Willoughby Public School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back to Term 4 at Willoughby PS. I trust everyone had a relaxing holiday, taking every opportunity to relax and recharge.

What a wonderful experience it was to return to school and see our latest art mural finished. The artwork can be viewed from the mini oval at the end of Block B. Beautiful colours, imagination and I wonder all come to mind. Thank you to our P&C for funding the mural and a huge thank you artist Sophi Odling – we love the mural.

We are excited to announce that we are joining with Little Wings charity organisation fund raiser to establish a school Return and Earn bin station at WPS. This will be launched on Monday 24 October at our school assembly at 2pm. Little Wings will provide 2 bins. This adds another support for our school wide sustainability focus.

Congratulation to Ai K and Blake McM both students competed in the Sydney North NSW PSSA Golf Championships held at Brighton Lakes Golf Club and Barden Ridge Golf Club. Outstanding representation, not only for our school but also representing Sydney North PSSA. We would like to wish Ai the very best as she represents NSW at the National Tournament held in the ACT later this term.

Every year, we begin our planning for the next year in Term 4, this helps me understand the staffing requirements; the number of students enrolled directly impacts the number of teachers we have at WPS. If you know, that you intend to move your child/ children to another school in 2023 who are currently enrolled in Kindergarten to Year 5 please completed the attached note and email to WPS administration office.

In 3 weeks, we will be welcoming our 2023 Kindergarten students and families to Willoughby Public School. This year we will be hosting our families in our school hall and sharing information about our school and the learning programs we offer our students. Most importantly, we will have the opportunity to share morning tea and make new friends ready for 2023.

Kind regards

Jennifer Simmonds

Our enthusiastic WPS gardeners have been tending to the garden beds near the Area 3 equipment. Early last term students planted snow peas seeds and finally last week they harvested a bumper crop of snow peas. Everyone agreed they were the tastiest snow peas they’d ever eaten! 

Other crops on the go are cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber and lettuce. 

Thanks to generous P&C funding, the next gardening project will be a bush tucker garden outside B Block (4/3 and 2/6R), next to the fabulous new mural. We have almost 150 plants on their way next week!  

On 31 October WPS will be partnering with Little Wings, a non-profit organisation that provides free, professional, safe flight and ground transport services for seriously ill children in regional NSW and ACT.  The charity works with NSW Return and Earn and they will be providing our school with 2 x 240L bins that will be used to collect eligible drink containers to redeem for a 10c refund each under NSW’s Return and Earn scheme. It’s a great way for the students to get involved in recycling, help reduce litter and raise money for Little Wings Australia. 

Representatives from Little Wings will be attending our school assembly on Monday 31 October to provide further details to staff and students about the charity.  Further information will be sent home via Skoolbag prior to commencement. 

For more information visit the Little Wings website: https://www.littlewings.org.au/our-story/

Stage 2 Author Visit 

Term 4 started off beautifully for our Stage 2 students with a visit from much loved author Tim Harris. Tim really engaged our students as he spoke with them about how he developed the characters in some of his books – from an idea, a memory or an experience to a fully developed part of the storyline. Our students asked great questions at the end that allowed everyone to learn just a little bit more about Tim’s craft as an author.  He even gave us a sneak peak of his new book; out next year.Students were so enthralled by what was said that no-one wanted to leave at the end of the session!! Students flocked to Tim afterwards to ask more questions or to just have a chat. Needless to say, the reserves on all his books in our Library have skyrocketed!  

Author visits are such rich and rewarding opportunities for everyone involved. Everyone learns – teachers, students and even the authors, who gain great feedback on their work and have a valued opportunity to speak with those reading their books. All of our students from K through to 6 thoroughly enjoyed their visits this year with Lesley Gibbes, Ashleigh Barton, Tim Harris or Tristan Bancks. It’s time for me to start planning and pencilling in some great author choices for our students in 2023!! 

Returning of Holiday Reading 

Thank you to the many families who have helped their children to return books loaned out to them over the school holidays. This really helps get these books out to the next reader. If you still have Library books at home from the school holidays, or even last term, these books are now overdue. Please remind your child to put these into their school bag to return next week so they can start borrowing again. 

PRC Certificates 

These will be being processed and prepared by the Department of Education at the moment, and are usually sent out to us towards the end of term.  

Mrs Debbie de Silva 

Teacher Librarian 

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).

Students who change address, school, campus location, have repeated a year or received an expiry notification from Transport for NSW for their school travel entitlement should renew or update their details before the end of term 4.This will ensure that schools can endorse applications, and entitlements remain valid for the start of the 2023 schoolyear. School Opal card holders will have the changes applied to their existing card.

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 who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition that is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.

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.

Most students using the Opal network will not need a new Opal card and can continue travelling on their existing card each year.

The start of the year is a busy period for local transport operators, and students travelling without a valid ticket make service planningand operations difficult.

We recognise that for some families last minute changes to school enrolments mean they may not have a School Opal card or Travel Pass for the start of term. In the Opal network, we strongly encourage these families to have their children travel with a Child/Youth Opal card until they receive their valid School Opal card. If outside Greater Sydney, parents should contact their local bus operator to discuss their travel needs.

Bus operators are flexible and understanding, particularly at the start of the school year, and will ensure students can travel safelyto and from school. But to best support our operators we encourage all students to have a valid ticket, as earlyas possible, from the start of the 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 conductand Opal terms of use.