Issue 171: 2021 Term 2 Friday, 18 June 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Well another term has nearly concluded and a lot has certainly happened in this time. COVID is still around but it is certainly not impacting on our school as much as it did last year, which has enabled us to re-introduce many of our activities and programs. It has been wonderful to see so many parents back within the school gates, still practising social distancing. We have kept up with our bus line up procedures and front gate procedures due to the parking and traffic. Unless you are within the school gates children cannot exit the front gate until a teacher is there to ensure their safety. We have an application in for a Lollipop person but have as yet had no news. Many of our sporting ventures have recommenced which has become a scheduling nightmare and also very difficult at times to ensure all students are receiving the quality academic education they need. We are looking at the processes we use for participation in these events. It was wonderful to see so many parents come to the Athletics Carnival and help out to make sure all events could be successfully held. Such a difference from last year. Thanks to the Canteen for supplying food on the day. Once again we held our Parent Teacher Interviews in the hall as it was very successful last year and it works well for all involved. Thanks to our office staff and teachers who make this possible. We hope you gained some valuable insights into your child's learning.

Nearly at Nulkaba Nearly at Nulkaba is up and running nice and early this year which is just how we like it as it gives us lots of time to get to know our students and also to put in any supports that may be necessary to ensure a safe transition to school. If you know of any other families that have a child ready to commence Kindergarten in 2022 can you please encourage them to contact the school office as soon as possible.

Peer Support Peer Support has recommenced this term, which is a wonderful leadership initiative for our senior students with excellent resilience based lessons for all our students. It also gives the students an opportunity to work with students from across all the stages in the school.

Fun Fridays Fun Fridays have again been a hit with all our students and we are looking forward to ending our term with a very special rewards day for all of the students who have followed our school’s rules this term.

BYOD Program Our BYOD program in Stage 2 and Stage 3 has begun well with a large number of families participating in the mandatory lessons and working with their child and teacher to ensure a safe and positive experience with technology. We wish to thank all the parents for their patience and support while we were organising this initiative.

NULKABA NEWS Nulkaba Public School 5 O’Connors Road NULKABA NSW 2325

Phone: 4990 1805

Email: [email protected] Web: nulkaba-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Issue 171: 2021 Term 2 Friday, 18 June 2021

mailto:[email protected]

https://nulkaba-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Nulkaba News - 2021 Term 2 Page 2 Friday, 18 June 2021

Project Launches Stage based project launches were, as usual, wonderful experiences designed to enthuse and inspire the students to learn more. I had the pleasure of going on the Early Stage 1 secret excursion to the Sydney Aquarium - it was a very loud, exciting and enjoyable adventure.

School Opening Finally we will be able to officially open our school. It will be on Tuesday, 3 August 2021 from 10.30am. More details will follow but please let anyone know that would be interested in attending as they have a history with our wonderful school. It will involve a formal opening followed by tours and morning tea.

Film By A CCGPS initiative is on track for 2021 after last year’s postponed. All local schools are involved and a wonderful GALA event will be held in Term 4. Students are busy developing their films to submit to the competition.

Public Speaking Competitions Public Speaking Competitions are well on the way with Stage based finals happening by the end of the Term. Winners will progress to a Zone Competition next term. Our Debaters are working hard to hone their skills and have been successful in some of their debates. This competition will continue into next term. Our PSSA teams are working their way through the rounds of the various competitions and we wish them well. Our Aerobics teams did not get to compete this year in preliminaries due to COVID but will perform at State Titles this weekend with Nationals to be held in Term 3. We wish them all the best - they have been training hard.

Regional Access Grant We have been fortunate to have been selected to be a part of this program which will provide us with an upgrade to Wi-Fi, new laptops and other technologies as well as an upgrade to our Broadband. These initiatives also come with some professional learning for staff and Department support in the use of these technologies. This will be of great benefit to our staff and students. There will be some parent information sessions in regard to this as well.

Children's University Children's University is on again and many of our students have elected to be involved. They are working on accumulating their hours and had the benefit of a wonderful excursion to the University this term. This was for students and their families and showcased some of what the university has to offer. Once again thank you for all the support this term. I hope you have a wonderful holiday break. Stay safe and we will see you all again in Term 3.

Last term our Year 6 students were fortunate to undertake in a four day excursion as part of an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government contributed funding of $30 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate was included in the total cost of the camp.

We hope your child had a wonderful experience in Canberra.

Stage 3 Teachers

Canberra Camp Funding


Coming Events – 2021 Term 3

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

We

ek 1

Jul 12 Jul 13 Jul 14 Jul 15 Jul 16

6:30p P&C Meeting 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Sphero Workshops; Zone Athletics Carnival

Wee

k 2


Sphero Workshops 9:30a Stage 1 Cessnock Performing Arts Centre; 1:00p School Assembly

NAIDOC Day Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Sphero Workshops

We

ek

3


Sphero Workshops 1:30p Parliament Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Sphero Workshops

We

ek

4

Aug 2 Aug 3 Aug 4 Aug 5 Aug 6 Sphero Workshops 1:00p School

Assembly Stage 1: Zone Public Speaking

Early Stage 1: Zone Public Speaking; Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Stage 2: Zone Public Speaking; Sphero Workshops

We

ek

5

Aug 9 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 12 Aug 13

Stage 3: Zone Public Speaking; Sphero Workshops

1:30p Parliament; 6:30p P&C Meeting

Books For Life Show for Book Week

Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Life Education K-2; Sphero Workshops

We

ek

6


Life Education K-2; Stage 1 Project Close Night Time Activity; Sphero Workshops

Life Education K-2 1:00p School Assembly

Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Sphero Workshops; Sat 21 Aug 8:00a Aerobics Nationals Gold Coast

Wee

k 7


Book Week; Sphero Workshops

Book Week; Book Week Roadshow; 1:30p Parliament

Book Week Book Week; Feast Program Stage 3; 2:00p Nearly at Nulkaba

Book Week; Sphero Workshops

Wee

k 8

Aug 30 Aug 31 Sep 1 Sep 2 Sep 3 Sphero Workshops 1:00p School

Assembly Feast Program

Stage 3; Father’s Day Event; Sphero Workshops

Wee

k 9

Sep 6 Sep 7 Sep 8 Sep 9 Sep 10

Sphero Workshops 1:30p Parliament Feast Program Stage 3; Touch Gala Day Maitland

Wee

k 10

Sep 13 Sep 14 Sep 15 Sep 16 Sep 17 Author Visit for Newcastle Writer's Festival

1:00p School Assembly 6:30p P&C Meeting

Feast Program Stage 3

Rewards Day - Novelty Games/Tabloids

For more information, please visit events on our website: https://nulkaba-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/events.html

https://nulkaba-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/events.html


Early Stage 1

Kindergarten have had an amazing start to our project “What I can see in the sea?”. Our launch took us to the Aquarium in Sydney where our interest in sea life was sparked. The children, parent helpers and teachers all had a fabulous day and represented our school with pride. We are loving learning about all the different sea creatures needs and decorating our rooms to look like the ocean.

News from the Classroom



The school Athletics Carnival was another highlight for Kindergarten. We enjoyed the tabloid activities and running on the track with everyone cheering for us.


Stage 1

Is anyone else finding it hard to believe we are nearly half way through the year? Stage 1 hit the ground running and

packed a lot into this term. We’ve continued our fantastic learning in the classroom and all of our hard work is definitely

paying off! Students are continuing to amaze their teachers with all of the wonderful things they are achieving.

Numeracy Each Wednesday students attend differentiated math groups across Stage 1. These groups target the individual needs of

our students with a focus on Number. The children participate in explicit teaching of concepts as well as opportunities for

collaborative problem solving. The students enjoy mixing with other children outside of their own classes and their

collaboration skills have shown improvement throughout the term.

Literacy Stage 1 have been looking at quality literature this term and have are continuing to impress their teachers with their

wonderful improvements in reading. We have also had a particular focus on writing. Stage 1 students are becoming

fabulous writers with the expert guidance of our resident writers, Mrs Page and Ms Gray. These experts have spent time

in all the Stage 1 classrooms teaching effective and engaging writing strategies. The classes have looked at noun groups,

correct use of articles (a, an) and how to make our sentences more interesting. The students have particularly enjoyed

writing about our Project, ‘Who’s Afraid of the Dark?’ We look forward to sharing these writing pieces at the completion

of our Project.

News from the Classroom


Project Our project this term is ‘Who’s Afraid of the Dark? Not me!’ and we are looking at all things SPACE. During our Project

Launch students had the opportunity to participate in a number of activities and were even lucky enough to spend time

learning and observing in a real planetarium! Classes have been busily brainstorming questions and information they

would like to research during this unit and we can’t wait to see some of the amazing outcomes from this unit of work.

Sport Stage 1 loved participating in the Fit4Kids program this term. We were introduced to Lacrosse and had a great time

learning new skills and games. The students participated in the program over four weeks. In the first four weeks they

learnt scooping and hurling skills which then culminated in an entertaining game in the final week.

For the remainder of the term, the students will be rotating amongst various new sports including Frisbee, Table Tennis,

Running and Hockey.


Athletics Carnival After some very chilly days, we turned the weather on for our annual athletics carnival in Week 7. Our 8 year old students

participated in a variety of events including the 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, high jump, long jump, discuss and shot put.

Our Kindergarten, Year 1 and 7 year old students enjoyed competing in the 50 metre dash and participating in a variety

of tabloid activities with the teachers. These activities included skipping, relays, egg and spoon races, shot put and the

ever popular parachute game. We were very proud of all our athletes who demonstrated determination and a growth

mindset to try new activities.

CAPA Students are also lucky enough to spend an hour each week with Miss Brockwell as part of our CAPA program. This term

Stage 1 have been focusing on Music and Performing Arts. Students have engaged in lessons about music notes,

instruments and different performances including musical theatre, Swan Lake and the Tap Dogs.

Culture Miss Brockwell has been delighting and inspiring our students with stories of Australia’s indigenous heritage in our Culture sessions. The children have been immersed in stories, artworks and practices including learning an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’, learning about totems and our local indigenous languages and customs. We look forward to resuming Culture again in Term 4 and have heard whispers of some very exciting activities already planned.


Technology How lucky we are to have the fabulous Mrs Anderson guiding our

Technology lessons. Stage 1 have loved learning about space through

technology. We have replicated the planets orbiting around the solar

system with Ozobots, coded an interactive solar system using the Makey

Makeys and brought the planets to our classrooms using AR.

Fun Friday Who doesn’t love a Friday? Particularly when Nulkaba Public School celebrates Fun Friday each week. The Nulkaba

students have enthusiastically participated in whole school hide and seek, zooper dooper days, chalk drawing, wheels

Friday and cheered as teachers versed students in netball and touch football.

Rewards Day Our mid-term Rewards Day took place in Week 6 due to wet weather the previous week. We were delighted that all Stage

1 students were invited to enjoy a variety of games at the park over the road. We are very proud of all the students and

the fantastic choices they are making at school. Keep it up Stage 1!


Public Speaking Competition In Week 8 students across the school have been delighting teachers with their fabulous public speaking skills. Some

speeches have been serious, some entertaining, but whatever the topic, it has been wonderful to see the confidence

growing in all of our students. Each class will now choose two students to participate in our Stage Public Speaking

Competition in Week 10.

Wetlands Visit As a very special reward for winning the Wetlands Writing Competition, Year 2 were treated to a visit from the Wetlands’

volunteers to talk about our local reptiles and their habitat. The highlight of the session was of course the very special

visitors the volunteers brought with them. The children were encouraged to gently pat turtles named Timmy and Tammy.

We were also lucky enough to meet a blue tonged lizard, a non-poisonous snake and the absolute highlight, a baby

crocodile named Kenny.

Parent Teacher Conferences With the Covid restrictions lifted, Stage 1 teachers thoroughly enjoyed meeting their class parents for the Parent Teacher

Conferences. This meeting gave the teachers and parents the opportunity to share joys, concerns, highs and lows as well

as updates on academic and social progress of our students.

As you can see Stage 1 have had a very busy term and we cannot wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us!



Stage 2

Term 2 has been a blur of NAPLAN, Parent Teacher interviews, Check-in Assessments, Project closes, Project launches, sport, fun and adventure. The term started with the technology induction sessions and it has been amazing to have so many more laptops in the classroom. This has allowed the students to engage in deeper investigation in the many concepts we are looking at. It has also been so good to see students showing a real sense of ownership and responsibility for their laptop. Assemblies have stepped up a notch with the choir performing live every fortnight accompanied by Mr K on the piano. It

truly adds an extra element to the Assembly and many students in Stage 2 are a part of this. They should be proud! Students settled in to complete their learning about the ‘How do I Colour my World?’ Project and generated some interesting videos on how to care for yourself physically, mentally and nutritionally. Our new Project launch happened in Week 6, which feels like just yesterday. We are learning and thinking all about different materials. How materials are made, how they change, how they are used, where they are from and their properties. Materials, materials, materials! Again, it is exciting to be discovering new things and delving into a learning experience not delivered before. Fun Friday has continued to be a massive hit and the whole school hide and seek and the Wheels Day are by far the stand outs for the kids. Although, this week we do get to play our first game of whole school tips, so we may have a new favourite! This term saw the return of our annual Mother’s Day concert and the students were very excited to perform for their

mums. Being able to show off some of our many skills really demonstrated how much we missed having our community in the school. We look forward to more events where we can welcome you all in for some fun! Weekly sport has continued, and a major focus has been preparation for the Athletics Carnival. This definitely paid off! Students ran, jumped and threw with brute strength. It was another great event and it was exciting to see students breaking records and creating history. Representative sport is back in full swing this term with netball, soccer, rugby league, rugby union, and aerobics all having events. All the students who participated in this have represented the school with pride and we could not be prouder of their achievements. Children’s University students have had a recent, and very exciting, trip to Newcastle University where they engaged in variety of activities around the Callaghan Campus. Many have been working hard to build up their hours in their passports

with wonderful and creative activities! More recently, this terms focus has been Public Speaking and preparing for what’s to come next term. It has been amazing to see the dedication of many students who put their best foot forward and the creativity behind their speaking ideas is truly remarkable. We are looking forward to the finals to be held next week and then the Zone competition will be held next term. Congratulations to all class winners and to all students who presented a speech. It can be truly nerve wracking… Have a fantastic break, stay warm, stay safe and enjoy the time with your families.

From, The Stage 2 Crew!

News from the Classroom (continued)




Stage 3

The busy year has continued for Stage 3! We finished up last term with Year 6 going on a fantastic four day trip to Canberra. It was such a fun and educational camp, with students visiting both Parliament Houses, AIS, War Memorial, IPlay, National Mint, Dinosaur Museum, Anzac Parade, National Zoo and Aquarium and an Embassy tour. Lots of memories were made and all the students showed beautiful manners when visiting the various attractions.

We began Term 2 with many students being involved in a wide variety of events. We saw the return of debating with Nulkaba competing in both Year 5 and Year 6 competitions and we know their success will continue into next term. Sport certainly returned with a bang, with every week seeing at least one sporting event being held. Sports ranging from soccer, league, touch, netball, union, futsal, aerobics and our athletics carnival. We are always so proud of the respect and sportsmanship our students show when representing Nulkaba.

In the classroom a lot of learning has been taking place. With our new project starting, ‘How Natural are Disasters?’, we have been learning about how and where disasters occur around the world. Our project launch was lots of fun, where students created experiments involving earthquakes, volcanoes and tornadoes. Students have been doing their own research, creating posters, writing narratives and amazing artworks. In technology with Mrs Anderson, Stage 3 have loved our STEM kits this term. They used the Micro:bits to measure the movement of the ground, simulating an earthquake, coded the motion detector to measure the strength and acceleration of the movements and graph them just like a real seismograph! They also attached the Makey Makey to world maps and completed an electrical circuit so that when touched, a thumbtack on a map would play their voices talking about a significant natural disaster from that area.

In Mathematics, we have been focusing on Volume and Capacity, 2D and 3D shapes, as well as fractions, decimals and percentages. 5/6M were very creative making their own 3D shape models.

This term has also seen all of Year 6 and many students from Year 5 running Peer Support groups as leaders. It is an invaluable program that sees the whole school come together while giving students the opportunity to lead.

With Term 2 coming to an end, we wish everyone a relaxing and safe Winter break and look forward to another term of fun and learning when we return.

Stage 3 Teachers

News from the Classroom (continued)



Life has again been busy in the Library this term. We have lots of students to mention

for the Premier’s Reading Challenge with some 117 students now qualified for the

Challenge, and happily this includes students who have earned the Gold and Platinum

Levels of the Challenge. Our K-2 classes have been busy reading and several have now

completed the Challenge as a class.

So let’s say well done and congratulations to:

KF: Melia, Savannah, Max, Phillip, Tahlissa, Lexi, Judah, Riley, Scarlett, Beau-Robert, Islah, Amelia, Oliver, Maggie, Harrison, Lyla, Sophie and Bear.

1B: Grace, Callie, Patrick, Aleah, Blake, Braithen, Mykenna, Alex, Ollie, Alice, Liam, Will, Annabelle, Archer, Bella O’D, Joseph, Bella, Noah, Pippiana, Tyson, Sophia, Blake and Rex.

1/2E: Ruby, Taya, Ryder, Ashton, Flynne, Xavier, Lennox, Phoebe, Jax, Mikah, Tori, Emelia, Angelica, Indiana, Sam, Zara, Sadie, Hunter, Kate, Ziggy, Jayden, and Archie.

2C: Madelyn, Adina, Hudson, Sara, Micaela, Charlie, Mia, Xavier, Emily, Horne, Sophie, Harrison, Dusty, Dylan, Maggie, Tyson, Bodhi, Ben, Lachlan, Leah, Dominic, Flynn, Baylie, Chad, Tyson, Jack, Hunter and Kobi.

3N: Claire, Chelsea, Aidan, Lachlan, Mackenzie, Beau, Ruby, and Charlie.

4A: Sienna.

4S: Sammi

4/5Z: Cooper.

5/6K: Declan, Cooper, Imogen, Cleo, and Olivia.

5/6M: Thomas G and Hugo.

5/6P: Elsie, Suvana, Maeve, Chelsea, Sienna, Tahlia, Ava and Demi.

Did An Overdue Library Book Notice Find Its Way To Your House? Overdue notes were sent out with students recently for any item overdue

up to and including Friday, 28 May 2021. Thank you to the families and

students who have returned any overdue items – your efforts are

appreciated. There are still many items that are still to be returned from

the latest round of notices. Responding to the letter sent with the overdue

notice is essential to maintaining accurate records, and a quick reply would

be greatly appreciated. Please note that even though the item cost is given,

the cost is recorded for insurance purposes and is not a request for

payment for any item.

School Library News


Library Enquiry Terminal The new Library Enquiry Terminal is now up and running – its fancy name

is the OPAC terminal but we will just call it Enquiry. Students and

teachers are now able to search the Library catalogue at any time

without the need to log into the link. It provides a quick way to check for

items in the Library and brings our school library in line with many other

schools, as well as public libraries.

Book Week 2021: Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds Book Week is coming up in late August this year, with the theme of Old Worlds, New

Worlds, Other Worlds. Stories take us into many different worlds – the past, the future and

anything our imagination can envisage! Definitely a theme that has a huge range of ideas

within it. Mrs Morris is beginning to look at ideas for Book Week competitions and

activities, and we’ll be looking at the question of whether we can hold a Parade this year –

so when we have a definite plan, there will be plenty of time and notice given.

As part of Book Week, we are welcoming back the multi-

talented performer, Tony Appleby with his ‘Books to

Life’ show. Tony was meant to perform in person for us

last year but circumstances at the time prevented his

tour. Instead, we were able to see the virtual show for

‘Hello Lighthouse’. It will be doubly great to see his live

show this year.

Last term, students in 2C, 2W and 4/5Z spent time learning about

the endangered Australasian Bittern. They each wrote an

information report and created an artwork on the bird as part of a

competition run by the Hunter Wetlands to raise awareness of this

threatened species. Our school was recognised as the overall

winner of the writing competition with our prize being a reptile

encounter where the classes involved were lucky to have a variety

of reptiles brought into their classrooms by volunteers from the

Hunter Wetlands. In the writing category we had some individual

winners: Indy W from 4/5Z and Xavier H from 2C. In the art

competition we also had some individual winners: Emily H from 2C,

Maritza R from 4/5Z and Lucia W from 4/5Z. These students won a

family pass and canoeing or buggy tour at the wetlands.

Exceptional Writing and Art




Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA)



Culture



Therapy Dog (Renzo)


Documents

Issue 171: 2021 Term 2 Friday, 18 June 2021