Newport Natter

This year’s theme ‘In this together’ has a resonance beyond that Reconciliation Australia probably imagined when the theme was announced early this year. Reconciliation week is about exploring how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation and having a conversation is a really important part of what Reconciliation Week is all about. The Department of Education suggests kicking off conversations by sharing or talking about some music, activities, a video, a podcast or a book and talk about what struck you, what you agreed with and what you were challenged by. It’s also important to recognise that Reconciliation doesn’t just happen in Reconciliation Week and it is important to explore our shared histories, cultures, and achievements at different times throughout the year. Here are some resources suggested DoE that might be useful for these conversations at home. Please note, I have not read nor listened to all of these.

Podcasts

Rachel Perkins 2019 Boyer LecturesExternal link, ABC

Australia’s first (and all-Aboriginal) international cricket team on Awaye! with Daniel BrowningExternal link, ABC (1 February 2020, from 34:36mins)

Samantha Harris (Australian fashion model) (Ep 13) of The RealExternal link

Books – non-fiction

‘Talking to my Country’, Stan Grant (2016)

‘Dark Emu’, Bruce Pascoe (2014)

Am I Black Enough for You?’ Anita Hess (2012)

Books – fiction

‘The Yield’, Tara June Winch (2019)

‘Mullumbimby’, Melissa Lucashenko (2013)

‘The Swan Book’, Alexis Wright (2013)

In an effort to not only accurately report on student learning between home and school this semester, but to use the formal reporting process as a way to improve student learning, we’re re-structuring the Semester 1 reporting process. Reports will include grades for students’ content knowledge and skill development in Mathematics and English, commitment to learning, social development, student self-evaluation and learning goals.  An important part of this process is both student and parent input. Students will be surveyed in class to evaluate their learning and from this evaluation, set future learning goals. Parents will be invited to participate in a phone interview with their child’s teacher to also develop goals, help teachers understand student achievements during the learning from home period as well as hearing the teacher’s judgement about the student’s achievement against syllabus outcomes. Reports will be emailed home at the end of Week 1, Term 3.

Parents and carers will have the opportunity to have a formal, 10-minute phone interview with their child’s teacher between Monday 15 June and Friday 26 June. Interview bookings can be made through School Interviews using code g34qm from Monday 8 June at 4pm.

At your allocated phone interview time your child's teacher will call the parent / carer who made the booking. If you miss the call, the teacher will call again during your allotted time. In most cases we anticipate one phone call per student (e.g. make use of speaker phone options). Your assistance in facilitating this is appreciated. Please expect school phone lines to be busy during this process and wait for teachers to call you.

To make the most of your phone interview, you may wish to consider the following questions:

1. What are your child's strengths / areas to develop?

2. What did you learn about your child as a school student during the learning from home period? Where they able to solve problems on their own? Where they motivated to engage with the learning from home program? Where they able to use technology for a learning purpose? 

3. What goals would you like your child to work towards / achieve this year?

The 2021 Year 5 opportunity class placement process was put on hold in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation.

We now have a revised and simplified timeline for the OC placement process to ensure that students and families can have certainty about their placement as soon as possible.

The changes include:

·         A new date for online applications. Parents must apply between 9 June 2020 and 26 June 2020. Late applications cannot be accepted.

·         A new test date - Wednesday 16 September 2020.

To ensure fair and consistent assessment of students across New South Wales, students will be offered places based only on their test results this year – there will be no school assessment scores.  

There will also be no opportunity for appeals given the tight timeframes.

For further detailed information I encourage you to visit https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

As you are aware, for many years, a number of classrooms at Newport Public School have been demountable classrooms. Recently three of these demountable classrooms were taken away by DoE Assets. Two of these are being replaced with a building called an MDR (Modular Design Range) which will become part of our permanent building count. Work to set-up the foundations for this building is currently underway on the Western side of the school. The building is planned to be craned in on Saturday 13 June (weather permitting) and will take about a month to commission.

Finally, please see below important news from our P & C.

Kind regards,

Natalie Baldi

Unfortunately the state Interschools is August has been cancelled.

For more information go to Snow Australia Interschools

Mark Tickle

Canteen Manager – Newport Public School

Full-time annual Salary + Super

Newport Public School is situated on the northern beaches with approximately 800 students and 40 staff, and we are seeking a passionate and dedicated Canteen Manager to join our team.

The Canteen Manager is responsible for the day-today operations of the canteen and performs tasks including:

·         Creating seasonal menus, including dietary and cost sensitive requirements

·         Preparation of food

·         Staff and special event catering

·         Monitoring and collating online orders

·         Ensuring compliance with Occupational Health and Safety procedures

·         Ensuring compliance with food handling regulations

·         Ordering and receiving supplies

·         Rostering and supervising relevant staff and/or volunteers

·         Stocktake of items

·         Reconciliation of monies received

The Canteen Manager is employed by the Parents and Citizens’ Association (P and C) and attends meetings representing the Canteen throughout the year. The Canteen Manager will engage with the School Principal and form part of the Canteen Subcommittee, who’ll meet regularly to support you in your role and discuss ways to provide great food for students, teachers and the school community, and help raise funds for the P and C to feed back into the school. 

To be successful you will need to have experience in food service, nutrition, planning and prioritising tasks, and excellent communication skills to work and collaborate effectively with parents and teachers, and engage well with children.

Experience and ability should include:

·         Create/provide nutritious menus in line with the school’s Healthy Canteen principles

·         Produce cost effective and popular lunch specials

·         Control day-to-day operation of a school canteen

·         Qualifications in food preparation, food safety and handling

·         Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team, supervising and collaborating with others

·         Experience working in a school community and/or with volunteers

·         Understanding of Occupational Health and Safety practices

·         Have a can-do attitude to solve issues easily

·         Effective communication and interpersonal skills

·         Demonstrated time management skills

·         Accurately cost menu items

·         Ability to manage and record financials

·         Experience with Flexischools or similar programs an advantage

·         Current Working with Children Check

·         Current National Police Check

We are offering a very attractive above award wage, full-time annual salary position, for approx. 40 working weeks per year – Monday-Friday, approx. 7am-3.30pm.  Active work days will be centered around NSW Public School term dates. We will require you to work on pupil free days, plus on days before or after the term commences/concludes for ordering, cleaning, stock take and term preparation. From time-to-time there are school special events, that take place out of usual hours, which will need your skills and/or supervision. 

The successful applicant will have pro-rata holiday and personal-leave entitlements, plus an additional 8 weeks (approx.) holiday a year, which fall during the school holiday periods. 

This position is for a Permanent Resident of Australia only.

If you are interested in this role, we’d love to hear from you!  Please apply by sending your CV with at least two current referrals and their contact details, and a cover letter which includes answers to the following questions:

1.      Provide some examples of healthy, affordable lunch specials that children would love.

2.      Describe your understanding of the Healthy Schools Canteen Strategy and how would you apply the strategy to the day-to-day operation of the canteen.

3.      How would you ensure safe food handling and storage practices in your role as Canteen Manager?

If you successfully progress to an interview, you will be required to provide your proof of identity information and complete a CRIMTRAC declaration. As this is a child-related position, you will also be required to obtain a Working with Children Check (WWCC) clearance number as a condition of employment. For more information, visit 

https://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-organisations/working-with-children-check

The application form will include these questions:

·         Which of the following statements best describes your right to work in Australia?

·         Do you have customer service experience?

·         Do you hold a current Safe Food Handling certificate?

·         Do you have a current Australian driver's licence?

·         Do you have experience with menu planning & costing?

Please apply through Seek by following the link click here

Unfortunately due to the impact of COVID-19 on schools, ICAS has decided not to offer the ICAS Writing assessment in 2020. As a result, UNSW Global will issue refunds directly to any parents who have purchased the product listed above using the ICAS Parent Payment System. 

 All ICAS sitting dates will remain the same for English, Mathematics and Science.

Regards,

Kellie Cheney

The following changes have been made to help students complete the Challenge in 2020 due to libraries being closed:

·         Students on all Challenge levels are able to read 10 choice books – an increase from five. There is a link below that will explain how to add the extra five choice books (not done the usual way).

·         Students on all Challenge levels will be able to include books on their reading records that they read collaboratively as a class, in person or online with their teacher or at home with their parents/carers.

·         Students who do not participate in the Challenge in 2020 will not be disadvantaged in the receipt of cumulative awards.

To add the extra choice books, you use the PRC ID of: 685957 (2020 Bonus Choice Book 1), 685958 (2020 Bonus Choice Book 2), 685959 (2020 Bonus Choice Book 3), 685960 (2020 Bonus Choice Book 4) and 685961 (2020 Bonus Choice Book 5). The following link will explain how to do this: How do I add bonus choice books for 2020?  

A Parliament initiative, started last year and continued into this, is the proposal to build a chicken coop on the western side of the school.

Students and Parliament ministers believe having chickens in the school would help recycle organic waste, produce fresh eggs to use in the canteen and add real-life context to learning programs.

For this initiative to be successful, we need some committed families to become our ‘Chicken Champions’ to coordinate the build of the coop and care for the chickens on the weekends and during the holiday periods.

It you are interested in supporting this initiative, please email the school attention ‘Chicken Champions’ newport-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

An expression of interest form will be distributed to interested students and is also attached latter in this Natter.