Five Dock PS Newsletter Term 3, Week 4, 2024

We Learn on Wangal Country

Principal's Report

Welcome to the end of Week 4, where we finding ourselves heading towards the halfway point of the term. We have already achieved so much, and there is still much to look forward to in the coming weeks, our performance evening, Book Week, Father's Day Stall, Public Speaking Competitions and Year 6 Carnival Day. 

Ferragosto Festival

Congratulations to the Five Dock PS community who represented our school and Public Education beautifully on Sunday at the Ferragosto festival. Our Senior Band and K-6 Dance group did a wonderful job performing on the Community Stage. A huge thanks to the parents who helped transport band instruments and to our dedicated band conductor, Kelly.  

We extend appreciation and gratitude to the fantastic P&C who looked after and ran the stall all day. A dedicated and committed team of volunteers who organised a raffle spin and win for community members and promoted our fantastic school to all who visited. A deep level of gratitude to all who made this day happen. Thanks also to the teachers and office staff who supported our school community by coming along to cheer on everybody. 

Public Education Week

Last week we celebrated Public Education Week and it was a wonderful celebration of our school community. We thank all families who were able to attend and and be able to share their children's learning, classroom work and work samples. Public Education week is a important time for our school system that provides education for all in inclusive, diverse and supportive environments. Our Senior Band, Choir and Dance group performed well, showcasing their hard work over the last six months. 

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs Pigott and Ms Thompson who celebrated 40 and 30 years respectively working for the Department of Education. 

Festival of Choral Music

Congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 choir who performed at the Opera House on Friday evening. It was a pleasure to be there and watch them experience performing in this highly professional production. The students thoroughly enjoyed this connected experience and I am sure they will all remember it for many years to come. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Bakoulis and Mrs Tay for their time and efforts in providing the students with this opportunity. Without their dedication and commitment, this opportunity would not be possible and we are proud of what they have all achieved. We look forward to the next performance for the Years 3 and 4 students who will be performing at Sydney Town Hall in a few weeks time.

Student Leadership Team 

Last Wednesday we had a P&C meeting where our Student Leaders all attended to present a proposal that they have been working on, titled "The School Toilet Project", the students have researched, budgeted and analysed how they can support the school to upgrade the toilets. Inspired by the Young Leaders Day they attended at the beginning of the year, they went about collaborating on this project, working with the SRC and presenting the project to the School Leadership Team. Their ability to negotiate all of this and critically think about how this project can be turned into action has been very impressive, especially considering by the time it happens, they will be in high school. This is the goal for us as educators to encourage students to be inspired enough to think about how they can make the world a better place for others. We are very proud of the students as a leadership team, who have sought to use their position to do this. They were successful in asking the P&C to commit to $2000 to be used immediately and are currently working with the school to dedicate some additional funds. Well done to all of these students. 

Student Representative Council Semester 2

Congratulations to our Semester 2 SRC members who were inducted at the Monday morning assembly last week. We look forward to working the new members on initiatives during the second half of the year to raise money for charities and think critically about how we can improve our school for students. 

Strategic Improvement Plan Update  

We have produced a visual that summarises our Strategic Improvement Plan. This visual represents our focus areas for the next four years.  We published this in the last newsletter, however, there is a canvas of this hanging in the office area. 

Strategic Direction 1 – As mentioned, our staff are currently in the process of using data to plot all of their students in four areas, aligned to the proficiency standards in NAPLAN. In the middle of this term, all teachers will have collaborative practice sessions devoted to analysing data, firstly as a class and then looking at this data as a stage to identify areas of strength and gaps. This information will be used to identify focus areas for instruction in order to support growth and attainment. Teachers are tracking reading, fluency and additive strategies.  

Strategic Direction 2 – Explicit Teaching. Teachers are focusing on the document that the Department of education recently produced, called, ‘The Explicit Teaching Statement.’ We have focused heavily on Sharing learning intentions and success criteria, connecting learning, using effective questioning and we are about to move on to checking for understanding.  

Strategic Direction 3 – Teachers will be undertaking professional learning, which enables them to update their knowledge of Autism, ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorders. This supports student wellbeing and supporting the success of every child. Last term we completed the Tell Them From Me with students. We were very please that we improved in the area of sense of belonging, which was the goal that we had. This term we will complete this same survey with parents and we would like as many parents to complete it as possible, in order to provide some valid and reliable data for the school. Teachers received some professional learning around The Resilience Project, which we will be implementing in 2025.  

Book Week 

Let’s celebrate the importance of reading, stories, libraries and community for learning and inspiration.

This year’s theme is ‘Reading is Magic’, which highlights how stories have the power to transport minds to different worlds.

Book Week is the time to encourage learners of all ages to read widely and engage with storytelling more broadly. In classrooms across the state, our students are making videos and sharing stories to bring the ‘Reading is Magic’ theme to life.

Come and celebrate Book Week with us. Our character parade is on Wednesday 21 August at 9:15am, so students can come dressed as their favourite book character or something magical. Our book fair is on, so lease come along and purchase a book from our Book Fair which will enable us to buy more resources for our library. Thank you Mrs Davies for all of her work in organising this event. 

Have a wonderful fortnight. 

Suzi Chosid 

Public Speaking 2025

Please find information below regarding the Public Speaking competition this year. 

Eduaction Week 2024

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Ferragosto 2024

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Festival of Choral Music at the Sydney Opera House

Zone Athletics Carnival

On Thursday, 15th August, 32 of our students took part in the Zone Athletics Carnival, representing our school with pride. Their behavior and participation throughout the day were fantastic.We are proud to announce that five students received ribbons for their efforts: Sonja Blom, Drew Tenoyo, Toby Paton, Jonothon Howlett, and Eiblinn Walsh. Well done to each of them for their impressive performances!A special mention goes to Toby Paton, who was named the Zone Age Champion for Junior Boys, and Jonothan Howlett, who took home the Zone Age Champion title for 11 Years Boys. These two really stood out with their achievements.Great job to everyone who participated—you all made our school very proud.

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Kindergarten 2025

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 2025. If you have a child that you wish to enrol, please come to the office and pick up an enrolment package. It is extremely valuable for us to know how many students we are expecting as it impacts on our numbers and 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. 

Bright Star Chinese School

We are offering a free Mandarin class next Tuesday afternoon (Tuesday 27 August) with Bright Star Chinese is from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Depending on the interest, we may be offering after school classes in Term 4. Please see details below in the advertisement. The class will be held in the Hub, located in Block A.

P&C News

Canteen Manager Introduction

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Marissa Saad as the new Canteen Manager for our school. After the disappointment of being informed that the canteen provider we selected as part of the canteen tender process decided to unexpectedly withdraw their application, we are pleased to inform the community that we have found a new canteen option. After reaching out to Schools Infrastructure, they were able to support the school and find us someone to manage the canteen, for at the next year. Ms Marissa Saad will be our new canteen operator, and the school looks forward to working with her. Marissa Saad Canteen is a family operated business with over 15 years of experience in the food and catering industry. Marissa also uses Flexischools so we will not have the issue of transitioning this. She has 15 years of experience and currently also manages Burwood PS, Marie Bashir PS and Banksia Rd PS. Marissa will begin on Monday 26 August. We are looking forward to working with Marissa over the coming year. 

Please find her introduction below. 

We are grateful to become part of this community.

We are looking forward to starting on Monday, the 26^th  of August. Our meals are made daily on the premises. Our focus was on nutrition and variety which catered for different cultural needs and are closely linked to the Healthy School Canteens Strategy. Please encourage your children to try a new foods and make “Healthy selections when ordering lunch.

We are also suggesting to the parents to make a whole week lunch orders. The canteen will introduce “weekly order sheets” to assists parents in time management and reduce ques at the canteen in the mornings. Your child lunch will then be provided for the rest of the week. We will continue to use Flexischools for online ordering, alternatively Lunch bags will be provided for any students who wishes to place their lunch order at the canteen in the morning.

Please note that all lunch orders need to be placed at the canteen by 9:00am. This will ensure smooth operation and lunches being served at the right temperature.

Your comments and opinions are important to us. Please feel free to approach us with your suggestions or questions. Thank you in advance for all your support. I look forward to the year ahead and hope that together we can build a healthy and successful canteen.

Finally, it’s my pleasure to be part of your school. Rest assured that we will provide only the best foods to our students and staff.

Respectfully yours,

Marissa Saad (Canteen Manager)

In the Classroom KR

KR  have been busy learning about rhythm and beat, singing and learning choreography  in preparation for our whole school performance.In maths they have been learning about patterns. KR explored patterns in the environment, in mathematics and created patterns.  They discovered patterns have a core that repeats over and over and over again.In science KR have been learning that forces are either push or pull. When force moves an object away from something, that is a push. When force brings an object closer, that is a pull. Gravity, friction, and energy all influence how big or small the force is.We have also been learning to use the laptop to publish our writing. After reading Wombat Stew the students were asked to write facts about their favourite Australian animal.

In the Classroom -KW

In the Classroom - 3B

3B have had an exciting start to Term 3. In week 3, we visited Elizabeth Farm at Rosehill as part of our History Unit. We learnt how challenging it was to complete basic household tasks in the 1800's, trying washing by hand and experiencing an 1800's kitchen. We explored history from European and Aboriginal perspectives.Our new SRC Reps for Semester 2 are Grace and Sam. We have been working hard, rehearsing our play and can't wait to share it with you next week.

Wear it Purple Day

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence has a new name—Bullying No Way: National week of action. Bullying No Way Week, 12 to 16 August 2024, is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative and connects schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying. The week gives schools and supporters flexibility to plan activities that suit their schedule—whether it's spreading awareness throughout the week or focusing on an impactful day or two. Purple is the new hero colour representing Bullying No Way: National week of action and our commitment to standing against bullying. This week we encouraged students to wear purple and to bring a gold coin donation. All money raised has gone to Bully Zero which is an Australian charity that supports antibullying and develops programs for teachers to advocate for anti-bullying. 

Thank you to Jack Palmer, Frankie-Rose Burnicle and Benji Natoli for writing this wonderful 

"This week is Bullying No Way! Bullying is wrong and you shouldn't do it because its disgusting behaviour and can hurt people inside. Today we were collecting money to help stop bullying. At school we learn about bullying and try to not be rude or hurt people's feelings. If you get upset by bullying try to just breathe. Bullying is offensive and disturbing behaviour so you should just respect everyone equally. Say no to bullying!". 

Thank you to Mr Johnson and Ms Ellwood for organising this recognition day. 

Wear it Purple Day

Merit Awards

Drummoyne PS Fete