Modanville Public School

Dear Parents

Modanville staff are currently working towards the schools External Validation.  This process is carried out in all Department of Education Schools every 4-5 years.  External Validation consists of staff reviewing the schools processes and practices against the School Excellence Framework.  After we have gathered information, two independent Department of Education Principal level staff will review the information and provide feedback.  This feedback as well as parent surveys, students results and other data gathered will form the basis of our 4 year school plan (2021-2024).

During the last few weeks staff have been developing their professional learning skills through completing Visible Learning.  This course, developed on Hattie's work, is around giving students the skills and supporting them, to become independent life-long learners.  Staff have found the material very informative with many good suggestions that are relevant to our learning environment. Modanville staff are continuing professional development in 2020 via on-line methods. This year I have been continuing my university studies with a Graduate Certificate in Digital Education through Queensland University of Technology. 

As we have moved into Term 3, COVID guidelines for NSW Department of Education schools are still in place. Guidelines are determined by the Department of Education in conjunction with NSW Health.

These include:

·         All students should be learning at school unless they are unwell.  If a child is unwell and absent from school for more than 3 days they are required to have a doctors certificate.

·         Students are washing hands prior to entering at the start of the day and at the beginning and end of breaks.  Students are provided with antibacterial wipes after washing hands or during class time.

·         No non-essential people are to be on site, this includes volunteers or parent helpers. If there is an exception, e.g. workmen, other service provider, they are required to complete an External Visitor to School form. 

·         All staff are to social distance, keeping the 1.5m away from all other adults at all times.

·         There is no current use of school facilities for community organisations.  E.g. sporting groups on site or P&C meetings.

·         School events that involve visitors can not be carried out unless an online, or other method can be used.

·         Modanville currently has no Scripture as the Catholic SRE have notified they are not offering scripture at this time.

·         There will be no combined schools sporting events in 2020. 

·         Performing Arts festival and Schools Spectacular have been cancelled for 2020.

·         If you have travelled through Victoria or hotspots within NSW, could you please contact the school prior to your child returning.

These guidelines are updated weekly and at times daily. As changes are made the school will update the details through the Newsletter or Bulletin.

Have a great fortnight,

Modanville Public School Staff

Each fortnight, the staff will be placing parent/ carer information in the newsletter.  This week we are focusing on the Primary School curriculum.

Kindergarten to year 6 are taught from 6 curriculum areas. These include:-

• English
• Mathematics
• Science and Technology
• Personal Development, Physical Education and Health
• Human Society and Its Environment
• Creative Arts.

Each day Modanville students spend 2 hours working towards outcomes from the English area. This includes; Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing, Writing, Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary, Thinking Imaginatively and Reflecting on their learning.

Mathematics takes up 50 min - 1 hour each day. This includes Numeracy (number work), Measurement, Shapes, Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, Probability and Problem solving.

Each of the other 4 Key Learning Areas take up 1-2 hours weekly.

Science and Technology, taught weekly by Mrs Harper, includes the Living World, Material World, Physical world, Earth and Space and Digital Technologies.

Human Society and Its Environment includes History and Geography. 

PDHPE, Personal Development Health and Physical Education includes units around looking after ourselves, sport, fitness, relationships, mindfulness, food, safety, swimming and athletics.

Creative Arts is divided into 4 areas, Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Drama. Currently Mr Blanch is teaching Music and Drama, Mrs Harper teaches Dance and classroom teachers cover Visual Arts.

All expected outcomes for primary school students are divided into 4 sections; these are Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) Stage 1 (Year 1&2), Stage 2 (years 3&4) and Stage 3 (years 5&6).  Therefore students achieve the expected results over a one or two year period.

At Modanville we also explicitly teach expected behaviour through our Positive Behaviour for Learning program. 

Other learning programs that your child may choose to be a part of include, choir, garden activities, chess activities, Student Representative Council, debating team, Tournament of the Minds, Performing Arts Festival, sporting teams, Premiers Sporting Challenge, Premiers Reading Challenge, Book Fair, Public Speaking, Teams Day, Jump Rope for Heart, and Schools Spectacular to name a few we have completed in 2019-2020.

The school has a common theme covered in some of the Key Learning Areas.  In Science all lessons K-6 are focusing on How things grow, including the growth of plants, insects and ecosystems.  In Physical Education our focus is on giving it a go, staying active in sport specifically athletics. In Personal Development the focus is on how to keep myself and others safe.  Our HSIE focus is Geography, specifically How people interact with different places and environment.

Dear Parents/Carers,

In order to manage adults on school grounds due to social distancing requirements, we have come up with the following temporary procedure for parents who wish to purchase uniforms:

1.       Send your uniform request to the school in an envelope, clearly labelled with your child’s name, what you would like to purchase and the size. You will also need to include the money to pay for this.

2.       The office staff will then aim to fill your order in time to send it home with your child in the afternoon (there may be the odd occasion when office staff cannot fit this in to the priorities they have to attend to, in this case they will fill the order hopefully by the following day)

3.       A receipt will be written for the money you have sent in to the school and put with the uniforms.

4.       Please note there will be times when we do not have the size you need and our volunteer parent uniform coordinator will check the supplies and what she needs to order.

School hats: If you do not have a school hat for your child and would like to purchase one for them, please let your child know that the office staff cannot always attend to this purchase first thing in the morning. If you send the request and money in an envelope with your child’s name on it, we will endeavour to get them a hat as soon as we can.

School hats are $10 each             Polo shirts: $20         Blouses:  $35           Dresses: $45        Polar fleece jumpers: $25                Hoodies: $25