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

Term 1 – Week 2 Thursday 7 February, 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, 8 February Café begins – 2:30pm

Monday, 11 February Swimming Carnival/Ball Games Carnival

Wednesday, 13 February

Child Protection Training

Monday, 18 February Mathematics Parent/Carer Workshop

6pm

Monday, 18 February P&C Meeting – 7pm

Wednesday, 20 February

Family Information Evening – 6:30pm

Thursday, 21 February Scripture Begins

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school. I hope all of our families had a safe break and are now ready to return to our lovely learning environment. A special welcome to our new Kindergarten students, to students who have transferred from other schools and to our Opportunity Class students. Also, a warm welcome to our new parents/carers and family members who have joined our lovely school community. All staff at Richmond Public School returned on Tuesday, 29 January, 2019. There were a number of professional learning and organisation meetings that occurred during the day, from the Department of Education’s Code of Conduct through to the staff’s 2019 Roles and Responsibilities.

Congratulations School Leaders

Congratulations to our 2019 Captains, Vice-Captain and Prefects: Captains: Ewen. H and Laycee. T Vice-Captains: Sasha. B and Kai. C Prefects: Ella.F, Bianca.M, Ryan.P and Kye.V

Mathematics Computation Quizzes

Date Stage Skill

7 February -

21 February

K

Reading and writing numbers to 10

Year 1

Friends of 20

Year 2

+10 and -10

Years

3-6

X5 and ÷5

What’s New Around the School….

During the term break, we have had a number of transformations and additions around the school. These include- 1. New turf laid on the Stage 2 oval; 2. New asphalt path laid from the Windsor Street entrance to the school; 3. Total fumigation throughout the school; 4. Classrooms painted and: 5. New storage facilities built in K-6A Thank you to Colin, our General Assistant (GA), for his work in supporting these school improvements and for keeping our lovely grounds in such great condition for the start of the new school year.

Term Planner

Last week, our Term 1 Planner was distributed to families. Please take special note of the dates of our Information Evening and our Term 1 Parent / Teacher Interviews. These evenings and interview days are found to be very valuable to all concerned as it provides important information to enhance the students’ learning. Please also note the date for the Touchdown cut-off, the Touchdown Morning Tea and our Parent/Carer Tutorials in Mathematics and English which are also occurring in Term 1.

New Turf – Thank you!

During the Christmas break the school had new turf laid for our Stage 2 students. Unfortunately, it was during the time the temperature was very hot. Some of our teachers and our G.A, Colin, came to the school out-of-hours to move the sprinklers ensuring the grass did not die. I thank them sincerely for their dedication to the project. I would like to publicly thank Mr Cormack, Patrick. C and Lucy. C for the many hours they came to the school to move the sprinklers. There were times when Mr Cormack was here at 4am to move the sprinklers hoping to soak the new grass before the sun started to beat down. Thank you Mr Cormack and his lovely family!

Congratulations 5M

Last week, I participated in our 2019 Opportunity Class Orientation Camp at Lutanda, Yarramundi. The students’ behaviour was exceptional with all students participating in some very challenging activities. What impressed me most was their willingness to help each other, include everyone in the activity and work towards knowing their peers. For most of the 5M students, it’s a lot to ask of a student to come to an unfamiliar school, be with a set of new students, meet a new teacher, have a different Principal and then after one day of knowing the class, go to an overnight camp; these students did this with ease. Thank you to Mrs McGrath for organising the camp and ensuring the students had fun in a safe, happy environment. Well done 5M!

Working with Children Check

It has been legislated that from 2016 all volunteers, be it sporting, reading helpers, fundraising helpers, canteen workers and the like are to have a Working with Children Check. There are exemptions to this expectation. However, this is also very difficult to monitor and therefore we ask that all volunteers at Richmond Public School have their Working with Children Check. The initial Working with Children Check can be accessed at; http://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/working-with-children/working-with-children-check/volunteers-and-students.

Once this check is completed online, volunteers will need to submit relevant paperwork to the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) in order to be issued a WWC number. As a volunteer, there is no cost involved in gaining this WWC number. This number must be given to the school office in order for volunteers to begin service in our school. We understand that this process takes a little time to complete, however the safety of our students is imperative to all concerned.

Welcome to our Staff

We welcome back Mrs Barrow (formerly Miss Kwok) and Mrs Howell to Richmond Public School. It is great to have these lovely teachers return to again make valuable contributions to our students. We also welcome Mrs Daisy Proskien to Richmond Public School. Mrs Proskien has worked at Richmond Public School on a day-to-day basis and she now takes up the role as classroom teacher of 5/6P. I know you will join me in welcoming both teachers back to our lovely school.

Parent/Carer Information Evening

On Wednesday, 20 February from 6:30pm – 7:30pm there will be Family Information sessions for all parents/carers. This is an opportunity for you to hear some of the great things that will be happening for your child in their class during 2019. It is also a chance for the teacher to discuss with you class/student work, behaviour expectations and homework procedures. Please note that this is not a one-on-one interview but a chance for all parents/carers to gather and meet their child’s teacher. We will be splitting the hour session into two 30 minute sessions to enable parents/carers with more than one child the opportunity of meeting most, if not all, of their children’s teachers. This is a great opportunity and is organised in the aim of strengthening the link between home and school for all school members. As with last year, teachers will be presenting within their own classrooms. It may be wise to ask your child/children where their classroom is prior to the evening to avoid wandering lost around the school.

2019 Classes On Tuesday 5 February, Richmond Public School’s official student numbers were submitted to the Department of Education. The school now has 380 students resulting in 15 classes for 2019. Richmond Public School’s 2019 teaching staff is: KM – Miss Margules

KT – Ms Taylor

1/2B – Miss Bailey

1/2C – Mr Crye

1/2E – Miss Emblem

3/4B – Mrs Brkich

3/4M – Mrs Morris

3/4O – Miss O’Connor

3/4S – Ms Superina

5M – Mrs McGrath

5/6B – Mrs Barrow

5/6C – Mr Chia

5/6P – Mrs Proskien

6D – Miss Deal

Music – Mr Domars

Technology – Mr Shirvington

Library – Mrs Howell and Mrs Miller

Learning Support – Mrs Fitzsimons

Enrichment Program – Mrs Carter

Support Teacher – Mrs Chamberlain

School Learning Support Officers – Mrs Stevens, Mrs Wilkinson and Mr Cormack. Our lovely office staff is Ms Kearney (School Administration Manger) and Miss Peterson (School Administration Officer).

Richmond Public School App’ ~ for our new families

In 2015, Richmond Public School initiated its own app titled Skoolbag. There are instructions further into this Newsletter in getting the app onto your phone. Both the Play Store and the Apple Store have the free app. This process was undertaken as part of the school’s Strategic Directions for 2015 under the Community Participation and Engagement direction. The app’ has many options for you to access including Alerts, Events, the school’s website, the fortnightly Newsletter and much more. In addition, the school is now able to notify families through their phones if an excursion is late or early. On the app’, you are able to turn on notifications for the grades your child/ren are in, thus ensuring you don’t receive notifications unnecessarily. In 2015, the app’ proved extremely valuable when Stage 3 was required to return back early from their Canberra excursion due to a number of illnesses. The message of their early return was sent out on the app’ as an Alert and parents/caregivers were fully informed of the incident and their early return. Thank you to the Community Participation and Engagement Team for their continued work in this area. I encourage all families to explore this great initiative.

Strategic directions for 2018-2020

The Department of Education require all schools to have three Strategic Directions. Richmond Public School’s Strategic Directions for 2018-2020 are: 1. Quality Teaching with a focus on Literacy and Numeracy; 2. Student Welfare / Staff Welfare; and 3. Community Participation and Engagement Over a number of years, Richmond Public School has been working through the school plan with much success which has been demonstrated not only in our NAPLAN results but also through school based data. The school’s three year plan is available on the school’s website.

Parent / Teacher Interviews – Date and On-line Booking Procedures

It is believed at Richmond Public School that parents/carers need to be informed of their child’s progress early in the year. Therefore Parent / Teacher Interviews are to be held in Term 1 from Monday, 1 April through to Wednesday, 10 April. This is also a chance for the teachers to discuss specific programs the student may be working on and how best this work can be consolidated at home. It may also give the parents / carers an opportunity to discuss any concerns they may have in regards to their child’s progress and well-being. Families will be given a choice of available times, they are then assigned a time to meet the teacher. I ask that you keep the last two weeks of term as free as possible so that you may be able to attend the Parent/Teacher Interviews. A note will be sent home further into the term outlining times that your child’s teacher is available. In addition, as with last year, we are booking interview times on-line. In the near future each family will be sent home their login password, similar to last year. Families will need to login to SENTRAL (our computer based students tracking system) and, using the login details, you will be able to place your name on the interview schedule. This will be locked in. You will also be able to look at additional classes (if you have more than one child at our school) to enable you to be at the school for both interview times. A note will be sent home with instruction and details before the interview bookings become available. The on-line Parent/Teacher Booking Procedure will be open from Monday 4 March, 2019.

School Uniform

Thank you to the many parents who have sent their child/children to school in our beautiful school uniform. The uniform policy was established by the school and the school community and is discussed on a regular basis at our P&C meetings. Just a few reminders regarding uniform:

1. Necklaces are not to be worn;

2. Studs or sleepers are permissible in your child’s ear. Any earrings that dangle are not permitted;

3. Rub on tattoos are not permitted as this is not part of the school’s uniform;

4. Nail polish is not permitted. Clear gloss is acceptable;

5. Any lipstick or eye shadow is also against the school’s uniform policy; and

6. Any long hair should be securely tied back (or in ponytails). This is not only for safety but minimises the risk of head lice.

For all school uniform needs we presently recommend going to Brynorms Richmond. Brynorms is located at Shop 2, 328 Windsor Street Richmond. The Uniform Policy was established for the safety of your child apart from the fact that Richmond Public School is not a place to set fashion trends. I thank you for following these simple guidelines.

Mathematics Quiz Competition

At the top of this Newsletter there is a grid outlining a mathematical concept that is being quizzed within classes. This is again continued on from 2018 as staff and parents/caregivers have indicated that their students/children are more confident with mathematics due to the Mathematics Computation Quizzes. Classes each day will focus on the fortnightly concept and at the end of the fortnight each student will be assessed and the class will calculate an average. During the Monday morning assembly, trophies are handed out for the best class result and the most improved result. I ask that you quiz your child during the fortnight to ensure their greatest success. Thank you.

Child Well-Being Policy

As with the beginning of every year, Richmond Public School publishes important sections of the school’s Child Well Being Policy. Below are sections of the policy that students and parents/caregivers should know. Being aware of the policy should ensure the school is a safe, happy learning environment. Please note that Detention has now been titled, ‘Reflection Time’, a time when the student can discuss with an Executive member the behaviour causing the

concern and what expectations they need to follow.

“To enhance the Welfare of all students at our school, we have both a Merit Award System and a Consequence / Reward Behaviour Levels System. These systems operate together to support our Positive Behaviour for Learning Program at Richmond Public School.

SCHOOL EXPECTATIONS

Be safe Be respectful

Be a good learner Be environmentally friendly

MERIT SYSTEM The purpose of this system is to recognise positive contributions that are made by the students, to encourage student performance and to improve self-esteem.

Blast Off Award Students earn Blast Off Awards for demonstrating positive behaviours under each of the four school expectations (Be safe RED, Be respectful BLUE, be a good learner PURPLE, be environmentally friendly GREEN). Specific reasons may include classroom academics, sporting effort, classroom behaviour, playground behaviour, encouragement, completing homework. Teachers are asked to make a conscious effort to hand out on average 5 Blast Offs per day. Students collect their Blast Off Awards usually in an area of the classroom.

Orbit Award Once students have earned 5 Blast Offs, they swap them for 1 Orbit Award. Their five Blast Off awards must come from at least two separate expectations. Classroom teachers will record and administer this on a class list. The Orbit is presented to students by the classroom teacher during class time. Students collect their Orbit Awards. Touchdown Award Once students have earned 5 Orbit Awards (25 Blast Offs), they exchange them for 1 Touchdown Award. The school front office will record and administer this process. The Touchdown Award is presented to students by the Executive at a whole school assembly, known as The Touchdown Morning Tea. Students and their families will be invited to The Touchdown Morning Tea where they will receive a congratulatory certificate from

the Principal. Students/ families collect their Touchdown Awards. Voyager Medal If students earn five Touchdown Awards (125 Blast Offs) in any number of years and one Diamond Award (indicating no Reflection Time) of that current year, they are eligible to receive a Voyager Medal at the Presentation Ceremony at the end of that year. Once a student earns one Voyager Medal (bronze), they will receive a Silver Voyager Medal once they again achieve 5 Touchdown Certificates, they then move to a Gold Voyager Medal, then a Diamond Voyager Medal. A student must have achieved a Diamond Award (no Reflection Times) for the current year to be eligible to receive a Voyager Medal at the Presentation Day Ceremony. A student who receives a Diamond Voyager Medal, which is the highest level of the system, does not cycle back to a Bronze Voyager Medal but is eligible for another Diamond Award if they attain another 5 Touchdown Certificates.

BEHAVIOUR LEVELS SYSTEM (Rewards and Consequences)

The policy is a system of 9 levels (four levels of consequences and four levels of rewards) which provide students, parents and staff with a clear understanding of the expectation for student behaviour and procedures for reward or consequence. All students start each year at Level Zero. When poor behaviour is exhibited, students will pass through lower levels. The Principal and Assistant Principals will collaboratively make the decision of student movement between levels, positive and negative, after consultation where necessary with teachers. If a student receives no Reflection Time for one term, they move to a Bronze Certificate. If a student receives no Reflection Times for two consecutive terms they receive a Silver Certificate. If a student receives no Reflection Times for three consecutive terms, they receive a Gold Certificate. If a student receives no Reflection Times for four consecutive terms, they receive a Diamond Certificate. These awards will be presented at the end of each term. Receiving a Diamond Award results in the student being eligible to receive a Voyager Medal at the school’s “Presentation Day Ceremony.”

(Page 5/6 of 11 – Richmond Public School’s Child Wellbeing Policy) The changes in 2017 to our Child Wellbeing Policy are consolidated for 2019. They include-

1. A K-6 student who receives a Reflection Time and is moved down to Level One, must exhibit good behaviour and receive no Reflection Times for one week to move back up to Level Zero;

2. A student placed on Intensive Paly due to receiving three Reflection Times, will be on Intensive Play for five weeks; three weeks on the program and two weeks probation;

3. A student who is suspended due to moving down to Level 4 will return to school on Level 2; and

4. A student on Intensive Play who receives another Reflection Time while on the program will start their five weeks again with parents/carers notified of the school’s concern.

If you would like a copy of the whole policy, please don’t hesitate in contacting the office.

Richmond Public School – Nut Free

With the prevalence of anaphylaxis within schools, I would like to remind families that Richmond Public School makes every attempt to be a nut free school. I kindly request that parents / carers do not send their children to school with peanut butter sandwiches, with peanuts or with any nut related item. Our school canteen is very careful with this policy and makes every attempt to purchase items that were not processed on a machine that was used to make a peanut product. I thank you in advance for you co-operation with this very important policy.

Money Collecting ~ 2019

Money days at Richmond Public School are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. We provided a variety of ways to make payments within the school to make it easier for families and alleviate some students bringing large amounts of money to school. EFTPOS payments are only done on money days. Parent Payment on line (POP) is a secure site which enables families to pay for all relevant activities using your home computer. Families will need to go to the schools website. www.richmond-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

On the home page there is a tab on the right which states, ‘Payment on-Line”. By clicking into this button you will be presented with a screen that will require certain details to be added. It will also ask for details relating to the student and activity. You then submit and a receipt will be issued via email to you. If a payment is made before 6pm, your payment will be on the next day’s school statement, if it is made after 6pm, the school will be notified two days later. Please ensure on your child’s permission note that you fill in the section for POP which will require the receipt number. We also have an option at the school to receipt what the system calls Fees in Advance which allows parent/caregivers to pay a sum of money into the system attached to the family, which operates like a savings account so that when payments need to be made the funds come out of this area. It is a great way to prepare for the year or when you have that little extra cash so that it alleviates the stress with payments. If you have any queries in relation to this please see the office staff at Richmond Public. Cut off dates for all activities at Richmond Public School will still apply and late payments unfortunately, unless discussed earlier, will not be accepted. A reminder that our school website under Notes and Forms will have all the relevant notes that are sent out to families, so if you have missed one please ensure that you look within this area of our website.

Gary Ruzgas Principal Defence

Welcome back for another year to all our previous defence families and a big welcome to our new defence families. If you have any queries please feel free to come and see me. I look forward to catching up with you all and getting to know all the new families.

Kerri Stevens D.S.M.

O.C. Orientation Camp Reviews Camp was lots of fun. We tried really cool and new activities and challenges. Overall, the best part was getting to make new friends! I was very nervous when we went crate climbing but I continued on trying and it was very exciting. By Isabella. W On Thursday January 31st our new OC class went to Lutanda Yarramundi for OC camp to get to know each other better. The highlight of the camp for me was the flying fox. It has always been my favourite activity because I love whizzing effortlessly through the air. A second highlight was playing crate climb because it was so nerve wracking when doing it but when I got up to the next crate I just felt so much relief. The weather was crazy, the food was five star and the company was outstanding! I’m really looking forward to spending the next two years with these guys. By Finn M. After a stressful night of packing, finally the day of camp was here. After arriving, we got introduced to our guides Amanda and Justin. Our adventure started at Camp Lutanda. The first three activities were crate climbing, newcombeball and last but not least, Master, my favourite game. The aim of the game is to shoot the ball into the hoop. When I was Master, I got out twice by letting the ball bounce twice. Our first meal at camp was burgers and chips for lunch. It looked as good as Gordon Ramsay’s food and was super delicious. Thanks to our chef, Joe. We also went zip lining and I was kind of scared with a fixed mind set, not to jump off, but I knew that the harness would hold me so I just pushed myself off and it was pretty fun. As it was so hot, we got to go into the cool pool and had some fun. Later on the heat and the wind got pretty severe so we got out of the pool and played in the games room. In the games room we played some pool, Table Tennis and foosball (Table Soccer). For dinner we had Spaghetti meatballs. Then we had supper and told scary and funny stories. Then we went to bed. In the morning for breakfast we had eggs and

bacon on toast with cereal. Then we did orienteering, archery and rope challenges in groups of four. Our final meal was nachos with sweet chilli chicken with sour cream. I really enjoyed camp and really got to know my awesome classmates which are now cool caring friends. Thank you Mrs McGrath and Mr Ruzgas for being awesome. By Balhar A.

Café

Café will commence for the year on Friday, 8 February at 2:30pm in the Staffroom. All parents/ carers are welcome to join Mrs Stevens for a delicious afternoon tea and catch up every second Friday at Café.

New Turf

O.C. Orientation Camp

Commonwealth School Banking Day is Thursday Remember Thursday is School Banking Day and students should bring in their weekly deposit.

For every deposit made at school, students will receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students have individually collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for an exclusive School Banking reward item in recognition of their regular savings habits. School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school. Our school receives a Regular Savers Contribution of $5 for every 10 deposits processed per student as well as an Annual Contribution which is based on the number of students who made at least one School Banking deposit in the prior year. If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2019 School Banking program information pack from the school office or visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking

Our school is hosting a Book Fair this term to coincide with Family Information Evening. The fair will run from Monday, 18 February to Wednesday, 20 February. Students and parents/carers will be able to come and buy books from the library before school from 8:40am to 9:10am and after school from 3:10pm to 3:30pm. On Wednesday, 20 February, the book fair will also be open from 6pm to 7:30pm for families to make purchases during the Family Information Evening.

The books are provided by Scholastic and all sales directly benefit the school through scholastic rewards. Payment can be made by cash or eftpos. Please come along and find some new books to

enjoy and support our school library at the same time.

Mrs Howell & Mrs Miller

Teacher Librarians

Canteen News Welcome to an exciting year for our school

canteen!

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. My name

is Nadine Jones and I am the new Canteen

Convenor for 2019. I am new to the school, so I

look forward to meeting and serving you and your

family.

This year marks our last year with transitioning to

the NSW Healthy School Strategy. The NSW

Premier has requested that that all government

schools are to be fully compliant by the end of

2019. All this means is that you will start to see

changes to our menu and the selection on offer as

we aim to meet these criteria. We are beginning

with introducing a banana flavoured milk in a

light/low sugar version which was available from

the first day of school.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank last year’s

volunteers, especially Brad and Heidi, who as I am

sure you would agree did a wonderful job in

running and keeping our canteen open. Lucky for

us, we will still get to see their smiling faces from

time to time.

On that note, as you know, our canteen is an

important part of our school community,

nourishing and feeding our children as well as

raising much needed funds to benefit our students

with teaching aids and equipment. Without the

support from our generous volunteers we are

unable to offer a school canteen. We are always in

need of volunteers and would greatly appreciate

any time you can afford. Please feel free to drop

into the canteen or email me at

richmondpscanteen@gmail.com for further

information.

Don’t forget to download the Flexischools app and create an account so you can order online,

eliminating the need for your children to bring money to school and ensuring their lunch order does reach us. Here you will also have exclusive access to specials that I will be offering from time to time beginning with frozen mango and passionfruit Weiss bars as a snack to help the kids beat this heat.

P&C News

Welcome to all the new families to the school. What is the Richmond Public School Parents and Citizens Association about? The P&C is an opportunity to provide an interface with the school by working in close cooperation. The P&C also assists by providing facilities and equipment, and to promote welfare and recreation for the students. The P&C is a representative of the school community and as our community is diverse, so is the P&C. And yet with this diversity we come together in respect of others, to work towards a common goal. P&C meetings are on Mondays 7-8pm (sharp), Week 4 and Week 8 of each term. The next meeting is

Monday, 18 February. All are invited to attend and join as a member. We are currently looking for a Treasurer and a Secretary for the P&C and this will be at the top of our agenda at the next meeting. The lovely staff of Richmond Public School provides babysitting if required. However, we 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, suggestions or be able to put something on the P&C meeting agenda, please use this email.

Lastly, our school canteen is P&C run. It is totally run by volunteers. We would like to keep our canteen running. If you can help out for a couple of hours, half a day or full day, please contact the P&C through the above email or the school office and we will be in touch. Looking forward to a successful year. P&C Committee

Richmond Reminders

Swimming Carnival permission note and

money are due by Friday 8 February, 2019.

Music Tuition Letter of Interest note is due

by Friday 8 February, 2019.

Year Six Polo Shirt orders are due by

Wednesday 6 March, 2019.