PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Dear students, families and friends, It’s always a pleasant surprise to open and read emails from the community

praising our students:

“On Monday 4 March, we the SRE teachers, sold pikelets at your school to raise

monies for Ronald McDonald House. A local family, the Fabiens, have their little

boy Jackson staying there, and we thought as a community we could support the

great works that they do for families like the Fabiens. Marisa, Frances and I

would like to thank you again for allowing us to sell pikelets to your students. We

were able to raise $20.00 & $27.00 from CWA Peats Ridge, and this will be put

together with the total of $200.00.

Thanks again and God Bless, Mary Luci.”

Such a lovely way to start the day!

Country Fair

It’s great to be part of such a caring and pro-active

community and last Thursday evening, I attended the

monthly Country Fair meeting. Together with Sue

Douglas, we’ve organised two school competitions this year- a drawing

competition to create the master templates for the poster colouring-in

competition and the colouring-in competition itself. Themes will be based

around the chook races, billy cart races, pony rides and jumping castles and

prizes of $10 will be awarded to the best entries from each stage at each school.

I submitted our receipts for Maths Seeds $240, Reading Eggs $660 and Mathletics

$1063 (total $1966.73) for reimbursement from last year’s Country Fair takings

and will organise the defibrillator for the hall next term. This year, we’ll make

another submission for a similar amount to cover our online teaching resources

and I have a quote to connect wifi to the hall which I’ll also submit. Like a kitchen,

it would greatly benefit community users and make it far more practical. It’s still

a long way off, but please pencil ‘Country Fair’ Saturday 19th October, into your

diaries.

National Day of Action Against Bullying

On Friday, students at Peats stood united

against bullying and violence along with

5726 other registered school

communities across the nation.

The theme for the 2019 NDA

was- Bullying. No Way! Take action

every day and students performed short

PEATS RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

1231 Peats Ridge Road Peats Ridge 2250 18th March, 2019 Ph: 4373 1149 Fax: 4373 1076 Week 8 Term 1 Email: peatsridge-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.peatsridge-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

DIARY DATES

TERM 1 Every Monday: Newsletter Every Monday: Scripture

Every Friday: Sport

19th March P & C Meeting

21st March

Harmony Day

22nd March Stikeez Swap Day

23rd March (Saturday) State Election in Hall

P & C Stall

29th March ASSEMBLY

4th April

Start Smart Financial Literacy Workshops

12th April

Easter Hat Parade P & C Raffle

PBL VALUE OF THE WEEK

Respect - Best manners

for special visitors

skits at assembly to demonstrate what this means to them. It was very entertaining and we certainly have some

budding actors in both classes!

During the week, I chatted to everyone while on playground duty about bullies and the best actions to take…

Lydia- They’re mean, big kids, but I never met one.

Hudson- They smash trees down. At my old school, they nearly hit people in the face and the teacher put them

in Time Out.

Bronte- At preschool, they were cyberbullying me and punching me. They were big. I told the teacher.

Calloway- I was bullied at my old preschool but I forgot what it was. I’d go tell a teacher and tell on them.

Hastings- I haven’t been bullied but I’d tell the teacher and tell them what they did. I’d tell mum too.

Ali- The bullies left me alone after I said nice things back at them.

Brax- I was bullied at preschool. They kept kicking me and smashing me in the face, so I told the teacher but they

weren’t suspended or expelled.

Hunter- Bullies are ugly. If you don’t say anything and just walk away, they usually leave you alone. If they still

keep doing it, tell the teacher and they’ll get a Warning of Suspension if it’s bad.

Noah- There was like 50 bullies at my old school so I have a lot of experience. I’m happy here and always feel

safe ‘cause there are no bullies and I’m friends with everyone.

Jasper- I’ve never been bullied but bullies are not very nice. They be mean to you.

Kade- Bullies are very mean and they have to stop it. BAN BULLIES!

Rachel- Whatever they say isn’t true. I wouldn’t do anything back to them. I’d just tell a

teacher.

Shakia- I’ve been bullied before. They said I was weird and ugly. I told them to stop, then I told the teacher and

they got sent to Time Out.

AJ- I was bullied at my old school. They always said mean things and spread fake rumours. I told the teacher and

they put their names in the Green Book so they missed out on something good.

Abbey- It’s really nasty how they target people and be really mean. What’s really bad about them is they can

say bad stuff and even though there’s the saying, ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never

hurt me,’ words can REALLY hurt.

Ollie- They’re kinda stupid and they try to take power over you or steal your money. Tell the teacher straight

away and your parents.

Isabella- My big brother bullies me and Dad tells him to stop and takes his phone.

Zoe- I don’t like them Just ignore them.

Beau- At my old school, the Year 6s would steal my Minecraft key rings and throw them in the bin. I got all my

friends together and we told them to stop it and they did.

Elijah- I think bullies are idiots. I’ve never been bullied but in Mozambique, local kids would laugh at me. If I was

bullied, I’d tell the teacher and Rachel.

Briony- I don’t think I’ve ever been bullied. If I was, I’d tell the teacher straight away.

Savannah- I’ve never been bullied at all in my life. If I saw a bully bullying someone, I’d go up to them and say,

‘Why are you being so rude?’ and take them to the teacher.

Hayley- I haven’t been bullied either, but first if I saw someone, I’d tell an adult like a teacher or parent, but if

there wasn’t an adult, I’d tell them to stop and sort it out and try to cheer up the victim.

Makayla- I’ve never been bullied either. If I saw someone, I’d help the victim and tell the teacher.

Next P&C and State Election

Our next P&C meeting will be held tomorrow, 19th March, at 3:15pm in P2’s classroom. Items on the agenda

include the new school front entry (we finally have a quote from the

mason!), a lamington stall for the State Election next Saturday and

annual Easter raffle. Everyone is welcome and we’ll celebrate a belated

‘P&C Appreciation Day’ with afternoon tea. Hope to see you there!

Our CWA is also planning a stall on election day and they’ll be selling jams, pickles, cakes and bric-a-brac. I’ll

man a school stall as well with Trash and Treasure items left over from the Country Fair and 72 jars of Peats

Ridge honey ($10 each), so please tell everyone to bring their $$ with them when they vote!

Student Parliament and SRC Meeting

Our inaugural lunch-time meeting for 2019 will be held in the Library this Wednesday and a special lunch of

chicken tenders and chips will be provided for members. Some school leaders have already been busy with their

thinking caps on and brainstormed a list of school improvements for me, with wonderful suggestions like:

A cubby house for P1

New chapter books for P2

Plant more seeds in the garden and make it bigger

Football and seated volleyball for PE

A waterslide

Art every Friday

More Lego

A nice outside reading area

A playground obstacle course

…and of course, a swimming pool!

Laminated Meeting Agenda sheets are now on display in both classrooms and students have been invited to

make suggestions using post-it notes whenever they come up with a great idea.

Harmony Day

The President of the PNG Women’s Association NSW, Lani Drosd, contacted me last week to say

she’d be delighted to visit our school for Harmony Day this Thursday to complement the research

P2 is undertaking on Papua New Guinea for the CWA’s 2019 ‘Country Of Study’. Everyone is invited

to wear a national costume or orange mufti as part of our annual Harmony Day celebrations.

Australia is the most successful multicultural country on earth and we have many different cultural

backgrounds and languages represented by just our small school. Please read the flyer attached to this

newsletter if you are interested in entering the Harmony Day Poster and Song Writing Competitions. If you are

interested, please search: www.movingforwardtogether.org.au

Remember, if you have any artefacts from PNG at home, we’d love you to bring them in to share with the class

and our special guests.

Stikeez Swap Day

As loathe as I am to promote large supermarket chains, many of our children are

enjoying collecting Stikeez fruit and vegetable characters and I hope many are also

participating in the ‘Fresh Rainbow Challenge’, which has been endorsed by the

Healthy Kids Association. It is designed to encourage Aussie kids and their parents to

eat more fresh fruit and veggies and make healthy eating fun for the whole family. The promotion ends on the

26th March, so we plan to hold a Swap Day this Friday during Breaks 1 and 2 if students would like to bring their

collections along (for safekeeping in store-rooms) and trade any doubles. There are 24 regular Stikeez, 4 rare

and one Golden Billy Banana worth $100. I wonder if anyone will get lucky?!

We’ll also be participating in The Big Vegie Crunch in Week 10, and in the spirit of balanced reporting, I’ll also

mention that Woolies ‘Earn and Learn’ sticker collection will begin again in May.

‘Tell Them From Me’ Student Survey Over the next few weeks, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate

in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The

Year 4, 5 and 6 survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other

student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and

effective teaching practices. More information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au The survey

is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school

hours between 18th~29th March. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary and opt-out forms should have

been returned by today.

Opal Cards for School Bus Travel

School Student Opal Card pamphlets have been sent home today with the newsletter. Our

school bus driver frequently comments on the low number of Peats Ridge students

travelling daily without Opal cards and this may negatively impact on our service if Opal

usage shows only one or two passengers each day. Some students haven’t used an Opal card since I arrived at

the school over two years ago. Please complete the online application asap if your child is travelling without

one and keep it in a safe, easily accessible spot. Please see our SAM, Mrs Riley in the office if you need assistance.

Attendance

Unfortunately last week, three students at Peats dropped below the Department’s

acceptable rate of 85% attendance and notification letters will be sent home. All staff must

follow strict guidelines regarding attendance and we appreciate the prompt explanations

phoned, emailed or sent in whenever a child is sick. Recently, a few students have also been

dropped off late or picked up early without being signed in or out and this is also mandatory. If the office is

attended, it is the classroom teachers’ job to sign you in or out with a slip.

Thanks Amanda for sending through the action shots of our Peats champs at the Swimming Carnivals and I hope

you’re as delighted as I am to read more writing samples from P1.

The cooler, rainy weather was a welcome change last week and our worms are certainly enjoying their new

abode. P1 had a shock though, when they spied two huge slugs under the lid who’d also made it their home.

Their drawings are brilliant!

Ms Austin - Principal (rel)

Easter Raffle

Our Easter raffle will be drawn after the Easter Hat Parade on Tuesday, 12th April. Any donations will

be gratefuly accepted at the school front office. Tickets will be sent home next week.

Lamington Stall

On Election Day, Saturday March 23rd, we will be having a stall with lamingtons

and other treats.

Friday, 22nd March

CANTEEN PRE-ORDER

Please place the slip below with your order in the office lock box by no later than Thursday morning if your child is having a lunch order this

Friday. This is to further assist our parent helpers and to minimise food wastage.

Hamburgers + popper - $5.00

Thank you - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NAME:

Please note – all hamburgers will come with a beef patty

FILLINGS (please circle)

CHEESE LETTUCE

TOMATO BACON

PINEAPPLE

SAUCE (please circle)

TOMATO

BBQ