Willoughby Public School Newsletter

               

What a fabulous few weeks we have had celebrating Book Week! Thank you to the many, many students who dressed up as their favourite Book Character on Grandfriend’s Day and created a literary sea of colour and fun. We’d also love to thank our visiting Grandparents, family and friends who donated a book to the Library at our Book Fair – over 600 new books are now finding their way out to our shelves! Students who donated a book will be the first to borrow it; so we’ll soon have many excited students taking new books home to read and share with their families. The aim is to have all these books processed and out to borrow by the end of the Term. If you have any spare time and could help us with the covering of these books please let us know by emailing us at https://www.librarywps.com/contact-the-library    Keep an eye on the WPS Library Instagram (@wps_library) for more information on our favourite new additions.

We have hosted an unprecedentedly awesome line-up of authors and illustrators this August, helping our students gain insights and pro-tips to the world of professional writing. Matt Cosgrove, Anna Fienberg, Tim Harris and R.A Spratt spoke with our students and teachers, sharing with them a wealth of ideas about how they create stories, develop

stunning character illustrations, overcome writers’ block, come up with excuses for not doing homework, become braver editors and much more.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Reading Challenge finishes this Friday, 30th August. To receive their certificate Years 3-6 students need to have read and entered their 20 books on the PRC website by this date. K-2 students need not worry; their books are being read in class, and entered online by Library staff.

Students in Years 3-6 have practised how to enter books into their online reading logs in library, so they can complete this in their own time at home. A how-to guide, as well as links to the PRC site, can be found on the WPS Library site by clicking this link.

               

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 2019              

Congratulations to all who participated in the WPS 2019 Athletics Carnival. It was a fantastic 2 day program. A special thank you to all the staff and parent volunteers who assisted. The extra work you did ensured that the Carnival ran smoothly. Of course these carnivals cannot happen without the help and support of everyone. To the students, thank you for your participation and enthusiasm on the day.                              

 

Congratulations to the following students:

JUNIORS (8, 9 & 10YRS) - BOYS

               

 

The Stage Three debating teams concluded the Premiers Debating Challenge this season with a lively debate against each other. The topic of the debate was that teachers should have to participate in all school sport and exercise classes. The affirmative and negative teams battled it out to persuade the adjudicator of their arguments. The level of arguments were high and in a close decision the Willoughby Witty Team prevailed.

 

This Year the Willoughby Witty Team was represented by Evie Delaney, Holly Fraser, Avani Becroft, Milan Shad-Sharpe, Sophia Sheriff, Issabelle Barber and Rory Tunica. The Willoughby Wicked Team was represented by Emily Bester, Niamh Gribbin, Ornice Tang Sun and Elise Gill.

There has been four debates this season against other local schools. The debaters should be congratulated for their commitment and impressive communication skills.

               

It has been a busy term for all of our band students.

In week 3 Intermediate and Performing Bands attended Band Camp at Galston. They participated in two days of music tutorials and band rehearsals. Our band students showed amazing progress and are commended for their efforts and behaviour.

Our sincerest thanks go to our parent volunteers Mat Hubbard, Nicoli Templeton, and Theo Dorizac. Congratulations to Theo for organising another highly successful Band Camp. Thank you to Ms Limbert, Ms Stericker, Ms Denton and Ms Stanley for supervising the event.

Training Band spent a Sunday at school for a day of music workshops and rehearsals. Thanks to Ms Lowe, and parents Liz Edge, Tim Swan and Matt Gruebner for organising the event as well as Ms Limbert and the many parents who volunteered their time to supervise the event.

Everyone’s hard work and dedication has paid off with all three of our bands receiving a Gold Award at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival. Congratulations to all of our band students.

 

               

Willoughby Musical Soiree. 

Students involved in extra-curricular music groups will be performing in the evening on Wednesday, September 18, at 7pm in the school hall. A note will go home with the students in week 7 inviting their parents to come and enjoy our singing, dancing and playing.

               

WPS Ski Interschools Results

 

Jodie Colvin (year 4) and Ruby Kovacs (year 2) competed at the state interschools races last week. Jodie raced in the cross country and came 9th, Ruby competed in the alpine and the skier cross races and came 15th and 12th respectively. Congratulations on both getting through to nationals!! We wish Jodie and Ruby their best success at the national races next week.

Jodie powering up the hill in cross country!

               

Congratulations to the students in our first two MiniLit groups for successfully completing the program in 2019! MiniLit stands for 'Meeting Initial Needs In Literacy' and is an evidence-based reading program. It provides explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondences and knowledge of commonly used digraphs. Students learn to blend and segment words, developing strong decoding and spelling skills of regular phonic words, and increasing their ability to read connected text with accuracy and fluency. You can see from the smiling faces of the children and our Learning Support Teacher, Ms Kliffen, and SLSO, Kate, in the photo above, how very proud everyone is of the students' hard work and achievement.

At Willoughby Public School we have a number of students with a

LIFE THREATENING NUT / PEANUT ALLERGY.

 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

 

Even a small trace of nut, peanut or nut/peanut product may trigger a severe allergic reaction called Anaphylaxis, which attacks the immune system leading potentially to death within minutes.

 

This reaction can happen by taste, touch and sometimes can be airborne. All of these students have access to an adrenaline injection in the form of an Epipen, which can save lives. Photo posters are displayed in the classrooms, canteen, staffroom, playground bags and sick bay for easy identification of these children.

 

Willoughby PS works with parents/carers to support students in developing an awareness of their allergies and what foods to avoid. Students are encouraged not to share food and to always check with a parent/adult/teacher if unsure at any time.

 

HOW CAN YOU HELP TO KEEP WPS STUDENTS SAFE?

 

Please help us by not including peanut or any nut products in your child’s lunchbox. This includes peanut butter and Nutella.

 

Please avoid products with any nuts/peanuts listed as an ingredient.

 

Explain about nut/peanut allergy to your child and encourage the ‘no food sharing’ rule.

 

Please consider what you are sending for birthday treats to share with the class, checking there are no nut products included.

 

The school canteen does not serve products containing nuts.

 

It is only with the continued support of all parents and staff that we can effectively maintain a safe school environment for these children.

 

Thank you for your understanding. We know you will want to support the school and these children.

                

Parents Party

 

We had a fantastic ‘Night in Vegas’ on Saturday at Norths!  It was a sight to behold – on the strip were Queens of Hearts, card sharps, Brides, Brides-to-be, Bridesmaids, Hens parties, Bachelor parties, newly-weds, punters, croupiers, cheaters, white tigers, illusionists, magicians, pimps, hustlers, the Hungover, dentists, babysitters, high rollers, cowboys, a couple of Elvis’s, a member of the Chippendales and many VIPs!

 

The night was really successful as well as enjoyable - everyone went home happy and our fundraising was fantastic - the chips are still being counted but this event has raised over $6,000 for our school!  Congratulations to the winners of the silent auctions, the raffles and the live auctions.  Huge thanks to our sponsors Richardson & Wrench, it was great to have R&W staff at the party - we look forward to working together over the next three years. 

 

Many thanks to our amazing “A Night in Vegas” party team for ensuring the event went off without a hitch: Adam, Amanda, Meredith, Ruth, Stephanie and Amy.  David our DJ got the dance floor jumping and Paul ‘Chippendale’ Menck - our awesome MC for the night, kept everyone on schedule and informed!  Thanks guys.  There were a couple of things found at the venue so if you’ve lost anything please check in with us at president@wpspandc.com.au

 

                                             Please support the businesses that support us:

 

Mussons Jewellery - www.musson.com.au 

Verve Portraits  - www.verveportraits.com.au  

Apera - www.apera.com.au 

Little Leaguies - www.littleleaguies.com.au

Northbridge Art School – www.gallery307.com.au

chocolateBrown Interior Styling - www.chocolatebrown.net.au

Borruso's Crows Nest- www.Borrusos.com.au

Sydney Cooking School - https://sydneycookingschool.com.au 

Birthday Fairy - www.birthdayfairy.com.au 

Stephanie Jones Remedial Massage - www.chirocentre.com.au

Kirsten Delaney Photography - www.kirstendelaneyphotography.com.au

Small bar - www.smallbar.net.au

Simon Johnson - www.simonjohnson.com/

 Fab parties - www.fabparties.com.au

Virtual reality world - https://sydney.virtual-room.com

BAKEALICIOUS BY GABRIELA -https://bakealiciousbygabriela.com.au/

EscapeHut Sydney - https://escapehunt.com/au/sydney

Tupperware - https://www.tupperware.com.au/

Entertainment book - www.entertainmentbook.com.au 

Athletes Foot - www.theathletesfoot.com.au

Rebel Sport - www.rebelsport.com.au

 Rodan and Fields - aackerman1.myrandf.com/au

               

Happy Fathers Day on Sunday to all the dads and special people in our students’ lives.  We hope you enjoy the great gifts your children have chosen for you and have a lovely day with your family.  Another fabulous event organized by Kevin Wong and his team of wrappers and stall assistants – thank you!

               

Bunnings BBQ

 

Are you a master chef?  Good on the tongs?  We’d love to have your help on Sunday 22 September at Chatswood Bunnings where we’ve secured a spot to run a fundraising BBQ.   Please sign up here, just a couple of hours of your time would be a great help.

 

               

Lids4Kids is an amazing Australian initiative to save plastic bottle lids from landfill and put them to good use, in the form of prosthetic hands for kids.

 

We are collecting lids with the number 2 recycling symbol on them. Bread tags are welcome too! Please see attached image of what we're collecting (right hand side only)

 

You can drop your lids and tags at the Uniform Shop on Wednesday or Friday mornings between 8.30-9.30am. Thanks for supporting this great cause!

               

We invite parents to join our Sustainability Committee to ensure the future is bright for our children.  Please email president@wpspandc.com.au if you’d like to join our passionate team of volunteers.

 

 

If you have any queries, questions or comments, please contact us.

Jenni Brown and Tanya Taylor

WPS P&C Co-Presidents

president@wpspandc.com.au