Five Dock PS Newsletter Term 3, Week 4 2023
Relieving Principal's Report
Education Week
It was wonderful to see so many families at the school last week celebrating Education Week, connecting and engaging with the school community. The students who performed in the choir, and band, participated in student voice, students from Kindergarten who performed a song and our soloist were all outstanding and I would like to thank the teachers for providing these students with the opportunity to perform. Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended and joined us in celebrating all that is wonderful about public education.
Education Week is a time where we can celebrate school and community and reflect on all that is positive about school. The students of Five Dock PS who work hard and display our values - "Respect, Participate, Belong and Achieve". Our teachers who work hard to instil a love of learning in all students and support them to achieve success through high expectations. Our non-teaching staff who work so hard behind the scenes to ensure that teachers can focus on teaching and learning. Our school leadership team who enable teachers to be the best they can be. Finally, to all of you, for all of your contributions towards supporting our school to be the best that it can be and for the trust you all place in us to deliver learning and wellbeing that will enable all children to achieve their potential. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you so that all students achieve their potential.
As a parent or carer, your engagement is critical to your child’s learning journey and education outcomes. Helpful ways to engage in your child’s education include:
• Understanding their education goals and aspirations, whether academic, social, wellbeing or beyond
• Finding ways to reinforce learning at home by engaging with your child’s interests and what they are learning at
school.
• Working together with educators and staff to support your child’s development
• Respectfully sharing compliments, feedback or suggestions through your school or other channels of feedback.
Education Week Photos
Statements of Account
Next week you will receive a Statement of Account with all of the payments that are due. We will send these out twice a term; once at the start and once half-way through the term. These will have all the payments due on the one page and then you will be able to log onto School Bytes, make the payments and ensure that permissions are up to date. One week prior to an event, a reminder will be sent if payment is overdue. These statements are sent through email. If you would like to discuss any payments that are due, we are more than happy to have you make an appointment to have a conversaton about support that can be provided.
Technology Update
Over the last two weeks, the school has purchsed 68 new laptops for students. This means that our allocation at the moment is as follows:
Libray - 1 set of 32 laptops
Languages Other Than English - 1 set of 32 laptops
Support Unit - 1 set of 16 laptops
Early Stage 1 - 1 set of 16 laptops
Stage 1 - 1 set of 32 laptops
Stage 2 - 1 set of 32 laptops
Stage 3 - 1 set of 32 laptops
The school is currently seeking to upgrade its intercative panels (Smart Boards) and will continue this upgrade next year as well. The P&C have generously agreed to purchase two new interactive panels, which will go into the library and the Hub and the school will purchase three more this year. We would like to thank the P&C for their support with upgrading the school's technology.
Term 4 School Developent Days/ 2024-2028 Strategic Improvement Plan
This week staff completed the first of two twilight professional learning afternnons. (These are held for three hours after school) The second one will be scheduled for next term. These two twilights will be in place of the School Development Day that was originally scheduled for Tuesday 19 December. This is a student free day and as a result of this rescheduling the school will be non-opaerational on this day. This means that most staff will not be on site.
The professional learning that was undertaken this week focued on data literacy and data analysis where staff engaged with accessing NAPLAN data and analysing this data for trends over time. This will inform us as to what our new three Strategic Directions may be for our new school plan.Over the coming weeks the staff will look at evaluating ourselves against the eight evidence-based practices identified in the What Works Best document. These 8 practices are:
* High Expectations
* Explicit teaching
* Effective feedback
* Use of data to inform practice
* Assessment
* Classroom management
* Wellbeing
* Collaboration
If you would like to find out more information about this Department of Education document, you can do so here:
This consultation phase will also include feedback from students, staff and parents. We will seek feedback from our community about this new strategic improvement plan in the coming weeks. More information will be available in subsequent newsletters.
We will also consider our External Validation outcomes. One of our identifed strengths was assessment practices and an area to work towards was evaluating over time the impact of professional learning on teacher practice. We will spend the next two terms working with staff, students and the community to do a deep dive into our data and our practices to determine the three big ticket items we want to work on for the following four years. We will also re-visit our school purpose and values, and formulate our new Strategic Improvement Plan.
Semester 1 Reports
Reporting is an an important part of teaching and education. It is important that we communicate with you about your child’s progress in a clear, effective and meaningful way. Last semester you received your child’s Semester 1 report. We would greatly appreciate you spending around 5 minutes to complete a survey, which will provide us with some valuable feedback on our reports, from Kindergarten to Year 6. We appreciate that our responsibility is to help our students and parents understand how students are going and what their next steps are. We do have to consider Department of Education Policy and procedures, however, we would also like to know if the reports were clear and easy to understand. Please use this link to complete this brief survey: https://forms.gle/HApaurwFqqLQyYv5A
Kindergarten Enrolments
It is that time of year once again when we start thinking about Kindergarten for next year. All children must be in compulsory schooling by their 6th birthday. Children can start Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year if they turn 5 on or before 31 July that year. Students should start school at the beginning of the school year. We are now taking new Kindergarten enrolments for 2024. If you have a child that you wish to enrol, please contact the school on 9713 7044 and we will provide you with information about how you can do this.
It is extremely valuable for us to know how many students we are expecting as it impacts on our numbers, how many staff we are allocated and classes we are able to form. If you have any neighbours with young children about to start, please let them know that we are taking new enrolments now.
School Bands and Choir News
In exciting news, our school band and choir have secured the opportunity to play at the Ferragosto festiveal on Sunday 20 August. Times and exact locations are yet to be confirmed and will be communicated as soon as the information is provided to the school. This annual Italian celebration is a wonderful opportunity for for our students to showcase their talents and immerse themselves in a virbrant, cultural experience. Students must be accompanied by their parents on this day and we look forward to seeing as many families as possible supporting our students.
On Tuesday 1 August, our school bands had the exciting opportunity to attend a workshop at Concord HS. Ruby Tyrrell has written a brief recount of the day below.
On the first of August Junior and Senior band went to Concord High School for a band workshop where we learnt thee pices; Into the Clouds, resilience and hmmmm and Livin' on a prayer. There were multiple schools participating in the workshop including some of the Concord High School's Band members who were very helpful in this experience. We learnt French notation, all the Tis, the Tars and the Tooms; we wrapped it up with a performance of the three soings to staff, teachers, parents and students. So overall it was an all round great experience and I would without a doubt do it again.
Ruby Tyrrell
Warin, 5/6
In the Classroom
Here are some photos from the learning that is going on in classrooms at the moment. Next week, you will receive an update from each stage via Sentral.
Preschool
Our Buruwang group at work this week....
- completing activities to do with locomotion at gymnastics
- constructing an incredible train track
- using real materials in our construction area
Some photos of our Amaroo at work this week:
- Completing complicated puzzles
- Exploring the big school playground
- learning more about waterfalls
Early Stage 1
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Support Unit
Our support units students during their Science session.
Stage 3 News
Year 6 Carnival Day
"The year 6 carnival is on Friday 1st September. It is to fundraise money for the year six students to give back to the school a gift for when they graduate primary school. Year 6 host games, food and prizes. K-6 are all welcome to come along to participate in all excitement that happens. Each stage comes out one at a time to visit our amazing stalls. You can bring money to spend at the fun carnival stalls. There will be lots of prizes, food and fun for everyone".
Written by Charlotte, Abbey, Lilla and Zara
P&C News
Save the date!
Father's Day is only a few weeks away and to celebrate our wonderful FDPS dads, uncles & grandfathers we are running our annual Father's Day Stall on Thursday 31 August from 9:30am.Each class will have the opportunity to visit the stall with their teacher and pick out a gift! Please send your child/ren in with a bag to transport their goodies home.
Cake Stall
On Wednesday 23 August we will be having a cake stall on the same day as our Book week parade. Year 6 students will be selling cakes, so please send some money with your child on this day. The P&C are loking for donations of cakes as well, so if you would like to donate, please contact Jade Hsu.
Library News
Five Dock Public School Book Fair
We are excited to have the Book Fair visiting our school once again this year. Book Week is a chance to celebrate books and the wonderful characters and storylines that come to life as we read them. The Scholastic Book Fair books have arrived, and your child will have the chance to view them during next week’s library lesson and to put together a wish list of books they might like to purchase. It is also a wonderful opportunity for families to visit the library during Book Week and to purchase a book for your child to commemorate a wonderful week of reading and fun. The Book Fair will be open at the following times.
Monday 21st August
8:15am to 9am
3:15pm- 4:00pm
Tuesday 22nd August
8:15am to 9am
3:15pm- 4:00pm
Wednesday 23rd August (after the Book Parade)
10:15am to 11:30am
3:15pm to 4:00pm
Thursday 24th August
8:15am to 9am
3:15pm- 4:00pm
Do pop in, say hello, and have a browse at the exciting new books Scholastic has on offer.
Hope to see you there.
Robyn Christopoulos
Teacher Librarian
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
Dates for your diary
