CRAWFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLQuality education in an innovative and caring environment.

Safe Respectful Learners.Phone: 9621 7233, Email: crawford-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Term 2 Week 9 21 June, 2012Principal’s Report - G. O’Neill

EXCURSIONS

Excursions are an excellent opportunity forstudents to consolidate learning that has occurredin the classroom. I look forward to talking withour primary students and finding out about theirexcursions to Sydney and the Blue Mountains.My thanks to the teachers who organised theexcursions and to staff who have changed rolesand programs to ensure students were wellsupervised on the excursions.

P&C

The 2012 P&C Executive have met to discussfundraising ideas and plans for the remainder ofthis school year. My thanks to the followingparents who have undertaken an executive roleon the 2012 P&C:President Shay JacksonVice President Tracy LeeTreasurer Kayleen MustonSecretary Barbara Skerry

STAFFING UPDATE

Mrs Nicole Waugh was successful at MeritSelection in gaining the classroom teacherposition at Crawford Public School. Mrs Waughwill commence in Term 3 and join our supportgroup for the remainder of 2012. We congratulateNicole and welcome her back to Crawford.

The Assistant Principal position will be finalisednext week. I will advise parents of the successfulapplicant by the end of term.

Greg O’NeillPrincipal

Deputy Principal’s Report - J. Cenk

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FORLEARNING (PBL)

This term we developed a ‘Lining up’ matrix ofexpectations. Each class had input into theprocess. Our final expectations are listed below.Please discuss these expectations with your child/children.

LINING UP EXPECTATIONSSafeLook where you are goingStay in line while sitting, standing or walkingKeep hands and feet to yourself

Respectful

Walk quietlyWait patientlyBe nice and polite to your peers and teachers

LearnerBe on timeBe readyBe prepared

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Our last day of term is Friday 29 June.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Tuesday 17 July.Mrs J. CenkDeputy Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report - Mrs Mila Evans

It’s hard to believe that we are half through theyear; time does seem to pass more quickly witheach year. The last two weeks will be as hecticas usual, culminating in distribution of mid-yearreports by all classes next Thursday.

I hope the report your child/ren bring home willcause some discussion within the family, as ithas with my own children’s reports. As always,try to focus on the positive aspects of your child/ren’s work, and then determine one or two goalswith them to pursue in the second half of the year.

Congratulations to all the students of Crawfordwho fulfilled our Crawford PBL expectations andwere able to attend an excursion at end of term.Parents your support and enthusiasm is muchappreciated.

Term 3 is shaping up to be another exciting one.Things to look forward to include EducationWeek, The Athletics Carnival, National LiteracyWeek, Vibe Alive, Stage 3 Camp, P&C Disco(Olympic Theme) just to name a few things.Information for these will come home early inTerm 3.

Curriculum Talk

www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/home is a greatresource for you to use in your daily lives withyour children, aiming to create an onlinecommunity with comprehensive homework and‘school life’ support for parents that is easy touse, relevant and engaging.

The School A to Z app is produced by the NSWDepartment of Education and Communities.The iPhone app you can download (search:School A to Z) will assist you in the followingareas:English A to Z: Do you need to brush up on youradverbs and adjectives?Maths A to Z: Will help you to understand whatis happening in your child’s classroom.Technology A to Z: Explains these terms inlanguage that you can understand.Spelling Bee: Game provides hours of spellingfun for children of all ages.

Maths Monkey Times Tables: If your childneeds help with their times tables.Assignments: Prepared some assignmentstarters for common classroom topics andthemes to point you in the right direction.

Children Valuing Learning

We are living in a rapidly changing society thatrequires us as teachers to be continuous learnersin an ever changing world. The benefits that gothe way of these continuous learners result insatisfaction and financial rewards. Children arenatural learners and need to see themselves aslearners otherwise they’ll shut down fromlearning when someone tells them they can’tlearn or when they experience failure.

Here are five things we can do to help ourchildren value learning:

• Model continuous learning. What are youlearning yourself? Are you taking any courses,reading any books or taking a new program? Letkids see that you value learning and continualimprovement.• Make it easy for kids to learn. Build scaffoldsfor success by breaking big tasks into small tasks.For instance, kids learn to make the bed by firstarranging their teddies and smoothing thepillows.• Teach kids something. Life with kids shouldbe one long teaching session. Teach them howto set the table, answer the telephone correctly,complete a lunch order or fill out a form. There’slots for kids to learn and you can teach a greatdeal of it.• Point out when kids are learning. Point out tokids when they learn something new. Sometimesthey don’t know they have learned something.Make them feel good about themselves when theylearn. Praise the act of learning rather than theresults of their efforts.• Remind kids there are many ways to learn.Some of us learn better when using our hands,some when reading instructions or some need tocopy someone else. Understanding this helps kidsget over the I am dumb syndrome they canexperience when struggling to learn through onemode.

As this is our last newsletter for Term 2, I wouldlike to take this opportunity to thank all theteachers for their amazing efforts throughout thisvery busy term. Thank you to all parents andfriends who gave of their time this term helpingout in so many ways. Without your support, manyof the activities could not have gone ahead. Thankyou to all the students for their participation andhard work in achieving their very best. Icommend you on your achievements and effortsof late.

I wish you all a very safe and refreshing holidaybreak!

Mrs Mila EvansAssistant Principal

Learning is a lifelong task. We help shape thedestiny of children by helping them seethemselves as learners and valuing the act oftheir learning.Taken from an article by Michael Grose‘The destiny of children lies in the hands of theirparents and teachers’

PARENTS VISITING THE SCHOOL

As a school community we always value thesafety of students, staff, parents/caregivers andvisitors that enter our school grounds.

We ask that all parents or caregivers who cometo either drop something off to their child or givea message during the school day go to the schooloffice and let the office staff know that you areon the school premises.

As you are aware all visitors to our school needto sign in before conducting their business onthe school grounds. This is for the safety of all.We please ask parents or caregivers to do thesame during the school day.

Mr LowingAssistant Principal

WOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARN ANDCOLES SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS

This year Crawford Public School is once againparticipating in both the Woolworths and Colespromotions. These programs are designed toassist schools in obtaining a variety of teachingresources at no cost.

When shopping at Coles you will be given 1voucher for each $10 spent. When shopping atWoolworths you will be given 1 sticker for each$10 spent. These stickers are placed onto a specialcard which can be collected from Woolworthsor our school’s front office. Vouchers and stickercards can then be placed in boxes in the frontoffice ready to be counted.

Don’t forget to ask for your stickers and voucherswhen you do your shopping!

For further information go to:www.woolworths.com.au/earnandlearnhttp://sportsforschools.com.au/

Mrs Bowden (Organiser)

Sydney West Cross Country

The Regional Cross Country was held on Friday15 June. Crawford had three students representthe Mt Druitt District at Penrith Regatta Centrewith some great results. Huon has qualified forthe State carnival that will be held on the 20 Julyand big congratulations to Liam and Hayley aswell. By all reports it was a very good day!

Sydney West Rugby Union

Congratulations to Naua who has been selectedin the Sydney West Rugby Union team tocompete at Armidale in August. Well done Naua!

PSSA

We have a few rounds washed out this term withthe wet weather, hopefully Week 9 will go aheadand we will get a final game in before theholidays. There is no PSSA in Week 10 this term.All coaches have reported that all participantshave been excellent representatives for theschool.

Stage 3 Hats

I would like to remind Stage 3 that they havehad school hats provided to them and it wouldbe wonderful to see them worn at school.

Kindergarten Gymnastics

During Term 2 Kindergarten have beenparticipating in an 8 week Gymnastics program.All teachers and students have had a wonderfultime and some photos can be viewed in thegallery on our school website. Please follow thelink!http://www.crawford-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

SPORTS NEWS School website and Facebook

Please remember to ‘Like’ our school websitepage and watch our school website for up to dateinformation and photos of all the exciting thingsthat are happening at Crawford!LinksSchool website - http://www.crawford-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/School Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CrawfordPublicSchool or search CrawfordPublic school and hit ‘Like’!

Mr Walsh

Come along and join Crawford’s Playgroupin the Community Cottage on Thursdays from9:00am - 11:00am.

Come along and have a cuppa while thechildren meet new friends.

Deb ValentineCommunity LiaisonOfficer

PLAYGROUP NEWS

Where: In the Crawford CommunityCottage.

The dates for Term 3 are:Wednesday 18 July (Week 1)Wednesday 1 August (Week 3)Wednesday 15 August (Week 5)Wednesday 29 August (Week 7)Wednesday 12 September (Week 9)

We invite everyone to come along and becomean active member of our school community.

Mrs Dybac

PARENT & COMMUNITYINFORMATION SESSIONS & MORNING

TEA

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

For the last two weeks Kindergarten watched tenchicks hatch out of their eggs and grow. We hadfive yellow and five black chicks.

Kindergarten students were able to hold thechicks and wrote sentences about them. We lovedhaving the chicks in our classrooms.

Kindergarten Team

STAGE 1 NEWS

Well done Stage 1 students for another great term!I trust that everyone will have a chance torecharge their batteries over the break. Have awonderful holiday because we are going to bevery busy in Term 3.

Congratulations to all Stage 1 students who havequalified to attend the ‘Transport Excursion’ nextweek. The field trip will supplement work beingcovered in the classroom. It will give students achance to observe the sights and sounds ofdifferent forms of transport including AIR atSydney Airport, WATER- ferries in SydneyHarbour and LAND-rail, buses, cars, trucks andtrams in and around the Sydney CBD. It is a greatculmination activity to end our term. Notes forthis were distributed last week. Please ensure thatthe permission note along with the medical noteand monies is returned to your child’s classteacher by Monday 25 June, 2012. No late monieswill be accepted.

Well done to all those who are participating inthe Home Reading Program, your efforts areevident in your improved reading levels.

In the last few weeks I have handed out a hugemountain of PBL awards. It has been a pleasureto see the growth in maturity and attitude amongstStage 1 students over the course of this half-year.

Mrs Mila EvansAssistant Principal - Stage 1

AUTHOR VISIT

Years 1-4 are having the author of “PugglesProblem” Aleesah Darlison visiting to discussstory writing on 21 June at 12noon in the hall.

The session will last around 45 minutes. Aleesahwill read through one of her books, talk to thestudents about Carpet Court’s StorybookChallenge (including tips for creative writing)and then open up a Q&A session on theStorybook Challenge theme – ‘what I love mostabout my community’.

With winter upon us, we are once againasking for your assistance in donating a boxof tissues for your child’s classroom.

If you can assist us in this matter, please senda box of tissues to your child’s class teacher.

Thankyou.

Just a reminder of the dates for studentsparticipating in the University Competitions.

Sitting Dates:English Tuesday, 31 JulyMathematics Tuesday, 14 August

Mrs BenfieldOrganiser

NSW UNIVERSITY COMPETITIONSFOR STUDENTS IN YEARS 3-6

STAGE 3 NEWS

It is hard to believe we are in the final two weeksof this term. It has flown by so very quickly andwe have all been extremely busy.

I would like to thank the students for consistentlydemonstrating the school expectations of beinga safe, respectful learner and for beingoutstanding role models for our younger students.

There are many exciting things to look forwardto in the next two terms. We now have only juston a term until we escape for three days at camp.Please continue to pay your balance off beforethe 31 August 2012. We will also be preparingfor Peddler’s Day next term, which will be heldin early Term 4.

And I am happy to say we are moving full steamahead with our preparations for our new andexciting changes to our Year 6 end of yearcelebrations. And thank you to the parents whohave been attending these meetings to assist usin making these lifetime events even more specialfor our students. As they say, WATCH THISSPACE! :)

Thank you for another productive and supportiveterm, have a safe and magical holiday break andI look forward to returning to school with youall for an even busier, fun and memorable Term3.

Ms. AlipateAssistant Principal - Stage 3

Many of them have shown a high level ofmaturity and dedication to their learning, this iswhy they are the leaders of our school. Well done,keep up the hard work Stage 3!

I would like to congratulate the five recipientsof the Stage 3 Assistant Principals Awards:Jaymie (6A), Naomi (6P), Emily (5/6A), Mele(5T) and Chantelle (5B). It was an honour forme to present these awards on behalf of theclassroom teachers and to see the amazing effortthese students put not only into their learning butto make Crawford Public School a better placeto be.

We hope the students enjoyed the excursion tothe Art Gallery this week and took manymemorable and valuable experiences away fromthe day. It was a great way to end a very hecticterm and a lead up into an even busier term.Thank you Miss Abela for organising this for us,we really do appreciate it!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thankall the teachers on Stage 3 for another term ofhard work and commitment to the learning andeducational needs of our students. They workedextremely hard to write very thorough andreflective student reports as well as the amazingthings they do each day. Our stage would not beas fantastic without them, so thank you so verymuch.

ASSEMBLY ITEMS

The Infants Assembly is on every secondFriday (odds weeks) at 10:05am. The rosterfor the first two assemblies for Term 3 is:

Friday 20.7.12 Prefects (Week 1)Friday 3.8.12 K/1A (Week 3)

The Primary Assembly is on every secondThursday (odd weeks) at 2:05pm. The rosterfor the first two assemblies for Term 3 is:

Thursday 19.7.12 Prefects (Week 1)Thursday 2.8.12 4N (Week 3)

PBL BADGES

2/3S Hayley and Shanyuth4N Joshua and Jacob5T Ranish

Congratulations to all the students who receivedtheir green badge for being a safe, respectfullearner.

CRUNCH&SIP

4 Reasons to send snow peas forCrunch&Sip.

1 Kids love their crunch textureand sweet flavour

2 They are a source of iron,protein and potassium

3 The don’t bruise easily4 They make an exciting change for

Crunch&Sip.

The Department of Education and Communitiesorganises Special “Learn to Swim” classes forNSW Public School students. We have beenallocated a place at Mount Druitt Swimming Poolfor the first two weeks of Term 4 .

This is an excellent opportunity for students whoare not proficient swimmers to gain competenceand confidence with swimming.

Our school is giving priority to non-swimmersin Years 2-4. Notes will be distributed early nextterm. Places will be filled on a first come firstserved basis.

Miss ButtigiegOrganiser

SPECIAL SWIMMING SCHEME

SPECIAL EDUCATION NEWS

We are quickly approaching the end of the term.We have many things planned for the studentsbetween now and then. On the 27 June our Stage1 and 2 students will be attending an excursionto the city by bus as part of the life skills program‘learning about our community’ and a mufti dayon Thursday 28 June to raise funds for the SRCchosen charity.

Reports go home in Week 10 for all students,although we are not holding formalised meetings.If you would like to discuss any concerns orclarify information please contact the office toarrange a meeting.

We would like to remind all our students aboutthe importance of being at school on time.Lessons start a 9:00am and teachers deliver a lotof important information about the day first thingin the morning. Also it is equally important tocollect your child promptly at 3pm.

Winter is upon us and we need to ensure alljumpers and jackets are clearly labelled with yourchild’s name and class. Also any donations oftissues would be greatly appreciated for theclassroom. Due to the onset of winter if your childhas been absent due to illness or other familymatters it is important you provide notes to yourchild’s classroom teacher.

Crunch and Sip is enjoyed in our classroomseveryday, please encourage this healthy eatinginitiative by providing a piece of fresh fruit andwater. Students enjoy this time in the classroomto replenish their energy for learning.

We hope you have a relaxing winter holiday andenjoy some well-earned family time. When thestudents return we look forward to seeing themcontinue to be safe respectful learners. Enjoythe holidays. Be safe!

Mrs TaylorAssistant Principal (Rel) - Special Education

 

 

Crawford Public School would like to invite all our 2013Kindergarten students and families to our weekly Crawford

Cubs sessions. Cubs, is a school transition program that ensuresyour child has the best start to Kindergarten. Each session is

play based and interactive where your child will developfriendships and skills for Kindergarten.

Crawford Cubs starts

Wednesday 15 August 20119:30-11am

Thursday 16 August 20112-3pm

Cubs will run each Wednesday morning and Thursdayafternoon for 10 weeks

Cubs will be held in our Crawford Community Room

We ask you to supply crunch and sip for your child.(1 piece of fruit and drink bottle of water)

We look forward to seeing you there!!!

If you have any questions please contactKatrina Berwick at Crawford Public School on

9621 7233

EARLY BIRD FAMILY MOVIES

GREATER UNION BLACKTOWN DRIVE-IN9622 0202

THURSDAY 28 JUNE - SUNDAY 15 JULY

1 MOVIE ONLY 6:00PM START

“ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT”OR

“BRAVE”

$25 PER CAR