Five Dock PS, Newsletter Term 3, Week 2

We Learn on Wangal Country

Principal's Report

Welcome back to school for the start of Term 3! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Winter break and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine we were lucky enough to have. Hopefully you were able to squeeze in some quality family time and enjoyed connecting with each other. 

We have a busy term with many activities planned, starting with Education Week in Week 3. This includes a K-2 and 3-6 performance, open classrooms, a performance from the senior band, 3-6 dance group and choir and a picnic lunch. We are excited to welcome as many parents as possible to come and celebrate all that is wonderful about public education. The details of these events are in the flyer below. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of the teachers for their hard work in preparing all of these events. These events and activities are ones that the students will make memories of and remember for many years to come and they shape their schooling experience. The teachers have spent many hours organising the many activities and we appreciate their commitment to making them happen and ensuring they run smoothly.

Key messages:

• This year’s theme is: Proud to belong. Public Education Week is a time for all of us to feel “proud to belong”, sharing our pride in being part of NSW public education and the achievements of our students and staff.
  

• Public Education Week is when we celebrate and acknowledge all those who contribute to our children and young people’s educational journey. School staff, parents and carers, community leaders and P&C associations all play an important role in our students' education.

Semester One Interviews and Student Progress Reports

During the last week of Term 2, we held our second parent/ teacher interview sessions. These were extremely well attended with at least 90% of each class organising an interview. We appreciate you making the time to meet and discuss your child's progress with classroom teachers and hope you found the session worthwhile. This is a key way in which you can engage with your child's learning and learn about the progress they have made and their next steps in learning at school. This way, you can play a role as a partner in improving your child's learning. The Student Progress Report, together with this interview has hopefully provided you with an overview, of where your child is at and their next steps in learning. This can then enable you to talk with your child about how they will get there. 

We have started to implement student learning goals and by the end of the year, we will be asking students to reflect on their progress with these learning goals. Students are encouraged to be active participants in their own learning by assessing  their own progress towards their goal according to the success criteria known as self-assessment. Teaching staff have been focused on professional learning that explicitly focuses on the learning intention and success criteria to support students to be a part of the learning process. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the teachers for the time they spent in writing reports and engaging on interviews to support student learning and your knowledge about your child's learning. We invite you to participate in a brief survey about the Student progress Reports and interviews. We appreciate you taking five minutes to provide us with this feedback. https://forms.gle/7m9wBnWe1tuea7W87

Stage 3 Camp 

This week Stage 3 students attended their camp to Bathurst, accompanied by Mrs Edwards, Ms Rassaby, Mrs Burgess, Mr Pigott and Mr Sharp. They had a wonderful time experiencing many wonderful sights and activities. These included a day out at Hill End, finding gold, climbing up a mine shaft, campfire, marshmellows, a games night, a tour 'stepping back in time', Scenic World and Echo Point. These experiences will create lifetime memories. Teachers reported that students not only had a wonderful time, but also demonstrated exemplary behaviour. Well done to the students for representing our school so well. 

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the teachers who spent three days with the students and created opportunities for these memories to be made. Teachers themselves have spent time away from their own families to do this and we thank them for their commitment and dedication to their profession. This is what public education is all about; providing students with wonderful opportunities that deepen their understanding of the world and fostering social relationships with their peers.  

School Development Day 

Last Monday, teachers engaged in a whole day of professional learning. This professional learning was directly linked to our new Strategic Improvement Plan. Recently we engaged Vision Hub to create a visual of this pan and it is included below in this newsletter. It's a great way to visually see what they key elements are in our new Strategic Improvement Plan and what the school is seeking to focus on over the next four years. On this day the teachers engaged in the following professional learning: 

• Data literacy and analysis - teachers looked at NAPLAN data from this year, and looked at how what areas the school needs to focus on in literacy and numeracy. 
• Mathematics unit of work - teachers explored how they can use the Department of Education's Mathematics units of work to design learning sequences that are responsive to the needs if the students in our context. 
• Launching the professional learning associated with implementing the Resilience Project in 2025. This includes information on how we can instil a sense of belonging in students and how connection gives us purpose and meaning to our lives. 
• Teachers explored the next topic in explicit teaching and looked at what this looks like in the classroom. This includes: 
  • Implementing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria (LISC)
  • Referring back to LISC beginning, during and after each lesson  ​
  • Students co-constructing SC​
  • Student friendly language for LISC
  • Connecting learning through questioning ​
  • Connection to prior learning (reducing cognitive load)​
  • Cold calling (ensuring that all students have an opportunity to ​
  • Questions to gauge students' understanding throughout the lesson (formative assessment)
  • Modelled, guided and independent release of responsibility through learning sequence (chunking and scaffolding)​
  • Teachers responding to students understanding and needs (differentiation and revision of learning as needed) ​
  • Students discussing thinking and reasoning (problem solving)​
  • Timely and effective feedback – teachers walking around class giving descriptive feedback focusing on strengths and areas of improvement - groups, pairs and individuals.

Tournament of the Minds

This year our school is participating in the Tournament of the Minds competition. 

Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a program for all primary and secondary students providing the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork.

Challenges are set in the following disciplines... The Arts, Language Literature, Social Sciences and STEM.

Eibhlinn (5B )

Sian (5R)

Zadie (6E)

Fehoko (6E)

Naomi S (6E)

Lily B (6M)

Xavier (6M)

These students will be meeting this week to decide on the challenge that they will take on and will have six weeks to work on the challenge under the guidance of Mrs Edwards and myself. However, the majority of the challenge must be done by the students themselves. We will continue to update you on their progress, but in the meantime, we wish them all the very best. 

Homework Policy 

This term we are reviewing our homework policy. Homework is often revision of what is covered in class. As well as regular weekly homework, your child may have assessments such as assignments or projects with due dates.The research around homework suggests that it is not as effective as many believe it to be. There is no consistent evidence that homework lifts academic performance, and no evidence that homework helps students develop skills in time management, responsibility, self-discipline or motivation. An exception to this is home reading, which research consistently finds contributes significantly to student academic success, particularly across aspects of literacy. A recent article in the ABC news outlines this and the direction many are taking with this issue.If you are interested in this article, we have added the link.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-21/homework-is-it-necessary-for-primary-school-students/103565534

Having provided the above information, we would like to hear from our community and will at some point this term ask you for your feedback. In the meantime, we have included our school's expectations below. If you still require clarification, please contact the Assistant Principal for each stage. 

Term 3 Homework @ Five Dock PS

 Public Speaking 

This term we will be holding our school public speaking competition. The class competitions will be held in Week 7 and the school competition will be held in Week 8 on Wednesday 11 September. 

Public speaking and other speaking competitions can have many benefits.

Public speaking can:

• help students develop and enhance their literacy skills

• encourage research and organisational skills

• improve critical thinking and encourage creativity

• help students learn new skills and gain confidence speaking in front of others

• develop language and vocabulary

• provide students with opportunities for success

Sometime over the next two weeks, we will provide you with further information about this competition via Sentral. 

Anti-racism Strategy 2024 - 2025 

Last week the Department of Education launched a new strategy to eradicate anti-racism. The Anti-Racism Strategy Implementation Plan 2024–2025 identifies actions that will contribute to the elimination of all forms of racism in NSW public education. This plan is the first of a series of two-year plans that aim to collectively realise the intended outcomes of the Anti-Racism Strategy. We have included some further details about this strategy as part of the link below. 

NAPLAN 2024

If your child is in Year 3 or 5, last week you will have received their NAPLAN results. In a link below, there is some more details information about how to read the reports.These results tell you something about your child's progress, however, they do not tell you everything. Please remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing. There is a lot of formative assessment that goes on everyday in classrooms that provides extra information about how students are progressing. The interview you had recently with your child's teacher will give you a more accurate relection of how they are going. NAPLAN does not define your child's ability and an important consideration is triangulating this information with other sources. 

Good News Story

Congratulations to Olive Milner in Year 5. During the holidays she had some wonderful achievements.  Last Mon she competed in the Sydney Eisteddfod at The Concourse, Chatswood and she did very well.  With over 45 contestants in each category she placed 2nd in Musical Theatre and 2nd in Contemporary.  She was very excited! 

In June Owen Ly in Year 3 competed in the Sydney Taekwondo Festival and the ASMA Taekwondo Open. Owen won the gold medal in his division for both events. He also had the opportunity to meet with Leon Sejranovic and Bailey lewis, who will be representing Australia in taekwondo at the upcoming Paris Olympics. 

Have a wonderful fortnight. We look forward to seeing you all next week at our Education Week celebrations. 

Suzi Chosid 

Good News

The Resilience Project

Stage 3 Camp

Stage 3 had a wonderful time at their camp to Bathurst this week!

Bathurst 2024

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Green and Gold Day

100 Days of Kindergarten

Congratulations to our Kindergarten students who celebrated their first 100 days this week. They came dressed as 100 year olds and completed a variety of activities related to the number 100. Kindergarten have a wonderful 100 days and they have grown and achieved so much in a short space of time. Students enjoyed these celebrations and we look forward to what the next 100 days will bring. 

Kindergarten 100 Days

Public Education Week - Proud to belong.

In the Classroom - Italian

In the Classroom - 6E

Last term, the 6E class finished on a high note with lots of exciting activities and achievements. The highlight was undoubtedly the Colour Fun Run, where students raced through clouds of coloured powder creating a rainbow of great memories. The fun of the Colour Run didn't stop there, with Ms Edwards being slimed by students who had worked hard to get the messy reward of being the 'slimers'. 6E can be very proud of their dedication to their learning with everyone making great progress and many students producing a series of excellent homework projects that were really impressive. Additionally the class thoroughly enjoyed diving into the historical fiction book 'Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief', which sparked engaging discussions and a deeper understanding of the history of WWII.This term has kicked off with a whirlwind of events. Stage 3 headed to Bathurst for their 3 day camp. Despite the frosty weather, the students had an incredible time exploring the historic town and participating in various activities- with some even finding gold (although not enough to strike it rich)! The chilly temperatures just added to the sense of adventure and 6E have returned with stories of fun, friendship and lots of great memories. We are now busily getting ready for our Education Week performance where we will continue the chilly theme with a play about a winter ski village! This term's excitement doesn't stop there as we begin to get ready for our annual Year 6 Carnival day that will be held Week 10. 6E are certainly making the most of their final year of primary school with lots of learning and building memories to last a lifetime.

6E

In the Classroom 1FC

Question- What sings, dances, measures, writes, reads, plays, classifies, counts and much, much more, all in one week?

Answer- 1FC!!

We have had such a busy start to the term, and it is set to continue.

In preparation for our whole school performance, we have been busy singing and learning our choreography for This Is Me and we are very excited to be performing it, next week. 

In maths have been learning about measuring lengths and the importance of no gaps or overlaps when using units to measure an object. We also learnt how to find and measure the ‘difference’ between the lengths of two objects and use problem solving strategies to find the difference between two numbers.

Our science unit is Living Things and we started off the week drawing and decorating a variety of animals for our amazing classroom wall display.  We discussed the characteristics of living things and came up with seven (but some of them are a bit tricky) and classified objects into living and non-living groups.

When we asked the children what their favourite activity has been this week, they all agreed writing in their journal about the school holidays. We are so proud of their journal writing and we were delighted to hear about all the wonderful places everyone visited. The students should all feel proud of their work already this term, they have been very busy. As one of students commented about this, ‘time flies when you’re having fun!’.

1FC

PSSA Update

PSSA winter started back in Week 1! The junior girls soccer teams lost both games but both teams showed amazing kicks and great goalie defence. Senior girls soccer played a great game last week. It was a close game for the majority of the time but they lost to Croydon Park in the last 5 minutes. The final score was 3-1. Senior boys soccer were victorious winning 3-2 against Abbotsford and the junior boys lost 7-0 but played with amazing perseverance. In netball, the junior A netball team had amazing communication, defence and teamwork, their best game yet. Despite a superb effort by every team member, they were defeated by Summer Hill. The junior B netball team also had a fabulous game drawing with Summer Hill. The senior As netball team had a high scoring victory against Summer Hill beating them 25 to 13. The senior Bs unfortunately lost 4-0 but their incredible improvements in defense and spatial awareness meant that this was also their best game to date. The week 2 update is netball senior As won 30-1 against Ashfield, their 3rd win in a row! The junior As also won 14-0! Both B teams had to forfeit due to low numbers but enjoyed friendly games. In boys soccer, both teams lost against Russell Lea but gave it their best and are sharpening their skills weekly. In girls soccer, the seniors had a 3-2 win and the junior as had a 2-0 win. The junior bs played a very tight game but sadly lost 3-2. Lastly in touch football, seniors boys lost against Abbotsford and the open girls won 7-1 and continued their undefeated streak. Well done all PSSA sports superstars!

Merit Awards

Appetite Eatery, Five Dock

Last Friday we farewelled Phillip and Adrian from Appetite Eatery. Phillip and Adrian have been instrumental in supporting Five Dock PS while it has been and continues to be without a canteen. The cafe embodies the community spirit that all public schools hope to achieve. The relationship that they have built with the students, staff and the wider community is extraordinary and from all of the community at FDPS, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for everything they have done for our school. We truly appreciate how they have provided a lunch option for our students and enabled them to experience a canteen in some form. Their work goes beyond providing food and coffee to customers; seeking to establish community connections; the very idea behind The Resilience Project, using it to create meaning and purpose in our lives.. We wish them all the very best; they will be missed greatly by all. 

We are also grateful that the new owners of Appetite Eatery will continue to support Five Dock PS until we find a permanent solution. 

Office News

Statements of Account have now been sent out via School Bytes. Thank you to the families who have already made payments. If you require financial assistance, please contact the school and we can come to an arrangement that is confidential. 

Thank you in advance for your prompt payment of the Term 3 invoice. These fees allow our school to continue to provide the best quality learning materials and experiences for our students.

Two incursions that will occur this term are the Musica Viva performance and the Book week Author visit. Please see details below for these events. 

Learn music at FDPS

Youth Mental Health Services

1:1 Anxiety Coaching

Metro Assist are running a face-to-face and online version of Anxiety Coach, aimed at supporting parents/carers to be able to support their child with anxiety management and building resilience.