Blacksmiths Public School _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Doing our best together

Amaroo Street Blacksmiths NSW 2281 Phone: 4971 1519 Fax: 4972 1407 Email: blacksmith-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Term 4 - Week 10 Tuesday 12 December, 2017

DIARY DATES PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

WOW! It’s the end of the year already. What’s the saying “time flies when you are having fun”. 2017 has been a BLAST. Blacksmiths is such a wonderful school. It’s an absolute pleasure to come to work daily and interact with your children and the community. The staff at Blacksmiths wish you a happy and safe holiday and look forward to your return in 2018. Next year is looking to be fantastic! STUDENTS RETURN School resumes on Tuesday 30 January 2018 for Year 1-6 students.

New Kindergartens officially begin on Wednesday 31 January 2018 and will be attending for a small amount of allocated time on Tuesday for their Best Start Assessment. PRESENTATION DAY It was lovely to celebrate and congratulate the children on their application, effort, strengths and chosen capabilities for various academic and sporting achievements throughout the year. All students should be very proud of themselves and the year that you have had in 2017. We thank all of the businesses who supported this event and our special guests for attending on the day.

Congratulations again…

Tue 12 Dec Yr 6 Farewell Dinner - 5.15pm

Wed 13 Dec Talent Show - 11.30am

Hunter Sports Awards

Thu 14 Dec Party Day & Disco

CANTEEN CLOSED

Fri 15 Dec Last Day for students for 2017

STAFF RETURN Monday 29 January 2018

STUDENTS YEAR 1 - 6 RETURN Tuesday 30 January 2018

KINDERGARTEN COMMENCE Wednesday 31 January 2018

Term 4 - Week 10 Tuesday 12 December 2017

HUNTER SPORTS AWARDS Congratulations to Ty and Blake. They will be receiving the Hunters Sports Award tomorrow for their outstanding results throughout 2017. Both boys are very talented and have so much to offer in their chosen sporting fields.

NEW LOGO We launched our new logo during the Presentation Day Ceremony as we had a majority of parents and community members join us for the occasion. We had a very positive response and can’t wait to begin to update the signage around the school to promote Blacksmiths PS more within the community. It has come to my attention that some clarification about the changeover to our new logo is needed. We will slowly change over our new logo starting with school signage. Uniforms seem to raise a lot of concerns. Please be aware that as the uniform shop runs out of particular sizes for the school shirts the new orders will have the new logo. The first uniform item that will showcase our new design is schools hats, as the current stocks are depleted. The removal of Tunga doesn’t mean that he is lost for ever. We will be looking into other ways to incorporate Tunga within the school to connect the heritage of the school to make it more linear. Our first suggestion was the possibility of using Tunga as a school Mascot to support our core values of respect, responsibility and integrity. Final decisions will be discussed and launched in 2018.

REPORTS Student reports were distributed yesterday afternoon. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to make an appointment with your child’s class teacher or catch them in the morning or afternoon before this Friday.

FAREWELL YEAR 6 The Year 6 children will be “frocked and fabulous” tonight at our Farewell dinner starting at 5.15pm for photos. We are looking forward to this event and saying our formal farewell to a great bunch of children that have enriched our school for the past 7 years. We will miss them but know that they are ready for the next chapter in their lives. SCHOOL UNIFORM Our children look like a cohesive group if our correct school uniform is worn daily. Please be mindful that our school uniform has unisex shorts for those girls that prefer to have this option. We don’t condone the short shorts that have begun to appear as they are inappropriate for school. There will also be a new style of skort available that is much more comfortable and doesn’t appear to fade. In regards to socks, boys and girls both wear white. Please see below for great examples of correct school uniform.

SCHOOL CAPITAL WORKS Blacksmiths PS is undergoing major work during the holidays. A majority of the classrooms are getting a facelift. Some will receive minor painting such as window sills, others such as Mr Schasser’s room are getting a total overhaul. The linoleum in selected entry and exits is also being replaced. Lastly, every building (except the hall and toilet block) is getting a new roof, eaves, guttering and insulation. The roof is going to be pitched to reduce the amount of moisture and mould that is indicative of residing near the beach. Blacksmiths PS is going to be looking amazing for 2018. Watch us change.

Term 4 - Week 10 Tuesday 12 December 2017

TALENT QUEST & PARTY DAY The talent quest is being held in our school hall tomorrow at 11.30am. All children will be able to come and watch their friends perform. Judges will ensure that a smooth and fun process for the applicants will occur.

Party Day is occurring this Thursday 14 December. Children have been asked to bring in some food to share with their class. Please be mindful of our students with allergies, either providing recipe ingredients or keeping items in their packaging. Children can come in mufti (no cost involved) and attend our school disco.

Please be aware that the decision to hold the disco at school and not on the Year 6 Farewell night was made by prior Year 6 parents, supported by the P&C and booked prior to my arrival. CHRISTMAS RAFFLE This year the prizes are massive. Thank you to the families, friends, community and businesses that donated gifts. The raffle will be drawn tomorrow Wednesday 13 December at school. Good luck! YEAR 1/2/3 MINI EXCURSION Mrs Brownsmith’s class visited Swansea Library last Friday to look at their dinosaur exhibition. We had the opportunity to talk to the gentleman who owned the collection and inform the children about each individual piece. It was very informative. Thank you Mr Mitchell for volunteering to drive one of the buses for this excursion. The exhibition is open all January school holidays. SWANSEA LIBRARY BARK READING PROGRAM This a free program that will run over 8 weeks every Thursday after school for 15 minutes commencing in Term 1 2018. Every child that goes through the program improves greatly and their confidence soars. If you are interested in your child attending next year, or would like further information, please phone Swansea Library on 4921 0780. CREATIVE KIDS A huge thank you to Creative Kids Pre-school and their running of our Thursday playgroup sessions. The community have thoroughly loved the opportunity to

come and be involved with their toddlers in our school environment. For more information regarding pre-school and opportunities that Creative Kids can offer your family please see http://www.creativekidspreschool.com.au/ Kim Harris - Principal