GORDON WEST BULLETIN V O L U M E 4 2 0 1 9 M A R C H 2 1 2 0 1 9

Principal’s Report Ryde Road Pymble 2073 Telephone: 9498 4644 Fax: 9498 4436 Email: gordonwest-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.gordonwest-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Sat/Sun 23/24 March

Band Camp

Wed 27 March

Harmony Day

Thurs 28 March

Area Swimming

Tues 2 April

Yr5&6 Barangaroo

Thurs 4 April

Yr2 Schoolhouse Museum

Friday 5 April

Yr1 Schoolhouse Museum

Wednesday 10 April

Ecumenical Service

Friday 12 April

Easter Hat Parade

Last Day Term 1

Monday 29 April

Staff Development Day

Tuesday 30 April

Students resume

Term 2

Dates to Remember

Parents are very important partners in our school. As is the situa on with all successful partnerships both par es have responsibili es to ensure that the partnership flourishes.

Our duty of care responsibili es ensure that the school is legally responsible for the supervision of children once they enter the school premises during designated school hours. Given how serious our duty of care responsibili es are, at some schools parents are requested to say goodbye to their children at the school gate and then meet them at the gate a er school. This approach is totally against what we are trying to achieve at Gordon West where parents are welcome in the school. However, we do need your coopera on to ensure that the partnership operates efficiently. When dropping children off in the morning please ensure that your child moves to the designated supervision area as quickly as possible. Please don’t remain near the classrooms because your child will remain with you and more o en than not a ract

other children who should be in the supervised area. Parents are also expected to be responsible for the supervision of their preschoolers and ensure that they don’t play in the gardens or enter other restricted areas. Also once your children reach the designated morning supervisory area they must remain seated un l a teacher is on duty regardless of whether a parent is present. Children from Kindergarten to Year 2 are eligible for a free bus pass regardless of how close they live to the school. Children who are in Year 3/6 are only eligible for a free pass if they reside outside a 2 kilometre radius from the school or 2.9 kilometre walking distance from the school. Parents of Year 3/6 children deemed ineligible for a pass can appeal the decision and request a review on the basis of the walking distance or for safety reasons.

Congratula ons to Dr Wenk, Vice president of the Gordon West P&C for her enormous amount of work in organisa on of the class contact lists.

Responsible email usage is fundamental to a school communica on policy where members of the community make their email address available to facilitate efficient communica on from the school or parent organisa ons. Please don’t abuse this trust by adver sing via these email systems otherwise community members may withdraw their email address from the system. One also has to be careful in rela on to what is wri en in an email and it is o en a good idea to wait and take a deep breath before sending an email that a recipient may find nega ve. Parents are reminded that teachers can be contacted via the school email at gordonwest‐p.school@det.nsw.edu.au. A response will be forthcoming within 24 hours. By all reports the Fathers and Children camping weekend was an overwhelming success. It was wonderful for the fathers and their children to have such a good me together regardless of the level of camping experience or exper se. Complaints rela ng to snoring, “I had to put rolled up toilet paper in my ears.” Inadequate food: “Dad forgot about a ernoon tea.” Supervision: “I didn’t know that there were oysters there.” Commonsense: “They were only throwing small rocks.” Indifference: “Dad there is a 2 metre monitor lizard in the tent.” These remarks paled in comparison to the overall enjoyment experienced by all par cipants. Please spare a thought for those non Gordon West campers at The Basin who thought they were going to have a blissful weekend enjoying nature in a beau ful quiet loca on.

Our emergency lockdown/lockout evacua on drills are prac sed regularly. In summary we have two emergency procedures of which the children and parent helpers must be aware. The evacua on procedure signalled by one con nuous ringing of the bell indicates to all people in the school at that me that they must proceed to Pee Wee Park in an orderly fashion. The second procedure is for a lockdown/lockout. A con nuous series of short bell rings indicates that all

people on the school site are to proceed to their rooms immediately. Once they arrive in their rooms the children are to sit on the floor and await further instruc on from their teachers. Teachers will lock the classroom doors. All school staff have designated responsibili es for both procedures. In the case of a lockout/lockdown emergency follow up procedures will depend on the nature of the emergency. Please discuss these procedures with your children. A very small but enthusias c group of parents a ended the first parent professional learning presenta on before last Monday evenings Gordon West Parents and Ci zens mee ng. Dr Elizabeth Wenk Vice President of the P and C and Mr Sparke have organised a number of presenta ons immediately prior to the regular P and C mee ngs during the first semester of 2019. Mr Sparke presented an excellent overview of Mathema cs K/6 at Gordon West to the 14 parents present out of a possible 830 parents. Our challenge is to considerably increase the numbers in a endance so that parents are aware of the excellent programs being implemented at our school. Please contact Dr Wenk or Mr Sparke should you have any sugges ons or would like to know more about the mathema cs presenta on. The P and C mee ng that followed the presenta on was its usual enthusias c group of parents, albeit very small in numbers, discussing various aspects of school organisa on. The issues of bike and bus safety were again prominent. The problem is that we really have no control over how the bike riders and the bus travellers behave once they leave the strict supervision of the Gordon West school site. We rely heavily on our parents to establish acceptable behaviour in rela on to both of these issues. Unfortunately we have a small number of bike riders who don’t seem to be aware that other vehicles and pedestrians share their riding space. Parents and Ci zens Associa on mee ngs are a wonderful opportunity to discuss any aspect of the school’s opera on. All items raised are ac oned by the end of the following day. For example a er last Monday’s mee ng 16 discussion

items arising from the mee ng were ac oned by the

school by the end of the following day.

J Huckerby

Principal

GWPS BAND ‐ FINAL CALL!

We are on the look‐out for more saxophone players to join our Training Band.

There is s ll me for your child to join our thriving band program.

Training Band rehearses on Wednesdays at 7:50am.

Here are the remaining tutorial mes:

Please contact Ms. Harvey at: isabella.harvey11@det.nsw.edu.au

Flute Saxophone Trombone

Friday: 6:15 Tuesday: 5:15 Wednesday: 5:15

Thursday: 5:15

Friday: 4:45;5:15

This online register is provided under the Jus ces of the Peace Act 2002. It includes only current JPs in New South Wales.

Online Register: h p://jp.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/public/welcomePublic.do

Please note the following before using the Register:

JPs on the Register are volunteers. They may not be available at short no ce or at all mes of the day. You must not use the informa on on the Register to send unsolicited communica ons, other than those necessary to enable you to make legi mate use of the JP services. When seeking the services of a JP, please telephone in advance to make an appointment. It is best to telephone during weekday business hours. If urgent contact on a weekend is necessary, please limit your call to a reasonable me of the day. Your use of the Register is subject to accep ng its Terms of Use. JPs within the GWPS community: James O’Keefe Gail McCloghry If you are a JP and would like to be included in the list at GWPS, please send an email to: gordonwestpc@gmail.com

NSW Justices of the Peace (JP) Register

STUDENT NEWS

CRICKET RESULTS 8/3/19 vs Chatswood Juniors won 163 –55 Seniors lost 92-104 15/3/19 WASHED OUT

MODBALL RESULTS 8/3/19 Snrs vs West Pymble won 10-0 Jnrs vs West Pymble won 16-2

15/3/19 Snrs vs St Ives won 14-0 Jnrs vs BYE

TOUCH FOOTBALL RESULTS

8/3/19 Jnr Boys vs Pymble lost 1-2 Snr Girls vs Lindfield E lost 0-4 Beaumont Rd drew 3-3 Jnr Girls vs B’mont Rd drew 4-4 Snr Boys vs St Ives Nth drew 2-2 Roseville lost 1-3

15/3/19 Jnr Boys vs Chatswood won 4-0 Snr Girls vs St Ives Nth drew 0-0 St Ives Pk won 6-1 Jnr Girls vs St Ives won 4-2 Snr Boys vs Pymble drew 3-3 Beaumont Rd won 3-0

Year 5 is organising an Easter Raffle to raise money for the Year 6 Farewell. Year 5 students will be selling raffle tickets from today. Tickets will be on sale before school and recess. Prizes will be drawn on Friday 12 April during the Easter Parade. Parents are requested to monitor the amount of money children bring to school to spend on tickets. Thank you for your support.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE

KD AshlyY, Sam P, Sophie C KP Calla Z, Eric M, Grace M KT Tara B, Jonathan R, Sophie L KX Ashley Y, Aadi V, Brian C 1E Ariana W, Jayden S, Cheryl W 1F Cori A, Ema N, Haruna L 1G Toby J, Natasha T, Maya W 1T Vivian Z, Michella L, Oliver L 2E Claudia H, Yoon H, Kaede I 2G Amani S, James H, Grace M 2H Archie L, Evan Z, Sophie W 2T Harmony S, Kai H, Vivian T 3A Leo H, Jenny R, William K 3G Hamish O, Grace K, Lucinda H 3H Jonas K, Taminah R, Summer D 4H Izzy N, Lachlan D, Max S 4W Victor L, Ellie R, Laura C 4/5C Serena C, Alexander B, Summer M 5D Marcus H, Alisa l, Kay Lynn G 5T Kaylee Z, Abhinav V, Jioh K 5/6W Declan F, Ella H, Ava L 6S Jasmine K, Doug M, Rachel C 6Y Lucy H, William M, Isabel P

20/3/19

Benjamin C KD Hercules C 4W

Oli A 5D Leona L 5D Sophie E 6Y Ashley L 2T Hannah R 3H

Noah S 3H

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the challenge:

Angie H 4W Sacha L 5T

Frangipani W 3G Matilda D 3G

HOLIDAY TENNIS PROGRAMS

Two tennis clinics will be conducted at Gordon West Public School in the school holidays: Clinic 1: April 15th‐18th (Mon‐Thur) 9:30‐12pm $110 9:30‐2:30pm $190

Clinic 2: April 23rd‐24th (Tues‐Wed) 9:30‐12pm $55 9:30‐2:30pm $95 Enquiries and bookings to Sco 0414 554 612