This week is SASS Recognition Week. SASS stands for School Administration and Support Staff. We are so lucky at Orange East to have such a dedicated and skilled group of SAS staff.  The week is a great time to reflect on how essential these fantastic people are to the functioning of our school and supporting the success of our students. Put simply, the school would not be the same without them and the amazing work they do on a daily basis. To acknowledge our SASS team we held a (socially distanced) morning tea today. On behalf of the Orange East community I would like to extend our thanks for their commitment to the school.

Our SASS team consists of:

• Mrs Watson (School Administration Manager)
• Mrs Parkes (School Administration Officer)
• Mrs McNamara (School Administration Manager)
• Mr McGregor (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Mr Visser (General Assistant)
• Mrs Corby (Canteen Supervisor)
• Mrs Bennett (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Mrs Frecklington (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Mrs Bowman (Cleaner)
• Mrs Goodacre (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Mrs Russell (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Mrs McNabb (School Learning & Support Officer)
• Miss Stammers (School Learning & Support Officer)

Year 3 and Year 5 students will participate in a new Reading and Numeracy check-in assessment in Term 3, 2020.

The Check-in Assessment is a NSW Department of Education online Reading and Numeracy assessment designed to support schools to assess and monitor Year 3/5 student learning following the period of learning from home. The Check-in Assessments will supplement existing school practices to identify how students are progressing in literacy and numeracy and to help teachers tailor their teaching specifically to student needs.

• The assessment will be scheduled for our Year 5 students from 17 August to 4 September 2020.

• The assessment will be scheduled for our Year 3 students from 21 September to 23 October 2020.

Students will be supported to the same extent of their regular classroom assistance during the assessment. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further information.

In accordance with advice from NSW Health and Education Department guidelines, parents and carers are reminded NOT to send children to school if they are unwell, even if they have the mildest flu-like symptoms. Schools will make arrangements for students who present as unwell or have flu like symptoms to be sent home immediately.

Students and staff with flu like symptoms must provide a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result or a letter from their doctor before being permitted to return to school. I appreciate the angst and difficulty that this may cause to families and would ask for your continued support if you are contacted by our school staff. These are difficult guidelines that are far from normal school processes that we are working through and as such we are making every effort to work through the requirements carefully with clear communication.

A more detailed version of the updated guidelines including links to further information was sent out as an update on the school app last week and can be found at: https://enewsletter.skoolbag.com.au/78a8c73f

I am very grateful for your patience in what has been a very different year for our children, families and community. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call me on 6362 7464.

Today I was lucky to be passing through 2 Koala's room while they were sharing their writing work. The focus was on using clear paragraphs with correct punctuation. I heard some wonderful examples of their work with great descriptive language and interesting ideas. In the picture above you can see Jonah, Jay and Xanthie showing some great examples.

Have a great week,

Glen Bourke

All new OEPS logo uniforms are now available to purchase through quickcliq.

Anyone who is already doing canteen orders will see a new tab at the top called uniforms. Any item purchased can either be collected by the parent or handed to the child. We will be completing orders on a Tuesday and/or Thursday. 

On occasion, the school is informed by community members of students moving to and from school in an unsafe way. While we love to see students being active and walking or riding to/from school where it is possible, we need to work together as a community to ensure that our children understand and have the road-sense skills required to make this a safe activity. For this reason, over the next couple of months I will be sharing useful resources via the newsletter to encourage families to have important road safety discussions. The following website also has some very useful information and further links.

https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/children/index.html

We urge parents and carers to keep child/ren at home if they are feeling unwell, particularly if they have a cold, fever, cough, sore throat, any respiratory illness or flu-like symptoms. We are excited to have our child/ren back at school but we also have a priority to ensure our staff and students are kept healthy and safe. Also, if your child/ren arrive at school unwell or fall ill during the day, the office staff will call you to pick the child/ren up as soon as possible. 

The procedures are in place to protect the wellbeing of all members of the school community and remain of critical importance.

An important early notice to all parents and carers about a variation of one of our Term 4 Staff Development Days. Due to the opportunity for our teachers to attend a special professional development opportunity also involving three other schools in town, we will be holding a Staff Development Day (pupil free) on Friday, 16th October (first Friday of Week 1 Term 4). Students will not be attending on this day. In place of this day, students will attend one extra day in the final week of Term 4 on Thursday, 17th December. This will be the last day of school for OEPS students this year. Please contact the office if you have any questions.

OEPS Quaran-Cook Book

One thing we all learned about lock-down was that everyone seemed to develop a new-found love of cooking. We thought that this would be a great time to capitalise on all of the masterchefs out there and create the OEPS Quran-Cook Book, a wonderful momento of a very interesting year!

The idea is simple – send us your best recipes with collection starting last term. Recipes MUST be handwritten or typed (not a photocopied page out of Jaime Oliver’s latest). Recipes should be emailed to: orangeeastpublicschool-Fund@pandcaffiliate.org.au, handed into the school office or can be entered directly into the Google Form (link below). You can send more than one recipe and we will make every effort to ensure as many as possible are included – however please be aware that in some instances some submissions may not be included (double-ups, too many in one category, etc). We will post regular updates about the number of recipes received in each category, which may help decision making around your submission.

Recipe categories include: Desserts/Cakes, One Pot Wonders, Quick Meals (10 minutes or less), Free Foods (GF, sugar free, allergy free, dairy free, etc), Slow Cooker or Fancy Foods.

Google Form Link - https://forms.gle/HVJ1MXQQUyVWnqmE9

For inclusion in the book, recipes must be sent by Tuesday, 1st September. Recipes should include an ingredients list and cooking method. We are hoping to sell the cook book at approximately $15 – pending final production costs.

Clothing Pool

Please be aware that the Clothing Pool is open every Thursday from 8:40 - 9:10am and again from 2:30 - 3:10pm in the afternoon.

A reminder to please ensure that you observe correct social distancing, including sanitation of hands and cough/sneeze etiquette.

Next Meeting

Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month during school term starting at 6:30pm. At the moment due to Covid restrictions meetings are being held via Zoom video conference.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 15th September starting at 6:30pm.