Dear Parents and Community,

It is amazing how fast the term is going by! Welcome to week 8 – we are hoping the cooler weather comes quickly as it certainly does not feel like

Autumn yet.

Parent dinner

I wish to thank the 30 parents that attended the Parent Feedback dinner last Monday evening. The feedback and advice given to the many areas of

the school that we chatted about on the evening is powerful and gives our school the momentum to keep being the very best for our students. See

the photos of our Parent Dinner in our newsletter.

Student sport achievement

Briar Road PS been represented by a number of students at different sporting events over the last couple of weeks. Congratulations to Layshara

as she represented the Campbelltown zone in Basketball. Also congratulations to Damien as he made the Campbelltown zone team for Rugby. We

also had a number of students that made it to Zone swimming carnival last week. Well done to Michyla, Joshua H, Barry, Jawdan, Ashalea, Levi,

Italia, Laysharna, Tristan, Leeroy, Joshua C, Kyomi, Montana and Amelia. Congratulations to Barry as he is now representing the Campbelltown

area at the Regional carnival this week.

Eye screening thankyou

The majority of our Year 1 students had a free screening test in week 6. A letter was sent home informing parents of the students that participated

what the results of the screening were and if further follow up was advised. Thank you to Eye Care Plus in Campbelltown who kindly donate their

time each year to provide this valuable service for our students.

Scarecrows

Congratulations to all the students in K/3B, 3/5B and 4/6C for their outstanding behaviour on the excursion to Camden Show last Friday. They had

entered 2 scarecrows in the scarecrow competition and received a 3rd and 4th place. Well done to students and staff!

School Hours

A timely reminder that the school hours are 9am-3pm. With the hot weather there seems to be a number of students who are being picked up early

each afternoon. This partial absence does count towards each students’ attendance and the Department of Education has guidelines to what

counts as a justified partial absence (such as an urgent doctor’s appointment).

Parent conduct at the school gates

Briar Road PS prides itself on having high expectations of our students in regards to safe conduct around the school. It has been bought to my

attention that some parents are choosing to use inappropriate language at the school gate. A school is a place where all students are to feel safe

and we all have a responsibility to make sure this happens. At all times I ask that parents and community members use appropriate language and

display appropriate behaviour both on the school grounds and around the school as we are role models for our students. A reminder that Easter is

fast approaching and we look forward to seeing community at our Easter Hat Parade on Thursday 24th March at 2pm.

Kind regards,

Mrs Vickie Hughes

PLP BBQ

On Tuesday the 22nd March there will be a staff BBQ at 3.10 pm with Aboriginal community. Together we will develop Personalised Learning

Plans for 2016. We look forward to yarning and setting goals with you for our students.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Information Sessions

Preparing you for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is rolling out across NSW

from July 2016. To assist you to prepare for the NDIS, Disability Services Australia (DSA) are providing free information sessions in various

locations across Sydney. All venues are accessible and parking is available Light refreshments will be available Please confirm your attendance 5

days prior to your preferred session by contacting the DSA Community Connections team on 1300 372 121 or email

communityconnections@dsa.org.au.

These are 2 sessions for Campbelltown area:

Thursday March 24th 10am to 12pm or 6.30 – 8.30pm at Wests Leagues Club

Saturday May 21st , 10am - 12pm at DSA Macarthur Specialist, 28 Warby Street

The Tell Them From Me student feedback survey

This term, our school, like many others in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student

feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning outcomes and measures factors that are known to affect academic

achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching

practices.

More information about the survey is available at:

http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide our school with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how

engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell

Them From Me survey to help improve how they do things at school.

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential and school staff will not be able to identify individual students from their responses. The survey is

conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 21 March and 8 April

for students in Years 4-6. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

A consent form and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for parents/carers about the survey was sent home with students. If you do not

want your child or children to participate, please return the consent form to school by Friday 18th March. The FAQs and copies of the consent form

including translated consent forms, are available from the website above.

Leadership group Term 1 Fundraiser: Movie Night

Dear parents and carers.

The Year 6 leadership team will be holding a movie night at Events Cinema.

When: Wednesday 30th of March 2016, 6pm

What: Zootopia

Price: $10 each ticket (popcorn and drink deal will be available on the night)

A note will be sent home this week with further information / to pre purchase the tickets.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Laura, Molly, Ryan, Lamara, Jesse and Tairo (your school leaders).

BOOK FAIR

Our Book Fair will be held in the Library

WHEN: Week one of Term two.

Begins Wednesday afternoon on the 27th of April until Friday afternoon the 29th of April. Open from 830-9:00 am in the morning and from 3:00-

3:30pm in the afternoon in the library. Loads of great deals on books, book packs, stationary and heaps of other cool stuff.

We hope to see you there!

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS

WILL BE TAKEN ON: 06/04/2016

WWW.ADVANCEDLIFE.COM.AU

School photographs are scheduled to be taken by Advanced Life Photography.

Please return the school photo and payment envelope as soon as possible. It is our preference that ordering be completed online to reduce

administration and potential security issues related o the return of cash and envelopes on photo day.

Orders for packages and sibling photographs can be placed securely online at

www.advancedlife.com.au using our school’s unique 9 digit Online Order Code. DMH 32X 5NE

Portrait and group package orders are due by photography day.

Should you have any queries concerning school photographs or online ordering,

please direct them via email to enquiries@advancedlife.com.au

Briar Road PS Awards Assembly—Important Reminder

Our whole school assembly is fast approaching ( week 10 Thursday 31st March ). If you have earned 3 white awards, 3 principal’s awards, or 3

ribbons, please bring them in before this Thursday 17th March, in time for the whole school assembly in week 10.

Camden Show Support Unit Excursion

On Friday 11th March, K-3B, 3-5B and 4-6C went on an excursion to the Camden Show. It was a very hot, but we still had a great day. Prior to

Camden Show we all worked very hard to make 2 scarecrow to enter into the schools scarecrow competition. The theme was 'Olympics'. We made

Stanley who was competitor in the Para Olympic and Minion Kevin who was a competitor in the weight lifting division. At Camden Show our

scarecrows were awarded 3rd and 4th place. We received a certificate and ribbon for each scarecrow. Some of the events we enjoyed on the day

were the reptile show, pig races and watching the horse jumping practise.

9 Digit Online Order Code

DMH 32X 5NE

Term 1 Diary Dates

March

Thursday 17th Primary Assembly 2.15 5/6S Stage 2 Excursion The Woolwash

Friday 18th Infants Assembly 1.00—1.45pm 2R performance. Updated Emergency Contact Card due.

Monday 21st Harmony Day

Tuesday 22nd Aboriginal student PLP BBQ 3.10 pm

Thursday 24th Easter Hat Parade

Friday 25th Good Friday

Monday 28th Easter Monday

Thursday 31st Week 10 Whole School Awards Assembly 2pm School Hall

April

Fri 1st Gala Day Years 3-6

Tues 5th School Photo Money due

Wed 6th School Photo Day

Thursday 7th Anzac Day Assembly

Friday 8th Last Day of Term. Principal’s Party.

Gala Day News

On Friday we had our first Gala Day. The girls softball team won against Ruse, 7-6 and lost when they played Blairmount, 5-8. Girls tee ball won

against Blairmount 9-7 and lost against Bradbury and Rosemeadow. Our cricket teams played Blairmount , St Helens Park and Rosemeadow B

side. Seniors won all 3 games, Juniors won their Rosemeadow game and lost the other 2. In Tag our senior and junior teams played Blairmount,

John Warby and Leumeah. The juniors and senior C teams lost 3 games, senior A’s won all 3 games and senior B’s drew one game and lost 2

games.

Harmony Day

Next Monday the students and staff will be celebrating Harmony Day. We will all be wearing an orange ribbon, as a symbol of respect and

belonging. Students will complete learning activities which encourage them to think about differences and similarities they have with others from

different cultural backgrounds.

Numeracy News

We will soon be holding parent numeracy workshops to demonstrate, through games, the following numeracy skills:

Kindergarten students ( Early stage 1 ) will learn to count to 30 and represent numbers to 20 with objects, pictures, numerals and words.

Years 1 and 2 ( Stage 1 ) students will be counting, ordering, reading and writing numbers up to 999. They will use a range of strategies to add,

subtract, multiply and divide.

Years 3 and 4 ( Stage 2 ) students will count, order, read and record numbers up to 9999. They will use mental and written strategies, including the

written algorithm, to solve addition and subtraction problems involving numbers of up to 4 digits. They will recall multiplication facts up to 10 x 10

and related division facts.

Years 5 and 6 ( Stage 3 ) students will read, write and order numbers of any size, selecting and applying appropriate mental, written or calculator

strategies for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. They compare and order fractions, decimals and simple percentages and

apply to real life situations involving money.

Parent Dinner Photos

Support Unit Scarecrows