2019 TERM 3 - WEEK 10

ENDEAVOUR

NEWSLETTER OF WEST RYDE PUBLIC SCHOOL

‘nothing left unattempted’

Principal’s Message Is it the end of the term already? As they say, time flies when you’re having fun and that is exactly what our students, staff and community have had this term. Well done to all our students for yet another great term of learning and for demonstrating your learner qualities throughout all aspects of school life. I also want to express my thanks to our teaching and admin staff for ensuring that the teaching, learning and wellbeing of all our students is always our top priority. I wish everyone a safe and restful break and we will see everyone back in Term 4! Staffing Update

Ms Natalie Devlin will formally be appointed Assistant Principal in Term 4 after successfully gaining the position through open merit selection. From Term 4, Ms Lisa Collins will be teaching KG and we welcome Mr Damian Brown to the EAL/D team supporting Kindergarten. We also welcome Ms Molly Demaine who will be supporting all teachers and students throughout Term 4. Term 4 – Summer uniforms

All staff and students resume school for Term 4 on Monday 14 October. When students return, they should be in their full summer uniforms. Please take the time over the holidays to check that all belongings have your child’s name on it so if lost, they can be returned.

Have your say about Before and After School Care

The NSW Government is committed to providing before and after care to all students of public primary schools in New South Wales. As part of the reform, a parent web form has been established by Service NSW that will enable parents to tell the Department of Education [DoE] about their specific needs and to stay up to date with any new developments. The information provided by parents will help the DoE to understand your needs, give them insights into where there are gaps in service delivery and to help ensure extra places are delivered where they are required. Have your say at https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/basc Selective High School Applications for 2021

If you are thinking of applying for a government selective high school for Year 7 in 2021 for your child, please visit http://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7 for more information. All applications must be made on-line. Application website opens on Tuesday, 8 October, 2019.

UPCOMING DATES: 14th Oct All students return to school for Term 4 15th Oct Uniform Shop Open 17th Oct Kidpreneur 22nd Oct Canteen open 23rd Oct 2020 Kindy Orientation Day 1 Canteen Open Uniform Shop Open 24th Oct High School Day @ Marsden HS. 25th Oct PSSA Round 11

NAPLAN Student Reports

NAPLAN student reports have been distributed to parents. NAPLAN tests are designed to provide you, your child and their teachers with information about how your child’s learning is progressing and captures a point in time assessment of their learning. It provides one source of data, among many sources, for teachers and the school to plan for future learning programs for whole school and individual students. If you would like more information about understanding the results, please speak with your child’s teacher or visit https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/naplan/results-and-reports Tell Them From Me Surveys

Over the coming weeks, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. This survey is open to students in Years 4 to 6 and it measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW- wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

You may remember that our students also participated in a Tell Them From Me student survey in Term 1 this year. Asking students to complete the survey twice in one year allows us to identify trends in student responses as well as track engagement and motivation across the school year.

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au

The survey is confidential, it is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between during Week 2 of Term 4. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

A consent form and FAQs for parents and carers about the survey is being sent home with students in Week 1. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by 18 October. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from: http:// surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents.

Partners in Learning Parent Survey

Running alongside the student survey is a parent survey which asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

We strongly encourage you to take 15 minutes to complete this year’s Tell Them From Me Parent Survey so we can get an accurate picture of how you think our school is going and your level of satisfaction. Like any school, we want to continually improve so that our students are receiving the highest standard of education possible. so we can get an accurate picture of how you think our school is going and your level of satisfaction. Like any school, we want to continually improve so that our students are receiving the highest standard of education possible. Your input is invaluable and will help us make important decisions about the future directions of the school.

The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops or computers. If you have more than 1 child at the school, you can complete the survey more than once, with each survey representing each of your child’s perceptions of school. The survey is completely confidential and parents remain anonymous. The parent survey will be open until 25 October. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated.

More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au. To access the survey for our school go to: http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/2019wrps

The survey is available in 23 languages.

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. An Information Night is scheduled in September so get your Enrolment Form in by the end of August. 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 - (note: change to canteen open days) Week 1 –CANTEEN NOT OPEN THIS WEEK Week 2 – Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October

Uniform Shop Opening days for Term 4 2019 Wednesday (8.45am – 9.15am): 15th & 23rd Oct, 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. STEM Discovery Day On Thursday 12th September, year 4 and year 5 students set out with Miss Dowswell and Miss Truong to Marsden High School to participate in a STEM Discovery Day. Students collaborated with students from Meadowbank, Ermington and Melrose Park to complete a number of exciting STEM challenges including building a rocket, designing a house on the Moon in Minecraft, coding Microbits to play scissors, paper, rock and experimenting with robotics. The day ended with all of the schools versing one another in a paper plane making competition to win the Discovery Day trophy. Melrose Park PS made the paper plane which flew the furthest, with West Ryde trying their best and coming a very close second. Hopefully we will win the trophy next year!

P&C News I can’t believe it’s the last week of Term 3! Time is flying and our children are moving closer to finishing another exciting year of their schooling life. Great going kids! And to make your school life more fun, we keep organising super fun events for you. Yes! I am talking about the very successful Spring Disco held on 13th September. Did you all lose your voice screaming to the songs being played by Alex or was it just me? Alex from Partyrockerz did a fantastic job of engaging the children, giving lots of prizes and making sure

that no one stopped dancing. Whenever the families took a break from dancing, they had numerous food options to choose from. They could get pizza (Pizzaevents), Minimelts ice cream, authentic Indian food (Billu’s) or Korean food (Tasty Food Sydney). Weren’t we all spoilt for choices? They could explore the games stall, Henna stalls and the face painting stall too.

There were many corporate, small businesses and individuals involved in making this event a success. I would like to start by thanking all of our sponsors -

First National Real Estate Agent, Heer Hair and Beauty, Lab Kitchen(Cafe), West Ryde Dental Clinic, Amal’s Discount Chemist, Vibz Performing Artz, Strata & Co, Scope IT Education, Taj Foods Australia, Town & Country Air Conditioning, Frozberries, McDonalds West Ryde, LV BAS Agent Services, Chatime Top Ryde T-Brewery, Mathemagic, Award Group Real Estate, Dhillon Property, Kang’s Taekwondo, Super Little Scientists, Tracy’s

Face Painting, Woolworths, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank.

I would also like to thank Aanshi and Aaryaman’s family for sponsoring our raffle prizes worth $200 and Anvi’s family for gifting additional vouchers for the raffles.

A big shout out to all the

families that donated toys that helped us run our games stall for over 2 hours. We received Lego, dolls, board games, stationary items, crafts, Hot Wheels, stuffed toys, books and lots more. Thank you!

To make it more entertaining, we also had community dancers performing Chinese and Indian dances. I would like to thank Bhumi’s Dance Academy for their Bollywood performance on the day.

Big Thank You to our Chinese community dancers as well who took time out of their busy schedule due to the Full Moon Festival to come and perform for us. They were extremely professional! I was particularly surprised by how quickly they changed costumes between the performances.

Now if you were there on the day, you would have noticed a long queue for the face painting as well. One of our school mums’ who is also a professional face painter offered to paint faces for over 2 hours all for free! Thanks Tracy! I also have to say a special thank you to our school Chaplin, Heather Gorton, who is always lending a helping hand. You would have noticed her pink wig on the day!

On the day, we needed volunteers for many activities. We needed them for decorations, set up, entry ticket sales, raffle ticket sales, toilet duties, games stall and of course pack up! I am so proud to share that we had over 60 volunteers who turned up and helped us that day. We had so many helping hands that we were actually able to pack up everything in half an hour. All I can say is WOW!! Now I want to say a big thank you to each and every person who offered us help on the day. Every helping hand mattered! Your being there and showing support for the community and the event means a lot to the P&C and the school community. This event was for our community and could not have been successful without the involvement of the people.

Neesha, the main organiser of the event spent many hours outside her working hours contacting the sponsors and the vendors and organising everything. You are a star Neesha! Neesha was well supported by Lakshmi, Preeti, Akshay and Zahin. I would also like to thank Venu, Gary, Kirsty, Amy , Neda, Beth, Alison, Hedieh, Ramesh, Jasjeet , Fiona T, Lucy V, Christine H, Ritu, Miho, Josielyn, Sehar, Geetika, Nhu D, Nidhi, Priyanka, Shirley, Surya, Anjana, Swapna, Tandrima, Pika, Shweta, Michael, Kishore, Simon, Rochelle, Tracy, Pooja, Devesh, Stuart, Naresh, Andy and Nik.

Some of the kids who couldn’t stop helping on or before the day of the event were Sid, Dion, Anay, Anushka, Kyra, Ishaan M and Yikai

Now I really would like to put down each and everyone’s name that helped but unfortunately if we were not informed before hand, we wouldn’t know at all. But you know who you are and we value your help a lot! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I would also like to thank our school staff for being there and helping us around.

Our AGM is coming up in 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.

I hope everyone has a wonderful term break and I look forward to seeing you all in the next meeting.

Many Thanks

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

The next P&C meeting

Wednesday 20th November 2019, 7 PM

In the school library (Free child minding available)

“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