UNANDERRA PUBLIC Principal's ReportDear Parents/Carers, Congratulations on successfully completing another fortnight of remote learning and following the stay-at-home orders imposed by NSW Public Health. You are all continuing to do a remarkable job and we truly thank you for assisting us during this period. The staff at Unanderra Public School acknowledge and thank the essential and frontline workers who are working hard to keep our community as safe as possible. This extended lockdown continues to highlight the resilience and kindness that our students have and we are so proud of them all. We also thank the families who are supporting and encouraging the children to do their best each day. Supervision of Students For those students who must attend school please ensure that they arrive on site no earlier than 8.30am as there is no staff supervision until this time. The safety and care of our students is paramount and it is important that all students are supervised by a teacher while on site at all times. Visitors onsite Please remember that as per the NSW Public Health orders we are working hard to reduce the likelihood of adults interacting or entering on our school site each day. It is for this reason that the remote learning hardcopy booklets will be available for collection each Friday and Monday of each week only. Weather permitting, a table will be set up at the front of the administration building for these booklets to be collected in a contactless way. Please use the hand sanitiser provided before picking up the booklets and adults are asked to wear a mask. Parents and carers are reminded to phone the office rather than entering the administration building if they have questions or require any information. Communication All communication shared with our school community is based on the direct advice provided by the NSW Department of Education and that of the most current NSW Public Health orders. The advice below was once again updated at 11am 9 August 2021 by NSW Department of Education. ‘Parents and carers must keep children – across primary and secondary school – at home unless they need to be at school. Schools and outside of school hours care (OOSHC) services are open for any child that needs it; Applies to schools in Greater Sydney (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour).’ Staff on site each day has been significantly reduced to comply with NSW Public Health orders. Our great public school remains open for the children of essential workers and for those children where school is the safest place to be Remote Learning Continues… We have reached Week 5 of Term 3 and although we have been learning and teaching remotely, so many great achievements have been made. The vast majority of our students are uploading evidence of learning each day and engaging with their teacher and peers online very successfully. The staff at UPS are not only very proud of the students but certainly miss them all so much. They are really looking forward to having everyone back at school as soon as the lock down and level 4 restrictions for Wollongong public schools ends. Suggested resources to support families at home We appreciate the challenges that parents/carers face during these times and certainly do not underestimate the complexities that arise during these challenging times. In addition to the support offered by the staff at UPS, a variety of resources that include positive strategies to support families working and learning remotely from home continue to be available through the links below… https://raisingchildren.net.au/ Learning from home https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/en/home/covid-19/Learning_together_COVID-19_case_studies.pdf education.nsw.gov.au/parents-learning-at-home https://education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/parent-and-carers-toolkit UPS Zoom Spooky and Sparkly Disco! Unanderra Public School and Dance2Bfit have teamed up to host a whole school disco this Friday evening. We are looking forward to seeing as many students as possible participating. Who is invited: All UPS students and their families Dress code: Wear the most, spooky and/or sparkly outfit you can put together from home When: Friday, 13th August 2021 Time: 6pm-7pm Where: Your house (find a safe area in your house that you can dance and have some fun!) Zoom link: Will be sent to all families via Seesaw and Sentral from 5.15pm on Friday 13 August Zoom Disco Safety Reminders:
K-2 Home Readers Now that most of our K-2 students have collected their home readers we ask that they are enjoyed at home during the next few weeks. Please do not return any home readers that you have but instead hold onto all of these until further notice. This means not returning home readers in Week 4 or 5 as indicated in the parent/carer update. These books can be practised and enjoyed as many times as you like. We will update you later in the term about returning the home readers. Remember that Reading Eggs is available for all students to continue which includes opportunities to answer comprehension questions to support understanding. District Sport Updates Please see following a summary of amendments to Primary Sport events: Teams - All South Coast Primary trials except for Athletics and Golf were completed prior to the current lockdowns, so teams are selected and ready to go. Managers and players will be sent the alternate Championship information as soon as it becomes available from the host Associations if venues or significant changes apart from dates occur. South Coast Regional Athletics will be held on Tuesday 26 October- more information will be sent shortly. NSW PSSA Championships – All Term 3 events which have been postponed have been re-scheduled into an amended Term 4 calendar. Some Term 4 calendared events have had a change of date due to the fact that some Regional Associations have not yet selected their teams, and to fit in the postponed Term 3 events.
SCSSA are now able to send out apparel within a week of payment being received, but uniforms will held onto for now. Please note, if COVID restrictions prevent the championships being held on the rescheduled dates, they will be cancelled, not rescheduled again. They will also be cancelled if COVID restrictions prevent some associations from holding trials to select teams with enough time to prepare (ie. uniform orders etc) for championships. Note that a separate email will be issued shortly about our SWPSSA District Athletics Carnival. Friendly Health Reminder Students must not attend work or school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms must be sent home and not return to school unless:
Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms is strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Find your local testing clinics. ICAS Assessments ICAS assessments were due to take place throughout August 2021, however these assessments have had to be postponed due to the current COVID-19 situation and home learning arrangements. The new dates for the assessments are from 5th to 29th October 2021. Therefore, assessments will take place during Weeks 1-4 of Term 4. Exact dates will be announced closer to the time. Thank you for your understanding. Interrelate- An online event The family program ‘Interrelate’ will be held 30 August 2021 as an online event. The Unanderra Public School P & C are coordinating this important initiative which is offered to all families with students in years 3-6. The details for payment are attached to this newsletter. The UPS P&C have generously offered this opportunity to those neighbouring schools interested. Due to the cap of 120 families participating, prompt payment is encouraged if you are interested in participating. NAIDOC Week celebrations NAIDOC Week is a time when the NSW DoE celebrates and proudly supports First Nation Peoples and their culture by showcasing the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to education and the wider community. Across Australia, NAIDOC week is celebrated by Australians from all walk of life, who take part in activities and events in celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Unanderra Public School students celebrated NAIDOC week in many ways at home recently. They cooked, painted, danced and gardened to name a few activities. The photos shared by our students and families are amazing and look like so much fun! Thank you to Mrs Lawler for creating these exciting packs of learning activities. So many learning experiences were enjoyed by the children! Finally… The staff at Unanderra Public School recognise how difficult it can be during this NSW Public Health imposed lockdown and cannot thank our school community enough for the level of support and understanding that has been provided. We will continue to provide you with details of any changes and updated information as it evolves. Thank you all once again and stay safe. Kind Regards, Anissa Rajendra 5/6M has always been a hard-working class who strives to do their best. I have always joked that the M in our name (5/6M) does not stand for McCabe it stands for magnificent, and I have to say that home learning has made that a reality. They have adapted to learning from home with the same enthusiasm and commitment, they show in the classroom. From listening to our class novel “The One and Only Ivan”, to submitting writing, maths, science and art tasks thorough Seesaw, to sharing fun photos from home, meeting each other’s pets, challenging each other in plank offs and swapping favourite recipes with classmates, 5/6M has truly balanced prioritising required tasks while displaying their usual zest for having fun while learning. I am extremely proud of 5/6M and their families; they are truly are MAGNIFICENT. Throughout Week 3 this term 3/4J enjoyed celebrating and acknowledging NAIDOC week whilst learning from home. Many students completed tasks from the NAIDOC booklet and they also listened to the story My Country that Ms Prior organised. Some of the tasks that 3/4J enjoyed were making Aunty Beryl's damper, rock painting, colouring in, listening to songs and nature walks. It was so wonderful to see photos of the students participating in these activities and taking the time to reflect on Australia's Aboriginal culture and stories. Mrs Jackson iLibrary NewsTerm 3 in the iLibrary is usually my favourite term as excitement builds moving towards Book Week. But 2021 is just a little different and the iLibrary itself is very quiet and the books are missing all our awesome UPS students, as am I. Despite this, we are going to use our ingenuity and make 2021 Book Week like no other with amazing events and happenings taking place in Week 7 to fuel everyone’s love of reading and to celebrate children’s literature in Australia. The Book Week Poster Competition will go ahead virtually, so please encourage your child to make a poster celebrating one of their favourite books and send a photo of it to either myself or your child’s class teacher by Friday of Week 6. The poster must have the title and author of the book on the front. There will be a book prize for one poster from each grade announced during Book Week. The Book Week Costume Parade will take place virtually. Start thinking about creating a character costume from a favourite book using items from home – no need to purchase anything. Please send a photo of your child/ren dressed up by Wednesday of Week 7 and we will make a movie. (Please note that sending a picture means that you agree to have this picture shared amongst our school and wider community.) Children can also wear their costume at home on the Friday of Week 7. I’ve attached a link with suggestions of great costumes to make from home: Link: https://unanderrapslibrary.weebly.com/book-week.html Book Week Events and Happenings will take place throughout Week 7, with teachers reading their favourite books for students and lots of quizzes, challenges and competitions taking place. More information will be provided closer to the time. The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) has been in progress since March and while usually finishing up in August, has been extended till Friday September 3, 2021. All K-2 students have already completed the task, reading books in class during Term 2. Many students in Years 3-6 are near completion and just need to log their books onto the PRC website via the Student Portal. Students 3-6 have been shown how to do this and a reminder video has been uploaded to SeeSaw. If students would like their hard copy log sheet from the library, just contact me via SeeSaw and I will pick it up and send a copy to you next time I am at school. All students who complete the challenge will receive a certificate at the end of the year and Students in Years 3-6 will also receive a keyring to celebrate their great work. I’d just like to commend you all on the fabulous work you are doing. While these are trying times, working together, we can do great things. Reading for please is one of the best ways to keep children’s minds active, not only building their imaginations and keeping them occupied but also building their vocabularies, comprehension and ability to feel empathy. Keep Reading Rachel Prior Teacher Librarian UPS Staff VideoThe Fathering ProjectThe importance of fathers as role models to their A father and father figure’s influence can last a lifetime. What you say and do now, will shape your children’s attitudes, how they behave, and the decisions they make as they move through their journey to adulthood.
As fathers and father figures, it’s important to realise that your children are watching and listening to everything you say and do when you are around them. Whether you live in the same household, see them every other week, or on the weekends, they are watching. Your children will look to you for advice, encouragement, but also as an example of how to tackle the many challenges of life. You teach your children not only by sitting them down and talking them through issues, but by modelling your own responses to these situations. Your goal is for your child to get to the point where they can just think to themselves ‘WWDD – what would dad do?’ and come to the solution on their own. As a parent, it is impossible to not model. Your children will see your example – positive or negative – as a pattern for the way life is to be lived. Top Tips to be an impactful role model:
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