Term 1 Week 2
5 February 2009
DATES FOR YOUR
DIARY:
Tuesday 10
February P and C
Meeting
Wednesday 11
February Kindergarten Morning Tea
Dear Parents
& Caregivers,
Welcome
Parents and Students
Relieving
Principals
Mr Patterson has been asked to take on the role
of School Education director for the Port Jackson area for all of Term One. Mrs Sadleir will be in the relieving position for the first 6
weeks and Mrs Tollis will take over from Week 7 until
the end of the term. Ms Rasmussen will
be relieving Deputy Principal for the whole term and Mrs
Hill will be relieving Assistant Principal for Early Stage One.
Welcome
Parents and Students
It has been a very hot and dry start to the school year. However it is wonderful to be back and to see
so many old and new faces at school. We believe that 2009 will be a challenging
but rewarding and exciting time for learning for your child this year. As with
each year there is plenty to keep us all busy. I would encourage all children
to participate fully in as many school activities as possible. Our sports
program for years 3 – 6 is outstanding and as well as the normal sports we will
continue to offer Gymnastics which will be held at Hurstville
Aquatic Centre. We will continue with the Year 2 Choir, as well as a recorder
group this year. Our Dance group, Chess and Taekwondo,
Drumming and Pogo clubs will also be running at lunchtimes. We will also continue the very popular Movies
at Lunchtime to help relieve the congestion in the playground while the
building work continues.
NEW STAFF
We would like to welcome our new staff members. Mrs Renee Afonso will be teaching as second librarian on Monday and Wednesday. She comes with a wealth of experience and
will form a great partnership with Ms Phillips. We also have Mr Mark Green a temporary teacher on Year 4 and Mrs Christine Hansard also a
temporary teacher who will be teaching ESL with Yr 2 on Monday to Wednesday and
Mrs Antonia Tsekas who will
take Ms Rasmussen’s Kindergarten class.
We would like to welcome back Mrs Bouziotis who is returning from Maternity Leave and will be
on duty Monday to Wednesday and Mrs Ferguson is back
full time from Maternity Leave.
CLASSES 2009
This year we have an enrolment of around 930 students enabling us to have
36 classes for the year instead of the 37 that we had last year. The present
class structure of holding classes will remain until the end of next week when
we will form permanent classes for 2009.
Keeping the holding classes has been beneficial and students and
teachers have had an opportunity to settle into the new school year easily
without the trauma of several moves from one class to another. At this stage we will have several composite
classes including a 1/2, 2/3, 5/6 and our Gifted and Talented classes.
REFURBISHED
TOILET BLOCK
We are very proud of the newly refurbished junior toilet block. The boys’ toilet now has a lime green feature
wall and doors and 5 cubicles. The
girls’ toilet has red feature walls and doors with 11 cubicles. Each toilet is a dual flush system and the
taps are designed to prevent water wastage.
The bubblers have been relocated outside and there is a stainless steel
cover that fits over the bubblers when they are not in use. This is certainly an improvement on what we
had before. It may be necessary for
teaches and parents to teach the children how to turn the taps on and how to
access the toilet paper in the dispensers.
The school would like to see every child taking care of the school
premises and not wasting or abusing the facilities.
SCHOOL ZONE
PARKING
Schools are areas where there is a lot of interaction between cars and
pedestrians, especially including your precious children. When dropping off or picking up your children
after school it is very important to have a plan established with your child
about how and when you will collect him or her.
Make sure the child knows not to try to get into your vehicle while it
is still in traffic even if you are stopped.
The child should wait until you have parked legally. Ensure that you have time to park your car
and walk the short distance to meet your son or daughter.
KNOW THE RULES:
NO STOPPING – you cannot
stop in this area for any reason
BUS ZONE – you must not
stop or park in a bus zone unless you are driving a commercial bus.
VISITORS TO
THE SCHOOL
Parents if you or family members intend to come up to the school during
school time, especially lunch or recess, you must come to the Front Office to
sign in. Once you have signed in you
will be given an orange badge to wear.
This is a safety precaution that we have had in place for some time to
protect you and the students and staff at the school.
P & C MEETING NEXT TUESDAY
On Tuesday 10
February we will hold our first P& C meeting for the year starting at
7:30pm. The meeting will be held in the staff room. The P&C is an important
school group that gives parents a voice in the business of the school. Come
along and hear about what will be happening at school and it is an opportunity
for parents to ask questions. We would like to extend a special invitation to
our new kindergarten parents.
COMMUNITY CLUB
The Community
Club is a daytime parent group that meets two to three times a term. It is an
opportunity to meet other parents, discuss issues and to organise
fund raising events. At each meeting, the Principal gives the P&C report
and is available for questions. We also have a topic of the month presented by Mrs Tollis, our Deputy Principal.
Information will
be in the next newsletter advertising when the club will meet. Please try to set aside some time to come
along to these meetings which are held in the staff room, at 9:15 am.
MOBILE PHONES
We ask parents to
not send mobile phones along to school with students unless there is a very
good reason. In that case an application
must be completed at the Front Office.
Please read the
excerpt from the School’s mobile Phone Policy as follows:
Students
1.
Students who bring mobile phones or other electronic devices to school
do so at their own risk and the school will not accept any responsibility for
any loss or damage.
2.
The school will consider an application by parents, for permission for a
student to have a mobile phone at school.
A code of conduct form relating to the use of mobile phones is to be
completed.
3.
The mobile phone is not to be used during school hours without the
permission of the class teacher or school executive.
4.
If a student uses a mobile phone or any other device in an inappropriate
manner, discipline procedures in accordance with the School Discipline Policy
will be followed.
A mobile phone or other device will be used
inappropriately if it disrupts the learning environment, threatens the safety
or well being of any person or is in breach of any law.
LANGUAGE PROGRAM
In every class,
there is always a range of ability, that classroom teachers are trained to
cater for. In the language classes, there will be students who have highly
developed skills in their community language, as well as students who have not
had the same exposure to the language. In our Indonesian classes, there are
students who are background speakers as well as those who are learning a
language for the first time.
We have a number
of composite classes this year, so classes have been allocated a language time
for timetable purposes only. The language teachers will ensure that all
students are working at the appropriate level. The teachers carefully assess
the students and provide relevant, interesting lessons that cater for all
students and extend those who require it. The content changes each year to
reinforce the HSIE themes that the students are covering in the classroom.
If you have any
concerns please see your child’s class or language teacher.
PREFECTS FOR
TERM 1
Each term students from Year 6 are chosen to be prefects at Carlton
Public. Students this term were elected last year to be prefects in 2009.
Congratulations to: Nellie Zhang,
Anna Lee, Sarah Warrington, Tiarna Lamb, Jasmine Trajceski, Patrice Alkiviadou, Ninihi Wilson, Adrain Novak,
Emile John, Marc Betbeder-Matibetk, Nathan Chalak, Nick Jiang, Michael Dadson
and Damien Ho Our prefects have some very responsible jobs in the school and we
greatly appreciate the effort they make in doing these well. This year Ms Dettrick will be looking after our prefects.
SCHOOL
CAPTAINS
Again congratulations to our two captains for the whole of 2009 Anna Pietruska and Remy Blatch-Williams.
I am sure they will make wonderful captains of
KINDERGARTEN
MORNING TEA
We will be holding a special morning tea for Kindergarten parents next Wednesday
11 February at 9:15am. This is a great opportunity for our new parents to meet
other new Kindergarten parents. The morning tea will be held in the
staffroom in the Administration building. If you could leave any prams
outside the staff room it would help.
SPORTS
We are offering a wide range of sports each Friday this term for students
Years 3 to 6: swimming and gymnastics at Hurstville Aquatics
Centre, Tennis at Rockdale, Mini Tennis and Basket Ball at school, the PSSA
sports of Softball and Cricket as well as school sport. Students in Year 2 can participate in Mini
Tennis and Basket Ball and school sport on a Thursday. Children in Kindergarten
will be involved in a well structured school gross motor program.
Greek Language classes are held each Tuesday and Friday afternoon during
school terms. Language classes commenced yesterday,Tuesday 2/2/09 commencing at 3.15pm and finishing at
5.15pm. Please meet Mrs
Condoleon at the room entrance (under A Block near
BOOK CLUB
All children in Years 1 – 6 will receive a book club brochure soon. If you wish to order please return your
completed form and correct money in a sealed envelope (no change can be given)
to the school office by the date printed on the brochure.
Please remember to put your class on the top of the order and your class
and name on the envelope. Thank you to our hard working parents Mrs Lily Lui, Mrs
Fernandez and Mrs Roberts who make book club
possible.
UNIFORM SHOP
Thank you for supporting the Uniform Shop this year. It is lovely to see
all the students in their school uniforms. Please ensure all hats and jackets
are labeled clearly. Also could you please try to have the correct money
available when you come to purchase items. A price
list is available at the office.
SCHOOL TRAVEL
At the end of last year Mr Nathan Rees the
Premier of NSW reversed the government’s decision to impose a charge for school
travel by bus and rail. School travel
will remain free. If you think your
child qualifies for free school travel please come up to the school and complete
the necessary form. There are restrictions on lengths of journey, time factors
involved and student behaviour on the vehicles.