the

CROAK

Newington Public School Learning for Life

Thursday 24 September 2020 Volume 19: Issue 15

49a Newington Boulevarde NEWINGTON NSW 2127 email: newington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Phone (02) 9748 7933 Fax (02) 9748 3120 web: www.newington-p.schools.nsw.gov.au School Hours: 8.55 am - 3.00pm

Year 6 Fun Day Thursday 17 September turned out to be the most glorious day for Year 6 Fun Day. Even COVID19 couldn’t stop us! With changes to how we ran things, such as – selling raffle tickets online, wearing gloves when handling money, ensuring we were using sanitiser and sanitising wipes and some Year 6 students wearing face masks. The Year 6 students took it all in their stride, and adapted to every change. The highlight of the day was seeing all of the students from Kindergarten to Year 5 walking around and enjoying the stalls with bright, happy smiles. Even the teachers joined in, participating in the games and getting their hair/nails and faces coloured and painted! The Year 6 students are to be commended for the way they conducted themselves throughout the preparation process of Fun Day, as well as on the day itself. Their and their families’ contributions lead to Mr Weeks calling Year 6 Fun Day 'the best year 6 Fun Day ever'.

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From your Principal

Greg Weeks

Principal

Term 4 guidelines

We are just about to wrap up Term 3, the first full term of onsite teaching and learning for 2020. Staff and stu-dents have remained enthusiastic throughout the term despite having made compromises as to how we operate the school in relation to DoE guidelines. Although in many cases modified, teachers have continued to provide opportunities and experiences beyond the classroom to ensure that school-life is as normal as possi-ble. I thank the amazing staff at Newington for this. Many things remain uncertain at this time and we do not know which activities will remain on hold and which ac-tivities will resume. During the school holidays I expect an announcement from the DoE regarding updat-ed COVID guidelines in schools for Term 4. I will share these with you once they are communicated to us and plan accordingly. STOP PRESS - these arrived in my inbox this morning. I will distribute them via our school app.

Staffing Update

Following a recent Merit Selection process I am pleased to announce that Ms Sarah Spink has been appointed as our new Deputy Principal. Ms Spink will join Mrs Williams as one of the school's two Deputy Principals. Ms Spink is currently the Acting Deputy Principal at The Hospital School at Westmead and will start at Newington in term 4. She brings a strong background in learning support, student wellbeing and engagement, strategic leader-ship and school evaluation. I would like to thank and acknowledge the work of the selection panel: Mrs Sarah Williams (Staff Representative), Mr David Cusack (P&C Representative), Mrs Lana Crawford (NESB Parent Rep-resentative) and Mrs Nicole Parker (Director Representative) for their time and effort in this important process.

Thank you to Mrs Lewis and Mrs Skelton for their leadership in the relieving Deputy Principal role since Term 3 2019.

Home-School Communication

A copy of NPS’ Home-School Communication flowchart is available on p10 of this Croak. This flowchart is de-signed to assist you with the best way to make contact and who with. In addition to this flowchart, the NSW Gov-ernment and Department of Education last year provided all public school communities with the School Commu-nity Charter. This document outlines the expectations and responsibilities of parents, carers, educators and school staff to ensure our school learning environments are collaborative, supportive and cohesive. The charter highlights respectful communication and that unacceptable behavior towards school staff has no place in our school community.

Happy Holidays

I would like to wish everyone a happy and safe break over the September/October school holidays. We look for-ward to seeing you all well refreshed on Monday 12 October for Term 4.

Team Supervision in Term 4

Greg Weeks Principal Executive, School Administration, EAL/D

Sarah Williams Deputy Principal Stage 3

Sarah Spink Deputy Principal Learning Support

Marcia Skelton Assistant Principal RFF and Library

Helen Cassar Assistant Principal Stage 2 (Monday - Thursday)

Sarah Garlick R/Assistant Principal Stage 2 (Friday)

Natalie Lewis Assistant Principal Year 2 (Monday - Wednesday)

Renee Organ R/Assistant Principal Year 2 (Thursday - Friday)

Emma Gibson R/Assistant Principal Year 1

Maria Sorras R/Assistant Principal Kindergarten

Deputy Principal Awards Congratulations to these students who have earned themselves Deputy Principal awards for their special efforts:

Samier (KM) for a creative drawing of a cow

Levi (3O) for composing an informative text about morse code

Amelie (6F) for writing an informative article about sport in education

Aria (KR) for creating a very detailed and technical information report about ducks

Maria, Elizabeth, Mina and Nikitha (5F) for incredibly well written poetry with beautiful imagery about the

ocean and R U OK? Day

Sara A, Kylie Z, Elif A, Darrelle K, Ivan X (5O) for emotive palindrome poems about 2020.

Susie (2F) for an extremely engaging informative test about spiders.

Sophia (2F) creative cat poetry—so good, that Mrs Williams copied it and hung it up in her office!

Ziad (2F) for categorizing bee and spider information accurately.

Eden K and Nella T (1F) for excellent persuasive letters to Mr Weeks about recycling at Newington PS

Amrith (KR) for a suspenseful imaginative text about the deep, dark woods.

The following classes were awarded Class of the Week for their display of PBL expectations: Buruwang: 3C and KM Cumberland: 1S and xx De Coubertin: 4D and 6F

ICAS Results

Over 200 students from year 2 to 6 participated in the UNSW ICAS maths assessments. We have now received

our results, and are very proud of the level of achievement. Across Australia, the top 1% of students are awarded

High Distinctions. At Newington Public School, we were awarded 10 High Distinction (which equates to over 4%

of our participating students), 45 Distinctions, 69 Credits, 14 Merit and 91 Participation certificates. Certificates

will be presented to students next term.

Year 6 Fun Day and Raffle — thank you!

There are lots of references to Fun Day thanking our amazing parent body, fabulous local sponsors (see page

13) and the incredible job of our Year 6 students in hosting a very successful fun day under challenging condi-

tions, but I would like to especially thank the team of Year 6 teachers, led by Mrs Sun; we have Mr Dalamagas,

Mr Fifield, Mrs Kimes, and Ms Barron. They tirelessly prepared the students for the day, guiding their stall choic-

es, plan and set up, as well as liaised with parents with regard to prizes and provisions for their children. The day

was highly successful and has raised more then $12 000 for our Year 6 students to enjoy their end of year and

farewell activities, as well as purchase a gift for the school. Well done to the awesome Year 6 Team!

Maths Olympiad & Maths Games

Congratulations to our two Maths Olympiad teams and two Maths Games Teams for 2020. Although the competi-

tion was modified to include NPS students only, they should be very proud of their achievements and the excel-

lent progress and scores they earned throughout the program. Well done - please see page 14 for the most re-

cent acknowledgements. Thank you to Mr Fifield, Mr Oliveira, Ms Daniels and Mrs Oliveira for seeing them

through to the end!

Personal and professional ‘thank you’

Although Mr Weeks has already thanked and acknowledge Mrs Lewis for her relieving Deputy Principal leader-

ship at our school, I would like to personally say ‘thank you’ for how tirelessly she worked alongside me in the

role. It is a complex and demanding role and she upheld it with professionalism and integrity with an unwavering

commitment to our students and school community, as she will continue to do as Assistant Principal. Thank you

for the partnership, Mrs Lewis! Sarah Williams and Natalie Lewis (R)

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From your Deputy Principals

Elif Akhan Summer Thompson

Aaira Habib Jack Lavaki

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Awards

Congratulations to these recipients receiving Awards for Week 9 and 10 Term 3

Camden Fogarty Jayden Ha Leroy Huynh Aryan Scrivener Jerome Choi Paris Go Erin Kim

Rachael Ryu Inaya Siddique Eren Orcun Owen Gonzalez Ronan Li Cynthia Chen Lily Leaitua

Ahaan Sarabhai Jeronimo Medina Bolivar

Lyla Leaitua Moaaz Alsulaimani William Lee David Joji Zahra Tambawala

Ian Park Olivia MacPherson Mettayo Chittasy Joseph Ju Jem-Kaya Ozcicek Madhav Arun Panicker Kareem Telfah

Lachlan Cleall Lukas Papakyriakou Chance Lin Arham Iqbal Avad Elnami Roy Son Daniel Chung

Damien Wei Eric Guolin Ella Lin Noah Salehi Ira Dixit Max Tan Mitchell West Aazaan Nabil Sienna Kong Dennis Chen Taylor Ho Cynthia Chen Nicholas Kasnur Ava Campling Felix De Paula Chloe Go Nathan Kim William Duong Brandon Ha Sophia Liwanto Mohib Chekeri Joshua Bartle Vibhas Puttagunta Sophia Elliott Miqdad Attarwala Melisa Anar Riley Goodridge Arya Singh Arya Ghimire Gabriella Ho Kate Yau Tanner Wallis Jenan Abdulatif Hailey Cho James Cocks Brandon Robinson Clovey Hendra Jenna Hwang Justin O'Neill Keilah Caunca Emma Bishop

Ayden Mourad Panya Sehgal Amarissa Ho John Puno Inara Stephenson Miray Mourad Lucas Shim Damon Leung Julia Lay Brooklyn Allen Andrew Gu Ava Storey James Ballesty Hannah Chung Irene Hyun Ryan Wang Dahn Baik Brian Chen Danwoo Kim Juah Lee Lara Organ Rachel Tan Imogen Yaw Miranda Tran Adhvay Upath Naramparambath Grace Gu Ye Hee Kim Zaid Faruque Emily Sun Sam Cocks Amelia Lawler Sienna Simpson Addison Hyde Diana Barquinha Loureiro Tessia Severi Ablaj Sohail Teja Condliffe Declan Tampubolon Sienna Ha Olivia Shum Xavier Richardson

Sky Son Aarav Sharma Liam Contemplacion Ivan Xian Darrelle Khoo Kylie Zhang Ronson Chan Aiden Sorongan Gonzales Aston Heseltine Ray Ern Pong Ninjin Chintulga Samantha Garland Lewis Chi Evan Ng Zoe Miller Milena Dabin Kiana Mai Alissa Chen Kora Hopping Blake Learmonth Charlize Matson Rachel Li Arwa Sibtain Chloe Sun Matilda Chesterton Joshua Wang Serena Ghimire Amelia Chao Sarah Mikati Ryan Park Camila Cueva Gonzalez Alia Coubrough Saskia Watson Katherine Joji Toby de Paula Vuk Krstovic

Ava Weng Edith Hong James Kurniawan

Elisha Kang Mikayla Lees Abhinav Vinoth Kumar

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Positive Behaviour for Learning

Hats in the Playground As we come into the warmer weather during term 4,

it is timely to remind all students and their families

that our PBL playground expectations require stu-

dents to be sun safe by wearing a hat. Students

without hats will be directed to play under COLA1. If

your child needs a school hat you are able to order

one through the uniform shop.

Spotlight

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Korean Buddies

6D and 6B are part of the Korean Buddy class program. They have had the opportunity to communicate with two Korean/English Primary classes located in South Korea. All classes share and present information via Connected Classroom on their school life, cultures and traditions, Korean folktales and dreamtime stories, and much more. Students have the opportunity to have an inter-national ePal and learn what school life is like for a Korean Student.

Australia V Korea ; Tutoring Version On Wednesday 9/9/20, the class 6B met up with Korean buddies and talked about their ways of spending the lovely afternoon after a tiring day of school. Surprisingly enough, while we Australians mostly spend our time relaxing and hanging out with friends, Ko-reans spend this time doing tutoring. School after school. These students do up to as many as 5 tutoring lessons after school. Stu-dents in 6B were shocked as only a few people in 6B went tutor-ing, and only a few days a week. Tutoring, as they call it ‘hak won’ in Korea, can last for as long as 6 hours or more. One of the students asked the class in Korea ‘how long can on lesson last?’. ‘3 hours’, they replied. They can do this much tutoring because not all of them are bor-ing subjects, they al so do extra-curricular like art, soccer training, drama and more. Ellina Ha 6B

Korean-Buds = Finding Ways to Stay Connected. As the students in 6B walked into the classroom, they were greeted by familiar friendly faces. They greeted each other and chatted, but the thing was, they were on the opposite sides of the world. On September 9 the second Korean bud-dies meeting was held. They shared vide-os, pictures and information about their school. We even got time to ask ques-tions. “It was a great experience and we learned a lot about them” said student Evan Bailey. “I hope we see more of them in the future.” “I learned that they ONLY have 2 days at school and the rest is online learning” exclaimed LeeSheen. This just shows how lucky we are to still be at school and still be able to talk with our Korean Buddies.

Jackson Showyin 6B

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Parenting Insight

Wellbeing strategies for parents The coronavirus pandemic and its associated disruptions are beginning to take a toll on our mental health and wellbeing. You don’t need to look far in your community or social networks to identify a worrying trend of people experiencing a range of challenging emotions including mood swings, despair, anger, sullenness and lack of moti-vation.

People who usually pride themselves on being able to manage most difficulties that come their way now find themselves suddenly unable to cope, leading to a profound sense of disappointment. A number of people have spoken about feeling guilty for being a less than perfect parent, partner, teacher, work colleague or friend during these times.

This inability to cope is understandable. Our capacity to adapt to acutely stressful situations such as natural disas-ters has been severely depleted by the long-term nature of the pandemic. It’s common in situations of great un-certainty to feel exhausted and experience periods of burnout. Coupled with this is a sense of loss that many peo-ple feel – loss of connection to friends and family, loss of freedom and a loss of a way of life.

There is no handbook for functioning in a pandemic however it’s apparent that we need to accept that our lives will be different for some time. It also helps to expect less of yourself, which is the opposite to how high-achievers and perfectionists ordinarily operate. Feeling comfortable with uncertainty takes some getting used to as most of us have an innate wish to feel in control.

Daily wellbeing treats

Self-care is a proven remedy to most wellbeing ailments, but it’s ironic that for many of us our self-care activities have been restricted by the coronavirus. Coffee with friends, a massage or a visit to the gym and other such activ-ities are out for many people. However, this doesn’t mean that we should neglect our mental health and wellbeing. Instead we need to look closer to home for our regular wellbeing treats. Things that help include regular deep breathing to start the body’s relaxation response, practising moments of mindfulness to shut down mental chatter, finding hidden exercise opportunities to promote mood-enhancing endorphins and spending time each day in calm-inducing green space.

Resilience bank account

During my conversations one person described living in this era as “always feeling a little off balance, like stand-ing in a dinghy in a rough sea and not knowing when the storm will pass.”

Our mental reserves are constantly been called upon, so it’s necessary to build regular practices into our lives that build our resilience. Hopefully, most of us had bulging resilience bank accounts before the pandemic hit but it’s never too late start. Attending to areas such as sleep, good nutrition, regular exercise, relationship-building and self-care help keep our resilience buckets filled up.

Humans are adaptive and can get better at anything with practice, including living through a once in a century pandemic and all the changes it brings to our lives.

Michael Grose

Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experi-ence, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education.

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Cross Country 2020

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Cross Country 2020 Results

Thank you to Ms Adar for her leadership and coordination of the carnival.

8 year girls 8 year boys 9 year girls 9 year boys 10 year girls

1st Exelina Halim Enzo Barreto Maya Valente

Joshua Bartle

Ye Hee Kim

2nd Keilah Caunca Ryan Camada Christine Hu Nicholas Kasnur Maria Mikati

3rd Taylor Ho Zane El Ali Milena Dabin Dmitry Saltanovski

Ruby Condliffe

4th Alena Wong Ayden Mourad Chloe Richardson Aedan Campling Saoirse Funston

5th Elise Du Tye Middleton Kora Hopping Xavier Shannahan Nicole Ji

6th Susie Han Patrick Jirgens Miranda Tran Riley Goodridge Lara Organ

10 year boys 11 year girls 11 year boys 12 year girls 12 year boys

1st Sam Cocks Mina Ju Isaac Zreik Anna Cocks Oliver Goodridge

2nd Dean Rompies Emily Hirschhorn Woojoo Son Chloe Cheng Eugene Halim

3rd Elijah Joe Kylie Zhang Elliot Gibson Bianca Herrera Ocampo

Nikolas Rompies

4th Justin O’Neil Erin Kim Liam Contemplacion

Anne Ko Evan Bailey

5th James Lee Serah Jang Sonny Wenham Rachel Ryu Bentley Newcombe

6th Athiya Chittasy Sarah McCamley Eagan Ali Dahlia Chen Andrea Loricco

House Champions

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

O’Neill Freeman Sauvage Thorpe

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Home School Communication

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Year 6 Fun Day Raffle Winners!

Congratulations to the following raffle

winners: 1 Signed cricket bat (Australian team) James Kurniawan 2GO

2 Signed cricket bat (NSW team) Yamgur Aras 2GO

3 Priceline hamper James Kurniawan 2GO

4 Archery Centre family pass Sienna Simpson 4A

5 Triple Scented Diffuser Jaden Zhang 1S

6 Coffee pack Evan Bailey 6B

7 Irfan hair voucher Joshua Bartle 3G

8 Ugg boots Cathy Zhang 2D

9 Ugg boots Clovey Hendra 2D

10 Ugg boots Shlok Seth 4MA

11 $50 Golden Lotus food voucher Millie Hancock 2O

12 $50 Golden Lotus food voucher Clovey Hendra 2D

13 $50 Golden Lotus food voucher Bailey Bernie 3O

14 $50 Wish gift card Orlando Da Silva 5F

15 $50 Kmart gift card Hajun (Samuel) Lee 3G

16 $50 Active gift card Caleb Lau KM

17 $50 Bunnings voucher En Long Zhang 2O

18 $30 Rebel gift card Ben Nagy 3L

19 $30 Coles Group & Myer gift card Rachel Shim 1O

20 $30 Playstation Wallet top-up Saoirse Funston 4A

21 $30 Ultimate Gift for Kids gift card Evan Bailey 6B

22 $30 Ultimate Gift for Teens gift card Tyler Bell 1E

23 $30 Ultimate Gift for Teens gift card Taj Gupta 5H

24 $30 Ultimate Gift for Students gift card Iris Geng 6F

25 $20 Smiggle gift card Gabriel Luckan 3C

26 $20 Smiggle gift card Nathan Thawornwiphat 6S

27 $20 Decathlon gift card Ayla Tavlu 1O

28 $20 Officeworks gift card Evan Bailey 6B

29 Pamper basket - pink Xabi Funston 2GO

30 Pamper basket - orange Hana Burd 4D

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Year 6 Fun Day Raffle Winners!

31 Girls' book pack Jamie Burd 1CG

32 Boys' book pack Shlok Seth 4MA

33 Pool fun pack Yamgur Aras 2GO

34 Hair care pack Baran Bozkus 6B

35 Crocheted unicorn

Mrs Eldridge

36 Body Shop pack (green) Shlok Seth 4MA

37 Kitchen pack Orlando Da Silva 5F

38 Games gift bag Cathy Zhang 2D

39 Sports pack Body Shop basket (coconut)

Kiana Giovenco 6S

40 Body Shop basket (coconut) Girls' stationery pack

Erica Liu 6S

41 Girls' stationery pack Elkan Lok Yin Poon 3L

42 Boys' stationery pack Hailey Cho KR

43 Hand cream and nail polish set Eric Hur 3W

44 Pop! Figure and pen Ian Choi 1CG

45 Candle soap and cream pack Rachel Shim 1O

46 Monster soft toy and lollies Ahmed Akhan 3W

47 Dragon soft toy and lollies Toby de Paula 4MA

48 Ty soft toys Kiana Giovenco 6S

49 Skincare products Toprak Ender 4A

50 Nutrimetics collection Ayla Tavlu 1O

51 Dump truck Ava Wong 6F

52 Drone Kids' Discovery pack

Isaac Zreik 6D

53 Kids' Discovery pack Taylor Ho 2O

54 Girls' craft pack Lejla Sinanovic 2GO

55 Celebrations tub Mr Dalamagas

56 Cadbury Chocolates pack Annabel Nagy 3C

57 Delafaille Chocolates Tanner Wallis 5C

58 Logos coffee vouchers x5 Xabi Funston 2GO

59 Logos coffee vouchers x5 Gabriel Luckan 3C

Newington Public School Learning for Life Page 13

Year 6 Fun Day Raffle Supporters!

*** SPECIAL THANKS *** To the following proprietors for their Fun Day Raffle Donations:

Finally, a big thanks to all our Year 6 NPS families. We asked you for more donations this year than in any previous year. You all came together and delivered, above and beyond. Thank you for helping us make Fun Day

2020 the best Fun Day ever.

Priceline Pharmacy Lidcombe

Syd Olympic Park Archery Centre

Logos Café Newington

Irfan Hair Design Newington

Golden Lotus Newington

Be Enlightened Sydney

Woolworths Newington Vitarium Health

Products Guildford IGroup Education &

Visa Specialists

Bunnings Warehouse

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Maths Olympiad and Maths Games!

Maths Games 5/5 Amelia C Joel Z Ji Woo S Juah L

Minseok K Sam C Samuel K Seah Y

Stella G Jacob U Kevin R Nicholas K

Maths Olympiad 5/5

Allen X Elizabeth J Kylie Z Aymen V

Brian S Brian C Dahn B Eamon H

Ellina H Evan B Greg S Ian K

Irene B Ivan X Joshua H Lee Sheen P

Mackenzie L Marcus W Natasha T Serah J

Shirley C

Book Week

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced the theme for Children’s Book Week 2020:

‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. Each year across Australia, the CBCA brings children and books together to

celebrate CBCA Book Week. During this time schools, libraries, booksellers, authors, illustrators and children

celebrate Australian children’s literature. Book Week takes place between 16 to 23 October 2020, and will be

celebrated with a dress up day at Newington Public School in week 2 next term. Students will be encouraged to

come to school in week 2 next term dressed up as a book character according to the theme ‘Curious Creatures,

Wild Minds.’ More information, including the specific date, will be provided early next term.

Book Week

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