CHATTERBOX Panania Public School 21A Lawler Street, Panania NSW 2213

Phone: 9773 9017 Email: panania-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

www.panania-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Term 1

Week 3

12/2/2020

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Welcome to the 2020 school year at Panania Public School! The relentless months of fire, drought, heat, storms and smoke have touched us all in some way. The loss of life, bushland, people’s homes and even whole townships have been completely devastating. Most of us have watched on in horror and I am sure that you would agree with me that we are sincerely grateful and thankful for the work of the firefighters and volunteers that have risked their lives and some even lost their lives in keeping our communities safe. With this in mind, let us use them as an example and a source of inspiration to continue to spread kindness and compassion across our nation. At the end of 2019, I had challenged the students “to pay if forward” 3 times over the school break. This is when the recipient of an act of kindness does something kind for someone else rather than simply accepting or repaying the original good deed. One act at a time we can all be the stimulus for positive change. The New Year is already off to a roaring start. Our classes for 2020 are as follows: Grade/ Stage Supervision Assistant Principals as Instructional Leaders with a focus on Literacy, Numeracy and Student Wellbeing.

Kindergarten Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Miss McIntyre Ms Adams Ms Ambrose Mrs Apostolovski

Mainstream classes (19 classes)

Kindergarten Miss McIntyre Miss Crowley Miss Thyrd

Year 1 Ms Turi Mrs Jackson Ms Morris (M,T,W) Mrs Nott (Th,F)

Year 2 Ms Mahony Miss King

Year 3 Mr Newman Miss Howell Mrs Deering

Year 4 Mrs Walker (M,T,W) Ms Ambrose (Th,F)

Ms Skinner Mrs Sherring (M,T,W) Mrs Malaxos (Th,F)

Year 5 Mrs Rowland Ms Defina

Year 5/6 Miss Parkes

Year 6 Mr Dodd Miss Simpson

Support Roles

Library/ RFF Mr Beattie

RFF Miss Panatos (M,T,Th) Mrs Waskiw (M,Th)

LAST Mrs Horinek (Tu-Th) Mrs Apostolovski (Th-F)

Intervention Ms Adams (2days) Aboriginal Miss Panatos (W)

Counsellor Ms Fricot (Th)

SLSOs Mrs Pemberton Mrs Inglis Mrs Bebedellis Mrs Fay

Office Staff

Mrs Robinson Mrs Wilson Mrs Pate Miss Archibald Mrs Munro

Welcome to our Kindergarten Students First day at school was filled with mixed emotions for both students and their parents. Sixty eight students have settled into routines with ease and are rapidly building resilience and forming new friendships.

Communication Parent, carer staff and student feedback has been taken on board and from Week 4, whole morning assemblies will occur on Monday and Thursday mornings only. On other days students and their teachers will assemble under designated COLA areas and move directly to classrooms ready for learning. This will ensure we maximise key learning time.

Chatterbox will be published in Weeks 3, 6 and 9. It will be available online with limited printed copies available from the front office. At all times we endeavour to deliver clear, transparent and effective communications.

Meet the teacher sessions will be as follows:

K- Year 2 - Monday, 17 February at 6-7pm

Years 3-6 - Tuesday, 18 February at 6-7pm

If you are unable to attend but would still like to meet the teacher please inform the School Office and make an appointment time to speak to the appropriate teacher. Staffing Congratulations to Mrs Ambrose who has successfully secured a Literacy and Numeracy Advisor role at Riverwood office for the year. We thank her for tireless efforts in educating our students and wish her well in her further pursuits. We will sincerely miss her.

Enrolment Please be mindful of recent changes to the enrolment of students in NSW Government Schools. Information fact sheet attached. To determine your local school, type in your residential address into school finder https://my.education.nsw.gov.au/school-finder . If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to call the School Office.

Coronavirus update Current advice from the Australian Government Department of Health for parents and staff in relation to the Novel Coronavirus is:

Any student or staff member arriving in Australia from 1 February 2020 who has been in mainland China or transited through mainland China (not just Hubei province) is excluded from school and child care services for a period of 14 days from the date they left mainland China as the Novel Coronavirus’ incubation period can be as long as two weeks.

Any confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return.

Close contact of a confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.

Any student or staff member arriving before 1 February our previous advice remains that students or staff who were in Hubei province are excluded from school or child care services for 14 days.

Close contact is defined as living in the same household, 15 minutes face-to-face contact with a person with confirmed coronavirus in any setting, or sharing a closed space with a person with confirmed coronavirus for more than 2 hours.

NSW Health has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in New South Wales. Advice about not attending school would be provided to these close contacts.

Consistent with current guidelines, staff and students who are unwell with respiratory illness should remain at home until symptoms resolve. In accordance with our current practice if any child becomes unwell we will implement our infection control guidelines and follow the advice provided by the Ministry of Health as appropriate.

Challenge yourself Jonathan can complete the Rubik’s cube in under 3 minutes. Can you?

Volunteers At Panania Public we value working in partnership with our parents and wider school community. If you have some spare time on your hands and would like to assist in classrooms or support the canteen, uniform shop or even the P&C committee simply drop into the office and leave your details. Warm Regards

Maria Siwak

STUDENT BANKING Student Banking will resume next Tuesday, 18 February. Students have the opportunity to save with the Commonwealth Bank through the school. To commence banking at school, parents are required to open a Dollarmite account with the Commonwealth Bank. Students bring their bank books to school on Tuesdays where it is processed and returned to them the following day. The school receives $5 commission for every $100 the school banks on behalf of students. School Banking Coordinator.

SCHOOL RULES The rule we are focusing on for

Term 1 , Weeks 4, 5 & 6 is:

Be Respectful

You can support us at home by having

discussions with your child/children about what “Being respectful” means and

what this rule means in different settings.

SCHOOL VALUES Be Curious/Care

Please support us at home by having discussions

with your child/children about what ‘being curious and caring’ means: at home,

at school and in the community.

WHAT’S DUE WHEN

School Resource Package Thurs, 13 February

Kinder $55

Years 1 & 2 $75

Years 3 & 4 $90

Years 5 & 6 $95

DIARY DATES

Thursday, 13 February

PSSA Trials Season 1 Day 1

NRL Clinics Friday, 14 February

PSSA Trials Season 1 Day 2 Monday, 17 February

Meet the Teacher Years K-2 Tuesday, 18 February

Meet the Teacher Years 3-6 Wednesday, 19 February

Scripture commences Thursday, 20 February

East Hills Boys Primary Links begins Friday, 28 February

PSSA Season 1 commences

Kindy BBQ Monday, 2 March

P & C Meeting 7.00pm A Block Staffroom Tuesday, 3 March

District Swimming Carnival Tuesday, 10 March

Sydney South West Swimming Carnival Thursday, 12 March

Selective High School Placement test Tuesday, 17 March

School Photos

ROAD SAFETY The early years of school Starting school means lots of changes for you and your child. It is crucial to plan and talk about safe travel to and from school with your child. Starting school probably means your child will see themselves as a “big kid”. They may even want to travel to school by themselves, with friends or siblings. However, your young child is still developing many of the skills they need to be safe in a road traffic environment. Until your child is at least 8 years old, hold their hand: ● on the footpath ● in the car park ● when crossing the road Up until at least 10 years old, supervise your child very closely, holding their hand when crossing the road. If a hand isn’t available they should hold an arm, bag, clothes or the pram.

We sincerely thank our advertisers for their support

of our school. The Department of Education and Panania Public School do not necessarily endorse these companies or their services and products.