The newsletter is published fortnightly, the next on Thursday 15 October 2020

Up and coming events Event Year Date Note Due/Cost

K-2 Very Cranky Bear Picnic K – 2 Thursday 24 September Mufti – bring a bear Last day of Term 3 Friday 25 September Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Survey closes Friday 23 October Term 4 SCHOOL PHOTOS K – 6 Tuesday 13 October 5/6 Rumbalara Excursion 5/6B and 5/6N Thursday 29 October School Cross Country Carnival K – 6 Friday 30 October Maker Faire K – 6 Tuesday 3 November

Phone: (02) 4367 7444 • Fax: (02) 4365 3088

Email: holgate-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Web: https://holgate-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Newsletter 17 September 2020

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

EXCELLENCE / EQUALITY / ENGAGEMENT

Class Awards – Academic Achievement Award

K: Jensen S: for collecting data and making picture graphs

Rose D: for an excellent summary of “Ormie the pig”

K/1: Harlow G and Flynn G: for using a loud, clear voice when presenting their speech!

1/2: Eva P: for using some great strategies for addition and subtraction

Anja M: for great effort in writing using the writing prompt

2/3: Sehara P: for her well written speech on her cat Mia

Milla B: for excellent work in maths using the compensation strategy

3/4: Mina F: for an amazing job with her narrative writing!

Lillybeth C: for always being ready to learn and putting 100% effort into everything she does!

5/6B: Nick L: for displaying commitment and enthusiasm when learning new vocabulary

Archie K: for working hard and displaying focus during maths

5/6N Grace G: for using ‘Cha Ching’ words effectively in her writing

Daniel O: for using his knowledge of nuances to make critical comparisons between words

Positive Behaviour for Learning Award - PBL

K: Isla P: for always keeping her hands and feet to herself

K/1: Malita O: for being a strong learner who is always ready to learn

1/2: Jacob F: for consistently showing strong safe, respectful qualities in the classroom

2/3: Mackenzie M: for always helping set up tennis equipment

3/4: Lara T: for always being ready to learn and showing respect

5/6B: Lachie N: for demonstrating a strong and committed work ethic in class

5/6N: Nick J: for always having perseverance when completing challenging tasks

Home Reading Awards

50 nights (Bronze) Home reading: Jake S, Harper T

Principal’s Address

Bush Fire Season 2020

The school has undergone Bush Fire Planning, Response and Recovery planning, risk management and audits by the Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Department of Education (DoE) Health and Safety Department (H&S) in preparation for the 2020 bushfire season. The DoE and H&S have learnt many lessons from the last devastating bushfire season. Please see in this newsletter, information regarding communication and protocols regarding the next bush fire season. This has been sent in hardcopy.

Initial planning for 2021 and enrolments

If you/your child/ren will NOT be returning to Holgate Public School for the 2021 year can you please notify the office by the end of Friday 18 September Term 3 Week 9. Planning for 2021 is just commencing and a clear indication of student enrolments is required. Parents and carers are asked to either write a note or send an email / phone the school.

School Consultation Phone Poll and Tell Them From Me Parent Survey 2020

Holgate Public School is currently undertaking a situation analysis for the next School Plan for 2021-2024. Part of this process is undertaking community consultation through focus groups, surveys and phone polls. Last week Mrs Jo Johnson, a retired school leader, randomly selected parents and carers to conduct a phone poll. Thank you to those who engaged in this. The school has opened the Tell Them From Me Survey 2020 for all parents and carers. Please complete this survey as the information is highly valued. All information is

non-identifiable and participation is optional. The information will be used to inform our schools next steps. The link for the TTFM survey is:

https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/holgatepublic2020

Second Hand Clothing Pool – Thanks Michelle

Thank you to Michelle Addley for maintaining the Second Hand Clothing Pool and in addition proactively sorting out our schools lost property into names and no names and assisting us in returning them to students. Thanks Michelle!

Thanks for your assistance Holgate P&C!

The school is currently working to improve technology systems and infrastructure. Ongoing feedback from staff and a technology audit has indicated the need to continue to build and update outdated technology. From this, the school identified 15 ipads to be purchased and 30 laptops to cater for the increasing demand across the school. At P&C last week financial support for the ipads of $9462.90 was approved. Thanks for the financial and resource support P&C!!!

P&C Need your help – Accountant needed!!

Holgate P&C are looking for a fully qualified accountant to volunteer expertise and time to complete the end of financial year requirements. Please contact the school if you are able to help.

Progress Report

A Student Progress Report updating you on your child/s progress throughout Term 3 has been sent home today – please check your child/s bag! Please contact us if you have any further questions.

Congratulations Richard Shedden – 83 orders record!!

Congratulations to Richard Shedden our canteen manager – in Week 7 he broke the lunch order record at 83 orders! It is great to see so many orders coming in.

Road Safety

The school continues to have reported dangerous driving behaviours such as U-turns in front of the pedestrian crossing or on the hair pin turn. Reports indicate that drivers are turning into drive ways creating dangerous situations and near misses for our students and families. Please follow road rules and use the allocated turning bays instead of taking short cuts -- we are just having too many close calls. Police and rangers have increased their patrols over the last two weeks and we are expecting more visits, please be vigilant and careful.

Kiss and Ride Zones are designed for your convenience and for your child’s safety. Designed for quick entry and exit, these zones minimise congestion and risk when used properly by all parents and carers. These zones operate under the same conditions as no parking zones, which means you may stop to drop off or pick up children for a maximum of 2 minutes. You're required to remain in, or within 3 metres of, your vehicle. Days and hours of operation may apply to some zones.

Central Coast Family Services

In this fortnights newsletter I have again included a local service The Central Coast Family Support Services at Kariong https://ccfss.org.au/. Their family support program is excellent as it offers a worker to meet with parents in the home/community to work through family difficulties. They also offer most of the programs throughout the year, please see the inserted Term 3 flyer or go to website called Resourcing Parents http://resourcingparents.nsw.gov.au/Parents. You can select a suitable program depending on your concern. For behaviour management they recommend Tuning Into Kids, 123 Magic and Emotion Coaching, or Triple P. For those families with attachment difficulties they recommend Circle of Security or Bringing Up Great Kids. There are lots of programs available and at the moment many are free due to COVID and conducted online.

Social Media & E-Safety

DID YOU KNOW? 20% of children under the age of 12 are using Tik Tok, a social media platform which is supposed to be only for children 16 yrs or older.

With the growing number of children using social media and also the growing issues of safety and self-esteem, I want to provide you with links to two very useful websites:

1. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/social-media-smarts.html

This site is about teaching kids to be smart about social media with some great tips for parents.

2. https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide

This site has a number of resources and a guide to every social media platform. There is also a section for kids with some activities they can do to learn about being safe on the internet.

Home Reading PM online

Just a reminder that all students have access to levelled home readers through their online PM reader. I really miss our Home Reading Program but encourage all families to do some reading using this site over the school holidays.

Vanessa Gordon - Principal

Administration

Photo Day Term 4 Day 2 13 October 2020 – Have your child’s school memories captured forever

When you receive your MSP Photography payment envelopes shortly please take time to read the relevant information and remember these helpful points.

• Don’t seal envelopes inside each other. You can pay for all children in one envelope however each child needs to have their own envelope on photo day.

• Family envelopes will be available at our school office on request. • Please enclose correct money as no change is given. Envelopes are handed direct to photographer

so NO payments to the school please. • Credit card payments are available online – You will need your personalised shoot key located on your

child’s envelope to place your order online.

Green Dream Team

Our hard work is paying off! Please look at the pictures of our spring crop.

Tell Them From Me Survey (TTFM)

Parent Survey – Have your say!

This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey is open now and closes on Friday 23 October, 2020. Your responses are very much appreciated.

More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au. To access the survey for our school go to:

http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/holgatepublic2020

The survey is available in 23 languages. If I can answer further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on 4367 7444.

Thank you – Rebecca Rodwell

Tell Them From Me student survey – information and consent form for parents and carers

Early next term, Holgate Public School is taking part in the Tell Them From Me student survey. The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help them improve. The survey is completed on-line and is run by an independent research company, The Learning Bar, which specialises in school-based surveys.

Staff in schools will not be able to identify individual students from their responses. To ensure confidentiality, participating students will receive a unique username and password. Where fewer than five students respond to a question, the results will be suppressed. The survey typically takes 30 minutes or less to complete and will be administered by the school during normal school hours.

This survey will help our school better understand how to improve student wellbeing and engagement. It will help the school identify what works to improve student outcomes.

Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not wish. If, during the survey, your child is uncomfortable, he/she can choose to stop the survey at any time. The majority of questions in the survey can be skipped.

If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please complete the attached form and return it to your child's school by Friday 25 September, 2020.

More information about the survey and the research is available in English on the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation website: https://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents

Rebecca Rodwell Dr Jenny Donovan Assistant Principal Executive Director Holgate Public School Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation

Greetings from the canteen

Greetings from the canteen

Greetings again from the canteen. It’s been another couple of busy weeks and once again I have to thank the volunteers, who gave up an hour of their day to lend a hand. Liss Goodman and Steve McCaskey, thank you. It is great to see another dad helping out. Tina is coming in this Friday to help out. Thanks in advance.

If anyone else thinks they can help, I would love to see you from about 12.30 for 1 hour only. I am still looking for a volunteer for next Friday 25 of September, last day of term. If you can spare an hour it would be great. If you can help, check out the Facebook page and send me a message.

WE ARE A HEALTHY SCHOOL CANTEEN for 2020.

All money that is received into the canteen in the morning will be cleaned prior to being given as change and separate containers will be used when recess and lunch money is received, so as not to cross contaminate clean and dirty money. This is just a small measure we are taking to keep everyone safe. Kids are always encouraged to wash their hands and sanitiser will be available if needed. Social distancing will be encouraged.

Don’t forget to checkout our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Holgate-PC-Canteen-103292007744955/

Search Holgate P&C Canteen or follow the link to find us and keep up to date with what’s going on. Please complete lunch orders on a brown lunch bag (no small zip lock bags) with CHILD’S NAME, CLASS and ORDER with prices and please include payment.

Recess items on the menu are only sold over the counter at recess. Please don’t order recess items on lunch orders. Just come at recess and say g’day and it will be ready.

Ice blocks, chips and drinks will all be sold over the counter at lunch. Drinks can be ordered on the lunch order and will be placed in the bag with lunch.

Please double check all currency. Australian dollars only please. Canteen menu is available on the school website and also SkoolBag app.

Thank you and see you in Term 4.

Richard Shedden - Canteen Co-ordinator

Greetings from your P&C

Parents Appreciation Stall

A big thank you to Natalie Miller, Colleen Birch, Sally Parkes and Nadia O’Connell for organising a great Parent’s Appreciation Stall. The kids enjoyed the experience of shopping for gifts for their parents and I’m sure every parent likewise enjoyed receiving the special gifts over the Father’s Day weekend. Furthermore, the stall turned over $372.60 profit for the P&C.

Canteen

Our canteen has been running hot for the last few weeks and Richard has been doing a fantastic job to ensure the kids (and parents) get to enjoy their canteen Fridays whilst also managing to keep the facility

COVID safe. Canteen orders have been breaking records and it appears to be maintaining its profitable status.

New iPads for Classrooms

Technology is an essential part of student learning in the modern classroom. Holgate School P&C is extremely pleased to be able to assist the school with their technology learning programs through the sponsorship of 15 new iPads for use in classrooms. At our most recent meeting, the P&C approved the $9.5k expenditure for the new iPads, so they will be hitting the classrooms very soon...

HELP NEEDED – Are you an accountant? The P&C would love your assistance

For a significant number of years Karen Ridge from Catalyst Corporate Accounting has kindly donated her accounting services to Holgate P&C Association to manage our BAS and audit obligations for us. Her children completed their schooling at Holgate many years ago and after over a decade of donating her services, unfortunately she no longer has the availability to oversee our tax affairs. We are therefore looking for assistance from an accountant. Our BAS submissions and books for auditing are uncomplicated, however we require the assistance of an accountant to submit them.

If you can assist, or know someone that can, please contact us at holgate.pandc@gmail.com

We trust everyone has been keeping safe and well – and ensure that we continue to care for each other through these unusual times.

Regards, Ian Goodman

Covid clinics

For booking a test please see following link: https://ccpc.com.au/

LOST

Garmin Vivofit 4 with a black wrist band, missing one band loop so the end of band curls out. Lost after school AFL sport on Wednesday 2nd September, maybe next to the oval. If found please return to the school office.