The Randwick Buzz

Term 3, Week 4

From the Principal

2020 has continued to be a year like no other. When on morning duty I have personally appreciated the orderly drop off by people coming a little earlier by car or on foot, along with a happy smile and greeting from so many!  Thank you everyone for your patience and teachers for the extra load they are shouldering. Keeping a consistent procedure and gate for your children for pick up is also helpful. Unfortunately it does not look like access will change soon. We’re all in for the long haul and just need to be grateful that we’ve avoided further closures. Please keep packing a raincoat each day just in case the sun fails to shine. Pre-planning when possible helps children with a pre-disposition towards anxious feelings avoid overwhelming anxiety which can impact on your child's happiness, wellbeing and ability to learn.

Our latest playground improvements are almost finished: the cricket nets! Let’s hope we can return to sport in Term 4 but regardless they will be put to good use. This project has cleaned up another huge area which can be used for general play or with the dividing curtains extended, provides four wickets for safe cricket practice by students. This will support our expanding cricket teams of keen girls and boys. We have been given a small grant towards the netball courts so perhaps that area can be next. We're also looking for anyone of an arty nature who might be able to give their time to refurbishing/painting the playground games in the lower playground which have been damaged by demountables etc. With a bit of TLC and talent we may be able to revive them for a while longer. Let me know if you are able to help and we'll develop of COVID plan for safe access. I hope you were able to enjoy students’ virtual efforts during education week. While the snippets of film or work may be short there is a great deal of preparation behind the scenes. I was particularly moved by the efforts of students and staff in producing the RPS version of I am Australian. The inclusive nature of this performance really encouraged some of our special students to shine. Thank you to Director of Music Dean, band conductor, Tim and teachers Laurie Power and Michael Brown for all their dedication to make this a reality. It was a huge technical and logistical task.

Over the balance of Term 3/4, Year 3 and Year 5 will participate in a new short online check in assessment in Literacy and Numeracy. This assessment, together with regular school based assessments, will give schools feedback on how students are performing in the absence of NAPLAN and allow teachers to tailor their teaching to actual student needs. 

Feedback will only be available on DOE systems for teachers and there will be no parent report. As always, if you have any concern about your child's learning progress, please contact the teacher to discuss.

Please remember the Oz Harvest Food Drive.  For any non-perishable food donations please bring in before Friday. Thank you.

Take time this Monday 17th August to join our P&C Zoom meeting at 7pm where we will:  

  • Introduce plans for improved belonging among RPS students including proposals for modifying the current house system and school reward system.
  • School sports shirts for 2021: we are introducing a single sports shirt in an indigenous design. All students will wear it on their sports day K-6 regardless of their sports program. 
  • The School Planning Process for 2021-2024 will also be outlined and how you may be involved. Drawing on analysis of data our draft strategic directions are:
    • Student Achievement and Growth (set by DOE for all schools);
    • Student Wellbeing and Engagement; and
    • Investing in our People:  Quality Professional Development and Community Engagement.

    Susan Allen

    Cricket nets

    What's on?

    P&C Meeting

    Date and Time

    From Monday, August. 17th to Monday, August. 17th

    Information

    P&C meeting via Zoom at 7pm

    Charles Townsend and Rachael Chisholm will lead a presentation about the changes the school is looking to introduce to improve students' sense of belonging.

    Science Week

    Date and Time

    From Monday, August. 17th to Friday, August. 21st

    ICAS Science

    Date and Time

    From Tuesday, August. 18th to Tuesday, August. 18th

    Information

    If you have elected and paid for your child to sit the ICAS Science assessment on Tuesday 18 August, please drop them at the front office at 7:40am to commence their assessment at 8:00am.

    Year 2- 2H/2M

    Year 3- 3S/3M

    Year 4- 4J/4S

    Year 5- Level 1 Beehive

    Year 6- Level 2 Beehive

    ICAS English

    Date and Time

    From Monday, August. 24th to Friday, August. 28th

    Information

    All students (unless a parent/carer has notified the office) will participate in ICAS English in Week 6.

    From the P&C

    Wow what a year 2020 has been so far…And what an amazing community we have here at RPS, the solidarity and support you have all shown each other, your teachers and school community has been heartwarming. We will all get through 2020 together.

    Thank you very much to all the parents and carers who took the time to complete our fundraising survey, we appreciate and value all the feedback we received. The aim of the survey was to gauge how our community is being affected by COVID and how you are feeling about fundraising in light of COVID and to identify what you would and wouldn’t be comfortable with this year.

    Fundraising is an important part of providing our children with all the “extras” that come with being a Randwick student. Thanks to your fundraising efforts in the past few years we have purchased iPads so they are across all classrooms and all grades, purchased a wide range of robotics kits for classroom learning, funded a STEM specialist lead teacher, purchased new playground equipment, funded kitchen garden, maintained the extensive array of readers and math resources in the classrooms and much more. 

    With COVID impacting all of us in some way, we are understanding that some families may not be able to participate in fundraising this year and that families who can still really want to support our community. The survey highlighted the caring nature of our RPS community with an overwhelming support to help those in need during this time. We will aim to program our fundraising to ensure we can facilitate this.

    With social restrictions still in place and the future seemingly unknown in regard to restrictions, we are prepared in case we have to re-think our usual fundraisers and are considering options that are more flexible should restrictions change. Like everyone in these times we will adapt and remain resilient. In the next newsletter we will outline our fundraising plans for the rest of the year and we look forward to your ongoing support.

     

    Your Randwick P&C

    Science Week

    Positive Behaviour for Learning

    Randwick Public School is continuing to successfully implement a ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ (PBL) approach to behaviour management.

    Each week, students focus on how they can ‘Be Respectful’, ‘Be Responsible’ or ‘Be A Learner’ in specific areas around the school. This involves a short lesson in Peer Support classes on Fridays followed by a small activity.

    Please help us with our positive behaviour by talking with your child about each weekly focus and the ways they can uphold our school values in different areas of the school. The next areas are: Playground and Canteen.

    From the LIbrary

    Please provide your feedback by clicking on the link.

    Thank you!

    Kindergarten Principal Award Photos

    Year 1 Principal Awards Photos

    Year 1 Leadership Award Photos

    Year 2 Principal Award Photos

    Year 2 Leadership Award Photos

    Year 3 Principal Award Photos

    Year 3 Leadership Award Photos

    Year 4 Principal Award Photos

    Year 5 Principal Award Photos

    Year 6 Principal Award Photos

    Year 6 Leadership Award Photos

    What parents need to know about Youtube

    Advertisements

    Instantly translate this newsletter to 100+ languages

    With our Google Translation integration, you can access our newsletter in ANY language. Simply scroll to the bottom of the newsletter preview to give it a try.