitchell, Charlie J and Nina

Koalas: Violet, Brandon and Toby

Inspiring Week!

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:04:19 AEST

Inspiring Week!

After many weeks of creating artworks and planning for the opening, the St Peters Public School Biomimicry project is having its opening night this Thursday. As part of the preparations for the project three of our SRC students were invited to check out the Children’s Hospital and to meet some of the patients as well as so a workshop with them. Paulo, Lilly and Mathieu went last week and reported.

“On 10 September we visited The Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick. There was an important reason for our visit: it was part of our collaboration with the Hospital for the Inspire Art Exhibition that starts next week.

We left school at 12:45pm and joined in a weekly art workshop with patients at the Hospital and a visiting artist, who specialised in cartoon drawing. We made our own mini books and comic strips. We also looked at some other artworks by different artists on display around the Hospital. It was great to visit and see what happens at the Hospital and meet some of the patients.”

This Thursday is the opening and all parents and their families are welcome to attend and perhaps even vuy some of the artworks. In addition, our year 5 and 6 will be performing, as will the Band Ensemble. They will be mostly travelling by bus. It has been a great privilege to work with our community and the Children’s Hospital at Royal Randwick to help raise money for this great cause.

St Peters Public School - Tech Club - EOI

Our school is excitedly investigating the possibility of an after-school tech club to engage students in years 3-6 of St Peters in technology initiatives and provides opportunities for technology learning beyond the classroom. The aim is for students to learn about various technology tools, and to practise and enhance their knowledge and skills, whilst increasing awareness of the relevance of technology to our everyday lives. The club would more than likely be held from 3:15 - 4:15 after school on Thursdays with a 4 - 5 week focus on fun, hands-on learning activities in technology such as coding with Lego (WeDo 2 and EV3), online coding, digital video production and Minecraft in Education. There may be a small charge for the sessions to cover the cost of equipment and resources. Additionally, to join, it will be necessary to be an enrolled member of Helping Hands which children will be taken to if they are not picked up on time.

Please complete this short survey to express interest in your child being involved in the STEM club.

St Peters Public School - Tech Club Expression of Interest

Thank you to the Federal Government

Students from our school in week 7 undertook an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To reduce the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government contributed funding of $20 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate (PACER) program towards those costs. The rebate will paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion. St Peters Public School would like to thank the Australian Government for its ongoing efforts to help subsidise the cost of this important program.

NAPLAN Online Readiness

This week our year 3 and 5 students will be involved in NAPLAN online readiness testing. Designed to provide the school with an opportunity to do a test run of how NAPLAN will look next year when we do the tests online. Year 3 and 5 will be doing a mixed, reading, numeracy and conventions of language test while the year 5’s will be doing an types writing test.

Science Afternoon

Our Positive Behaviour for Learning science afternoon which the children have been working towards as a PB for L goal will be held on Friday this week. Teachers will be picking 2 activities which will be completed in two sets of three teachers classrooms. Students will do their activities in their peer support groups with two groups in each room. They will swap over after recess so all students will get to do both activities.

REMINDER - Parent Teacher Interviews

Our parent teacher interviews will be held next Tuesday. If you still haven’t booked, it isn’t too late to use the Parent Portal to book your interview. This can be done at: http://bit.ly/34Nbq0M

Remember that this is an opportunity to find out how your child is progressing this semester and it effectively acts as a mid point to the progress in the second half of the year. Our teachers are eager to see you and talk to you about your child’s learning.

St Peters Street Car Park Gate

It is envisaged that this week the St Peters Street car park automatic gate will be commissioned. Once in operation, the gate will be open in the morning 8:25am to 9:15am and again at 2:40pm - 3:15pm. The gate has an egress loop that will open it on demand if leaving the car park and the gate is closed (it will automatically open when it senses your vehicle). If you come to the school outside those hours you will need to buzz the office to let you in. Access to the car park will cease once the work on Campbell Street is completed.

Botany Bites - Important - No Lunch 24 September

The school has been advised by Botany Bites that it is very happy with the response to the service that they provide to the school on Tuesday lunch times. As such they are happy to continue with the service into 2020 at the same time.

However, they have advised that they will not be able to provide a lunch order service in the last week of term - Tuesday 24 September. You will not be able to place an order for this date in Flexischools and thus you need to provide lunches on this day.

Have your say on before and after school care

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 13:34:29 AEST

We want to better understand your needs for before and after school care in NSW.

Have your say today on before and after school care.

Fill out the survey by Service NSW to share your specific care needs and to register interest to stay informed of new developments.

Your input will provide insights into where there are gaps in service availability and help us to deliver extra places where they are needed.

You can also contact the team responsible for rolling out the before and after school care commitment at BASCreform@det.nsw.edu.au.

Book yourself in for Reading Hour

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:21:15 AEST

This Australian Reading Hour, encourage your child to discover or rekindle their love of a good book. Take the time to learn, escape and relax on Thursday 19 September and read for one hour.

Get involved at home

Join in at home and read your child a bedtime story. Studies show that reading a bedtime story six days a week can give kids almost a year’s head start when they begin school. Reading has also been shown to develop empathy, promote critical thinking and help children find a sense of self.

Join in from the classroom

Bestselling children’s author and illustrator Matt Stanton will broadcast live to primary school children across the country from the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday 17 September. We invite schools to register for the livestream of this free event.

Stanton’s author talk is among more than 140 events happening across the country involving more than 50 authors.

Take the Book Swap Challenge

We all have favourite books that we come back to again and again.

To help celebrate Reading Hour take our Book Swap Challenge. We want students, teachers, staff and parents to try reading something new on the day. To get involved, simply pair up with someone and swap your favourite books.

Take a photo and tag it with #ReadingHour so we can see how you got involved.

Video – #ReadingHour authors talk about their favourite place to read

Duration: 0:38

Looking for a good spot to open a book? We asked authors Benjamin Law, Morris Gleitzman, Jacqueline Harvey and Mick Elliott about their favourite place to read.

What... A Racquet?

Sun, 08 Sep 2019 19:16:32 AEST

What... A Racquet?

Last Wednesday’s at school all students began a four-week badminton coaching program. The school acquired an annual grant from Sporting Schools to fund the coaching sessions, so the program is free to families. Each class will participate in 40-minute sessions for the remaining three Wednesdays this term. The sessions are led by a qualified badminton coach and included in the program is equipment for the school to allow us to continue playing badminton in the future. Badminton was chosen to allow students to participate in a racquet sport providing a great opportunity to improve their movement skills as well as their hand eye coordination. As a result of this, class sport will not take place for the rest of this term. Please have your child wear their House Shirt on Wednesday instead.

Home Reading Awards

Wombats: Billie, Jonah

Bilbies: Rienn, Daniel, Smriti, Aaliyah, George, Oscar, Olivia D, Michelangelo, Frankie O, Abbey W, Adam, Danielle, Lara

Echidnas: Olivia, Adam, Danielle G

Koalas: Thidarat, Benjamin, Oliver G, Ashima, Aaron, Toby, Frankie M, Reece, Evelyn

Well Done!

A really big congratulations to sisters Hannah and Mika from year 1 and 6 respectively for entering and winning awards in the Inner West Council Book Week drawing and writing competition. They will be receiving their awards in the amazing new Marrickville Library on Thursday this week. Once again, well done Mika and Hannah. You have to be in it to win it!

How to be smart and safe on social media

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:39:56 AEST

Use our new Digital Citizenship toolkit to empower your child to understand how their online behaviour affects themselves and others.

You and your child can find information on:

how to ‘be positive’ by understanding online behaviour and its effect
'be smart’ by thinking critically and being digitally aware
'be safe’ by protecting your security, privacy and wellbeing.

A toolkit to empower you and your child

You can find articles and videos to equip and empower your child to minimise the risks and maximise the opportunities in our digital future.

We’ve partnered with leading researchers to produce a curated toolkit – aligned to the curriculum – which teachers and you can share with the young people in your lives.

Guide your child through important concepts such as:

managing privacy settings in social media
collaborating online
avoiding scams and hoaxes
understanding the law when it comes to online speech
Internet banking, shopping online and much more.

Keep your child safe and happy online

Visit and bookmark the Digital Citizenship website. We’ll continue to add articles and resources to ensure the best possible tools are available to help you guide your child to be positive, smart and safe online.

Capital Visits

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 18:59:26 AEST

Canberra 2019

This Thursday and Friday Ms Cusack, Mr Lavitt and the Dingoes will be going on their annual overnight excursion, this year to Canberra. The overnight excursion provides students with an opportunity to reinforce the learning they are doing in History this semester on Federation and government. It will also allow some really good hands on Science learning as they visit Questacon and visit the CSIRO’s Black Mountain Discovery Centre. This on top of visits to the Australian Parliament House and the Australian Election Centre where they will have a chance to see for themselves where our Federal Government sits and where bills are made, discussed and passed. They will also visit the Australia War Memorial.

They will be leaving very early on Thursday morning so that they can get to Canberra early and maximise their time in the National Capital. They will return on Friday evening after staying overnight in a Canberra hotel. We would like to thank Ms Cusackj and Mr Lavitt for organising this and being teachers on duty all of the time.

Premiers Reading Challenge

The Premiers Reading Challenge finished last Friday and teachers are now in the process of uploading records for K-2 students and validating records for 3-6 students. The certificates from completing the challenge will be presented to students at the Presentation Day which will be held on Tuesday 17 December.

Art Show Meeting

Thank you to the parents who have responded to the survey sent out in Week 5. Miss Davies will be meeting with interested parents and community members on Wednesday and Friday afternoons this week. Please meet her in the Bilbies classroom at 3:15 to discuss and suggest plans for the Art Show.

If you are interested in helping but cannot come to either meeting please fill in the survey:
http://bit.ly/33FTwfQ

Tracky Dack Thank You!

This week the SRC held Tracky Dack Day and raised $187.15 to support TLC for Kids. Tracky Dack Day aims to get sick children in hospital out of their pj’s and into track suits to lift their mood. A big thank you to parents, carers and the school community for your support, financial and otherwise. Well done to the SRC for their hard work with making class activities for the day, decorating the playground and spreading the word about this worthy cause.

Get your Tracky Dacks on!

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 19:08:32 AEST

Tracky Dack Day is on this Wednesday!

Our SRC are holding a fundraiser for TLC for Kids this Wednesday 28 August. TLC for Kids is a children’s charity providing help in times of crisis for sick children and their families.

TLC for Kids support sick kids in hospital getting out of their PJ’s and into tracksuit pants, to transform their mood. At St Peters we are putting our own stamp on it by saying ‘Wear tracky dacks or casual trousers/pants’ on this day. For a gold coin donation on Tracky Dack Day students may wear track suit pants OR casual trousers if they prefer. The SRC are organising class activities to raise awareness and understanding of children and families dealing with illness

For more information please see:

https://www.tlcforkids.org.au/

INSPIRE Art! 2019

Earlier this year St Peters Public School made a successful submission to the Sydney Children’s Hospital to exhibit in the Hospital’s Spring Art Exhibition: INSPIRE! 2019. You will have seem the invitation in the previous few editions of the newsletter.

The Exhibition aims to support and inspire patients, students and staff at the hospital... an extremely good cause.

Students have been creating artworks for INSPIRE! Connected to the theme of ‘biomimicry’. They have also been learning about how their artwork can help to lift the spirits of patients and their families, who may be going through difficult times.

The INSPIRE! Exhibition opens on Thursday 19 September at the Hospital and all families will receive an invitation with details about the event this week. St Peters Public School students belonging to the ensemble and recorder group(s) as well as the choir, with parental permission, will be performing musical items on the evening: more details to follow soon.

There will also be the opportunity to purchase artworks with funds going to support the Hospital.

The opening event on 19 September (5:30-7:30pm) gives St Peters the opportunity to celebrate our collaboration with the Hospital, showcase our school and help students to see and hear how their artwork is benefiting others. We will be shortly sending out invitations to everyone to attend the event which will be a fantastic opportunity for St Peters students and their families. The school is looking at organising a bus for which more information will be released shortly. It certainly is a big year of art for St Peters Public School.

Picture This!

Sun, 18 Aug 2019 20:11:32 AEST

St Peters - Term 4 Art Show

At a recent P&C meeting, in principle support for a St Peters Public School Arts Show to raise money for the school library was received. Students, parents and community members will be invited to the event where we will be selling artwork made by students, and possibly local artists. Other ideas include selling food, drinks and art making activities on the night. The event is organised by the talented Miss Davies and she needs your help to make this work. It may be that you can help with art work in class, you may know local artists who can help or you have some ideas about how we may entertain and raise money on the night.

If you are interested in volunteering for the Art Show please fill in this Expression of Interest:

http://bit.ly/33FTwfQ

Simply go to the form provided and let Miss Davies know how you can help.

EPSA e-waste Recycling

As indicated last week, the school is partnering with EPSA to provide an e-waste drop off bin at the school. We received a much smaller bin than expected but there has been very little demand to date so now is the time to place electrical items that you no longer need around the home in the bin. They are located next to the car park gate.

Book Week

This week the school will celebrate Book Week. We will be doing this through a week focus on the Children’s Book Council Award winning books, the Scholastic Book Fair and an incursion called Pick a Peck of Pickled Poems. The incursion is this Friday for which there is a small fee which is detailed in a payment note that was sent home last Monday. We have been asked about book parades. The school will no longer support book parades as it believes this places a great burden on families to locate costumes and anxiety for children who are not able to dress up. We prefer to support book week through the reading of great literature in class time and associated activities.

Scholastic Book Fair

The Scholastic Book will be held from Wednesday afternoon to Friday morning. As usual, this will be in the school library lower mezzanine level. Families and supervised children may come into the library and order items. Details of the methods of payment will be sent home tomorrow.

Well Street - Term 3 - Block 2 - Time to Book

New Term 3 Monday Lunchtime Yoga & Relaxation Classes

Classes starting 26 August 2019. Ages K-6, all welcome!

Our classes get kids moving, building their fitness, flexibility and co-ordination. We also introduce them to important breathing exercises to encourage calmness and self regulation, building their ability to deal with stress and anxiety.

This is a great way to calm and focus the kids ahead of afternoon learning!

Monday Lunchtime

26 August – 16 September 2019

4 Weeks | $40

Book here for St Peters Lunchtime Yoga Classes.

Public Speaking

This year the school will be participating again in the Metropolitan South Operational Directorate Primary Schools Public Speaking Competition. Dr Lavitt organises the competition across over 200 schools. This competition invites speakers representing their school in four ages divisions to participate in quality public speaking. Schools initially compete in Principal’s Network competitions and St Peters will compete at the Marrickville and Port Jackson combined Network Final to be held at Erskineville Public School in early term 4. We will be sending four speakers for the divisions Kindergarten, Stage 1, 2 and 3. To decide on the students representing these divisions, all students will prepare a public speech to be given in class. From this, a shortlist of high performing students will then be given an opportunity to provide an impromptu speech. This will allow the selection of four students from each division to then go to a school final to be held on Tuesday 10 September. This session will see the representation of the prepared speech plus the provision of an impromptu speech. The kindergarten public speech is set around an object that they talk about. All speeches should be persuasive and should follow some key rules. A note will be sent home tomorrow to outline what is required as well as a parent booklet which can be used to provide more information.

Busy Times

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 19:36:04 AEST

EPSA e-waste Recycling

The school is partnering with EPSA to provide an e-waste drop off bin at the school. From their website, “EPSA is wholly owned by Sims Group Limited, a company that has been operating in the recycling industry for over 100 years globally. Sims operates in 30 countries, with more than 250 facilities around the globe.” We are starting small with a 660L bin which will be located next to the main waste bin in the car park. The bin is designed for e-waste such as electronics, computers. You can drop off these devices in the bin and should we fill the bin, we can get another one to replace it. The school plans to use the bin for its own e-waste and invites its community to use it as well. The bin will be available from this Wednesday.

Book Week

From the 19th to the 23rd of August the school will celebrate Book Week. We will be doing this through a week focus on the Children’s Book Council Award winning books, the Scholastic Book Fair and an incursion called Pick a Peck of Pickled Poems. The incursion will be held on the Friday and there will be a small fee which will be detailed in a payment note to be sent home on Monday.

Busy Dingoes!

These next two days, the Dingoes will be very busy as they will be travelling to the city tomorrow with Ms Caponas for the Cantabile Concert at the Opera House culminating in a performance as part of the mass choir in the evening. Then on Tuesday they will be travelling with Ms Cusack to Macquarie Street and a tour of the NSW Parliament. There they will see both the upper and lower houses and hopefully meet our local member for the constituency of Heffron - Mr Ron Hoenig.

Courtyard Shade Structure

Following the winning of a business community grant through Ron Hoenig, the P&C are happy to report that they have finally got the go ahead for the shade structure for the courtyard area near the hall. This will provide some much needed sun shade relief in summer and is scheduled to be installed at the end of the term.

Oval Upgrade Update

The school has now commissioned landscape architecture company Urban Landscape Projects to provide a landscape plan for the oval upgrade to facility. This will form the basis of the tender process for construction and includes the contribution from students and parents.

Welcome to Education Week

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 20:00:22 AEST

Open Day and Education Week

This week is Education Week at St Peters Public School. The theme for Education week is Every Student Every Voice and we will be celebrating this through next week with a focus in classrooms of speaking and listening and for all of our families through Open Day. Parents, relatives and friends are all invited to our Open Day Assembly followed by a visit to classrooms to see the children learning. Additionally, our new families for next year are all welcome and while the classroom visits are on, there will be a P&C led tour of the school complete with stickers culminating in a book being read in the library. Everyone can then enjoy a sausage sizzle lunch in the main courtyard or hall should the weather be inclement. We’re looking forward to seeing you all at our open day.

Mid Semester Parent Teacher Interviews

Bookings are now available via the Parent Portal for parent teacher interviews for the mid semester 2019. These interviews offer an opportunity to discuss progress for your child(ren)s learning through the first weeks of Semester 2 as well as reflect on areas for development in the school report. Please remember that the address for the Parent Portal is now:

https://stpetersps.sentral.com.au/portal2/

This changed as we now host our Sentral server in highly secure Microsoft Azure storage rather than on school premises.

2044 Band Fundraiser

While we now have a band ensemble led by Dr Shapley, we also still have the opportunity for students at St Peters to take part in the 2044 training and stage bands that rehearse at Tempe Public School. This Wednesday there is a fundraising performance evening hosted by Tempe Public School. Starting at 6:30pm, this is an ideal opportunity to enjoy some great music, find out more about the band and how to join as well as raise money for a good cause.

Swim Scheme

Swim Scheme will go ahead this week with just over 20 students. They will leave in the morning about 9:55am and then return to school at 12:15pm. They will eat until 12:30pm before returning to class.

Peer Support

As indicated last week, Peer Support will start this week and will be held at 1pm every Tuesday. The year 4, 5 and 6 students were all trained last week and are ready to go.

Education Week – Every student, every voice

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 14:02:49 AEST

We are celebrating our students and their powerful voices this Education Week Monday 5 August to Friday 9 August. Every year Education Week celebrates the achievements of public schools, our students and the value of public education.

This year, the theme is Every student, every voice.

Join us for #EdWeek19 as we celebrate our students and their power to shape the world.

Video – #EdWeek19 – Every student, every voice

Duration: 0:34

Open Day 2019

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 19:44:40 AEST

Open Day 2019

Next week will be Education Week at St Peters Public School. The theme for Education week is Every Student Every Voice and we will be celebrating this through next week with a focus in classrooms of speaking and listening and for all of our families through Open Day. Parents, relatives and friends are all invited to our Open Day Assembly followed by a visit to classrooms to see the children learning. Additionally, our new families for next year are all welcome and while the classroom visits are on, there will be a P&C led tour of the school complete with stickers culminating in a book being read in the library. Everyone can then enjoy a sausage sizzle lunch in the main courtyard or hall should the weather be inclement. We’re looking forward to seeing you all at our open day.

Festival of Instrumental Music

Our year six students have been very busy these past few weeks practising with Ms Caponas for the Festival of Instrumental Music performance at Sydney Opera House. This years performance is this Monday and as part of a nearly 700 strong set of recorders provided by other public schools taking part they will perform 3 pieces as part of the concert. We wish them well and thank Ms Caponas for all of the time and extra effort she has expended these past few months to make this happen. Ms Cusack will join them tomorrow evening for a celebration pre concert dinner and to enjoy the performance from the stalls. Good luck year 6.

Deadly Kids Awards

Every year we celebrate Aboriginal children at the school who are going brilliantly at public schools across our operational directorate. This year is no exception as we are proud to have Yindi and Mylla from the Wombats receiving Deadly Kids awards. Well done to them as they will attend a ceremony at UTS. Mr Lavitt will be there to celebrate your success.

Athletics Carnival

This Thursday we will make our latest and final attempt to hold our 2019 Athletics Carnival. We are hoping for kind weather through the week and hedging our bets somewhat with our track already being marked out. If this does not happen we will use other opportunities to run qualifying races for the zone carnival but we will not run an actual carnival. Fingers Crossed!

Peer Support 2019

This week our year 4, 5 and 6 students will be trained as leaders in Peer Support. Peer Support will commence next week.

Moving Forward is based on the evidence resilience can be developed within students by recognising and utilising protective factors and employing a range of strategies in challenging situations.

Moving Forward focuses on developing the following skills:

planning
resilience
coping
communication.

Students are encouraged to think about their strengths and personal qualities, and discuss how being courageous can help them when learning something new. Students will talk about their interests and favourite activities and celebrate their achievements.

At the core of a student’s resilience is the safety and security provided by external sources such as family members and other caring adults. It is important for students to identify the people in their network and their role. Students also have an opportunity to discuss the types of situations where they might need the support of a trusted adult.

Understanding the difference between resilient and non resilient responses, students look at examples of positive and negative self talk. Students also discuss the importance of persevering when trying to reach a goal as a group and an individual.

Students will be encouraged to think about their feelings and these effect their responses in challenging situations. Students discuss and choose strategies to help them manage their feelings and use critical thinking to determine a range of resilient responses in situations they may face.

Welcome to Term 3

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 18:43:48 AEST

Welcome to Term 3

After a lovely break with some marvellous weather the teaching and learning team is raring to go at St Peters PS for another 10 weeks of learning. We have lots happening, including: Peer Support, Stage 3 excursion, Education Week including our Open Day; Swim Scheme for Y2 - 6, as well as a new semester of learning and our additional activities. We very much look forward to seeing you all tomorrow and working with you all over this coming term. Our usual week ahead in learning is available this week so it will be all systems go from tomorrow.

School Reports and Mid Semester Interviews

At the end of last term you will have received the Semester 1 report. We introduced a new format this year aimed at giving you some more information about your child’s learning. There will be an evaluation which we would like you to complete released online this week which will be a quick survey to find out whether we have achieved our aims. An email will be released about this later in the week. If you feel you need to discuss the report further, please email the school office to make an appointment that is mutually convenient to discuss it.

On Tuesday 24 September we will hold mid semester parent teacher interviews to discuss learning for your child. The intention of these interviews is that they discuss learning achieved during Term 3 and do this in reference to the Semester 1 reports you have just received. Bookings for these interviews will be open soon via the parent portal.

Well Street Yoga

Booking are now open again for lunchtime yoga & relaxation classes run by Well Street Yoga

Monday Lunchtime Yoga | 29 July – 19 August | 4 Weeks | $40

Information & Booking can be made at: Bookings and Information

Swim Scheme

Year 2 to 6 will take part in Swim Scheme. An EOI was sent out earlier this year and these students will receive a note this week detailing the scheme and costs due.

Happy NAIDOC Week

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 19:30:33 AEST

NAIDOC Week

A reminder that this week will be holding a special NAIDOC assembly at 2:20pm on Monday 1 July and we will be celebrating and taking a deeper dive into Aboriginal perspectives through our learning during the week. We hope that you will join us at the assembly and thank you to one of our parent for helping us out with our celebrations of the contributions of the oldest culture on Earth - the First Australians.

School Reports

At the end of the week, students will all receive their school reports for Semester 1. As reported earlier this semester, the school has made some changes to the format for the reports. You will notice that the comments for English, Mathematics have been broken down into: 1) a standard comment advising what has been learning; 2) some points telling you what they have achieved; 3) some points proving areas for development; and 4) some brief ideas to say how they will get there. For the other KLAs a comment telling you what they have been learning is included under each subject. Then, a separate comment provides a breakdown like for English and Mathematics but collectively for all the minor KLAs.

Additionally the General comment is now at the beginning together with the social habits and commitment to learning. We hope that the reports provide more information and some clearer suggestions for how you can help. We will be evaluating the reports to gain some more feedback. These changes are in response to the Tell Them From Me parent survey feedback which told us that the reports needed more detail. We hope this has been achieved.

Cantabile Festival

Our musical groups have been busy and on Tuesday our Dingoes class will be going with Ms Caponas to the Cantabile Festival rehearsal. The final concert will be in August and is a choral and musical extravaganza from across public schools that is held at Sydney Opera House.

Happy Holidays

This Friday marks the end of another term of learning and also the end of Semester 1. We would like to thank you for your help during the year in catering for your child’s learning needs and wish you a great holiday. The school will close and reopen on 22 July for office enquiries and on 23 July all students return.

A Week of Updates and Reminders

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 20:00:26 AEST

Ice Blocks

As indicted by an email on Thursday, the school has now restored the option to have ice blocks on a Friday. To encourage a healthier approach to this and hopefully reduce the issues that caused the school to move it to the end of the day, only $1 ice blocks will be sold. Only one will be sold per child and no IOU’s will be taken. We ask that so that this treat may continue you do not provide your child with more than one, dollar coin on Friday. The school will monitor this going forward with the hope that this can continue.

Car Park Term 3 Onwards

As indicated last week the car park will have a security gate installed over the winter break. The school advised at the P&C meeting that until the additional parking options offered by the WestConnex modifications to Campbell Street, the gate and the associated disruption to the surrounding streets, the gate will be set to open automatically at times that will allow use of the car park to drop off and pick up children. It will not be possible to vary this time for intermittent days such as assemblies, but an intercom to the office will be available. The date has an egress loop that detects a car on exit allowing exiting the car park.

When the WestConnex New M5 project concludes, the car park will become staff only.

Athletics Carnival

A reminder that the Athletic Carnival has been moved to the backup date in week 10 - Thursday 4 July. There is the possibility of more rain this week and we need to undertake some repairs to the oval surface caused by cars moving on the grass after wet weather. All notes will be moved to the 4th and the sausage sizzle will be available on this day as well. We apologise if this has caused any problems for those organising days off.

NAIDOC Week Coming Up

A reminder that in week 10 we will be holding a special NAIDOC assembly at 2:20pm on Monday 1 July and we will be celebrating and taking a deeper dive into Aboriginal perspectives through our learning. We hope that you will join us at the assembly.

Week of Updates

Sun, 16 Jun 2019 20:42:37 AEST

Ice Blocks

Following concerns from teachers about focus and learning on a Friday after lunch, the purchase of ice blocks has been questioned. Discussion has thus been held with the P&C to look at an alternative time when ice blocks could be purchased. The school does not want to completely remove this treat but feels that it would be better placed at the end of the day on Friday.

From this Friday 21 June, ice blocks will be made available for sale after 3pm from the courtyard and as usual will be fifty cents or a dollar. They will not be available at lunch time.

Car Park Gate Update

The vendor contracted to install the security gate to the school car park will be doing the work through the winter holiday period. This means that at the beginning of term 3 the car park will have a security gate. The school is still formulating a plan for this and encourages parent to come to the P&C meeting on Wednesday at 7pm in the school library to discuss it.

Athletics Carnival

Notes for the Athletics Carnival and associated sausage sizzle lunch went out on Friday. Please ensure that these are completed and returned to the school this week so that planning is expedited.

Thank You! SRC Cake Stall

This week the SRC held a cake stall at the school. The reason we did this was to raise money for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation. We are interested in the hospital because they help sick children.

We are also working at St Peters to help the hospital further by working with them to produce an art exhibition later this year. This project is called INSPIRE! Today we raised $260.20 from the cake stall! Thank you to our school community for donations of cakes, biscuits and slices.

Also a big thank you to the people who donated money. And finally, thank you to the students for buying these wonderful treats! Everyone’s generosity was amazing!

by Lily and Skye - SRC Reps from the Dingoes

Creative and Active Kids vouchers now available

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 11:35:00 AEST

Creative kids can now put a $100 voucher towards extra-curricular creative activities outside of school.

Together with Active Kids, this program aims to encourage more NSW children to participate in a range of extra-curricular activities such as coding, languages, circus, performing arts and visual arts.

Parents can apply for one $100 voucher for each child enrolled in school on the Creative Kids website and use it towards the cost of registration, participation or tuition. You just redeem the voucher with a registered provider in your area when making your payment.

This is a great opportunity for your child to become involved in a range of activities that will build on their education, growth and development.

Service NSW is working with industry bodies to deliver the program.

For more information, contact Service NSW on 137 788 or creativekids@service.nsw.gov.au.

Voice - Treaty - Truth

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:37:17 AEST

NAIDOC Week 2019 - Voice. Treaty. Truth.

NAIDOC Week 2019 will run nationally from 7-14 July 2019 and is an occasion for all Australians to come together to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. As this is during our winter school holiday period, we’re going to celebrate this a week early in week 10 - 1 - 5 July. We are still in the planning phases, but our expectation is that we will be:

1) Flying our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags during this time

2) Holding a special NAIDOC assembly for our week 10 school assembly

3) Embedding the cross-curriculum priority - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures in our literacy and numeracy lessons throughout the week. Stay tuned for further details.

Athletics Carnival 2019

Also at the end of this term in week 9 on Thursday 27 June we will be holding our Athletics Carnival for 2018. This is whole school event with running races for all age groups and shot put for all students who turn 8 and over this year. The emphasis is on participation and fun. In preparation for the carnival, the grass will be cut and a running circuit will be marked to be used for the running events. As with the cross country carnival, we will be asking for parent volunteers to help out with the flow of events. Rose from Got Game will be on hand to run the shot put and there will be lots of novelty events for our younger students. Stand by for further information to be announced soon.

SRC Cake Stall

The SRC are holding their cake Stall fundraiser on Wednesday and need cakes and biscuits to be brought in on 12 June. Please follow the instructions below. We’ll be selling at recess on 12 June and after school. We’ll also sell any left overs on Thursday 13 June. Don’t forget to send $1 and 50 cent coins with your children.

Labelling

- All items must be labelled with a list of all ingredients used. - If using a packet mix you can cut out the ingredients on the side and use this, as well as including any additional ingredients.

Packaging

- Write your name on the container so that the SRC can clean it and return it to you promptly. - Please cut whole cakes and slices into pieces. - It is not necessary to wrap cakes, slices or biscuits individually .

Where to deliver your donation

- Please bring or send your items to the staffroom on the morning of 12 June.

Have your Cake and Eat It!

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 19:13:03 AEST

Enrolment for 2020 - Time for Action!

We had a fabulous parent informative session last Tuesday evening with 18 families who came to find out more information about the school. Dr Lavitt, Mr Park and Ms Mcintosh were joined by Luke from Helping Hands, Ms Hafey and Mclean from the P &C and Molly and Beau from the Dingoes. They all went out of their way to make this session informative and successful by showcasing what a great school and community we are. We hope to see many of those families at our Education Week Open Day on Wednesday 7 August.

We are aware that there are a number of parents who have children already at the school who intend to enrol their younger children who have now reached school age. Remember that you are optionally able to enrol children who turn 5 before the end of July 2020 and for students who turn six in 2020, you must enrol them next year. The process is the same for your other children as an enrolment form is required. This form is available via the school office or via the web at:

http://bit.ly/2EOBBsn

and if you live out of area, an out of area form is required, that can be found at:

http://bit.ly/2EPj7Z3

It would be most helpful if this could be done before the end of this term as this allows us to process the forms and enter them into our system and before we put in anticipated enrolments for 2020, to have an accurate number.

SRC Cake Stall

The SRC are organising a cake stall to be held on Wednesday 12 June as part of St Peters Public School’s support of The Sydney Children’s Hospital. All money raised will go to the Hospital.

The SRC are very interested in raising funds for children in hospital, many of whom are going through a very difficult time in life.

We are asking for donations of cakes, biscuits and slices for the cake stall. A note will be sent home with your child this week with ideas and tips related to the cake stall as well as when and where to send cakes. All cakes must have ingredients listed and we encourage gluten free and vegan options.

In the meantime, start thinking and talking with your child about what yummy treats you could create together at home. A great opportunity to work on those mathematics skills related to measurement too!

Mystery Teacher and PB for L and SRC Performances

As part of the well being program, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB for L), the staff at St Peters will be launching an exciting new initiative. Starting in week 6 every fortnight a ‘Mystery Teacher’ will be selected by the PB4L team. The role of the mystery teacher is firstly, to remain inconspicuous to students and the community and secondly, be watching students through secret spot checks as to whether students are demonstrating the expectations of our PB4L fortnightly focus. This fortnight (weeks 6 and 7) we will be focusing on movement throughout the school.

Students need to remember that the Mystery Teacher is everywhere and nowhere.

You never know when they’ll be watching! Good luck to everyone and remember to be safe, respectful learners so we can reach our goal of a science experiment afternoon for all students.

Additionally, students from the SRC will be demonstrating the rule for the fortnight at the fortnightly assembly. To ensure that students are in tune with this, we will be continuing our corridor and transition areas to the following week.

The Game Changer Challenge is back

Fri, 31 May 2019 12:21:49 AEST

It’s not too late to become a Game Changer with applications for the Education Week challenge due by 7 June.

The Game Changer Challenge brings 16 teams from public schools across NSW – eight from primary and eight from secondary – to Sydney during Education Week in August for a three-day, intensive design-thinking workshop.

The Game Changer workshops, which start on Tuesday 6 August, includes teacher training in the use of design thinking as a teaching methodology and its application for school planning.

It also includes a team competition where schools will work under the guidance of experts from industry and academia to develop a solution to this year’s critical question: How might we humanise technology?

Department of Education Secretary Mark Scott has encouraged students and teachers to get behind the event as it highlights the critical thinking students will need to develop to succeed in the future.

“The Game Changer Challenge is an exciting initiative that helps educate and inform our students and teachers on how to integrate the problem-solving methodology of design thinking into the classroom,” Mr Scott says.

“It embraces the 21^st century skills our students will need to thrive in a globalised world such as collaboration, creative thinking and communication.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students at all levels to be involved in discussing and addressing a real-world issue that will affect their future lives. I encourage every school to get involved.”

The challenge is designed to make strong learning and teaching connections to the NSW syllabus specifically in the area of developing general capabilities such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication and problem-solving.

The challenge also provides teachers with an opportunity to gain exposure to the design thinking process and includes teacher resources to introduce this creative problem-solving methodology into the classroom.

Finalists will be selected based on a 60-second video that showcases your team’s vision around the question of humanising technology.

For more information email edweek@det.nsw.edu.au or visit the Game Changer Challenge page.

Uniform News

Sun, 26 May 2019 20:15:37 AEST

Well Street Yoga

Well Street Yoga’s first block of 4 weeks of Yoga is about to come to an end. It has been very successful with students enjoying the opportunity to express themselves and to relax in different ways. It has bee particularly enjoyable to have seen students meditating and focusing so hard on their breathing while they do it. They will start their second block on Monday 3 June and booking can be made online at:

http://bit.ly/2XfBbCs You can also find more information about Well Street at that same link. Mr Lavitt is the teacher on duty for the session.

Uniforms

You wouldn’t know that we are well into the autumn season with the amazing weather we have been experiencing recently. This is, however, a time where the cooler mornings and then hotter days lead to students shedding jackets. This can often lead to items being left and forgotten. If they have a name, they can be returned to students. If not, they often stay lost and can be virtually impossible to identify even if found. Please ensure that all school uniform items are adequately labelled with the owners name.

Secondly, while we understand that the change in season can result in parent being caught unawares in terms of jackets, we would like to remind you that school uniform codes apply. The office sells Jackets at $30 and for colder weather, dry and cosy jackets which are lined for $35. By selling direct to parents and purchasing from wholesalers we keep the cost of uniforms down. In fact these items are often cheaper than clothes from a standard retailer. These jackets will often last some time and given that they are worn so often we believe they present good value. If your child is coming to school in a jacket that is not school uniform, please kindly purchase one to meet our uniform code.

School Reports Changes

As we progress into week 5 of term 2, the end of the week marks the mid point for the term and the three quarters mark for the semester. Teachers are now starting the process of preparing reports which will be sent home and made available via the parent portal at the end of the term.

This semester, in response to suggestions made via the Tell Them From Me survey late last year we have made some changes. Our comment fields for English, Mathematics and collectively for the other Key Learning Areas (KLAs) have now been broken up into a comment saying what the child has been doing, bullet lists of: areas of achievement and areas of strength, and a comment expressing how they could be helped to improve. We will survey parents afterwards to gain feedback on the changes.

Green Fingers

Sun, 19 May 2019 20:35:39 AEST

Premiers Debating

Every year the school competes in the Premiers Debating Challenge. Debating is one of the hardest things that you can ever do and many adults quiver at the idea of having to complete against each other. In the Premiers Debating Challenge, students have compete against other schools around a series of topic areas. After choosing from 3 topics, both teams go away and spend one hour preparing their debate. When they choose a topic they have to be sure they can argue for the topic (affirmative) and against the topic (negative). After an hour, they come together to debate in the presence of an audience and an adjudicator judges the debate. Debaters are expected to not only argue for their side but to challenge (rebut) the opposing team. It’s hard work but its amazing seeing year 5 and 6 students doing it. Tomorrow (Monday 20 May), six year 5 and 6 students will be attending a workshop run by the NSW Arts Unit at Lewisham Public School. The workshop is a great opportunity to learn new skills and to consolidate knowledge. After that the school our debating team will be competing in four debates. We wish them all the best of luck.

Reading Workshop

The staff at St Peters Public School appreciate the time and effort our parents and carers put into helping children learn to read. Your support of your child’s reading has a direct impact on the ease and confidence with which they pursue their reading making a huge positive difference.

Some parents and carers have expressed an interest in finding out more about issues such as how to best support their child in reading at home. Resulting from this interest we have decided to offer a reading workshop where together we look at reading related issues that interest you. There is no charge involved. From the online survey which will be sent out via email next week, we would like input into the issues that interest you, plus your availability times.

123 Magic - Emotion Coaching Workshop

Our School Counsellor, psychologist Jocelyn Brewer, is offering to run the 123 Magic Emotion Coaching Workshop for SPPS parents in Term 2 or 3, 2019. The course will either run for 3 consecutive weeks for about 2 hours each session or one Saturday and it covers a range of skills to help parents better understand children’s behaviours and effective ways to manage these. We would like to offer this at a time so we can maximise your ability to attend and tailor it to the parenting challenges you might be facing to varying degrees. The course is free, but the workbook costs $10.

To express an interest in participating in the survey, please provide your feedback and suggestions at the survey which can be filled in online at: http://bit.ly/2HqJ9mO

Walk to School Safely

Sun, 12 May 2019 20:48:43 AEST

Walk Safely to School Day

Well, it’s that time of year again when our school seriously starts talking about walking!

The SRC has been busy working to raise awareness of Walk Safely to School Day. WSTSD asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. Although walking all the way to school isn’t realistic for many of us, it’s quite easy to figure out how you can build a walk into your family’s daily routine.

You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by:
Walking with them the whole way to school
If they get the bus or train, walk past your usual stop and get on at the next stop
If you have to drive, park the car a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way.

Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) beat chronic problems like obesity, heart disease, behavioural and mental health issues and diabetes. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic.

Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids so get planning your own Walk Safely to School Day journey for Friday 17 May 2019! The SRC will be handing out stickers on the day for those choosing to participate in this great initiative!

PB for L - Term 2 Goal

As some of you who attended the merit certificate assembly on Friday will know, the school successfully completed the 10% towards the term 2 Positive Behaviour for Learning Goal. Also though, Mr Park revealed the goal which students will be working towards assuming they get the 100% goal. Last term it was a technology afternoon and for this term Mr Park announced last Friday that it would be a science day. Students will work in Peer Support groups and they will move around the school to different activities planned by each teacher. We will advise exactly which day this will take place on later in the term but suffice to say the staff are very excited about planning a series of science based activities.

Other news in PB for L is that from next week’s assembly, the SRC will be involved in a demonstration in assembly of good achievement of PB for L expectations. This means that the House Captains will now be responsible for leading the assembly.

Your NAPLAN questions answered

Thu, 09 May 2019 15:07:48 AEST

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The tests assess the foundational skills in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy that are essential for every child to progress through school and life.

This year NAPLAN takes place between 14 and 16 May for paper tests and between 14 and 24 May for schools participating in NAPLAN Online.

NAPLAN data is used to help monitor student progress over time against a national measure and to identify areas of strength and improvement. It is used in combination with other school assessments to guide and support student learning.

Watch students ask an expert the tough questions about NAPLAN.

Video – Kids ask the hard questions

Duration – 3:45

Inspired by art!

Sun, 05 May 2019 20:24:49 AEST

Sydney Children’s Hospital - Inspire Art Project

Each year Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation invites a school to submit works of art for an exhibition in the Hospital named INSPIRE! The goal is to use inspiration artwork from students to lift the spirits of the patients, staff and families who walk through the corridors of the hospital every day.

We are very excited that St Peters Public School was successful in their submission to be the INSPIRE! School Of the Year for 2019. We feel very honoured!

All students from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 will be involved in creating artworks for INSPIRE! during term 2 and part of term 3, with the exhibition starting (held at the Hospital) in September. There will be the opportunity to view the artworks and/or purchase them if you wish ( all funds raised to the Hospital). We also plan on exhibiting artworks here at school during term 3 or 4.

The theme of our submission was ‘biomimicry’ ( the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modelled on biological entities and processes), which we plan on linking with our school garden and science studies of the ‘Living World’, and other curriculum areas.

If you are interested in getting involved with the project we would love your input! This is a great opportunity for the whole school community to be involved and connected with student learning. Please stay tuned for more information.

Merit Awards at Assembly

Bronze: Benjamin, Oliver G, Lola, Leon, James, Jonah, Molly, Aasha, Tom M, Owen, Reece, George, Oscar

Premiers Sporting Challenge

SPPS is once again participating in the Premier’s Sporting Challenge (PSC). The PSC encourages all students in public schools to be more frequently active by increasing their participation in sport and physical activity. The challenge will run this term (10 weeks) and is a fantastic opportunity for all students and staff to make positive healthy changes to their lifestyles. Students are working towards individual awards based on the amount of physical activity they engage in. Students in 3-6 will receive a log book to record their activity and staff will monitor K-2 students. All types of moderate to vigorous physical activities can count toward an award. Activities may include time spent in a broad range of sports and recreational pursuits during lunchtime, in school sport programs, class time, before or after school and on weekends. So, good luck to everyone and enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle. The staff are all taking part so get into the habit of talking to your chilren about what they are doing to improve their fitness.

Silver Street Gate

The Silver Street gate handle will be replaced shortly with a new handle that is more suited to the outside elements. It will be programmed to open and close as previously and following parent requests it will open at 7am. We expect this work to be completed this week or next.

P&C Meeting

The next P&C meeting will be held this Wednesday 8 May at 7pm in the school library. Please come along and show your support for a busy group of parents who are working to make a difference in the school.

Cross Country Carnival Ribbons

The ribbons for the Cross Country Carnival held at the end of last term will be handed out at this weeks assembly. The South Sydney PSSA Zone Cross Country Carnival will be held at Mascot Public School on Friday 24 May. Dr Cooper will attend the carnival and will shortly be in touch with students who achieved the qualifying times for the cross country carnival. We will be calling for Parents to take their children to the carnival and we would like some parents to help with supervision of our runners while they are there.

Korean Dance Group

For the next two weeks, we will have a very friendly and informal audition to recruit dancers during Korean class. We will just dance to a Korean pop song for about 3 minutes in a group of 10. Ms Yoo will look for happy dancers rather than skillful ones. The result will be notified individually via letters to parents and carers along with a plan for the happy dancers.

Hit the Term Running

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 09:44:27 AEST

Welcome Back!

We’re all very happy to be starting our second term at St Peters Public School tomorrow morning. For those in Sydney it has been a wonderful holiday full of beautiful sunny weather and we hope that in some way or another you were able to take advantage of it to relax with your children and or other friends or family.

ANZAC Day - Remembrance Assembly

This Wednesday 1 May, we will holding our small but respectful ANZAC Day remembrance service. All students will attend and will be offered the opprtunity to bring in flowers that they may lay at the food of our flagpole. The service will be held at 2pm in the main playgroud and led by year 6. Our community is welcome to come along and pay your respects. The service will conclude by 2:40pm.

Oval Play Area Upgrade

Thank you to all parents invited to our focus group who came along to provide some ideas and discussion points for the Oval play area upgrade. The ideas from this have been combined with those of the students and teachers and a meeting was held with Assets Management Unit to develop and budget. At this stage the ideas included are: removal of concrete pitches, shade structure over play equipment and new open learning/sitting space; continuation of path to Siver Street lane; new paved play area for handball and basketball; storage for play equipment; a 1.5m fence around the car park; and, a review of current play equipment; development of other play equipment stations such as logs, tubes as the budget allows. The initial idea of fencing an area was rejected by parents as this would prevent the future development of the oval. It is intended that the additional facility from this work could be added to by future school funded and P&C funded projects. Common to all groups was a desire to improve safety, play opportunities, access and seating.

Chess - Renew for Term 2 Now

It is that time again to renew your child(ren)’s chess club for term 2. On Wednesday we will assume all students from last term are continuing with chess and send them along. If you haven’t paid, please do so. All payments as always are made to Sydney Chess Academy. The enrolment form is included at the end of this newsletter. If you do not wish your child to continue with chess, please let us know and we will remove your child from the list. Likewise, if you would like your child to start chess and you are in year 1 to 6, simply enrol, pay and let us know to add them to the list.

Apply now for My Community Project funding

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 15:07:49 AEST

Do you have a great idea to improve your area?

My Community Project is a new NSW Government funding program that is all about local ideas, local projects and local decisions.

You can apply now for grants from $20,000 - $200,000 for projects that will make a difference to your community. Projects could include new playground equipment, sports facilities, paths or ramps to improve access, public art or a community service.

The local community can vote for their favourite projects in July and successful projects will be announced in September.

Project applications close 15 May 2019.

Apply for My Community Project funding

Bring back memories, not measles

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 14:25:38 AEST

With school holidays just around the corner, it’s time to visit your doctor to check that you and your family are fully protected against measles, before you travel overseas.

Measles is a serious, highly contagious, viral illness that is easily spread through the air when an infectious person coughs, sneezes or breathes. If you and your family are not fully vaccinated, or have never been vaccinated, you are at risk of contracting measles.

Not sure if you’re fully protected?

In Australia, the measles vaccine (MMR) consists of 2 doses. If you’re not sure whether you’ve had 2 doses of the measles vaccine, visit your doctor. It’s safe to receive another dose.

Children born in Australia

If your children were born in Australia, they may have received the measles vaccine at 12 months old and the second dose at 18 months, in accordance with the National Immunisation Program.
If you have a baby under 12 months old, consult your doctor about getting their measles vaccination.

Adults born in Australia

Born before 1966 – you were most likely exposed to measles as a child and are generally considered to be immune. If in doubt, ask your GP.
Born between 1966 and 1994 – you may not have received 2 doses. Talk to your doctor about the free vaccine if you’re unsure.
Born after 1994 – the National Immunisation Program offers 2 doses, and you can check your vaccination status using the Australian Immunisation Register.

For more information about the measles vaccination, visit NSW Health or consult your local doctor.

Term End

Sun, 07 Apr 2019 20:59:08 AEST

Happy Holidays

This week is the final week of term 1 at St Peters Public School. Most terms are 10 weeks so this has been a very long term, especially for all of our kindergarten students who have had their very first term at primary school. It has been a fabulous term with lots of fun activities and great learning happening. For two weeks they will have an opportunity to recharge and have a break from learning. We would like to remind you that holidays are an opportunity to carry on that learning in a different mode. It may be through encouraging some extra reading, cooking, helping with household projects or making use of the many extra curricular activities available in Sydney. We’ll be back again for term 2 on Tuesday 30 April - all years start. Monday 29 April is a school development day.

Congratulations! Assembly Awards this week

Silver: Sean and Danielle G Bronze: Olivia D, Yindi, Ashton, Toby Mc, Elijah, Tilly, Felix, Olive G, Molly, Inara, Frankie Mc, Aasha, Thomas C, Adam, Emma B, Michelangelo, Sebastien G and Danielle G.

History in Action

We always tell students that history is made up of human stories. We often forget this when we think that it is all about dates and big battles but those are only the events that played out as a consequence of human experience.

On Saturday, a good 40 to 50 ex students of the then St Peters Primary School came together and share some memories of the school that started their time in education. Dr Lavitt provided a tour of the school and there was collective comments on how much the school has changed. Stories were heard of sports that were played and some spoke (with great affection) of how they were frequent visitors to the headmasters office (still in the same location) for canings. Apparently there was a cabinet with a selection of canes. Many there pre dated Block B and talked of buildings long gone and how the oval was then called the Area and had some demountable buildings on it at one time.

The library for many seemed a constant with many commenting on how it had not changed that much. Some brought photographs and old certificates and exchanged stories. We would like to thank these amazing alumni for coming to visit our fabulous school. We are all part of our history and perhaps in 40 to 50 years time some of our current students will visit a school that will be very different again to the school of today. One thing for sure is that there will be no stories of the Principal’s cane cabinet. Thank you to Kate and Van from the P&C for supporting the day with refreshments and memorabilia.

Looking to Enrol?

Sun, 05 May 2019 20:27:32 AEST

Do you have a child who is turning 6 next year or who turn 5 before the end of July next year? If you do your child is eligible to enrol at St Peters Public School. Our enrolments for 2020 entry are open now for all students in our local catchment (see figure below). Enrolling is easy. You simply fill in an enrolment form and send it by email or even better bring it to the school office. We require some documentation to support the application, including proof of address (a recent bill, rental agreement or title deeds will do). We also require your child's proof of brith date and identity (birth certificate and passport) as well as immunisation records (obtainable online).

If you are a resident in our local area you will be accepted immediately. However, if not, you can still put in an enrolment form and fill in an out of area form. After a discussion with the principal of the school you are local to, and an assessment of the reason for enrolment, you may be accepted. However, from this year St Peters Public School will not accept out of area enrolments from any families who reside in the local areas of the schools it directly shares borders with (Camdenville, Newtown, Tempe, Marrickville, Gardeners Road or Mascot Public Schools). Exceptions may be made where there is a specific need and following a discussion between both schools.

We have a number of dates coming up that will allow you to make a decision and find our more information about St Peters Public School. The first is an information evening that is at 7:30pm in our library on Tuesday 28 May. The second is to attend our Open Day on 7 August which starts with an assembly in our hall starting at 9:30am followed by a P&C led tour of the school for the kids and a BBQ lunch in our courtyard. This is a great opportunity to meet the community and see the school first hand. Of course at any time you are welcome to meet with our school principal - Dr Neil Lavitt and have a personal meeting followed by a tour of the school. This is a great opportunity to discuss options, raise concerns and ask questions.

In late October and early November we have two orientation days for enrolled families to attend. The children go into a kindergarten classroom and the adults receive some additional information from Dr Lavitt about the school. The second session is like the first with the exception of Dr Lavitt providing a supporting your child's learning in transition and the first year at school workshop.

Our flyer is available to read here and included all of this information in a convenient place.

If your child attends a preschool or day care centre that you feel would benefit from some additional advice on transition and how to decide on schooling from a school perspective, feel free to ask your centre to contact Dr Lavitt at the school. he would be happy to arrange and provide a school context agnostic talk to help parents make good decisions.

We wish you well in your journey.

On the Run!

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 20:44:14 AEDT

Well Street - Lunchtime Yoga - Mindfulness

Earlier last week local company Well Street announced the times and dates of their lunchtime yoga classes at St Peters PS. Next term the first 4 week block of bookings are available for Monday’s 6 May to 27 May. The sessions will be open to all students and they will be collected from classrooms at 11am and taken to the hall where the sessions will be held. We are partnering with Well Street to offer this opportunity in response to demand measured through an expression of interest survey provided earlier in the term. There will be another opportunity to book for the second block of 4 sessions that will be held between 10 June and 1 July. We invite you to book and support this great opportunity to support a local company and provide a valuable extracurricular opportunity.

Purple Day - Thank You!

Last Tuesday St Peters PS supported Purple Day to raise epilepsy awareness across the school community. The SRC did a fantastic job in organising the day with students wearing something purple and/or making a gold coin donation. Two of our student went the extra by donating some of their own money which was even more amazing. We were also very fortunate to have had one of our parents visit the classes to spread further epilepsy awareness. We are very proud to announce that the school was able to raise a total of $258.10 in donations- how incredible is that for a school with 128 students! A huge thank you to everyone who participated and showed their support as well as our parents who help find appropriate dress for their children.

Cross Country Carnival

On the last day of school (Friday 12 April) we are delighted to announce that we will be conducting our annual cross country carnival. It happens at the school and all students participate in the carnival with children aged 8 to 12 running in timed races that may gain them entry to the Zone PSSA carnival next term. Other students will take part in a fun run at the end of the carnival after they have taken part in some fun novelty events. The carnival takes part immediately at the start of school and we invite parents and family to attend and help out at the event. We need volunteers to help students stay on track along the way. It is customary for the P&C to provide a sausage sizzle lunch immediately after the carnivals conclusion.

Tomorrow there will be two notes distributed. The first will be a permission race for your child to run in the carnival as well as call for volunteer help and the second will be from the P&C for the sausage sizzle lunch.

Cover it in Purple

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 21:15:22 AEDT

Purple Day

Purple Day (Tuesday 26th March) is an initiative dedicated to raising epilepsy awareness. Purple Day was founded in 2008 to get people talking about epilepsy and to let those impacted by seizures know that they are not alone. Purple Day is named after the internationally recognised colour for epilepsy, lavender. The SRC want to promote understanding of epilepsy and are organising Purple Day to be held at school on Tuesday 26th March.

Well Street - Lunchtime Mindfulness - Yoga

Following an expression of interest survey, the school received a very positive response to the suggestion of having local company Well Street operate extracurricular lunchtime lessons at St Peters. Consequently the school met with them and have general agreement to start operating next term. There will be lessons in two 4 week blocks with a week in between. Students may enrol in one or both blocks at a cost of $40 per block. The pattern will be repeated weekly. The activities will be held in the school hall.

Congratulations! Assembly Awards this week

Silver: George, Dimitri and Paulo

Gold: Marlow

Bronze: Billie, Jonah, Scott, Archie, Ariana, Aaliyah, George, Dimitri, Sean, Charlie, Cameron, Frankie O, Henry, Lara, Owen, Poppy, Beau M, Grace, Rienn, Sullivan, Clytie, Beau S, Malu, Alex M, Abbey W

P&C Cake Sale!

Thank you for all of the cake donations. There are still some remaining cakes left to be sold and the P&C are having a sale tomorrow.

FOR SALE: Cakes, slices, biscuits and other homemade treats, most items priced at $1.

P&C will be selling surplus goods from the Election day cake stall.

WHEN: Monday 25th March, from 3pm

WHERE: Central quadrangle, outside school hall

CASH ONLY!

A big THANK YOU to our P&C Election day BBQ and cake stall volunteers, and to everyone who donated their beautiful homemade items for sale. We received plenty of positive feedback from punters in person and on-line, including this one on the google business page:

Review from Paul Gray “What would a polling place be without a FANTASTIC sausage sizzle and cake stand run by the school’s P&C Association? Great job by all involved!”

Feel the Harmony!

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 19:33:00 AEDT

Harmony Day

This Thursday 21 March is Harmony Day. After the terrible events of last Friday in NZ these days take on new meaning as we search for tolerance, understanding and inclusiveness amongst the great diversity in our communities. On Thursday, the students are invited to come to school in dress which symbolises in some way their identity, their families identity and possibly their cultural links. If you are unsure, wearing something orange is another way of expressing harmony. All the classroom teachers will be doing some work in class and will be placing this on some of our corridor walls. Look our for posts on Facebook for pictures.

Student Activity Statements

The school office will be this Monday sending home in sealed envelopes the student activity statements for 2019. The statement includes costs for Got Game, Reading Eggs and Mathletics as well as books, photocopy fees and textbooks. There is also a voluntary contribution fee, which is set at $20. The activity statement can be paid online using the parent online payment option via the school website, by cheque or by cash. We do not have EFTPOS facilities. The deadline for payment of fees will be the end of term 1 - 12 April.

Premiers Sporting Challenge Leaders Day

Students from years 5 and 6 will next week be attending the premiers sporting challenge leaders day. The day will include students from a number of other surrounding public school attending a day of sport. There is no cost for the event which includes students travelling by bus to Wilkins PS.

DON’T Forget your Canteen Order

Last week our first week of the new canteen solution was a huge hit with many orders of quality food coming into the school. The children all seemed to love it and many of the staff purchased and also enjoyed the bigger range of food and the quality of the food provided was very high and great value for money.

For the first few weeks until it becomes familiar we’ll remind you to put your orders in via the Flexischools app. Once you order, you will be sent an email to confirm. If you don’t get that email it probably means something is wrong so follow up. Botany Bites are going to provide a few backup meals for the freezer for the eventuality of an order having gone missing. Remember that the deadline is 9am on Tuesday morning unless you want to order sushi which has a deadline 9 hours earlier 12am Tuesday morning.

Attendance

Parents and carers are reminded of the importance of consistent student attendance in providing a consistent schooling experience for your child(ren). It is considered a well being issue and when sustained and persistent, attendance may be referred to child protection teams as it is considered to be educational neglect.
Permission should always be sought for your child to not attend school for extended periods. If an absence is 10+ days, an official extended leave form needs to be filled out. Less than that, there needs to be an application in writing to the principal. Parents are requested to use the 11 weeks of given holiday to go away. If for some reason this is not possible (such as the occasional (not every year) family holiday overseas to a far away destination) the leave may be justified. However, if it is to avoid busy school holiday periods with higher fees it is not justifiable. Clearly every case needs to be assessed - hence put it in writing. It is important to note that these days are recorded on the school attendance record and are not exempt. Sick days of greater than 2 days do require a medical certificate.

Don't Forget to Eat!

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 20:26:44 AEDT

DON’T Forget to Order - New Canteen Solution

The P&C have engaged Botany Bites as our external supplier for quality food products for our new canteen solution. The first day is this TUESDAY 12 March. You can order by a super easy online ordering system - to cater for both students and staff. Flyers for Flexischools along with the menu were sent home last week as well as well as a how to get set up guide. Once again, please note that there will be no opportunity to buy items with cash. Order by 9am on Tuesday for items other than sushi. This needs to be ordered by midnight the night before. All of the orders will be brought to the school on a Tuesday in insulated Hot or Cold bags and taken directly to your child(ren)’s class.

Premiers Reading Challenge

Every year St Peters Students take part in the Premiers Reading Challenge. The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

The challenge opened last week on March 4th and will carry on until August 30 or 26 weeks. Students in years K - 2 are able to have books in the challenge read to them and thus all of their classroom teachers will be reading books from the challenge in class. The titles of these books will be added directly to the challenge. A total of 30 books need to be read for K-2. Students in year 3 to 6 have to read their own books and add them via the challenge website. They will be expected to borrow at least one PRC book every week from library and then during the 2 week autumn holiday period they will be allowed to borrow 3 books to help them complete the challenge.

Booklists for the challenge may be found at the link here and the rules of the challenge at another link here. Students who successfully complete the challenge will receive a certificate at the Presentation Day Assembly held at the end of the year.

Korean Teacher Changes

Sadly, Ms An who started providing Korean lessons for St Peters Public School students from the beginning of the year is unable to continue teaching with us. Very fortunately with the help of one of a wonderful partner public schools we have been able to find a replacement. Ms Yoo who is a teacher of the bilingual Korean program at Campsie is to teach two days a week at the school from this Thursday. She brings considerable experience into the school and will be working hard to establish our Langauge Other than English program for Korean at the school.

Cleaned Up!

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 19:30:22 AEDT

Book Now! Comedy for a Cause - 9 March

As many of you are aware, the P&C are putting on an ‘Adults Only’ Comedy Night this Saturday 9th March 2019. This event will raise funds to support our school and students. This event is open to the wider community and we need every parent and carer to help support and advertise the event to friends and family. We encourage everyone to book online as every ticket sold at the door gets a $3.00 penalty charged by Comedy for a Cause (this means less potential to earn any profits). The details for the evening are as follows:

When: Saturday 9th March 2019 Where: School Hall Time: 6.30pm entry, 7.30pm performances begin

Food: Pizzas will be available for purchase on the night. We are selling them as a full large pizza for $15 (please group together to share as they are 15inch pizzas and would feed 3 people).

Drinks: $5 Wine, $5 Beer, $2 Soft Drink will all be available to purchase. Bottled water will be on offer for free. Payment: Please bring CASH on the night as there is no ATM and this function will be a cash only function.

New Canteen Solution

The P&C are excited to announce that a new-and-improved school Canteen service will be delivering yummy food & drinks every week beginning TUESDAY 12th MARCH. We have engaged Botany Bites as our external supplier - via a super easy online ordering system - to cater for both students and staff. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the P&C or Botany Bites direct. Flyers for Flexischools will be sent home this week as well as copies of the menu to enable you all to get yourself set up. The school plans to use Flexischools for uniform ordering soon so it’s important for you to get used to this mode of ordering. There will be no opportunity to buy items with cash. All of the orders will be brought to the school on a Tuesday in insulated Hot or Cold bags and taken directly to your child(ren)’s class.

Drinking Stations

Some of you may be aware that there is a drinking station on the school oval and between the courtyard and main playgrounds. These were a joint effort between the P&C and school and sadly they have take some time to put into place. The cause of this was missing brackets which we have now finally spoken to the original manufacturer about and who will be rectifying the issue. From next Friday we should be able to use the oval drinking station. Teachers will unlock and lift the lid on this station at the start of play and relock it at the end.

5 road safety tips for parents and carers

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 13:16:14 AEDT

Now that students are back to school after a break it’s a good time to chat with your child about safe behaviours when you walk or commute to school.

Here are our top tips to help our students make a safe trip:

1. Be alert and aware

Take note of the dangers you come across on your walk and bring them to your child’s attention. Point out dangers, such as vehicles coming out of driveways. Talk to your child about being alert in a road environment.

2. Hold hands

When on the footpath, at a crossing or in a car park always hold your child's hand. It is advised to do this up to the age of at least 8 years old and closely supervise until at least the age of 10.

3. Choose a safe crossing

Lead by example and choose a safe place to cross the road. Explain why it is the safest place to cross.

4. Set a good example

Your child watches everything you do, so if you cross at the crossing they will too. It is also important to share these messages with other carers who may walk with your child to school.

5. Stop, Look, Listen, Think every time you cross the road

Discuss this important road safety message. STOP! one step back from the kerb. LOOK! continuously both ways. LISTEN! for the sounds of approaching traffic. THINK! whether it is safe to cross.

Practise makes perfect

The more supervised practice your child can get the better, so why not make Term 1 the start of a new routine to walk with your child to school more often.

Older children may be ready to make the journey to school independently. Before they take this step, observe if they are road safe and reinforce the road safety messages.

For more information, check out the department’s pedestrian safety advice for students, parents and carers.

Get the Interview

Sun, 24 Feb 2019 20:05:49 AEDT

Parent Teacher Interviews

As communicated last week, the school will be hosting parent-teacher interviews on 2 April. This is an ideal opportunity to meet your child(ren)’s teacher and discuss progress over this term and work through any issues. The interviews can be booked via the parent portal which is accessible at:

https://web1.stpeters-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/portal

There you can select parent teacher interview bookings from the menu on the left and select a timeslot. Of course bookings are on a first come, first serve basis and teacher will be available across timeslots between 1pm and 6:15pm. Please try and make yourself available on this day. Between 1pm and 3pm, students will be taking part in a peer support reading and PE session.

Clean Up a School Day

As you may know, this coming weekend is Clean Up Australia weekend. This yearly event is aimed at developing environmental accountability as well as developing a sense of community. Our contribution will be to host a Clean Up a School day this Friday. Between 1pm and 1:40pm, students will be getting into House Groups and weather permitting will be directed to an area of the school where they will look to clean up the school. We request that you send your child on Friday in their House Shirts so that they can work in their these teams led by their House Captains.

Assembly - Swimming Ribbons and Badges

Tomorrow’s assembly will feature an item by the Goannas. In addition, it will feature the confirmation of our 2019 Student Representative Council and House Captains, including the handing of their badges. Additionally, ribbons will be handed out for our recent swimming carnival as per the list of places shown in last weeks newsletter. As we have lots to cover we will be starting a little earlier so please be ready to start by 2:20pm in or school hall. All parents and carers are most very welcome.

Book Club

Unfortunately, issue one of the book club was handed out last week and the final date to order through the Loop App has already passed. It is still possible to order but it will be via delivery to your home and sadly with additional postage costs. We are sorry that this has happened but fortunately Issue 2 will be available soon and it will be distributed as soon as it arrives.

Book Now! Comedy for a Cause - 9 March

This great event has the potential to be a great evening out as well as a big earner for the P&C and ultimately the school. Please spread the word, organise a group and book ASAP.

Swimmingly Good Day

Sun, 17 Feb 2019 21:53:36 AEDT

Staffing Changes

The school has recently had it confirmed that it is now being funded for six classes. St Peters has 65% of its students in the years K-2 which attract a higher entitlement. This has allowed for some changes in staffing that will enhance our learning support and functional flexibility as well as provide staffing stability for the Dingoes. From tomorrow the school welcomes a new Learning and Support Teacher: Ms Ama deGraft Johnson. Ama will work with Ms Cusack on a transfer of the learning and support role on Monday and Tuesday before taking on the role full time on Wednesday. Ms Cusack will become the Dingoes full time teacher on Wednesday. Dr Lavitt will move into a non teaching role though he will still supervise years 3 to 6 and will work on key school initiatives.

External Validation

This year St Peters PS will undergo the quality control reflective process of external validation. Based on the School Excellence Framework, this process will involve an external panel and much evidence to reflect on our current processes and where to go next.

School Photographs

St Peters Public School has its school photographs taken early in the year. This year these will occur on Wednesday 20 February. Envelopes for choice and payment were distributed 2 weeks ago. Please ensure these are returned to the school before Tuesday to allow the day to be organised.

P&C AGM

Also on 20 February, the school will be holding an AGM meeting in the school library at 7pm.

This is a great chance to see what the P&C is about and show your interest in helping out with our wonderful community.

Ron Hoening and Darcy Byrne Meeting

Again on 20 February at 3:20pm in the school library, Mr Ron Hoening - State Member for Heffron together with Mayor, Clr Darcy Byrne – Balmain Ward - Inner West Council will be attending a community meeting of anyone interested in discussing issues and concerns around WestConnex. All of our community is welcome and during the meeting, the school will provide child caring facilities to school aged children.

Scripture and Ethics

Scripture and Ethics will now recommence on Tuesday 26 February and not this Tuesday. This is due to the availability of our wonderful SRE teacher.

Get Informed

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:48:59 AEDT

Parent Information Evening - 12 February

This is a last reminder that the school will be holding a parent teacher evening at 6:30pm this Monday 11 February. Helping hands are providing child minding for enrolled families. You must contact them at: stpeters@helpinghandsnetwork.com.au or calling 0409 915 708 (messages may be left out of the normal OHSC hours). See you all there.

Chess

As indicated in an email communicated to year 1 to 6 parents last week, chess started last Wednesday and is now available for booking. Chess will be available for kindy children in term 3 and 4 of this year. This week chess will be on Tuesday to allow the swimming carnival to operate without disruption to chess.

School Photographs

St Peters Public School has its school photographs taken early in the year. This year these will occur on Wednesday 20 February. Envelopes for choice and payment were distributed last week. Please ensure these are returned to the school before the end of the week to allow the day to be organised.

P&C AGM

Also on 20 February, the school will be holding an AGM meeting in the school library at 7pm.

This is a great chance to see what the P&C is about and show your interest in helping out with our wonderful community.

Ron Hoening and Darcy Byrne Meeting

Scripture and Ethics

Scripture and Ethics will recommence at St Peters on Tuesday 19 February. Choices for SRE or SEE for existing students will be used from last year. If you wish your child to change please contact the school office by Wednesday of this week.

All Systems Go!

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 21:24:11 AEDT

Parent Information Evening - 12 February

The school will be holding a parent teacher evening at 6:30pm on Monday 11 February. This will be a chance to gain valuable information from the school and collectively meet your child(ren)’s classroom teacher. We will gather in the hall for a talk from Mr Lavitt about general aspects of how the school is setup this year before going to the place where your child will learn the most, their classroom. You may use this to ask questions.

We have spoken to Helping Hands and on this evening they will have a child minding service from 6:30pm through to the close of the evening at 7:45pm. This will be for students of school age and cannot include children who do not attend the school- although they need not be enrolled in Helping Hands. All students will be given an wristband that will identify them and a contact number.

As this service is limited, it will be necessary to register your child(ren). A note with the process for completing this will be sent home tomorrow.

Canteen and Ice Blocks

As indicated earlier in the week, the P&C is in the process of finding a replacement canteen service for the school. At this stage, negotiations with suppliers is taking place witha view to starting as soon as possible. Please stand by.

However, the P&C will be operating from this Friday an Ice Block stall which will require your child to have a small amount of money. Only one ice block will be sold per child for health reasons. If your child would like an ice block this Friday, please have them bring in a dollar.

Swimming Carnival

The school swimming carnival will be held on Wednesday 13 February. This year we were unable to book our usual venue as they would not answer our booking requests. As an alternative we have booked 4 lanes of the Annette Kellerman 50m pool. A note will be sent home to all students who turn 8 years old this year to invite them to the carnival. The note will ask for an honest assessment of their swimming ability. If they are capable of swimming a full 50m without stopping, they may race. A novelty period will be built into the event in the shallow end of the pool so that all students may have a chance to participate in some fun water games. The note will also request parent helpers for timekeepers.

Save the Date - Comedy Night 9 March

The P&C will be holding a comedy night fundraiser on the evening of Saturday 9 March. This is the inaugural Comedy for a Cause. Brace yourself for DINNER, DRINKS and ADULTS-ONLY ENTERTAINMENT as our hall plays host to family & friends of SPPS and the greater community. Grab your diaries and SAVE THE DATE: 9th March 2019 at 6.30pm. As indicated the event is not suitable for children.

School Photographs

St Peters Public School has its school photographs taken earlier in the year. This year these will occur on Wednesday 20 February. Our school photographer is local lad Martin Brady and he always does a fabulous job. Envelopes for this service will be distributed over the next few days. The envelopes require prepayment although all students photographs are taken and available for purchase later.

Scripture and Ethics

The Start of Something

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 20:56:59 AEDT

Classes 2019

Classes commence this Wednesday for year 1 to 6 students and after the Best Start Assessments are completed kindergarten students will start school. As indicated in presentation day the school will be forming 6 classes. While we wait to see what our final numbers are, we have committed to 6 classes to ensure that class sizes in K-2 are within the band of expected numbers and also to ensure that are classes are mostly across stages.

Tomorrow we will be forming five of our six classes with kindergarten students joining the K-1 and forming the K class on Friday. The classes will be:

The Koalas - Kindergarten - taught by Mr Stephen Park (commencing Friday)

The Echidnas - Year K/1 - taught by Mrs Helen Iriarte (Y1 Starting Friday)

The Bilbies - Year 1 - taught by Ms Rachel Davies

The Wombats - Year 2 - taught by Ms Kirsty McIntosh (Assistant Principal - K-2)

The Goannas - Year 3 and 4 - taught by Dr Natalie Cooper

The Dingoes - Year 5 and 6 - taught by Dr Neil Lavitt and Ms Kelly Cusack

We welcome Ms Rachel Davies and Ms Kirsty McIntosh to the school. They join our hard working team of teachers. Mrs Bishop will work Monday to Wednesday and Mrs Jenny Shi Thursday and Friday as support teachers.

Parent Information Evening - 12 February

Languages

Sadly Ms Yang has advised the school that she will not be available to teach this year. The school has taken the opportunity to consolidate on the new Korean language program it won a grant to seed and Ms Sonya An will teacher Korean for 1 full hour to each of the 6 classes. We are sad to see Mandarin go, but given the notice provided, for now we will not be able to provide this language.

Canteen

The P&C was unable to fill the position of Canteen manager to replace the position undertaken by Maria over the last years. A solution to this problem is being sought as a matter of urgency with the intention of providing an external provider with online ordering of healthy food items. Until this happens, there will be no canteen on Friday’s.

Holiday Work at the School

A substantial program of work was completed to the school this holiday with a complete $200,000 refit of air conditioning; a program of painting of some external areas, toilets on the oval and the hall space; a program aimed at improving accessibility; and finally a replacement of the dilapidated fence in the Silver Street lane way. There are still some minor areas to complete and so some workmen will be on site over the coming weeks. We also have a very small area of the main playground isolated with benches, pending a repair to be completed. We hope all this work creates a better school for all.

Chess

Chess will start again this term on Wednesday 20 February at lunch time. This term, bookings and payments will be made directly to the Sydney Academy of chess and open to year 1 to 6 students. Kindergarten students will be allowed to join in terms 3 and 4. A note will be sent home on Friday with the information about making bookings. We believe that chess went very well with the teachers very impressed with the progress made by all students.

Back to school

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 14:54:46 AEDT

The first day of Kindergarten and the return to school in the new year are busy times for your child – and for the entire family. To help you make the most of this time and enjoy the experience, we’ve compiled some useful tips and checklists. We want every student to be known, valued and cared for in our schools.

Our film #FirstDay2019 captures the excitement – and the nerves – of the rite of passage that is the first day of Kindergarten.

Video – Back to School 2019: First Day at Kindy

Duration – 1:00

Happy Holidays

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 13:01:22 AEDT

Happy Holidays

This Wednesday 19 December the school will finish for the 2018 school year. Teacher will be returning for a school development day on 20 December and the office will be open until 3pm on this day for the purchase of uniforms or payment of outstanding invoices.

After this time, the school will close until Tuesday 29 January when it will reopen from 8:30am for school uniform purchase. Students in year 1 to 6 begin on Wednesday 30 January. If you need to contact the school urgently, the school phone will be diverted and answered. We all very much wish you happy holidays. Whatever you are doing, we hope you stay safe, enjoy it and take time to spend some of the downtime with your hard working children. We’ll see you again in 2019.

Presentation Day

As we lead up to the end of year, our annual presentation day will be held from 9:15am this Tuesday 18 December in our school hall. Apart from the presentation of awards, we will be having some performances to break up the presenting of awards. Families are cordially invited to attend but we ask you to let us know if you are bringing a large contingent to the awards.

Volunteers Morning Tea

After the event, volunteers who have helped at the school are invited to a volunteers morning tea. The volunteers morning tea will be held this year in the Aora Meeting Room close to the school oval and gate. All volunteers who help this year are welcome to attend. We have tried to invite everyone who has helped, but we may have missed someone so please come along if you have helped around the school on working bees, P&C events, in classrooms or perhaps as an ethics teacher.

P&C Extraordinary General Meeting

After the volunteers morning tea at 12pm on 18 December, the P&C will be holding an EGM to discuss and vote on some items carried over from the past meeting including the school canteen.

Happy Holidays

After this time, the school will close until Tuesday 29 January when it will reopen from 8:30am. If you need to contact the school urgently, the school phone will be diverted and answered. We all very much wish you happy holidays. Whatever you are doing, we hope you stay safe, enjoy it and take time to spend some of the downtime with your hard working children. We’ll see you again in 2019.

The Penultimate Week

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 19:53:01 AEDT

Presentation Day

As we lead up to the end of year, our annual presentation day will be held from 9:15am on Tuesday 18 December in our school hall. Apart from the presentation of awards, we will be having some performances to break up the presenting of awards. Families are cordially invited to attend but we ask you to let us know if you are bringing a large contingent to the awards. After the event, volunteers who have helped at the school are invited to a volunteers morning tea. The volunteers morning tea will be held this year in the Aora Meeting Room close to the school oval and gate. All volunteers who help this year are welcome to attend. An EGM for P&C will be held after this to discuss the Canteen and other issues held over from the last P&C meeting.

Semester 2 Reports

Our teachers are putting the final touches to the Semester 2 reports. These reports are based on work completed in terms 3 and 4 of this year and report across the Key Learning Areas as well as Chinese. This semester we will be reporting about Geography rather than History. Teachers have attempted to provide for English and Mathematics an area of strength and an area for development as well as encouragement for how to help develop this area. The reports will be sent home in school bags on Thursday. They will also be emailed to parents and made available via the parent portal. The school follows closely the NSW Department of Education’s Policy standards detailed at:
https://goo.gl/NQmPZR but we provide a 3 point guide for achievement in Kindergarten.

Summer Sizzler

Many of the teachers on Friday night attended and enjoyed the fabulous Summer Sizzler event put on by the P&C. It was very enjoyable with lots of community engagement, great food, games and dance moves. Then there was the fun dunk which was well simply... Thank you to the P&C for such a great event. A letter from The P&C is included at the end of this newsletter.

Envirobank Collection

This Tuesday the school will be collecting its final Envirobank Collection for the week. Please ensure that you have your bags at the school by Tuesday morning.

Sizzle this Summer

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 19:45:17 AEDT

Summer Sizzler - This Friday

This Friday the P&C will be hosting the summer sizzler event. Designed to be a family event, everyone is welcome. There will be food for sale, lots of games and events to take part in as well as the chance to dunk some year six and staff members. The P&C is selling wristbands for which a note has gone home to purchase access to all rides except the fun dunk. We hope to see you and your family there.

End of Year Fun Events

Every year the school hold a fun day for all students. On this day we bring in the bouncy castle in again and run a set of tabloid activities for fun. All year K-5 will take part in this and a note will go home this Monday as there is a small cost. While the K-5 students have their fun day, year 6 students will be going into the city and Darling Harbour where they will visit Wild Life, Sea Life and Madame Tussauds. Again a note will go home tomorrow. Finally year 5 and 6 students will be invited to our annual year six farewell at Yiamas restaurant in St Peters.

Library Books

Last week was the final week of borrowing from the school library. We are now looking at all library books to be returned. This can happen by bringing in books to the classroom in library bags after which they will be returned by classroom teachers to the library. This should take place before Thursday this week. On this day letters for any outstanding library books will be generated and sent home.

Presentation Day

A Shade of Improvement

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 20:27:17 AEDT

Better Shade Coming

Thanks to the hard work of the P&C and in particular Mrs Kate Hafey, the P&C has won a grant that will be used to install a shade structure in the courtyard area close to the hall. This will provide some much needed additional shade for students in this area and also serve to provide an additional assembly place for students at the school. The next steps will be to organise the work to take place after liaising with the Departments Asset management Unit. The school wishes to thank the P&C for its hard work in this endeavour.

Air Conditioning Upgrades

The school over the summer break will receive a complete replacement of the air conditioning plant system. This replacement program is part of a large government funded program that will result in substantially improved air conditioning for the school which will be more efficient and easier to maintain. St Peters is fortunate to be in the first wave of schools to receive the upgrade.

Other Improvements

St Peters will be receiving some other improvements over the holiday period targeted at providing a better environment for students with vision impairments. These improvement will help with safety for all students and will also commence this summer. Additionally, Room 8 will once again be divided with a sound proofed wall to make way for student capacity increases.

Staff Changes

Recently we advised you of our new Assistant Principal. At the same time the school ran another merit panel for a classroom teacher to start full time in 2019. We are pleased to announce that Mr Park was successful in being offered the position and has accepted. Ptevious to this he was temporary. He will join Dr Lavitt, Dr Cooper, Mrs Iriarte, Ms McIntosh, Ms Caponas, Ms Yang and Ms Cusack in our 2019 teaching team. Ms McSpadden will be taking leave in 2019 and Ms Garner will continue in her itinerant vision support role. We are also happy to advise that Ms Sonya An will teach Korean at the school next year one day a week.

What's Your Time?

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 19:26:51 AEDT

UODPS Public Speaking Competition

We don’t normally look back at past events in the newsletter, but last Wednesday, St Peters hosted the Grand Final of the UODPS Public Speaking Competition. It was a big day for the school and our staff and stage 3 students were absolutely amazing in their roles as compères, logistical crew and as timekeepers. The feedback from parents, and staff from other schools was fantastic. Our students always rise to these occasions and show the soft skills necessary to help out in these competitions. Well done to all it is a every proud moment for the school.

Mandarin Craft Activity

On Friday 30 November, Ms Yang has organised for a Mandarin Craft Activity at the school. She has invited a Chinese handicraft art group to come in and teach children about making traditional Chinese zongzi (rice dumpling) craft. This workshop is an engaging way for children to participate in Chinese customs. There will be a $9 fee for the incursion and this will take place during standard Mandarin lesson time on this day. A note will be sent home and emailed tomorrow about this.

Before School Supervision

We have seen a rise in the number of students being dropped off and not supervised prior to the beginning of school at 8:30am. After 8:30am you are welcome to drop off students in the playground and leave as we provide a teacher on playground duty. If you need to drop off students before this and are unable to stay and supervise students, please use our before school service Helping Hands. They have capacity in the mornings for casual walk in’s as long as you are enrolled in the service. This can be done free of charge. The fee is $20 for BSC but with the government rebate it is down to about $10.

Presentation Day

Just a reminder that we have our Presentation Day assembly on Tuesday 18 December. This is a big morning for the school. Please add this to your calendar. We will have capacity for all families as we have purchased some more chairs. However, we request that you limit the number of your family attending to two and to contact us if you have any more than this wanting to attend.

2019 school budget allocations

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 12:24:46 AEDT

Like all NSW public schools, this week we will receive a School Budget Allocation Report with our funding for 2019. The report will help us manage our total budget delivered through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM).

The RAM supports schools through needs-based funding to ensure a fair, efficient and transparent allocation of funds. Our school has the flexibility to make local decisions based on the specific needs of our students.

We will use our 2019 funding to support students and improve educational outcomes. The school executive will continue to work with the school community as we implement the school plan using this needs-based funding.

Learn more about the 2019 RAM funding.

Speak Up...

Sun, 11 Nov 2018 20:40:35 AEDT

UODPS Public Speaking Competition

This Wednesday 14 November, St Peters will play host to the Grand Final of the Ultimo Operational Directorate Primary Schools Public Speaking Competition of which Dr Lavitt is the competition Chair of the in 2018. Nearly 250 schools (including St Peters Public School) have participated in the competition this year moving through school and network competitions to participate in the finals on Wednesday. We are expecting a higher volume of traffic into the school car park on Wednesday so Mr Bird will be helping by guiding cars to park on the top end of our school oval. Our stage 3 students will be helping out with the final to ensure that it runs smoothly and that all of our guests know where they are going.

Assistant Principal for 2019

St Peters this year had enrolment numbers that allowed it to qualify for an Assistant Principal. These are executive teachers who have greater responsibilities that classroom teachers while themselves having a class that they have to teach. This year, Mrs Iriarte has been acting in this position and the school has been using small school supplementation funding to resource her higher duties.

Last term, following acknowledgment of future school growth, the Department of Education released the requisition for the school to form a panel and advertise for an Assistant Principal position. This was advertised just before the end of the holidays and the panel worked very hard to short list, contact references and then interview candidates. The panel unanimously chose to offer the position to Kirsty McIntosh who subsequently accepted the position. Kirsty will commence her tenure at the beginning of next year. She has many years of experience teaching including tenures at Belmore South PS, Strathfield North PS as well as teaching in the UK. We welcome her to St Peters and look forward to benefiting from her considerable experience and enthusiasm. We also thank Mrs Iriarte for her hard work and professionalism acting in the role this year. She will continue to teach at St Peters next year.

Remembrance Day

This Sunday 11 November marked the 100 year anniversary of the end of hostilities on the western front in the First World War. This terrible war included the contribution of many ANZAC service persons and the loss of life of some of them. As a mark of respect, the students tomorrow morning at 10:55pm will be assembling in front of the flag pole which will be held at half mast. The last post will be played followed by a minute of silence to show our respect. The flag will be raised to its full position after this.

Term 4 week 4 News

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 20:57:12 AEDT

Positive Behaviour for Learning

The students will be looking to double up their points this week for working well with expectations. Teachers will be looking at movement around the school as a focus and assuming this is all done well we’ll double the percentage for this week to 20% instead of the normal 10%. Students are working towards a disco for a treat at the end of this term.

Kindergarten Orientation 2

We had a great Orientation session last Thursday with lots of eager children attending the first session. Our teachers were greatly enthralled at how well the session went and Dr Lavitt provided lots of information to the new parents about transition and starting school. We have our second and final session this coming Thursday where parents will be provided with some information about how to support their child’s learning in Literacy and Numeracy in the lead up to and during the first years of school.

Time for The Courtyard Gate

The timer for the courtyard gate will be fitted this Tuesday and we are hoping that this will finally allow access to the school via this gate from Wednesday. The gates opening times will be 8:20am to 9:30am and 2:15pm to 3:30pm. The gate can be opened by simply pulling down on the handle at these times.

P&C Fundraising

Our wonderful P&C is just getting going with its Fundraising activities for this term. The first of these will be the Envirobank recycled bottles and cans collection that concludes a week tomorrow. Then on Friday 7 December the P&C will be holding its Summer Sizzler fundraiser from 6:30pm to 9pm. It should be lots of fun. Finally you can make the purchase of your Christmas Tree easy by ordering a Christmas Tree and having some of the money go towards the P&C. Details of all of these are included in this edition of the newsletter.

Koalas Assembly

Don’t forget that our assembly for the Koalas is at 2:30pm this coming Wednesday. This was moved due to RAW Art. Our merit certificate assembly will also be this Monday at 2:50pm due to hot weather last Friday resulting in a cancellation.

Kindergarten Orientation Begins

Sun, 28 Oct 2018 21:57:27 AEDT

Kindergarten Orientation

This week sees the start of our kindergarten orientation sessions. We understand that 27 students will be joining us for the orientation sessions. They will arrive at 9:30am on Thursday and be split into two groups going into Dr Cooper and Ms McSpadden’s rooms. Parents will be taken to the school hall where they will receive an information session from Mr Lavitt. The students will be picked up by 10:45am and return next week. Year 6 students will help out this week in the two orientation rooms. While this happens, the Koalas and the Echidnas will be in the library with the Ms Plummer and Mrs Bishop. The year 3, 4’s and 5’s will move to the Dingoes room with Ms Cusack and the wombats will be with Mr Park. It is important to note that these are in no way reflective of classes for 2019. The change in schedule will not affect Got Game with the Goannas enjoying Got Game at the same time.

Koalas Assemblies And RAW Art

Our RAW art program got off to a big start this last Thursday and students really enjoyed themselves with some great artwork on classroom walls as well as hanging up from ceilings. Unfortunately due to matters beyond our control, we have had to move our RAW Art dates for weeks 3 and 4 to Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 November. This has meant that we have also been forced to move the date of the Koalas Assembly to Wednesday 7 November at 2:30pm. Additionally, there will be no Scripture/Ethics on Tuesday 6 November. Apologies for these late changes.

Save the Date - Presentation Day

Our school presentation day represents an important day in the school calendar where students receive recognition for their learning in 2018 and the school gets to celebrate a great year of learning and teaching. This year our presentation day will be on Tuesday 18 December between 9:30 and 11:15am. The session will include performances from some classes, a combined 3-6 choir and our band ensemble. Parents and carers are all cordially invited. This year due to the capacity restrictions in the hall we will be operating a RSVP program to ensure that all families get to attend. More details will be provided in the next two weeks.

Timeless Gate

I am sure that many of your will have seen our new school gate into the courtyard. While the gate looks great, we at this stage don’t have a functioning timer which was part of the original design. While this issue is being worked out, please continue to use the old route.

Term 4 - Week 2

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 13:56:16 AEDT

Assemblies

Our fortnightly assemblies start this week with the Goannas providing an item and the House Captains leading the proceedings. All parents are welcome to attend the assemblies at this point before the end of school. We will also take this opportunity to welcome the news Helping Hands coordinator Claire Donohue to the school. She will be taking over from Adam who we congratulate on his promotion to a bigger centre at Newington school.

Canteen

Canteen returns again this coming Friday 26 October. As usual, orders should be made before school in the Canteen.

RAW Art

RAW Art will be starting this week and currently we are collecting fees for the program. Please ensure that you send in your payment notes and either make the payment online or place the money in an envelope and place it in the notes box on the left side as you go into the school office. After this week the program will take a 2 week hiatus to allow kindergarten orientation to operate.

Courtyard Gate

A few weeks ago we advised that the gate into the courtyard would be replaced with one that is timed to open at drop off and pick up times. This gate is being fitted this Tuesday (weather permitting). Following its fitting and programming, the gate will allow entry to the school through this route in the morning and afternoon to families and their children. The gate can also be used as an exit route at any time and so it will have a high handle to allow adults to open and exit. We will advise as this route becomes available.

Swim Scheme

Regretfully the school has had to cancel the Swim Scheme for this year. We were originally booked for weeks 7 and 8 of term but due to a department mix up we had our booking moved to weeks 9 and 10. This would have clashed significantly with some end of year activities and would be restricted to 7 days rather than the 10 from the original program. This coupled with the fact that we only had 60% of the children we needed to make the program costs reasonable has meant that we have decided to cancel the program. We will try again next year.

Welcome Back to Term 4

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 15:26:49 AEDT

Welcome to Term 4

Welcome back to term 4. As reminded at the end of last term there is a Monday start to Term 4 as school development days are held at the end of the term rather than the start. We trust that you had a great break and had a chance to get away from the somewhat damp weather in Sydney, and much of NSW. The teaching staff are all raring to go again for another term of learning. We have a busy term ahead. We’ll endeavour to keep you posted on all events happening this term through the newsletters, Facebook, emails and letters home.

Canteen

As with the start of all school terms, there will be no canteen in the first week. Canteen will commence again in week 2 on 26 October. Please ensure you pack a lunch for your child on 19 October.

RAW Art

RAW Art has become a regular incursion activity for our students for many years and this year will be no different. With specialist art teachers providing structured activities, RAW Art is an opportunity for students to extend their understanding of using materials in the creation of art pieces. The artworks created are kept for a display after the last session where parents can come and see all the art together before taking them home. There is a charge for RAW Art and a note will be sent home tomorrow.

Chess

Chess will be continuing this term for all students in kindergarten to year 6. If you have previously enrolled in the chess club, you will have to re-enrol for term 4. The form for this is attached to this newsletter. Families who wish their children to join chess can do so by filling out the form. Please let the school know you have done this so that we don’t miss you on Wednesday when chess starts.

Got Game and Other Sport

Got Game and dance was a real hit last term and this term we’ll be upping the energy levels even more with the beginning of gymnastics. Hilary is the teacher for term 4 and gymnastics and all lessons will be taught in the hall. Class sport will continue to be taught on a Tuesday and so please keep an eye out for any changes to that in the week ahead in learning (returning next week). Friday PSSA has finished for the year and at this stage there is no gala days planned. We are, however, booked for swim scheme which will start towards the end of the term. More details will emerge through the term.

Languages Abound!

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 20:15:38 AEST

Korean Coming to St Peters Public School

In 2016 St Peters Public School introduced Mandarin as a language other than English to be taught in the school. Since then, all classes at St Peters enjoy having lessons in Mandarin every week by the enthusiastic Ms Yang. It has been very successful and has led to increased interest in the school as evidence based research shows that learning other languages is very beneficial. The intention was to increase this opportunity for students and we are very pleased today to announce that St Peters Public School has been successful in applying for Korean Plant-A-School funding.

This is a 4 year commitment to fund 1 day a week of Korean Language teaching at St Peters with 2 years being paid for by the Korean Education Office and 2 years then being funded by the school. Consequently, students at St Peters in 2019 will benefit from learning two Asian languages simultaneously and the benefits of appreciating broader Asian culture. Dr Lavitt will this Wednesday afternoon attend a signing ceremony at the Korean Education Office in the city.

Do it Right Day

This week St Peters will hold its first ‘do it right day’ to continue our focus on positive behaviour for learning (PB for L). Do it right day is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of expectations of how to be safe, be respectful and be a great learner at school. Throughout the day staff and House Captains will conduct spot checks in corridors, bathrooms and classrooms to ensure that all students are putting into practice what they have learnt in term 3 during PBL lessons. To place extra importance on this day students, have the opportunity to earn a bonus 10% on our PBL column graph. Providing we can do it right this week that extra 10% can ensure we fill our graph and celebrate with a movie afternoon this Friday. Good luck everybody and remember the teachers will be watching.

Assuming students are successful in achieving the 100%, a movie treat will be made available for students. For years K-2, a G rated movie choice will be provided whereas for 3-6 a PG choice will be made available. An ‘opt out’ note from the PG movie will be sent home tomorrow with 3-6 students.

Canteen Pasta Day

This Friday the canteen will be providing a special offering, the canteen will have on the menu Rigatoni pasta with tomato and basil sauce, which we will be prepared fresh on the day in the canteen. They will also be providing tasty cheese as an optional extra. Cost will be $3 per serve. A booking form is attached to this newsletter and a copy of the order form will be sent home tomorrow.

Happy Holidays

With this being the final newsletter of the term. All of us at St Peters PS would like to wish you a very happy holiday. Helping Hands vacation care program is attached to this newsletter for you to use. We’ll see you again in October.

STEM Share

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 18:50:27 AEST

STEM Share

The Department of Education has this year developed a concept called STEM Share. This initiative is designed to facilitate schools to stimulate the teacher of Science Technology Engineering Mathematics through kits focused on elements of Virtual Reality, Coding, Robotics and 3D printing.

This week, St Peters will be receiving a 3D printing kit that the staff will be learning how to use this week. Next term, students at St Peters will be participating in learning activities related to 3D printing. The intention is that St Peters will use the STEM Share concept to professionally develop staff and then establish our own permanent STEM resources.

Parent Teacher Interviews

This Tuesday 18 September our teachers will be holding parent teacher interviews with all families who have booked. It is not too late to book with interview slots still being available for most class teachers. In the interviews, teachers will be discus progress this term, following on from the reports sent home at the end of last term. Any significant issues that arise from the meeting may result in additional meetings being arranged so that the issue can be fully explored. On this day we will be swapping recess and lunch to allow the 1pm start. While teachers are meeting with parents students will be moving into their peer support groups and will do some reading and fundamental movement skills activities.

Tell Them From Me

Every year the school and the NSW Government’s Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation survey parents and students within government schools. The results of these surveys are invaluable to the school and the department in providing a way of understanding the way in which parents and students feel about the school. The results can then be fed into decision making and help define how we move forward with changes. The 2018 survey is open at: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/spps

Please take the time to go to this link and fill out the survey - your voice is important.

SRC Presentation at Koalas Assembly

The SRC have been working with classes on designs for the upgrade of play areas on the school oval. Funding for this upgrade is being provided to the Department of Education Asset Management Unit by WestConnex. SRC representatives have had meetings related to the concept of a new play areas, as well as the possible associated equipment and other matters with experts. They have also worked hard with their own class teacher and classes in talking about and creating designs. Tomorrow at our whole school assembly the SRC will share progress related to this. So as to be sure that enough time is made available, we will commence our assembly 10 minutes early at 2:20pm.

Get ya PJ’s On!

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 20:40:31 AEST

Get ya PJ’s On!

This Tuesday 11 September St Peters Public School will celebrate Pyjama Day. Organised by the SRC, Pyjama Day is an annual event that raises funds to support children in foster care.

For a gold coin donation, students may wear pyjamas to support this charity. So that they are safe students must wear shoes, and avoid slippers, to school. We are looking forward to seeing many colourful pyjamas. Save your ‘onezies’ for home wear; we will wear pyjamas on 11 September.

The SRC is looking forward to raising money for The Pyjama Foundation and seeing great PJ’s next week. Thank you for your continued support of SRC events and for supporting Pyjama Day 2018

Hats Needed and Labels Wanted

As the sun starts to become more powerful through the spring, please ensure that your child has a school hat. All students who do not have a hat will be expected to play in shaded areas though we urge you to consider that fact that even shaded areas are not without UV penetration. We encourage students to wear sun protection and will continue to encourage students to put it on. Furthermore, we are happy for students to wear eye protection in the form of shades but encourage you to teach your child how to manage these. As the weather heats up and cools down student regularly discard jackets and then forget them. Putting your child’s name on the clothing in multiple places will help us to help you by returning clothing to its owner and save you the expense of purchasing additional uniform.

Parent Teacher Interviews - Book Now

Another reminder to book now for our parent teacher interviews are held at the end of terms 1 and 3. This year these will be held on Tuesday 18 September. Ten minute appointments will be held between 1pm and 6:15pm on this day and will be soon bookable via the parent portal. A sheet explaining this process is attached to this email.

The Canteen Needs You!

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 18:58:02 AEST

Assembly - Merit Certificates

Last week we were unable to hold our merit certificate assembly due to the inclement weather. The handing out of merit certificates will now take place during our Monday afternoon assembly this week. The assembly will also feature the Echidnas and due to the absence of the Dingoes while they are at their camp, the assembly will be run by year 4 students from the Goannas.

Canteen - Needs You

As we bid farewell to our wonderful canteen operator, Maria Demirel, at the end of this year, the P&C would like to call upon any parents, grandparents or friends of the school who would be interested in taking over this rewarding and important role from 2019. Responsibilities would include (but are not limited to): working with the canteen sub-committee to develop the menu & offerings, structuring for the future, coordinating weekly orders (in person and potentially online), shopping for auxiliary supplies and operating the canteen as per the current hours on one day each week. In addition, if you’re keen but only able to offer assistance on a occasional volunteer basis, we would love to hear from you! Expressions of interest can be emailed to stpeterspandc@gmail.com which will be redirected to the sub-committee (who will then contact you directly).

Contacts on Monday and Tuesday

Dr Lavitt and Miss Cusack will be enjoying the Stage 3 camp with the Dingoes on Monday and Tuesday. During this time Mrs Iriarte will be relieving Teaching Principal. Any emergency messages should be directed to her.

P&C Meeting

The P&C will be holding their monthly P&C meeting this Wednesday 5 September at 7pm in the school library. All parents are welcome to join us.

Parent Teacher Interviews - Book Now

Book now for our parent teacher interviews are held at the end of terms 1 and 3. This year these will be held on Tuesday 18 September. Ten minute appointments will be held between 1pm and 6:15pm on this day and will be soon bookable via the parent portal. A sheet explaining this process is attached to this email.

The Challenge is Nearly Over

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 19:27:45 AEST

Premiers Reading Challenge

With the end of book week on Friday we all had a fabulous time sharing books that we treasure. Our Scholastic Book Fair was a hit with lots of visitors and many sales. It is now closed and will return again next year. This week is the last week of the Premiers Reading Challenge for 2018. Students in K-2 have been reading books in class over the past few months and these books have been added to your child’s Premiers Reading Challenge records. They will be validated this week. Children in years 3 to 6 have been encouraged to read their own PRC books and have entered these themselves. Over 90% of students have already completed the challenge.

Y-PEP Program

One of St Peters strategic priorities is Healthy School. A pillar of that is quality PDHPE programs that support with our greater community. The Y-PEP program is run by YWCA and focuses on sense of self, power in relationships, recognising when power is being used against oneself and protective strategies. The program is aligned to the PDHPE syllabus and constitutes our child protection for this year. There are 4 weeks of lessons starting on 5 September and then with 2 weeks facilitated by YWCA representatives. The final week is once again delivered by classroom teachers.

Stage 3 Camp

Next week students from years 5 and 6 will attend their yearly school camp. The school alternates in even and odd years between Canberra and a adventure camp. In previous years the school has attended camp with Tempe Public School but as both schools grow in numbers this has become more difficult. We have moved to change our camps to two days with one night as well as going to camp as St Peters only. This year we are going to the Outdoor Adventure camp at Morisset where students will be participating in lots of fun outdoor activities designed to build leadership and participation skills while having lots of fun.

Parent Teacher Interviews - Book Now

Our parent teacher interviews are held at the end of terms 1 and 3. This year these will be held on Tuesday 18 September. Ten minute appointments will be held between 1pm and 6:15pm on this day and will be soon bookable via the parent portal. We will advise when this is possible this week. If parents go onto the parent portal you will be able to book your parent teacher interview.

Find Your Treasure

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:02:53 AEST

Find Your TREASURE - Book Week

Starting this weekend the Children’s Book Council of Australia will be celebrating Book Week for 2018. The occasion is about celebrating children’s literature and this years them is, ‘Find your TREASURE.’ Every year we celebrate this Book week by having our student’s connect with their world of books. This year we will be celebrating in two ways:

1) Students are asked to bring in a book through the week which they treasure. This special book will be used to connect with and discuss. Teachers will also be bringing in books through the week and talking about this at morning assemblies.

2) On Wednesday 22 August, our senior year 5 and 6 students will go down to the fabulous St Peters Community Pre School and join the children there as well as any students from the Playgroup to listen to some wonderful books read to them by our year 5 and 6 students.

Our Scholastic Book fair has had to be delayed as we have not received any of the books for this at this stage. We will be looking into this during the week.

Monday Assemblies

Our Monday afternoon assemblies are now back on track for every fortnight on Monday’s starting this week. At the open day assembly both the Dingoes and the Goannas performed and so we will be starting with the Wombats this week. The schedule for the rest of Term 3 is thus:

Monday 20 August - Wombats
Monday 3 September - Echidnas
Monday 17 September - Koalas

We look forward to seeing you at these assemblies.

Athletics Ribbons

At this weeks assembly ribbons will be presented from last terms Athletics Carnival. The ribbons that are presented are a perfect opportunity to celebrate our peers success. Students this year will be presented ribbons based on the three fastest times run or longest lengths thrown for individual age groups. In some cases there was more than one race for an age group. All races were timed and the ribbon winners will be based on these contestant times and not their place in their individual race.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our parent teacher interviews are held at the end of terms 1 and 3. The interviews are an opportunity to discuss progress of your child(ren) half way through semester 2. This year these will be held on Tuesday 18 September. Ten minute appointments will be held between 1pm and 6:15pm on this day and will be soon bookable via the parent portal. We will advise when this is possible this week.

Get your League On

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 19:40:42 AEST

Get your League On

This Wednesday all students will be participating in the ‘NRL Backyard League Program’ in conjunction with Federal Sporting Schools program. Sporting Schools is a $200 million Australian Government initiative designed to help schools to increase children’s participation in sport, and to connect them with community sporting opportunities. The program equips students and teachers with the tools to play a non-contact version of rugby league in any setting while delivering important education, health and welfare messages that are linked to the new Health & Physical Education Australian Curriculum. This program will run on Wednesdays on a similar timetable to Got Game. This program is funded by Sporting Schools to cover all costs.

Please note that the Backyard League program will replace school sport on a Tuesday. Can all students please wear their house uniforms on Wednesday and Thursday and not on Tuesday

Find your TREASURE - Book Week

Students will be asked to bring in a book through the week which they treasure. This special book will be used to connect with and discuss. Your classroom teachers will discuss this with you.
On Wednesday 22 August, our senior year 5 and 6 students will go down to the fabulous St Peters Community Pre School and join the children there as well as any students from the Playgroup to listen to some wonderful books read to them by our year 5 and 6 students.
We will hold our 2018 Scholastic book fair which will be open for sales on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 8:30am and 9am as well as 2:55pm to 3:30pm.

School Education Week 2018

Sun, 05 Aug 2018 20:04:21 AEST

School Education Week

Education Week is a statewide, annual event, held during the first week of August, to celebrate NSW public education. The week communicates the achievements of public schools, their students and the value of public education. The theme for 2018 Education Week is: Today’s schools – creating tomorrow’s world. It celebrates how NSW public schools are equipping young people with the skills and capabilities they need to thrive in a rapidly changing, globalised world. This is not just about using technology, it is about providing students with the resilience, growth mindsets and ability to foster and develop relationships that will be necessary in the new world going forward.

At St Peters we celebrate this with the launch of our Peer Support program for 2018 which focusses this year on relationships. On Wednesday at Open Day we will be opening our doors to all of our past, present and future parents, friends and families to come and attend a special assembly, visit classrooms or tour the school if a new parent and also to enjoy a sausage sizzle at lunch in our courtyard. We look forward to seeing you there on this special day.

Help Please - Cake Stall - Open Day

On St Peters Public School Open Day, Wednesday 8 August, the SRC will hold a cake stall to raise funds for the RSPCA. The RSPCA cares for animals who are sick and often uncared for. The RSPCA will be able to use the funds we raise at school in the additional cost of treatment and care of these animals to give them a second chance.

We are asking that, if you can, please bring cakes, biscuits or slices to school on Open Day for the SRC to sell and raise money for the RSPCA. These may be left in the staffroom in the morning.

Please can you also label items with ingredients used.

We are hoping to be able to give many animals a second chance here at St Peters by helping the RSPCA do their job.

Celebrating National Tree Day

Sun, 29 Jul 2018 19:41:11 AEST

Last Friday our principal Dr Lavitt replanted a tree with respect for Mr Bannerman who provided many years during the 1980's and 90's following his retirement to help look after the grounds at St Peters. Another tree unfortunately died and this is a replacement planted on national Tree Day. The tree should be visible to all who enter the grounds of the school.

Peer Support 2018

For the past 3 years the school has implemented Peer Support at the school. Peer Support provides school communities with an evidence based, peer led approach to enhance the mental, social and emotional wellbeing of young people. It offers the older students at the school the opportunity to become peer leaders who will work with groups of younger children according to a theme which this year is keeping friends which focusses on relationships and will support students to develop the skills and knowledge to maintain friendships and interact with each other in a friendly and positive way.

This Wednesday and Tuesday our year 4, 5 and 6 students will be involved in a preparatory training workshop run by Dr Cooper who will be running the Peer Support program at the school this year. Miss Cusack will be taking the Koalas on these days. The training is designed to focus on the strategies that student will require to run weekly workshops with the children that will be held on Tuesday’s after lunch. Together with reflection and formative assessment by the teachers supervising the groups, the work will contribute to the Personal Development Health and Physical Education reports this semester. Years 4, 5 and 6 students will still participate in Got Game on Thursday.

Jeans for Genes

This Friday the SRC are running there next fundraiser for the year. Jeans for Genes day. Jeans for Genes was established in 1994 by Children’s Medical Research Institute to fund revolutionary research that helps diagnose, understand, and find cures or treatments for conditions affecting kids, including genetic diseases, cancer, and epilepsy.

1 in 20 kids is born with a genetic disease or birth defect. On Friday wear some denim (jeans or something else) or at least wear something sky blue (not our uniform) and bring in a gold coin donation. All funds will go to Children’s Medical Research Institute.

Hitting the Term Running

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 19:25:34 AEST

We hope that you all had a great break from the routines of school time and that you all had a chance to enjoy the splendid though chilly in the evenings weather. Our staff all met today for their staff development day where they discussed some changes for Positive Behaviour for Learning and an initiative to relaunch it across the school.

We have some changes in staffing and structure with Dr Cooper now moving from her Learning Support and Dingoes role to becoming the Koala’s teacher for the remainder of the school year. The learning support role and Dingoes teacher role has now been filled with the school welcoming Miss Kelly Cusack to the school. Kelly has taught casually at the school and brings experience of stage 3 to the school. She will be working closely with Dr Lavitt and Dr Cooper to ensure the transition is smooth. Please say hello and welcome her to our lovely school when you see her. Additionally, Ms Ross is currently on leave so please say hello to Mrs Heather Finnan who has only just retired from her role as School Administrative Manager at Canterbury Girls High School. She kindly agreed to help us out and will be at the school for the next four weeks.

Canteen

There will be no canteen this coming Friday. This pause will allow the P&C to restock the canteen. Please ensure that your child comes to school on Friday with a lunch as no orders can be made at the canteen this Friday. The canteen will return on Friday August 3.

School Open Day

The school’s annual Open Day will be held on Wednesday 8 August. All carers, parents, and other family/friends are welcome to attend our assembly and later classroom visits. All prospective Kindergarten parents for 2019 are invited and will enjoy a school tour. The event culminates in a BBQ in our courtyard for lunch.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

The school has revised its behaviour expectations for Positive Behaviour for Learning. They have been simplified and will be taught in class. This week we start with play areas to be safe, respectful learners.

Happy Holidays

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 16:52:34 AEST

Happy Holidays

This week is the last week of Term 2 and thus Semester 1. Some of you have taken the opportunity to go overseas or north to warmer locations and we hope that you have a marvellous time away. The school office will be closed from 3:30pm this holiday and will not reopen until Monday 23 July on the school development day. All students return on the day after, which is Tuesday 24 July. All our learning programs recommence then and your child will be required to attend.

Staff Changes and Holidays

This Thursday will be our fantastic General Assistant, Mr Campbell’s (Glenn’s) last day at St Peters. He already has another position at another school which he shares with us and wishes to reduce his total work hours to pursue other opportunities. It is very sad to see him go but we are extremely pleased to see Mr Bird joining our team. He has been shadowing Glenn for the past few weeks and will be working a 3 day fortnight at the school to help maintain our grounds.

Additionally, Mrs Ross will be going on leave for 4 weeks from the start of Term 3. She will be replaced by Mrs Finnan who is the ex School Admin Office of Canterbury Public School. She has agreed to help us out while Mrs Ross is away and we thank her. Finally, Ms McSpadden will be away on Long Service Leave for the first 2 weeks of Term 2 and will return on 3 August. The Echidnas will be taught during this time by Ms Plummer.

Optus Digital Smarts

Students from years 4 and 5 will this Wednesday be travelling by bus to the Optus headquarters in Ryde where they will enjoy a day learning about digital citizenship. Being a child venturing into the world of online safety is a big issue and this workshop will help these children start to learn these skills.

Mark the Date - School Open Day

Your Move!

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 20:30:51 AEST

Term 3 Chess - Now Open to Kindergarten

With the holidays approaching it is almost time for parents who have children in the chess program to enrol their students in the chess program for Term 3. The cost for the 10 week term is $90 and it includes a chess lesson and the chance to play games against each other each Wednesday lunchtime.

Helping Hands Vacation Care

The vacation program for Helping Hands is now available and attached to this newsletter. It is necessary to enrol your child in the Helping Hands program at the school before you can access this program. Remember that the fees that are charged for the program attract a government rebate. For more information about this, contact Adam at: stpeters@helpinghandsnetwork.com.au

Crazy Hair Day

Don’t forget that Tuesday is Crazy Hair Day to raise funds and support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The SRC will be spraying hair using donated hair colours for a gold coin donation and at lunchtime two of our teachers will be sprayed according to a design made by themselves.

Lost Uniforms and Drink Bottles

We have a large collection of drink bottles and other lunch containers near the staffroom entrance. If your child has lost a bottle come and look t see if it is here. Additionally, now is the time to check your child’s uniform has readable labels. As temperatures fluctuate, uniforms a often put down and lost.

Crazy Hair Day is Coming

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 20:06:19 AEST

Crazy Hair is Coming

Each year at St Peters our school community celebrates Crazy Hair Day to raise funds and support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Each year our students excel themselves in their creativity with hair styles on this day. We’re looking forward to seeing what amazing styles are worn in 2018.

Crazy Hair Day will be on Tuesday 26 June.

The SRC encourage everyone to come to school with a creative, crazy and fun hairstyle. There will be certificates awarded in each class for the craziest hair and classes will be involved in activities, organised by the SRC, that support awareness of the cause.

Athletics Carnival

As reported at the beginning of week 6, the school will be holding its Athletics Carnival at the school on Thursday 28 June. Please watch out for a note that will go home this week. The note will include some details about the day, as well as the option for your child to purchase a sausage and a bottle of water for their lunch. Should the weather be poor on this date, we have a backup date on the following Thursday in week 10 - July 5.

First Aid

We are often asked what our procedures are for accidents at school as well as what happens when a child is injured. All of our teachers are trained in emergency care which covers providing care to children who are injured in a variety of ways from falling over, being bitten by animals or spiders and from issues with choking. Additionally, the school’s First Aid Officer Mrs Bishop looks after our supplies ensuring that we are well prepared for injuries. All our teachers take first aid kits to the oval or courtyard playground while care in the morning playground is provided in the staffroom. Where injuries are to the head or neck or serious falls, parents will be contacted directly and immediately. We do not do this for minor injuries. We take our duty of care very seriously and work hard to ensure your children are cared for in the very best way.

Safety First

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 18:57:47 AEST

Hats

Please ensure that your child has a hat and knows that they need to wear it at all times in the school playground unless they are in areas of shade. If lost, a home hat will be acceptable for one or two days while a school hat is sourced. They aren’t allowed for longer periods so please purchase a school hat.

Toys

St Peters Public School is one of a number of schools that has a relaxed policy on students bringing in toys. Our smaller size has facilitated this and our staff work hard to ensure that it remain trouble free. We do, however, now have concerns on two fronts. Firstly, beyblades, which appeared earlier this year have started to become a problem. Many of the younger children are obsessing over them and this has resulted in an increase in the number of incidents involving them. We are also concerned that children’s beyblades have gone missing due to being left mistakenly causing distress. We have thus taken the decision to place a ban on beyblades at school. Any beyblades brought to school will be confiscated and passed directly to the parent/carers/OSHC picking the children up.

Allergies and Anaphylaxis

All public schools in NSW follow strict guidelines to manage and minimise the effects of anaphylaxis in schools. All staff are trained yearly in the theory and practical steps to deal with allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. Parents are also required to notify the school if their child has an allergy or anaphylaxis. St Peters has taken steps in recent years to better minimise the risks of anaphylaxis. This includes eating inside, preventing the sharing of food and taking steps to advise parents not to make food containing allergens such a peanuts. We will always be vigilant for new risks and our staff our trained to respond with asthma puffers, adrenaline auto-injectors and we are trained to undertake CPR and use defibrillators. Please ask if you have any specific questions.

Report the Carnival

Sun, 03 Jun 2018 20:17:42 AEST

Car Park

Many of you will have noticed that the school car park has become busier. The St Peters Office has now grown with more employees being located at the site. There are now four Director School Leadership positions located at the site with accompanying support staff. We are aware of the demand on the car park.

In an effort to attempt to improve the situation, our GA Mr Campbell will be painting vehicle lines in the car park. Hopefully these will improve the efficiency with which the on site users park and thus allow for a greater capacity. The line markings will be completed for the beginning of school on Tuesday 12th June.

School Reports

As indicated in the parent teacher interviews held at the end of term 1, school reports will be sent home on the last day of term 2. The reports constitute the reports for semester 2 and will report on all key learning areas for term 1 and 2. The reports themselves are currently being prepared by your child’s teacher. The reports will be sent home with your child as well as being emailed and made available in the parent portal.

Athletics Carnival

The school will on 28 June hold its first on-site athletics carnival for all students aged 8 and over this year. We will be taking advantage of our large oval to have an improvised running track created as well as having Got Game help us to run Shot Put, High Jump and Discus throwing competitions. Simultaneously, students aged 5 to 7 this year will take part in a fun day of runs as well as everyone enjoying a sausage sizzle. More details will be released soon.

Premiers Debating Challenge

Our school debating team will get into action this week after enjoying a workshop last week at Lewisham public School. We wish them luck with their upcoming 4 debates over the next 6 weeks.

Attendance and Information Evening

Sun, 27 May 2018 19:44:20 AEST

New Parent Information Evening

A final reminder that on Tuesday 29 May at 7:30pm in the school library there will be an information session for parents with children who will be ready to start school in 2019. The session is designed to allow you to find out more about the school, how it operates and what the next steps for enrolment are. Should you know anyone who would benefit from this session please let them know.

Attendance and Holidays

Every year we have families that approach us about taking their children on holidays - sometimes overseas. Indeed many years ago, schools were able to grant exemptions for the periods of absence. These exemptions are now only possible for children participating in creative arts or sporting events where they receive additional schooling as part of the period away. However, it is possible for periods of 10 days or more to ask for periods of leave. Typically, for leave to be granted a form available from the website or school office needs to be filled out and accompanied by an itinerary, copies of plane or transport tickets, and a cover letter agreeing to work with the school to organise some work during the period away. The school agrees that such trips can often be educational in their own right and in other cases they offer opportunities to reunite with family members overseas. We expect that the period of leave attempts to use the inter-term holiday periods to minimise the impact to student attendance.

The school does, however, not agree to applications where no attempt has been made to use the holiday periods or where the holiday is repeated every year. We will also be concerned where a student has already got a poor record of absence and where we believe this has impacted on their academic progress.

Term 2 Week 4 News

Sun, 20 May 2018 19:12:47 AEST

Drama Club

Last week on Monday Inner West Drama began their drama club at St Peters. This program is an extra curricular program and their is an additional cost associated. However, Inner West Drama are offering a free first week to any interested students. The classes take place on school grounds and Inner West Drama have also arranged to take children to Helping Hands should you need their care later. This is an exciting development at St Peters - please support it. Register at the website on the poster attached.

Safety on Site

We are ever vigilant of safety on the school site and during the time that we have workers operating on the Aora Building and painters painting parts of the school we request that parents be more careful with student safety. Last week a parent gratefully reported a worker operating unsafely. This allowed us to act immediately to remind all workers of operating safely on the site. Should you have any concerns, please ensure that you let us know so we can act to ensure ongoing safe practices.

Zone Cross Country Carnival

The zone cross country carnival will be held on Friday 1 June. St Peters will be submitting a team to meet at the location of the event. The team will be selected based on the results of our school carnival held late last term. There are qualification times for the zone carnival and these will be used to determine who represents the school. A note will be sent home this week.

New Parent Information Evening

A reminder that on Tuesday 29 May at 7:30pm in the school library there will be an information session for parents with children who will be ready to start school in 2019. The session is designed to allow you to find out more about the school, how it operates and what the next steps for enrolment are. Should you know anyone who would benefit from this session please let them know.

Aora Building Refurbishment

Sun, 13 May 2018 20:53:22 AEST

Aora Building Refurbishment

Some of our families of older children will remember that we once hosted a library on the site in our C Block. This building is located next to the car park and for the last few years since the closure of the Aora Library, it has been used for community users at the site including the a playgroup. The building is in need of some restoration work and we are pleased to announce that the building is from Thursday this week to be renovated and converted into a conference room for the Education Director and St Peters Office. This will provide a valuable meeting space for the department.

The renovation work will require the site to be sealed as flooring is removed. The waste removed will take place at weekends, outside of school hours. While the conference room will no longer be available to school community users, it will be used at times by the school for special events. Community users will be hosted elsewhere at the school site and this will include the community playgroup that will now take part in the hall on Wednesday mornings.

New Procedures for Notes

We are pleased to announce that the school has new procedures for the easier delivery of notes to the school office. On entering the school office and facing the fish tank on the left hand side there is now a crème coloured cabinet which has holes in the top. The cupboard below is locked and secure. We would like notes, and notes with money to be now placed in this box and not given to teachers or school admin staff. We will collect the notes from here daily allowing them to be addressed.

Student Activity Statements

Student activity statements are now due to be paid to the office. Thank you to all those who have paid. If you have not, please pay these now or contact the office should you need special consideration.

Path to Learning

Thu, 10 May 2018 17:22:44 AEST

We Have a New Path

Over 9 months in the making, St Peters Street now has a path joining the pedestrian gate to the path from the car park into the school. This was constructed over the holiday period and now means that students and families will be able to enter from St Peters Street without having to enter through the car park gate. At a time when Church Street is currently closed, this offers a new safer route into the school. The gate will be open between 8am and 4pm. The path has been paid for by the consortium building the New M5 after the school raised concerns about the limitations that closing Church Street presented to families entering the school.

Staff Changes

As indicated last term, the school has now sought the services of a new teacher to fill the Learning and Support and Dingoes Classroom Teacher role vacated by Ms Cho. Dr Natalie Cooper who wishes to be called Ms Cooper by students and community has now started (pictured with Ms Garner to the left). Ms Cooper has many years of experience of teaching as well as many years researching multi-modal texts. We look forward to benefiting from her expertise as an educator.

ANZAC Day Service

Our ANZAC Day service is scheduled for this Wednesday 2 May at 2pm in the main playground. As part of the ceremony we will be asking students to put flowers at the base of the flagpole as a sign of respect. Please have your children bring in flowers for this purpose. ANZAC Day is celebrated as a day of remembrance and teaches us the importance of peace, respect in honour of the servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives in the pursuit of this. Please attend should you wish.

Chess Club

Chess club will continue this term for all year 1 to 6 students who wish to continue. Enrolments are still open via the enrolment form which should be made directly with Sydney Academy of Chess. In term 3 we will be opening up the opportunity for kindergarten to join a beginners class. Parent will be contacted about this at the end of this term.

Term 1 - Week 11 News

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 15:20:44 AEST

ANZAC Day Service

Our ANZAC Day service is scheduled for this coming Friday. A decision has been made to move this important service to the beginning of term 2. It is customary that students in the Dingoes class bake ANZAC cookies for the event. This cannot be effectively achieved on Friday with canteen in operation. Consequently this event has thus been moved to Wednesday 2 May. Please put this in your diaries for 2pm. As part of the ceremony we will be asking students to put flowers at the base of the flagpole as a sign of respect. ANZAC Day is celebrated as a day of remembrance and teaches us the importance of peace.

Helping Hands Vacation Care

With the holidays looming, now is the time to decide and plan on events for the kids during the holidays. Our before and after school operator - Helping Hands have an extensive 10 day vacation care program where every day has a theme. Additionally there are a number of excursions where the students will go off site. The cost before rebates is $65 and what better way than to give the kids a planned day of activities, especially if you have to work. We have attached the form to the newsletter. You do have to enrol your child into Helping Hands, but this is free of charge.

Attendance

Please ensure that you advise the school on the day that your child is let us know the reason. A phone call or email to the school will suffice for this. If this is not possible, an explanation needs to be provided in writing to the school on your child's return or the absence needs to be explained in the parent portal. Any absence for sickness that is 2 days or more requires a medical certificate or where there is a large number of single day sickness days off in any 4 week period. Please remember that attendance at school is a requirement and that it is your responsibility and not your child to explain why they were absent. Teachers will follow up on non-attendance via email and letters home, addressed to the parent carer. Please respond to these quickly so we can update our rolls.

Happy Holidays

At the end of the week the school breaks for its Autumn holiday break. During this time, the school office will be closed. It will reopen on Monday 30 April for enquiries and uniform purchases. All students return on Tuesday 1 May. We all wish you a very happy holiday break.

Term 1 - Week 10 News

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 15:15:06 AEST

World Autism Month

Below is a message from one of our wonderful students; Zeph.

Hi everyone. April is autism awareness month.

Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD, is a huge spectrum of different types of Autism. These differences make us all unique from each other and if you meet one person with ASD then you won't meet another like him or her. My Autism is unique to only me.

We can have hard days but also good days. My good days are when I see something differently to others and share what found out and usually surprises everyone. Unlike most people, I have to work hard to cope with ordinary everyday sensory input, that doesn't really affect most people, but If people around me know more about ASD then it can help me and others on the spectrum better cope and fit in.

Neurodiversity is really a fancy word for "differences" people have in their brains.

We are ALL different but we are all people who want to have friends and be included.

Thank you for reading. Autism, different not less! By Zeph

To celebrate the month and importantly inclusivity and diversity we will be discussing this in class and showing a short video that Zeph kindly put together.

Cross Country Carnival Important Information

This Friday we will be holding our annual cross country carnival. Weather permitting the carnival includes all grades being involved in some running. Thank you to all parents who have volunteered for this event. Mr Park will be in touch with you to let you know what is happening as well as to ensure that we have the correct mandatory child protection documents completed from you. This requires you to complete a form and provide a copy of a drivers licence or some other form of identification equivalent to 100 points. Students are reminded that they are to bring a change of footwear and socks to the carnival as the route is often dewy and feet may get wet.

Parent Teacher Interviews

With Parent Teacher Interviews taking place on 10 April and for some parents this and next week, we want to communicate the intention of these interviews is to provide some valuable progress feedback for your child. For kindergarten parents the updated best start report will be passed onto you so highlight progress - current as of end week 9. Each parent has been provided with a 10 minutes time slot and we work to a 15 minute interval. Please keep to the time and understand that if there is anything that does require greater discussion it will be possible to make another interview time to discuss this further. All the teachers look forward to meeting you.

Week 9 News

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 15:10:30 AEST

Ron Hoenig MP Visit

This coming Thursday we are to have the pleasure of our state member for the NSW parliament Ron Hoenig MP visiting the school. While Ron was not able to come to our last presentation day, he has supported the awarding of a citizenship award at the school and upon being asked to come and visit the school once again he was very happy. Ron will be spending a couple of hours at the school and during that time we will be showing him all of our classes as well as reminding him of our amazing facilities. It is also timely to show him the effects of the work happening around us and how as a community we have forged ahead despite the disruption. Our P&C will also be meeting with him.

Cross Country Carnival

On Friday 6 April we will be holding our annual cross country carnival. Weather permitting the carnival includes all grades being involved in some running. For children turning 8 and over this year, races will be timed and those with the fastest times will be entered to represent the school in the South Sydney Zone Cross Country Carnival in term 2. Student who turn 5, 6 and 7 will also be running one loop of our circuit and children in kindergarten will run with buddies from grades 5 and 6. There will also be some novelty activities for those children that they will undertake while the older children are running. We welcome any help from parents to supervise the circuit. It helps ensure the running of the competition is effective and that children are safe. The letter that was handed out earlier.

P&C Meeting

This Wednesday is our P&C's first standard meeting of the school year. They will be meeting in the school staffroom at 7pm and gate at the front of Church Street will be open. Please remember that if you wish to ask Mr Lavitt any questions they need to be provided in advance. Simply email the school with the questions and I will answer them at the meeting.

Silver Street Gate

We apologise for the issue of the Silver Street gate not be open on time - there was an issue with the clock in the mechanism. We have now corrected the issue and enabled the gate to open on Monday's before assemblies at 2:10pm to allow for access to assemblies.

Week 8 News

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 15:05:39 AEST

Harmony Day

This Wedenesday is Harmony Day at St Peters. Harmony Day is a great way for students to learn about the world with their friends and get involved in this year's theme: everyone belongs. We all know about the success stories with multiculturalism in Australia but it is never enough to know this, we have to celebrate this once in a while. However, harmony is not just about multiculturalism, it is about inclusivety, respect and belonging, irrespective of someones background, their culture or beliefs.

This Harmony day, the SRC has been working hard to organise with the 5 classes a modest celebration. On Wednesday, students will be invited to wear to school something that they feel identifies them. It may be something from a traditional costume or just the colours they like the most. In the past we have chosen orange as a colour, but it is not just about orange as all colours have equal worth. We are raising money on the day so please bring a $2 coin to donate or more if you see the worth. The monies will go to a good cause of the children's choosing.

In addition to this, each class will be creating a small display for the playground to celebrate the day. At the end of the day on Wednesday you may wish to have a look in the main playground (weather permitting) to see what each class has done.

P&C Book Fair

On Sunday 25th, the P&C will be holding a book fair in the school hall. The event is a fundraiser where a range of preloved books of a range of genre will be available for sale. A flier is included in the newsletter so please make an effort to come along and see what is available. If you can volunteer to help on the day, please contact Ms Kate Hafey on 0421 33 7170.

Ms Cho

Ms Cho has advised the school that she is unable to continue teaching at the school due to personal reasons. We thank her for her time here and wish her all the best in the future. Her last day at the school will be Thursday 29 March, before the Good Friday break. The school had sought the services of a new teacher and we are pleased to announce that Dr Natalie Cooper will be joining the staff at the beginning of term 2 in late April. A casual replacement teacher will cover for weeks 10 and 11.

Week 7 News

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 08:31:48 AEST

Scholastic Book Club Ordering

This Monday the first issue of the 2018 Scholastic Book Club will go home with your children. Scholastic are a company that publishes and provides books aimed at children and schools. Their book club program provides a published catalogue that goes home at St Peters six times a year. The issues contain items that can be ordered. Those items are then sent to the school and distributed to students. Scholastic donate credits to the school for all books ordered and these are used by the school to purchase books that are put into the school library and classroom reading collections.

Existing parents will be aware of the order process. For new parents, however, it is important for you to know that this process is done entirely online by the Scholastic Book Linked Online Ordering Payment (LOOP) platform. Apps for LOOP can be downloaded from the Apple and Google Play app stores. Register through the app or via the weblink:

Once registered you choose you school, add your child, and choose their class. The books get automatically added to the schools order for each issue and verified. You pay for the books online through the app.

Please note that we are unable to take paper orders and thuse you must use this process.

Student Activity Statements

This week a letter will be sent home to all parents comprising the student activity statements for 2018. This year these statements are for the ENTIRE YEAR and include items for Mathletics, Reading Eggs, Got Game and other fees that vary depending on grade. The fees on this statement will be scheduled to be paid by the end of Term 1. The statement also contains an item which is a voluntary contribution. This has been frozen once again at $20. The same as it was since 2015. Thank you for paying these fees early. If you believe you are not in a position to service this fee for your children, we appreciate your honesty in approaching us to discuss how these can be paid. Thank you.

Uniform Sales

The office is increasingly becoming aware of uniform sales that are taken with a view to paying them online and then are not payed. Please be aware that when these are not payed we haveto chase payment. If this trend continues, Mrs Ross has advised that the school will have no option other than to expect point of sale cash payment for all uniform sales.

Week 6 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

Premiers Reading Challenge

This week the Premiers Reading Challenge opens for all students. St Peters believes strongly in all students taking part in the challenge and welcomes the opportunity for students to borrow books from the school library, the local library or also from book collections at home.

From the PRC website:

‘The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.'

For kindergarten to year 2, PRC books are read as part of the school reading program in class and are then automatically added to the children's list by their classroom teacher. Students in years 3 to 6 will be expected to manage their own lists and they will be given time to add their books during library. These students will be expected to borrow at least one book per week from the list from the school library. The table below shows the number of books that children need to read.

Challenge	Number of books you must read	Minimum number of PRC books	Maximum number of Personal Choice books	PRC book lists you can read from
K-2 (Yellow Dots)	30	25	5	K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-9
3-4 (Pink Dots)	20	15	5	3-4, 5-6, 7-9
5-6 (Orange Dots)	20	15	5	5-6, 7-9

All our books in the library have dots that show the level of the book. Students in years 3 and 4 are expected to borrow pink dots and above. The PRC continues until its close on 31 August. Certificates are for successful completion of the challenge are presented at the end of year presentation day.

Parent Teacher Interviews - Bookings Now Open

A reminder that this terms Parent Teacher Interviews will be on Tuesday 10 April. Appointments are now available to be booked via the parent portal. At the end of Week 3, letters were sent home to all new parents to advise how to register with the portal and add their children. A booking guide is included at the end of this newsletter. You may use this information to book appointments. Should you have difficulty with this, please contact the school office.

Week 5 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Parent Teacher Interviews - Bookings Now Open

This terms Parent Teacher Interviews will be on Tuesday 10 April. Appointments are now available to be booked via the parent portal. At the end of Week 3, letters were sent home to all new parents to advise how to register with the portal and add their children. A booking guide is included at the end of this newsletter. You may use this information to book appointments. Should you have difficulty with this, please contact the school office.

Clean Up a School Day

Clean up Australia day is a fixture in the Australian calendar. Setup in 1989 an ‘average Australian bloke' - Ian Kieman had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard - Sydney Harbour. Many years later the Clean up operation has evolved and schools are invited to clean up their own grounds to contribute to the value of community and teach children the value of respecting their environment. On Friday between 10.40am and 11.10am St Peters students will work in their house groups to clean up the school grounds.

P&C AGM and General Meeting

Thank you to all those parents who came along last Tuesday to the P & C AGM and general meeting. The school has a new P&C president. Dr. Gavin Watkins will take up the role and will be helped by Kate Hafey who will take the vice-president role. Gavin is a new parent at the school and is sure to bring lots of ideas - thank you Gavin. The next P&C meeting will be held on 28 March at 7pm in the school staffroom. While the main positions have been filled, help is still needed for sub committees.

SRC and House Captains

The SRC and House Captains have now been elected. There are two House Captains for each of house Loyalty, Enthusiasm and Fairness, and two SRC reps for each grades from year 1 to 6 - a total of 10 SRC members. The SRC will this year be led by Ms Iriarte and McSpadden and will meet at a lunchtime to be announced. Both the SRC and House Captains will receive their badges at the assembly this Monday.

Week 4 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Parent Teacher Interviews

The school runs parent teacher interviews twice a year. These occur at the end of term 1 and terms 3. We do this to provide a point of feedback between the school, students and parents in the middle of a semester of learning. As school reports are released at the end of the term, this allows a discussion to take place that is proactive for learning. We will also be trialling this term 3 way student-parent-teacher interviews for students in year 1 to 6.

This terms Parent Teacher Interviews will be on Tuesday 10 April. Appointments will soon be available to book via the parent portal between 2pm and 6:15pm. Please put this date in your diary or calendars.

Best Start Feedback

At the beginning of the year, all kindergarten students worked with Ms McSpadden or Garner to complete the Best Start Assessment. The results of this testing was very important for the teachers in planning learning for the first few weeks of term. This coming Friday parents of kindergarten students will be receiving the feedback reports. All students will continue to be tracked on the literacy and numeracy continua. Additional feedback reports will be provided to parents of kindergarten students at the Parent Teacher Interviews on 10 April and at the end of term's 2, 3 and 4.

P&C AGM and General Meeting

This Tuesday at 7pm in the school library the P&C will be holding its yearly AGM and initial general meeting. All existing parents and carers are welcome to come to the meeting and join the P&C. Come along and find out how you can help the school by helping the P&C. Helping Hands will once again be providing child care for parents with children of school age.

Band Ensemble

At last week's assembly, Dr Greg Shapely, Ms Caponas and several students demonstrated some of the instruments that are used in bands. In order to seed the development of a self sustaining band program at St Peters, the school is intending this term to establish an ensemble of student players Several parents have indicated an interest in this. An expression of interest note will be sent out this coming week to gauge interest formally.

Week 3 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Library

Library will be commencing for all students this week. Students library day is indicated in the week ahead in learning overleaf. Student in Kindergarten and year 1 will be able to borrow one book this semester and those in years 2 to 6 - two books. Library bags are required. Kindergarten students received their bags at orientation. No bag - no borrowing and if books are not returned no borrowing.

Parent Information Evening

A final reminder that our parent information session where you will get a chance to meet your child's classroom teacher as well as gain more information as to what is happening in the school this year is this Monday night. Helping Hands will be providing child care to children whose parents have indicated that they need it while we are in classrooms. Please come to the school hall before 6:30pm. Our teachers are keen to meet you and talk with you about how their classes are setup.

Canteen

Canteen started last Friday and we understand that their was some minor confusion for which the school apologises. We have attached to this newsletter a letter from Ms Demirel who has coordinated the canteen for many years on behalf of the parents. This explains the menu and how items may be ordered. Canteen is optional and families may elect to bring in their lunches. Students should all bring in crunch and sip and perhaps a snack for recess in the afternoon. All lunches are eaten at the end of the class period (11:45am) in class. This allows us to focus on hygiene, the monitoring of eating and managing potential allergens.

Scripture (SRE) & Ethics

Thank you to all that returned the scripture class opt in/out note. For those who opted out we will be able to offer primary ethics. All non scripture students are eligible for primary ethics but families may opt out of this to do non scripture. This will start this Tuesday for stages 1 to 3 (Y1-6) where we now have confirmed teachers for all the students opting to do SRE and primary ethics. For kindergarten we are still assessing numbers and exploring what program we can offer. We intend to start in week 4.

Chess

Chess will start this coming Wednesday. Parents are invited to enrol their children directly with The Sydney Chess Academy using the details on the note included with this newsletter. Please ensure this is done by Monday night so that we can properly access numbers and appropriate supervision required. Chess is open this semester to year 1 to 6 students. Kindergarten may join in semester 2.

Week 2 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Parent Information Evening - Child Care

The school will be holding a parent teacher evening at 6:30pm on Monday 12 February. This will be a chance to gain valuable information from the school and collectively meet your child(ren)'s classroom teacher.

We have discussed the issue of student participation with Helping Hands and they have agreed to look after up to 29 students of school age on this date. A note will be sent out tomorrow morning to request parents indicate their need to have their children looked after in order to attend the session.

Canteen

Canteen will start on Friday this week. The P&C runs the canteen through 100% voluntary help. If you are able to help out in the canteen at all on a Friday, help is always welcome. Information will be provided this week to new parents on the canteen - how it runs as well as items for sale.

Just a reminder that in the interests of student well being, the canteen will no longer be offering fruit juices to students. This is following numerous teacher concerns about student behaviour on Friday's following canteen. Ice blocks will be continued to be sold at the beginning of lunch on the school oval.

School Photographs

On Wednesday 21 February our local photographer Martin Brady will be in to take school photographs. Martin has been our photographer for many years and his unique style results in photographs that are outstanding and personalised. Tomorrow we will be sending out the envelopes used to decide what photographs you want. Every child has their photograph taken on the day as well as class and school photographs. Family photographs are optional.

Assemblies

Our Assembles for this year will once again be on Wednesday's with our first assembly on Monday 12 February. This year asssemblies will all be led by the House Captains and the SRC from year 5 and 6. Ms Caponas will prepare a musical item from each class for each assembly starting with the Dingoes.

Welcome to 2018

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

Classes 2018

Classes commence this Monday for year 1 to 6 students and after the Best Start Assessments are completed kindergarten students will start school. We have over 30 new enrolments starting this year and assuming that all students present to school we are expecting over 110 students at the beginning of the year. We will thus be forming 5 classes. These will include a kindergarten class, a kindergarten/grade 1 class as well as a grade 1 and 2 class. In all cases where a grade is split, we urge parents to understand that decisions of class divisions are made to best cater for students. We do not split children according to academic ability, but we do consider which students will be best suited for a class. All teachers at the school will differentiate learning to all learners. If you have any questions about this, please don't hesitate to contact Mr Lavitt.

Tomorrow we will be forming four of our five classes with kindergarten students joining the K-1 and forming the K class on Friday. The classes will be:

The Koalas - Kindergarten - taught by Ms Garner (commencing Friday)
The Echidnas - Year K/1 - taught by Ms McSpadden (Y1 Starting tomorrow)
The Wombats - Year 1 and 2 - taught by Mrs Iriarte
The Goannas - Year 3 and 4 - taught by Mr Park
The Dingoes - Year 5 and 6 - taught by Mr Lavitt

We welcome Ms Cho will be commencing working at the school tomorrow and she will be providing English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D), and Learning and Teacher Support (LaST) to students requiring support as well as supporting the Dingoes. Mrs Bishop will work Monday to Wednesday and Ms Plummer Thursday and Friday as support teachers.

Parent Information Evening - 12 February

Changes to Lunch Time

To allow the school to fit in a 5 class RFF roster in for Mandarin and Music, a minor change to lunch times will be made. Lunch will now commence at 11.10am and eating time will now be 15 minutes at the end of lunch from 11.15am to 12.00pm.

Canteen

Canteen will start in week 2 on Friday's. In the interests of student health, the canteen will no longer be offering fruit juices to students. This is following numerous teacher concerns about student behaviour on Friday's following canteen. Ice blocks will be continued to be sold at the beginning of lunch on the school oval.

Chess

Chess will start again this term on Wednesday 14 February at lunch time. This term, bookings and payments will be made directly to the Sydney Academy of chess and open to year 1 to 6 students. Kindergarten students will be allowed to join in terms 3 and 4. A note will be sent home tomorrow with the information about making bookings. We believe that chess went very well with the teachers very impressed with the progress made by all students.

Swimming Carnival

The school swimming carnival will be held on Tuesday 6 February from 10am to 12.30pm. The carnival is open to all students who turn 8 and above this year. Thus older year 2's will be eligible to enter. A note will be sent to all students turning 8 and above tomorrow.

Week 10 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Thank You

Our 2017 school year is almost over and what an amazing year it has been. I would personally like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in this my third year as Teaching Principal of this wonderful school. We started this year with almost zero growth from 2016 with massive effects from the WestConnex development rippling through our community. Although I work at the school I cannot begin to understand what it means for those who live here through this transformation.

We are a small school and make big of this in our sales pitch to our community, but all of our staff work extremely hard to ensure that our students have all the advantages that big schools offer. Sport, creative arts, sustainability, science and technology as well as the learning of a language all feature in the opportunities this small but passionate school offers. Our children enjoy one on one access to technology and the advantages of using the most current technology tools that don't just substitute for traditional methods, they modify and redefine it.

None of this, however, could be achieved without your wonderful children. The staff and I have loved teaching them and seeing their learning grow over the last year. As they progress to next year and go up a year or leave the school we feel sure that they will continue to grow. I wish all of you a safe, happy and enjoyable summer break and I look forward to seeing many of you in 2018.

Changes

As we move into next year there are inevitable changes as staff move on to pastures new. Ms Sheridan has elected to take a second year of maternity leave and thus will not be returning to St Peters in 2018. Mr Park, Ms Garner and Ms McSpadden will all return in 2018 but Ms Charlton is moving on as she seeks new adventures in Queensland in 2018. We wish her well but welcome to the school Ms Cho who was selected through Expression of Interest from Carlingford West Public School. Additionally, Ms Iriarte will be rejoining us again for 2018. She is currently working at Punchbowl Public School. Finally, Ms Plummer will be joining us as an SLSO two days a week and Mrs Bishop returning for three days a week. Mr Lavitt will continue as Teaching Principal for his fourth year.

Presentation Day

Presentation Day is this Thursday and ALL student must wear full white top school uniform and black footwear. No sports uniforms. We also request that you ensure that children are not late on this day to minimise disruption. We look forward to seeing as many of you on the day. Please be in your seats by 9:10am. We will begin by 9:20am.

Week 9 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

PSSA 2017 Review

This past Friday was our final day of PSSA for 2017 and what a way to finish with a win for both our junior and senior softball teams. It has been a fantastic year for sport at St Peters Public School. This was our first year competing in winter PSSA, regular training sessions were held before school, we competed in the first gala day for our zone, two sporting clinics were held at school and a fantastic number of students competed at zone carnivals in 2017.

Personally, I would like to thank each student who got out of bed early for training on Wednesday mornings and furthermore represented our school in sport. I can say that every student has improved their skills in a range of sports and have had a fantastic time been a part of a team. A further thank you to the parents who also got out of bed early to drop their children at training and for allowing students to participate in the great events we took part in this year.

Next year there will be further opportunities for our students in a variety of sports and I look forward to seeing younger students participate in clinics at school and for students entering into stage 2 to represent our school at both gala days and PSSA.

Once more, well done to all students for your achievements this year, I am extremely proud of your commitment and efforts at training and on the sporting field. Mr Park

Spell-a-thon Fundraiser Final REMINDER

Our Spell a thon fundraiser is now in the process of collecting sponsorship money. Even if we did not receive a sponsorhip form the results of your child's spell a thon will have come home or will come home. All sponsorship money is due by this coming Thursday 7 December. Please support this fundraiser. We are already doing so well and will announce the total at Presentation Day.

Reminder: Presentation Day

Next Thursday 14 December from 9:10am to 11:10am we will be holding our annual Presentation Day. This is a memorable event in the school calendar where we review our year and present awards to students. The emphasis is also on it being an enjoyable experience and each class will be providing a performance as well as items from Helping Hands, our band ensemble and Mandarin.

School Reports

The staff are putting the finishing touches to school reports and they will be sent home this coming Friday 8 December. They will also be emailed and made available on the Parent Portal.

Week 8 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

Library Books!

Thank you so much to everyone who has brought in library books this week. If you have books outstanding you will have received a note with the names of the book. Please find these books and hand them to the school office - not your child's classroom teacher. If we do not receive the books, after the library stock take, you will be provided with a letter showing the replacement cost of the books. We ask that you pay this so that our library can continue to offer the amazing range of books for all students.

Spell-a-thon Fundraiser REMINDER

Our Spell a thon fundraiser is now in the process of collecting sponsorship money. Even if we did not receive a sponsorhip form the results of your child's spell a thon will have come home or will come home. All sponsorship money is due by Thursday 7 December. Please support this fundraiser.

Hall Backing Curtain

To improve our hall, a new backing curtain will be installed on Monday. A local business was chosen to make and install the curtain which will be St Peters blue and consist of three sections. A top section will overlap the curtain rail for the lower two sections that themselves gather at two points to allow access to the canteen and Helping Hands table. We hope that this will improve the appearance of our hall. Come to the Goanna's assembly this Monday at 2:30pm to see the curtain.

Toys at School

The staff at St Peters are becoming increasingly concerned at the number of toys that are being brought to school. The toys are causing issues between children and mostly around ownership and toys being used by others inappropriately. Many larger schools do not allow toys at school and St Peters is looking at revising this for next year. The staff have decided to make this a topic for the SRC. They will be discussing this at a meeting this week. However, until our rules are revised, only one toy may be brought per child. No electric games or toys resembling weapons may be brought and toys must not contain sharp edges.

RAW Art Display

Tomorrow at the Goannas Assembly we will be displaying the artwork from the RAW Art sessions. Please come along to the Assembly. We will also be displaying the perspectives from Sydney Park work completed by years 1 to 6 during Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle's visits.

Week 7 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

Please Return All Library Books!

All library books are due by Thursday this week. If they have not already done so, please have your children bring in all library books and hank them to your child's class teacher. Reminder letters will be sent out this Thursday for all outstanding books.

Spell-a-thon Fundraiser REMINDER

Our Spell a thon fundraiser is reaching its testing date with the test of words due on Monday along with the return of the forms. Once the tests have been completed, forms will be returned to parents so that money can be collected from sponsors. The deadline for money from sponsorhip forms is Friday 1 December. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser.

ARCO - Anti Racism Contact Officer

At St Peters Public School, we recognise the detrimental effects of racism in the school setting, and value the cultural and linguistic diversity of our community.

The NSW Department of Education is strongly committed to combat all forms of racial discrimination in its schools and worksites. "The department rejects all forms of racism. It is committed to the elimination of racial discrimination in NSW – including direct and indirect racism, racial vilification and harassment – in all aspects of the learning and working environment. Links to the Department's Anti-Racism Policy and Multicultural Education Policy are included for your information.

Anti-racism policy - http://bit.ly/2j8YJWO

Multicultural Education Policy - http://bit.ly/2j7Jmht
Ms Garner has been appointed as the Anti-Racism Contact Officer for St Peters Public School. Please see Ms Garner if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms Caponas

This Monday will be Ms Caponas' last day at St Peters for 2017. She is heading off on leave and a trip to Europe. Ms J Mclachlan who is a teacher at Dobroyd Point PS will be relieving for her in the coming weeks and will be at Presentation Day on Thursday 14 December.

Reports

School reports are currently being prepared for semester 2's learning. These report on work taught and assessed through semester 2 and are designed to provide feedback on this learning. These reports will be handed out at the end of week 9 to all students.

Week 6 News

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Chess - Additional Opportunities to Play

Chess was a great success on Wednesday with nearly 34% of the school participating in chess. Two teachers from Sydney Chess Academy attended the event and the group was split into a couple of groups based on their familiarity with the game.

On Tuesday and Thursday next week students at the beginning of school from 8:30am to 9:00am will be given an opportunity to play chess in the Dingoes classroom off the main playground.

Spell-a-thon Fundraiser REMINDER

Our Spell a thon fundraiser is now underway. Sporsorship forms are now with children and we encourage you to use the time until the end of the week when the forms are due back to gain more sponsors.

A reminder that a prize of a $50 gift card will be awarded to any student who enters the spell-a-thon and raises over $1 in sponsorship money. The draw will be on Presentation Day 14 December. Students will have word lists at their level and they will be given opportunities to work with them in class.

Mandarin Craft Incursion

Miss Yang has organised for all students to be given an opportunity to experience some and on Chinese cultural experiences. She has organised Mandarin Handicrafts to come in a teach the children about how to make Chinese Knots. These are lucky symbols in China. A note will go home this coming week.

End of Year Activities

We have a number of activities planned for the end of the 2017 year. After the success of the fun day at the end of last year we have decided to repeat the fun day and have a range of activities planned for the last Monday of term - Monday 11 December. On the same day, year 6 will be going to the city for a trip to Sea Life, Wild Life and Madame Tussauds. After our Presentation Day, our year 5 and 6 students will be attending the annual year 6 farewell at Yiamas Greek Restaurant in St Peters. Finally on the final day the P&C will be running a disco between 1pm and 2:30pm before our annual year 6 arch.

Library

Our library borrowing program has now finished for the year and we will be expecting books now to be returned over the coming 2 weeks. This is so that a stock take of books in the school library can be undertaken.

Your Move!

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

Chess

Thank you for all of the expressions of interest for chess at St Peters. We are happy to report that it will go ahead starting on Wednesday 8 November at lunch time between 11am and 11:40am. Assuming we get the same numbers that expressed an interest, there will be 2 teachers from Sydney Chess Academy teaching. Mr Lavitt will also be there to help. A note will be sent home with those students who expressed an interest tomorrow. Payments will be made to the school.

2nd Kindy Orientation Session
Our first orientation session was held last Thursday and it was a resounding success. Next years kindy students enjoyed and action packed session hosted by Ms Garner and McSpadden. With over 30 children present, they were helped by our year 6 students. We would like to thank parents for coming in for the session and staying for the information session run during it. The second and final session is being held this Thursday at the same time and parents are asked to come along to a literacy and numeracy session designed to help you with supporting your child in various aspects of their literacy and numeracy leading up to school and in their first year.

Ernst and Young Care Day
Ernst and Young are a large company who have a large office in Sydney. For the past few years they have been providing help to surrounding schools and charity organisations via their annual care day. Organised by the Australian Business Community Network (ABCN), the day will involve about 10-15 volunteers coming in and helping with a range of jobs around the school. Our hard working General Assistant Mr Campbell will be organising them on the day. We would like to openly thank Ernst and Young and well as ABCN for making this day happen.

Nadia Wheatley

As advised earlier this term, Nadia Wheatley will be coming in this week to start doing some more workshops with the students. This year artist Ken Searle will also be joining her and working with the years 1 to 6 classes. Part of this work will include a trip to Sydney Park to do some illustrating. There will be a permission note that will be sent home early next week to support this excursion.

Creative Orientation

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

Kindy Orientation 2018 starts this Thursday

This Thursday is the first of our Kindergarten orientation sessions for students starting next year. Students should be in the playground by 9:30am. At that point they will be taken to class and undertake a typical morning session. Year 6 students will be helping until 10:45am when students may be collected from the playground. While the children are in the sessions parents will be provided with an information session led by Mr Lavitt and including contributions from Helping Hands and the P&C.

RAW Art
RAW art is a professional art education organisation that provide high quality art and craft workshops in schools. They have a long association with the school and this year they will be returning on Tuesday for 4 weeks of workshops. There will be a note sent home tomorrow (Monday) with payment details. This year the school will be subsidising the cost of the workshops as this is an important part of your child's visual art education.

Marrickville Network Public Speaking
Last Wednesday's public speaking finals went very well and parents, teachers and students from 10 schools attended the 4 divisions. Our speakers; Marlow, Billie, Archie and Asher spoke very well and while no trophies were won, they should be very proud of their efforts. There were many compliments from parents of other schools about our lovely school. They were very impressed with our wonderful stage 3 students who helped make the competition run smoothly. Fantastic work everyone.

Did you know...?
The NSW Department of Education is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. This means that it has the ability to negotiate amazing deals with large companies like Microsoft, Google and Adobe.

All students within Public Schools receive free access to Office 365 including the ability to install up to 5 copies of Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac or Windows on home computers. They also have access to a free installation of Adobe Creative Cloud CC and the Elements versions of Photoshop and Premier. All this can be accessed through your child's student portal. Finally, now, all students can access Linked In's Lynda.com video training free of charge. This training is high quality business and arts training.

If you wish to know more about how to access this via your child's portal, feel free to drop Mr Lavitt and email.

Speaking of...

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

Speaking of...

On Thursday we had an excellent school public speaking final. Our winners and highly commended were in no particular order, Molly, Archie, Asher, Zachary, Thomas, Billie, Marlow and Leah. Well done to all on an outstanding exhibition of speaking. Thanks to Ms Garner and Mrs Iriarte for their excellent organisation.

Happy Holidays
This is the last week of our winter/spring term 3 and all students will be on holiday at the end of this week. It has been a busy and productive term with some outstanding learning and extracurricular activities. We look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 9 October. Remember that the first day of term 4 is never a staff development day. We are straight to the learning.

Kindy Orientation for 2018
As mentioned last week we are currently finalising our kindergarten enrolment for 2018 and will be holding orientation sessions for all 2018 kindergarten students on Thursday 26 October and Thursday 2 November. To attend these sessions an enrolment form is required. If you are enrolling a child into kindergarten in 2018 please come to the office and ask for an enrolment form and submit it before the end of this term.

Presentation Day 2017 - Save the Date
Presentation Day is always a big event that we hold at the end of the school year. We like to have as many parents in attendance as possible and it always helps if you know the data so you can check your calendars and even arrange some time off from work commitments. Our presentation day for 2017 will be held on Thursday 14 December - the day before school breaks up for the year. This data is in the school calendar and we will endeavour to remind you about this regularly over the rest of the school year.

Creating Opportunities

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

Our school is small but punches well above its weights when it comes to opportunities. Our children do not miss out on anything and benefit from the extra value attached to size. Over the past few years this has only increased, particularly in the performing arts and in sport. On Friday a selection of our stage 3 students participated in the Cantabile Concert held at Sydney Opera House. This is the first time that we have participated in the concert and it was well worth the wait. It was a spectacle and thrilling experience that won't be forgotten. In sport we have increased our involvement in PSSA to all year as well as looking to offer new opportunities to schools through Gala Days and involvement in Sporting School programs. We will continue to improve in all areas with some announcements next term about further programs at the school. Stand by!

Welcome Helping Hands

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

As announced earlier this week, the tender for the OSHC provider for before, after and vacation care for St Peters following the departure of Tribe is now concluded. Helping Hands were the successful tenderer and will now begin a 3 year tenure as our OSHC provider. The school is very happy with the outcome as are Helping Hands who clearly see the value in the site and are ready to work hard to offer the school with quality before and after school care as well as a vacation care program.

Pyjama Day

Friday is Pyjama day at St Peters! Put on the bathroom friendly pyjamas (no onesies please). Make a gold coin donation and all proceeds will go to helping Foster Carers. The SRC will be reminding all students at assembly every morning this week.

Welcome Ms Mayhew

With Mr Lavitt on Long Service Leave for the first 7 weeks of term 3, our relieving Teaching Principal Ms Mayhew will be in the school on Monday and Tuesday this week. If you see her around please say hello and make her very welcome.

Join the Band!

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:56 AEDT

In 2015 when I joined St Peters Public Schools, it was commented to me that one of the reasons parents did not want to come to the school was lack of musical opportunities. Some parents mentioned that while there were some musical opportunities, there was no dedicated music program such as many schools benefited from. Likewise others mentioned that there was no band program at St Peters. As I looked into how we could improve this situation, I made it part of our school plan to improve creative arts and sports opportunities for all students at the school.

By restructuring the RFF program at the school it was possible to solve the music program issue. Ms Caponas has taught at the school since the beginning of 2016 and has brought with her outstanding music learning and enthusiasm to have students perform with confidence. We have witnessed this at presentation days, assemblies and most recently at the Celebrate 2044 festival put on by Inner West Council.

The issue of the band at St Peters was very different. It is very difficult for bands to operate in small schools unless they are specialised musical schools. Bands only can take primary school aged students because of the sizes of the instruments involved. Consequently St Peters with its small number of 3-6 students was at a disadvantage. However, I know there are schools around us that had bands and then I began to wonder if it would be possible for our students to join and become part of that initiative. I spoke to Tempe Public School who we share many activities with such as stage 3 camps and sporting carnival and it seemed very possible. Hugh Miller (now principal of Petersham PS) helped to make it happen at the Tempe Public School side and for the beginning of 2016 we had an agreement for St Peters Students to enter the band program.

The intention was to call them the 2044 band but perhaps some people do not realise that there are in fact 3 bands that operate. They are the training band, the performing band and the stage band.

The training band is where students start to learn their instruments and develop their abilities. In 2016, we had three students, Marlow, Maya and Ruby in the training band and two of them Maya and Marlow have now in 2017 joined the performing band. We also now have Josie who has joined the training band. We have been very fortunate to have been welcomed so warmly by the parents and students at Tempe even with our very small numbers.

Students have an opportunity to play a range of instruments orientated around the classic band format. They also have the opportunity to make new friends, mix with children from Tempe PS as well as develop an amazing skill.

This year Marlow and Maya had an opportunity to attend a Band Camp at Stanwell Tops near Wollongong. Led by Tempe teacher Miss Stevens, some parents and their marvellous conductor Murray Jackson, the two had an amazing time practising with their instruments and getting to socialise with the other band members. As well as play their instruments a great deal, they were able to do cool activities like archery and play games like survivor. Maya commented that they played so much music that her lips were sore afterwards but from Marlow's comments it seems like the Hot Chocolate that was dished out made up for it. I think you can see from the photographs that the camp was very cool indeed.

This Wednesday the band is holding a fund raiser and information evening for families with children looking to join the school band. Just come to Tempe Public School Hall, entering via Union St Tempe by 6pm. A short concert starts at 6:30pm followed by a BBQ sausage sizzle. It's a $10 entry with all proceeds going towards the running of the band. Make a decision to come along and find out more and help grow your child's learning repertoire.

Peace and Oneness

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run

Tomorrow, the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run (www.peacerun.org) will be running through Sydney on their 3,500km journey throughout Australia. Stopping in to visit St Peters Public School at 920am. This International Team from many cultures and backgrounds all come together with the love of peace and international friendship and look forward to sharing the simple but profound message that peace starts inside the heart of each one of us.

Parent Information Evening
A big thank you to all of the parents teachers and students who contributed to make our 2017 information evening for prospective families so successful. We had 22 families attending, many with children looking to start school in 2018. The evening showcased our wonderful school, its brilliant parents, teachers and students. Our early numbers indicate the school is continuing to grow and we are pleased to say that we are ready.

Vacation Care

Earlier in the week we indicated to you that Helping Hands would be providing Vacation Care for the Term 2/3 Winter holidays. This is now confirmed and tomorrow a flier will go home with all students that provides details of the program. There are some great activities both as incursions, excursions and in centre activities. This program is an additional services that was not part of the interim program at the school. Helping Hands are providing this in return for concerns expressed in the community that there would once again be no vacation care program. We thank them immensely for this goodwill gesture.

Please support this and thank them through good patronage of the service. You can book using the details on the flier that will be emailed to all parents and sent home with students.

Celebrate 2044 Performance

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

St Peters performed with pride at Celebrate 2044 - Inner West Council's festival at Tillman Park, Tempe. The whole performance was Facebook Live'd. The 25 kids that made it today from our year 2 to 6 did a marvellous job!

Kindergarten Enrolments for 2018

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:56 AEDT

The school has now started our drive for Kindy enrolments for 2018 and are accepting enrolment forms. We will be holding a parent information session for 2018 on Tuesday 30 May at 7pm in the school library. Please advise anyone that you know who has a child they wish to start school next year that this session will be on. We will also be advising Pre Schools in the area of this. We will be addressing a number of areas for transition to school as well as providing an opportunity for new parents to hear from our kindergarten teacher Ms Garner, some St Peters students and from our P&C and OSHC interim provider Helping Hands.

Celebrate

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

Cross Country Carnival

The school's cross country carnival will be held on Wednesday 3 May. All students will run with kindy and year 1 students running with 4/5/6 students. Those turning 8 and over in 2017 will run and their races will be timed to allow them to qualify for the South Sydney zone cross country carnival to be held on 24 May. The kinder weather over the holiday should have had a chance to dry the oval out. We hope the rain will hold off until next week.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN stands for National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy. It is made up of four tests taken by all year 3 and 5 students at St Peters across Australia on the following dates.

	Tues 9 May	Wed 10 May	Thurs 11 May
Year 3	Language Conventions 40 mins Writing 40 minutes	Reading 45 Mins	Numeracy 45 Mins
Year 5
		Reading 50 Mins	Numeracy 50 Mins

The tests are a point in time test designed to assess where a students learning is at a particular time. The learning assessed is literacy and numeracy concepts taught over their entire time at school. All tests this year will be paper tests. This coming week, year 3 and 5 students will receive some instruction and a chance to practise doing the papers. This will help them when it comes to taking the tests next week.

Celebrate 2044

Celebrate 2044 is being held this year on Sunday May 21 in Tillman Park. The school this year has been invited to contribute to the musical performances at the festival. Led by Ms Caponas the school will be inviting all year 2 to 6 students to attend the festival and perform. A note about complete with permission slip will go home tomorrow. It would be expected that the performance will be for between 10 and 15 minutes.

Welcome Back

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

Welcome Back

Welcome back to brand new term of learning at St Peters. We trust that you had a restful and enjoyable break over the Easter and Anzac Day holidays. The staff came back for a staff development day on Monday and we are all raring to go for a big term of learning. Please remember that we will be hitting the ground running straight away this term with learning commencing in all classrooms.

ANZAC Day Ceremony

We will be holding a short and respectful ANZAC Day ceremony on Thursday morning before lunch. This will be in the main playground and will be led by year 6. During the ceremony there will be one minute silence observed. If you wish to come along to our service, please come to the main playground at 10:20am ready for a 10:30am start.

Helping Hands

Helping Hands have been using the holiday period to setup interim care at the school. They will commence tomorrow morning at 7:30am. We have been working closely with them and are pleased to announce that the staff to be: Educators - Jarrod Watson and Adam Vilimaa. They will be coordinated this week by Michelle Bates and Tracey Upton who are regional operations managers. Starting on 5 May will be full time coordinator Zain Swaleh. We have already distributed enrolment packs and more are available in reception. Online enrolment is also possible.

Cross Country Carnival

The school's cross country carnival will be held next Tuesday 2 May. All students will run with kindy and year 1 students running with 4/5/6 students. Those turning 8 and over in 2017 will run and their races will be timed to allow them to qualify for the South Sydney zone cross country carnival. The kinder weather over the holiday should have had a chance to dry the oval out. We hope the rain will hold off until next week.

Helping Hand Interim OSH Provider

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:55 AEDT

Our Term 2 Interim Provider Helping Hand Network

St Peters Public School is currently tendering for a new OSH provider. During term 2, the Helping hands network will provide before and after school care.

Helping Hands Network works in partnership with St Peters Public School to provide Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services to the school community.

Helping Hands Network tailors their programs to meet the local school community needs, providing much more than child minding. Programs are designed to develop stronger, healthier, happier children and to provide an environment that is like a "home away from home". Programs are developed in consultation with children, parents, the school community and Helping Hands Educators. They are tailored to cater to the children's age, skill, interests and abilities through a variety of challenging and recreational activities.

Before and After School Care

Care is available five days per week during term time.

Before School: 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM and After School: 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Enrolment Pack

Run to Offer a Helping Hand

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

OSHclub/Helping Hand OOSH Info Evening

OSHclub and Helping Hand are the interim provider who is coming in to support the school in providing and OOSH service for term 2. Parents have been asking about how they can find out more information. On Wednesday 5 April at 7pm there will be an information Session in the school library to provide more information about the service they will be providing. We strongly recommend that you come along to find out more about the OOSh service. We believe it will be very good and we would welcome your support.

Cross Country Carnival

The school's cross country carnival will be held on Thursday. All students will run with kindy and year 1 students running with 4/5/6 students. Those turning 8 and over in 2017 will run and their races will be timed to allow them to qualify for the South Sydney zone cross country carnival. We are aware of the recent weather and that rain has caused water logging of the oval. Hot weather is expected later in the week but it may not be in time to dry the oval out. A decision will be made on Wednesday as to whether the carnival will be postponed.

P&C Egg Hunt

On Friday 7 April the P&C will be holding an Easter Egg hunt. This will be held at 3:20pm and all supervised children are welcome to join in. A permission note for the event will be distributed on Monday in school bags.

The Books Come Before the Eggs

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:02 AEDT

Harmony Day

A big thank you to all who supported us on Harmony day. The SRC raised over $100 for Stewart House. We will send the money to them shortly. We were impressed with all the orange clothing and the kids enjoyed the activities. While it was not on the 21st, the African Drumming incursion was brilliant. Check the live video on Facebook - it's brilliant.

P&C Book Fair

Next Sunday 2 April, between 10am - 4pm, the P&C will be holding a book fair. Please see the advert in this newsletter for more information. The book fair will feature a range of books for sale including vintage books and some reference books from the school library. If you can volunteer, please contact Kate Hafey on 0421 337 170.

P&C Egg Hunt

Beat the Drum

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:52 AEDT

Harmony Day

This Tuesday it is Harmony day in Australia. This is a day where Australia celebrates its our countries cultural diversity. The SRC will be hosting a Mufti Day on this day and requests that you all wear as much orange clothing or accessories as you can on this day and suggest that you wear something that celebrates your culture. A gold coin donation is requested with all the proceeds going to Stewart House who provide great inclusive services to children with disadvantaged backgrounds.

African Drumming

On Thursday all our students will be participating in a whole school incursion with the group Salaka African Beat in their interactive drumming show "Salaka: Sharing the Spirit of Africa". This will be a wonderful opportunity for our students to enjoy the traditions of another culture, together as one school community. A note went home last Friday calling for payments for this great event.

St Peters DoE Office

This week work will commence on refitting the former St Peters District Office. This initially involves clearing the office of furniture in preparation for painting and refitting. At the beginning of term 2, there will be a number of Director Public School NSW level staff with their associated admin staff moving from Bondi to St Peters. This begins a new chapter in the sites history. During the work at site, workers will be erecting fences to ensure safety at the site.

Ride with Harmony

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

National Ride2School Day

This Friday is the National Ride2School Day. The SRC has registered and has asked that all students consider riding to school on their bike or on a scooter. Bikes may be securely stored in the schools bike rack on the south west wing of the admin building and scooters from Wednesday may be locked at the new scooter rack which will be located at the entrance to the school. The senior SRC will be giving stickers to all students who ride.

Harmony Day

A week on Tuesday - 21 March is Harmony day in Australia. This is a day where Australia celebrates its our countries cultural diversity. The SRC will be hosting a Mufti Day on this day and requests that you all wear as much orange clothing as you can on this day and suggest that you wear something that celebrates your culture. A gold coin donation is requested with all the proceeds going to Stewart House who provide great inclusive services to children with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Premiers Reading Challenge

For the premiers reading challenge, students in year 2 to 6 will be expected to take one Premiers Reading Challenge book home with them and have a choice of one more book of choice. They will also borrow a book for the classroom which will also be a premiers reading challenge book. Students in years 2-6 will be shown how to maintain their own reading records via the student online portal.

P&C Working Bee

Thankyou so much to everyone who attended our working bee on Sunday 12th March: Peter Ross, Yolanda Beatson, the McLean family, the Freiinger / Walker family, the O'Neill family, and Trish Rowling.

It was a lovely autumn day and everyone put in a fantastic effort. The summer weeds were removed from the long bank in the carpark; mulch was applied to the bank; a huge stack of branches from a dead tree was moved into the skip; a new border bed of 150 plants and mulch was made around our new kitchen garden; and the long bed of cliveas was weeded. Amazingly, mulch mountain – the Ayers Rock-sized mound of tree mulch in the carpark – was finally defeated and levelled, freeing up some space for vehicles.

Our next official working bee is scheduled for National Tree Day on Sunday 30th July and you will receive reminders closer to the date.

Kate Hafey, President, St Peters Public School P&C Association.

Busy Bees

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

Last Friday we were fortunate to have our P&C president Mrs Kate Hafey give the kids a talk on our new community friends the native bees. Their hive was previously at Marrickville West and as it became big enough, it was split and we have been fortunate enough to have one half located at the school. These bees are sting less meaning they are no threat. The bees have been located near the new kitchen garden which you may have seen taking shape next to the car park. Stage 1 will be working on a bed as part of their stage groups and each class will be given a bed to develop over the coming months. This will be a part of our sustainable education program at St Peters.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews will be held at the end of this term in week 10 on Tuesday 4 April. Tomorrow a letter will be going home to all new families with the parent key and details of how to access the parent portal. This will allow you to book parent teacher interviews. Parent teacher interviews slots will be open tomorrow afternoon.

The time slots will be 10 minutes long and they will bookable in 15 minute blocks via the online parent portal. Slots will be available from 2pm in the afternoon to 6:30pm in the evening. Thus the last slot will be at 6:15pm and the school will close at 6:30pm. These interviews will allow you to discuss progress in your child's learning through term 1 and half way towards the end of semester report with your child's classroom teacher. It is important to stress that you may make an appointment to see your child's teacher at any time you feel the need to discuss something that concerns you.

P&C Meeting

On Tuesday at 7pm parents are invited to the P&C Annual General Meeting and General Meeting held straight afterwards. The P&C is very important for the school and you are strongly encouraged to come out and attend the meeting to see what you can do. A flier attached to this newsletter details the meeting

It went Swimmingly

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:56 AEDT

A big thank you to all the kids, teachers and parents who worked together to make the swimming carnival such a great success. Despite the long hot walk, the kids all enjoyed themselves and many put in a massive effort. As communicated on Facebook, the determination of many kids to improve their times or just complete the distance was awesome. Well done. Swimming ribbons will be given at the first assembly in week 4 ans some lucky swimmer will complete in the South Sydney zone swimming carnival on March 1st.

Rabbitoh Visit

On Monday the 13th February select NRL players from the South Sydney Rabbitohs will be visiting St Peters Public School to present a 45 minute presentation to students as apart of the South Sydney Rabbitohs community carnival. Each student who attends will also receive a Rabbitohs educational pack. The presentation is focussed on Respect for self and others.

School App

Our school app is available from the Apple App Store for Apple iPhone and Google Play store for Android devices. It offers simply the easiest way to check out our calendar, look at the latest newsletter and other useful advice. The user name is: school and the password is: community. All dates are synced from our main calendar and so they will always be correct.

Assemblies

Assembles this year will be held on Monday afternoons. While the day has changed, the time has not with assemblies starting at 2:30pm and finishing at 3pm. Every two weeks a different class will lead the assembly starting with the 2/3 Goannas on Monday 20 February.

Welcome to 2017

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

A big welcome back to you all for 2017. We start the new school year eager to start our learning programs and to resume our relationship with our wonderful community. There are many changes all around us and this first short newsletter will talk about some of these changes. We look forward to seeing you this week. We have many new families joining us as well as some sad departures for year 6 and other families who have moved on to new places. We wish them all well.

WestConnex

The holiday period saw a significant increase in the work along Campbell Street with the commencement of one way operation along the road and the demolition of houses. The school and members of the community met with SMC and the New M5 Consortium to discuss the state of play with the project and future work to commence. The significant item was that demolition is behind the planned end of January completion. It was reported to us that all properties have now received clearance for being free of hazardous materials and thus they may be demolished. This unfortunately took longer than expected and coupled with a delay in the disconnection of power lines along Campbell Street has caused a delay in demolition. At this stage a new completion date of 24 February has been set. Once demolition has been completed, a 3m high acoustic wall will be constructed around the construction zone to reduce the chances of noise pollution. We will continue to keep the community updated as we receive information. The road will then also become 2 way again.

Accessing the School

Due to the WestConnex activity, the school has been asked to facilitate greater access to the school through Silver Street lane. From Monday, the gate will be open from 7am to 9:30am and from 2:30pm to 6:15pm. This will allow parents a different choice of entry to the school should they wish to avoid Campbell Street. Silver Street can be accessed from Unwins Bridge Road and the Princes Highway.

Classes 2017

Classes commence this Monday for year 1 to 6 students. We will be going straight into classes and commencing leaning programs straight away. Our 2017 classes are:

Kindergarten - taught by Ms Garner (commencing Thursday)

Year 1 - taught by Ms McSpadden

Year 2 and 3 - taught by Mr Park

Year 4, 5 and 6 - taught by Ms Charlton

New Lunch and Recess Procedures

Following a proposal and survey at the end of last year, the school will be commencing a trial of new lunch and recess times. Crunch a sip will continue at about 10:10am. The new times are:

Lunch Playtime- 11am to 11:40am - On school oval weather permitting

Lunch Eating - 11:40am to 11:50am - Classrooms

Recess 1:40pm - 2:00pm - school playground

The school will monitor the changes and respond to changes. This will be a term long trial and if successful will be adopted permanently.

Parent Information Evening - Meet the Teacher

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

All Systems - Full Speed Ahead

With the school year a week old, all of our classes are now settled, including our new kindy class which started full time on Thursday. The school has started the year with 90 students which is an overall growth of one student from the same time at the beginning of 2016. This is below the growth of previous 3 years which has been on average 11 students per year. Evidence shows that this is mostly due to the large numbers of students who left the school or significantly chose to go to other schools due to concerns over WestConnex. We respect the decisions of all parents to choose.

Parent Information Evening - Meet the Teacher

On Tuesday 14 February at 6pm the school will be holding a meet the teacher and parent information evening. We will start in the hall with a brief presentation by Mr Lavitt and then move into classrooms with your child's classroom teacher. The aim of the evening is for you to get to meet your child's teacher, see how your teacher has set up the class. How their learning program will be structured and ask questions. It will not be the best opportunity to discuss individual learning progress but it will be very informative. There will be parent interviews on Tuesday 4 April for this purpose.

Acknowledging the need for parents to look after their children, Mr Lavitt will look after any children of school age who you wish to bring along. This cannot be extended to younger children as the schools facilities are not sufficient. We hope to see you all there.

Happy Holidays

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:55 AEDT

This Friday 16 December is the last day of the 2016 school year. It has been most eventful with some amazing learning happening. Presentation Day on Thursday and the volunteers morning tea will be the last of our main events and we hope to see you then. The last day will conclude by saying goodbye to our year 6 students as well as other students who are leaving at the end of the year. Join us at 2:45pm in the school hall for our goodbye culminating in the arch.

The school will be closed from this Friday and will not reopen until Friday 27 January. All students except for kindergarten will return on Monday 30 January. We hope that whatever you do, wherever you go you enjoy yourselves and have a safe and happy holiday period.

Summer Sizzler Thank You

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Friday night for our St Peters Summer Sizzler. We were lucky to have pleasant weather for the evening and there was a strong turnout of patrons enjoying the great food and entertainment.

We saw some cool moves happening at the Kid's Disco, while the Disco Cantina plied everyone with popcorn, lolly bags and glow sticks. The Kid's Zone of jumping castles, airbrush tattoos and garden games was absolutely heaving with kids. They were also treated to a visit from Santa, who arrived in an SES rescue vehicle and was escorted by two lovely volunteers from Marrickville SES. It was wonderful to see so many past SPPS friends and families catching up at the event. Many returning alumni were thrilled to spot themselves in the extensive array of school history photographs on our 135th anniversary display.Local history experts Bob and Laurel Horton (Laurel's father went to SPPS) from the ‘St Peters Cooks River History Group' were on hand to share their wealth of knowledge about the school and St Peters.We also saw quite a few new faces from our 2017 intake having fun at their new school and getting a taste of what a wonderful school community we have here at SPPS. The amazing desserts from Pepe Saya and Dessert makers were well received and, as usual, the P&C put on a tasty BBQ to feed the masses.A big thank you must go to all of the volunteers for your efforts in making the night a success, a lot goes on behind the scenes to get this kind of event off the ground and all contributions are greatly appreciated.The P&C was pleased to provide this relaxed family event to help wrap up the school year. All funds raised on the night will go towards making our great little school a better place to learn and grow.

St Peters Summer Sizzler

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

The St Peters PS P&C invites you to join us for our end-of-year event.

We're also celebrating the 135th anniversary of St Peters Public School. There'll be a display of items, photographs, memorabilia for those interested in the school's rich history.

What: St Peters Summer Sizzler

When: Friday 9th December, 6:30-9:00pm

Where: St Peters Public School, St Peters Street, St Peters

Who: All welcome - old and new SPPS friends & families

* $10 entry fee for 3 year olds and up:
each $10 wristband = unlimited access to jumping castles, disco, airbrush tattoos + a sausage on a roll and a drink
* FREE entry for Children under 2yrs and Adults
* BBQ inc. vegetarian options
* Dangerous desserts from Pepe Saya/Dessertmakers
* Kid's Disco
* Disco Cantina
* Jumping castles (small for littlies, large for bigger kids)
* Airbrush tattoos
* Garden games (giant marble run, giant jenga, giant lego...)
* Stalls (plants, 2nd-hand, books, DVDs, CDs, console games)
* Raffle with plenty of great prizes
* Coffee van (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, frappes)
* 135th Anniversary history display
* Back to St Peters Alumni catch-up zone
* and more...

This is a not-for-profit event presented by St Peters Public School P&C Association. All proceeds go to making St Peters Public School a better place to learn and grow.

We hope to see you there.

RSVP:http://bit.ly/2gg3BHS

Spell-a-thon

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

We hope that your children are busy gaining sponsors and learning their words for the spell-a-thon. All money for the spell-at-hon goes towards the year six gift to the school. This is a great opportunity to support a student led initiative and help them fund a gift for the school. To help you help your child learn the words for the spell-a-thon, year 6 have made a video to provide some strategies. Check it out via the school website, the school App, Facebook and Twitter. If you haven't got the words please contact us.

School Improvements

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

Thanks to volunteer efforts from Lend Lease and Ernst and Young, the school has seen some improvements that have brightened up the outside areas. These improvements are much appreciated and we hope that they help to make the school a better place for all our students. We will be this week beginning to work on the library and this work will be completed for the beginning of next year.

The good news does not end there. The school is pleased to announce that Assets Management Unit has agreed to a significant schedule of maintenance that will see the painting and improvements of four classrooms, including the partition of the current kindy room into two and the current 2/3P classroom to be opened into one large learning area. They will also be fixing a retaining wall next to the preschool and removing three trees from the courtyard and making the surface in that area safe for children to play on. Finally, there will be some painting of the Church Street end of the school.

Allergies

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:51 AEDT

It is important to know that allergies and the anaphylactic reactions that they can induce are present amongst the children at St Peters in 2016 and amongst new students that will be attending in 2017. These reactions can be induced by an allergy to a food group and is particularly common for nuts. The reactions can vary in seriousness and can vary from a slight skin reaction to extreme swelling, vomiting, low blood pressure, shortness of breath and if not recognised and treated, death can and has occurred. Not surprisingly, the Department of Education schools take this very seriously and all staff are trained in the recognition, treatment and ultimately the prevention of such reactions occurring. All students with allergic reactions, no matter how mild require an action plan. This plan must be prepared by a doctor and reviewed frequently. In some cases an EpiPen will be prescribed. This pen must be with the student at school and taken on all excursions. The school also has EpiPens that it can use. If your child has such reaction and the school has no plan, please bring one in.

As part of the process of preventing such reactions we request that you keep all nuts and nut containing products such as peanut butter at home. Please replace these food items with something else. The school cannot claim to be nut free and we do teach students hygiene and strategies to avoid food sharing but this does not preclude the issue of accidents happening. We would like to avoid this and thus request the nut containing food is not part of these meals. If you have previously sent these products into school with your children please stop doing this now. Thank you.

Library Changes

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

The school has some planned changes for the library which will see the splitting of the fiction collection into picture books, junior and senior novels. The split will also see a change in the way that picture books and non fiction books are presented. New shelving has been purchased that will see picture books being presented in new bucket like shelves where books will be facing forward and the covers visible to students. The intention of this is to make these books more accessible to young students who currently find it hard to find the books with their spines facing out. Additionally, the non fiction collection will be reviewed with some out of date material removed and newer material purchased. These book will similarly stored in forward facing flip type bucket shelving. Short readers and collections will be put into rotatable shelves and fiction book will be shelved in a separate collection. We hope that these changes will freshen our already excellent library and make it even better for kids to find books that they would like to read and enjoy.

In addition to changes to the book collections, the school in purchasing a set or 20 Chromebooks which will be based in the library to be used for research and project work. These computers will also be accessible to classes to use at various times. The area in the base of the library will be changed to a maker space for Science Technology Engineering Mathematics initiatives to be introduced next year.

All of this work will take some time and consequently the library will close for borrowing for the remainder of this school year. This week students will this week return books.

Staffing Changes

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

At the last P&C meeting I announced that there would be some changes in staffing for next year. Mrs Iriarte took the position occupied by Miss Thomson taking leave without pay this year. Miss Thomson has resigned from the department and will thus not be returning in 2017. Mrs Iriarte has been asked to return to her home school - Belmore South PS. The department has thus appointed a teacher to the school for the start of 2017. Ms McSpadden is currently a teacher at Condell Park PS. She is very experienced and comes with experience in all grades of K-6.

Kindergarten Orientation

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:56 AEDT

Many new families and their children attended our first orientation session at school last Thursday. The session was positive and offered a great opportunity for these families to find out more about our great school and how to prepare for school. The children had fun in the kindy rooms and our year 6 had lots of fun helping out in the room as peer mentors. The second session will be held at the same time this coming Thursday and parents this week will be offered attendance at a literacy and numeracy workshop that will offer some strategies for supporting their children in transition to school and during their first year at school.

We've Got Game

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:03 AEDT

Our Students love Got Game. Every Monday morning this year students have enjoyed a session of Got Game that focusses on ball skills, athletics, dance and gymnastics. St Peters small size is an advantage for a organisation like Got Game which can run a program in less than a day and differentiate for all classes. All of the Got Game teachers are trained physical education teachers and know how to make it fun. The school has been very happy with the program and has thus decided to renew the program for 2017. Got Game will thus return in 2017.

Public Speaking Success

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

Last Wednesday St Peters Public School hosted the Marrickville Network finals of the Ultimo Operational Directorate Primary Schools Public Speaking competition. It was a big effort for the school and skilfully organised by Ms Iriarte. Nine schools across the area participated in four competitions for each of the stages of learning. Four students, Dylan (Kindergarten), Lilly (Stage 1), Ellena (Stage 2) and Asher (Stage 3) from St Peters competed and they all did a fine job against some very strong opposition. All were rewarded with participation certificates and Asher was chosen to be highly commended for his effort. Well done to all those who competed.

Besides the competition, one of the reasons we wanted St Peters to host this was to show off this great school. We certainly did not disappoint with complements coming from parents, other teachers and the Director Public School NSW for the Marrickville Network - Mrs Virginia Pacey. Many of our 456S class helped run the activity, time keeping, running the impromptu preparation room and welcoming guests to the school. They all did a brilliant job and we are all very proud of their efforts.

Join the Band!

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:56 AEDT

Ruby C, Maya R and Marlow R only started learning to play their instruments at the beginning of this year. Since then they have had the chance to be part of the 2044 St Peters/ Tempe Public School Training Band, who they rehearse with each week at Tempe Public School. At their first performance, they got to play in front of hundreds of people at the University of New South Wales State Band competition where they won second place! The band are very excited to be performing at St Peters Public School for the first time at school assembly on Wednesday 26th October.

The 2044 training band is looking for more players. You have two chances to come and find out more about the band program. Firstly a parent information session.

Tuesday 1st November at 6.30pm

Tempe Public School Library (enter via Union St)

Secondly, there will be a performance by the band on 4 November in the afternoon at Tempe PS.

Welcome to Term 4

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

Welcome to term 4 for 2016 at St Peters. The staff all trust that you have had an enjoyable break from school and that you and your children are all raring to go for another term of learning at St Peters. This is the final term for 2016 and term 4 is often one of the busiest. We will be continuing with many of our programs this term with Got Game now turning to gymnastics. Got Game bring lots of equipment to allow students to enjoy gymnastics and all lessons will be held in the school hall. Scripture and ethics recommence and on Fridays we see the return of PSSA. Students involved in the softball teams will travel to Tempe Reserve and play against other teams in the South Sydney PSSA Softball competition. On Friday we will continue our 1:2:1 program with year 1 students and selected year 2's. All up it is going to be a busy term. Stay in touch via the school newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, school website and the school app. Don't forget we also send important notes out printed and by email.

WestConnex

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

The community relations team for the new M5 have announced that they will be shortly commencing the work to clear properties from the corridor for the widened Campbell Street. A flier has been provided that is attached to the email this newsletter was attached to. The work to be completed will be discussed at a meeting that will be held with Sydney Motorways Group, the new M5 Project team, the School and its P&C and community. This meeting will discuss the impact on the school and for us to be informed on how access will continue to be maintained during the work. Minutes from the meeting will be taken and a copy placed on the noticeboard outside the school office.

Lendlease Blitz

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

Last Thursday was our Lendlease blitz and the results certainly did not disappoint. The school on this day benefited from two trucks of plants, mulch and painting in the main playground. Working solidly from 7am to 2:30pm with a couple of breaks, the work was high impact and has resulted in a real lift for our playground and courtyard area. In addition to the planting and the painting, 5 new 4m long aluminium benches were installed on the terrace. These benches are one step towards the rejuvenation of this part of the school as an outside learning area. The school wishes to openly thank the volunteers of Lendlease for their hard work on the day and in preparation.

Crazy Hair Day

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:53 AEDT

This Friday the ARC will be hosting Crazy hair day. This day was very successful last year with some amazing hair designs and lots of different colours. The day is a school uniform day and a gold coin donation is requested. All of the proceeds from the day will go towards Cystic Fibrosis Federation. We request your support on this fun day.

Tribe OOSH Vacation Care Program

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:02 AEDT

With the holidays fast approaching, many families will be thinking about vacation care. Tribe OOSH have just released their calendar for the spring holiday break and it is a great program with days such as Secret life of pets, Inflatable world and Studio make. It looks like it will be a great holiday of fun. Tribe OOSh is very important to the school and we hope you will consider the program on offer. The centre director Sam who has been on holiday for term 3 will also be back.

Tell Them From Me Survey

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:01 AEDT

Type your heading here... use clear headings that mention the subject

Type your paragraph here... Focus on one idea per paragraph and use an active voice e.g. The library is now open every lunchtime. Don't include every piece of information on the subject you are writing about - only use information that is central to the topic. On the Web, less is more.

This term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement.

In term 1, our year 4-6 students conducted in a survey and they will be taking part in a survey again this term. The parent survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents' and carers' perspectives on their child's experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online at home or on public computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, however, your responses are very much appreciated. More information about the survey is available at: Tell Them from Me

A note with details of how to take the survey will be sent home this week.

Festival of Instrumental Music

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:55 AEDT

Tomorrow (Monday 22 August) a number of students from year 4, 5 and 6 will be attending the Festival of Instrumental Music Acacia concert at the Sydney Opera House. They will form part of a recorder ensemble of approximately 700 recorders made up of students from NSW Public Schools all over NSW. For some of our students this is not their first concert and they will all be able to tell you what an experience it is. We had a preview of their performance at the education open day assembly and Mrs Caponas is extremely happy with the dedication of the players and the quality of their performance. Both Mr Lavitt and Miss Sheridan will be there to enjoy the performance.

Parent Payments to the School

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

The school will transition to the new NSW public schools' finance system and a new bank account on 17 October 2016. To ensure a smooth transition, there will be changes to the way we accept parent or carer payments. Direct deposits, Cash and Cheque Payments, plus Parent Online Payments: As of 23 September 2016, we will no longer accept the above forms of payments into our current school bank account. Any payments made after this date cannot be properly allocated to a student's account in a timely manner. Please ensure you have made any outstanding direct deposits before Friday 23 September 2016.We will be accepting payments again on 18 October. We will also not be able to sell uniforms during this period. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Book Week

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:52 AEDT

Week 6 is Book week at St Peters and the theme this year is Australia - Story Country. With Nadia Wheatley - our resident writer and author, all students at the school during this term have been working on ‘Story Circles,' which effectively are all Australian Stories. In recognition of the importance of this great piece literacy, students will be providing an exhibition of their work at pickup. We welcome parents to come into your child's classroom at pickup on Tuesday 23 August to see your child's work. Additionally, we will be holding a parade of selected circle stories at the school assembly on 24 August.

Additionally during Book Week we will be holding a book fare in the library which will allow you to come and purchase a book for yourself or for the school library. Any books that are purchased for the library will have a panel inserted in the cover stating who donated the book and when. The child who donated the book will also be provided with first borrowing rights for the book once it is covered and accessioned.

School Times

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:00 AEDT

Following discussion amongst staff, a decision has been made to provide supervision of the play of students in the school playground from 8:30am. Previously this was 8:35am. If students arrive before this time, they are welcome to wait in the school playground by sitting on the steps. Be aware that Tribe OOSH provides a before school care service that starts at 7:30am and drops off in the school playground. This is a safe alternative should you need to attend early meetings.

In the afternoon, school ends at 3pm. Staff pass students to parents and nominated carers at pickup at 3pm. It is requested that if you are running late, you call the school office to let us know so we can provide emergency supervision. Again Tribe OOSH have an after school program that can provide a structured after school care program. They are also able to offer casual before and after school places by calling 0402 709 240 after 2:30pm.

It is important to note that it is necessary to advise the school of any change in adults picking up students. A note to the teacher, call or email to the school will suffice for this.

Access to School Oval

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:51 AEDT

Our school oval is a great asset that provides large areas for kids to run and play. It is, however, an area that needs to be used with adequate supervision. As the school grew past 80 students this year, the school took the decision to provide two duty teachers on the oval. This allows us to provide a safe secure supervision arrangement on the school oval. As this provides an additional burden on the number of duties, students are provided with an opportunity to access the oval on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for half of lunch time. The students do not go to the oval at recess. On Tuesday and Wednesday, years 2 to 6 students are provided with an opportunity to go to the library, reducing the number of students on the main playground by up to 15 students allowing more options for safe movement on the playground.

The school values the physical well being of students and provides 40 minutes of Got Game time and 30 minutes additional PE time per week. In many cases this is provided on the school oval. This results in up to 2 hours and 10 minutes per week that students may access the oval. Students do not access the oval when it is wet and the surfaces are too unsafe to play upon.

Open Day Feedback

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

All the staff and many in the P&C prayed to the heavens on Tuesday morning as we looked to hold our annual open day. Starting with an assembly, many parents and prospective parents turned up to watch a feast of performances given by year 2 to 6. It was great for the first time to see the 3-6 choir perform and also to see how good the recorder group performed. We had a tour of the school complete with stickers for prospective students and parents while many existing relatives went into classrooms to see their children learn. We all ended up in the courtyard with a fantastic sausage sizzle put on by the P&C.

There are so many people to thank for making the open day work so well. You know who you are. Thank you so much!

School Garden Prize

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

Yes!

The P&C's entry in the Planet Ark National Tree Day & Toyota ‘School Garden Transformation Competition' has won a $7,500 garden makeover for our school! Entrants were required to display an image provided by Planet Ark on their Facebook page, accompanied by the hashtag ‘NTD2016' and 25 words or less about what the school could do with the funds if they won. Following is the winning entry placed on our SPPS P&C page: "We're growing for the future. Happy, healthy kids learning through sustainable gardening - a new garden will help us to nurture knowledge! #NTD2016". Can't wait to get started... (Kate Hafey)

WestConnex Survey and Meeting

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

Last Wednesday the P&C, School Department of Education and Preschool met with representative the Sydney Motorways Corporation (SMC) and CPB Contractors Dragados Samsung Joint Venture. The purpose of the meeting was to brief us on the project progress, design updates and some preliminary information on the project staging. We also learnt about the projects in progress right now so as to provide our input into timing of works that affect the school. The minutes of the meeting were taken and will be made available on a noticeboard that the school will establish close to the school entrance. Important aspects communicated in the meeting were a reassurance that access will be provided to the school due to a process of project staging. This means that the new Campbell Street will be built in different stages allowing the use of the route to be maintained. The work on the entrances to Church and St Peters Street will also be accomplished in stages so that there will always be access. While this remain encouraging, the concerns of the community as a series of questions surveyed were placed to the representatives. The results of the survey will also be placed on the noticeboard. IN response to concerns about work adjacent to the Silver Street and across Florence Street's entrance into Silver Street, the consortia are putting in measures to limit disruption to normal access to the school. An email with this update will be communicated shortly.

Waste Free Wednesday Returns

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:02 AEDT

St Peters Public School will be continuing Waste Free Wednesday in Term 3. Every day can be a nude food day however as a school we are going to keep going with Wednesdays.

We feel that the benefits we talked about at the beginning of Term 2 were achieved by St Peters Public School and we are grateful to all of our families for their effort.

Peer Support

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

This week students from K-6 will commence our Peer Support Program led by our 4/5/6 students. For the next 8 weeks students in K-3 will be in groups of 4-5-6 students to work with 2 peer leaders on a module titled Stronger Together. The module focuses on building supportive relationships amongst students and anti bullying strategies.

Our peer leaders have been trained and will plan their sessions each week using the materials provided from Peer Support Australia that are specifically designed for student led sessions. Our class teachers will prepare students, supervise sessions and check understanding at the end of the session. Peer Support Australia provides reading and resources specifically for parents.

Visit www. http://peersupport.edu.au and use the parent tab.

Welcome to Term 3

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:05 AEDT

Welcome to term 3 for 2016 at St Peters. We have another action packed term of learning and many other exciting activities for students to engage with. The calendar has been filled with all of the planned activities and these can be accessed through the school website or through the school app. Please download the app if you have not already done so.

Some familiar programs continue in term 3 including the Got Game programs which will this term focus on dance. The program will take place on a Monday. Other sporting events this term include the athletics carnival and the K-2 fun carnival. Stage 3 students will be having their annual camp at the Great Aussie Bush camp and the Festival of Instrumental Music event will be held on the 22nd August at the Sydney Opera House. All up it will be a busy term stay posted via the newsletter and the app.

Open Day and P&C Working Bee

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

The school will be holding its annual open day on Tuesday 2nd August. The day will begin with an assembly at 9:30am and followed by some time where parents can go into classrooms to share in their children's learning. Additionally, parents of prospective students for 2017 are invited to come to the open day and enjoy a tour of the school after the assembly led by one of our parents. An early lunch will be held for everyone with a sausage sizzle being provided by the P&C.

To help with preparing the school for the open day, the P&C will be holding a working bee. If you'd like to participate, there'll be a list of jobs to choose from – or you can opt to be assigned a task on the day (perhaps weeding, transplanting, etc.). You can choose to attend briefly or all day, according to your available time, skill or particular interest. With a few helping hands we can hopefully we can get a fair bit done. There will be a flier released over the next couple of days as well as an online link to express an interest.

Reading Spark

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

Over the past 8 weeks a crew of mentors from organisations outside the school have been coming in to mentor reading for 10 lucky students. Organised by ABCN, the program is designed to offer schools community support for its learning programs. The program concluded last Friday with a ceremony including the presentation of certificates and a book voucher. All the mentors enjoyed it and the school would like to thank all the mentors for their terrific efforts.

Great Pyjama Day Support

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:55 AEDT

What a fantastic turnout we all had on Pyjama Day this Thursday. Turning up to school it was clear to see that almost everyone had decided to forgo the uniform and to dress up in pyjamas. Even Mr Park was looking pretty much the same way he did when he got out of bed and Mr Lavitt was sporting a pair of Pyjamas as well.

Thanks to the support of the school and the work of the school SRC, over $170 was raised for the Pyjama Foundation to help and raise awareness for foster children and their foster families. Well done St Peters!

Election Day Fundraiser

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

It is tradition for St Peters P & C to run an Election day sausage sizzle and cake stall. Last election we raised just over $1,700 which was a fantastic result so we hope to at least match or beat it this year. We won't be able to achieve this without the help of our wonderful school community. So we really need your help in several ways:

We are looking for volunteers on Election Day so if you can spare a couple of hours please add your details to the roster posted on the P & C Board outside the office or speak to Chris Catanzariti on 0481224745.

We will also be asking for cake stall donations to be delivered to the school by Fri 1 July or dropped off early Election day morning. A more detailed information sheet regarding the cake stall will be sent home to families the week of 27 June 2016. If you have any questions about the cake store please speak to Maria Demirel (Canteen Coordinator) on 0411 013 048.

Enrolments Open for 2017

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

It is that time of year again when families who have students who will be school aged in 2017 to starting to think very carefully about the school they will send their child. St Peters Public School has a local area from which students of primary school age have an automatic place at the school. The school also considers applications for families from outside the area subject to an out of area application. To help parents be informed about the school and what it has to offer, an evening information session has been planned for Tuesday 21 June at 7:30pm and as with last year and Open Day will be held in Education Week on Tuesday 2 August.

A flier has been prepared and was handed out at Celebrate 2044. A copy is attached to this newsletter for you to pass onto any families that you know of that might wish to know about the sessions. The school and parents will be attending some Pre schools in the area to provide information sessions.

Download: 2017 Enrolment Flier (pdf 4072 KB)

Pyjama Day - 23 June

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

On Thursday 23 June, the school's Student Representative Council will be hosting our own Pyjama Day. Students are invited to come to school in the PJ's and a gold coin to celebrate with us Pyjama Day. The Pyjama foundation is all about supporting children in foster care. To quote the website:

Pyjama Day is all about wearing your best bedtime attire to help The Pyjama Foundation raise much-needed awareness and funds for children in foster care.

By wearing your favourite PJ's and by making a donation, you'll be helping to make a difference to the lives of foster children.

With the money raised from National Pyjama Day, you'll be helping us offer learning skills to more than 1000 children, fund educational resources and help provide stable, positive relationships.

Debating Success

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

Last Monday the school's debating team had their first taste of debating in the 2016 Premiers Debating Challenge competition. The challenge includes schools from all over NSW who debate against each other in areas, then zones and then regions before reaching a grand final. It is very early days for the St Peters debaters but they got off to a great start with a respectable win against Alexandria Park Community School. The teams were debating, ‘That all children should play competitive sport', and having won the toss Alexandria Park decided to debate the negative side. Working hard for one hour to prepare the debate, the two teams were joined by 4/5/6S and the adjudicator in the school hall. The debate went quickly and the two teams argued and rebutted each other very well. At the conclusion our independent adjudicator Mr Rudder went through the arguments posed and then declared St Peters the winner. The difference came down to the quality of the rebuttal. Mr Rudder gave some expert feedback to both teams at the end. Well done to our debaters; Alex, Jeyda, Asher and Alisi and thanks to Alexandria Park for being a great opposition.

Important Security Changes

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:55 AEDT

As communicated to you last week via letter, the school had an unfortunate incident where a member of the public came uninvited into the school because they were desperate to use the toilet. They walked through the school to the first toilet they found - the boys toilet. We have since found that the person was the friend of someone visiting Tribe OOSH. The person was investigated by the police services and they were found to be of no perceived threat. While this is reassuring, it is non the less concerning and we will be changing some security arrangements that will result in slightly less convenience for families coming from the car park and oval.

We intend to lock the gate into the quadrangle and leave it locked. While in the past we have locked and unlocked this gate a certain times, this has been a problem as we do not have the staff to ensure this gate is locked and unlocked at the prescribed times every single day. This becomes a problem for the security of the school. Visitors to the school and parents with their children coming into the school will have to enter through the Church Street entrance. Those coming from the car park and oval directions will have to walk around the side of the school and the front to get to the Church Street entrance. The changes will be effective this coming Wednesday morning after a letter has been sent home to parents. Note there is no parent parking at the Church Street side of the school.

A future solution to this will be to look at a timed gate, similar to the one on Silver Street and ideally one with a intercom and timed lock. For this, the school will be consulting with school security.

KMP Speaker of the Term

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

On Monday of Week 6, Kindergarten children participated in their first Speaker of the Term (SOTT) on the topic "My School".

In the lead up to this, KMP children were the audience to the 4/5/6S children's SOTT talks and the K/1 children were an audience to 2/3P for their talks. This gave the Kindergarten children an idea of how to present a SOTT talk.

The children impressed us greatly with their talks! They presented confidently, using the help of a senior student where required.

Stay tuned for the next topic in Term 3!

Cross Country

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

Congratulations to all students who ran last Wednesday 25 May at Gough Whitlam Reserve. Everyone ran to their best and represented the school brilliantly. Notable mention goes to Theo who ran fourth in his race to claim himself a place at the Sydney East regional carnival.

The ribbons from the school carnival will be handed out at K/1H assembly which will be held this Wednesday. All parents are welcome to attend the assembly.

Premiers Sporting Challenge

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

The NSW Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge aims to engage young people in sport and physical activity and encourages them to lead healthy, active lifestyles. The Premier's Primary School Sport Challenge involves primary school classes participating in a 10 week sport and physical activity challenge. Soon students at St Peters will be participating in a challenge to aim for meeting physical challenge goals. Additionally all staff at the school will be taking up the challenge also. First things first though - this Tuesday all year 5 and 6 students will be competing in a leaders day for the challenge at Wilkins Public School. Last year, years 5 and 6 had a blast at Wilkins and enjoyed it immensely. At Wilkins, the students combine from many public schools to play lots of different sports in a rotating group format.

Welcome Patricia Good Luck Susan

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:04 AEDT

Our School Administrative Manager Susan is taking some time off from work to have an operation on her foot. While the operation is quick, feet are very sensitive and consequently she will have a long recovery time. We would like to wish Susan the very best and a swift and successful recovery so that you will be fit and well for your return on the 22nd August.

Acting as our relieving School Administrative Manager will be Patricia Chan (pictured left). Patricia is currently an administrative officer at Sydney Girls High School and comes to us highly recommended. Please say hi and introduce yourself when you see her.

Thank You

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:02 AEDT

Last Sunday Marrickville Council held the Celebrate 2044 event. The P&C ran a stall for the school at the festival. Apart from selling some great plants, lots of great conversations were held with members of the 2044 community.

The school would like to thank the P&C for its marvellous effort in helping to promote the school.

Debating Workshop

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

Six students from year 5 and 6 ventured to Erskineville Public School on Monday to learn all about the process of debating. Gathered in their hall with almost a 100 other students from schools like Summer Hill, Darlington, Newtown North and Haberfield, they learnt all about the process of debating.

As mentioned last week, debating is possibly the hardest thing you can ask a primary aged child to do. Not only do they have to develop arguments about a specific topic that they may not previously know, they then have to write a speech and present its

‘Matter' with good ‘Manner' and structure the whole debate with good ‘Method'.

The Workshop was presented by the Arts Unit and with three funny and engaging teachers, the time went very quickly. There were plenty of pieces of good advice such as what to include in an argument and how to effectively rebut another teams argument.

At the end of the day, everyone got to write one argument and to rebut an argument from the opposing team. It was exhausting but they all presented well and learnt heaps.

Debating

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

It is that time of year again when the Premiers Debating Challenge begins for 2016. This fabulous challenge is an opportunity for six of our fabulous year 5 and 6 students to face other schools in competitive debating. This incredibly important skill is one of the hardest things that one can do at Primary School and is still something that many adults find very difficult. The competition is run by the NSW DoE Arts Unit and is kicked off with a Primary Debating Workshop, which is this year being held at Erskineville Public School. Last year was fantastic with all of our debaters coming home with great tips for how to structure arguments and rebuttals. Six debaters will be taking place in the workshop and will form the 2016 debating team which will face 4 competitive debates against a number of schools in the Newtwon area.

Nadia Wheatley

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

Nadia Wheatley is our resident writer. She was to start working with classes this term with classes in a series of 4 day long workshops. Her focus is on the ground beneath the feet of St Peters and as such she will be working on developing circle stories with the children.

Unfortunately we are sad to say she recently suffered an accident which has caused her to have to delay the start of her workshops. They will now take place in term 3 rather than this term. She will be coming at the end of this term to work with the staff on the program. We wish her well in her recovery.

Walk Safely to School

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:02 AEDT

Walk Safely to School Day will be on Friday 20th May and we would like to encourage as many students as possible to walk to school on this day. We would like to make sure every child arrives at and leaves school safely every single day, my kids, your kids, OUR kids. With this in mind it would be wonderful if you could please have a look at these Key Road Safety Messages and start or continue talking to your child about them and also very importantly modelling them. These are great life skills you can teach your child to help keep them safe. They are listed in stages as kids brains take time to mature and to be able to manage different skills. Have fun and stay safe.

Running Success

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

We had a fantastic Cross Country Carnival last Thursday. The kids were enthusiastic and all ran well around our school course. Mr Park did a fantastic job of thinking of everything to ensure that the carnival all went well and there were so many parent volunteers that we were able to ensure that student safety was maintained to the highest standard. Mr Park will be looking at the results over the coming days and will be working out who will attend the South Sydney PSSA cross country carnival on 25 May. The ribbons for the cross country carnival will be presented at the assembly for 2/3P on 18 May. Well done everyone.

NAPLAN 2016

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

Well it's nearly that time of year again when students in year 3 and 5 take part in the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy - otherwise known as NAPLAN. The tests take place in week 3 in the 4/5/6 classroom in the morning session. There are 4 tests which cover a range of areas of literacy and numeracy. The schedule is:

Tuesday 10th May	9.00am-10.00am Language Conventions
Tuesday 10th May	10.10am - 11.10pm Writing
Wednesday 11th May	9.00am-10.00am Reading
Thursday 12th May	9.00am-10.00am Numeracy

Sometimes parents get more worried than children about these tests. You needn't be. The tests do not contribute to school reports and assess their learning in whole to date.

Reading Sparks Program

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

In the previous few years, the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) has worked with St Peters Public School to provide one-on-one reading and numeracy support for students at the school. This Friday the program will be commencing again and running for 8 weeks. A number of students will receive support. Mr Lavitt will supervise the volunteers.

Mather's Day Stall and Raffle

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

This years Mother's Day stall will be held at 11:35am after the Cross Country Carnival. Students are encouraged to bring $5 to buy something for their mother. The stall is run by the P&C as a fundraising activity with many of the gifts being donated. Please bring $5 for the day. Additionally, a letter with raffle tickets was sent home on Friday with your child. Each letter had 10 raffle tickets which are $1 each. Please buy or sell on the tickets to win some great gifts.

School Improvements

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:59 AEDT

Welcome to Term 2 of 2016 for 2016. We hope your children are all rested as we are and ready for another great term of learning at St Peters Public School. At a recent conference I attended for primary principals, I talked to a principal whose very first teaching position was at St Peters Public School. This was in the early 1980's when the enrolment at the school was over 160 students. At that point, the school had undergone a major refurbishment including the building of block B.

As time has passed there has come a need for improvements and we are pleased to announce that the carpet in the KMP classroom has been replaced and the entrance lino upgraded to meet health and safety guidelines. Additionally, the concrete floor in the B Block Corridor has been upgraded with hard wearing and more hygienic lino floor covering. These upgrades were funded by the department of educations assets maintenance program. When you see them I think you will agree that they represent a significant upgrade to the environment.

Cross Country Carnival

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:54 AEDT

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On Thursday 5 May (next week), the school will be holding its annual cross country carnival. The carnival takes place at the school and will be in the morning session from about 9:20am. This is a whole school carnival with all grades taking part in a run of between 1km and 3km. Students in kindy will be accompanied on a 1km fun run with students from 456S. Students will sit in their house groups and perform cheers.

To help the carnival to be a success, we would like any parents willing to help on the day with helping to monitor and maintain safety on the course,as well as encourage students on the long run around our expansive grounds. A letter will be sent home on Thursday calling for helpers. If you can help, all you need to do is fill out the slip and return it to the school. We need helpers between 9:15am and 11:10am at the school site.

Swim to Win

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:14:01 AEDT

Excellent Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday the 9th of February 31 kids walked to Col Jones Swimming Pool from St Peters. Kids 8 years old and over got the chance to swim at our annual swimming carnival with most kids having the chance to swim in the races, while others just participated in the novelties. Everyone had a great time and we all enjoyed ourselves. The kids that didn't want to swim in the races still cheered for their house and made the swimmers very happy.

To get a feel for what it was like to participate in this month's swimming carnival, we interview a number of students. Jayden is in year 2 and new to the school. He really liked backstroke because he likes going backwards and he thinks it is really fun. Thomas who is also in year 2 liked freestyle because he thinks it is easy and fun.
Perhaps the star of our carnival was Theo in year 4. Before the carnival Theo felt very nervous because he really wanted to make it to the South Sydney Zone Swimming Carnival. Well the nerves must have given him superpowers because he swam brilliantly to win every race that he took part in, including 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and backstroke. Well done Theo and we're keeping our fingers crossed you qualified for zone.

Jeyda enjoyed the carnival, not just because of the races but also the novelties events. Thomas enjoyed doing the novelties because he thought it was a great idea to get all the houses competing. Some students also liked walking to Col Jones and just talking to his friends. For Kiara her last St Peters carnival was a chance to challenge herself. She swam in the 100 metres freestyle and found it quite difficult. At the 60m mark she felt like giving up but she pressed on and completed the race. She was very happy because she had challenged herself with something hard and come off with a great result. In the end years 2-6 all had a fun time participating in the annual St Peters greatest swimming carnival. We all had fun and enjoyed swimming in all the races.

By Kiara and Alex

Pogo Success

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:58 AEDT

What a fantastic two weeks it has been with a flying start to the term. There has been plenty of quality learning happening in all the classrooms as Drishaya and Evette point out in their article written for this newletter.

Perhaps though the two highlights have been the great start to our Peer Support program and the immense success of the Pogothon Challenge, which is joint venture between many public schools including ourselves Tempe, Petersham and others. On a hot Friday morning, children from 3/4T walked after PSSA to Tempe PS for the Pogathon. At 1pm the challengers started to bounce of their pogo sticks. The aim was to keep as many people in the court as possible and bounce for one hour. The challenge is supporting beyondblue which is an organisation tackling issues of depression. The ability to bounce back and be resilient to various difficulties we face in life is a 21st century skill. Last Friday I witnessed a perfect visual example of that as tired bodies, chaffed knees and souring temperatures were overcome to meet the challenge. Miss Thomson who led the students has been a stirling supporter of the challenge and for that we are very grateful.

Peer Support is in full swing and with two sessions now it was very interesting to discuss and reflect with the 5/6LW students leading the groups how the two different sessions differed. All agree it was challenging and interesting. Walking around the groups it is clear that it is a fantastic addition to our personal development and well being programs.

2011 Sydney Region Award

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:51 AEDT

Sometimes in a community we become aware of an individual citizen who displays qualities that not only allow them to achieve their personal goals but also facilitate the success of others around them. In our school community we are very fortunate to have such a student, Rosie.

Throughout her seven years at St Peters Public School, Rosie has demonstrated many of the qualities to which we all aspire: Fairness, Caring, Loyalty, Leadership, Responsibility and Academic Achievement.

Those who meet Rosie for the first time are usually unaware of her profound loss of hearing as she continues to face challenges with great courage each day at school. She is an inspiration to everyone.

Congratulations Rosie on your 2011 Sydney Region Award for Outstanding Student Achievement. We are all very proud of you.

News story

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:13:57 AEDT

St Peters @ Sunset Grab your highlight pen and mark Saturday 11th September on your calendar for the big social event of the season - St Peters @ Sunset.

The centrepiece of the evening will be a screening of a movie on an inflatable big screen under the stars on the school grass play area. There will also be a BBQ, raffles and plenty of entertainment before the movie. The activities will start at 5:00pm and the movie will begin as the sunsets, about 6:00pm. A limited number of tickets will be available on the night so tell a friend and keep an eye on the school newsletters.

St Peters Public School P&C Association