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(PBL) – SAFETY IN ALL SETTINGS Be in the right place at

the right time

BULLYING NO WAY This Friday our year 6 students will be facilitating mini workshops for our students to participate in addressing bullying and the effects it has on student’s wellbeing. Everyone has a role to play in saying bullying. NO WAY!

PRINCIPAL REPORT SCHOOLS TO IMPLEMENT DISTANCING MEASURES The NSW Department of Education is introducing proactive measures to limit the impact of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in our schools. Mark Scott, Secretary of the Department of Education, announced that schools would adopt social distancing measures requiring them to cancel assemblies, excursions, travel, some events and conferences. Mr Scott said these measures are precautionary and designed to reduce exposure via non-essential gatherings. "Schools have been a focus of the community and the government as the impacts of coronavirus have developed globally," Mr Scott said. "From Monday onwards, I expect school assemblies and substantial gatherings to be cancelled, along with all excursions. "The community expects schools to be as safe as possible. We are implementing these measures to provide peace of mind for students, parents and staff." "These cancellations also extend to inter-school arts, sports, initiative activities and events. All major arts, sports and initiative activities and events will temporarily be ceased until further notice. This includes whole-school sporting events and inter-school events involving three or more schools. "Local inter-school sport and other activities can proceed, but we ask organisers to ensure that as far as possible, reasonable precautions are taken," Mr Scott said. "I trust our principals and staff to show leadership during this time." Schools will be provided with more detailed advice and suggestions on how they can adjust their day to day activities with minimal disruption.

Term 1 2020

Week 8

Thursday 19 March Student, Parent, Teacher Sessions

Friday 20 March Sport – Swimming Years 2 - 6 Bullying No Way Day of Action NO ASSEMBLY

Week 9

Friday 27 March Sport – Swimming Years 2 – 6

Week 10

Friday 3 April Sport – Swimming Years 2 – 6 NO ASSEMBLY

Week 11

Wednesday 8 April Easter Hat Parade

Thursday 9 April ANZAC Ceremony 2.30 pm Last Day of Term

Friday 10 April Good Friday

Term 2 2020

Monday 27 April Staff Development Day

Tuesday 28 April All students return to school

SMITHTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOL Week 8 Term 1 – Monday 16 March 2020

30 – 38 Cannane Street, SMITHTOWN NSW 2440 Phone: 6567 4529 Fax 6567 4823

Email: smithtown-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: https://smithtown-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

The department is continuing to prepare for further closures if necessary with scaling up of technology, additional training of staff and preparation of offsite lessons. Families and students in self-isolation can find useful information to continue learning from home. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/continuity-of-education/advice-to-parents-and-carers For the latest information, check COVID-19 advice for schools. https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus

PSSA SPORTING UPDATE NSW Department of Education Media Release 'Schools to Implement Distancing Measures' All District, Zone, North Coast, NSWPSSA, NSWCHSSA activities will be 'temporarily ceased until further notice'. Knockouts / State-wide Competitions: despite the wording of the release that “Local inter-school sport and other activities can proceed…” the directive I have received this morning is that all official PSSA and CHS school-based matches are also to be 'temporarily ceased until further notice'. The following North Coast SSA activities planned for this Term will not proceed – 1. Primary Tennis trials 2. Primary Basketball trials 3. Secondary Canoeing Carnival 4. Secondary 15s Touch trials 5. Secondary Netball trials 6. Secondary Hockey trials 7. Primary Football trial 8. Secondary Football trials 9. Primary Australian Football trials 10. Secondary Rugby Union trials The following NSWPSSA/CHS events will also not proceed- 1. All Schools 15s Cricket 2. SSA Secondary Triathlon 3. All Schools Tennis 4. Secondary Girls Volleyball championships 5. Secondary 16s Rugby Union trials 6. Secondary Swimming Championships 7. Primary Swimming Championships 8. Secondary Baseball State-wide finals

STAGE 2 AND STAGE 3 MAJOR EXCURSIONS Please note we are currently finalising the Stage 2 and Stage 3 major excursions. The idea behind this is so you can start budgeting and making payments towards your child’s camp. You can start making weekly online payments via our website homepage and or weekly payments by cash to the office from today!

STUDENT, PARENT AND TEACHER SESSIONS The 3 way interviews are on this Thursday 19 March 2020. You should have received your confirmation letter stating your session time last Friday. Please note this is a three way conversation with your child and their teacher to identify where they are at in their learning journey and plan where to next.

K/1 WOOLWORTHS EXCURSION Last week our K/1 class ventured into our local Woolworths Store in Kempsey. Our students were privileged to be shown around behind the scenes. They were absolutely fascinated with the freezer room and enjoyed eating the fresh fruit and a freshly sliced devon from the delicatessen.

Thomas and Cruz enjoying their excursion to Woolworths!

NETBALL NSW GALA DAY YEARS 4/5/6 GIRLS What an awesome day we had at the NSW Netball Non Competitive Gala Day last Wednesday. We had rain, we had sunshine but most of all we had FUN!!!! Thank you to Darnell and Jackie for their support on the day and thank you girls for your exemplary behaviour and fantastic sportsmanship!

ATHLETICS AND SPORTING SINGLETS The school has just purchased a kit of Smithtown Public School representative sporting singlets for our students from Team Spirit.

OUR NEXT ASSEMBLY FRIDAY 20 MARCH 2020 AND PARENT FOCUS GROUP

Has been cancelled due to the Directive from the Department of Education. Please refer to page 1 of this newsletter.

P&C Meeting Wednesday 18 March at 6.00 pm in the K/1 room. We would love to see some new faces!

CANTEEN NEWS There will be NO canteen this Friday.

RESPONSIBLE PET PROGRAM Recently we had the responsible pet program visit our K/1 students. The program educates children on what it means to be a responsible pet owner and how to live safely with dogs. The presentation included, role play, song and story-telling on the interactive commbox screen and a hands on experience with a well-trained german shepherd dog called Thunder.

CLEAN YOUR HANDS REGULARLY With all the advice going around about Coronavirus (COVID-19), we wanted to reiterate that the best way to protect yourself is the same as you would against the common cold.

Wash your hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with soap and water

Cough and sneeze into your elbow or a tissue

Stay at home if you feel unwell with flu-like symptoms.

Avoid close contact with anyone with flu-like symptoms.

It may sound simple, but these are some of the best ways to limit the spread of disease. For more tips and information, visit NSW Health: https://bit.ly/2TGtqqb

The whole school got involved in The Big Vegie Crunch. Thank you Woolworths for donating a box of fresh vegetables for our students to

sample

CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS Here at Smithtown Public School we continue to celebrate and acknowledge our students who are striving to achieve their personal best. Last week Cameron in Year 2 wrote a story with three paragraphs to compliment his drawing. Cameron keep up the great work! In Kindergarten Vyolet managed to write a whole sentence by herself and was able to read it as well and she has only been at school for 7 weeks. Congratulations Vyolet!

Friday’s swimming for sport has been a hit with our students