TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
1
Mon 15th Feb @ 7pm
TERM 1, WEEK 7
TERM 1, WEEK 8
TERM 1, WEEK 9
Monday, 12 March
Young Leader’s Day in Sydney
Tuesday, 13 March
Sydney West Swimming Carnival
Quakers Hill High Information Evening
Wednesday, 14 March
Early Stage 1 Assembly @ 1.50pm in the Hall
Thursday, 15 March
PSSA Summer Term 1 payment due
Friday, 16 March
Summer PSSA Round 2
Stage 3 Assembly @ 1.50pm in the Hall
Monday, 19 March
ICAS payment due (Years 3-6 only)
P&C Meeting @ 7.30pm in the Library
Wednesday, 21 March
Games Day Year 6 Fundraiser
Stage 1 Assembly @ 1.50pm in the Hall
Thursday, 22 March
Prosperitas mentoring session @ QHHS
Summer PSSA Round 3
Friday, 23 March
Final Payments for Sports In School and Stage 1 and Stage 2 excursions are due today
Stage 2 Assembly @ 1.50pm in the Hall
Tuesday, 27 March
Quakers Hill Nursing Home Easter Visit
Thursday, 29 March
Easter Celebrations @ 9am in the COLA - Easter hat parade, raffle and announcement of guessing competition
Friday, 30 March
Good Friday (public holiday)
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
2
Mon 15th Feb @ 7pm
PRINCIPAL REPORT
Parent Coffee Morning
Many thanks to all the wonderful parents who attended our coffee
morning on Wednesday 28th February. It was a pleasure to get to
know some of you and to hear our P&C President speak so
positively about the role of the P&C in supporting our school and
students.
Our First Whole School Assembly
I had the very great pleasure of speaking at our very first whole
school assembly on Thursday 1st March. I also was privileged to
be able to present special awards to beautiful students at this
assembly. I love hearing the entire school sing Barnier’s School
Song! I commend all of our year 6 students who led by example
and displayed exemplary behaviour throughout the assembly.
Clean Up Australia Day
Friday 2nd
March was ‘Clean Up Barnier’ day. We now have a
beautifully clean and tidy school. Please speak to your children
about the importance of respecting, caring for and protecting our
environment as litter has been a problem in the playground this
term, we thank you for your support with this matter.
Zone Swimming
On Wednesday 7th March I spent some time at Blacktown
Swimming Centre cheering on our students who were
representing Barnier at the Zone Swimming Carnival. I was so
proud of all our students who displayed great sportsmanship,
beautiful behaviour, excellent effort and tremendous skill. Well
done to all those students and special congratulations to those
who have qualified for Regional!
How to Help Your Child at School
1. Let your child see you making mistakes.
Parents are their child’s first teacher and their lifetime teacher. Part of being a teacher is teaching your child how to deal with making mistakes. We all learn through making mistakes. Learning involves ‘risk taking’ and having a fear of making mistakes can be detrimental to learning. 2. Communication with your child’s teacher
If you have concerns about your child’s learning or wellbeing, please feel comfortable talking to the teacher about it. We strongly encourage open, honest and timely communication to support our students.
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
3
Mon 15th Feb @ 7pm
PRINCIPAL REPORT
3. Check your child’s homework, and then have them explain it to you.
It’s not enough to just get the answers right. To make sure your children aren’t guessing, sometimes ask them to explain what they did and why. This lets you know that the child has completed the task and for the child to actually explain their work helps their learning. 4. All children are unique
Don’t put pressure on children to be just like others. There’s no such thing as the child that’s like every other child. They are all different. They all have strengths and weaknesses, they all have talents and challenges. 5. Speak positively about Maths
Some parents might feel intimidated by the thought of helping children with their maths homework, especially in the upper grades but Maths is here to serve you, not to trip you up. Maths should make life easier, and mastery can start at home with parents showing that they’re not frightened by numbers. One way to make Maths more accessible is to relate it to daily activities. Capitalise on examples where Maths is useful, especially the kinds of calculations adults do daily like measuring ingredients, managing sums of money, working out distances. This way, children see how what they’re learning matters in life.
6. Help your child make connections to literature
To help your child get the most out of books, focus on problem-solving, social skills and life experiences. Take your child to the zoo (life experience). Teach them to ask an adult for help if they lose something (problem-solving) or to hold the door for others (social skills). With skills like these, children will be able to relate their own life experiences to those of book characters, improving their comprehension. If they don’t have these life experiences, when they are asked to make deeper connections to reading material, it’s hard for them. 7. Help your child develop independence
Sometimes it’s faster to do things yourself than wait for your children to complete a task. But having everything done for them means they don’t learn to take care of themselves. Empower your children to think for themselves and be more responsible for themselves.
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
4
Mon 15th Feb @ 7pm
PRINCIPAL REPORT
8. Ask about your child’s day.
Stay involved in your child’s education, beyond helping with homework. Even small things, like asking a child what happened at school, can be the difference between a child who unplugs at the end of the day and one who continues thinking about what they learned. Give them the kind of feedback that acknowledges and respects their feelings so they know you are really hearing them.
Staffing I will be taking a short amount of leave from Tuesday 20
th March
to Friday 13th April. Back in October 2017, I booked an overseas trip to be taken in March/April this year. I was unaware, at the time, I would be appointed as relieving principal at Barnier PS. During my leave, the amazing and wonderful Ms Sharon Moon (our substantive DP) will be relieving as principal. Ms Moon is an absolutely outstanding, extremely competent and experienced leader. She is a trusted and highly respected member of the school community here at Barnier and will do an exemplary job during my leave. At this stage Mr Hawkins remains on leave. I will continue to relieve as principal for as long as he is absent. Warmest regards, Mandy Hollis R/Principal Barnier PS
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
5
BARNIER AWARD RECIPIENTS
Gold Awards
K-2
Harkirat B - 1MG
Neha E - 1MG
Michael B - 1R
Navya M - 1T
Sajid R - 1T
Surya M - 2R
Angad S - 2R
Liam G - 2R
3-6
Simone P - 5R
Montana V - 5T
Alexandra W - 5T
Siddarth C - 5T
Jackson H - 5T
Emily M - 5/6K
Platinum Awards
Thinara S - 5B
Adam M - 5R
Shavinu WG - 5/6K
Katie L - 5/6K
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
6
COFFEE MORNING TEA
Thanks to our lovely P&C for hosting a
successful Coffee Morning Tea! It was
wonderful to see such a great turn out and
particularly to welcome some of our new
families, who were excited to hear about
some of our upcoming events. It’s going to
be another exciting and busy year at
Barnier!
We were also joined by Peta McGavin
from the Commonwealth Bank to discuss
the benefits of school banking.
PINK STUMPS DAY
Thank you to all the members of the
Barnier community who contributed to our
fundraising efforts on Pink Stumps Day.
The day has become an integral part of the
Barnier calendar capped off with a game of
Pink Stumps Cricket played in great spirits
between our Year Six students and our
staff. All proceeds from the day have been
donated to the McGrath Foundation and
will assist in funding additional breast care
nurses in parts or regional Australia.
BLACKTOWN ZONE SWIMMING CARNIVAL
This Wednesday Barnier Public School
was proudly represented at the Blacktown
Zone swimming carnival by a large group
of talented swimmers from years 2-6.
These students should be extremely proud
of their achievements and a large number
of the swimmers involved are now moving
on to the Sydney West Regional Carnival
at The Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic
Center on the 13th of March. A special
thank you to the teachers and family
members that attended the carnival.
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
7
PROSPERITAS
Congratulations to the following students who
are currently working hard on their Prosperitas
Project for 2018: Victoria 6A, Grace 6A,
Sullivan 5/6K, Caitlyn 5/6K, Evelyn 5/6K,
Samuel 5/6K, Agam 5/6K, Bianca 6B, Sienna
6B.
Students have now been assigned a student
and teacher mentor from Quakers Hill High
School where they will undertake several
mentoring sessions throughout the year to
assist them in reaching their final goal of
completing the program.
We look forward to seeing the progress of
these innovative, creative and exciting
projects!
The Prosperitas sessions held at Quakers Hill
High School are as follows:
Thursday 22nd March- 8.30am-9.30am
Thursday 10th
May - 8.30am-9.30am – Google
Classrooms (remain at school)
Thursday 31st
May- 3.30-5.00pm- Halfway
Presentation Meeting
Thursday 21st June- 8.30am-9.30am
Thursday 2nd
August- 8.30am-9.30am
Thursday 23rd
August – 6.30pm-8.00pm-
Final Presentation Evening
TELL THEM FROM ME SURVEY
This term, 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 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 a great opportunity for our students in Year 4 to 6 to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school. The survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 12 March and 13 April. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. A consent form for parents/carers about the survey was sent home with students in Years 4 to 6 last Friday. Parents were asked to return these notes to class teachers by today (9 March), however, if you have not done this and still wish for your child not to participate, please email your child’s teacher directly before Monday, 12 March. The FAQs are available in 23 languages at http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents
TERM 1 WEEK 6
BARNIER PUBLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
8
BARNIER P&C
Second Hand Uniform Donations
The P&C Second Hand Uniform stall is in need of donations. Please consider donating any
uniforms that do not fit anymore or you do not need, that are in good condition, to the clothing
pool. All money raised will go directly to the P&C, which in turn is used to improve our childrens’
education. Donated uniforms can be left in the yellow P&C bucket located in the office foyer or
they can be dropped off at the P&C room.
School Banking Helpers Needed
Our amazing school banking team is looking for anyone that may be available to help on school
banking days (Tuesday mornings) from 8.45am till approx. 10.45am in the video conferencing
room next to the library. If you are able to help for an hour or for the whole time, please contact
the school banking coordinators on [email protected] .
Easter Raffle and Guessing Competition
The annual Easter Raffle and guessing competition is just around the corner! Notes and raffle
tickets have already been sent home this week. For this event to be a success, we would love
donations of the following items to help make it another amazing raffle:
Easter baskets, Easter gift bags, Easter eggs, Easter soft toys, Easter craft materials etc
All donations can be left in the yellow P&C bucket in the office foyer.
Easter Raffle
Tickets are 50c each, 6 for $2.50 or 12 for $5
Tickets are due back by 22nd
March
Raffle is being drawn at the Easter Hat Parade on 29th March
Guessing Competition
Guesses are being sold in class during Week 8, 19th – 23
rd March
20c per guess up to a maximum of 5 guesses per student = $1
Winner will be announced at the Easter Hat Parade on 29th March
Behind the Scenes Fundraisers
Entertainment books will be available to purchase again this year.
Please keep your eye out for further information and updates as to when these will be available.
Thank you very much for the continued support to our school community!