Pendle Pages

Dear Parents/Carers,

Our building works are progressing very rapidly and we hope to be using the new classrooms by the beginning of next year. Thank you to everyone for assisting movement through the playground by leaving the assembly area as soon as the bell goes each morning.  The slab for the top level of classrooms will be laid over the next few weeks and then the building will really begin to take shape.

As our new classrooms can be used as open plan spaces we are working with teachers to develop skills in collaboration and future focused learning. Future-focused learning prepares students across all curriculum areas and learning stages with skills and capabilities to thrive in a rapidly changing and interconnected world. It connects students and engages their sense of curiosity. Future-focused teachers know and understand the needs and talents of their students. They are flexible and select from a range of effective teaching strategies. Future-focused learning environments inspire students to be leaders of their own learning. Students collaborate and use critical and creative thinking to solve complex problems and become mindful global citizens.

Thank you for sending you child to school in correct school uniform. Winter jackets and jumpers school be in school colours. All students are able to wear long pants. If girls choose to wear the winter dress they should wear footed tights or socks with the dress. Leggings should not be worn under the dress. It is good for children to ear layered clothing which they can remove as the day warms. Two to three layers of clothing are usually sufficient as classrooms are heated and can become quite warm.  Remember to label all items of clothing with your child’s name and check the lost property bins near the uniform shop if your child is missing items of clothing.

We have started to take enrolments for Kindergarten 2020 and expressions of interest for preschool 2020. Forms can be collected at the school office. Please note the information in this newsletter detailing eligibility for Kindergarten and preschool.

Gabrielle Buczynski            

Dates for the Diary

Term 2

Week 5

Friday                   31/5    Cricket Clinic - Stage 2 and Stage 3 Home Sport

Week 6

Wednesday         5/6     CTA Choir Rehearsal - Greystanes

Friday                   7/6     Cricket Clinic - Stage 2 and Stage 3 Home Sport

Week 7

Monday              10/6   Public Holiday

Tuesday              11/6    P & C Meeting 2pm

Wednesday        12/6    Left Off! Year 2 (3.30pm-7.00pm)

Wednesday        12/6   Stage 3 Camp - Canberra

Thursday            13/6      Stage 3 Camp - Canberra

Friday                 14/6       Stage 3 Camp - Canberra

Week 9

Monday             24/6    Stage 2 Excursion - Featherdale Wildlife Park

Thursday           27/6     K-2 Dog Safety Lesson

Friday          28/6           Reports Home

Week 10

Friday            5/7            Last Day of Term

Last Tuesday we celebrated Mum's, Grandmothers, Aunties and all of the important women in our lives. The morning began with parents and children decorating a slip of paper to cover a small pot. Messages of love and gratitude were seen across all of these beautiful pot covers. Mrs Mulligan and Mrs Wierzbicki planted some flowering plants in the pot for our families to take home and care for. 

Our families enjoyed some games and reading time together before students went back to class and our Mum's enjoyed a well deserved morning tea.

It was wonderful to see so many Mum's enjoying the morning together. The activity and the morning tea were a great success! Thank you to everyone who came and made the morning so special.

Thank you to the committee of teachers who planned and organised the event:-

Mrs Wierzbicki, Mrs Concha, Miss Debrincat, Mrs Ronquillo, Mrs Mulligan and

Mrs Buczynski

Preschool are learning lots of things about our worm farm. We like collecting fruit and vegetable scraps at morning tea and lunch to feed the worms. Aiden brought in some scraps from home to feed our worms. We are learning that the worm wee is great for our plants. We can use the worm wee to water our garden.

Mrs Borg and Ms Faorlin are the class teachers of KB and KW, with Mrs Thompson and Mrs Michon as our wonderful student learning support officers (SLSO). We have some fast facts on these amazing teachers, as well as some pictures of what the students have been doing in class.

In the last newsletter, you may have already read about the fabulous Staff Development Day the teachers participated in on the first day back at school.

The Lift Off program is now underway and students across the school have been designing and making their listening sticks. The listening sticks are a great way to communicate. There is some ideas in the picture below. 

Year 1 have used the talking sticks to make their writing more detailed. They have focused on using adjectives to describe their own listening sticks. Have a look at their amazing creations and their writing below.

38 students represented Pendle Hill at the zone cross country trials. All students were very well behaved and encouraged each other in quite hot conditions. With 100 children in each race, our students ran their best and were supported by others students and parents.

Siddarth in 3C will represent our school at the regional cross country tirals. He came 8th in the 8/9 years boys race. 

Congratulations to all our the students that participated and thank you also to Mrs Russell and Mrs Concha for organising such a successful day.

This week is National Reconciliation Week.

This year the theme is 'Grounded in Truth, Walk together with Courage'.

Our school leaders and SRC were responsible for the assembly and they were able to give us some further insight into what reconciliation means. There is a video below and a link to the reconciliation website if you would like some further information.

This term we are proud to be working with Karabi Community and Development Services Inc. to provide the students of Pendle Hill PS with a BREAKFAST CLUB.

Students need to return a permission note, which has dietary requirements, to attend the breakfast.

Breakfast Club will swerve breakfast between 8.30am and 8.45am THURSDAY mornings, in the school hall. 

We are also looking for parents to volunteer to serve breakfast and cleaning up the hall afterwards. Please return the note if you are able to help between 8.20-9.10am on Thursday mornings.

Our community has continued to be generous to our country neighbours, by supporting the "Dress as a Farmer' day. Together we raised $355.30 and this much needed money will go towards drought impacted areas in NSW and throughout Australia. 

Thank you for your support

Thank you to all of the students and families that entered the Penny Possum Ticket competition. The winning designs have now been copied onto the tickets are being used to fill up the Poss Boxes in each classroom. 

Each class has a box to collect their Penny Possum tickets for following our school expectations: Helpful, Safe, Respectful Learners. when the box is filled with tickets the class choose a reward that they suggested earlier in the term. 

All classes are off to a great start.

Keep on filling those boxes up Pendle Hill! 

KR worked hard to earn Penny Possum awards through Term 1 and 2 and they filled up their Poss Box last week. KR celebrated their first Penny Possum award by having a class picnic. . KR told me that they were earning Penny Possum tickets by doing the following things:-

- using quiet voices in class

- putting hands up and waiting 

- trying hard to finish work

Congratulations KR - keep on being helpful, safe, respectful learners!

We are collecting Earn and Learn stickers. If you shop at Woolworths, please bring your Earn and Learn stickers to school. We have a collection box in the office. There are over 10,000 educational products for our school to choose from. The more stickers we have, the more we can order.

This has been really successful in the past and we appreciate your support for the school.

It is important for students to be on time and at school every day, every possible day. Being at school is vital for your child's understanding of concepts and learning new skills. Have you ever thought about what happens if your child is often late, or absent, without an adequate reason? 

The graph below looks at how attendance can impact reading. In summary, the more days you are at school, the better achievement in reading will be. It makes sense!

Remember, the school needs to be notified of any absences. You can do this by:

Writing a note 

Calling the school

Sending a message through Skoolbag

Speaking to your child's teacher

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