Holbrook Public School

I hope you all have had a chance to reconnect and recharge over the holiday break and are ready to jump into a busy Term 3 at Holbrook Public School. I look forward to a very productive term with students and staff and to having the community and family members engage in events throughout the term. Some events to look out for are our Book Week and Education Week celebrations, Kindergarten 100-day celebrations, Parent/Teacher interviews, and much more!

Public Speaking
I had the pleasure of being an adjudicator for the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition with Mrs White at the end of the last term. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the students across Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 presenting their speeches to the school on ‘Racism’. I was very impressed by the standard of the speakers and their ability to engage the audience on a very challenging topic. Thanks to Mrs Morgan for supporting our students in engaging in this competition. Good luck to Jonty Ingle, Ollie Cardile, and Will Glass, who will be continuing in the competition this term.

Peer Support
Miss Lavis has been busy planning the two days of Peer Support training for our Year 6 students this term. After the students have completed the leadership training, they will lead our whole school peer support program, which supports the Personal Development component of the curriculum.

Miss Lavis is continuing her holidays and enjoying the warm weather for the next two weeks. Therefore, we will have Miss Austin teaching Year 6 while Miss Lavis is on leave.

Professional Learning
On the staff development day, all staff engaged in professional learning on the new K-2 English and mathematics syllabus, which will be implemented in 2023. This professional learning will be an ongoing focus for all staff throughout Terms 3 and 4 this year.

Mrs Henderson and I have been working on an action plan to integrate digital technologies throughout the school and to align with our current school plan and vision statement.

In Weeks 4 and 6 of this term, all staff will be working with Cathie Egan (Aboriginal Community Liaison) and Tammy Makeham (Aboriginal Education and Wellbeing officer) to engage with the Aboriginal Education Policy, Turning Policy into Action and Aboriginal Culture and Histories to improve staff knowledge and understanding and to support the delivery of the curriculum to improve student outcomes for all students.

Sport
Holbrook Public School will run the Southern Riverina Athletics Carnival on Thursday, 2 August, at the Les O’Brien Athletics Precinct in Albury. Thanks to Miss Lavis and Miss Hemphill for a massive effort in setting up the carnival. Good luck to all the students representing Holbrook Public School on the day.

Congratulations to Mrs Biar and the K/O Netball team for their efforts in the this year's competition. Unfortunately, we went down to Lavington Public School in a close game, but from all reports, the girls gave it their all on the day.

Good luck to Ollie Cardile, who will represent Riverina at the State Cross Country event in Sydney on Friday. We look forward to hearing about the race.

Well done to Chayse Ross, Liam Mohr, and Mr Earl, who represented Holbrook Public School at the Multi-sports Day in Albury last term. It sounded like a fantastic day with many different sports to try and learn.

Louise Purss-Semple
Principal

Dear parents and carers

Welcome to the start of Term 3, after hopefully enjoying a safe and enjoyable winter break. I want to give you an overview of how we are continuing to ensure our school remains COVID-safe throughout this term.

As we continue to prioritise student and staff learning and wellbeing while at school, our layered COVID-smart measures will continue for Term 3. These ‘baseline measures’ are aligned to the NSW Government’s general community settings and include:

• staying home and getting tested if unwell, and only attending school when symptom-free
• strongly encouraging mask-wearing for all staff and students, particularly in the first four weeks of term
• rapid antigen testing for symptomatic students and staff, and close contacts attending school to learn and work
• strongly encouraging COVID-19 vaccinations for students, staff and their families, including a booster shot (when eligible)]
• strongly encouraging students, staff and their families to get a flu vaccination
• strict requirements for close contacts attending school
• good hygiene practices
• maximising natural ventilation
• boosted cleaning during the day, with particular attention given to high touch surface areas
• responding to local COVID-19 conditions when necessary by working with the department’s Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing team.

Continuing these baseline COVID-smart measures allows us to prioritise student and staff wellbeing while giving our learners a consistent and productive learning environment this term.

What’s new in Term 3? As winter continues, our COVID-smart measures have been updated in consultation with NSW Health to provide appropriate protection to our school community.

Vaccinations. The department has updated its policy regarding COVID-19 vaccination for employees following an independent risk assessment of school (and corporate) settings and consultation with unions and relevant stakeholders. While vaccination will no longer be a requirement for our staff from 1 August 2022, it is pleasing to see that a recent survey highlighted that more than 99% of the department’s active school-based workforce have had at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. We will continue to strongly encourage all our staff to keep up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations to protect themselves, students, and our school community.

Boosted day cleaning. The department has made a slight change to its cleaning process. Cleaning of school sites will now be more concentrated during the day, with an increase in cleaning during school hours and a subsequent reduction outside of hours. Boosted day cleaning will continue to focus on high-touch areas and other hard surfaces, door handles, lockers, light switches and handrails in stairways and movement areas.

What’s continuing for Term 3?

Masks. Masks are an effective way of minimising the transmission of respiratory viruses and infections and protecting our community, especially those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and flu. We strongly encourage all students and staff to wear masks for the first four weeks of Term 3, particularly in indoor settings or when distancing is impossible. The latest NSW Health advice also recommends wearing a mask for people who have recovered from COVID-19 and recently completed their 7-day isolation period for an additional three days (from days 8 to 10 after receiving a positive COVID-19 result). Additionally, as outlined in the below section on close contacts, mask-wearing is mandatory for staff and high school students returning to school as close contacts for five school days and strongly recommended for primary school students returning to school as close contacts for five school days. Students or staff identified as close contacts who cannot wear a mask will be supported to learn or work remotely.

Rapid antigen tests (RATs). The department will send another round of RATs to our school early this term, which we will provide you in the form of 1 multipack of 5 RAT kits per student. These RATs can be used as required for symptomatic testing, such as if your child is displaying even mild symptoms. Once these department-supplied RATs are exhausted, please continue to access store-purchased RATs, which are now readily available in the community or PCR tests. Alternatively, let the school know that you need more, and we will try and assist. Additionally, our school will maintain a reserve stock of RATs onsite to support symptomatic testing in the event of an outbreak in our school community. Please also remember that positive RAT results must be registered with ServiceNSW, and students who test positive for COVID-19 must not attend school until their isolation period ends and they are symptom-free.

Close contacts. Students identified as close contacts remain able to attend school, providing they are symptom-free, notify the school and return a negative COVID-19 test result daily for five consecutive school days. Primary students, while not required, are strongly encouraged to wear a mask for five consecutive school days (except when eating/drinking or exercising). Please note that students identified as close contacts are still unable to attend overnight excursions, including camps. Visitors identified as close contacts who are engaging directly with students must return a negative COVID-19 test result before attending our school and wear a mask.

Responding to our local situation. We will continue to liaise with NSW Health and the department’s Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing Case Management team to ensure our COVID-smart settings keep up with the latest developments. If local conditions require it, this may mean reintroducing temporary additional COVID-smart measures to act as a ‘circuit breaker’, including:

• mandating mask wearing for all staff and students in Year 7 and above (high school settings)
• mandating mask wearing for all staff (primary school settings)
• postponing or limiting non-essential activities like excursions, indoor assemblies and visitors to the school
• directing cohorts to learn remotely for short periods of time. 

Maximising natural ventilation. The department has reviewed environmental differences across NSW as part of their winter ventilation planning to ensure that local climatic conditions at each school are considered. The department will continue to provide local guidance to schools, including advice on maximising natural ventilation while balancing thermal comfort and using indoor and outdoor learning areas for school activities to support schools to adapt to local climate conditions throughout the winter.

Reducing the risk of illness this winter. Finally, it is important to note NSW Health’s advice to reduce our risk of not only COVID-19 but other illnesses that may affect our school at this time of year, such as the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), both of which can be serious in younger people. We can all protect our loved ones and our community by:

• staying home and getting tested if unwell or displaying any symptoms
• keeping up to date with our vaccinations – including the flu vaccine, which is available from your local GP, pharmacy or Aboriginal Medical Service now - flu vaccines are free for all children aged six months to under five years, or for a small charge for those aged five years and older
• getting tested immediately for COVID-19 if you become symptomatic and isolating until you receive a negative result and are symptom-free
• practising good hand hygiene by regularly washing with soap and water
• taking a RAT before visiting vulnerable loved ones or attending large gatherings and events.

On behalf of our school, I want to thank you again for your ongoing support and resilience as we continue to work together to support our students.

Louise Purss-Semple
Principal

Every child deserves access to quality and affordable books, and Scholastic Book Club offers great prices with Value Books as low as $3 on every issue of Book Club. Best of all, if you order on Issue 5, you can select FREE BOOKS!

Place your Issue 5 order on LOOP to select up to 3 FREE BOOKS. To qualify, all you have to do is spend over $30, and you can select 1 FREE book, or spend over $50, and you can select 2 FREE books or over $70, and you can select 3 FREE titles from a special online list. The list will display after creating your order and heading to the checkout. See www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP for more information.

Did you know that 20% of your Book Club order goes back to our school in Scholastic Rewards? These Rewards are redeemed on Books and Educational Resources, which helps stretch our budget further.

BOOK CLUB OFFERS ACCESS, CHOICE AND GREAT VALUE TO HELP YOU RAISE INDEPENDENT READERS

Our school partners with Scholastic with the shared mission to teach in children a lifelong love of reading and learning. Through reading, children develop their brains and advance their social and communication skills.

To help your child read independently, start by reading aloud to them and discussing the stories they share. By experiencing the joys of reading in this way, children gain confidence to learn to read for themselves and ultimately to choose their own reading preferences. Once they can select the books that interest them, they are more likely to become lifelong independent readers. Numerous studies have consistently shown that 10 minutes of exposure to reading materials each day is all it takes to shape your child’s future positively.

The 2022 Premier's Reading Challenge ends in just over four weeks (Friday, 19 August 2022), so head into our library and have a look at the great titles in our Premier's Reading Challenge range.

On Monday, 27 June, Holbrook Public School participated in Footy Colours Day. The kids had a great time learning about all things NRL with Courtney and Jackson. We raised $255, which will go to childhood cancer research.

Miss Hemphill

During Term 2, Year 2 were learning about rhythm and beats. They studied how to keep time together, play four continuous beats with crotchets, quavers and rests and explored tone. Students worked closely in small groups to compose an original piece. During Week 10, they were lucky enough to have an opportunity to perform their work for their peers in Year 1 and Kindergarten. Year 2 is to be congratulated on their efforts! It was an excellent way to complete the unit on music.

Mrs Henderson

On Tuesday, 28 June, the Holbrook Public School netball team travelled to Lavington to play a Quarter Final game of the PSSA Netball Knockout against Lavington Public School. It was a tight game, with only one goal separating both teams at halftime and three-quarter time. Unfortunately, we ran out of time, and Lavington Public defeated us 15-12. Well done to Abby for solid defence and Jasmine, our pocket rocket in the mid-court. Congratulations to all the team  (Abigail Pincott, Jessica Frana, Alexus Feltrin, Jasmine Purcell, Hope Liddell, Sybill Triggs, Alice Hearn, Mia Boers, Charlotte Ingram and Belle Lindsay) for again reaching the quarter-finals. 

Please make sure you wash and return your netball dresses to Mrs Biar.

On the last day of Term 2, Holbrook Public School students participated in a NAIDOC activities. The students learnt about various aspects of the indigenous Wiradjuri people and produced work samples to share with other classes. During the day they spent time exploring and learning from each other. In the afternoon, students participated in traditional Wiradjuri games. They faced new challenges and showed resilience when working as a team. Overall the day was a success and enjoyed by all.

Mrs Henderson and Ms McEwan

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