Clunes Public School Newsletter 14 February 2019

Week 3 Term 1

‘ Learn to Live, Live to Learn’ Integrity |Responsibility |Respect

Our school stands proudly on Bundjalung land Walker Street, Clunes 2480 Phone: (02) 66291278 Email: clunes-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Principal: Michelle Slee Fax: (02) 66291040 Website: www.clunes-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

SCHOOL CALENDAR We are an accredited Waste Wise Ways School

WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 Friday 15 February - Student assembly @ 2:00pm including Kindergarten introduction and student leader inductions

Mr Sky starts 3 weeks LSL and Mrs Henderson will be on Class 1-2.

Tuesday 26 Feb - The Rivers Secondary Colleges Orientation Day for Year 7 2020 Thursday 28 February - P&C Disco Friday 1 March - Clean Up Australia Day - Student Assembly (3-4)

Monday 4 March - P&C meeting including Live Life Well presentation @ 6.15pm

A proud member of the First North Community of Schools and The Rivers P-12

SPECIAL ASSEMBLY FRIDAY AT 2PM We are honoured to have State MP, Thomas George, attending our Student Leader Induction Ceremony & Welcome Kindergarten assembly. During the ceremony, family members will be invited to the stage to pin the leadership badge on their child/children. Year 6 students will be introducing their new kindergarten buddies. The 5-6 class will be presenting a musical number and students will be presented with their first awards for the year. We also have lots of green Positive Behaviour Slips awarded to our students over the last 3 weeks (57 in total). One lucky student will have their name drawn out of the box and become our “Citizenship of the Week” and also receive a $5 voucher to spend at Uncle Pete’s Second Hand Book Store. Our thanks to Uncle Pete for sponsoring this program which reinforces positive behaviour.

Did you know we send a secret email out on the Friday week before assembly if your child is receiving an award? We hope this helps some families to attend the assembly on this special occasion.

A WEEK FULL OF INFORMATION AND LEARNING We’d like to thank the many family members who attended the information evening on Tuesday night. We hope you found this informative and useful in building a strong partnership in supporting your child’s wellbeing and education. My thanks to teachers for their thoroughness in preparing for this evening. The children supervised in the library were wonderful and we are pleased this enabled more families to attend the evening. Families unable to attend the evening will receive an outline of the information. All teaching staff participated in our first Learning and Support Meeting in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

These meetings are held on a regular basis throughout the year as every child’s wellbeing and education is every teacher and supporting staffs’ responsibility. Topics at these meetings include individual student needs, strategies and programs in place. Monitoring children in the playground to support them in making friends, feeling safe and relating to others is one of the team’s focuses. Another may be looking at specific teaching of skills in literacy or numeracy to assist student progress whether it be a student experiencing difficulties, a student whose learning style differs from others or a student requiring extension and enrichment tasks. These meetings are in addition to our weekly staff meetings which focus on organisation, communication and professional learning and evaluation. This afternoon, staff will be attending an additional workshop on sport and movement for students with disabilities with physiotherapist, Janet Auret. Inclusiveness for all our students is essential while continuing to provide all students with an engaging array of experiences. SAFE ON SOCIAL MEDIA You’ve seen it on the news, you’ve had the conversation over and over again! Clunes PS and P & C are taking action! On Monday 18 March, special guest presenter, Kirra Pendergast, will provide information on being ‘Safe on Social Media’ in our school library for parents, First North community & staff at 5:30pm. Free to all interested. The evening is sponsored by Clunes PS & our P & C. Please enjoy the new staff interviews by our year 5 reporters. Michelle Slee Principal

Focus Value “Responsibility”

Ask your child what they think ‘responsibility’ looks like, feels like and sounds like when at home.

Student Assembly Our first assembly for the year will be on Friday 15 February at 2:00pm when we will be introducing our new Kindergarten cohort and inducting our student leaders. The 5-6 class will be presenting a musical item for your enjoyment. Musically Speaking

• Drum and guitar tuition fees are now due [$90 per instrument per term] payable to the school. You can pay by cash, cheque or EFTPOS at the office or by credit card via the link on the school website or on Skoolbag.

** Any outstanding fees from 2018 will need to be paid prior to starting tuition in 2019.

Textbooks Fees and the Voluntary Contribution Textbook Fees are as follows –

Kindergarten - $50.65 1-2 Class - $56.50 3-4 Class – $61.50 5-6 Class - $50.00

On top of this textbook fee, there is the voluntary contribution which is set at $35 per student or $60 per family. Payment of fees including the voluntary contribution is due 8 March 2019. No invoice will be sent out at this time unless requested. Payment can be made by cash, cheque or EFTPOS at the office or by credit card online via the link on our school website or on Skoolbag (see item below re Skoolbag) Are you details correct?? Each family should have received a print out of the information that we have on hand about your child/children, family contact details and emergency contact details. Many thanks to the families who have returned the print outs. IF you have not already done so, could you please read over the data, make any corrections in red ink and return the forms to school ASAP so that our records can be updated? If your information is all correct, simply sign the form and return it to school. We appreciate your assistance in getting our records up to date. Scholastic Book Club- issue 1 orders due Book Club orders are due by Friday 15th February. You can either enter your orders online or return the order forms with payment to the office.

School Communications Communication between the school and its community is a high priority. As such we have our weekly newsletter (emailed each Thursday) which has a run-down of upcoming events, as well as reports and photos of what has happened during the week and interesting bits and pieces from P&C, COOSH and other outside agencies. We also have our school website with term calendars, photo galleries, newsletters and information about our school as well as departmental news and information. There is also a Make a Payment link for paying any school fees, excursion payments etc. To access the website visit the following URL https://clunes-p.schools.nsw.gov.au We also have the Skoolbag App which we use to send out alerts and reminders and the weekly newsletter. We are in the process of updating the calendar on the app and hope to have it completed by early next week. You can also use the app to send in absence notes for when your child is away and make payments via the NSW Westpac Payment Gateway. If you don’t have Skoolbag, see below on how to get started.

P&C News We are looking forward to the Clunes School Welcome Barbecue and Disco on Thursday 28th for all children and their families from 6pm - 7.30pm. This is a fun, informal event to meet new people and see old faces, a yummy sausage sizzle and a canteen run with the usual delicious offerings from the P&C. We would like baked goods for this event if any parents and carers can bring along something on this night; we thank you in advance. The P&C are looking for any interested parents/carers to run a canteen once a month now, Amie Brown can talk to you about any ideas or help you with planning the menu, and it can be a simple meal deal such as a muffin and toastie. For further details, contact Amie on 0401 292 956. Bunnings’ Barbecue (Lismore) - Saturday 30th March. Save the date for your diary and come along and volunteer for an hour or two, as this is a great opportunity to raise funds for new equipment and resources for the school. Watch this space as we shall post more details about this in the coming weeks.

Anna Douglass President

This week at COOSH we have spent a great deal of time ‘gaming’ but not on line! With the hot weather outside time has been replaced with inside play/recreation choices and the children have been keen to learn the board and card games we have set up. Lola asked to learn ‘Batgammon’ and I modelled how to use the illustration to set up the board for two players, she copied the positions of my players and I taught her play strategies by a teaching method called ‘thinking aloud’, sharing my thoughts as I interpreted the dice options. She was able to glean understanding quickly and transfer it, the aim of all learning,

as she then used the visual instructions to help her explain to Rose and Skylar how to set up and play the game. Construction with ‘KNEX’ saw the boys figure out how they could build tunnels and bridges for their matchbox cars, utilising problem-solving skills, testing out the height and width they required. At COOSH we encourage learning through play and plan purposeful learning

opportunities based on the children’s interests. They don’t know this of course, to them it’s all fun and games!

Hannah and the COOSH team

Snippets from Live Life Well

Our new staff members as interviewed by our Year 5 students. Mrs Naomi Northey Manser - LaST Mrs Northey-Manser is a new teacher in Clunes Public School - her job is Learning and Support Teacher. The last schools she worked at were Armidale City School and Mingoola. She enjoys teaching art, technology and reading. She has interests in sewing, making jewellery, the beach, yoga and reading. What she enjoys about Clunes Public School so far is that everyone is really friendly, calm and happy! Here’s a fact about Mrs Northey-Manser. In week 2 on Friday it was her third birthday. The reason being is that she had cancer and she got all her cells taken out and new cells put back in, and so now she has restarted her life. If Mrs Northey-Manser would be a mythical animal she would be a dragon! Another question we asked was if there was $10 left in the world what would she do -she would believe it’s not useful. Thank you Mrs Northey-Manser for joining us this wonderful year at Clunes Public School.

Reporters Olivia Douglass-Martin & Aggie Morton Miss Kate Hutchinson – Stage 2 teacher Miss Hutchinson has worked at Alstonville Public, Wyrallah Road and at primary schools in London. Her

favourite subjects to teach are maths, art and technology. She likes to travel to lots of different countries, she likes team sport and friends and family. An interesting fact about Miss Hutchinson is that she was born in England. When asked if she was a mythical creature, she said she would be a dragon so she could roast marshmallows. We also asked Mrs Hutchinson what she would do if she only had $10 left and she replied she would spend it on hot chips and a drink. So far she has enjoyed the friendly welcome from our school.

Reporters Zeke Gibson & Lachlan Morrow Smith

Mrs Jessica Stevens - SLSO Miss Jess is a new SLSO helper at our school. She helps the new kindys, Isaac and the 5/6 class. Miss Jess is a mum of two, Archie and Marlo. Miss Jess was an SLSO at Mona Vale Public School, in a class of 6 students from Kindergarten to

Year 3 who were on the autism spectrum.

Miss Jess supported reading and maths program. Miss Jess’ old school is a 8hr 21m drive from Clunes. On Miss Jess’ first day she saw a 2m snake that was black.

Miss Jess enjoys working with students and helping develop their

education and social skills.

She loves seeing students improve daily and building confidence. If Miss Jess only had $10 left she would buy chocolate. If she could be a mythical creature she would be a kind dragon. Miss Jess says she loves the gorgeous, happy, smiley students at Clunes. She thinks the students are incredible at being inclusive and caring and is delighted to be part of the community.

By reporters Tyson Pryde and Logan Cartwright