Reconciliation Week in Australia starts on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum, 27th May and ends on Mabo Day, 3rd June. The following is a child friendly clip that helps us to understand the importance of this week. Our Indigenous students will be participating in the Koojay Corroboree at Coogee Beach next Friday with all our local schools. Thank you to teachers Leanne King and Patrick Madden for facilitating this. https://clickv.ie/w/MBRs 

Service to Others

Randwick Public School, through the SRC, has promoted service to others for many years. Our most recent involvement is the engagement in Oz Harvest in Year 5 and the collection of items to support the Women's Refuge in Redfern.

Kids Giving Back is an opportunity for students as individuals to provide service to the community through holiday volunteering. Capri Whittaker and Amelie Thompson have been the most recent​ students who helped during the Term 1 holidays.

If your children would like to be involved in the next vacation, there are programs for children aged from 6 to 18 years at Kids Giving Back |

Randwick Driver Behaviours

Is your driving creating risk for our students and other road users, because you have only considered your own timelines? Does this model responsible behaviour for your children?

Recent behaviours have included:

• U turns across double lines in both Frances Street and The Avenue:  This is ILLEGAL
• Leaving your car at Kiss and Go: Against the RULES
• Sitting in the 10 minute zone on Frances St answering your phone: Lack of CONSIDERATION to others
• Standing and chatting with other parents while your car is parked on Frances Street: Lack of CONSIDERATION to others

We all get fed up with Sydney's traffic however bad behaviour only makes it worse. Please stay within the law, obey the rules and consider others first and we will all be better off.

The P&C are working with Council to try to alleviate the problems. Please let Council know that there needs to be more done.

Walk to School Friday

This Friday walking to school is promoted. Please encourage your children from Year 3 -6 to walk all or part of the way to and from school. Promote students' health and diminish the traffic. All the puppies enjoy a good walk too!

NAPLAN

Most students in Years 3 and 5 have successfully completed NAPLAN. This year it was all online for Y3, 5, 7 and 9 except for Year 3 Writing.  Given 1.2 million students Australia wide sat the tests across 9,500 sites there was remarkably little trouble. Sickness has meant that catch-up tests continue this week. Thanks to our Year 3 and 5 teachers, Deputy Principal Trent Gardiner who administered the tests and Instructional Leader Emma Garroway who supported the Year 3 cohort.

The advantage of the online test is that it is adaptive, so students receive more difficult questions if they answer correctly. Being accurate on the easy questions is quite important. The intention is that results will be available to schools and parents more quickly to direct learning in the current year. There is discussion that it may be held earlier in the year in 2023 so that information is available sooner.

How sick is too sick?

We are still experiencing quite a bit of sickness at school amongst teachers and students. While COVID seems to be slowing down a little, many children are presenting at school with symptoms including vomiting. While normally encourage children to attend regularly, we urge caution with flu very common and very infectious. Some younger classes have been down to half the cohort, with a subsequent loss of teachers to illness. Please also consider flu vaccinations in accord with health advice.

Daily Pick Up

We will commence opening the Frances St gate at 2.50pm each day so that there is less crowding on the footpath. Parents are welcome to bring younger children in to play in the Forest playground on the Kindy equipment but please remember you cannot enter student toilets with your toddler. Please remain in this lower playground until the bell rings as classes may be using other parts of the playground for outside learning activities or PE and we don't want any toddlers or parents injured.

The silver seats near the outside stage are where Year 1 wait for dismissal so please also leave this area clear.

It's been nice to see parents and children using the playground and play equipment after school each day. Children are not permitted on equipment in schools except under direct adult supervision. This means that if your child is staying to play you need to be near them to ensure equipment is used as it should be. You also need to actively supervise your child on the grounds so that means time out from mobile devices for everyone.

Parents as Partners

Having parents in classrooms once again is a great help and we're especially pleased with the parents who have sent in an expression of interest to help Laurie Power, our Learning Support Teacher with the SARP and SAMP programs. Unfortunately, in our busy lives the thing that is most lacking for many children is an adult who has time to listen to them read and practice basic maths facts. That daily practice with a supportive adult regularly can make all the difference. If you have a little time, please consider helping in this way. Thank you too for helping in younger classrooms.

Please note that there is an ongoing Determination by the Secretary of the Department that all adults in contact with children must be double vaccinated even though the PHO was rescinded on May 13. I am sure you would appreciate that schools where so many younger children remain unvaccinated allows COVID or anything else to spread very quickly and the impact this has on increasingly limited teaching staff.

School Improvement

You may have noticed external painting of the school has commenced. This is part of planned maintenance and hopefully the interior will follow. We've also been notified that all our lights will be replaced under the LED lighting program to improve lighting in the classrooms and lower energy use. As you can imagine this is quite a large project to replace every fluoro light in the school. Only the Beehive and Admin currently have LED lights.

We've also been notified that we are part of a program to expand SOLAR panels and energy in the school which will be used to power the Cooler Classrooms and ventilation program when that is finished in June.

Block C which our music programs and AMS use, is also being re-roofed, and a new COLA will be put in place shortly.

• Don't forget to support the P&C Democracy Sausage Sizzle on Saturday and drop cakes off Friday/Saturday for the cake stall.
• Comedy for a Cause is also coming up on Friday 27th May so I will see you for a sausage and a drink from 6pm prior to the entertainment.

Regards

Susan Allen, Principal

National Walk safely to School Day is on Friday 20th May 2022.

On Walk Safely to School Day, primary school aged children are encouraged to walk with their parents or caregivers to school. This encourages healthy habits as well as teaching vital road safety skills. Primary school aged children across Australia will make those important steps towards a healthier future by participating in National Walk Safely to School day on Friday 20th May. National Walk Safely to School Day, now in its 23rd year,  is a community initiative that aims to raise awareness of the health, road safety, transport and environmental benefits that regular walking (especially to and from school) can provide for the long0term well-being of our children. 

WSTSD is an opportunity for parents and carers of Primary School aged children to promote safe pedestrian behaviour.

WSTSD will inform parents and carers that they need to closely supervise their young children, particularly those under 10 years of age, in all road environments, holding hands when near or crossing the road.

WSTSD will promote and inform parents, carers, teachers and children of the significant physical, mental and social health benefits which can be achieved through regular walking.

The objectives of WSTSD are:

• To encourage parents and carers to walk to school with primary school age children and reinforce safe pedestrian behaviour.
• To promote the health benefits of walking and help create regular walking habits at an early age.
• To ensure that children up to 10 years old hold an adult's hand when crossing the road.
• To help children develop the vital road-crossing skills they will need as they become mature pedestrians.
• To reduce the car dependency habits that are being created at an early age and which will be difficult to change as children become adults.
• To promote the use of Public Transport.
• To reduce the level of air pollution created by motor vehicles.
• To reduce the level of traffic congestion

Families are encouraged to leave the car at home where possible and walk to school. If this is not possible, consider parking and walking part of the way.

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