School Matters

Old Bathurst Road, East Blaxland 2774

Phone 4739 1579 Fax 4739 8300

Principal Kerry Bryan

Email Blaxlande-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Webpage www.blaxlande-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

P&C Email blaxlandeast@gmail.com

Term 3 Week 4 11 August 2017

Morning Bell 9.00am Afternoon Bell 3.00pm Office Hours 8.30am - 3.15pm

P&C Association meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm Next Meeting Wednesday 13 September 2017

CORE VALUES

Be Respectful

Excellence Always

Participate Courageously

Serve Others

Public School Blaxland East

Core Values

Skyworks

ICAS Spelling results

Greg Alexander Shield Finals day

Office News

Office Payments & Notes

Skoolbag App

2018 Kindergarten Enrolments

P&C News - Father’s Day Stall & School Vegetable Gardens

Principal’s Report

Core Value Awards

Canteen News

2016 Fete Sponsors

In this School Matters:

for Kindergarten 2018

2017 ICAS Spelling Results

Results have been received from the University of New South Wales for Blaxland East

students who entered the ICAS (International Competition and Assessment for Schools)

Spelling Competition for 2017.

Students from Blaxland East achieved outstanding results when they participated this year.

Those students whose achievements were outstanding were rewarded with certificates of Merit,

Credit, Distinction and High Distinction.

These ICAS tests are designed to assess students’ academic abilities in aspects of Spelling

such as Dictation, Rules, Proofreading and Correcting.

Each year, many BEPS students take the plunge and attempt these tests, putting themselves

up against gifted and talented students from all parts of Australia, New Zealand and parts of

Asia. For this alone, quite apart from their achievements, they deserve the highest praise.

The highlights of our results this year are as follows:-

High Distinction Award: Samuel Fordham (Year 3)

Distinction Awards: Olivia Adams, Ania Bestley, Isla Puri, Hannah Tankard (Year 3), Emma

Garvey (Year 5).

Credit Awards: Virginia Cole, Emily Croft, Leila Kennedy, Flynn Manchester, Dallyce Rose (Year

3), David Babajanyan, Ruby Kennedy, Lucinda Page, Jeremy Spikmans (Year 4), Jackson

Cooper, Boaz Freeman, Connor Grady, Braden Nicholson, Lara Schuetrumpf (Year 5), Skye

O’Neill, Isaac Parsons (Year 6).

Merit Awards: Aiden Hall (Year 3), Lillian Byrnes, Hunter Kelly, Emily Kirkpatrick, Banjo Tucker,

Alexander Williams (Year 5).

Congratulations to all these students, and to all who participated.

R Wallis and D Riedy

ICAS Coordinators

On Tuesday 25 July, I had the privilege of taking eight boys from Stage 3 to The Kingsway at St Marys

to compete in the finals day of the Greg Alexander Shield.

The boys had a great day! They played three games and played with skill, enthusiasm and fairness.

Unfortunately they lost their games but enjoyed the day immensely.

A big thank you to Mr Wickerson for organising the team on the day. Thank you also to the parents for

assisting with transport and cheering the boys on. Huge congratulations to the boys for their

outstanding behaviour and sportsmanship on the day.

Team – Oliver Wickerson, Joshua Watson, Keegan Reasbeck, Eli Przydacz, Ben Busch, Logan

Myhill, Kieran Thomson and James Burgess.

Suzie Hunter

Organiser

Changes to the daily collection of your children

As the school office is at its busiest between 8.30 to 9.30am and 2.30 to 3.00pm, we would like to

encourage parents/carers to make plans prior to school in regards to changes in pick-up arrangements.

We understand that emergency situations do arise where you need to deviate from your usual collection

arrangements and we will assist you as much as we can in relaying this information to your child. It would

be more beneficial however if you could send a note with your child for the class teacher so that they are

directly aware of any changes and can ensure that your child remembers what they need to do or where

they need to go.

Sick Notification

If you know your child is unwell and will not be attending school there is no need to ring

the school. Please send an explanation note to the teacher on your child’s return.

In addition, if your child is unwell, please keep them at home until they have recovered.

Permission Notes

Could you please ensure you write your child’s first name, last name and class when you complete

permission notes. It is time-consuming for office staff to have to work out which child a note belongs to if

only a first name and no class has been written on the note. We have several children in the school with

the same first name, as well as families with the same surname.

A reminder too that when returning permission notes for excursions, camps, and any

school activities for which a permission note is sent home, please note that a

separate permission note is required for each child. This is a departmental legal

requirement.

Lost Property

There are a number of plastic containers, lunchboxes and drink bottles plus items of clothing

in lost property at the moment with no name on them.

Could you please ensure all such items are clearly labelled with your child’s name so they

can be returned to them. If they are not collected soon they will be disposed of.

PLEASE NOTE we are unable to accept payments past the cut-off date on the note. Please carefully

note date for payment and return of permission notes. If notes and payment are not returned in time,

your child will be excluded from the activity. If you are paying online (see information below), the

payment needs to be made 24 hours before the cut-off date in order to be accepted.

If paying by cash, please send correct money as the school does not hold a cash float.

Alternatively you may pay via EFTPOS in person at the front office, or pay online via the school

website, under the ‘Make a Payment’ link on the home page.

Band and Dance fees

There is a large number of outstanding fees for Band and Dance. It would be appreciated if payment

for these could be made at the BEGINNING of each term.

Our School has our own free Skoolbag iPhone and Android App

to help us communicate more effectively with our Parent/Student

community.

We are asking Parents/Students to install our Skoolbag School App. To install it, just search for our

school name Blaxland East Public School in either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

For Windows users search for Skoolbag in the Windows Store and install the app and then find your

school. Please note it must be a Windows 8.1 or 10 device.

You can find step by step instructions here.

If you would like more information about Skoolbag, click here.

Skoollbag can also be accessed via Blaxland East Public School’s website— go to the homepage and

click on the ‘Skoolbag’ heading on the right side at the top.

You can then view the Skoolbag plugin and access and print any relevant notes and information just as

you can from the app.

If you have or know of a student that will be enrolling in Kindergarten at BEPS in 2018 please call into

the school office to complete the enrolment process.

The Transition days for 2018 Kindergarten students are as follows:

Friday 15 September, 2017 9:15 -10:45am

Friday 20 October, 2017 9:15 -10.45am

Friday 3 November, 2017 9:15 -10:45am

Friday 17 November, 2017 9:15 -12.00pm

Once again the P&C will be running its annual Father’s Day stall. This will be

held on Tuesday 29 August and in the morning of Wednesday 30 August.

A note will be coming home soon.

$5.00 AUGUST MEAL DEAL

How to order at school or online

Lunch orders must be placed in class baskets before 9.00am each morning. Lunches are delivered to

the classrooms at the beginning of lunchtime.

Students in Kindergarten and Year 1 may order recess through class baskets and buy snacks and

drinks over the counter at lunchtime.

You can also order online via Our Online Canteen - information can be found here.

An updated pricelist can be found here on the school’s website, or on the Skoolbag App.

ADVANCE NOTICE…..

Walk to School Breakfast Wednesday 30 August

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Well, what a busy week we had last week with Education

Week including our Assembly and performances, Science

Fair and Art Show. A big thank you to all the staff and

students who worked hard to make it all happen on the

day. Well done everyone.

This week has been no less busy with Year 6 heading off to camp on Wednesday morning and Stage

One going on their excursion. I know you all had a wonderful time.

Next week is our scheduled parent/teacher interviews, and by now you should have gone online and

chosen a time to come along and meet with your child(ren)’s teacher(s). We hope that everyone got a

time that was suitable to them. Please remember that this is a short interview and should you wish to

discuss your child at length, you need to make another time to meet with their teacher.

Also next week 6G have their first transition to high school day scheduled for Wednesday. I know they

will have an awesome time visiting Blaxland High School and getting a feel for next year.

On Thursday there is also a Girls and Boys Touch competition and then on Friday the Band will travel to

Hawkesbury Eistedfodd to compete in the Primary Schools Band Section. We are looking forward to

putting on a good performance.

Week 6 is Book Week, with our Book Parade occurring on Tuesday 22 August. Stage Two also have an

excursion, 6G go to the High School again and the Band will put on a performance across the road at the

Uniting Church. Again, another very busy week.

As we gallop towards the end of the term, please keep your eyes peeled for notes coming home. Make

sure you use our Skoolbag App and Fridge Flyer to keep abreast of the events happening in our school.

On a different note, the Department of Education has approved the establishment of a a

class for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder/and or Anxiety at BEPS.

This class will cater for students from the area who are unable at this time to function in a

mainstream setting. The class will not affect our current class structures or enrolments,

but will mean an additional class at our school in 2018.

If you have any concerns re this class, please contact me at the school. I will also be available on

Monday and Tuesday afternoon between 4-5pm to answer questions in the school hall.

Cheers

Kerry.

K – 2 Week 3

KP Tristan McGregor Participating

courageously

1T Kaleb Whye Being Respectful

2B Leon Spikmans Participating

courageously

3 – 6 Weeks 2 & 3

3D Thomas Hitchon Participating

courageously

3G Matilda Gill Being Respectful

4H Jarred Drake Being Respectful

4H Isabell Chardon Participating

courageously

5R Lara Schuetrumpf Excellence Always

5R Jasmine Brown Excellence Always

6T Shaely Commins Participating

courageously

6G Ella Terry Serving others