Parents, carers and community, 

Every year Education Week is a superbly active and busy time in any school. This year was not any different in terms of the excitement and opportunities, but we do sincerely miss the presence of our families in our school as we celebrate the fine work of Public Education in New South Wales and in particular at Valentine Public School.  This week we released a collective video that showcased the expressions of learning from our students around the Covid 'at home' learning period. It was a wonderful way to allow our children to express their feelings, thoughts and concerns around this period of time. I'm sure you will be impressed with the expressions that range from pottery right through to videos about toilet paper. Each and every child contributed to a collective school message that “We are okay, we are still learning but our eyes are open in terms of what is happening around us right now”.  

We also took the opportunity to release a series of celebration videos, capturing what is happening in each stage across the school. This term we are all learning about the concept of Global Citizenship and what it means to be a global citizen in 2020. Each stage were given an opportunity to share with our community some of the teaching and learning activities that are happening around this concept. I would like to publicly thank our teachers for the work that they do in our school as they are the reason why our children are producing such quality as they strive to improve their learning outcomes. 

On Wednesday we were truly honoured to be Facebook live streaming and connecting via Zoom to our new Relieving Deputy Secretary of New South Wales Department of Education, Ms Cathy Brennan and the Regional North Executive Director Tim McCallum as well as our Director of Educational Leadership, Lake Macquarie East, Mrs Sharon McFarlane who was on site witnessing what we were getting up to. You can find our half hour video showcasing these very important educational leaders on our Facebook page and some examples of the quality teaching and learning that occurs on our site each day.  

Our special guests were greeted in our foyer where Coco was busy answering phone calls in the background. We then walked over to the top COLA where we were treated with an amazing performance around the importance of feeling included and respected by our drama group, led by Miss Baillie. It was such an emotional performance.  

Our school leaders then lead Mrs McFarlane and the other audience through to our canteen to meet Miss Ilze our amazing Canteen Manager. They then stopped by the PBL board to read this week's positive affirmation for the whole school and then entered the Library/Media Centre.  

In what looked like a WOW moment because there were a lot of children in our library at the time, it was actually very authentic because this is what happens each week at our school. The school leaders visited each workstation showing our educational leaders our students participating in lessons using our very new class set of VR, children coding the robots in the arena, children producing items from the 3D printer, children making iMovie's with a very professional green screen, children using the Scratch program and Minecraft to build the International Space Station or rockets. 

Congratulations to all teachers and students who were involved in this half hour showcase that has allowed our whole school community plus our School Director and educational leaders to come into our school virtually and see us in action. 

Thank you to Nick, Brodie D, Alessia R and Maddison H who were so talented at hosting this event. 

I know that last week I spoke about the traffic congestion in Berringar Rd and the problems that we have been having at pick up time. This week I have some very exciting news. Our journey towards a Kiss and Ride process for our school has literally taken more than two years but we have been relentless in ensuring it comes to fruition.  

We are on the agenda for this Tuesday's Road and Traffic Meeting at Lake Macquarie City Council who will consider our application for the longest Kiss and Ride that has so far been tabled with the council. The bus company has agreed to change the times that the bus stop at our back gate will be operational, making way for the council to be able to deem it a Kiss and Ride Zone.  

We are very confident that the council will support this application and that a Kiss and Ride will be established as soon as possible. 

I would like to thank the office of Yasmin Catley, Member for Swansea, as they have been instrumental in ensuring that all parties play their role to ensure that this happens.  

Once our application has been processed we will begin conversations with New South Wales DoE Assets to discuss the building of a covered space near the back fence for our children to wait under until their car ride is ready. 

We are so excited to launch our VPS School Roads and Traffic Plan which will bring so much more order to our entries and exits. 

What an exciting time for our school. 

Warm Regards, 

Mrs Saurins 

Principal ​

Miss Carter

My name is Breanna Carter and I am in my fourth year of studying a Bachelor of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the University of Newcastle. I will be spending the first five weeks of Term 3 working with 2AJ. My goal as a teacher is to create a safe and fun learning environment where students feel comfortable to further develop their knowledge and try new things.

Ever since my first day of Kindergarten, I have always wanted to become a teacher. I have a range of experience working with children ages 0-13. I have worked at early childhood centres located in Lake Macquarie, taught school dance programmes for 4 years in schools and taught at a dance studio for 10 years (and counting!). With my experience, I have had the opportunity to run my own pre-school department at the studio which involves developing new and exciting dance programmes for children aged 0-5.

Whilst I am here at VPS, I am running a K-6 lunchtime dance group on Mondays and Fridays. I hope to inspire and spread the love of dance to the students at VPS.

I am looking forward to working with the staff and students here at VPS. I cannot wait to share new and exciting learning experiences with your child in the next coming weeks.

Miss Cavill 

Hello! My name is Rebecca  and I am completing my teaching internship at Valentine Public School. I am in my final year of my Primary and Early Childhood teaching degree at Newcastle University. I am very excited to be teaching Year 5/6V this term. I have a passion for teaching but I also love travelling, gymnastics and my dogs. If you see me around come and say hi!