Dear Parents
I am extremely proud to be the principal at Punchbowl Public School and in the last couple of weeks I have been thoroughly impressed by the strength and resilience of the student, parent and community body in the wake of the devastating attack in New Zealand. I congratulate you all.
Did you know that our school has our very own YouTube channel? This week, we uploaded a new clip regarding Harmony Day and the celebrations that we undertook across the school. I know that this has been shared on Facebook already but please take another look when you have a moment. We had a week-long celebration with our students and in every classroom from preschool to year 6 there were beautiful artworks created that celebrated the rich and diverse community we live in. Have a look here and if you’re not a subscriber to our Facebook page, now is the time.
School Plan and Preschool Quality Improvement Plan
As a school we work with our community to constantly improve the educational outcomes of our children. The teachers are working very hard and are about to undertake a lot of professional learning in mathematics. We will be sharing more of our journey with you as the months pass but can I direct you please to two very important documents that guide all of the decisions we make as a school. Both of these documents have recently been updated for 2019 and are the 2018-2020 School Plan and the Preschool Quality Improvement Plan. Please take a look and if you have any suggestions please come and share them at the office.
Enrolments for 2020
Will your child be enrolling in our preschool in 2020? I know this may be a long way away but I encourage you to enrol your child as early as possible. I recently spoke with the P&C and we have changed the preschool enrolment procedure so that children who have siblings in our primary school are given priority over those attending other schools. Our preschool is very popular because it provides an excellent educational environment with amazing teachers and programs. Preschool enrolments for 2020 will open Day 1, Term 2 and if you would like a place for your child please reserve it by filling in an Application to enrol in a NSW Government preschool. The link will take you to the enrolment form which has been translated into 16 different languages or you can come to the office and collect one. Enrolments are open to all children who will turn 4 on or before 31 July 2020. Sadly, we still have over 20 children on our preschool waiting list for 2019. I don’t want any family with children currently in our primary school to miss out so please don’t wait until it is too late. If you need help, please ask at the office.
Whooping Cough (Pertussis)
We are all concerned about the safety and wellbeing of your children. You may or may not know but whooping cough (also called pertussis) began increasing across NSW towards the end of 2018, especially in children between the ages of 5 and 14 years. NSW Health anticipates that this increase will continue into 2019.School-aged children who are infected with whooping cough usually experience a troubling cough that can persist for months, but they rarely get severe illness. However they can spread the infection to younger siblings and other more vulnerable people, who are at higher risk of severe disease. Whooping cough can be a life threatening infection in babies.What can you do to prevent whooping cough?
Make sure vaccinations are up to date for all family members.Be alert for symptoms of whooping cough..Keep coughing kids home, to prevent them spreading the infection to others, and see your GP to get them tested for whooping cough.For more information on Whooping Cough and vaccination visit the
NSW Health Website.
Until the next edition of Punchbowl Press, please continue to take good care of one another and stay safe, happy and healthy. We are here to help if we can so please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you need assistance of any kind.
Dace Elletson
Principal
