2019 TERM 4 - WEEK 2

ENDEAVOUR

NEWSLETTER OF WEST RYDE PUBLIC SCHOOL

‘nothing left unattempted’

Principal’s Message Welcome back! Welcome to our last term of 2019. I would like to thank everyone for their support last term. The warm and open conversations that I have had in the playground is greatly appreciated and has helped me in leading this wonderful school. I look forward to having more conversations over this term to ensure we work together in the best interest of students. World Teachers Day – 25 October This Friday is a special day for all educators as we recognise their dedication, commitment and professionalism in developing the minds and hearts of young people. We can all agree the hard work and diligent efforts of the teachers benefits our students greatly. Applying for Year 7 Entry in selective high schools You must apply online at: education.nsw.edu.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7 The following are key dates: Application website closes: 10 pm, 11 November 2019. You must apply before this deadline. Safety Reminders around the School Student safety is our priority, please do not drop off student into the school any earlier than 8:30am, supervision is only provided half an hour before class. Students attending extra curricula activities must not be left unsupervised and should only be at school at the time when the activity is due to start. The duty of care remains with parents and the provider of the extra curricula activity. Diwali / Granny Smith Festival Last week I had the pleasure of seeing student perform at Martin Place as part of the Diwali Celebrations, Diwali, Deepavali or Dipavali is a four-to-five day-long festival of lights, which is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists every autumn in the northern hemisphere. One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance." Light is a metaphor for knowledge and consciousness. During the celebration, temples, homes, shops and office buildings are brightly illuminated. The preparations, and rituals, for the festival

UPCOMING DATES: 25th Oct PSSA Round 11 Yr 3-6 Assembly @ 11.25 30th Oct 2020 Kindergarten Orientation Canteen Open 31st Oct Canteen Open Student Leadership Showcase 1st Nov PSSA Round 12 K – Yr2 Assembly @ 12.20 4th Nov Canteen Open 5th Nov Canteen Open 6th Nov School Photographs Uniform Shop 8th Nov PSSA Round 13 Yr 3-6 Assembly @ 11.25

typically last five days, with the climax occurring on the third day coinciding with the darkest night of the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival generally falls between mid-October and mid-November. It was even better to see our kids come together at the Granny Smith Festival. Well done to every student involved and thank you teachers for giving our student the opportunity.

Kindergarten Orientation These amazing 2020 kindergarten are ready to be part of our school. With close to 85 enrolment so far, we are excited about them starting in 2020. Do you know of families who have not enrolled??

Sakuna Pho

Area Athletics Carnival Last Wednesday, 16th October, six spectacular athletes from years 5 and 6 represented West Ryde at the Areas Athletics Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park.

• Julian competed in the first race of the day and came 21st in the 1500m beating his own personal best. • Rhys ran in the 200m and placed 19th overall. Natalie ran in the 100m and placed 21st overall. • Aanshi ran in the 100m and the 200m placing 19th overall. • Yahya ran 4th in the 100m 11 years boys and is the first reserve for State Athletics. • Thomas participated in the 100m placing 21st and came 3rd in the Senior Boys High Jump, jumping 1

metre and 45 centimetres. Thomas is the only student from the Ryde Zone that will be competing at the State Athletics Carnival. Congratulations to all of our students from West Ryde for their sensational efforts!

Student Leadership Program

1% Change Makes 100% Difference – The continuing Story of the Marsden Learning Alliance

Student Leadership Project.

Late last term our Marsden Learning Alliance Student Leaders once again came together as a group to work on and develop their leadership skills and school projects. It was excellent to have the students from Marsden HS, Ermington PS, Meadowbank PS and Melrose Park PS visit our project leaders here at West Ryde. We witnessed the project progress and journey each school is undertaking to make small but effective changes in and around their school environments. Our leaders are definitely making 1% Change to make 100% Difference.

Once again our leaders participated in student centred activities that enable and empower them to develop their skills and learn how to effect change. It was excellent to see and hear from students across the alliance about how they are developing their ideas and interacting with their communities to deliver their projects and ideas at their respective schools. The students were also fortunate to listen to a number of teacher from across the alliance and gain further expertise about approaching community leaders and using their creativity to develop ideas and effect change. Our Term 4 showcase of the projects is coming up

in a couple of weeks. We are excited to showcase our project journeys and come together for the final time as an alliance for 2019.

Granny Smith Festival Performance by West Ryde Dance Groups On Saturday the 19th of October, the West Ryde Public School Senior and Junior Dance groups performed at the Granny Smith Festival in Eastwood. The students did a fantastic job at showcasing the dances they have been working so hard to perfect throughout the year.

Thank you to all the parents that came down to watch and cheer us on.

Kidpreneur

During terms 3 and 4 some stage three students participated in the Kidpreneur program. Kidpreneur aims to introduce entrepenurial skills to students. These skills include creative thinking and cooperating in a small group to design and market a product to sell to their peers on market day.

Students successfully created a variety of products which ranged from participating in skills competitions, selling food and other products such as bookmarks, squishy balls and dart guns.

The market day was highly enjoyable for both buyers and sellers. Students who were selling their products got to keep the money they spent on materials and donated their profits to Stewart House. Stage three students raised nearly $600.00 for the charity Stewart House.Well done stage three!!!!

Kindergarten Enrolments for 2020

Kindergarten Enrolments for 2020 are now open. The office will be accepting enrolments on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 11am to 2pm. Application forms and all information is available on the schools website: https://westryde-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html Making Online Payments It is now possible for parents to make online payments to the school for amounts owing for students, via a secure payment page hosted by Westpac. Payments can be made using either a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card. The payment page is accessed from the front page of the school’s website by selecting ‘$ Make a payment’ or via https://quickweb.westpac.com.au/OnlinePaymentServlet Communication At West Ryde PS we use a range of communication methods to keep our community up to date.

Newsletter –The newsletter is sent out to families via the Skoolbag app. The newsletter can also be found on our website and a hard copy in the office foyer.

School Website – The website provides a platform to locate general information about WRPS. Permission notes, photos and new stories are uploaded throughout the year.

Skoolbag App. – The skoolbag app. provides notifications to your phone. The app. is used to provide you with reminders about school events. For information on how to download the app, please see the instructions in the newsletter or go to the website.

Could we please ask that you do not come to class lines or to classrooms and expect the teachers to talk to you while supervising the children or teaching the class.

Our staff are more than happy to talk to you at a time that is suitable to both parties and affords enough time to discuss any issues that you might have.

We do understand if the issues are urgent. If this is the case please see the office staff so that they can communicate this urgent information to your child’s class teacher.

Canteen - Week 3 –Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st October Week 4 – Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th November

Uniform Shop Opening days for Term 4 2019 Wednesday (8.45am – 9.15am): 6th & 20th Nov, 4th December. Note: Uniform Shop will no longer supply plastic bags with your purchase - Please remember to bring your own bag.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Volunteers are needed urgently to help with Canteen, Uniform Shop and School Banking. If you are interested in assisting, please contact the office on 9874 2515 so your name can be passed on to the Coordinator.

School Banking Please put your child’s bank deposit book in SLOT 2 on WEDNESDAYS. The CBA School Reward Program items will be delivered within 2-3 weeks after your order has been placed. P&C News Welcome back to term 4 everyone! I hope all the children are excited and looking forward to completion of another successful year of their student life! Before we know it, we will all be celebrating Christmas with our families and friends.

Talking of the festive season, many families in the Indian Subcontinent will be celebrating Diwali-The Festival of Lights, on Sunday. Happy Diwali Everyone! We had an advance celebration of the Festival, when a group of 22 children from the Hindi Language class, went to Martin Place to perform a dance in honour of this grand Festival. One of our parents, Tandrima, choreographed the dance beautifully. The children were also thrilled to see Mr.Pho watch their performance and our Hindi language teacher, Mrs. Archana Chaudhary organised the event extremely well. Thank you!

Have you saved the date? Saturday 2nd November!

Our annual Working Bee will be held on Saturday, 2nd of November in our school. I hope you have all marked this date on your calendars and that alarm goes off without fail! One of our parents, Geoff, has been organising the working bee successfully for many years now. What would we do without you Geoff? We are definitely getting a new building next year but don’t forget the existing structure could use all the help in getting a tidy look. So roll

up your sleeves and get ready to get those hands dirty! Just turn up and lend a helping hand. Bring your children as well and let’s make it a great community event for our school.

This year has been a very busy year for the P&C and I will be summarising it all in our next newsletter so watch this space. Don’t forget to congratulate yourself for the great volunteering work you have done this year and the years before. So keep up those spirits and keep being part of the strong community. You are just amazing!

Our AGM will be held on 20th November and I encourage each and every one of you to attend the meeting. Please note that unless you are a member, you would not be able to vote. If you would like to be a part of the voting process, please become a member now. AGM will give you an opportunity to be a part of P&C and take on various open positions. As I have said many times before, we need you! Come and get involved and see how much we can contribute as a community.

Many Thanks

Rachna Bhardwaj P&C President president@westrydepublicschool.com.au

SSchool Travel - Term 4 2019 Stay up to date with Opal and ticketing changes for school travel

2020 school travel applications now open

To assist with any enquiries you may receive regarding student travel applications, we have provided some information below.

Applications for student travel in 2020 opened on Friday, 11 October 2019.

Students progressing to year 3 and year 7 no longer need to re-apply if they:

• are continuing at the same school • are residing at the same address • have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW.

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification via email.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition which is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.

If students need to update their information or re-apply, they should go online to https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/updateDetails

The next P&C meeting &AGM

Wednesday 20th November 2019, 7 PM

In the school library (Free child minding available)

Applications need to be submitted before 31 December 2019 to ensure student entitlements are updated and their current entitlement/card is not cancelled. If their application is submitted after 31 December 2019, the system will automatically cancel an entitlement/card and a new one will need to be issued.

Students in the Opal network applying for a SSTS or Term Bus Pass entitlement for the first time will receive their card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2020.

Students residing in Rural and Regional (R&R) areas should receive their travel pass at the commencement of the new school year from their nominated operator, this may be distributed via the school or sent direct to their address. Note: some R&R operators do not issue travel passes. Students/Parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

School travel application endorsements

It is not uncommon for applicants completing the online form to make mistakes, particularly entering their name or date of birth instead of the students. This may be due to an auto-fill function on a device or just human error. We ask that school administrators pay special attention to the information supplied by applicants which come through in the school portal. If the information supplied does not match your records or the student is not yet enrolled, please do not endorse the application. By selecting ‘no’ the application will be referred back to the applicant to correct and resubmit.

In the event that school administrators endorse in error, it would be appreciated if you could advise our SSTS team as soon as possible so the application can be intercepted before an Opal card or travel pass is issued.

To contact us about an endorsement error, please go to: https://transportnsw.info/contact-us/feedback/passes-concessions-feedback and select feedback about: ‘school student transport scheme’ and then select ‘application updates’.

If school administrators require access to the school portal to endorse student applications, please request an account at https://appln.transport.nsw.gov.au/portal/requests/account/school

If you have staff that have left the school recently and had access to the school portal, please let us know at https://transportnsw.info/contact-us/feedback/passes-concessions-feedback and select ‘school/operator portal’ and then ‘remove existing user access’ so their access can be removed.

CHESS!!

Learn to be a chess champion! Coaching for students at West Ryde Public School is held on: Intermediate:

Thursdays from 3:10pm to 4:10pm, starting on 17 October 2019 Beginner/Rookie: Thursdays from 3:10pm to

4:10pm, starting on 17 October 2019

Learning and playing chess helps children develop their logical thinking and problem solving skills, improves their concentration and focus, while also being a great source of enjoyment. Activities include group lessons on a demonstration chess board or interactive whiteboard, puzzle solving and fun practice games.

Students earn merit awards by making checkmates, or by displaying skills and positive qualities, which all good chess players strive to develop.

If your child is interested in taking part, you can collect an enrolment form from the school office, or email enrol@sydneyacademyofchess.com.au for a copy. For all enquiries, please contact Sydney Academy of Chess on (02) 9745 1170.

“Providing an expert knowledge in all property related services Nick & David make a solemn promise to their clients to provide; constant feedback, professionalism and service seven days a week. Key ingredients that form the basis of an optimum result for their clients. We, the team at First National West Ryde are so proud to sponsor such a deserving school!” Phone: 02 9874 1142 Fax: 02 9332 6672 Email: reception@fnwestryde.com.au