RICHMOND PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Thank you to Richmond Public School’s P & C for their sponsorship of our school Newsletter

Term 1 – Week 8 Thursday 21 March, 2019

115 Windsor Street RICHMOND NSW 2753 Email: richmond-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Phone: 4578 2027 Fax: 4588 5886

“To Strive for Excellence”

Important Dates

Friday, 22 March Touchdown Cut-off Date

Monday, 25 March – Wednesday, 27 March

K-2 Open Reading Sessions

9:15am – 10:00am

Tuesday, 26 March Brainstorm – ‘The Protectors’

Thursday, 28 March C.A.R.E.S – 5/6C and 5/6P

Friday, 29 March K-2 Featherdale Excursion

Monday, 1 April – Wednesday, 10 April

Parent/Carer/Teacher Interview Weeks

Wednesday, 3 April C.A.R.E.S – 6D

Thursday, 4 April C.A.R.E.S – 5/6B and 5/6P

Congratulations to our Regional Swimmers!! Congratulations to the students who competed at the Regional Swimming Carnival on Monday, 11 March, representing The Hawkesbury Area. Our students tried their best, cheered on each other and represented our school and their area with pride. I had a few of our Regional competitors come up to me the next day stating that it was great to swim in the pool where the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games were held and to see their name up on the competitors’ board before their event. To make the regional level and to represent your area is a wonderful achievement and certainly one that the students will remember for a long time. Thank you to Mrs Barrow who attended on the day to support our Richmond Public School; students and our area. Thank you to all the parents/cares who came to support the students, it was certainly appreciated. Great work to our Regional Swimming Team. Well done Richmond Public School!

Mathematics Computation Quizzes

Date Stage Skill

21 March -

4 April

K

Reading and writing numbers to 10

Year 1

+4 and - 4

Year 2

+40 and -40

Years

3-6

X3 and ÷3

School Planning and Strategic Directions Richmond Public School has again developed staff teams in Literacy and Numeracy. Both teams work towards meeting the planned goals for the year which were established the previous year. The school’s three Strategic Directions for 2018-2020 are Quality Teaching and Learning, Staff and Student Welfare and Community Participation and Engagement. The Literacy and Numeracy Teams are working towards the goals within the Strategic Direction of Quality Teaching and Learning. Teams have also been established for the two other Strategic Directions. In 2018, our Year 3 students achieved excellent results in NAPLAN, particularly in Reading where they achieved results well above the state average. Though NAPLAN is only one assessment tool, it was wonderful to confirm that Richmond Public School is on track. Richmond Public School’s 2018-2020 School Plan can be found on the schools website at: www.richmond-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Numeracy Parent/Carer Tutorial

Thank you to the parents and carers who attended our Numeracy tutorial focussing on Number on Thursday, 7 March (2-3pm). The Numeracy Team presented strategies that are taught in class to assist students in creating quick recall and calculation skills. This year there was a focus on the curriculum and the additional number strategies that are taught to enable students to choose the strategy and then calculate the correct processes. An information sheet was also sent home with the attendees that outlined strategies to assist their children with Mathematics at home which also included great app’s and websites which are free. A big thank you to the Numeracy Team who organised the presentation. Great work!

Touchdown Morning Tea

Richmond Public School’s first Touchdown Morning Tea for 2019 is on Friday, 5 April beginning at 9:30am. Our Touchdown Morning Tea celebrates the students who have received 5 Orbit Awards which is due to the fact they have collected 25 Blast Off Rewards for displaying RESPECT, being ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, for VALUING LEARNING or for BEING SAFE. It is an important day within our busy term and it is wonderful to see the parents/carers come to the school to join our celebration. At the presentation, the students are presented a Touchdown Certificate. Please value this certificate and put it in a safe place at home; possibly a photo album. This may alleviate certificates being lost and therefore delaying the presentation of a Voyager Medal at our Presentation Day Ceremony.

Easter Parade 2019

Richmond Public School’s Easter Parade is to be held on Thursday 11 April, 2019. The parade will begin at 10:15am and will conclude at 11:00am. An invitation to the parade will be sent home in the near future. Ms Taylor and her team are assisting in the organisation of the parade. Thank you to the P&C for organising the raffle which will be drawn at the conclusion of the parade. The raffle prizes are a number of Easter baskets full of Easter Eggs. It is possible, as happened last year, that an individual could win more than one basket. I have also heard that we may have a fury visitor on the day to assist the parade.

Richmond Public School’s Website (Reminder)

On Thursday, 28 February and Friday 1 March, 2019 there were School Website Training Days held at Richmond Public School by the Department of Education, in particular the School Website Services Training Team. Over the past six months the Department has moved over to a new platform for the school website which unfortunately has left many schools with a a very static website; therefore there was need for training. Over the two days, forty-six participants attended the training at Richmond Public School; totalling twenty-five schools. Ms Peterson and I attended the Friday training with now a plan to update our new website. Our new website will have current photos of events, all notes that have been sent home, our Newsletter, summaries of what is happening over the term for each Stage and most importantly our Term Planner. In addition, the new website has the capability for the user to have our Newsletter and any other documents translated into another language. Ms Peterson and I are in the planning stages and we are beginning to put items onto the website with the aim of having the website a focus area of communication along with our Skoolbag App’.

School Improvements (Reminder)

There has been work going on around the school as part of the Preventative Maintenance Program by the Department of Education. The external areas of the Students’ Toilet Block has been cleaned and is to be fully repainted, the ceilings of the Toilet Block have been painted, the ceilings in the main building directly at the bottom of the stairs leading to the next floor have been stripped and repainted and there are now plans for the library to be fully recarpeted along with three classrooms. In addition, as stated in our Term 4 2018 Newsletter, the Library is to be re-roofed with galvanised sheeting along with all facia boards around Block C. The roof sheeting and facia boards will be dark grey in colour to minimise reflection and to avoid the roof being too noticeable; the roofing work is to be carried out during the next term break. There are also plans for additional Promethean Boards to be purchased and installed during the term break but this will be at a cost to the school. For the safety of our students and community, I will keep the community informed of any other work that may be going ahead at Richmond Public School.

K-2 Open Reading Sessions (Reminder)

As part of the school’s Strategic Directions, the Literacy Team is inviting parents/carers to come into their classrooms to observe the school’s K-2 Guided Reading Sessions. These sessions are held three days per week and take place from 9:15am – 10:00am. The Literacy Team are attempting to accommodate our parent/carer’s busy schedules and therefore have offered the three days as an opportunity for you to come to the school, observe a Guided Reading Session and possibly take some ideas for home. The Open Reading Sessions are from Monday, 25 March through to Wednesday 27 March, 2019. The Literacy Team hopes that many parent/carers will take up this opportunity.

Mobile Phones ~ 2019 (Reminder)

With our many new families and students coming to our school from around the area, it is important that students and parents / caregivers are aware of the policy regarding mobile phones at Richmond Public School.

The policy states: “All students bringing mobiles phones to school are

to have them off and out of sight by 8:40am. At 3:10pm, students are permitted to turn their mobile phones back on. Any phone that is seen, heard or used between the hours of 8:40am and 3:10pm will be confiscated and handed to the Principal / Executive teacher in charge. Collection of the confiscated phone must be made by the parent/carer.

Parents/carers wishing to contact their children during the day are to call the school.”

Signs have been placed in classrooms reminding students of this policy. There are many reasons for the policy, primarily the school does not accept responsibility for any phone brought into the school grounds, in addition to the fact that there is a need for us to understand that technology is moving very quickly, especially for our younger students.

Gary Ruzgas Principal

Regional Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday 12 March, 15 students from Richmond Public attended the Regional Swimming Carnival with Mrs Barrow. The carnival was held at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre in Homebush. It was an early start for some students who needed to be at the pools from 7.30am. We had a number of individual competitors at this year’s carnival. Nash. R, Jet. C, Madison. R, Sarah. D and Addison. G all participated in the 50 metre freestyle events for their age group. All students swam exceptionally well, with most students beating their qualifying times from the district swimming carnival. Sarah. D came 10th overall, missing out on a spot in the finals by one place. Sydney. D swam in the junior girls 50 metre butterfly and placed 2nd in her heat. We were lucky enough to have three of our relay teams compete at the carnival. There was a lot of fierce competition but our students did their very best and achieved some commendable results. Nash. R, Jet. C, Jacob. A and Addison. G formed our junior boys relay team and all swam exceptionally well. Harris. K, Dominik. J, Alfred. H and Curtis. V formed our senior boys relay team. All of the boys swam PB times and took 6 seconds off their district qualifying time! Lana. K, Amberley. G, Charlotte. W and Isabella. W formed our senior girls relay team. The girls put in 100% and took 3 seconds off their district qualifying time. All of the Richmond Public School students behaved sensibly throughout the entire day and provided encouragement to their fellow RPS peers as well as other students representing the Hawkesbury district. Let’s hope we can achieve some excellent results in 2020 to follow on from a successful 2019 in the pool for RPS!

P&C News Thank you to the parents/carers who attended our P&C Meeting on Monday 18 March, 2019. At the meeting Nadine, our Canteen Convenor, presented the new canteen menu which complies with the NSW Healthy Canteen Strategy. Thank you Nadine for all of your hard work. Nadine also reported that we have a number of new volunteers to the canteen and that our volunteer numbers are very good, so thank you to our community for supporting the canteen. At the P&C meeting, we also discussed funding projects and events at Richmond Public School. Money was budgeted for the library, for the end of year Presentation Day and for additional Promethean Boards for the classrooms. Mr Ruzgas also discussed the possibility of new rubber material for the ground area of the gym equipment and new planter boxes/seats for the entrance to the office area. Mr Ruzgas also discussed the school Strategic Directions and shared with the P&C some excellent NAPLAN results. Our next P&C meeting is at 7pm on

Monday 20 May, 2019. The lovely staff of Richmond Public School provides babysitting if required. The P&C understand that people would like the opportunity to communicate with the P&C but cannot attend meetings. For this reason we have developed an email account: richmondpspandc@gmail.com If you would like to provide any feedback, comments or suggestions, please use this email. Any agenda items must be communicated to the front office by Wednesday before the Monday’s meeting so that the agenda items can be relayed to the community. P&C Committee

Canteen News The Canteen would love to thank Pauline from Bakers Delight Richmond Mall for her extremely generous ongoing donations. Each week she donates all the bread used in our canteen. If you are shopping at Richmond Mall please give her and her team a friendly hello to show how much we appreciate her.

Spotlight on……Slushies!

Did you know that the Slushie drinks sold in the canteen:

Are made from 99% real fruit juice

Have no added sugar

Have zero fat

Provide 100% R.D.I of Vitamin C

Come in many flavours

Have a Health Star Rating of 5 Stars

Are loved by the kids!

Rainbow of Food Recipe - Red Italian Strawberry Ice Blocks (www.kidspot.com)

- 180g fresh strawberries, chopped

- 6 fresh basil leaves

- 35g natural unrefined cane sugar

- Balsamic Glaze for drizzling (optional)

1. Put the strawberries, basil leaves and sugar

with 80ml of water in a blender and whizz

together until smooth.

2. Pour mixture into popsicle moulds or ice

cube moulds

3. Drizzle a little bit of the balsamic glaze into

each mould if using

4. Insert sticks if using popsicle moulds and

place in the freezer overnight.

Whilst Flexischools continue to work on and upgrade their technology systems, please keep in mind that it may be best to either use a pc to place your order or especially for Friday’s, place your order on Thursday nights or before 7.30am Friday morning. Please note that separate orders must be placed for recess and lunch. If you haven’t already, create an account and take advantage of specials that occur from time to time.

Richmond Boys AAL Squadron is enrolling for 2019

Richmond Boys Squadron of the Australian Air League is now enrolling cadets for Term 1 2019 at its meeting location at Richmond Public School, 115 Windsor St Richmond on Friday evenings from 7:00 until 9:00pm.

The Richmond Boys Squadron is also looking for adults who would be interested in volunteering with the Australian Air League to help these young Australians achieve their goals.

The Air League is inviting young people, who may be interested, to come down with their parents and learn what the Air League has to offer. The Australian Air League is a nationwide organisation for young people aged from 8 to 18 years. Staffed by volunteers and self-funding, it teaches leadership skills and provides a wide range of interesting and exciting activities such as camping and hiking, sport and physical recreation, building and flying model aircraft and ceremonial drill. Through classes and practical demonstration members learn the theory of aviation and a wide range of associated topics such as Meteorology, Navigation, Aero Engines and Aircraft Construction, as well as general interest subjects such as photography, field craft and community service.

The Air League also provides a range of flying experiences for its members, from simple scenic joy flights through to gliding and powered-flying training, from private pilot licence (PPL) through to airline entry standards – all in aircraft owned, operated and professionally maintained by our staff.

The Australian Air League is also approved as an Active Kids Provider registered with Service NSW. Active Kids is a program to help NSW families meet the cost of getting their kids into sport and active fitness and recreation activities. Information can be found online at : https://sport.nsw.gov.au/sectordevelopment/activekids

Running a strong program that is both fun and educational, the Australian Air League is making fine citizens out of young Australians. Currently there are also a number of other Squadrons in Western Sydney including Penrith, Parramatta, and Blacktown as well as Squadrons at Epping and Ryde. Girls with an interest in aviation may also contact the Penrith or Blacktown Girls Squadron via 1800 502 175.

For more information please contact: Parramatta Squadron c/- Peter Gledhill <operations.nswbg@airleague.com.au> Or NSW Group Jeff Remington <gexc.nswbg@airleague.com.au>

Richmond Public School Family Term Planner ~ Term 1~ 2019 (as of Thursday, 1 February ‘19)

Day /

Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Sat /

Sun

1

28/ 1

29 / 1 Staff Return

30/ 1 Years 1 – 6 Return

31/ 1

Kindergarten begin

O.C CAMP

1 / 2

2-3 / 2

2

4 / 2

5/ 2

6 / 2

Yrs 3-6 Assembly -

12:30pm

Sport House Meetings

– 2:40pm

7 / 2

Newsletter

8 / 2

Café Begins

2:30pm

9-10 / 2

3

11 / 2

R.P.S Swimming

Carnival

12 / 2

13 / 2

Volunteer ~ Child

Protection Inservice ~

9:20am

K-2 Assembly –

12:30pm

14 / 2

Leadership Camp-

Captains/

Vice-Captains

Band to begin

15 / 2

16-17 / 2

4

18 / 2

Music Tuition Starts

Book Fair

P&C Meeting ~ 7pm

19 / 2

20/ 2

Family

Information

Evening ~ 6:30 –

7:30pm

Yrs 3-6 Assembly -

12:30pm

21 / 2

Specsavers Vision

Screening

Kindergarten / 5M +

All new 2019 students

Scripture Begins

Newsletter

22 / 2

Café – 2:30pm

23-24 / 2

5

25 / 2

Final Payments for

Music Tuition

26 / 2

27 / 2

K-2 Assembly –

12:30pm

28 / 2

R.H.S Mini Lessons

- All Year 6

1 / 3

2-3 / 3

6

4 / 3

On-line P/T Interview

Booking Opens

District

Swimming

Carnival

5 / 3

6 / 3

Yrs 3-6 Assembly -12:30pm

7 / 3

Mathematics –

Parent/Caregiver

Tutorial – Number/

Problem Solving –

2-3pm

Newsletter

8 / 3

Café – 2:30pm

9-10 / 3

7

11 / 3

12 / 3

Richmond High

School Information

Night

13 / 3

School Photos

K-2 Assembly –

12:30pm

14 / 3

Selective High School

Test Day

15 / 3

16-17 / 3

8

18 / 3

P&C Meeting ~ 7pm

19 / 3

20 / 3

Yrs 3-6 Assembly -12:30pm

21 / 3

Harmony Day - Free

Orange Mufti

English

Parent/Caregiver

Tutorial –K-2 Home

Reading Skills– 2-3pm Newsletter

22 / 3

TOUCHDOWN

CUT-OFF DATE

On-line P/T Interview

Booking Closes

Café – 2:30pm

23-24 / 3

Fed’

Elections

9

25 / 3

K-2 Open Reading

Sessions Week –

9:15am – 10:00am

26 / 3

K-6 Brainstorm

‘The Protectors’

12pm/2pm

27 / 3

K-2 Assembly – 12:30pm

28 / 3 \

C.A.R.E.S – Stage 3

29 / 3

Early Stage 1/Stage 1

Excursion-

Featherdale

30-31 / 3

10

1 / 4

PARENT /

TEACHER /

STUDENT

PROGRESS

INTERVIEW

WEEKS

2 / 4

3 / 4

C.A.R.E.S – Stage 3

Yrs 3-6 Assembly -

12:30pm

4 / 4 Newsletter

C.A.R.E.S – Stage 3

5 / 4

TOUCHDOWN

MORNING TEA

~ 9:30AM

Public Speaking

Display – 11:30am

Café – 2:30pm

6-7 / 4

11

8 / 4

PARENT /

TEACHER /

STUDENT

PROGRESS

INTERVIEW

WEEKS

C.A.R.E.S – Stage 3

9 / 4

Stage 2 Incursion -

Science Show

School Cross Country

11:30am – 1:20pm

10 / 4

ANZAC Day Service

– 10:15am

K-2 Assembly –

12:30pm

11 / 4

Easter Parade –

10:15am

12 / 4 (Back up Cross Country)

Peer Support

Training

End of Term 1

13-14 / 4