Kingswood Public School Newsletter

Telephone: 0247 364028                                                      Fax: 0247 366012

Email: kingswood-p.school.@det.nsw.edu.au           PO Box 305 KINGSWOOD NSW 2747

Second Avenue KINGSWOOD NSW 2747

Term 4 Week 6

15/11/22

Early Stage 1(Kindergarten) 2023 Transition Sessions

Early Stage 1 & Stage 1 TAFE Sport

Starting School Group

Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) 2023 Parent Information Night

16/11/22

Selective High School Year 7 2024 Application Website Closes

Year 5 2023 Opportunity Class Orientation Session

17/11/22

Student Leadership Team 2023 Speeches & Voting

18/11/22

Colour Run Prize Store Opens

Scripture Classes

Term 4 Week 7

22/11/22

Starting School Group

23/11/22

COLOUR RUN FUN DAY

Colour Run Prize Store Closes

25/11/22

Scripture Classes

Family Portraits Viewing Session 1:00-4:00pm

Term 4 Week 8

28/11/22

Student Representative Council (SRC) Colouring in Competition (Early Stage 1 & Stage 1)

29/11/22

Year 6 High School Orientation (Department of Education High Schools)

Starting School Group

SRC Drawing Competition (Stage 2 & Stage 3)

30/11/22

Stage 3 Cyber Safety Presentations

SRC Drawing Competition (Stage 2 & Stage 3) Back Up Day

01/12/22

Responsible Pet Visit (Early Stage 1 & Stage 1)

02/12/22

Last Day of Scripture Classes

Thank You Morning Tea

Welcome to Week 6! This term is flying by with lots of activities happening across the school.

Our Colour Run is fast approaching! We are all looking forward to a fun day next Wednesday.

On Monday we had a visit by The Hon. Sarah Mitchell MLC Minister for Education and Early Learning and Mr Stuart Ayres MP Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney.

Ms Mitchell and Mr Ayres were met by our Captains and Vice Captains and visited ES1C and were most impressed with the children’s work. They also viewed our almost completed new mini volleyball multipurpose court.

School Photos

 School photos have been distributed today. Photos of the library monitors, SRC, Year 6, house captains and school leaders can now be purchased. Please see the link below with information about how to order.

Selective high school placement process for placement in Year 7 in 2024

Applications for Year 7 entry to selective high schools in 2024 open on 18 October 2022. Applications will close on 16 November 2022. The due date is strictly observed. Requests for late applications will be approved only under very specific and well-documented circumstances.

Find information about the application and placement process and apply online at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunityclasses/year-7.

All candidates are required to sit the Selective High School Placement Test to be held on Thursday 4 May 2023.

The online application dashboard enables parents to log in to make updates and add attachments even after an application is submitted. Parents also communicate directly with the Selective Education Unit through the system’s messages feature.

Parents having difficulty completing or submitting an application, should contact the Selective Education Unit through their application dashboard or, if unable to do so, by email ssu@det.nsw.edu.au.

Keep updated on the selective high school placement process at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunityclasses

Attached to the newsletter is the Intention to apply for Year 7 placement in a selective high school 2024. The completed tear off slip was due to your child’s teacher by last Friday. If you are applying for your child and you have not returned this slip, please do so as soon as possible. 

Please note the tear-off slip is NOT an application. It is advice to us that you intend to apply. We CANNOT apply on your behalf.

Also attached is the Information for applicants for entry to selective high school in Year 7 in 2024. The new Equity Placement model will commence this year creating fair and equitable access for disadvantaged and under-represented students. More information is available in this document on page 6.

Staff News

Congratulations to Mrs Ansted and her husband who celebrated the birth of their baby boy last week. Both Mum and bub are doing well.

 Congratulations to Miss Gale who has been permanently appointed to our staff. We welcome her to our staff.

Last Day of Term 4 is Friday 16 December 2022

Students will now finish school on Friday 16 December 2022. This is due to an additional School Development Day announced for staff across NSW public schools.

School Development Days allow our staff to participate in professional learning that was put on hold due to COVID-19 staffing pressures and plan ahead for 2023 to ensure we meet the needs of our students.

With this change, we ask that you arrange alternative care for your child/ren on Monday 19 December 2022.

Early Stage 1 & Year 5 2023 Opportunity Class (OC) Orientation Sessions

This week we have held orientation session for our new Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) students

and Year 5 Opportunity Class students. It was wonderful to meet our new students and their parents.

Thank you to Miss Cleaver and Mrs Taylor for organising these sessions and to the staff who supported them. Thank you to our wonderful P&C for organising morning tea for the OC session. Thank you also to our Student Leaders who greeted our new students and parents and the students who spoke about our great school in the OC session. 

Canteen Closure

The school canteen is currently in the tender process. The school canteen will be closed all this term until further notice. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Please ensure you provide your child/ren with a drink, morning tea, lunch and fruit for Crunch and Sip each school day. Please do not send any peanut products to school as we have several students who are Anaphylactic which can be life threatening.

Do the right thing students – tap on and tap off, every time you travel by bus   

Opal card data gathered by tapping on and tapping off is used to determine demand for bus services. If students don’t tap on and tap off every time, then bus services will appear underutilised. Without accurate data, the need for additional services to match demand will most likely be overlooked.

It is a requirement of bus travel that your child has a valid Student Opal card and that they tap on and off each time they use the school bus or route bus service. This is outlined in the TfNSW Code of Conduct as follows:

“It is a condition of the School Pass Terms and the Student Codes of Conduct when travelling that students in possession of the School Opal card must tap on and tap off every time when using public transport to travel to and from school. Per section 3.2 of the Opal Privacy Policy, Transport for NSW collects information from taps on and tap offs to support coordination, planning and policy development for transport, transport services and transport infrastructure.”

It’s been noted that students from our school using the bus service have not been tapping on or off.  In Term 4, there will be a strong focus on getting students back into good habits of tapping on and tapping off with their student Opal card.

We’re requesting your help to restore the tap on and tap off numbers to match the school bus travelling numbers to benefit the students, parents, school, and bus operator.

2023 School Travel Applications Now Open

Applications for student travel in 2023 are now open. Please see the School Travel attachment for links and further information.

Enrolments for 2023

We are now accepting enrolments for 2023. Enrolment applications are now completed online. Please note that supporting documentation must be provided before an application for enrolment is accepted. Please click on the link below for documents needed to support your child's online enrolment.

Norma Petrocco

Principal

All students are invited to participate in the annual talent quest. We have had many students excited to sign up and keen to show off their various talents.

Due to flood damage, the hall is unable to be used. Keeping in line with current COVID safety guidelines, this year's Kingswood's Got Talent is going digital. Students will audition and acts will be selected by Miss Phillips and Miss Gray to be a part of the talent quest.

The selected items will be pre-recorded and then viewed by all students and teachers during Week 10. Due to privacy protection policy, parents will be unable to view these performances. 

Thanks for your ongoing support, Miss Phillips and Miss Gray

Ethics class, provided by the Dept approved provider Primary Ethics, help children to develop skills they need to voice their opinions, consider the ideas of others and to make decisions based on evidence and reasoning rather than habit and peer pressure. Ethics classes are provided at the same time as scripture each week, which is Friday morning 9:20-10:30. Kingswood PS would like to be able to offer Ethics classes again to our students, but we need volunteers to train up and teach. Primary Ethics provides all training and lesson scripts. If you, or someone you know, is interested in this volunteering opportunity please contact Dana Sampath at dana.sampath@primaryethics.com.au.

Premier’s Reading Challenge 

The Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2022 has now concluded. 367 students completed the PRC this year. Well done to you all! Students will receive their Premier’s Reading Challenge Certificate at the end of Term 4.

Library Borrowing 

The Library is open for student borrowing. 

To help protect the borrowed books all students must use a library bag. Bags may be the cloth drawstring type, a PVC library bag available from stores or simply a clean, plastic shopping bag.  

Students in Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2 may borrow 2 books at any one time for a period of two weeks. Students in Stage 3 may borrow 4 books, 2 Fiction and 2 Non-fiction, at any one time for a period of two weeks.  

A borrowing time will be made available to every class according to a weekly timetable. In addition, students may return and borrow books during the lunch break every day of the week.  

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club operates 8 times a year and offers a convenient way for you and your child to select and purchase worthwhile and appealing books, stationery and craft items. Brochure items have been expertly chosen to span a wide range of interests, age groups and reading levels.

Our school library benefits from all purchases made through the Book Club.

Book Clubs LOOP is the Scholastic Book Clubs Linked Online Ordering & Payment platform for parents. This system is now the preferred way to order and pay for your selected items. Please refer to the Book Clubs Loop flyer for more information.

Alternatively, a payment for a Book Club order may be made directly to Kingswood Public School using our POP payment system. In this case, fill in the order form on the back page of the brochure and place it in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and class. Order forms are to be placed in the money slot at the front office before 9am.

If either of the above payment options are not suitable, please fill in the order form on the back page of the brochure and place the order form and correct money in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and class. Envelopes are to be placed in the money slot at the front office.

Please note that your child’s order will return to school approximately four to five weeks after the issue of the month’s Book Club brochure.

Book Club orders for Issue 7 should be delivered shortly.

Mrs Young

Teacher Librarian

World Book Online

Kingswood Public School subscribes to the World Book Web.

Our World Book subscription allows us to give you and your family access to this valuable reference source at your home computers 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

To access the World Book Web, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to www.worldbookonline.com

2. Enter Username: 

3. Enter Password: 

4. Save your user name and password for faster login – simply tick the box labelled “Remember my ID and password”. The next time you visit World Book the login prompt will already contain your username and password.

5. Once you arrive at the World Book home page, you should bookmark the page or add to favourites for easy access to World Book in the future.

To be eligible for a School Opal Card, students may need to live a minimum distance from their school. 

Years K-2 (Infants)

There is no minimum distance.

Years 3-6 (Primary)

1.6km straight line distance or 2.3km walking.

Years 7-12 (Secondary)

2km straight line or 2.9km walking. 

Complete the online application at https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/home#/