Vardys Voice

Congratulations to all the staff and children during last week’s Harmony Day celebrations. The splashes and dashes of orange throughout the school and the children’s uniforms brought colour to a day that focused on celebrating our wonderfully multicultural community. The special assembly, the classroom decorations and the effort that everyone went to, highlighted how special the day was to everyone. Well done Vardys Road!

As mentioned in previous newsletters, we are consulting with the community about some possible changes to the school uniform. This process aims to address some issues with several existing lines of uniform. A voting form will soon be sent home to determine future directions. A detailed rationale and the process that has been followed can be found by clicking the button following. A hard copy is available at the office.

Our Police Youth Liaison Officer, Senior Constable Bollard, once again spoke to our Stage 2 and Stage 3 students on the importance of Cybersafety. The discussions centred around the importance of knowing who you are speaking to online and using social media platforms appropriately. Parents are reminded that many issues that arise from the use of social media often stem from children using apps that are not designed for their age group. To help parents guide their children in how they use social media, Senior Constable Bollard will be coming out to Vardys Road Public School on Tuesday 21st May for an evening parent information session. More information will be given in upcoming newsletters.

In Term 2, we will be delivering parent information workshops in both gifted and talented education and the teaching of phonics.

In Week 2, a morning information session on how we teach phonics, sounds and decoding within a modern classroom will be offered to interested parents. This has been an area that has changed dramatically over the last decade with much research shedding light on the best ways to teach reading and writing. Come along and find out easy ways to help your children learn how to read.

The SRC is running a fundraiser this Thursday to raise money for the Bear Cottage program.

Bear Cottage is a children’s hospice that supports families with children who have life- limiting conditions. They provide excellent paediatric palliative care 24 hours a day and have been the epitome of support, guidance and care for one of our wonderful families. We are proud to be able to support such an extraordinary service.

Next term we will be hosting a series of after school rugby league clinics. The sporting program will start Wednesday in Week 3 and will continue for six weeks. This will hopefully provide an opportunity for as many children as possible to explore rugby league and consider it as a sport to pursue.

On Monday in Week 2 every class in Years 3 to 6 will participate in a 30 minute rugby league lesson. The students will be introduced to the sport and will be given the necessary information to register for the after school clinics.

Each year Blacktown City Council offer two free plants per household. In previous years Vardys Road parents have taken the opportunity to sign over their plants to the school and in 2017 Vardys Road received over 200 plants that were used to beautify our school grounds.

A note will be sent home offering parents the opportunity to participate in the 2019 program. If you would like to donate your annual plant allocation please complete the note and return it to school by 6th May.

Then we walked to the giraffes. They were very funny. They were bending their necks in a weird way! After that we saw the alpacas, then goats, elephants, pelicans, bees, wallabies, platypuses, turtles, a lizard and a crocodile!

Then in the middle of all of those animals is when we had lunch. After lunch we went on a bus to go back to school.

Yesterday Stage 1 went on an excursion to Taronga Zoo. We went on a big, large bus trip and it was a long time to get there. First we saw a gigantic, strong gorilla! But unfortunately it went inside its home. We got to look at its home but still we couldn’t see it. Next we saw a seal show. The seals who performed were Murphy, Peppa and two more whose names I forgot. After that we saw tall giraffes eating grass. Then we saw the elephants putting dirt on their backs. Did you know that dirt or mud is an elephant’s sunscreen? Finally we saw the bird flight show and it was fun. I wish I could go there again.

On Tuesday many students in Stage 1 went to Taronga Zoo. First we got on the bus. It was a bit boring but eventually we got there. Now was the real fun! We saw koalas. They were cut, furry, some were hungry and some were sleepy. Then we saw the reptile exhibition. The first reptile we saw was a komodo dragon. They were so still it didn't even look like they were real. They looked scaly and spiky. Then we saw the snakes. They looked like a slimy, slithering rope. Then we had a ten minute break for recess. Now we saw the seals. It was amazing! Their names were Diago, Murphy, Pepper and Cisco. Diago did a handstand and a backflip! That was why Diago was my favourite seal. Then we saw the elephants. They were grey, long and wrinkly. One was playing with a ball and the other was covering itself with a sunscreen called mud. They likes plants and shade. Then we saw the sun bear. Her name was Mary. She had a beautiful black coat with brown markings on her chest. She liked sleeping in a shade cave. Then we went on a plane to see tigers. The drivers were a hologram. When we got off the plane there were no tigers! It seemed that they were all hiding. Then we went to the bird enclosures. We saw a big eagle fly above us. We saw lots of birds flying above as well as a white and orange catfish too! Last we had lunch and went home. I had a wonderful time at Taronga Zoo and can't wait until my next excursion.