Speers Point Public School Newsletter

Welcome back to Term 2! The year has sprouted wings and is flying past already. We have a full and adventurous term ahead, and can’t wait to see the progress our students are making. At the end of this term, Semester 1 reports will be issued, giving parents a snapshot of how their child is progressing. Teachers have already begun the process of report writing which are built over the term to give the picture of the two terms of learning. Reports will be coming out on the last week of the term, Wednesday 29th June. 

Thank you to all of the mums, grandmums and aunties who joined us for breakfast last Friday. Not only was it great to celebrate mums, but to also be able to have community events again. Lots of smiles (and some bacon) made for a wonderful morning. We hope you were all looked after on Mother’s Day. 

We have announced our Kinder 2023 Information Evening will be held on Thursday, 2nd June at 6pm in our school hall. Enrolments for Kinder 2023 are open and you are able to enquire through the office or enrol on line via our school website. The menu along the top right side of our website has a direct enrolment button.

In our area there are a number of schools close by and the School Finder website (https://schoolfinder.education.nsw.gov.au/index) can be very useful in determining where your address is zoned to (covers High Schools too.) At the Information Evening I talk a bit around in-zone and out-of-zone enrolments; how it works, what it means, our capacity etc. To avoid confusion, I try to give all the information up front so parents are able to make the best choice for their child.

Following the Information Evening, once we have been able to share the information, we can begin the process of looking at any out-of-zone enrolments and advising parents promptly.

If you have any in-zone neighbours, friends of family that may have a student starting Kinder in 2023, please pass on the information about our session on the 2nd June. 

Last week we sent out a batch of letters notifying parents where attendance has fallen below 85%. While a Covid wave went through our school last term, as did a gastro bug, and people were responsibly acting on advice to keep students home when they had symptoms, you may think it unnecessary for notifying families about attendance… BUT, we don’t know what we don’t know.

I know very few (if any) parents are marking student absences on a calendar and keeping a running tally or percentage. That’s our job. That 85% figure would be the last thing on parent’s minds. Again, that’s our job. It is a requirement for schools to notify parents when attendance is below the threshold. Definitely our job.

We completely understand the factors of why there may be a higher than usual number of absences. In these cases the letters are purely awareness raising. There are a small number where attendance is not due to these factors and we want to work with those families to help improve student attendance. It is critically important information that we are required to enquire about.

It’s that time of the year again – NAPLAN season! Over the next two weeks students from Years 3 and 5 will engage with the 4 assessments: Writing, Reading. Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Mathematics.

We encourage students to do their best in NAPLAN, but it is important to remove the pressure. It is one batch of assessments, in a field of many assessments that teachers use to measure the learning growth of students. It doesn’t determine life outcomes or occupations or astronauts. It gives a snapshot of your child’s learning at that point of time.

When the results return, an important part of using the data is matching it against the data we have from our sources, which helps us look at where the child is, versus the “one test on one day” that is NAPLAN. 

A team in our school is currently looking at our structure for Student Leadership (Captains, Vice Captains etc) and how we might change this structure for our growing school to be inclusive of all students, and giving greater opportunities for larger cohorts of future school leaders.

We’re floating a wide range of idea and would love feedback from our community on their ideas, or what they might like to see. We have set up a single question survey https://speerspoint.survey.fm/studentleadership for your input.

Yes, one single question: How would you like Student Leadership to be structured at Speers Point Public School? 

Through Seesaw we sent out the message regarding a parking officer in the Kiss ‘n' Ride zone in the afternoon, and on Main Rd that morning. Unfortunately, while our Kiss ‘n' Ride zone was co-designed through council and Education support, the parking officer felt that while we were transitioning our support unit students to cars, it was the perfect time to enforce the no parking rules of the zone. The No-parking area does have a 2 minute, no more than 3 metres from the car rule. We can’t always get students to cars in 2 minutes but the establishment of the zone has meant we have a much safer way of getting students to cars without crossing Bell St and reducing traffic on Main Rd.

I am now working with council to review the time and signage to avoid a repeat of the situation we had last week. There have been some neighbourhood complaints around congestion and people parking over driveways. While the congestion is in a very small timeframe of the day, we would ask people not to park over driveways.  Consider perhaps using Bell street as a one-way street (driving from Eighth to Park St) even through its not one way. That may help to ease traffic flow. The other consideration I have put to Council is the need for footpaths along Bell St and how this would also assist in our Kiss 'n' Ride zone working more effectively. If you have an opportunity for any feedback to Council, I can only suggest you add in the need for footpaths to the list.

It’s not news that household-contacts no longer need to isolate. Students are able to attend school where there is a case at home. In this circumstance, please inform the school of this fact. While not mandatory, we ask for these students to wear masks inside where possible. It is required that these students RAT every morning before attending school. I would also remind our community that we do have some students with complex health needs, especially in our support unit. Please have those conversations with us around how it may be of impact.

Have a great week

Chris Payne

Principal

Tuesday 10 May - Friday 20 May - NAPLAN - Years 3 & 5

Friday 13 May - Cross Country/Colour Run

Tuesday 24 May - GRIP Student Leadership Conference

Tuesday 24 May - Girls Soccer Gala 

Wednesday 25 May - Head Start - Year 5 & 6

Wednesday 25 May - National Simultaneous Storytime - Family Tree

Thursday 2 June - Kinder 2023 Information Evening - 6pm - School Hall

Monday 6 June - P&C Meeting - School Library - 6.30pm

Thursday 9 June - Matter of Seconds - K-2

Monday 13 June - Queen's Birthday 

Friday 17 June - Saturday 18 June - Star Struck Performances

Tuesday 21 June - Athletics Carnival - Wangi Oval

Wednesday 22 June - Oakvale Farm Excursion - Kinder

Thursday 23 June - Children's University - On Campus Discovery Day

Wednesday 29 June - Newcastle Museum Excursion - Years 1 & 2

Thursday 30 June - NAIDOC 

Friday 1 July - Last Day of Term 2

Monday 18 July - Staff Development Day

Tuesday 19 July - Students return Term 3

If anyone has any uniforms they no longer require,  it would be greatly appreciated if you could donate them to the school to add to our second hand uniform pool. 

Please bring all donations to the office.

Thank you

National Simultaneous Storytime will be held on the 25th of May when students from Years K-2 will be listening to a reading of Josh Pyke's book Family Tree via Zoom link alongside other students around Australia. We will be creating a Speers Point Family Tree in the library and I invite all families to send a photo of their families via email to the school address speerspt-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au to contribute to the project.

CLASS BORROWING 

Please continue to return all library books on your child's designated day or anytime via the return slot outside the library.

MONDAY -  Scribbly Gum

TUESDAY - Jacaranda, Eucalypt, Acacia and Lilly Pilly

THURSDAY - Waratah, Melaleuca, Bottlebrush, Paperbark and Coachwood

Pine, Casuarina and Blue Gum borrow with class teachers throughout the week

BOOK CLUB

Issue 3 orders are due by Monday 16 May 2022.

Students can order via the LOOP, click on the link Order Online

or bring in their orders and money to the office.