Principal's MessageIncredibly we have reached the end of Week 2 in Term 4. I hope that everyone enjoyed their recent school holidays although it does feel like some time ago now. Our teachers have lots of exciting opportunities planned throughout this Term giving us all lots to look forward to. Welcome and Congratulations! We congratulate Mr Synnott and his wife Molly as they celebrated their marriage during the most recent school holidays. The wedding was beautiful and we wish them all the very best in their lives together. Congratulations to Mrs Elston and her husband who are celebrating the birth of their beautiful baby boy last week. We look forward to meeting him very soon and wish them all the very best. Welcome back to Mrs Erin Alewood who has returned from her maternity leave and is replacing Mrs Elston for two days each week (Wednesday & Thursday) for the remainder of 2022. A warm welcome to Mrs Elissa Cleary who is replacing Mrs Lauren Elston in her Learning and Support role each Tuesday for the rest of 2022. Miss Melindee Best has joined the UPS team this term. Her role is teaching 5/6S each Wednesday while Miss Scruby works on information and communication technology supporting teachers and staff on this day. Welcome! Mr Isaac Hailstone has joined the UPS staff as a School Learning Support Officer working across the school in both in the classrooms and in the playground K-6. Welcome! Welcome to Miss Solomon who will be teaching 2B for the remainder of the term while Mr Bennett remains on personal leave. The students in 2B are really enjoying working with Miss Solomon and have settled in really positively with their new teacher. We look forward to Mr Bennett returning in 2023. World Teachers’ Day Next Friday 28 October 2022 is World Teachers’ Day. On this day we acknowledge and thank our teachers for the role they play each day in creating stimulating and critical learning opportunities for their students. I am sure that you would agree with me that we are very fortunate to have such an outstanding team of teachers who are dedicated to the children of UPS and our whole school community. Their commitment to ensuring that each day is exciting, reflective, and purposeful for each child is something that we can all be so proud of. I acknowledge and thank all of our UPS staff. Additional Staff Development Day on Monday of Week 11 Many big announcements around education occurred during the school holidays. A significant announcement was that the school year will now finish for students on Friday 16 December 2022 (Previously Monday 19 December 2022). This is a decision from the NSW Department of Education and is due to incoming curriculum reform. Teaching staff will now be engaged in additional Professional Learning on Monday 19 December 2022. Kindergarten Enrolments 2023 Our Kindergarten enrolments for 2023 are looking great, with nearly 50 students currently enrolled to begin school in 2023. If you know of anyone, living within the Unanderra Public School catchment area and still wishing to enrol their child, please encourage them to visit our school, as plans are already taking place for next year. Kindergarten Orientation Our first official Kindergarten Orientation was held this Wednesday, with lots of excited faces joining our school for their first taste of “Big School” with their 2023 Kindergarten peers. We have two more sessions for our newest students planned, where we hope to provide them with a positive experience and some understanding of what awaits them in the very near future. These sessions will occur between 9:15am and 10:30am on Wednesday 26 October and Wednesday 2 November 2022. Last Wednesday evening we had the opportunity to share the great activities we offer at Unanderra Public School to the new Kindergarten families beginning in 2023. It was lovely to meet with the families and makes plans for the exciting new school year ahead. School Enrolments 2023 To have accurate numbers for next year, it is important to notify the school office if you know your child will not be returning to Unanderra Public School next year (other than Year 6). This information helps us to plan for 2023. Alternatively, if you know of friends or family members who intend to enrol their children in Unanderra Public School in 2023, please ask them to contact the school office, who will assist them with their enquiry or click on the link below. https://unanderra-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html Deadly Encouragement Awards Last Thursday, the Northern Illawarra Deadly Encouragement Awards took place at Bulli High School. This was a beautiful afternoon, to celebrate the great achievements of our Aboriginal Students who are doing brilliant things within our schools. Congratulations to Bentley and Yerre who both received awards for their attitude and application at school. Selective Schools 2024 Year 7 Online Applications Online applications for Year 7 Selective Schools – 2024 – have now opened. Parents whose children will be in Year 6 in 2023, who are interested in their child sitting the selective high school placement test, are required to complete this process by Wednesday 16 November 2022 at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year 2023 school travel applications are now open Applications for student travel in 2023 open from Monday 10 October 2022. Students who need a school Opal card or travel pass for 2023 can apply now. A new application will need to be submitted if they are applying for the first time, or if they are requesting an additional travel entitlement as a result of a new shared parental responsibility situation (e.g. joint custody). Please see attachment below for all information relating to travel in Term 4 2022 and 2023 https://www.smore.com/app/attachments/download/634e0a434453847a8b462701 Just a reminder that Premier Illawarra have advised that all children using the bus will need a working and Opal card. Applying For Extended Leave Any family wishing to take five or more school days of extended leave (for travel purposes) should contact our school and complete the relevant paperwork. A certificate will be completed by the school and provided to the family, prior to their trip. This certificate can be used, whilst on your trip, should you ever be requested by authorities. Please note that this is an expectation from the NSW Department of Education. It is important to also note that requests should be made, where possible, well in advance of the leave occurring, to ensure that all paperwork can be completed. Check in Assessments At the end of Term 3 and beginning of Term 4 all students from Years 3-6 in New South Wales have been completing Check-in assessments. Years 3-5 are to complete a numeracy and reading assessment and Year 6 are to complete both numeracy and reading as well as writing. The data collected and information gathered from these assessments assists teachers in identifying areas of focus in their classroom teaching and helps guide professional learning for schools. Student results for these assessments are not shared with families. If your child has been absent for any of the assessments, we will be conducting catch up test sessions in Week 3. UPS are Allergy Aware Please be aware that there are students in our school with allergies to nuts. We ask that you consider to voluntarily agree to not send nut products, in particular peanuts and peanut butter to school. We thank you for making this choice to support our children. Have a wonderful fortnight ahead! Anissa Rajendra Upcoming EventsWeek 3 Monday 24th October 3-6 Gymnastics Tuesday 25th October Reading Club at 8:30am Wednesday 26th October Kindergarten Orientation Figtree High Transition Talk (Year 6) Week 4 Monday 31st October 3-6 Gymnastics Book Fair from 8:30am Tuesday 1st November Book Fair from 8:30am Reading Club at 8:30am Wednesday 2nd November Kindergarten Orientation Thursday 3rd November Stage 3 PAT Testing Book Fair from 8:30am Friday 4th November PLP BBQ Book Fair K-6 Assembly KS are extremely proud to showcase some of our learning this term! This term we are focusing on how to write an information report on Australian Animals. The students really enjoy gathering information on these animals, especially through informative texts. Their favourite part is getting to look at the animals and describe what they see. We are also learning about division and how to make equal groups. KS are fantastic at using manipulatives such as counters or farm animals to create equal groups. So far, we have learnt that our class can be divided to make 2 equal groups of 9, as well as 9 equal groups of 2. The wonderful students in KS have had a fantastic start to Term 4! During Term 3, students explored the Book Week shortlisted books for 2022. The theme this year was ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’. We created a Book Week display in our library of the great Rainbow Serpent, who features in many Dreamtime stories as a creator. We also studied Visual Literacy cues in the short-listed books, used by illustrators to support meaning in the stories we read. Visual Literacy is the ability to make meaning from pictures and images. Being able to understand how images create meaning allows students to use their critical thinking skills to understand how the message being presented is being communicated. This helps us understand how the images we see in the world and in the media are communicating messages to us. Students observed in picture books the way the salient feature (the object most obvious to the audience) is highlighted through use of size, colour, position and juxtaposition. We also spent time outside after reading the book ‘Walking in Gagudjul Country’ by Dianne Long. We looked at how the book used frames to highlight things the author and illustrator wanted us to notice. Ms Prior Teacher Librarian Deadly AwardsOn Thursday 13th October, the Northern Illawarra Aboriginal Education Consultative Group held its 7th Annual Deadly Awards. The purpose of this award ceremony is to recognise and celebrate the work that our Koori kids do both in and out of the classroom. Two students from Unanderra Public School were nominated and attended the event. Bentley F. (Year 5) received an award for the leadership qualities he shows around the school. Yerremurra W. (Year 5) received an award for his work ethic and achievement in numeracy. We want to give both award recipients a huge congratulation, and we are very much looking forward to witnessing what all of our Aboriginal students will achieve in the future. Well done boys! K-6 AssemblyWell done to the following students who received a merit award and a student of the week award for this week's assembly; KB Merit: Chase.K & Abraham.M Student of the week: Mmuti.T KS Merit: Eloise H & Bowie C Student of the week: Ashlee A KN Merit: Lara V & Kairo D Student of the week: Kyen C 1/2AP Merit: Kayla S & Leo D Student of the week: Austin DW 1M Merit : Jemma C & Keiran E Student of the week: Lily B 1P Merit: Tyler L. & Evie B. Student of the week: Leah M. 2L Merit: Student of the week: 2B: Merit: Andrew. W & Noah. I Student of the week: Baylee, T 3/4D Merit: Student of the week: 3/4S Merit: Emily P & Elise W. Student of the week: Brodi K. 3/4J Merit: Serena.R & Chase.C Student of the week: Corey.A 3/4R Merit: Declan R & Jackson K Student of the week: Hayley H 5/6K Merit: Lucy L Student of the week: Leanna O 5/6D Merit: Yarra M & Marcel Student of the week: Ridit T 5/6M Merit: Sophie G & Caleb P Student of the week: Victoria S 5/6S Merit: Ella H & Xavier L Student of the week: Ben A Bronze & Silver AwardsA big congratulations to the following students for receiving a bronze and silver award; Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 Bronze: Winter-Rose M Aria K. Daniel L Silver: Ruby S Harlee G Oakland H Glory P Matilda H Alana G Taj T. Natalya J Stage 2 and Stage 3 Bronze: Jett F Ella H Millie B Angus J Adina M Oscar W Ella R Silver: Amelia B, Arinya L Holly L Nabiha M Aya S Yarra M Library Monitor & Tech Crew 2022The role of a Library Monitor or Tech Crew member is one that students will carry with them throughout their whole lives. Funnily enough, I was a Library Monitor at my primary school and I remember it as being a terrific and fun experience to be given such responsibility by my own Teacher Librarian, Mrs Salisbury. The role of Library Monitor encompasses making sure students are safe in the iLib by ensuring all hands are sanitised on entry to the library and there is no running. Library Monitors spend time putting returned books back on shelf correctly, tidying up shelves, running the Circulation Desk during class time and lunch time, finding and labelling new Premier’s Reading Club books, setting up and packing up activities in the library for other students as well as ensuring the library is tidy again before the bell goes. Tech Crew support students to remember their Digital Citizenship values of being safe, respectful and responsible online. They support students with any issues when using the computers in our computer lab from logging on and off, finding forgotten usernames, helping students with PowerPoint or coding game issues and ensuring the Computer Lab and technology is packed up and looked after at all times. These students are like my surrogate class who help me with Reading Club on Tuesday mornings, the running of events such as National Simultaneous Storytime, Book Sales, Book Week and next term they will be helping me with the return of the Scholastic Book Fair – start saving your pocket money for Week 4 Term 4. Our school library could not run without the help of these students, who have shown great dedication, coming to the library one lunch time a week (sometimes two). It was my honour to hand out these badges to these students. Ms Rachel Prior Teacher Librarian Unanderra P&C Spooky Gingerbread Folk House Are you ready to create a Spooky House for 31st October (aka Halloween)? Then support our fundraiser by purchasing through this link:- https://share.gingerbreadfolk.com.au/6m9VqD We would love it if you would share photos of your creations with your school community Happy decorating P&C Executive Gingerbread House KitYou can build magical gingerbread houses AND help us fundraise at the same time! Our P&C will earn $15.00 for every GINGERBREAD HOUSE KIT you purchase (between 1 Oct - 30 Nov) through the link below. For gingerbread house making joy, head over to Gingerbread Folk (via the URL below) and pop your kits in the cart. Don't delay - The more the merrier as they say! Here's the link: https://share.gingerbreadfolk.com.au/6m9VqD Selective High School PlacementLearning Labs
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Unanderra Public School
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