Principal’s Report

180-194 Rodd Street

Sefton 2162

Phone: 9644 4079

Fax: 9743 7175

Website: www.seftoninf-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Sefton Infants School

Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS:

* Tues 3 Apr - Fri 13 Apr:

Swimming Lessons for Years 1 & 2

* Wed 11 April

9 –10am: Parent home reading

Workshop

* Fri 13 Apr: Last day for Term 1

* Tues 1 May:

Students return for Term 2

* Fri 4 May:

ANZAC Service

* Wed 9 May: Gymnastics Program

starts

* Fri May 11: Mother’s day stall

* Mon 14 May:

RSPCA school visit

* Mon 14 & Tue 15 May:

After School Sport Program commences

for Term 2

Wednesday 4 April 2018

Dear Parents/Carers,

All NSW Government schools undertake a three year planning cycle to form a school plan based on student needs. Government schools are currently entering a new planning cycle (2018-2020). Comprehensive evaluations were completed involving a range of external and internal data, as well as active participation from a variety of representatives across the Sefton Infants School community. This evaluation process enabled the identification of strengths, in addition to opportunities and areas for development across the school. As a result, a school vision and three strategic directions were determined collaboratively to form the basis of our new school plan.

School Vision Statement 2018 –2020

Sefton Infants school is an inclusive learning community that values, supports and challenges all students in a nurturing early childhood environment. Students and their families have a strong sense of belonging at our school with positive and productive social and community connections, enabling students’ wellbeing and learning to thrive. Our school provides explicit and differentiated teaching and learning programs that strive for all students to be active, confident and capable learners with strong foundations in their literacy and numeracy skills.

To achieve this vision, Sefton Infants School has identified the following three strategic directions as part of our 2018—2020 school plan:

1. Explicit Teaching and Learning

Purpose: To deliver effective, evidence-based and data-driven teaching practices that ensure all students develop as confident and capable literacy and numeracy learners.

2. Inclusivity

Purpose: For all students to be supported and challenged to achieve their personal learning goals through an inclusive and differentiated curriculum.

3. Wellbeing

Purpose: To foster and integrate practices that develop students’ physical and social-emotional wellbeing so that they can communicate confidently and interact positively with others.

Sefton Infants School welcomes feedback from our school community in regards to the vision and strategic directions for 2018-2020. We recognise and promote the important role that our parents and carers have in supporting our school vision and strategic directions.

Kind regards,

Sharna Labbe

Page 2

Parent Workshop - Home Reading

How do I encourage my child to do their home reading each night?

What do I do if my child gets stuck on a word?

How can my child get the best learning out of home reading?

Reading is a vital skill to learn in these crucial early years of school. Home reading is a very important way to practice, consolidate and extend the reading skills and strategies learnt in class.

Come along to our upcoming parent workshop to find out the answers to these and many more questions about helping your child with reading at home. This informative and practical workshop will take place on Wednesday 11 April at 9 - 10am in the school library. All parents and caregivers are very welcome!

Parent Workshop

about

Home Reading

Wed 11 April

9- 10am

Sefton Infants

Library

This is our last newsletter for Term 1. Thank you to our students, staff and parents/carers for a wonderful start to the 2018 school year. Wishing all of our families a safe and relaxing autumn holiday.

All students return for Term 2 on TUESDAY 1ST MAY 2018.

The Sefton Infants School staff look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday 1st May for the start of another term of wonderful learning.

Happy Autumn Holidays

Swim School

Our Year 1 and 2 students have been making great progress with their water safety and swimming lessons during these last two weeks of Term 1. Some of the key water safety messages we have been learning include:

Never swim alone! (must have a responsible adult with them at all times)

Enter water safely!

Think, don’t sink! (roll onto your back and float)

Reach, throw, go! (rescuing others)

Slip, slop, slap (sun safety)

We encourage our students to talk about their water safety learning with their families and to continue their swimming with a confident adult swimmer so that they keep up their beginning swimming skills. Check out our school website soon for photos of our swim school experience.

Last Day Term 1:

Fri 13 April

First Day Term 2:

Tue 1 May

Presentation Assembly and School Picnics

Page 3 Parent Program at

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a disability

Notification for Parents and Carers All Government and non-Government schools across Australia are required to participate annually in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). All Australian schools collect data on their students who are receiving adjustments to meet additional learning and support needs in accordance with their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for Education 2005. This data will be provided to the Australian Government to assist in the development of a consistent, national picture of the education needs of students with disability. The data provided to the Australian Government by the NSW Department of Education is provided in such a way that it cannot be used to identify any individual student or school. General information about the national data collection can be found on the Australian Government Department of Education and Training website at http://education.gov.au/fact-sheets-nationally-consistent-collection-data-school-students-disability. Privacy Protection The NSW Department of Education follows the requirements of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. Schools will collect, record, store and use data about individual students in line with these requirements. Data security and protection is a priority and students’ personal details will be kept confidential. Under Clause 52 of the Commonwealth Australian Education Regulation 2013, data collected by the NSW Department of Education for the NCCD must be provided to the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. This includes the number of students at each level of education, the number in each category of disability and the number at each level of adjustment. The information is provided to the Commonwealth as a series of number sets that cannot be used to identify any individual student or school. The Australian Government Department of Education and Training follows the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 when handling any data provided by NSW Department of Education in connection with the national data collection. A privacy notice has been developed by the Australian Government to provide students, parents and carers with important privacy information in relation to the data collection. This notice is available on the Department’s website at http://education.gov.au/notices If you have any questions about the data collection please do not hesitate to contact the Principal of Sefton Infants School.

Thank you to the many families who joined us to celebrate Harmony Day and Easter. It was a wonderful event, demonstrating our harmonious school community. $410 profit was made from our food stalls which will go directly to buying resources for our students. Thank you to our families and students for the amazing effort that went into your costumes and hats for the day. You looked fantastic! More photos of the day can be viewed on our school website.

Harmony Day Celebrations

Page 4

Mother’s Day Stall Friday 11 May

As ANZAC Day falls in the school holidays this year, Sefton Infants School will be holding a short remembrance service on the school site following our 9am morning assembly on

Friday 4 May. All parents and caregivers are welcome to join us for our ANZAC Service.

ANZAC Service 9am Friday 4 May

Mother’s Day Stall

Next term all students from Preschool to Year 2 will be participating in weekly gymnastics lessons as part of our sports program. Gymnastics is part of the NSW curriculum for physical education and it is expected that all students participate in the weekly lessons. The program will take place in the Sefton Infants School playground each Wednesday for 8 weeks, starting Wednesday 9 May. Two qualified gymnastics instructors from Fit Futures will lead the lessons under the supervision of the class teachers. The students need to wear their school shorts or pants and shirts for the lessons. All long hair needs to be tied back and no jewellery is to be worn. Permission notes detailing the Term 2 gymnastics program will be distributed at the start of Term 2.

Gymnastics Program Term 2 Term 2

8 Week

Gymnastics

Program for all

students

ANZAC Remembrance Service

We would like to thank our wonderful mums by hosting a special Mother’s Day Stall on Friday 11 May, 2017. A lovely range of gifts will be available for our students to purchase for their mums or a special carer in their lives. The Mother’s Day gifts will be priced at $2, $5, $8 or $10. All monies raised from the stall will be used to help purchase classroom equipment for our students. We welcome any donations of suitable new gifts for this Mother’s Day Stall. We are also seeking any parents or friends of the school who may be able to assist with the running of the stall from 9 – 10:30am on Friday 11 May. Please see Ms Labbe if you are able to help with the Mother’s Day Stall. Thank you for your support of this fundraising venture and we wish all of our mums a very happy Mother’s Day on Sunday 13 May.

Screen Free Time

Nowadays many children spend a significant amount of their free time out of school using screens and electronic media. Health authorities recommend that children 5 to 12 years of age should spend less than 2 hours a day on small screen activities. There are many great screen-free activities that your child and whole family can enjoy to stay active, especially during the upcoming school holidays. Here are just some ideas ... Outdoors Indoors * Explore a local park * Play cards * Go for a bike or scooter ride * Make crafts to give as gifts * Do some gardening * Cook together * Plan a picnic or barbecue * Play charades or a board game * Play Frisbee or ball games * Write a letter to a relative or friend * Wash the car * Make a birthday card * Watch a sunset / Star gazing * Visit the local library * Climb on some play equipment * Read a book or magazine * Do some rope skipping * Sing or dance to your favourite songs