KNPS News 2019

In school circles Term 3 is often considered the quieter term. However, there has been nothing quiet about the start of Term 3 for us here at KNPS. We have had the Small Schools Athletics Carnivals, Education Week Open Day, Grandparents Day, High School Transition, Richmond Marketplace performances among others. It really does prove that small Schools equal Big Opportunities!

This busy start to Term 3 is also true for staff who have continued to work hard improving knowledge around the research and best practice which underpins quality instruction of reading in all classrooms K-6. This has resulted in the implementation of a heavily researched and proven method of early years reading instruction - Synthetic Phonics. We are already seeing pleasing results in our K-2 students and staff are all very excited about our progress to date. 

All of this hard work has culminated in us being selected to take part in a research project conducted by the Centre for Education and Statistics and Evaluation and a large number of universities across Australia. The project aims to investigate how research is presented to teachers and how this research is translated into classrooms practice to affect positive student learning outcomes. We are one of only 10 schools across the state selected. We are also the only school in the Hawkesbury as part of this process. Being a part of this project is very exciting as we will receive a masterclass in teaching reading in the early years and have our progress tracked throughout the process. As well as this, our school will develop connections with much larger schools throughout Sydney, allowing us to share resourcing, knowledge and ideas with schools at various stages of Synthetic Phonics implementation within their schools.

We are all obviously very excited about our involvement in the GEMS project and as Principal I am very proud of the results we are already seeing across the school. Kurrajong North Public School is at the cutting edge of research and curriculum delivery and is definitely a very exciting place to be teaching and learning!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our local Rural Fire Brigade. The Kurrajong Heights Rural Fire Service have been conducting hazard reduction burns within the area over the last month. Many of the people within the brigade are volunteers, many of them with connections to our school, and we very much appreciate the time and hard work that goes into keeping our local community safe. It has been a very dry winter and looks to be a difficult summer ahead in terms of bush fire management. Thank you to everyone involved in the Kurrajong Heights RFS!

Mr Carter :-)

Happy Birthday to the following students for the month of August:

1st - Lailah C                                  13th - Austin K

5th - Carys C                                  19th - Florence M

8th - Amelie D                                26th - Holly B

10th - Blake H                                 27th - Amaru H

We hope you all have had, or are going to have an amazing Birthday, with loads of love and presents! 

Aside from the extensive professional learning teachers are undertaking in the areas of Reading and Visible Learning, teachers attended a session in Week 2 hosted by our school and presented by James Burnett. James is an international speaker based in Queensland who is passionate about the teaching and learning of Mathematics. He has spent time in classrooms, has been a lecturer at Queensland University and has authored many books in his field.

During this professional learning session, teachers looked at the way in which the human mind connects new ideas with existing knowledge and how this applies to the teaching of mathematics in our classrooms. Teachers explored the use of visual models like number lines, dot arrays and area models, discovering how these could be used to teach major mathematical concepts like whole numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. Teachers learnt how to use these visual models introduced in previous grades to support new material being presented. 

It was an extremely beneficial session in developing our collective knowledge with plenty of practical tips for teaching mathematics in the classroom. 

We have included some healthy eating snippets below, provided by the Cancer Council. These may give you some inspiration when creating your child's healthy lunchbox. Enjoy! 

During Week 6, beginning Monday 26th August, we recognise and celebrate our School Administrative and Support staff. Our SAS staff play an important role in our school community.

SAS staff work in school offices, in classrooms and libraries, as well as the school grounds. They are on hand to answer any questions over the phone and in person, assist students when they are unwell, support teachers in their roles as well as many other duties. SAS staff also develop an important connection between the school, home and broader community.

During SASS Recognition Week we celebrate our fabulous administrative staff, Mrs Cobcroft (Administration Manager and Jack of all trades) and Mrs Stewart (School Administrative Officer).

Kurrajong North is incredibly lucky to have such dedicated staff who always go above and beyond what is required of them in their respective positions. We would like to acknowledge their hard work and commitment and thank them for all they do to make Kurrajong North Public School the wonderful place it is.

We would also like to thank Mrs Wilson and Miss Nikki our School Learning and Support Officers (SLSO), for the fantastic work they do with our students in their roles. Our students benefit greatly from the extra time spent reinforcing important skills and knowledge to assist them with their work in class.

Mr Josh Higgins and Mr Luarie Formosa are the school’s General Assistants who work hard to keep the grounds maintained and looking beautiful, as well as well as undertaking minor repairs as things break down.

We would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of each of our SASS staff members. Thank you!

Thank you to those who have completed the Interview and Report surveys already. We haven't received an overwhelming response to date, so we have included the links below. We will use this data to determine future directions in terms of how we report back to parents about student achievement and progress. If you haven't already done so, could you please take the time to complete the surveys, it would be greatly appreciated. Combined, both surveys will take less than 10 minutes. 

Thanks :-)

Interview Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HJNVP72

Report Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCQ2PJN

There has been a lot of talk in the community and reports in the media recently about the enrolment of students in government schools in NSW. There have recently been adjustments to the policy and this may affect some of our families over the coming years. It is important to note that the the policy remains largely the same, with a focus on accommodating local enrolments. If you are a local enrolment, there are no changes to the policy other than a more stringent 100 point ID check as proof of address for new enrolments.

For non-local enrolments, there are changes if you intend on enrolling a child in the future. If your child is currently enrolled as an Out of Area enrolment, your child will remain eligible to attend Kurrajong North Public School. If your child is due to start in 2020 or beyond and is Non-Local, they will not be eligible as we have exceeded our enrolment cap. Our enrolment cap is currently set at 53 and this is based on the permanent classrooms that we have at the school. This means that when we have reached our cap, or a are nearing our cap, we cannot take non-local enrolments. This cap does not affect local enrolments. We are able to take as many non-local enrolments as is necessary. 

An information flyer has been attached to this newsletter for your reference. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the office and ask to speak to Mr Carter. 

An interagency project has begun, involving our local community, called Street Connect. This project is focused on developing resilience within the community before a natural disaster occurs. 

An introduction evening is being held as Grose View Public School to provide more information and to launch the project. This evening will be held on Wednesday 4 September, 5.00pm - 7.00pm in the school hall. 

This event is open to all students, parents, teachers or community members interested in participating in the project. The evening will be an introduction to the Street Connect project and an invitation to start developing project ideas. 

The Street Connect project will be a community-led design process to improve our preparedness for disaster on this side of the river. 

At a later date, participants will be invited to attend a design thinking workshop to explore the development of their project idea.

A flyer will be distributed to schools and the community in the near future, however if you are interested, please pencil this date into your calendars. There will be KNPS staff present at this launch evening. 

Congratulations to the Small Schools’ team for their fantastic efforts at the Small Schools’ Carnivals in Week 3. Everyone tried extremely hard and supported each other enthusiastically. We had some fantastic results, with the following students progressing through to the District Carnival which will be held on Wednesday 28 August and Friday 30 August. 

200m - Katie B

100m - Lillian P, Diyanah A, Matilda K, Ethan L, Brayden L, Olivia L and Jaden M

Junior Boys Relay - Ethan L, Brayden L, Oliver O and Kai T

Long Jump - Matilda K, Ethan L and Annabelle E

High Jump - Matilda K Ethan L and Jaden M

Shot Put - Ethan L

Discus - Brayden L and Jaden M

Congratulations to all students who attended the carnival. Great KNPS spirit demonstrated by all!

Good Luck to our students progressing to District as part of the Small Schools team. Go KNPS!