12/12/2014

Christmas Edition – Issue 40 IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback about our current school newsletter design. The large amount of feedback we received was very clear and has influenced the school to change the look and content of our newsletter. We would like to thank all businesses and local organisations that have sponsored our preprinted school newsletter cover this year, which was supplied by Australian Newsletter Services PL. From the start of 2015 the design of our newsletter will be changing and we will no longer be using the preprinted covers designed and supplied by Australian Newsletter Services PL. We thank them for their support and wish them well in the future. There will be a new section in the newsletter titled Community Announcements and Advertisements. We welcome any contributions. If you would like to make a contribution, please contact the school office.

Principal’s Message Dear Parents and Community Members, Congratulations to all students, staff and community members on a great year at Curlewis Public School. It is amazing all the great academic, music, creative arts, sporting and social achievements our students have made throughout the year. Yesterday school reports were sent home. I would like to take this opportunity to commend all students on the effort they have put in throughout the year. Our presentation afternoon was a great success and every student who performed should be commended. It is always fantastic to share the successes of students and celebrate the many great things they have achieved throughout the year. The class performances and band performances definitely stole the show and students should be commended for their fantastic behaviour. Congratulations to all students on their awards for their efforts in 2014. This newsletter will be our final newsletter for 2014 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported our students and the school throughout 2014. On Tuesday at 2:30pm there will be an afternoon tea to thank the volunteers who have helped through out the year. Anyone who has contributed to the school throughout the year is welcome to attend.

Next Wednesday is the last day of primary school for Callum, Danica, Emma, Jacinta, Justin and Zane. On Tuesday we celebrated their time at Primary School with a fantastic Farewell evening organised by Mrs Pepper, The P&C and Mrs Neil. Compliments to all involved in making the night a success. We wish the 2014 Curlewis Public School Year 6 graduates the very best in high school and look forward to hearing about your successes in the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support of Curlewis Public School throughout 2014, especially students and staff. As the school year draws to an end, two of our staff members will be leaving us. Firstly Mr Nick Suter will be heading off to university and commencing his studies. Mrs Angela Barnes will also be enjoying some well-deserved long service leave before retiring. Please see the special tribute to Mrs Barnes as a sign of appreciation for 14 years of service she has made to Curlewis Public School. All the best Nick and Angie!

On a final note, I wish you all a fun, safe and happy Christmas season and look forward to seeing you in 2015.

As always if you have any concerns please come and see me at the school.

Kind regards, Pete Baum

Good Luck Mrs Angela Barnes

Over the past 14 years, Mrs Angela Barnes has worked in our

school office. About a fortnight ago Mrs Barnes told me that

she had made the decision it was time for her to take leave and

move into retirement next year.

All of us have memories of Mrs Barnes contributions to

Curlewis Public School and applaud her for her time here.

Our students, staff and community will definitely miss her

caring nature and wit.

We wish her all the best in her transition to retirement,

together with her husband Rocket and family!

Thank you Mrs Barnes for your time at Curlewis Public School.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

To celebrate the end of 2014 the P&C hosted a Christmas

Disco for students. All students who came along had a

fantastic time and were thrilled to have a chance to see Santa.

A key highlight of the night was Paige’s solo performance and

the games that students played. A huge thank you to the P&C

for catering for this event.

Year 6 Farewell On Tuesday evening, Mrs Pepper and Year 5 students hosted a farewell for our current year 6 class. Year 6 and parents were amazed and impressed by the beautiful setting that Mrs Pepper had created. It certainly was a great evening enjoyed by all. There were many highlights throughout the evening with students reflecting on their primary school years and celebrating the experiences they have had during their time at Curlewis Public School. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Neil for the fabulous meal she created and to thank Mrs Tunningley for making the cake and Mrs Clews for icing the cake. Also a big thank you to the Curlewis P&C who donated $300 toward making it a fabulous night. We could write so much more, however we all know Pictures say a thousands words and this certainly is the case in this instance. Congratulations year 6.

Successful Completion of Kindergarten Brydon Ashford Shane Bree Amelia Harris

Hayley Logan Monica Kirby Nate Harris

Class Awards

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Most Improved Chase Riley Kyarna Simpson Callum Quetcher

Consistent Effort L Ebony Thomson Jessie Hicks

Academic Success Brydon Ashford Jake Kingdom Jacinta Simpson

Class Awards

AWARD Recipient Principals Award Peter McCormack

Junior Citzenship Sybella Thomson

Senior Citizenship Award Danica Johnston & Justin Thompson

Willie McPhall Memorial Trophy for Service to the School Callum Quetcher

Curlewis Progress Association for Best All Rounder Jacob West

Creative Arts Award Talara Harris & Colton Bullen

Ivan Lang Trophy for Bandsmanship Danica Johnston

Most Improved in Band Jacob West

Encouragement in Band Jorjah Ashford

Premiers Sporting Challenge Zane Hicks

Curlewis P.S. Award for Representative Sport Danica Johnston Namoir Cotton Growers : Literacy Awards for Effort and Application Paige Grew & Jorjah Ashford

Outstanding Contribution to CPS (Campdraft) Wendy & Wayne Seach

Captain for 2014 Jacob West

Vice-Captain for 2014 Ben Everleigh

Goran House Captain for 2014 Jessie Hicks

Namoi House Captain for 2014 Bianca Ferando

Congratulations to all students on their achievements and wonderful performances. A special thank you to Danica and Justin our Masters of Ceremony for running such a wonderful afternoon and to Chase, Talara and Paige for helping out.

There were many highlights throughout the afternoon, especially the performances by classes and our school band. The ongoing tribute and well wishes for Mrs Barnes for her upcoming retirement was lovely and was a clear acknowledgement of her service at Curlewis Public School. A clear highpoint of the afternoon was Mr Anderson’s compliment of our school band. He said: “That was the best school band performance of Advance Australia Fair I have heard”. We would also like to thank Mr Anderson for the donation of new flags to our school after our flags were damaged in the previous afternoons wind storm.

2014 Donors

Thank you to all who have contributed to our Presentation Afternoon.

Upper Namoi Cotton Growers

Ascoiation

Mr Kevin Aderson

Rotary Club of Gunnedah Curlewis Golf Facility

Gunnedah Pharmacy Gunnedah Shire Council

Collins Bookshop Tamworth Curlewis Community Church

Curlewis CWA Tim Duffy

Neil Family Wayne McDonald

McCormack Family Kirby Family

Mrs Helen & Mr Bill Wise

P&C Curlewis Public School

Parents and Citizens

Doing it for our kids! P&C Christmas Message:

The P&C would like to thank parents and community members for

supporting our small school throughout the year. It has been great to see

the support the community has for our great school and we are look

forward to 2015. Have a safe and happy Christmas!

Casey West ( P&C President )

P&C Christmas Raffle The P&C would like to thank everyone who contributed to the multiple prizes in this years raffle and would like to congratulate the winners of this year raffle. The winners were:

1st – Wendy Seach 2nd – Colleen Fuller 3rd –Wayne Seach 4th – Annette Everleigh 5th – Berryl McCormack 6th - McCormack Family 7th – Pauline Winter 8th – Klayton King-Seach 9th - Wendy Seach

Congratulations to our new school leaders for next year. We have returned to the school tradition of one captain, one vice-captain and one house captain for each house. Our student leaders for 2015 are:

School Captain Jacob West

School Vice-Captain Ben Everleigh

Namoi House Captain

Bianca Fernado

Goran House Captain

Jessie Hicks

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2015 In 2015 there will be only a few staffing changes at Curlewis Public

School.

The staff will be: Staff Member Staff Members Role

Mr. Pete Baum Principal & 3/4/5/6 Class Teacher – all year

Mrs Shauna Stoker Instructional Leader - Early Action for Success K-2 (Shared with Gunnedah Public School – at Curlewis Public School 3 days per fortnight – all year)

Mrs Pepper K/1/2 Class Teacher – all year

Mrs Clews Early Action for Success Support Teacher (Part Time – 2 days per week – all year)

Mrs Maxwell Library Teacher (1 day per week - all year) K/1/2 Release and Support Teacher (1 day per week - all year) 3/4/5/6 Release and Support Teacher (2 days per week - part year)

Mrs Rebecca Hopkins Returning from Maternity Leave - Part Time as 3/4/5/6 Release and Support Teacher (2 days week - part year)

Mr Wilf Macbeth Band Teacher (1 day per week all year)

Mrs Berryl McCormack

K/1/2 Music Teacher

Mrs Helen Wise School Learning Support Officer – All year

Mr Keith Neil General Assistant (School Maintenance and Grounds man)

TBA

Our Relieving School Administrative Manager Position is currently advertised for terms 1 & 2 and will be filled prior to the commencement of 2015. Parents will be advised in our first school newsletter.

Key Dates for Term 1, 2015 Tuesday 27th January Staff Development Day

Wednesday 28th January Students Start

Wednesday 11th February Small Schools Swimming Carnival at Gunnedah Swimming Pool

Saturday 28th March Polling Place for State Elections

Thursday 2nd April Last Day of Term 1

Last week our Learning News/ Learning Snippets

talked about the importance of encouraging our

students to read over the summer holidays to

avoid the loss of reading skills.

This week your child will bring home a

Summertime Reading Pack. The pack contains 5-8

books that the students have not read in class

but should be able to read comfortably.

There is also a folder with information for

parents/ carers and a reading log. As your child

reads we want them to record the books or

pages read.

Each child who returns the pack and their

reading log next year will receive a reward.

Please encourage your child to read over the

holidays so that they can practise their skills.

On Monday students and staff from Curlewis Public School walked to the Curlewis Community Church for a combined church service. It was a lovely service and students were very grateful for the gift that they were given. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our scripture teachers for their wonderful work this year and look forward to seeing you in 2015!

Thank You for Supporting Curlewis PS in

2014

Dear Volunteers & Helpers,

We would like to invite you to an afternoon tea for

people who have volunteered in 2014 at

Curlewis Public School. This special afternoon tea

will be held on Tuesday 16th December at 2:30pm.

It is our chance to thank you for the support you

have shown our students and school.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kind Regards,

Pete Baum

Principal

On Wednesday next week, our classes will be having

class parties to celebrate all of the wonderful things

students have done throughout the year. We ask

parents to ensure students come in clothes that can

get wet and to send towel.

Please see each class note for what your child needs to

bring.

The staff and Students of Curlewis Public School wishes everyone a Merry

Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2015

Important 2015 Dates

School Resumes Wednesday 28th January

EGGS FOR SALE

Eggs from our very own chickens! A

bargain at $3.00 a carton

Wishing you a very happy birthday on your special day!! December 16th Chase 29th Ebony