hLooki g Engaged

E

Ermington Public School Newsletter

Week 7 Monday 9th March Wednesday 11th Mar Thursday 12th March Week 8 Monday 16th March Thursday 19th March Week 9 Monday 23rd March Tuesday 24th March Wednesday 25th Mar Thursday 26th March Week 10 Wednesday 1st April Thursday 2nd April Week 11 Wednesday 8th April Thursday 9th April Term 2 Week 1 Monday 27th April Tuesday 28th April

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Oz Opera Incursion – All Students Kindy Connections – 2pm Zone Swimming Carnival Selective School Test Kindergarten Parent Teacher Interviews – All week Kindy Connections – 2pm K-6 Assembly – 2pm 3W – Parent Teacher Interviews Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Year 5 Camp – Great Aussie Bush Camp Harmony Day Healthy Harold Visit – All week Year 1-6 Parent Teacher Interviews – All week Class / Individual photos day K-6 Assembly – 2pm Healthy Harold Visit – All week Years 1-6 Parent Teacher Interviews – All week Easter Hat Parade P&C Easter Morning Tea Last Day of Term 1 Staff Development Day – No Students First day for all students – Term 2

CURRENT NOTES/PAYMENTS

Ryde Zone Swimming Targeted Students in Swimming Carnival

Permission Note and payment ($12.00)

Year 5 Camp

Final payment - $100.00 by Monday 16th March

Student Statement of Account All Students

Permission Note and Payment

Festival of Instrumental Music Years 3-6

Expression of Interest Form

P&C Community BBQ evening RSVP All Families of EPS

This week our focus is on EXCELLENCE. Striving for the highest personal achievement in all aspects of schooling and individual and community action, work and life-long learning. Students are all encouraged to challenge themselves to learn new skills, keep trying their best and being persistent. It is great to see students in all grades trying out new sports, reading new and more challenging books and being the best role models for others

Winbourne Street, West Ryde NSW 2114

Email: ermington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Phone: 02 9874 4109 Fax: 02 9804 7552

Week 7 Term 1 Wednesday, 10th March 2020

COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) The Department of Education releases advice in line with Department of Health updates. As soon is any advice is released by the Department of Education, Ermington PS releases it via enews. If you would like further information about COVID-19, please ensure you view reputable sources of information. Such information can be located at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/coronavirus.aspx All teachers have been requested to teach and remind students about hand washing hygiene and coughing etiquette. Posters have been placed around the school and in bathroom areas. All classrooms have hand sanitiser available and the soap dispensers in bathrooms are being monitored to ensure soap is available at all times. I would like to thank the school community for being so caring and compassionate towards each other. I am very appreciative of the wonderful administrative staff for ensuring updated information is communicated quickly to support the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff, students, parents and community. Engaged – Proud – Successful What another great fortnight of student learning and engagement. Congratulations to the students who have been using the Ermington PS Learner Qualities to assist them to persevere in challenging learning situations and are motivated to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills.

I am Brave

I am Determined

I am Curious

I am Collaborative

I am Reflective What a Sensational Swimming Carnival! The swimming carnival was a great success and the number of students participating was outstanding. The whole school actively engaged in cheering each other on and there was a real sense of school pride throughout the day. Well done to our house captains on their leadership and organisation of houses on the day. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Miss McMurray and Mr Lawless who coordinated such an efficiently run carnival. This Wednesday, we have 28 students representing Ermington Public School at the Ryde Zone Swimming Carnival. Good luck students! Teacher Professional Learning Many of our teachers and School Learning and Support Officers have been engaging in professional learning over the past term. Professional Learning allows for professional growth and development in order to improve student learning and wellbeing outcomes. Mrs Mackenzie is leading Spirals of Inquiry in many classrooms across the school, an approach which focuses on transformative practices and student improvement. The current focus for Spirals of Inquiry is the reading process where Mrs MacKenzie is working alongside teacher to maximise engagement of students in reading, enhance use of the Super Six Comprehension strategies and to ensure a wide variety of quality texts are being utilised in the classroom. Parent-Teacher Interviews Parent-Teacher Interviews are being held this term. This provides parents with an opportunity to discuss their child’s learning with the classroom teacher. It is important that you attend these interviews and discuss learning goals for your child. We encourage strong partnerships to be built between students, teachers and parents to enable improvement of student learning and wellbeing outcomes. At Ermington PS, Parent-Teacher Interviews are held in Term 1 and 3. Formal written reports are provided in Term 2 and Term 4.

Principal Report

Compulsory School Attendance Regular school attendance is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes. Parents must ensure their children attend school every day. On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

being sick or having an infectious disease

having an unavoidable medical appointment

being required to attend a recognised religious holiday

exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral Parents must provide an explanation for absences to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence. Where an explanation has not been received within the 7-day timeframe, the school will record the absence as unjustified on the student’s record.

School Leader News – WIRES Mufti Day Fundraiser Congratulations once again to our student leaders who organised the fundraiser for WIRES. $1000 was raised on the day.

Ms Jen Riley Principal

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is on Friday 20 March 2020. Many Australian schools will participate in this event during the week prior to mark the 10 year anniversary of Australia’s key anti-bullying events. The theme for 2020 is “Take Action Together”. The National Day of Action is a catalyst for Australian schools to take a stand together against bullying. The day brings together more than 60% of schools nationwide, involving more than two million students in finding workable solutions to address bullying and violence. Everyone has a role to play in saying Bullying. No Way!

This year Ermington Public School will combine the National Day of Action with Harmony Day as Harmony Day falls on Saturday 21 March 2020. It is a great way to look at how we as community members can work together and be harmonious. Students will be empowered and given the chance to share their student voice as classes will be participating in lessons and activities around the prevention of bullying. We look forward to sharing more information about these two events.

Assistant Principal

Parent Volunteers We are currently looking for parents who would like to volunteer some time to work with individual students on a Literacy Intervention Program. We would provide training to you in delivering the program. We would then ask you to work with the student two to three times a week for about 40 minutes. If you think this is something you are interested in, please email the school with your name, contact number, child’s name and class. Woolworths Earn and Learn 2019 Our Woolworths Earn and Learn Order has finally arrived! Thank you to our Ermington Community who collected Earn and Learn stickers from Woolworths during May to July 2019. We were able to collect thousands of stickers which we were able to use to purchase new playground equipment. A huge thank you to Mrs Connors and Joanne K who helped coordinated the counting of stickers and ensured our order went in on time. Many parents also helped with sticking and collating stickers, thank you. We were able to purchase new equipment for the sandpit, large outdoor games for the quiet area, and a sports equipment trolley for lunchtime use. We hope the students get a lot of fun out of the equipment at lunchtime.

KY Kindy Yabbies have settled in beautifully to Ermington Public School. Each week we read, write and complete an artwork on a Mr Men book from the Mr Men series. So far we have read Mr Happy, Mr Nosey, Mr Noisy, Mr Rush and Mr Tall. My personal favourite so far has been Mr Rush who was always rushing around, and found the perfect job, as an express delivery postman. Last week we read the big book 'In the Dark Dark Woods'. Students then chose what they would like to be in their dark woods and used water colours to complete an artwork. Some responses included aliens, red back spiders, witches and ghosts. On Friday we go to the computer lab and this week students used the Paint application to create a self-portrait. We had a few issues at the beginning, however students continued to 'challenge themselves' and created fantastic self-portraits!

Class News

1A 1A have been learning about measuring length. We enjoyed a practical lesson measuring our partner and then ordering our class in height order form shortest to tallest. We discussed and compared different lengths of our friend's bodies. We used different objects to measure and record the length of our maths books. We needed to make sure we measured objects side by side and aligning the ends. In science, we observed the landscape of our school oval and drew natural and built features.

3W 3W have been very busy learning about new things in science including animals found in leaf litter. We used magnifying glasses to investigate places around the school with Ms Kwan. We have also been learning about vertebrates and invertebrates. Students have been challenging themselves to write clearly and neatly in their handwriting books. In mathematics we have successfully learnt how to skip count, form arrays and complete multiplication number sentences. This week our soundwaves focus is on 'e' and 'ea' phonemes and graphemes. In geography we have enjoyed exploring natural features of Australia including The Great Barrier Reef and Uluru. 3W hope you like our artworks. Have a lovely week!

5H This term 5H have been very busy settling into a new class, with new teachers, a new classroom and new routines. We are enjoying learning lots of new skills in PE and have even taught Mrs Harrison some new games. We continue to challenge ourselves in spelling and are learning lots of new phonemes and graphemes. Literacy groups have begun and our focus is comprehension requiring written response, new and more challenging vocabulary and touch typing, which is trickier than we thought! We are learning to ‘hook’ our audience with interesting introductions when writing stories. 5H are learning a range of techniques during art lessons including collage. We are learning to work collaboratively across most subjects.

6G When you are learning, taking a lesson or completing your homework you are engaged. When I am learning I try to engage with all topics. I try to approach the subject with a positive attitude. I may sigh or grumble when I have to complete something that I don't want to but I try to instead engage and do my best. Engaged, proud, successful learners. Claire P Keep Australia Beautiful Two years ago, we conducted a waste audit and since then we have successfully reduced a large percentage of waste going into landfill through our composting, hard plastic and return and earn schemes. Keep Australia Beautiful is an organisation that works with NSW schools to create a less littered, more environmentally sustainable NSW. As part of our Clean Up Australia day tradition, we have invited KAB to help us achieve our goal of diverting and reducing waste going to landfill. 8 class representatives from Stages 2 and 3 will participate in this workshop. They will then have the opportunity to share their learnt experience with the rest of their class. Students from K-2 will also have the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. The Key Learning Area connected to a waste audit is mathematics. KAB will also provide students with activities to enhance their mathematics skills. The results of this event will be posted in the next newsletter. In the meantime, let us all become more aware of how much of waste goes to landfill and endeavour to reduce our environmental footprint. Watch this space. Mrs Dhanji

Around the school

School Photos – Wednesday 1st April School photos will be held on Wednesday 1st April. Envelopes will be forwarded home early in Week 6 to all students. Orders can be placed online from now through their website. Ermington Public School has a unique code to advance to payment / package options.

Please note: Sibling photos MUST be paid before Tuesday, 31st March. Sibling orders will only be taken if an order has been placed. If you have any questions concerning school photographs or online ordering, please contact enquires@advancedlife.com.au Harmony Day If you have a photo of your child dressed in national dress or a photo from vacation with a significant landmark included, and you would like it shown in the Harmony Day presentation, please provide a hard copy to Miss Aguas, 1A. Photos will be returned promptly. Ensure it is labelled with your child's full name and class. Alternatively, you can email the school with your photo, however, a hard copy is preferred. Photo submissions will be accepted only until next Thursday, 19th March. Library News Scholastic book club orders are due this Friday, March 13th. All orders are placed electronically through Scholastic's LOOP system https://scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/ to avoid cash at school. Vouchers can be entered online as well. Books will arrive approximately 7-10 days after the order closes. Scholastic offers some great bargains and always has their finger on the pulse of what the kids like to read. Any points the school earns from Scholastic are used to update the Library collection. Our students are very excited when new books arrive in the Library and we thank the school community for supporting our Book Club. Borrowing books is an important part of Library time. Students get to immerse themselves in the wonderful literature we have in the Library. They are encouraged to borrow both fiction and non-fiction books and to read widely to expand their literary experiences. To borrow students need to remember their Library bags, an emergency plastic bag in their bag, for the times they forget, is a great idea. According to Scholastic Australia reading increases word knowledge by 50%, lowers stress by 68% and can lengthen your life by 2 years. Great reasons to encourage your kids to read. Mrs Harrison Music at EPS Welcome to 2020! Ms Vallentine is back and teaching music to all the K-2 classes this year. I am so excited to be back at Ermington Public School and have had lots of smiles and hugs (Talamasina almost knocked me over!) from colleagues, students and parents. Many students have already signed up for a music ensemble, which is great to see. Your child may like to come along and try choir for a few weeks before deciding to commit. If your child would then like to continue as part of the group they must commit to attending rehearsal promptly each week. An ensemble captain will be appointed, the roll will be marked each week, and excellent attendance will be rewarded at the end of each term. You may be a part of more than one ensemble.

Music ensembles are always a lot of fun and the children learn to play and sing as part of a group in a non-threatening context. It is a chance to join friends and like-minded students in a challenging, creative and expressive environment that builds self-esteem and confidence. Intermediate Choir with Ms Vallentine and Miss Aguas will also be performing throughout the year, both at school and outside of school. They will be participating in the Epping District Music Festival at the Chatswood Concourse on Tuesday November 10th at 7pm. String Ensemble with Miss Grover will be performing throughout the year, both at school and outside the school. They will be a part of the Department of Education Arts Unit Festival of Instrumental Music at the Sydney Town Hall on the evening of Tuesday, 18th August. Senior Choir with Miss Blackman, Miss Lam and Ms Vallentine will be performing throughout the year at various events both at school and outside the school. We are still awaiting acceptance into the Cantabile Concert Series [August] and The Schools Spectacular [November]. Recorder Ensemble with Mrs Clarke will be performing throughout the year, both at school and beyond. They will be a part of the Department of Education Arts Unit Festival of Instrumental Music at the Sydney Town Hall on the evening of Tuesday, 18th August. Ensemble times are as follows:

ENSEMBLE GRADE DAY TIME PLACE

Intermediate Years 2-4 Tuesday 8.30am – 9.00am

Music Room

Strings Years 3 - 6 Thursday 8.00am- 9.00am

Miss Grover’s classroom

Senior Choir Years 5 & 6

Wednesday 1.10 – 1.40pm

Music Room

Recorders Year 6 Thursday TBD Mrs Clarke’s room As you can see, there is something musical for everyone here at Ermington Public School! Please email me with any questions or suggestions you may have. Ms Vallentine - Music Teacher PSSA summer For each sports complete draw for Term 1, please go to the follow website

https://www.revolutionise.com.au/rydepssa/ o Click on Draws & results o Select your child’s PSSA Summer sport team

Sport News

Community Day BBQ The P&C will be hosting a Community Day BBQ for all Ermington Public School families..

Date: Thursday 19 March 2020 Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm Location: Ermington Public School Oval

A FREE sausage sizzle will be provided during the event and the new playground will be open for the children to enjoy. Bring a picnic rug, chairs, drinks and some snacks and join in on the fun. (Please note this is an alcohol-free event and parents are responsible for the supervision of their children). Parent Volunteers: If you care able to help with the BBQ please email ermps.pandc.fundraising@gmail.com roles include:

4:00 – 6:00pm = Cooking of sausages

4:30 – 6:00pm = Setup and serving

6:00 – 7:30pm = Serving and clean up post event For catering purposes please RSVP your attendance via the following link

www.schoolinterviews.com.au

Code: wtq5h We look forward to seeing you there. P&C Committee

P&C News

EASTER RAFFLE & MORNING TEA on the 8th April. K to 2 Easter Raffle Egg Donation for the Easter Raffle can start coming in On Wednesday the 18th March. Please make sure that all donations are (NUT FREE). You can put your donation in the Easter Box in your child classroom. Last day to donate will be Friday 3rd April. This week Year 2 parents will be receiving a letter to volunteer in these area's Raffle, Wrapping or Help with Morning Tea. Also I got a letter attached to this email to go out to the Year 2 Parents for hosting this event. Can you please get Jen to see it and approved and printed. Put it in the year 2 Teachers pigeon hole this week. Easter Raffle and Morning Tea Easter is fast approaching and this year year 2 have the privilege of hosting this event. This gives us a chance to meet other parents and learn more about our school while also helping fundraise. During this time K-2 children bring in some wonderful easter egg treats (nut free) that we raffle off on the day of the easter hat parade. In the lead up to the event we will be selling raffle tickets to win these prizes. Last year we had over 50 prizes to give away. How can you help? Volunteers are needed to make this successful You can help as much or as little as you want, remember we always work better as a team. Below are some of the roles that will help with a successful event.

Easter Raffle Tickets Selling raffle tickets from 8.30 to 9.15am Monday to Friday starting from Thursday 26th March – Wednesday 8th April Prize Wrapping Two hours of your time on the 7th April at 9.00 in the school hall. ● Wrapping 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes plus all the runners up prizes. ● All eggs are donated from families in K-2. Easter Morning Tea 8th April outside the school hall ● Setting up @8.30am (tables, chairs, food, coffee and decoration) ● Serving. @10:30am (tea, coffee and Easter buns) ● Packing away around 12.00

How do I register to volunteer? If you can volunteer please follow the link below and select the dates that work for you: www.schoolinterviews.com.au Code: 9f82d Thank you for your continued support.

P&C Volunteer Awards 2019 Volunteering is an important part of the community here at Ermington Public School, and to acknowledge the efforts of those parents and carers who so generously volunteer their time for their school community and its students, we put forward a nomination for the P&C Federation's "2019 Volunteer of the Year" award. Belinda Gethin was selected as the finalise for the North Sydney electorate and attended the awards dinner last weekend. Although she didn't win we are extremely grateful for all the time she had spent supporting the school in many areas as well as the guidance she has provided new volunteers. Congratulations Belinda! SAVE THE DATE: Community Day BBQ - Thursday 19th March The P&C will be hosting a community Day BBQ this term. This is a chance for all families to come together and enjoy an afternoon onsite enjoying the newly built playground while meeting other families.

Date: Thursday 19th March

Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Location: Ermington Public School Oval A free sausage sizzle will be provided on the day. Save the date and bring a picnic blanket and snacks and enjoy an afternoon enjoying the new playground at Ermington Public School. More info on how to RSVP will be sent out next week. April P&C Meeting cancelled We would like to inform the parents and carers of Ermington Public School that our next P&C meeting scheduled on April 1st has been cancelled. This decision has been made due to the clash with parent teacher interviews. If any members have any concerns please email ermps.pandc.president@gmail.com to let us know. The next P&C meeting is scheduled for Wednesday May 6th. If there is any urgent matter that will require the P&C Committees attention between now and the next meeting, please email ermps.pandc.secretary@gmail.com with details. P&C Committee

VOLUNTEERS ARE STILL NEEDED! We now have enough Monday volunteers but still need volunteers for these days: (For a monthly roster) Tuesdays - 1 more person needed for the 4th Tuesday of each month Thursdays - 2 more people needed for the 1st and 2nd Thursday of each month Fridays - 4 Friday people. Please contact Wendy (Canteen Manager) on 0412 154 004 or wlarocca5@gmail.com if you can help. WHEN YOUR ORDER LUNCH ONLINE: Please check that you have ordered on the correct day/date as children ften ask for their lunch when they do not have an order. Lunchtimes are extremely busy and we don’t have the time to continually check the computer for orders which have not been placed or placed on the wrong day. Always make sure your children know if they have an online order. The cut-off time for online orders is 9am (except if ordering sushi on Fridays - 8.20am).

Canteen News

CHANGE Please give your children coins if possible when ordering over the counter as we are always in need of small change, NO LARGE NOTES, please. ROSTER Even though the roster may look full, this is because there are people filling in! This cannot be maintained. Please consider helping out once per month.

Mon 9 Mar Wendy, Dishani Mon 16 Mar Wendy, Nirmali, Dannielle Tues 10 Mar Ros, Nirmali Tues 17 Mar Wendy, Nancy Wed CLOSED Wed CLOSED Thurs 12 Mar Tirtha, Vera, Xiaomin (pm) Thurs 19 Mar Alison B, Karen H, Xiaomin (pm) Fri 13 Mar Wendy, Vicky, Jasmin Fri 20 Mar Wendy, Jasmin HELP NEEDED

Mon 23 Mar Wendy, Julia Mon 30 Mar Wendy, Danielle (5th wk) Tues 24 Mar Wendy HELP NEEDED Tues 31 Mar Ros, Nirmali (5th wk) Wed CLOSED Wed CLOSED Thurs 26 Mar Tirtha, Emma, Xiaomin Thurs 2 Apr Cherry, Alison W (am), Xiaomin (pm) Fri 27 Mar Wendy, Ahra, Jasmin Fri 3 Apr Wendy, Patricia, Jasmin

Newsletter Deadline Newsletter articles need to be submitted to the school email by Monday 1pm. These should be

sent to: ermington-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Subject: Newsletter

The school often publishes information on behalf of community

groups – parents need to decide on the appropriateness of

activities involving their child. It is the responsibility of each

parent to research the bona fides of any organisation in which

you wish for your child to be involved. The school accepts no

responsibility with regard to advertisements placed in the

newsletter. Parents and guardians should make their own

decision.