On Monday 17 February, we held an induction ceremony for our incoming school leaders, SRC representatives and House Captains. For more photos visit the album on our facebook page.
The summer holiday has quickly become a distant memory as we launch ourselves into the business of term 1. Already we have ‘ticked off’ 1. A wonderful swimming carnival 2. Kinder parent information meeting 3. Leadership induction ceremony and 4. the first of our P&C meetings for the year. Staff communication meetings and Professional Learning sessions have allowed us to determine our school priorities for the year and to set goals against the School Excellence Framework. While our core programs are already underway, we are busy establishing the extra-curricular offerings including debating, technology club and choir. I’m always a little in awe of the teachers who take on these additional tasks and give up so much of their time to provide special experiences and opportunities for our lucky students. It’s going to be a GREAT year!
A BIG thank you to our own Miss Gordon for going above and beyond and escorting three lucky students to Stewart House last Monday. This amazing facility is located at Curl Curl beach and provides students, who are fortunate enough to be selected, an experience of a lifetime! This year, we were able to send four year 6 children to Stewart House. Whilst there they engage in an educational program, access health assessments and spend a lot of time exploring the Sydney icons; Taronga Zoo; Powerhouse Museum; Bridge walk and of course surfing lessons at their doorstep. It’s a wonderful institution that has served many children for 88 years. Since 1937 it has been run by a committee of the NSW Teachers' Federation and funded by DOE staff. It provides residential care for over 2000 public school children every year! (If you Google Stewart House you can do a great virtual tour of the facility.)
I’m sure those of you who were able to get to the swimming carnival last week were impressed with the behaviour and attitude of the children participating. It was a great day made possible by the exemplary organisation of Mrs Hinton and her stage 3 team. The sportsmanship on display was heartening and the efforts of all students who jumped into that pool didn’t go unnoticed. Well done Old Bar! We are now excited to support our swimmers at the zone Swimming Carnival on Thursday this week.
Great news for Old Bar PS! This year we have an increased allocation of counsellor time with Jenna McKeown here on Thursday afternoons and Friday and Christian Fieldhouse here on Mondays and every second Tuesday. Both counsellors work on a referral system from teachers. If you require access to our lovely counsellors, please talk to your class teacher who will pass on details of concerns/requests at our weekly Learning Support Meeting. Information re School Counselling Service is also available from the front office.
REMINDER: Students do not require a mobile phone at school. If your child does bring a phone to school, they are required to leave it at the office where it is locked away for the day and returned to the students at 3pm. Please reinforce this with your child.
Have a wonderful week!
Deborah Scanes
