Friday 4 September 2020 Term 3 Week 7 Dear Parents, Staff & Students The Department of Education has updated the health advice for all NSW schools. The updates are in response to changes in state and national restrictions and are in line with AHPPC and NSW Health guidelines. In accordance with advice from NSW health, parents and carers are reminded NOT to send children to school if they are unwell, even if they have the mildest flu-like symptoms. Schools will make arrangements for students who present as unwell or have flu like symptoms to be sent home. The school is expected to report all suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19. Please advise the school if your child is ill and has a COVID test. The school will then require you to advise the results once received. Please note children are not to return to school until test results are received by the school and symptoms are gone. As from Wednesday 19 August 2020, students and staff with flu like symptoms will need to provide a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result before being permitted to return to school and be symptom free. Contact details It is very important that the school has up to date contact details for all children. Could you please notify the school if your details have changed so that we can update our system. The school requires current telephone and email contact so that we are able to communicate with all families. Your attention to this is appreciated. School Uniforms With the weather starting to get warmer as we move towards the end of term, students have a choice of whether to wear full summer uniform or stay in their winter uniform depending on weather. Please do not put tights with the summer uniform. Students have been reminded that they need to wear their school hat at recess, lunch and during sport. Students without a hat will need to remain under the COLA during these times. The school does not provide spare hats or encourage students to share their hat with friends. Parents/carers are reminded that the school hat ratified by the P&C is the BOLAR HAT not a cap. School hats are available for purchase from the School Uniform shop or our office when needed. Thank you for your cooperation.

OUR VALUES AT ALFORDS POINT PUBLIC SCHOOL ARE AS SOLID AS A ROCK

Newsletter of Alfords Point Public School

Phone 9543 0185 Fax 9543 2817 email alfordspt-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au web www.alfordspt-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Excellence, Innovation & Success in a Caring Environment

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 21 September P&C meeting 7pm via zoom 18 September All K-6 wear house coloured sports uniform 22 September 3-6 wear sports uniform (white sports shirt) 23 September All K-6 wear house coloured sports uniform 25 September All K-6 wear house coloured sports uniform

Father’s Stall Best Wishes to all the dad’s and father figures from the Alfords Point Public School community for Father’s Day on Sunday 6 September. Thank you to the P&C for facilitating the Father’s Day stall through online ordering. Gifts have been sent home with students in preparation for Sunday. Skoolbag App The school is aware that over the past week parents/carers have been having difficulty submitting absence notifications via the skoolbag app. The problem appears to have occurred due to the skoolbag app updating its system. Parents/Carers should now be able to access the eforms section to send notifications for absences. Partners in Learning - Tell Them From Me Survey This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 4 September and 23 October. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated. Please click on the following link to access the survey: http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/apps2020 Student health – Allergies and Anaphylaxis At Alfords Point Public School we have a number of students with health care needs including allergies and anaphylaxis. To keep our school a happy and safe environment for all, we ask our students not to share food and request parents/carers refrain from sending nut products to school as these students are in danger of having an extreme anaphylactic reaction if they are exposed to nuts and nut products of any kind. Thank you for your understanding. Lost Student Property There is a very large growing pile of unclaimed student jumpers in the lost property basket. Please check and see if your child is missing some clothing. Could you also please ensure that all your child’s belongings are clearly labelled so that they can be easily identified and returned to their owner. Parents/Carers are asked to check that their child is bringing home the correct articles of clothing each day. It is very easy for the children to pick up someone else’s jumper or hat without realising and put it on or in their bag. We have a number of families searching daily for labelled articles of clothing. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Absence notification Parents/Carers are reminded that the school is required to constantly monitor the attendance of all students and follow up with parents/carers for an explanation when students are absent. Thank you to those parents who notify the school when their child is absent. The school encourages parents/carers to submit a skoolbag message, send an email, letter to the class teacher or telephone the school to notify when a child is unable to attend.

Respect & Responsibility, Care & Compassion, Cooperation & Fairness

SASS Recognition Week Last week we celebrated SASS (School Administration and Support Staff) Appreciation Week. We have six SASS staff at our school. Mrs Adderley and Mrs Miller who work in our office and library. Mrs Hampton, Mrs El-Esh and Mrs McGrath who work in our classrooms. Mr Crittenden, is our General Assistant who looks after our grounds and maintenance and also pretty much anything and everything at our school! Every day, in so many ways, our valuable SASS staff support us in our school. Without our SASS staff we would not be able to provide the wonderful school that we have here at Alfords Point. On behalf of the students, parents and staff at Alfords Point Public School, I would like to thank our SASS Staff and acknowledge their ongoing hard work. ICAS Assessments Congratulations to the students who enthusiastically participated in the ICAS English and mathematics assessments this week. Thank you to Mrs Brown for facilitating this opportunity for the students. P&C The next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 21 September at 7pm. Please mark the date in your diaries and join via zoom for the next meeting. Annette Wein Principal

Last Friday we acknowledged Daffodil Day. All students looked amazing in their yellow clothing and everyone enjoyed participating in the Daffodil Day scavenger hunt. Thank you to our Year 6 students who led their teams into finding all the hidden yellow objects. The SRC would like to thank our school community as we raised a total of $324 for the Cancer Council. Well done everyone! Maria Panourgias & Emily Townsend.

SRC NEWS

SPORTS NEWS This year has certainly been different with several aspects of school life having to be changed. Our students have been participating in a variety of modified and adjusted sports activities to adhere to COVID-19 and NSW Health restrictions. Commencing Friday 18 September we will be holding a variety of sports events for students in K-6 related to events that would have been contested at our annual Cross Country and annual Track and Field Athletics Carnivals. These revised events will assist in determining the 2020 winning sports house and age champions. Ribbons will be awarded and presented during an assembly in the final week of Term 3 once all adjusted competitive, non-competitive and novelty events are completed. All Alfords Point Public School students are encouraged to have full attendance so that they don’t miss out on participating in the many fun events that are being organised. During the last days of Term 3 there are some uniform changes. Please note on Friday 18 September all K-6 students should come dressed in their house coloured sports uniform. Monday 21 September all K-6 students wear normal school uniform. Tuesday 22 September K-2 students wear normal school uniform and students in years 3-6 wear sports uniform with their white sports shirt. Wednesday 23 September all K-6 students should come dressed in their house coloured sports uniform. Thursday 24 September K-2 students wear normal Thursday sports uniform and years 3-6 students wear normal Thursday school uniform. Friday 25 September all K-6 students should come dressed in their house coloured sports uniform. Please see the table below as a quick reference of the uniform changes. Students will also be reminded daily of uniform requirements for the next day.

Debbie Burke

Lost Items A child’s watch, star necklace, signet ring and a brand new school winter jacket size 8. If you are missing any of these items please see the front office staff.

Friday 18 September

Monday 21 September

Tuesday 22 September

Wednesday 23 September

Thursday 24 September

Friday 25 September

K-2 House coloured sports uniform

K-2 Normal school uniform

K-2 Normal school uniform

K-2 House coloured sports uniform

K-2 White shirt sports uniform

K-2 House coloured sports uniform

Yrs 3-6 House coloured sports uniform

Yrs 3-6 Normal school uniform

Yrs 3-6 White shirt sports uniform

Yrs 3-6 House coloured sports uniform

Yrs 3-6 Normal school uniform

Yrs 3-6 House coloured sports uniform

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Classes completed their public speaking competitions this term with all students delivering a prepared and an impromptu speech. The teachers commented on the quality of the speeches and were proud of each and every student for giving it a go. Public speaking is a useful skill that can help people of all ages throughout their lives. Congratulations to the following students who were selected to participate in the Stage Semi Finals. Stage 1 Semi Finals:- Medina, Logan, Sandro, Victoria H, Amber, Olivia, Caleb, Emily McG, Maddie and Sarah. Stage 2 Semi Finals:- Lina, Soukayna, Oliver, Isla W, Ashleigh, Eva, Noah, Isla H, Maddison, Anabella, Hayley, Thomas, Lila, Charlotte, Sophie S, Hannah, Ibrahim and Jamerson. Stage 3 Semi Finals:- Gurleen, Ali, Sibel, Marianna, Indiana, Anastasia, Sasha, Sophie, Madison, Simone, Ayla, Joshua, Talia, Zena, Jessie, Rhys, Max and Charlotte. All semi-finals have now been completed. The semi-finals were wonderful sessions whereby the audience (the rest of each stage) were very interested whilst being courteous listeners. Congratulations to the following successful speakers who will be participating in the Annual Alfords Point Public School Public Speaking Finals Competition. These will be held on Tuesday 15 September 2020. This event is for Alfords Point Public School students only and due to COVID-19 restrictions parents/carers are not permitted to attend. Stage 1 Finalists: - Olivia, Caleb, Emily McG, Maddie and Sarah. Stage 2 Finalists: - Lina, Ashleigh, Noah, Isla H, Maddison, Anabella, Charlotte and Sophie S. Stage 3 Finalists: - Gurleen, Marianna, Sasha, Sophie, Ayla, Joshua, Talia and Jessie. Once again well done to everyone. All students have put in a wonderful effort and are to be congratulated for their hard work. Thank you to the families for your input. On Tuesday 15 September the finalists will deliver their prepared speech along with an impromptu speech. When the adjudicators make their decisions, they take into consideration both speeches as they are equally weighted. Congratulations to the finalists and keep practising your speeches. Nick John, Debbie Burke, & Kim Dobson

Students of the Week Term 3 Week 6 KD Chase M KT Braith T 1-2J Audrey S C 1-2M Sophia M 1-2P Cameron V 3-4P Ana T 3-4R Faleola T 4-5M Sophie O 5-6B Brandon A 5-6D Sophie C

Students of the Week Term 3 Week 7 KD Daniella T KT Amelia H 1-2J Sophia S 1-2M Piper D 1-2P Mia H 3-4P Parneet D 3-4R Sunny P 4-5M Jacob T F 5-6B Sasha C 5-6D Alexis G