ENewsletter

Principal's report

The 2020 school year is a historical year for our school community. In the history of the school, we have never had so many students. We have 66 students in our 3 classes.

The new school year has seen a change in our staffing, and a total of 12 new students have been welcomed to our school. Please take the time to welcome them as you come across them.

At the first P&C meeting I was able to describe in a general way how well our students are going. One benchmark is the NAPLAN results. At Meadow Flat Public School, the students are achieving so well in reading and numeracy that we have achieved the Premier's priorities. Our students continue to show grow between the Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN.

Supporting our teachers to be the best teachers they can be will remain a top priority for the school. Already this year we have seen them attend a number of professional learning activities. They have been working with teachers from across the state to improve students' reading, vocabulary, music skills and mathematics. As the year continues, it will be amazing to watch the students continue to improve their abilities.

2020 staffing

Teaching team:

Principal – Mr Michael Wood

Platypus classroom teacher (Kindergarten and Year 1) – Mrs Jennifer Gale

Bilby classroom teacher (Years 2 and 3) – Mrs Kate Burns

Wollemi classroom teacher (Years 4 to 6) – Miss Eleanor Black

Release from face to face teachers – Miss Brittani Hotham (Platypus and Bilby on Fridays), and Mrs Liz Jenkins (Wollemi every 2nd Monday).

Support team:

School administration manager – Mrs Hayley Kelly (Monday to Thursday) and Mrs Tami Bennett (Fridays)

School administration officer – Mrs Kerry Marshall (Wednesday)

Student learning support officer – Mrs Kerry Marshall (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) and Mrs Leanne Walsh (Monday and Wednesday)

General assistant – Mr Peter Wade

School captains' report

This year there has been a few new changes to our school. We have welcomed eleven new kindergartens, they are settling in very well. We also welcome all the new monitors. There is farm, music, library and new technology monitors. The Wollemi classroom has a new teacher her name is Miss Eleanor Black. She teaches nine days a fortnight.

There is new concrete in the assembly area and a path leading to the C.O.L.A. In March, there is a stage three camp to Canberra. We are very excited to go. We have had our small schools swimming carnival and congratulate the kids who participated. Well done to the district swimmers who swam last Friday.

Ava and Eilish
Year 6

Sports captains' report

In the last few weeks it has been a fun time. Being the 2020 sport captains has been amazing. We have already successfully accomplished the small schools swimming carnival. Well done to all those who participated.

We are very proud of of the 6 students from Meadow Flat Public School that have made it to district swimming carnival at Bathurst. Those students are Max, Anna, Charlie, Caitlyn, Eilish and Toby. To everyone that went to the swimming carnival, great job.

James and Molly

Year 6

Farm monitors' report

By Brae and Ellie

This year the farm monitors are Brae, Ellie, Felix and Lilly. We have eight chooks in total, and are excited for the new chooks to lay some amazing eggs so we can send them to the Royal Easter Show. The show is in Sydney from the 3rd of April to the 14th. We are preparing the garden for the winter veggies and hopping to get some amazing veggies to cook in our school canteen. We also have been getting grass seed on the lawn. We are thankful the rain has filled up our tanks and has given all the paddocks around us a wonderful green tinge.

By Lilly and Felix

This year the farm monitors have eight chickens. We feed the chickens Red Hen chook food and lots of water. Both of the pens are very sturdy so nothing can get in or out unless we let them in or out. We are preparing the veggie patch for the winter veggies. We take good care of the chickens, and the six new chickens are going to the Sydney Royal Easter show if they lay enough eggs.

Library monitors' report

Many people have been borrowing from our school library. We have received some new books for our lovely little library. One of the new books is Through the Smoke by Phil Cummings and Andrew McLean. In this lovely book, a fire awoke when 3 kids and a dog were exploring a field. Also we have Wish which is written by Elice Arena. It is about a birthday and he made one wish to make his mum better after she has been sick.

Make sure you pack your library bags then you will get a sticker on the chart and don’t forget your nutsy. Mr Wood and Miss Marshall are buying all these books so make sure you look after them and put them in the right spot .

By Jordyn and Tayah

Many people have been borrowing from our school library in term one and we hope that children will continue borrowing and reading our lovely books. We have had some new books brought in to our school library. For K/1, we have heads and tails insects by John Canty. It is about insect’s tails and you have to guess what the insect is. You can only see my tail. What insect am I? Follow the clues to discover which beautiful insect awaits you on the next page!

We also have lots of other books in our school library. The library monitor’s have worked very hard to make the library a great place for children to enjoy reading our lovely books.

Ali and Tash

Year 5

Music monitors report

This term we have in Wollemi done a fair bit in music. We have learned about a conductor named Richard Gill. We have had two music lessons and the music monitors have put away the instruments and tidied the area. We have played the percussion instruments like the little drums and shakers.

Mrs Gale has been teaching some students recorder. In recorder, we are learning three song come if you Dare, Concertino Bianco and In the Serpentine Mine. We were going to play in the Sydney Opera house but it’s having renovations, so we are performing in the Sydney Town Hall on the Monday 25th August and it will cost $22.50.

By Joey and Ollie

Year 5

Technology monitors report

Dash robots and other technological stuff

The Dash robots are interesting little robots consisting of 4 blue and orange spherical parts. They connect to an iPad app called “Path”. Using the Path app, you can draw paths that the robots will attempt to follow in real life. If they bump into something, you can tell them to either stop or attempt to push it. The Year 6 students helped the Kindergarten kids learn how to use the robots and we had lots of fun. Some of the kids even wanted to make the robots run into Miss Gale.

We’ve also have some 3D printers on loan. There’s also little blue-bots, which we haven’t quite used yet either.

In summary, we’re especially excited to use our new technology this year, and we can’t wait to toy around with them.

This year we have bought more technology including iPads, three types of robots including dash bots, blue bots and Lego bots and two 3D printers. The iPads are used to control the dash bots, Lego bots and the blue bots. The dash bots are usually played with the K/1s and the year six’s help them play. The Blue bots haven’t been used yet but the technology monitors are learning how to use them. The Lego bots have been used by the 2/3s and the technology monitors are learning how to use them. The 3D printers have been set up and we have used the website on the laptops to create what we want with the 3D printer.

Toby, Katie, Kane, Aiden, and Matilda

Year 6

3D printing

Wollemi Technology

By Couper and Nina

We have begun using computers daily each week for maths and English. In maths we have been using computers to help practice our abilities learn about place value and multiplication. We have been learning about poetry like the wild robot ,the lost thing and the best part of me .

By Couper and Nina

At the start of Term 1 we started to learn about 3D printing. We firstly learned how it works and how to use it. Then we found a website called Tinkercad that let us design new things to print on the 3D printer. We’re still learning about the 3D printer and how to use it to project pictures we have made. At the moment we are thinking about making lovely things for Mother's Day and hope our mothers like them. We hope that this report will encourage other students to really try their hardest when they are able to use the 3D printer themselves.

For Term 1, Wollemi has been leaning about 3D printing. We are still in the middle of learning how to print all sorts of cool things. It has got the whole class into the subject.

By Jada and Caitlyn

To design you need to go in to Google Chrome and type tinker cad. After that you type your school or work email or address then type your computer or mobile password then get ready and design all the cool thing you can think of. We been experimenting with the designs and have started printing something specials for Mother's Day.

By Lachy S and Marlin

This term we have been learning about robotics.

We have learnt to use a robot called dash. It was super fun until we had to stop. You have to programme the robots on an iPad to make them move around and spin.

You trace a line on the iPad and dash follows it around.

A few days ago, the Year 6 students went to teach the Kindergarten students how to use dash. They said it was great fun.

By Jayrod Evans and Lachlan D

Platypus - Technology

K/1 Platypus class enjoyed an afternoon of fun and learning about coding with Dot robots and Stage 3 students.

Here are some of their comments.

Millie- you could name it and record it

Alex- we made the robots go crazy

Lyndall- I made a circle and it kept crashing into everything

Emery- That was really really fun

Oliver- When I tapped on the green button, it moved again

Harrison – There were all these buttons down the buttons and the code up the top and you had to press the code in the right order

Jake- to move there was a little white button on the top and when we tapped it it moved

Ayden- You also can make it go “Whoooo whoooooo”. You put the things on the road.

Violet- You had to put your finger on there and drag the line so you could make the track

Isaac- when you pressed it on the top it would drive

Blair- You can unlock different places by getting better

Sienna- I got to draw a path to Mrs Gale and the robot nearly crashed into her!

Liam- you could go on a farm and a racetrack and wherever you want.

Ayden- all of them were unlocked

Bilby Class - Technology.

As part of our STEM program, Bilby students have been developing their coding skills by programming Blue-Bots and Lego creations to follow instructions. Students have really enjoyed using this technology and have demonstrated some very creative thinking.