Five Dock PS Newsletter Term 2, Week 8, 2024

We Learn on Wangal Country

Principal's Report

Welcome to the Week 8 newsletter. We are almost at the end of Term 2, which is half way through the school year. The year is certainly going by quickly.

Teachers have been finalising their Semester One reports and they are almost ready to be sent out next Friday 28 June. I would like to thank teachers for all of their hard work and efforts in completing reports and appreciate the time and mental energy involved. These reports will be sent via Sentral and you will be able to access them via the app. We have a record of families who do not have the app downloaded and will contact you to ensure that you have a copy of the report. We will also post a reminder on Friday once published to remind you to check your app for details.

When reading your child’s report, try to emphasise the positive. Praise your child for their improvement and achievements – and try to be specific with your praise. For example, “I’m really pleased with your progress in English. You have been working so hard and have improved so much since the beginning of the year”. Focus on their effort, not the grades. Focusing on marks rather than a ‘learning orientation’ can mean they become less likely to enjoy learning and challenge themselves. The teacher’s comments can often tell you more about the effort and the learning your child has made than the grades. We encourage you to read the report carefully and discuss it with your child. Conversations where you engage your children to reflect on their learning allow your child to see that you value learning. 

The Department of Education has a syllabus for each curriculum area that outlines the outcomes to be achieved in each Learning Area.

Schooling in NSW is organised into seven stages of learning across primary and secondary school

Primary School from Kindergarten to Year 6 (K-6) encompasses four stages of learning.

Early Stage or Foundation = Kindergarten (starting from five years of age)

Stage 1 = Years 1 and 2

Stage 2 = Years 3 and 4

Stage 3 = Years 5 and 6

As you can see, apart from Early Stage One, each stage represents two grade levels. This means that it may take two years to achieve the outcomes outlined at each stage. When students enter a new stage of learning in the syllabus (Year 1, Year 3, Year 5 in Primary School), they will begin working with a new set of outcomes that may take two years to achieve. It is for this reason that when students enter a new stage, it may seem as if they have gone ‘backwards’, particularly if they achieve a sound in their academic report, after receiving a higher grade the previous year, where it was the final year of the stage level. The first thing to remember here is that they have entered a new stage level and secondly, a sound grade means they are achieving what is expected of them at their age. Please do not be alarmed if this is the case with your child. Rather, it would be useful, if you were concerned, to raise this with your child’s teacher at the parent teacher interviews who will explain the above information and explain what is happening with your child’s learning at that particular time. 

For more information about the NSW Primary Syllabus, use this link to download the booklet. 

http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/f316419e-11c4-4d9a-840f-0d686d1e3668/parents-guide-2015.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

Punctuality

We have had an increasing amount of students who are arriving to school after the 9am bell. We would like to remind families about the importance of punctuality and arriving at school on time. Punctuality supports the learning of each child and plays a crucial role in student’s academic success and overall wellbeing.

Here a few points to consider:

1. Establishing Positive Life-long Habits: Arriving at school on time sets a positive tone for the day and supports students to establish good habits that will serve them well as they get older. It demonstrates responsibility, reliability, and respect.

2. Minimising Disruptions: Arriving late often disrupts the learning environment for both students and teachers. When students arrive late, they may miss crucial parts of the day which include lesson instructions and routines, as well as  announcements for the day. This can impacts their own learning but also disrupts the flow of instruction for the entire class.

3. Maximising Learning Opportunities: Being punctual ensures that students have ample time to settle in, prepare for the day ahead, and fully engage in learning activities. It allows them to make the most of their educational opportunities and fosters a positive attitude towards learning.
   

Tell Them From Me Survey

This week, students in Years 4-6 completed the Tell Them From Me survey. The Tell Them From Me student survey provides school leaders with insights into student engagement, wellbeing and effective teaching practices at their school, from the perspective of students. The student survey asks students a range of question related to the following: 

• participation in sports and extracurricular activities
• behaviour at school
• effective learning time
• use of ICT for learning 
• homework behaviour
• teaching relevance and rigour
• sense of belonging
• interest and motivation
• perseverence 
• positive relationships
• effort
• experience of being bullied
• valuing school outcomes
• skills and learning challenge
• advocacy at school
• positive teacher-student relations
• expectations for success
• positive learning climate

Athletics Carnival 

Last Tuesday we held our annual Athletics carnival, which was run once again by Zing Activ. This day ran seamlessly with all students actively participating throughout the day, whether they were in official events or other activities. We have been working with Zing throughout the term, where on a weekly basis they have have been preparing students with the skills and learning experiences required to participate in the school carnival. We would like to thank both Zing Activ and Michelle Holmes, who is our school contact and who helped to organise the event that ran smoothly, with all students having a fantastic day. 

A huge thanks goes to David Rimi-Cheng who was our official photographer for the day. We have attached the photos he took on the day. We are so appreciative of the fact that he was there to capture these moments and of the fact that we have someone with this talent in our community that we are able to access. Thank you, David. 

We would also like to thank our Year 6 parents for kindly donating a coffee and donut for all of the staff at the Athletics Carnival. A kind gesture that was appreciated by the staff. Thank you!

Refugee Week 

The past week marked Refugee Week, an annual event which encompasses World Refugee Day (20 June). The purpose is to raise awareness, promote intercultural understanding, highlight the positive contributions refugees make to Australian society and enable refugees to safely live and integrate into the community.

The aims of Refugee Week are:  

• to educate the Australian public about who refugees are and why they have come to Australia; 
• to help people understand the many challenges refugees face coming to Australia;  
• to celebrate the contribution refugees make to our community;  
• to focus on how the community can provide a safe and welcoming environment for refugees.
  

After School Coding 

We are introducing after school coding at Five Dock PS. These 75 minute classes will be held after school for 75 minutes on Thursday afternoons. See details in article below. 

Lost Property 

We have a huge amount of lost property in our box, which is located in front of Block E, the Stage 1 and 3B classrooms. A lot of the lost property has names on it. If you think you have lost something at school, it is more than likely here. If you have any time to volunteer to help sort it out, that would be very much appreciated. Please call in at any time

Good News Story - Sydney East Football Championships

Emilia and Phoebe represented the Inner West Zone at the Sydney East Girls Football Championships today at Kareela and were crowned champions. They made it through to the grand final undefeated! Well done, Emilia and Phoebe! 

Have a wonderful fortnight!

Suzi Chosid 

In the Classroom 6M

This term 6M have been studying the text Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief by Katrina Nannestad. It is a story based on the life of a young boy, Sergei Aleshkov's struggles during World War 2. In mathematics our focus has been on operations, fractions, decimals and percentages, time, perimeter and area. 6M have been busy in term 2 doing some interesting experiments with solids, liquids and gases. Our favourite activity was combining a range of solutions to create slime. Famous Indigenous Australians has been our focus in history this term. We are having lots of fun in music with the new school program called Amplify. Athletic skills have been the focus in our PE program which certainly paid off during our recent Athletics Carnival. UR Strong, another new school program has reinforced strategies to assist us in our friendship groups and social activities.

6M

In the Classroom - 4S

4S has had a very busy few weeks. We are coming to the end of our unit on persuasive writing and have enjoyed learning about the Ned Kelly gang as part of our focus text. In maths lessons we have been working hard on becoming masters of our multiplication tables. We have been playing lots of games to practise our tables and verse each other each day. We have also started rehearsing our play and are learning about projecting our voice with expression when reading aloud. As always, we have enjoyed applying our learning to artworks throughout the term, too. 

4S

Reading Tutors Wanted

Do you have a spare 10-20 minutes to listen to a child/children read?

Volunteering can be a very rewarding experience for all those involved. It will allow you to become a greater part of your child’s school and is of great benefit to the student who gets an opportunity to read to you. All you will need to do is listen to a child read, help them decode unfamiliar words and ask them some questions about what they have read. We are currently looking for as many volunteers as we can to listen to children read from all grades. You will need to get a volunteers working with children certificate which you can get online at Service NSW https://wwccheck.ocg.nsw.gov.au/Apply

If you are interested, please contact the office.

Boccia Tournament

This week the Schools Sport Unit who provide sporting opportunities for students with a disability, hosted a Boccia Tournament at the Marrickville PCYC. Five Dock Public School was represented by 6 students from our Support Unit who competed against 11 other primary schools. While they did not proceed to the next round, they had a wonderful day of teamwork and cooperation. They met many past students who are now in high school and enjoyed making some new friends too. Well done to Noah Latham, Benji Natoli, Frankie-Rose Burnicle, Jack Palmer, Taihan Ahmed and Jayden Singh for displaying great resilience and sportsmanship! Thank to you Mr Kaplan and Ms Walton for accompanying and supporting the students.  

The students wrote about their day when they returned: 

" I was tired because it was a big day and headache. I do not know if we made the finals or not? Noah keeps running away for some reason and the big girl made the little girl with the wheelchair cry.  Jack and Frankie-Rose were calming the little girl in the wheelchair."    Jack Palmer
" Boccia was fantastic and amazing.  I versed other schools but at Boccia Jack got a headache. The blue team is good and we got ice blocks."   Taihan Ahmed
" The fantastic Boccia game yesterday- we went to Boccia club for kids. We did good sometimes but we lost in the game to the blue team. The girl in the wheelchair was very good but she got hurt by a girl with glasses. Then we lost but we still didn't give up so we got the green team real good.  We finished Boccia and then had an ice block."  Benji Natoli

Public Education Week - save the dates!

Kindergarten Enrolment 2025

Please enrol any siblings starting Kindergarten in 2025. If your child turns 5 before 31 July 2025 they are eligible to start Kindergarten next year. Please complete your child's application as soon as possible, attaching a copy of their passport or birth certificate, proof of your home address (e.g. latest electricity bill, rates notice or lease etc) and their immunisation statement from Medicare. Any additional OT or speech therapy reports, additional needs and the like should also be included.Please submit your enrolments online using the link below. 

P&C News

Athletics Carnival

The Five Dock Public School Athletics Carnival on was held at St Luke’s Park last week and was a very successful day, even though it was freezing cold! The students didn't let the cold weather dampen their enthusiasm. The little ones from Kindergarten to Year 2 had a fantastic time with the tabloid games and enjoyed being helped to learn new skills from their teachers. Our students from Years 3 to 6 really got into the competitive spirit giving their all in the track events, shot put, and long jump. A huge shoutout to the Year 6 students who made the day even better by serving up hot coffees and donuts to the teachers—perfect for a cold day. Thanks to Ms. Holmes for organising everything so perfectly and to Zing Active for hosting such an awesome event. Everyone had a great time and made some wonderful memories. We're already looking forward to cheering on our students who will be competing at the Zone competition in August.

My New Gallery

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OOSH News

Dear Families

We are excited to announce that our 2024 Winter Vacation Care is now ready. The program has been based around what are children have been asking and favourite experiences so far.

Vacation Care Period

Vacation Care Week 1: Monday 8th of July to Friday 12th of July
Vacation Care Week 2: Monday 15th of July to Friday 19th of July
Vacation Care Week 3: Monday 22nd of July (Pupil Free Day)

• The program can be viewed via the link below -

https://sway.cloud.microsoft/lrXhm8jCFS7gHJ0c?ref=Link

• You will be required to fill out a Permission/booking form. Once the form has been filled out we will send you a confirmation that the bookings have been made

https://forms.office.com/r/E0VKBQDHLy

• All bookings forms must be completed by Friday 28^th of June 2024.

Please let us know if you require any further information.

Andrew Park | Director

Merit Awards and Deadly Awards

Congratulations to our Weeks 7 and 8 award winners. Also congratulations to the Deadly Award winners for the last fortnight - Alessia Siwak (5R) and Louise Morgan (1LC). 

After school Coding is coming to Five Dock PS!

Next term Code Camp are bringing their classes to Five Dock PS. Classes will be held on Thursdays after school, starting from 3:15pm, for 75 minutes. They will be held in the hub in the main school office. Use this booking link to book: 

https://my.codecamp.com.au/course/venue/7945

Share Our Space

These school holidays, our school will be participating in the Share Our Space program. 

Keyboard Classes