Willoughby Public School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers

Our transition to Kindergarten program ended this week. It was wonderful to see our 2023 new students confidently separating from their parents to meet with their Year 5 buddy ready for the final Transition Day. A huge thank you to our Year 5 student leader nominees for the outstanding job in providing care and security for our new students, you have made a difference in their lives and I know they are looking forward to meeting up with you in Term 1, 2023. Thank you, Mrs Blake, our kindergarten teachers and our wonderful school learning and support officers for your great leadership and support during the past 3 weeks.

Our Year 6 students attending Public High Schools had a very successful day on Tuesday 29 November with their transition to High School day. I know our Year 6 teachers have been working hard to ensure all students are prepared for Year 7.

On Wednesday 30 November our teachers hosted our Volunteer Thank You morning tea. We are very grateful for the ongoing support from our wider school community who regularly volunteer their time to support a range of programs across our school. This support ranges from in classrooms, extra-curricular, excursions, fun days, P&C thank you for giving your time to our students at Willoughby. We look forward to re-establishing these supportive relationships in 2023.

We are in our final 2 weeks of the 2022 school year! Preparations are well underway for our Year 6 farewell, Presentation Assemblies and end of year events for the students. We look forward to celebrating with our students a successful year of learning at Willoughby Public School.

Kind regards

Jennifer Simmonds

Principal

The Year Six annual fete will be held on Thursday 8 December, 2022. It is the culmination of weeks of planning, designing, creating, marketing and advertising, and is always a fun day for all students K-6. 

Tokens (20 for $12.00) are used instead of cash to take part in games and activities and purchase from the White Elephant stall. We encourage all students to pre-purchase a strip of 20 tokens. These can be bought via the TryBooking link below.

https://www.trybooking.com/CEJFG

Pre-purchased tokens will be given out to students on fete day (Thursday 8 December) as their class heads to the fete. Two grades will attend the fete together at staggered times throughout the day to ensure that all students have access to the activities and games without it being too crowded or busy. 

The fete features a number of exciting stalls with games, challenges and activities created and run by Year 6 students. There will also be a White Elephant stall. Games, gifts and activities cost 1-2 tokens each.

There will be a $5 food pack containing a sausage sizzle, cupcake and drink (our famous fete spider) which can be pre-ordered via the Trybooking link: https://www.trybooking.com/CEJFG.

Year 6 use the fete as the major fundraiser for their graduation and gift to the school and appreciate your support. 

More information will be sent over coming weeks. 

Year 6 student Kyan recently competed at the School Sport Australia Track & Field Championships in Brisbane, representing WPS and NSW.

He thoroughly enjoyed the experience and achieved the following results:

• 3rd (bronze medal) 11B high jump
  
• 6th 11B long jump
• 5th 11B combined event (100m + long jump + shot put + 800m).

A big thank you to Mr Goodwin and Ms Chen for their support along the way.

Congratulations, Kyan!

Congratulations to Pippa PW who was awarded her Joey Scout Challenge Award. This is the highest (peak) award for Joey Scouts (Scouts aged 5- 8 years old). To achieve this award, Pippa completed 6 special interest award projects and participated in a number of camps, learning about bushwalking and bushcraft. She also lead a 3 hour Adventurous Journey involving 12 scouts on a walk through our beautiful local reserves and applied first aid to an injured friend.  

Congratulations also go to Sterling PW who was awarded his Grey Wolf Award. This is the highest (peak) award for Cub Scouts (Scouts aged 8-11 years old). To achieve this award, Sterling completed 6 special interest award projects, each taking a minimum of 4 hours, including first aid, swimming, writing a book and canoeing. Sterling participated in a number of camps, learning many specific practical bushwalking, bushcraft and camping skills. He also lead a 4 hour Adventurous Journey involving 12 scouts on a walk from Willoughby to the Opera House taking in lots of history and artwork along the way. A highlight was completing his Cub Leadership course and being a Patrol Leader.  

Congratulations again to Pippa and Sterling.  

Term 4 Borrowing has finished

All books should now have been returned to Library.  

If you receive an Overdue Notice from us, it is because we believe your child still has these books at home. If the books have become lost or accidentally damaged, you are able to pay for these online via the school website, in the same way that you pay for P&C fees etc. Just select ‘Other’ in the choices for payment, and note that it is for lost Library Books. Thanks so much for your promptness in assisting us  in finalising all outstanding loans for the year. 

What if I think we have returned it? 

We also check our shelves to make sure it has not been placed back on the shelves without scanning. If we find it, we let you know, or if the book is found at a later date (in the classroom, at after school care, down behind a book shelf at home etc) we will refund the money back to you. 

Wheelers E-Books  

Did you know that all students have access to e-books through our subscription to E-Platform. We have our own website HERE. Use the ‘Look Inside’ link to decide if the book is for you, then students use their normal school login to borrow. To read offline, download the free ePlatform app, find our Library, then sign in to access your account. See flyer in this newsletter for more information. This is a great option for reading whilst travelling, and reading during the Summer school holidays when our school Library is closed. 

Applications for student travel in 2023 opened from Monday 10 October 2022.

Students who need a School Opal card or travel pass for 2023 can apply now. A new application will need to be submitted if they are applying for the first time, or if they are requesting an additional travel entitlement as a result of a new shared parental responsibility situation (e.g. joint custody).

If a student's distance eligibility has changed based on their grade (i.e. grade two to grade three), the system will automatically update their entitlement if they meet the new criteria. If they do not meet the new eligibility criteria, we will send an expiry notification via email.

Students in the Opal network applying for an Opal card (including a Term Bus Pass) for the first time will receive their Student Opal card at their nominated postal address. Cards will be mailed out from January 2023.

Travel from Term 1 2023

We ask that parents plan ahead and make sure their child knows which service/s to use and has a valid ticket to travel; either a School Opal card or Child/Youth Opal card (within Greater Sydney) or a School Travel Pass (outside Greater Sydney), from the start of the school year.

Applications for 2023 School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) travel open at the start of Term 4 2022, so parents/students canapply or update details early and be ready for the start of the new school year.

Students using School Opal cards are also reminded that they must tap on and tap off in line with the Student code of conduct and Opal terms of use.