PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Dear students, families and friends, It was wonderful to welcome new student, Tara, and

her mum and dad, Rebekah and Adam, last week. Tara

will join Year 4 in P2 with Mr Randall next year but has

started coming along these last few weeks to settle into

school life at a gentle pace. Welcome Tara, and I can’t wait to read more about

‘Fairy Central’! Mrs Davis paid a visit to our two local pre-schools last Tuesday

as part of our Kindy transition program and Hudson and Bronte were pleasantly

surprised to see their new teacher. Another visitor was not so welcome- a large

red-bellied black snake behind the toilet block. Our GA, Mr Jacklin, removed all

the leaf litter collected near the tank stand on Friday, so hopefully it’ll move on

to a better home.

Impressive Future Student Leaders

With Ollie and Izzy back at school, everyone has now cast

their vote in our student leadership elections, including

SLSO Monique. I took notes from each Year 5 speech to

help with my decision making last Monday but it was

soooo difficult!

At our staff meeting afterwards, we decided to run with a Student Parliament in

2019. With a state and federal election likely in the first half of the year and five

students to lead different portfolios, it is a valuable opportunity to bring our

studies of government and democracy to life. Along with a Prime Minister

(school captain) and Deputy PM (vice-captain), we intend inducting a Treasurer

and a Minister for Sport and a Minister for the Environment. We have drafted

role statements and a list of responsibilities for each, to discuss at P&C this

week. Even though we are

a small school, I’d also like

to propose forming a

Student Representative

Council (SRC), with elected

members from each grade.

Even infants students can

have a say and develop

important, life-long skills. It

is vital our students feel

empowered and have a

voice in the workings of our school. I’m keen to hear your thoughts.

PEATS RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

1231 Peats Ridge Road Peats Ridge 2250 10th December, 2018 Ph: 4373 1149 Fax: 4373 1076 Week 9 Term 4 Email: peatsridge-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.peatsridge-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

DIARY DATES

TERM 4

Every Monday: Newsletter Every Tuesday: Scripture

Every Friday: Sport

10th - 19th December

Swimming School

17th December

Presentation Evening 7pm P & C BBQ 6pm

18th December

Secret Santa KMHS Band visit Year 6 Farewell

19th December Year 6 Fun Day and Goodbyes

PBL VALUE OF THE WEEK

Respect - Be Safe And Respectful At Swim School

CWA Christmas Meeting

While we were in the hall being awed by our Year 5 speakers, our industrious CWA ladies were meeting in the

library, enjoying a Christmas lunch and making plans for next year. The country of focus for the 2019

PowerPoint competition is Papua New Guinea so please let me know if you have any artefacts or know of any

possible guest speakers.

If, like me and many of our students, you are fascinated by fungi, keep Saturday, 9th February,

9:30am~2:30pm free. The CWA has organised for Pam O’Sullivan, a conjoint at the

University of Newcastle, to present a workshop in our hall. Pam, a self-confessed fungi

fanatic, is passionate about raising community awareness of the importance of fungi and

engage the community to learn more about local specimens. Over 90% of plants have

some sort of symbiotic relationship with fungi, however, this ecological linchpin is often

overlooked, feared as dangerous, or even actively destroyed. Come along and be

amazed!

Pam also co-wrote ‘A Guide to Common Fungi of the Hunter – Central Rivers Region’: https://hunter.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/516807/guide-to-common-fungi-hcr.pdf

Kariong Mountains HS Orientation Day

Last Tuesday, Year 6 students in our learning community travelled to KMHS for the last time

this year. In peer groups, they were mentored in ID finger scanning and peer support and

taken on a school tour before introductory lessons on PD/H/PE, Languages, Drama, Science

and HSIE. The girls chatted to me about their day:

Brooke- “I really enjoyed History because I learned about the Trojan War and Tutankhamun. I also made an

origami Pokemon. My big sisters stole most of my chicken nuggets.”

Jayda- “I messed up the fingerprint ID heaps because I didn’t put my thumb on straight. We did a quiz in

Japanese then some origami.

Angel-Katlyn- “I saw all the old Peats kids. We sat with Angel C at lunch and she was really nice to us.”

‘Foldable Flight’ Fun

Last Thursday, P1 and participated in a DART virtual excursion to Questacon- the

National Science and Technology Centre- in Canberra. Students investigated how

design factors can influence flight by making paper planes and drawing examples from

real planes. They experimented with different elements of their paper planes to

explore various aerospace engineering design features. This week, we’ll hold a competition to see whose

design can out-distance all the others and I have two special prizes of crystal-growing Christmas trees for the

winning pilots. I witnessed some blossoming talent at the Year 6 Mini-Markets!

Dehydrated Bee Vomit

Bee Keeper, Mr Guy Challis, popped in Friday morning to check our new bees were happy and

content in their two hives. One has a normal sealed base and the other a ventilated base, proven

to increase production by 15% due to better temperature control, and a corflute sheet smeared

with Vaseline to monitor pest invasion. Guy will be back in a few weeks to check the 16 hives on

the Vella’s property and the progress of our hives. The eight full-depth frames will weigh around

30kg when full. I can’t wait to taste our very own PRPS honey!

Year 6 Mini-Markets

Year 6 couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for their Mini-Markets and Tara, Hudson

and Bronte joined in the fun. A special thank you to parents for generously donating goods

to make the day a huge success. Over $320 was raised and will go towards the Year 6

Farewell dinner, Fun Day and gift to the school. A long list of lucky winners was awarded

their prizes at assembly that afternoon. We also farewelled our terrific TES, Mr Small, as it was the last day of

his month-long teaching block. Hopefully, we’ll see him again at our Presentation Evening.

Stalls included:

The Lolly Competition Table- Savannah did a great job manning this stall and accurately recorded all the

results. Brooke’s guess of 376 lollies (only 2 off) won the whole jar, I ripped a Mintie wrapper to 93cm and

Haylee 39cm and Makayla stretched her snake to 29.7cm before eating it!

The Day Spa- talented technicians Hayley, Bianca, Jayda, and Makayla worked their beauty magic with face

painting, hair spray, nail polish and hair braiding.

The Canteen Café- Mr Randall, Mrs Davis and Cathy served delicious pies, sausage rolls, cupcakes and

milkshakes all day.

Throwing Games- AK was kept busy policing rogue sponge throws and Beau was her prize winner. Zoe won

Mr Small’s paper plane comp with her top throw of 5.5m and the Obstacle Course challenged contestants.

Apple Bobbing- Brooke’s stall was immensely popular as everyone got soaking wet!

Screaming Match- There was certainly some stiff competition but the prize winners were Noah, Matteo and

Savannah.

‘Murder in the Dark’- Jayda, Brooke and Briony made the classrooms cold, dark and creepy to maximise the

chills and spills with blindfolds.

Swimming School

I hope everyone came prepared with their cozies, hats, sunscreen, rashies,

towels and water bottles to attend Swimming School today at Gosford Pool.

We’re sharing the bus with Central Mangrove PS and the cost was covered by a

Sporting Schools grant. $30 for 8 x 50 minute sessions is a bargain! All abilities

will be catered for and students will also learn basic skills in water safety. Peats students will be picked up

around 10:15 am and return around 1pm, just in time for lunch.

End of Year Events

Only 8 days of school remain!

Mon 10~19 Dec- Swimming School @Gosford Pool

Tues 11 Dec- Scripture Christmas Service 9:15am in Library

Wed 12 Dec CCC Mobile Library visit (book returns only) and P & C Meeting 10:30am

Mon 17 Dec- Year 6 Principal’s Lunch & Presentation Evening 7pm with P&C BBQ 6pm and special

visitor 6:45pm

Tue 18 Dec- P1 + P2 Secret Santa, KMHS Band visit and Year 6 Farewell at 6:30pm, CC Leagues Club

Wed 19 Dec- Year 6 Fun Day to Awezone and goodbyes (last day of school)

All staff have participated in extra Professional Learning over the course of the year in order to trade-off the

last two Staff Development Days. This means the school will be non-operational the last Thu / Fri of Week 10

(20~21 Dec).

Return ALL Library Books Please!

Our wonderful CCC Mobile Library librarian, Michael, entertained students with a terrific

double balloon experiment last visit (ask them about it) and has even more fun planned this

Wednesday. Please check bedrooms for any missing or overdue books as 12th December will

be his last visit for the year, for returns only. Return any school library books as well.

P&C Last Meeting for 2018

This Wednesday, at 10:30am, the P&C is planning a special meeting to discuss

Presentation Evening and the recent $15,000 Community Building Partnership Program

grant. The application was for ‘Upgrading front of school and kitchen facilities’. Following

many enquiries, local mason Adam from AJM Landscapes, is drawing up a proposal and

quote for a sandstone entry. For those parents on Facebook, I recommend looking at the craftsmanship of his

recent commissions (including CC Grammar School): https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-Business/AJM-Landscapes-Design-Construction-134754703383035/

Based on the Auditor’s recent advice, I also contacted Andrew FitzSimons, Principal of Dapto HS, regarding the

trust fund in his mother Helen’s honour, to see if some of those funds could also be used. After a lovely chat,

he’s agreed to forward my email to the other family members for consideration. Everyone is welcome at the

meeting to hear the proposal, but only current P&C members may have a say, so please join.

Let’s make our small school one of the best!

Staff Professional Development

Last Tuesday afternoon, in preparation for our STEMshare Robotics Kit arrival in Term 1, staff

participated in an online workshop on ‘Coding in the Classroom’. This Wednesday afternoon,

staff in our small schools’ network will meet with PBL Mentor Robyn Cliff at Somersby PS to

evaluate the effectiveness of PBL this year and plan for 2019. I’ll also be seeking feedback from

our school community on areas for improvement and any suggestions you might have.

Bell Times 2019

To align our teaching day with Department of Education policy and guidelines, we intend reducing the middle

session and Break 2 by five minutes each next year:

9~11am Morning Session (2 hr)

11~11:30am Break 1 (30 min)

11:30~1:15pm Middle Session (1hr 45 min) LESS 5 MIN

1:15~2pm Break 2 (45 min) LESS 5 MIN

2~3pm Afternoon Session (1 hr)

This neatens up bell times and makes them easier to remember. The two changes are only subtle but I realise

finishing ten minutes earlier than this year may impact on family routines.

Please see me if you have any concerns.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2019

After the wonderful success of Aladdin last year, I’ve tentatively booked our whole

school to see ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at the Capitol Theatre, 1pm on

Wednesday (schools’ day), 6th March. I’m giving our families lots of prior warning

in case you were considering going when it opens in January and so that students

can start saving their pocket / birthday / Christmas money. Student tickets will be approximately $65 each and

we’ll catch the train like last time, so Opal cards will be needed as well. Parents and carers are invited to join

us at $80 adult, $70 pensioner/senior (so apply for your flexi-day now). The two-and-a-half hour musical is

recommended for children aged 6+ years. I know this is an expensive excursion, but a full musical experience

at one of Sydney’s best venues is an opportunity too good to miss! Read

more here: https://www.capitoltheatre.com.au/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/

Attendance

Our most recent attendance data collection had the whole school at 89.7% for

Semester 2. It would be fantastic to hit 90% by the end of the year! Partial

attendance is becoming a serious concern. I know it is a very busy time for

families, especially farmers, but please ensure your children attend school for

the full day to gain maximum benefit from their education.

Our school grounds will be open again for community use over the summer break as part of the government’s

‘Share Our Space’ program. Trudy will be conducting yoga classes in the hall and I’ve organised a Tree and

Stump Grinding service to clean up our playground eye-sores. A security guard will be keeping watch each day

to ensure safety. Come along and shoot some hoops!

Ms Austin - Principal (rel)

Uniform Reminder

If you need to order school uniforms for 2019 please contact Lauren on 0409 745 600 /

gl_taylor@bigpond.com before the end of term. Please note that all items will need to

be paid for in full when placing your order. Uniform order forms are available from the

front office.

FAMILY BUDGET GUIDE 2019

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Below is a list of the excursions and activities planned for 2019 to help budget family finances.

Of course, other unexpected opportunities may arise later in the year.

TERM 1 Approx. Cost

Voluntary Contribution $30 child $50 family

ICAS Assessments

Digital Technologies (optional) $9.00

Science (optional) $9.00

Writing (optional) $18.00

Spelling (optional) $12.00

English (optional) $9.00

Mathematics (optional) $9.00

Small Schools’ Swimming Carnival (nominated) $3.80 entry fee

Small Schools’ Cross Country No charge

Student Leaders’ Fundraiser Donation

Year 6 Shirt tbc

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ musical and Opal card $65 (adults $80)

TERM 2

CARES Bike Safety $10

P & C Mother’s Day Stall Optional

GRIP Leadership (P & C $10 subsidy) $30

Student Leaders’ Fundraiser Donation

P1 Excursion tbc

TERM 3

Stage 2 Major Excursion- Jenolan Caves $150

Stage 3 Major Excursion- Camp $280 + bus

School Photos Optional

Small Schools Athletics Carnival – Age 8 + tbc

Book Fair Optional

Student Leaders’ Fundraiser Donation

Father’s Day Breakfast Optional

P1 Excursion tbc

TERM 4

Swim Scheme $35

Year 6 Mini-Markets Optional

Year 6 Farewell and Fun Day tbc