UNANDERRA PUBLIC Principal's MessageDear Parents and Carers, Welcome to week nine of term three, which as we can all agree has been quite challenging and very different to what we had planned for. None-the-less, it is certainly a huge credit to our students, families and staff in recognising what has been accomplished and what continues to be achieved during this extended lock down period. SASS Appreciation Week This week is School Administrative and Support Staff Recognition Week. We would like to recognise and thank all of the SAS staff at school who work so hard to support students, teachers and parents. Our SAS staff play an important role in our school community. They have shown extraordinary commitment to supporting our school and its community especially in this current environment. A huge thank you to all of our incredible SASS staff who go above and beyond to support not only our students but also the staff and whole school community. We are very appreciative and thank you so much for all that you do! COVID-19 Update- Return to School Plan As you will all be aware the NSW State government together with NSW Health and NSW DoE have announced a staggered student return to school plan starting on Monday 25 October with kindergarten and year one for primary schools. On Monday 1 November, year 2 and year 6 are to return while the remaining students in years 3,4 and 5 will return on Monday 8 November. This still remains dependent on the numbers of COVID-19 cases in Wollongong closer to the date of each anticipated return. We have been advised that all staff are to be vaccinated by 8 November 2021. Staged return (Level 3 plus)- NSW DoE current advice When stay-at-home rules are still in place but other community vaccination and transmission conditions are met, students will return to school in a staged way. This is a staggered return for prioritised cohorts, with no mingling or on-site activities. Students will return to face-to-face learning under Level 3 plus with NSW Health-approved COVID-safe settings on school sites in the following order:
All families are encouraged to monitor the NSW Government’s latest COVID-19 news and updatesExternal link for locations where there may have been exposure to COVID-19 and adhere to the advice as appropriate. A friendly reminder that if you are working from home and your child is able to learn from home it is important that they stay at home as directed by the NSW Health Public Health Order. We thank all of our families who are continuing to support our school community by keeping their children at home and learning from home, to minimise day to day travel and movement. It has certainly been a long time and I can assure you that the teachers truly miss their classes and the UPS staff cannot wait for the all of our students to return to school when we are advised it is safe to do so. Thank you to our essential workers We also acknowledge and thank those essential and frontline workers who continue to work hard to keep our community safe and able to access essential food and necessary items and services. If you are an essential worker and/or your children cannot be supported to access some form of learning at home our school will continue to be open with a minimum number of staff for supervision. Available Resources We understand how challenging it is for our families to work from home and support their children to complete remote learning activities successfully at the same time. Our teachers are always happy to make additional phone calls, provide further adjustments to learning strategies and/or supply further resources to students who may need this extra guided support. Some additional supports available for families to refer to are below. Learning from home Learning environment checklist (PDF 83.47 KB) Remote learning guidelines (PDF 185.94 KB) To support the hard-working parents and carers who support us all, the NSW DoE have created an 'essentials' toolkit packed with self-care tips and handy lists. Please see the following link, https://education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/parent-and-carers-toolkit/download-the-toolkit If parents and/or carers require any support, clarification or guidance from the class teacher or executive staff please do not hesitate to contact the school 42728730 or email: [email protected]. We are more than happy to answer your questions and concerns as best as we possibly can. Interrelate As you can imagine a great deal of planning and organisation was needed for the program Interrelate to be delivered online last Monday 30 August 2021. Unfortunately the course did not go ahead due to technical and company communication issues. This initiative was coordinated independently from Unanderra Public School, however was initiated by our amazing UPS P&C committee. This great learning opportunity was endorsed by the principal, and families and students were encouraged to participate if it was appropriate for them to do so. An apology from the staff at Interrelate has been provided to the families and students who paid and were disappointed and impacted. My understanding is that families have had a number of alternatives made available to them in order to be compensated for the inconvenience and non-delivery of the course. Southern Stars In light of the current COVID restrictions around the state, the Southern Stars Management Team has met this week to discuss a way forward for Southern Stars 2021. Unfortunately, they have had to make the difficult decision once again to postpone this year’s show from November 2021 to August 2022. The Southern Stars Management Team understand that this news will be very disappointing for our students, their families and the staff involved. Please be reassured that the entire Southern Stars team has been working tirelessly behind the scenes. Despite the countless hours spent to develop strategy and contingency plans in order to make every effort to put on a show this year, it is unable to proceed due to factors beyond anyone’s control. Southern Stars is a self-funding program, meaning that the show needs to be financially self-sustaining to continue and is largely run by volunteers, with just one paid position funded by sponsors, participation fees and ticket sales. Funds associated with the 2021 production have already been allocated and spent, and Southern Stars will not be in a financial position to provide refunds for participation fees/t-shirts, and costumes. All schools will remain in the same item for 2022, using the same costumes so all costumes will be transferrable to the 2022 show. All purchased T-shirts and hoodies will be distributed by our school to students who have purchased these next term. ICAS In response to the COVID-19 developments and ongoing lockdowns, two additional ICAS sitting windows in Term 4 (5 Oct – 29 Oct 2021 & 1 Nov – 26 Nov 2021) have been added, to give affected schools and families peace of mind, as well as the chance to prepare. That means if you haven’t purchased ICAS yet, you have to the 19th September 2021 to purchase and sit. To further assist you, the ICAS Writing testing is moving to 5 Oct – 15 Oct 2021. Find out more about the dates https://www.icasassessments.com/event-calendar/ Parent Payment System (PPS) There’s still plenty of time for parents to sign up for ICAS. You can pay directly through the Parent Payment System (PPS). For PPS deadlines, find out more https://www.icasassessments.com/event-calendar/ Special Religious Education (SRE)/Special Education in Ethics (SEE) As you will be aware Special Religious Education (SRE)/Special Education in Ethics (SEE) is not permitted in Greater Sydney, including Wollongong and Shellharbour. For those students who normally attend Special Religious Education (SRE) or Ethics, you can now access a modified lesson to complete at home. If you would like to access this, you can go to the Unanderra Public School website and click on “Update on Religious and Ethics activities in NSW schools” Alternatively please see the links below to access lesson content that is appropriate for your family.
Kindergarten 2022 The Department of Education has released a new enrolment procedure, meaning that families can now enrol their child at any time. Once enrolled, it is my understanding that your child will then qualify for Active Kids and Creative Kids vouchers. Please note that when you complete the online enrolment application, you will receive an email stating that the school will call you to book an appointment for you to come in with your required paperwork. Please ignore this email, it is automatically generated by the system. Once you have all of your documentation, simply drop in and we will complete the process with you. Enrolment link: https://enrol.education.nsw.gov.au/#/?schoolCode=3308 Active Kids Voucher: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-active-kids-voucher Creative Kids Voucher: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-creative-kids-voucher Key Dates - Year 7 selective high schools’ entry in 2023 Mid-October 2021 - Applications open for placement in Year 7 in 2023. Dates yet to be confirmed. Mid-November 2021 - Applications close for placement in Year 7 in 2023. Dates yet to be confirmed. Paralympics To celebrate the recent Paralympic Games in Tokyo, students are invited to have a go at some of the resources in a booklet this week or next. The activities are from the Paralympics Australia website. Additional resources and information are available o website by visiting: https://www.paralympic.org.au/ The Week 9 packs that are currently out include a separate Paralympic Games booklet as a post celebration activity pack for students to do. K-2 Home Readers We are asking parents/carers of K-2 students who have home readers at home to please return them in the folders we provided or a plastic sleeve. We will leave a tub under the table of learning booklets on Friday of Week 9 and Monday of Week 10 so that parents/carers can return the home readers at the same time they collect the booklets. We will then organise for the books to be stored and cleaned over the holiday break before organising to send new home readers home at the end of Week 1 in Term 4. To continue reading at home over the holiday break, families are encouraged to utilise Reading Eggs and other online resources. K-2 parents/carers can contact classroom teachers via Seesaw for additional PDF versions of reading texts available (if applicable to the child's reading skills). Indigenous Literacy Day This day was held on Wednesday 1st September. This year's event theme was Celebrating Stories and Language. Classes listened to stories in Dharawal language including the Dreaming story of lake Illawarra and the black Swan. Dance2Bfit Dance2bfit is an energetic, innovative and fun way to get fit and funky with the latest dance styles to the hottest music tracks. This is a great program to improve the fitness levels of students while they are having a great time. Dance2bfit will be preparing and teaching our students dance routines for our school concert. Our students, will learn a professionally choreographed dance routine suitable for their age and ability and will rehearse this item during the program. The program in which our school will be participating in provides classes with individually catered dance lessons that will begin on zoom in week 2 and then move to virtual whole group lessons once all classes resume face to face in week 6. These lessons will teach students a whole class dance that will be performed at an end of year show. We look forward to ending the year with an inspirational and uplifting performance by our fabulous students. Remember to join our Dance2Bfit- Oceans Disco- last day of term 3- 5pm, 17/9/21 Thank you to UPS P&C Thank you for the Stage 2 Jelly Bean tables. They have arrived and are set up in each room and we can’t wait to use them with the students when we can finally get back into the classroom. AP C&I Position A new, permanent and dedicated Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction role will be recruited in public schools. We have been notified that we are in Phase 1 meaning this position will start at UPS at the start of 2022. We were allocated one full time position. The Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction position is a leadership role dedicated to ensuring that literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills are embedded in curriculum and assessment; high quality teaching practices are enhanced; and the capabilities of middle leaders are strengthened in literacy and numeracy instruction. A panel is currently being formed and I anticipate that the outcome of this merit selection process will be known early in term 4. Learning Booklets and Wellbeing Wednesday All stages are currently in the process of planning the Week 10 booklets which will again include ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ due to the overwhelming appreciation from students, parents and our teachers to have this day once a fortnight considering the challenges we are all facing learning from home/school during this extended lockdown. Postcards We hope that by now all of our students will have received their personalised postcard from their own class teacher. We have heard from many parents that the children were really excited to receive something in the mail and we are so pleased that this put a smile on their faces. Friendly Reminder- surveys Students: The staff at UPS really miss having you in our classrooms each and every day and we know that you are all doing your very best to continue to learn during this difficult time. As we are continually striving to improve, we would greatly appreciate your feedback on how the learning from home experience has been for you so far. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey by clicking on the link below. Your parents may need to assist you in reading the questions and completing this survey https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSed7i5yiJGy_YtWaScN5hWbsQqjV6B084QDBWpEp31C_T0kRg/viewform?usp=sf_link Parents/Carers: You are all doing an amazing job in supporting your children to continue to learn during these difficult times. As we are continually striving to improve, we would greatly appreciate your feedback on the UPS Learning from Home experience so far. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey by clicking on the link below. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdktlZY4zW55RSYhuIarcE8MiI8IqquPYB3x5_vQVW8TGAMA/viewform?usp=sf_link Staff Professional Learning Over the last few weeks our teachers have been engaging with various online PL, with most having now completed the six hour, Sue Larkey Live Virtual Event ‘Making it a Success: Teaching Strategies and Behaviour Support’. Teachers will be meeting this week to discuss the application of the content addressed, particularly upon return to school. Stage teams will spend the last week of this term planning for Weeks 1 and 2 of next term, looking at consolidating content and skills from Term 3, providing revision and retrieval opportunities, as well as wrap up the units of work from Term 3. Cooler Classrooms Program Unanderra Public School have been successful in securing, installation of air conditioning, heating and ventilation in a number of learning spaces throughout the school. The work on this will begin sometime in term 4. Due to current COVID-19 restrictions this work will need to be done with up to date COVID-19 safety plans. Once again the continued support, understanding and patience of our remarkable school community is greatly appreciated by the staff at UPS. Have a wonderful fortnight ahead. Stay safe and stay connected. Anissa Rajendra Principal Similar to the rest of UPS, 4S has been participating in weekly Zoom catch-up sessions. A couple of weeks ago, the focus of our Zoom session was wellbeing. More specifically, students in 4S were asked to think of activities that they were doing at home during lockdown in order to keep spirits high and remain in the ‘Green Zone.’ So many wonderful and creative answers were given by all students who attended the zoom. The overall point of this activities was to give all students different ideas so they to keep themselves occupied and happy after completing their school work from home. 4S would now love to share these ideas with you! Mr. Scotland On Wednesday the 1st of September 3W celebrated Indigenous Literacy Day. The theme for this year is Celebrating Stories and Language so 3W read the story “My Weekend with Pop” by Ray Ingrey. Ray tells the story of a young Indigenous Australian boy spending the day with his Pop on Dharawal Country – The country on which Unanderra Public School stands. After reading the story we answered some questions about how we can connect to country and the importance of knowing about Aboriginal languages. Stage 3 - Learning From HomeDuring Week 7 of home learning, Stage 3 got to create a Cereal Box Book Review for their writing task. On the top of the box, they were asked to rate the book and share the title and author. On the front of the box, they had to create a name for their Cereal, without using the same name as the book and also develop a prize advert to be displayed. On the right and left side of the box is where the students described the book, the characters and the setting. Then finally on the back of the box, they designed a mini game that incorporated features from the book. When the students had completed their cereal box, they created a poster or a 1-2 minute commercial to convince their audience to buy their cereal. Take a look at some of the Cereal Box Reviews below!
Book WeekWe all know that Book Week is my favourite week of the year (of course) and despite not being able to be together to celebrate, it was fantastic to see the amazing fun students had at home celebrating books and reading. We had students:
https://unanderrapslibrary.weebly.com/book-week.html Thank you also to all the parents who supported their children to dress up as a book character and sent in a photo. I hope you were able to make some memorable moments Our 'Virtual Book Parade' movie shows the ingenuity and fun had by all. ES1 - MacKenzie C - KS (Bluey) Year 1 - Nate W - 1SC (Stickman) Year 2 - Emmie O - 2B (Macca the Alpacca) Year 3 - Lachlan C - 3A (Goosebumps) Year 4 - Isaac F - 4A (Ninja Kid) Year 5 - Taneeka M - 5/6S (Little Red Riding Hood and St George NRL) Year 6 - Jett T - 5/6D (Basketballer) - special mention goes to Mia A - 5/6S (NRL player). In addition, our teachers did a great job of getting into the spirit as well and it was terrific to see their families join in also. Take a look... I would like to commend all the students who took the time and showed us their amazing talents in the annual Book Week Poster competition. Art is always subjective and you are all winners. Take a look at this fabulous movie showing the gallery of book art created by UPS students. The below students will be contacted in regard to their book prize. ES1 - Oakland H - KS Year 1 - Kaimia W - 1SC Year 2 - William P - 2L Year 3 - Emily Palmer - 3/4J Year 4 - Taliah C - 4S Year 5 - Gemma C - 5/6S Year 6 - Charlotte M - 5/6 And so... until next year when I hope we will be celebrating all together in person, happy Book Week, 2021 and of course, keep reading. From Ms Prior Teacher Librarian Book Week "Bake a Book" Competition.For the first time at Unanderra Public School, students were asked to bake a book for book week. Their cake or biscuits needed to represent a book in a creative and fun way. We had a number of delicious and delightful entries this year and it is clear that UPS has some future bakers and master chefs amongst our students. To celebrate Book Week, we have awarded an Infants and a Primary Winner. It was an extremely tough decision as all of the entries were thoughtful and creative. We would like to congratulate the amazing Olivia H from KB (Infants winner) and the spectacular sisters Madeline 3/4J and Charlotte 4S (Primary Winners) on winning their sections for the competition. Highly Commended was awarded to Chris 1/2N, Miranda 1SC, Lola 1M, Lachlan 3A, Isaac 4W and Charlotte 5/6S. We look forward to seeing more amazing "Bake a Book" entries next year. Unanderra Public School had a terrific time celebrating Science Week this week! It was unfortunate that we could not complete our whole-school science week event, however it was so wonderful to see so many students participate in home-based science experiments! This year's theme was "Food-Different by Design". This was particularly fitting for Remote Learning as so many scientific concepts happen as we cook and prepare meals at home every day! Mrs Smith, Mr Le Breton and Mr Scotland had so much fun creating the video for Science Week. It was pleasing to see that many families had a go at these experiments as well as those that were set as tasks in the learning packs. Many thanks to all of the UPS families and students for taking part in Science Week 2021 (remotely). Keep smiling, keep experimenting and stay safe! Mrs Smith
The Fathering ProjectQuality time and making memories Spending more time with your child reaps rewards and builds strong foundations for life. The time a father spends with his child is important. Spending quality, one-on-one time together enables you to deeply connect and get to know your child. You get to know their likes, dislikes, worries, fears, inspirations and aspirations. Fathers who spend this time with their children also have been found to be better at caring because this time helps a father to be more sensitive to their child’s need for love, attention and support. Children need to know their dads think they are special. Meaningful time It is not just about the amount of time. You can’t put a number of minutes around quality time. What is important is that it is meaningful and regular time that will create lasting special bonds. Studies have shown, the memories of time with dad with the most impact, were when the child felt they had their dad’s undivided attention, without interruption. They need to know that you want to be with them, to listen to them and care about how they feel. In studies where adults have been asked to recount the times, they felt special with their dads, it wasn’t so much the activity they were doing, it was the feelings they remembered. It was because it was their special time their dad, with a feeling of togetherness and bonding between dad and child. These meaningful moments might have been going somewhere, playing, watching or creating something, but the important thing was that it was together. The key point that your kids will remember is, “Dad thinks I am important to him, and he wants to spend this time with me”. It was special between child and dad. To read more click on the button below to learn about more dad tips on making memories!
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UNANDERRA PUBLIC Principal's MessageDear Parents/Carers, Thank you once again to our very supportive and understanding school community during this incredibly uncertain time. The staff at UPS have been overwhelmed with messages of appreciation from the Unanderra Public School community throughout this term. Thank you for these words of encouragement, they really mean so much. Just as our staff are always working very hard to support our students, so are our parents and carers, and in particular, during this time of an extended period Level 4 restrictions. Thank you parents and carers! We congratulate our wonderful students and thank our families for continuing to follow the NSW Health orders by staying at home when you can and maintaining regular communication with your class teachers. The generous donation of a hot/cold beverage from the UPS P&C to our staff is so kind and the UPS staff are ever so appreciative of this acknowledgement, thank you! We understand how challenging it is for our families to work from home and support their children to complete remote learning activities successfully at the same time. Please remember that parents and carers are always welcome to contact the school to discuss these challenges and ways that they can remain at home with their children successfully. This may include teachers making additional phone calls, applying varied learning strategies and/or supplying further resources. Some additional supports available for families to refer to are below. Learning from home Learning environment checklist (PDF 83.47 KB) Remote learning guidelines (PDF 185.94 KB) The staff at UPS recognise and understand the challenges of the essential and front line workers in our community, who are constantly juggling their days between home, work and school while trying to keep themselves and others safe (many staff members are doing the same). Unanderra Public School will continue to supervise students of these critical workers and those students where school is the safest place to be. As you will be aware the stay-at-home rules that apply to schools in Greater Sydney (including Wollongong), have been extended until at least 30 September. ‘Parents and carers in areas under stay-at-home rules 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.’ (NSW DoE, 20 August 2021) Please know that our school will maintain a skeleton staff each day in order to comply with NSW Public Health orders. Opportunity Class Test The Opportunity Class Placement Test has been rescheduled to Wednesday 6 October 2021. This is due to the increased health and safety risks which prevent large groups of external students mixing and mingling with local school students. In mid-September 2021 you will receive your child’s ‘Test authority’ advice which will confirm where your child will sit the test Cyber safe families Families can refer to the following resources to support their children in being responsible online users:
A friendly reminder for all families 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. Spooky and Sparkly UPS Zoom Disco On Friday 13 August, many students, families and staff enjoyed an hour of dancing and singing during an online disco hosted by a lady called Amber from a company called Danc2Bfit.Teachers, students and even some parents dressed up for this hour of fun. We definitely had sparkly little faces lighting up our screens and even some scary costumes to frighten us into doing some crazy dance moves. Seeing so many happy faces and funky dance moves was the best way to end a busy week. Thank you to all who participated and made such a huge effort. It was really a highlight for us all and certainly left a big smile on our faces that lasted throughout the weekend. Well-being Wednesday Last Wednesday UPS enjoyed a day away from the more formal side of learning and focused more on relaxing, playing games and connecting with family members both indoors and outdoors. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and as a result will be held again in week 8 and week 10 of this term. Information for parents and carers on talking about COVID-19, supporting their child’s wellbeing and where to access support can be found in Talking to children about coronavirus (COVID-19) (PDF 110KB) Helpful phone contacts, agencies, websites and apps that support mental health and wellbeing in these changing times can be found at Wellbeing services. Another useful resource is Smiling Mind, a meditation app for young people. It has been developed by a team of psychologists and uses mindfulness to boost calmness, contentment and clarity. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to help manage stress, resilience, anxiety, depression and improve general health and wellbeing. This is free. Smiling Mind app on the App Store and Google Play Celebrating Learning Congratulations to all of the children uploading and sharing their learning via Seesaw and in hard copies. We are certainly proud of you all and we know how hard you are all trying. Keep going you are all amazing! The families and friends of Unanderra Public School have been gracious and understanding during this extended period of restrictions and in an ever changing landscape of teaching and learning experiences. I am immensely proud of all of our children and thank our school community and staff for the continued support provided. I recognise and appreciate how much effort everyone has made to assist the staff to meet the needs of each student in the most effective and efficient ways possible. You are all doing a great job! With four weeks until the term ends I am confident we will continue to show our children strength, positivity and courage. We are all in this together. Please continue to communicate with your child’s class teacher and the school when you need to; phone (02) 4272 8730 or email [email protected] Stay safe and look after one another. Kind Regards, Anissa Rajenda Welcome to KS... KS has been working extremely hard this term. They are dealing with their first lock down while at primary school and have taken home learning in their stride, being super resilient and doing their absolute best to complete all learning tasks. Even though the students have been amazing it can't be said enough the amount of work families are doing to support KS during this time. So, I want to take the time to say a big thank you to all parents supporting KS. You are Awesome. Here is a collection of photos recognising not just the students but also the families who are being super heroes for KS. While we’ve been learning from home, the iLibrary has continued to deliver library lessons online across the whole school. During NAIDOC week, students from K-2 listened to the story ‘My Country’ by Aboriginal author, Ezekiel Kwaymellina and Aboriginal author and illustrator, Sally Morgan. Years 3-6 listened to another story by Aboriginal author, Ezekiel Kwaymellina, which is also illustrated by Sally Morgan, ‘We All Sleep'. Both stories focus on a connection to country and as the theme for NAIDOC this year is Heal Country, students were encouraged to get outside and enjoy nature near them. Students also drew pictures in the same style as Sally Morgan capturing their environment and considering its importance to them. Here are some of their artworks. InterrelateThe Fathering ProjectModelling and teaching your child about acceptance of othersAs a role model, it is important for fathers to be aware of how they treat other people and to model inclusion of people from all backgrounds and abilities. To do this, you need make the effort to be aware of any prejudices you may have yourself. It can be helpful to reflect your own behaviours to identify any unconscious prejudices or even times you may joke about things that might seem harmless, but that could give you children the wrong idea. Prejudice is often brought by a fear of the unknown or of something that is different. It is natural for younger children to be inquisitive or even frightened of people who are different to them, when they first see or meet them. As fathers you can help your children learn that everyone is different in some way, and that we are all unique and special in our own way. Top Tips to model and teach acceptance of others
Did you know? The Fathering Project does Celebrity Podcasts! Each week a different celebrity father joins the podcast and talks about the ups and downs of being a father. Previous weeks have had Brad Haddin and Hamish Blake sharing personal stories of their fathering duties. This week comedian Jimmy Rees shares his own stories and promotes his new book 'Bedtime Sorted'. 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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Unanderra Public School
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