Filter Content
P&C Meeting
This month’s P&C meeting will take place tonight at 7:30pm. The specific details are later in this newsletter in the P&C section. I encourage everyone to attend all P&C meetings as it is a great way to be involved with your child’s school. The P&C are extremely supportive of the school and work behind the scenes to support the school and every child’s learning journey. Tonight, I will be sharing some of the salient points that the school is considering in regard to our return to face-to-face teaching next term. At this stage it is still a few weeks away and we can all appreciate how things may change between now and then. We want to ensure the community is aware of the potential changes and the reasoning behind them. I look forward to seeing you tonight (virtually).
NAPLAN
This year’s NAPLAN results have arrived at school. These will be available next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for collection. Please use the following link, www.schoolinterviews.com.au and code, bqa8d, to book a time to collect from the 3-6 office. Bookings will open this Thursday at 10:30am and will close Monday at 2pm. Due to Covid-19 you will be required to book a time to come and collect from the 3-6 office.
Schools were given access to the data yesterday. Staff will analyse these results and provide the community an update during Term 4.
Tell Them From Me (TTFM )
Student Survey
Next week, students in Year 4 – Year 6 will be participating in the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) survey. The Tell Them From Me survey provides schools with student, teacher and parent perspectives about the engagement and wellbeing of their students. This information is valuable to schools and can be used to identify strengths and successes, as well as areas to target for improvement.
Notes for students in Year 4 – Year 6 will be going home today via the SZ app. This note is an Opt Out note. For those parents who do not want their child to participate in the Tell Them From Me survey, please return the note to school, via our school email, by Monday 13 September. The school email address is pennanthil-p.schools@det.nsw.edu.au . Please address the email to your child’s class teacher. If you are happy for your child to participate, you do not need to do anything further.
Parent Survey
Parents are also invited to complete the Parent Tell Them From Me Survey. Please follow the below link to access the survey. The survey will be open until Friday 8 October. http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/7z8cd
Learning from Home Packs – Week 10
For those families that require the hard copies of the Learning from Home packs please book in via the system we use for Parent Teacher interviews. Please use the following link, School Interviews and enter the code, krb9b. Select your desired time to come to the 3-6 site. This booking site will be open from Thursday morning at 10am. All packs will be able to be collected this Friday or Monday for next week’s pack. Please only come and collect a pack if you need one. Please do not just call in to the office to try and collect a pack as you will be politely turned away. We have this process to ensure we are following our Covid-19 Safety Plan to assist you and the wider community.
Starting Big School in 2022
If you know someone living in our catchment area that is due to start ‘big school’ next year, please encourage them to contact the school. The enrolment process has been streamlined and all families living in our catchment area can now apply online and complete most of the process this way. For all information relating to enrolment please click the following link, Enrolment - Pennant Hills Public School (nsw.gov.au) .
Normally in Term 4 we would hold our Kindilinks program to transition next year’s enrolments to school. At this point we are unsure if this will be able to proceed. However, we have set aside the following dates for this process. When we have a clear understanding of what the future holds, I will be sure to update our community, so please save the date and stay tuned. To participate in any potential Orientation Program onsite this year, all 2022 Kindergarten students will need to be enrolled prior to attending any of the possible dates.
- Tuesday 19 October – Kindergarten Parent Information Session at 7pm – Probably via Zoom
- Tuesday 26 October – Kindilink session from 9:30am-11am
- Tuesday 2 November – Kindilink session from 9:30-11am
- Tuesday 9 November – Kindilink session from 9:30-11am
- Tuesday 16 November – Kindilink session from 9:30-11am
Kind Regards
Mr Matt Pinchbeck
Principal
Screen-free Thursday – Week 10
Our community, student and teacher feedback from our recent Screen-free Wednesday was overwhelmingly positive. As such, we will be conducting a Screen-free Thursday next week (Week 10), with some adjustments, including;
- The student-directed choice grid will be discussed during this Friday’s class zoom sessions and provided in the Learning from Home pack on Friday, almost a week before the students attempt it. This is to ensure adequate thought and preparation from the students in terms of what supplies they may need to gather, space and how much input they may need from a parent or sibling. Teachers will continue to refer to the student-directed choice grid the Mon-Wed prior to Screen-free Thursday,
- The student-directed choice grid will have two clearly labelled columns of ‘parent-free’ or ‘independent’ activities where students will be required to complete the activities without parent input. This will be made clear to the students and has been put in place to ensure that parents who are working from home on this day are able to continue as they normally would.
- Changed the day from Wednesday to Thursday as some grades have planned lessons for targeted students on certain days and we do not want the same students to miss out on their group time with their teacher. Teachers will still be available on Screen-free Thursday, if a student requires them.
- Incorporate a free choice activity where students can create a project of their own.
- Focus on the positive benefits of student-directed tasks, particularly those with a STEM/STEAM focus (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) and that this is a screen-free day, not a learning-free day.
Thank you to our wonderful community for continuing to support not only the learning but wellbeing outcomes of our students.
Around the School – Stage One
Stage One have been working on a week-long project in geography, that also incorporates mathematics skills. They designed their own park and I think you will agree that these designs are simply amazing – well done Stage One!
I also popped into 2B’s Zoom last week and they were discussing handwriting. I asked Mrs Buttrey to send me some samples of student handwriting where they had tried their personal best. Well done Maddie, Rina and Will on producing such wonderful work!
Kind Regards
Mrs Kate Wasson
Deputy Principal
Hello everyone it's Benji here with the Leader's Report.
-
You can go to a ton of places so don't let the new coronavirus get the better of you.
- Don't forget that Sunday was Father's Day, so I hope you got your Dad something nice.
- In your spare time you can go out and spot some little Wally’s that are hiding in the most unlikely places.
- For all my fellow Year 6’s and Year 2’s we can go back to school pretty soon, How cool does that sound?!
- We hope you guys enjoyed the internet excursions and had heaps of fun.
Because it's quite a tough time, I have put together some jokes.
Q: I entered ten puns in a contest to see which would win
A: No pun in ten did
Hope you guys are doing great and stay healthy, Benji out.
Benji
School Leader
On Tuesday 14 September, a National Reading Day will be held for all Australians. It is a time to read for 1 hour and ‘escape’ into another world! Reading is always a good thing to catch up on. You may want to read a book you started reading but didn’t finish.
On the topic of September, it was Fathers Day on Sunday! Hopefully you had an amazing day spending time with your Dad! I know it's hard that you cannot go anywhere during these tough times. But that doesn’t mean you can't have fun with your family! Maybe go on a walk or Facetime your friends! Here are some tips on what you can do during Lockdown:
-
You can go on a walk to look for some Where’s Wallys that the leaders hid around.
- Go on a bushwalk with your family.
- Pick up a new hobby.
- Do some painting.
- Take your pet for a walk.
Those are just some ideas but you can always do anything you like. See you later Alligator!
Naomi
School Leader
Mrs Griffith
Relieving Deputy Principal
KB - Catherine L, Harrison G, Eliana J
KC - William P, Jonathan L
KD - Joel D, Coralie A
KL - Marc M, Elizaveta V, Oliver R
1A - Anderson X, Isla A, Morgan F
1E - Ethan F, Aston A
1M - Keyan P, Richard M, Lachlan W
1/2P - Sarah-Lynn L, Gwen E
2A - Amira R, Letitia J
2B - Matilda S, Joey C
2W - Audrey W, Sarina L
3D - Alex Y, Jacqui Z, Blake W
3H - Amelia K, Angus M, Quintin L
3R - Grace C, Aryan D
4B - Josh N, Lithushan L, Lucinda B
4F - Elsie G, Syeira A, Isaac B
4M - Hamish K, Victoria N, Tommy T
5B - Charlie T, Andrei S, Meg G
5M - Liam C, Kai L
5W - Alex P, Lucas M, Aadya G
6M - Willow P, Ethan S, Zoe C, Richard Q
6S - Nick R, Naomi M, Manna L, Goergie D
Music - Lucy K (2A), Anamarie A (2W), Mia M (3R), Atticus P (4B), Ben A (4B), Arya M (4M), Tahlia C (5B), Annabelle R (5M), Flinn S (6M), Rebecca L (6R)
LaST - Olivia G (2A), Ryan P (4F)
In Music this term, all classes have been exploring various types of music. In the last couple of weeks, we have explored Aboriginal Music and for Book Week, the links between books and Music. This week and next, students will be exploring the Magical Music of Disney. Do you like Disney music and films? Which is your favourite?
In Week 7, I announced the gold, silver and bronze medal winners for our Musical Olympic Events. I would now like to announce a special winner. This award was for the student who went over and above and put a lot of time, effort and training into their event. They have been awarded the Ultimate Gold Medal. And the winner is Noa S from 1A. Congratulations!
Ms Stevens
Music, Drama and Choir Teacher
To promote a positive learning environment, 3R came up with words to describe our class based on the first letter of our names. We think this word wall definitely reflects our class.
Mrs Reid
Classroom Teacher
Hi All,
We will be holding the September P&C meeting via Teams tonight,
7 September at 7:30pm. Whilst the P&C updates will be limited, this is a great opportunity to hear from Mr Pinchbeck and Mrs Wasson as well as connecting across the community.
Please find below the updated Microsoft Teams details.
If you would like to subscribe to our P&C meeting emails (minutes and agendas),
please subscribe at the following link: http://eepurl.com/dlK3PD
Luke Whenman
President, PHPS P&C
Heather Tyler
0425 274 681
The Uniform Shop is closed due to the current Covid-19 restrictions introduced during the school holidays. Once the lockdown restrictions have eased, we will advise you of the operating procedures that will be put in place for the remainder of Term 3.
Any outstanding Flexischools orders will be processed as soon as the shop re-opens.
Order forms are available on the Uniform Shop page of the school website or by using the link below
Opening hours are currently suspended
Alison Parker
Uniform Shop Manager
Year 2 Families!
Did you know science has shown that musical training can change brain structure and function for the better. It can also improve long-term memory and lead to better brain development for those who start at a young age.
Furthermore, musicians tend to be more mentally alert, according to new research from a University of Montreal study. You can read more about it here:
https://www.inc.com/john-rampton/the-benefits-of-playing-music-help-your-brain-more.html
Is your child thinking about joining the band program in 2022? The band program is open to any students from Year 3 upward, and we encourage all students who have an interest in music and learning to join. Learning an instrument is a skill which can benefit students in so many ways. Keep your eyes on this part of the school newsletter; we will be putting up lots of information about the benefits of learning a musical instrument over the coming weeks.
Last Year's Christmas Extravaganza Concert
Last year we managed to put together a great Christmas Video.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_67Qfb5-Rs
Lockdown videos from ICB & TB should be out by next week.
Instrument Sales
The band program often purchases new instruments and sells some of our older ones to existing students and families. At present we have for sale some Alto Saxophones, Tenor Saxophones, Trombones, a Euphonium, and a Tuba. If you are interested please let us know and we can provide additional information.
Google Classrooms and Zoom for Band
Please make sure you are logging into the Band Google Classrooms and attending the Zoom sessions. Links for the Zoom sessions are going out via the WhatsApp groups.
Tutoring
We think it is really important that your children remain engaged with the band program during the time we have to learn from home. It is also important that they continue to receive tutoring. If you are having issues with tutoring due to the lockdown please let us know and we'll see what we can do to assist.
Future Events at a Glance
Given the current government return to school plans, we think it highly unlikely that any events will take place this year (including the Christmas Carols).
Watch this space and your email for any updates.
Term 3 Fees
Term 3 fees will be issued soon. If you are under any financial pressure due to the lockdown and are concerned about band fees, please reach out via email. Any correspondence will be treated under the strictest confidence.
Award Worksheets
Please keep your children working on their worksheets with their tutors.
Can any completed worksheets please be submitted as soon as possible through the new Worksheet Submission Web Form. https://forms.gle/NpPEG9jk2FsYdmmq7
If you have issues with the web form you can still send through to phpsband+worksheets@gmail.com
A Note From the Committee Convener
I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support during this time. Conducting a music program online is a difficult task. We're all trying our best and will endeavor to keep it as interesting as possible for the students. But we'll need your help in encouraging your children to continue to take part in the band exercises.
Pennant Hills Public School Band Committee
Website: http://www.phpspandc.org.au/band/
Dear Strings parents
All communications regarding the String Ensembles will be via email until kids return to school.
PHPS String Ensemble
Website: http://www.phpspandc.org.au/string-ensemble/
Feedback: http://www.phpspandc.org.au/string-ensemble/contact-us/
DR KRISTY GOODWIN PRESENTS
A FREE WEBINAR FOR PARENTS
Wednesday 8 September - Home Technology Use
DISCLAIMER
Advertisements placed in the School’s Newsletter do not reflect an endorsement or otherwise by Pennant Hills Public School of the product or service.