Doolooboorah

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Congratulations to Sophie F, Tao E and Ellie E who represented Harbord at the Sydney North Regional Cross Country Carnival. They ran extremely well with Sophie taking out 9th position, Tao 18th and Ellie 25th. Thanks to Mr Holmes, Mrs St Pierre,  and Mr Davis for supporting our Cross Country Team.

Last week, we held our P&C AGM and many of our long-standing P&C members stepped down as their child is now in Year 6. We fondly farewell Mrs Heather Lawson, our P&C President, who has supported our school and community with her tireless energy, enthusiasm and passion for over ten years. We also say goodbye to Mr Rob Nicoll who has been responsible for the many P&C Working Bees and has assisted as a panel member on recruitment panels for our school. Mr Phil Fylan also stepped down as Treasurer this year and we are so grateful for his efforts last year with COVID and JobSeeker payments for our P&C employees, including OOSH. We warmly welcome Mrs Louise Hall as our new Harbord P&C President. You will all know Louise as she has been instrumental in sustainability initiatives at the school. Please see the P&C section of the newsletter for our other successful P&C office bearers for 2021. We look forward to working in partnership with them.

Thank you to Sandie Rose Castle and our band students for their amazing performances at the Northern Beaches Music Festival which has been held over the last two weeks at Pittwater High School. Thank you to Sandie, the band committee, students and parents for supporting our band program.

Next term, some of our classes will continue to consider the use of plastic in our lives and participate in Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS). Teachers have been engaged in professional learning with Dr June Maker and Randy Pease using this teaching model. They have considered the use of plastic as it relates to our science curriculum and will ask students to take on the perspective of different stakeholders.

Susan Tickle

Principal

We will be holding our first K-2 Banner Assembly for 2021 in Week 10 (23/6/21) of this term. All awards must be handed to Mrs Miller by Thursday this week (10/6/21). Any awards handed in after this date will be awarded at our Banner Assembly in Semester 2.

The 3-6 Banner Assembly will be held in Week 1 of Term 3 (14/7/21). All awards must be handed to Mrs Yates by Wednesday Week 9 (16/6/21). As with the K-2, any awards handed in after the cut off date will be presented in Semester 2.

One parent from each family of the students being presented with an award, will be invited to attend the assembly. An email will be sent with all information. Please ensure that you RSPV so that we can arrange seating to accommodate social distancing.

On Saturday the 29th of May we held a working bee at school. It had been more than 18mths since the last working bee had taken place! We had lots of families turn up to help. The amount of weeding and removal of waste that took place was amazing!

Thank you to Louise (P&C President), Mrs Robertson, Miss Young and Mrs Smith for helping to organise the event and again a huge thank you to all of the families that came to help.

We look forward to holding another working bee later in the year when the weather warms up again.

Over this fortnight I have had many students visit and share their amazing writing. I have been blown away by the progress our Kindergarten students have made. They have all been working hard to write a recount of the fairy tales they have read.

Some Year 1 students wrote about how they have made connections to stories they have read. Another Year 1 class was working on their descriptive writing with the focus on using adjectives and similes. All students should be very proud of their wonderful efforts.

Lisa Miller

Deputy Principal

Harbord has had a high level of participation and success in many areas of sport.  This term, we have had many students participate in state knock out competitions.  Thank you to the teachers who have made this possible with additional practices and coordination with other schools.  Thank you to the parents who have assisted with getting students to these events.  And congratulations to our students who have represented our school displaying respect, responsibility and personal best.  Our sport coordinators make a point of acknowledging you at our morning lines as we are very proud of your efforts and successes.

While our teachers continually create quality engaging teaching and learning programs, often our programs benefit from consolidating all the skills and content learnt with an incursion/excursion. This week, Year 4 have benefited from a highly successful incursion building a billy cart.  Students put to use their collaborative and cooperative skills while considering the physical aspects of what makes a billy cart move.  

Next week, our student leaders will be attending the Northern Beaches Learning Alliance leadership camp.  At this camp, our student leadership team learn to work together and create a plan for how they can make a change at Harbord PS.  We look forward to hearing what they learnt and what they would like to put into practice.

For multiple Wednesdays this term, the Year 5 classes are buzzing as they are working with Year 9 buddies on Project Penguin.  The Mackellar students have been mentoring our Year 5 as they work to research and develop a solution to solve a problem related to the Fairy Penguin colony at Manly.  This collaborative project has been running for many years building connections between local primary and high schools as well as seeing the impact on student learning when exploring a community issue.  Next week, all Year 5 students will visit Taronga Zoo for the official presentation and celebration of student work.

A feature of the public education system in NSW is the opportunity to provide time in class for education in ethics, faith and morality from a religious or non-religious perspective at the choice of parents.

The school website https://harbord-p.schools.nsw.gov.au  provides information on these options to support parent/carer choice.

At Harbord we offer:

·         Protestant Scripture K-6

·         Catholic Scripture K-6

·         Ethics Y1-6 (subject to availability)

Students not attending the above will engage in non-curriculum activities.

For more information about Special Religious Education (SRE) and Special Education in Ethics (SEE), including the list of approved providers, please visit: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/religion-and-ethics

To minimise the disruption to Scripture and Ethics classes, we can accommodate changes twice per year. Students will continue the same arrangement as the previous year or semester, unless a parent/carer has requested a change in writing.

If you would like to make a change, please complete the attached form.

Changes to scripture/ethics are due Friday 11 June. 

Danielle Yates

Deputy Principal

‘Walk Safely To School Day’ (Friday 14th May, 2021) was a whole school initiative to help teach students and families the benefits of being ‘active’ for overall health and to teach important ‘Road Safety’ rules, vital for the safety of all students.

This important annual event is supported by the Australian Government and all State, Territory and Local Governments.

Why Teach ‘Road Safety’?

‘Road Safety’ is a significant health issue for young children. The leading cause of accidental death and injury for children is road-related crashes.

The two most important messages on ‘Walk Safely To School Day’ are:

• ‘Active kids are smarter kids.’
• ‘Until they’re ten, children must always hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road.’

At Harbord Public School, we have always encouraged everyone to participate on this important day each year, by wearing their ‘craziest socks’ to school with family and friends. We have aimed for everyone to have fun being ‘active’ and being ‘safe’ walking to school. Of course, we encourage everyone to continue doing this every day!

Thank you to everyone in our Freshwater community and Harbord Public School for getting on board with their crazy socks and for teaching our students these important safety and health messages! I am such a proud teacher to be able to co-ordinate and promote this special event each year!!!!

Fiona Groves

(Co-ordinator)

This week the total number of students who have completed this year's reading challenge reached 85. Another 932 students have logged at least one book and are busy reading and recording the titles in their online reading record.

Congratulations this week to the following students who have completed the challenge

Year 2 - All of 2H, the first class to complete the challenge.

Eva A, Harrison B, Bethany C, Molly C, Sunnie C, Tais C, Sabine C, Mattia C, Thomas H, Hendrik L, Tully L, Anna M, Abigail M, Jasper N, Sebastian P, Lincoln, P Archie R, Eleanor S, Tahi S, Olivia S, Samuel T, Zalia W, Navannah Y.

Year 3

Thomas W

Year 4

Luigi D-F

Year 5

Taylor D, Clementine N, Juliana O, Reuben T, Isabel, W.

Year 6

Amy H, Darcy R.

The Premier's Reading Challenge closes on Friday August 20th. There are 11 weeks remaining for students to enter their books online. Any book that has been read this year can be entered, and don't forget that books from local community libraries and home libraries can also be added. A reminder to all students, particularly those in older grades, reading logs are checked by the teacher librarians before they are validated - only enter books you have read.

The end of week 7 came with the arrival of three boxes of new books and the library staff worked double time to have all but four books ready for Monday morning. This week each morning and throughout the day a collection of new books are put out on display to ensure every class has an opportunity to access new titles. The images below show some of the amazing new books our students have access to. All students in years 3 -6 can access their OLIVER/ORBIT library account from home via their student portal. They can view the new book carousel and place reserves on titles they would like to borrow. Year 2 will be shown how to access their library page from home this week.

Issue #4 closed on Friday last week and the order has been finalised and submitted. Orders will be distributed as soon as they arrive. There are still a few outstanding orders from Issue #3, we are aware of this and have contacted Scholastic regarding a timeframe for delivery. The orders are still in their system and will be filled once the stock arrives.

Thank you to everyone who purchased books. The library collection continues to grow due to your generosity and the reward points it generates.

Over the past fortnight during library classes students enjoyed story-time with some very pertinent books that lead to thoughtful questioning and insightful discussions. The books we enjoyed were The Stolen Girl by Trina Saffioti - this book follows one girl who was taken from her home and placed in a children's home. Australian Government policy at the time removed one hundred thousand Aboriginal children who are known as the Stolen Generation; Sorry Day by Coral Vass - a retelling of the momentous day when then Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd acknowledged the sorrows of the past and said 'sorry' to Indigenous children who were taken from their homes; and Say Yes by Jennifer Castles - a story about the landmark 1967 Referendum, the two women who came together to change the law and how the Australian people said YES. Year 6 ended the week with a discussion about Eddie Mabo and his fight for land rights. 

Christine Hong

Teacher Librarian

The P&C have had a busy month! We look forward to sharing more exciting news with you soon. Please be sure you are a member of the P&C, to receive our updates and to have your say on important school initiatives. The P&C cannot operate without parent support. It’s easy to join here.

The P&C’s AGM was held in May and, along with reports from the various sub-committees on what had kept them busy over the last year, the roles within the P&C Association for the year ahead were voted on at the AGM. We’re happy to announce that the following P&C member volunteers were nominated and voted in to the executive roles;

President - Louise Hall

Treasurer - Michelle Gibbs

Secretary - Alison Little

Vice presidents - Tracey Watts, Catherine Roberts

Assistant Secretary - Melissa Palermo

Assistant Treasurer - Tammie Langley

We also congratulate and thank the following parents who have taken up key roles within the P&C; Marg Kaye (OOSH Rep), Michelle Gibbs (Canteen Rep), Meg Garrido (Fundraising), Natalie Yates (Sponsorship), Nick Richter (Uniform Shop), Louise Hall (Sustainability).

The new Committee is very excited to begin work and build on the remarkable achievements of our predecessors. Sending heartfelt thanks to the previous Committee members, who have generously volunteered their time and amazing skills for the benefit of all of our Harbord Public children.

Extra special thanks go to the incredible Heather Lawson, our out-going President, who navigated the P&C through the Covid storm of 2020 and not only kept us afloat, but got us to the sunnier skies of 2021. You are amazing, Heather, and will be missed! 

A big thank you also to the school community who came out in support of our recent initiatives – in particular the Sustainability working bee.

Around 70 people attended school on a very cold Saturday, to do their bit for the school. It was a great afternoon and we thank you all enormously – not least with the sausage sizzle at the end of the day! We look forward to seeing you next time (hopefully on a slightly warmer day).

Would you like to get involved in fundraising or community focussed activities to help our school? Join the P&C and get in touch to have a chat. There are many ways you can help that do not need to take up much of your time :)

Louise Hall

P&C President

Opening Hours:

Tuesday        2.30 - 3.30pm

Thursday      8.30 - 9.30am

www.harborduniforms.com.au

Opening Hours:

Tuesday & Wednesday: 2.30 - 3.15pm

useduniforms@harbordpandc.com.au