Holbrook Public School

• Schools continue to be safe and operations are in line with AHPPC and NSW Health guidelines.
• All students should be learning on-campus unless they are unwell or have a medical certificate to support their absence.
• Existing infection control protocols at schools, and new health and safety measures put in place will help maintain the health and safety of students and staff.
• All activities permitted at school are safe and appropriate in a living with COVID-19 environment.
• Schools continue to monitor and plan for any changes in local circumstances that may arise, including changes in health advice or local restrictions.

Visitors to the school

Non-essential adults including parents and carers are still not permitted on school sites with the exception of:

• essential parent and carer meetings with teachers and/or school executives where a virtual meeting solution is not available
• parents and carers who attend a school administration building or other defined pick up location for the purpose of picking up their child
• parents and carers who need to be on-site for canteen duties
• Special Religious Education volunteers
• construction and maintenance contractors for asset-related activities
• official visitors and dignitaries
• allied health partners and providers
• external providers that are providing services that are essential to the delivery of curriculum
• school services staff delivering essential services and support.

• Parents and carers are reminded that students must not come to school if they are unwell. Even with very mild symptoms.
• Staff must not attend work if they are unwell. Even with minor flu-like symptoms.
• If a student is unwell, staff must refer the student to the sick bay and the school must arrange for the parent or carer to take the student home.
• Flu-like symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of taste, and loss of smell.
• If a student has been absent due to flu-like illness or develops flu-like symptoms while at school, they are not to return to school until they have a negative COVID-19 test and are symptom-free. The negative COVID-19 test result must be sighted and received by the school for both students and staff members before their return to school. Parents can provide the school with a screenshot of the text message confirming the negative test.
• If, after testing negative, a student or staff member has ongoing symptoms which persist beyond 10 days, they should arrange to see their doctor. The medical assessment should consider whether the symptoms are typical for that person (for example seasonal, allergic rhinitis), and provide documentation for the school if this is the case. If there are new symptoms at any time, the person should be tested again.
• if a parent or carer is unable or unwilling to provide a COVID-19 test result,  the student is to be excluded from school for a 10 day period. Additionally, the student must be symptom-free for at least 3 days before returning to school.

Physical distancing

• Physical distancing of children in schools is not required by the AHPPC guidelines.
• Physical distancing requirements remain for adults.

Hygiene measures

• Our school remains vigilant in applying infection control and personal hygiene practices and will continue to promote and encourage regular washing of hands, exclusion of any staff and students who are unwell, avoiding the sharing of food and personal items and cleaning of any shared items such as musical instruments, learning and sporting equipment between uses.
• School Operations
• Interschool activities can commence in Term 4. This applies to all interschool sport and physical activities, curriculum activities and extra-curricular activities organised by the school. Spectators, parents and carers are not to attend unless explicitly requested by the school to directly support the delivery of curriculum
• Where possible, students should stay within their relevant cohort group (for example, K-2 and 3-6).

At the end of Term 3, Kindergarten students celebrated their 100+ days of school. Due to COVID-19, it has been difficult to keep count of how many days Kindergarten students have been at school, due to students learning from home.

The Kindergarten students enjoyed making crowns and sharing a cupcake with their buddies. A big thanks goes to Prue Pincott for organising the cupcakes for Kindergarten and Year 6 to share, and to Kellie Black for baking the scrumptious cupcakes. They were enjoyed by all!

Miss Hemphill

Do you have a child starting Kindergarten next year? If the answer is yes, and you haven't already enrolled them, why not try our new online enrolment system accessible via our school website. Our face to face Kindergarten Orientation program will be beginning in Week 4, and all enrolment documents will need to be received before they can participate.

The Online Enrolment System is designed to provide flexibility for our parents to submit an enrolment application online and at a time that best suits them. The application can be accessed on all browsers and mobile devices, including iOS and Android.

All students and staff, but particularly the Kindergarten and Year 5 students, are very much looking forward to getting to know the pre-schoolers at Greater Hume Children Services, along with other local school-aged children, during Term 4. Though we have had to modify the transition program this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the students are excited to show off the wonderful things about Holbrook Public School, and to have the opportunity to learn and create with the pre-schoolers.

If your child isn't attending GHCS-H on the day of the week that is listed above in the timetable, we would still love to see your child at school during the allocated time, in order to help them prepare for 2021.

If you have any questions regarding Kindergarten transition, please contact the office.

Miss Hemphill and Miss Lavis

On Tuesday, 22 September, Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students and teachers spent the afternoon digging in the garden! The students spent their time weeding, moving succulents and grasses and planting some native plants in pots. All of the plants were removed from the tyres, to be re-homed in the new garden beds coming in Term 4. It was fantastic to see the students working with a range of other children from various year groups. The teachers were very impressed with the efforts, diligence and care taken by the K-2 students. A huge thanks goes to the Glass family for their very generous donation of potting mix and native plants. We can’t wait to keep planting and growing our garden at Holbrook Public, for all to enjoy!

K-2 Teachers

In the second half of the term, students from Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 were invited to join a soccer competition at lunchtime on Thursdays. Students were placed in mixed teams and chose their team names. They played against the other teams on a rotation basis. It was wonderful to see the students playing together in the warm sun and working together as a team. The last week of the term saw the hotly contested final played. Congratulations to the The Attackers team who won the final. A big thank you to the leaders, in particular Annabel Pincott, who umpired the games each week. Well done to all students who participated in the competition. It was lots of fun. 

Years 3 and 4 students ventured to the Holbrook Travelling Stock Reserve on Friday, 18 September, to assist the Holbrook Landcare Network with tree planting. Our students enjoyed listening to the Landcare Co-ordinator, Kylie Durant, talk about the procedure to plant the saplings, and found out about the importance of regenerating native species, which will encourage various birds and wildlife to this area. The students also went on a scavenger hunt to locate various flora specimens, and peered into a number of possum boxes with the use of a telescopic pole and camera.

This was such a valuable learning experience for our Stage 2 students, and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to assist the local community with such projects.

Christel Pargeter

Stage 2 Teacher and Excursion Co-ordinator

During Term 3, Year 4/5 have been busily learning new skills and joining in a range of different activities.

Earlier in the term, we learnt about and then designed and painted our own Aboriginal symbols on a boomerang. We also enjoyed making our Father’s Day gifts – a 'Dad’s Stache’ jar.

We have been learning about and conducting experiments about the different properties of solids, liquids and gases.

PE and sport lessons have focused on fitness and athletics skills.

During PD Health we have been looking at changes that we go through in life and how we manage those changes. See of you can identify some of us from our baby photos. We have changed quite a bit since then!

Miss Lavis’ English group have been thoroughly enjoying spending 10-15 minutes reading a novel of their choice each day. They have been really absorbed in their books and the highlight is sharing their book with the class during their elevator speech on Fridays.

Miss Lavis’ maths group took advantage of the sun and went outside to do some problem solving in groups. 

Students in Year 5 will today bring home an 'Intention to apply for Year 7 placement in a selective high school in 2022' and accompanying information booklet.

Selective high schools cater for academically gifted students with high potential who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic standard. Selective high schools help these students to learn by grouping them with students of similar ability, and by using specialised teaching methods.

If you would like to have your child considered for Year 7 selective high school entry in 2022, you need to:

• Apply online at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7 between Tuesday, 13 October 2020 and Monday, 16 November 2020.
• Complete and return the Intention to apply for Year 7 placement in a selective high school in 2022 to the school.

Congratulations to all the students who auditioned for the Talent Quest at the end of the term. The entries were many and varied with a range of students from Kindergarten to Year 6 participating. Students who were successful in their audition performed in person or via video, in one of two sessions on the last day of the term. A big thank you to Annie Triggs and Eli Toll, who volunteered to chair the talent quest performances and did a wonderful job. Thank you also to the students who helped set up and pack up equipment. Well done to all students involved. 

In an effort to promote positive behaviour and learning, during Terms 2 and 3, all students have been striving to achieve goals that align with our core values of Care, Courtesy, Cooperation and Consideration.  Congratulations to the following students whose numbers were chosen randomly during Term 3's final assembly:

Jessica Frana

Chace Liddell

Zye Liddell

Michael Walkerden

Clementine Heriot

Geordie Geddes

Jimmy Boers

Jonty Ingle

Nick Robards

Annabel Pincott

Tayleah Flewin

James Armstrong

Judd Boers

Orlando White

Jayden Worldon

Nathaniel Atkinson

The last Wednesday of term was an exciting day at Holbrook Public. Students came to school dressed in their favourite team’s colours. Alyce Parker, GWS AFLW player and former student, was our special guest. She shared her journey with the students and encouraged them to be resilient in all aspects of their lives. At lunchtime, there was a handball competition for K-2 and 3-6. Percy Cardile and Sybil Triggs were successful in winning their respective categories, and won a football signed by Alyce. Students could also purchase fruit tubes at lunchtime. All money raised goes towards purchasing a Friendship seat for the playground.  We raised a total of $382.

A big thank you to Alyce Parker for visiting and teaching the students some football skills. She was very flexible and happy to dodge showers of rain and bursts of sun to accommodate us. The students thoroughly enjoyed it. All the best to Alyce for the upcoming AFLW season. 

A big thank you to the students who jumped in and offered to assist on the day in any way they could. We are very lucky to have students who are happy to help and it makes these days so much easier to run. Well done!

Congratulations to the following winners:

1st:  Alexus Feltrin

2nd: Isabel Yensch

3rd: Mrs Jones

Unlike previous years, due to COVID-19 restrictions, we will be holding our presentation of awards ceremony during school hours. At this stage, it is unlikely that parents/carers and members of the community will be able to attend in person. During this event, we award students who have achieved excellence, consistent improvement, citizenship and sporting achievements. Each year, the local community sponsors the awards. If you would like to make a donation towards the book prizes this year, it would be greatly appreciated and your name will be listed in our program as recognition of your valuable contribution to our school. Donations of cash or cheques, made out to Holbrook Public School, can be handed in to our office.

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