The Punchbowl Press

Our Community BBQ and Classroom Information sessions were attended by lots of families on Monday and it was pleasing to see and hear people ‘Learning Together’. A huge thank you to Kathy and her canteen team who cooked and served over 500 delicious sausage sizzles for afternoon tea.

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The students at Punchbowl have been learning about the rules of having a puppy join our school community and have loved sharing their learning space with the school dog. The school dogs have met most students and from next week will be spending more time in different classes throughout the morning. 

Remember the school dog visits every Thursday and will be ready to greet you at the gate. Get to school by 9am to make sure you get to say hello to the school dog. We promise to have some special ‘paw time’ for our parents too. 

Our preschool children have generally been able to settle in happily this term and are learning about how to be friends and play together, how to share, have fun and belong to a new community. They are also learning some of the school’s rules and especially how to be “safe, respectful, learners”, which are the schools’ “Positive Behaviour for Learning” (PBL) goals for all children attending Punchbowl Public School.  

Preschool is all about learning through play and the children are working hard at playing with the new, different and varied toys and equipment provided at Punchbowl Preschool and the Early Intervention Unit. Some children were able to celebrate Valentine’s Day as well!  

We can’t wait to see how they all grow and learn as the year progresses. 

Kindergarten students are off to a flying start to the year! They have been coming to school each morning with smiles on their faces, excited to learn with their peers and teachers.

Quality teaching and learning is well and truly underway in the classrooms, students have been learning about classroom expectations and how to be PAX leaders.

They have been busy identifying sounds, counting, sorting, investigating and developing many other important skills for their future learning and development.

We look forward to seeing the achievements of the Kindy students this year. 

Stage 1 have been reading the text ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle.

Dayana – “We have learnt about narratives and informative texts. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a narrative because it tells a story and informative because it explains the life cycle of a caterpillar.”

Charlie – “We have been learning about nouns and verbs. Nouns are naming words and verbs are actions.”

Mounia – “I have learnt how to retell the main events in a story.”

1 Eels worked in small groups and used playdough to recreate the main events from the story. Have a look at the photos to see the scenes they made!

Kookaburras and Owls have had an excellent start to Term 1. We welcomed Omar, Issa, Adam and Ariz to kindergarten this year. All four students have settled into Kookaburras quite quickly which is very pleasing to see. Mrs Olympia Xiros is our new support unit teacher on Owls, and I want to take this opportunity to welcome her to the team. The teaching and learning in both classrooms have well and truly begun. Our students enjoyed their first session in the garden with Miss Clare and Miss Lee and used the summery plants to make their mothers a Valentines heart. Our students are participating in gymnastics this term and they are thoroughly enjoying it. 

This term, Stage 3 students have undergone training and successfully become Peer Support Leaders. The program places students at the centre of their learning, empowering them with skills and strategies to be successful leaders. This year, the leaders are providing engaging lessons to students from Year 1-Year 4 about anti-bullying. The lessons aim to support youngers students build resilience, develop empathy and gain a sense of responsibility.

The first lesson was a great success. Well done Stage 3! 

Dear parents and carers, welcome back to 2023. We're pleased to report that the students have had a smooth start to the year and are doing an excellent job of learning and retaining their Arabic language skills. In Stage 1, the students are currently learning about the concept of individuality and self-expression. To help reinforce this, they are learning the Arabic words for body parts through the popular children's song "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes," or as it is in Arabic "رأس، كتف، ركبة، رجل",  which the students have thoroughly enjoyed learning and performing with actions.

Students in Stage 3 are learning about the Darug and Eora People, who are believed to be the original people of the Canterbury Bankstown area. They lived in the area for thousands of years. The Darug are also the largest Aboriginal language group living in the area. Here are some interesting facts students have gathered.

Huda (5 Positive): I learnt that Tedbury was a leader. He lead the resistance against white settlement. This means they tried to stop it. 5 Positive.

Salsabila (5 Positive): I learnt that in Canterbury Bankstown there was a 1000-5000 year old painting. This was found at Undercliffe.