Drummoyne Public School

Weekly Newsletter - a Window into Life at School

The newsletter is our central communication with families each week giving a window into the life of the school. Please read or skim to see what your children are doing inside the school gates.

Please make time to see:

• if your child has been included in a photograph (see class 5N above in their assembly performance)
• if your child's classwork is featured
• what are the current issues the school is wrestling with
• how you can support the faithful work of the P&C
• an insight into the challenges of parenting
• and of course to know what is happening each week.

Access to Technologies

The school is continuing to provide access to a variety of technologies and devices for students. As you know, devices such as computers, laptops and iPads are for educational purposes. The goal in providing these is for students to learn the proper and responsible use of all forms of technology. This requires all students to act in a responsible manner and to adhere to a number of conditions in keeping with Department of Education policies for the appropriate use of Information and Communication Technology.

Students are expected to:

• treat technology with care at all times;
• use appropriate language when using technology;
• avoid websites that may have offensive, scary or inappropriate material;
• inform a teacher if they find something that is scary or inappropriate;
• not install and run software from home, including games without seeking teacher permission first.

Would you please remind children of our expectations and help us keep students safe in this changing 21st Century world.

Students in class 3B have been studying poetry this term. They participated in a digital workshop called 'Poem Forest' where students worked with poet Luke Patterson to create poems about Australian endangered animals. 

They applied their understanding of figurative language techniques to create thought provoking poems. I hope you like them. The poems are on display outside my office.

Please contact the office if you would like additional RAT kits for testing during the school holidays.

In mainstream school settings (including boarding schools) staff, students and visitors who have tested positive to COVID-19 must:

• complete 5 days of isolation from the date they tested positive
• be symptom-free before returning to school, if symptoms remain after Day 5 they must continue following NSW Health guidelines to self-isolate and undertake a rapid antigen test (RAT)
• complete a RAT and return a negative result before attending school on Days 6 and 7 after testing positive to COVID-19, and
• wear a mask on Days 6 and 7 when attending school (for all staff and those students aged 12 years and older).
• the 7-day isolation period will remain for staff, students and visitors who have tested positive to COVID-19 and attend overnight excursions.

As you would know the Prime Minister has declared a public holiday on Thursday 22nd September 2022 as a day of mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This announcement impacts the planned Primary Proms Kakadu Concert at the Sydney Town Hall on the same day.

As a result, the concert will need to be rescheduled to an alternative date. We recognise the inconvenience this may cause, but we have worked collaboratively with Sydney Town Hall on a solution. The event will now take place on Thursday, 27th October 2022. All other details will remain unchanged. 

I have accepted the new date on behalf of Drummoyne PS. A reminder note with the new date, times, a media consent form and pick up/drop off points will be emailed out early next term. I will distribute the t-shirts that are to be worn with black bottoms the week before the concert. 

Amanda Champion

Choir Teacher

Congratulations to Sienna Shipp who competed in the regional Multicultural Public Speaking Competition last Friday and was chosen as an equal winner to move on to the State Finals!

Yesterday, she competed in a different competition, known as the Iron Cove Public Speaking Competition. Sienna was chosen as the winner and now goes on to compete in the Iron Cove Public Speaking Competition Grand final.   

Well done Sienna on these great achievements. We are proud of you and wish you good luck at the next level of both competitions.

Our longest standing ethics teacher, Ilias Hristoforidis, has been nominated for a new award - The Kinghorn Award. Ilia began teaching in the ethics program in 2014 and has taught many senior classes over that time. He currently teaches a Year 3/4 class as well as Year 5. The award will honour an ethics teacher who is an inspiration to other volunteers. As fellow teacher Jane Worthy says: 'Ilias always generously shares his school and ethics teaching experience with our Drummoyne ethics team, making us better teachers for his input'.

The winner will be announced in November and will be able to direct $4000 to their school. 

Ilias is a very popular member of our ethics volunteer team. If you, or anyone you know, may be interested in joining our ethics team (and are available friday mornings) please contact Helen Kerr-Roubicek on 0423 806896 or go to https://primaryethics.com.au

The Peninsula Engagement Program is being relaunched at Balmain Campus in 2022. The Peninsula Engagement Program (PEP) is an enrichment, extension and transition program for high potential and gifted primary students. PEP has been designed in response to demand for programs which cater for the many high ability students on the Balmain peninsula.

For more details please see our school website:

https://balmain-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/learning-at-our-school/peninsula_engagement_program.html

 Respect awards - Rawson says congratulations to:

• Bart Wang - KA
• Kylie Arnold - 2D
• Louis Renoux - 2D
• Sebastien Lee  - 2L
• Amaya Singh - 2T
• Astrid Lesslie - KW
• Eugenio Agrillo - KY
• Isabella El-Rahim - 2T

Resilience awards - Bretty says congratulations to:

• Milo Bryant-Smith - KY
• Fatima Shomoy - KW
• Isabella Emmett - KW
• William Harys - KW
• Tom Holtsbaum - KW
• Sam Alnajjad - 2L
• CicI Zheng - 2T

Responsibility awards - Monty says congratulations to:

• Alexander Booth - 1C
• Christiano Calautti - 1C
• Sienna Ulrich - 1C
• Cillian Moses - 1J
• Vivienne Duquemin - 2T
• Grace Reid - 2T
• Selena Yafi - KY
• Maksim Orgad - 2D
• Nathan Qain - KW
• Matthew Lindquist - KY

Congratulations to our regional athletics team who were the champion school at the Sydney East Primary Athletics Championships on Wednesday.

• Sam 4M - Relay
• Leo 5/6O - 100m, 200m, High Jump, Long Jump, Discus, Shot Put, Relay
• Cameron 4A - Relay
• Aydin 5/6O - 100m, Relay
• Gabrielle 5N – 800m
• Juliette 4K – 100m
• Aydin 4M – Long Jump
• Julian 5/6O – Discus
• Sophie 5/6O – Discus, Shot Put, Relay
• Natalia 4A – High Jump
• Tom 6M - Relay
• Xavi 4M – Discus, Relay
• Jack 6P - Relay
• Hayden 5/6O – 800m
• Isaac 4A – 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, High Jump, Long Jump, Relay
• Maeve 3A – 100m
• Sebastian 3R – 100m
• Sienna 5/6O – 1500m, 800m, Relay
• Tehya 6P – 200m, High Jump, Relay
• Amber 5/6O – 100m, 200m, High Jump, Long Jump, Relay
• Deanna 6M - Discus

Congratulations in particular to Sam Allport, Cameron Barry, Xavi Modena, Isaac O'Brien, Sienna Shipp, Leo Balmond, Julian Doyle, Amber Worden & Natalia Giannichronis who qualified for the NSW State Carnival. We wish them good luck for the competition at Homebush next month.

The top ten schools were:

1. Drummoyne PS
2. Strathfield North PS
3. Sylvania Heights PS
4. Carlton PS
5. Kensington PS
6. Engadine PS
7. Engadine West PS
8. Burraneer Bay PS
9. Bourke Street PS
10. Balmain PS

The Solarbuddy program has two main goals:

1. To gift six million solar lights to children living in extreme energy poverty by 2030.
2. To educate six million people about extreme energy poverty by 2030.

This week class 5/6O students became part of that six million by building 30 solar lights as part of the Solarbuddy program. We watched a video on how to construct the lights and then carefully assembled all the parts to the lights. Following the instructions, we cautiously put the light together and connected the battery to the switch and the solar panel to the battery. We had to ensure that the waterproofing bands were in the correct position and the screws were in tightly.

We discovered that there is a sensor in the solar panel which only lets the light turn on when it is dark. This will ensure that the energy to produce light will not be wasted.

The junior buddy lights were easy to assemble and we had fun in the process!

By Avery Sun 5/6O

Throughout September and October, children aged 5-12 are invited to create an original artwork of one of Australia's many threatened native animals or plants, along with a short written component on their chosen threatened species.

Online submissions are open from Wednesday 7 September (Threatened Species Day) to Monday 31 October.

Wild At Art is an opportunity for primary school children to learn about Australia's threatened wildlife and speak out for a future where plants, animals and people thrive.

The beautiful artworks and moving written explanations demonstrate the depth of concern and love that children have for our vanishing wildlife. Through the competition, many children feel empowered knowing that by raising awareness, they can make a difference.

Ms Richmond will be available on Tuesdays at lunchtime, after the eating bell, in her room (purple door upstairs) to discuss ideas, guide students and offer a space in which to work.

Belinda Richmond

STEAM Teacher

Reminder - there will be no more Code Club for this term! Code Club will resume Week 2, Term 4. 

Thank you to all the students who have been regularly attending on Thursday afternoons. Don’t forget, you can access the Code Club projects from home!

Joe Neufeld

Teacher Librarian

Our information session for preschool parents will be held on Thursday 13 October with orientation sessions for students in the following weeks.

The Online Enrolment System is designed to provide flexibility for parents to submit an enrolment application online and at the time that best suits you.

The application can be accessed on all browsers and mobile devices including iOS and Android. The online application process is currently restricted to:

• Enrolments into local schools
• Children who are Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens or permanent residents
• Children who live in NSW.

Busways is the bus operator that runs your school’s bus services, transporting students between home and school each school day.

Starting at a new school is exciting, nerve-wracking and includes a lot of change. To make it easier Busways has a School Bus Ready Toolkit to help parents prepare their child to confidently catch the bus to school.

• How to apply for school travel passes
• The benefits of bus travel
• Bus timetables and routes
• Safety on and around buses
• Lost property

There are many non uniform items without names. These have been placed in a tub near the kindergarten corridor. If your child is missing any non uniform items (jackets, hats, scarves etc) Please have a look in this tub before the end of term as unclaimed items will be donated to charity.

Please ensure your child’s name is permanently and clearly labelled on belongings such as school hats, jackets, lunch boxes, drink bottles and school bags.

Use a permanent laundry marker to label clothes, hats and shoes, or sew or iron on personalised labels. Also please go through your child’s bag with them regularly and check that labels haven’t faded with washing.

Parents may now come on site and check for any lost items at drop off or pick up time.

While it adds to the sense of community when our pets are brought to school at pick-up times, under the Companion Animals Act 1998 (NSW), Section 14 and in the interests of safety and hygiene, dogs are not allowed on school grounds.  Thank you for your understanding.

Please order uniforms online. The P&C will process orders and the school office staff will distribute them.

 Please use our school Registration ID: 2572963 to create an account if you don’t already have one for canteen orders.

The P&C has a pool of second hand uniforms for families in need. Please donate any good quality, unstained uniforms that your child has out grown.

Second hand uniform sales are no longer online through school24 as we cannot be assured we have stock in all sizes. Please send an email request for items you require and we can check if they are available.

Orders are open. Log in to school24 account and click on Events. Orders close Tuesday 20th at 4pm.

We thank the parents who volunteered throughout the week in helping to prepare and  package the student lunches. Our canteen volunteers are so important in helping to run the canteen service smoothly. Thank you to our parent volunteers for the past week, namely: Chelsea, Marie, David, Rowan & Kylie.

Thank you to our students Emma, Grace, Natalia, Riviera, Alex, Olive & Harriet.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - SEPTEMBER

FRIDAY 23rd  could we get a couple of extra volunteers please. 

HOW TO VOLUNTEER

• Log in to school24 account.
• Click on to VOLUNTEER.
• Register your name

The P&C Committee, Canteen Committee, Eugenie and Catherine are very grateful for any time that parents can lend a hand.

Canteen and P&C Committee

Contact Rekkha for more information on 0436 616 744.

To book Gowrie NSW enrolment forms can be found on the Gowrie website:

BASC $500 vouchers will close for parents on 30 September 22.  That means that if a family has not applied for their child’s voucher on/before that date, they’ll miss out. These vouchers can be used towards fees for Before, After and Vacation care.

A family who has a Kindy child starting in Jan 2023, can redeem  a voucher for their Kindy child to be used next year. 

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