The Engadine Public School

WARATAH

Dear Parents

School Leaders

Congratulations to our 2013 School Leaders Team:

Captains: Nellie & Tom

Vice Captains: Zak & Mia

Prefects: Jacob, Liam, Jade and Natalie.

When the votes were counted, it was clear that we really had a battle

on our hands such was the high quality of the candidates.

With the swearing in of our 2013 Leaders, it is goodbye to our 2012

Leaders. These wonderful people have been a credit to their position

and have represented their peers and our school with great dignity.

Major Award Winners

Our 2012 Presentation Day was a fantastic vehicle to recognise the

efforts of our students. There were over 50 special awards handed

out. Also students’ achievements were recognised for their

performance in specific Key Learning Areas. In addition, each teacher

presented special awards to class members for their performances

during the year. The top award for the year is that of Dux which

went to Theresa. Engadine Lion’s Club sponsored the Citizenship

Awards with President, Aleta Schutt, on hand to make the awards to

Keira, Allirah, Lauren and Natalie. The four well deserving winners.

Big Bad Musical

This take-off of a number of stories saw the Big Bad Wolf on trial for a

series of crimes against humanity. Well, the only crime last night was

that there wasn’t a full house to enjoy this magic moment in Year 6’s

final year! The court, presided over by an outrageous judge (Rhys)

and with two fantastic lawyers in Theresa and Andrea, was just

fantastic. The Three Little Pigs (Joel, Damon and Demetri) went close

to stealing the show with their antics. Perhaps the crowd favourite was

the jury consisting of the 7 dwarfs and a number of other fairytale

characters. Oh yes, the Big Bad Wolf, played by Blake, was the nasty

villain with a soft side and a passion for rapping!

What a great night, topped with some amazing singing- just where did

some of those voices come from? For those who missed it – you

missed moments of magic!

…/2

1A Waratah Rd, Engadine NSW 2233 Phone: 9520 8559 Fax: 9548 1186

Term 4, Week 10 - December 2012 Email: engadine-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

CALENDAR 2012

December

17 Fun Day Yrs 3-6 & Funarama Yrs K-2

18 Yr 6 Farewell

19 Pupil’s Last Day

19 Yr 6 Farewell Assembly

20&21 Staff Development Days

2013

Term 1

January

29 Staff Development Day

30 Students Yrs 1—6 Return

30 Kinder Best Start

31 Kinder Best Start

February

1 Kinder Best Start

4 Kinder’s First Day

20 Swimming Carnival

March

12 Interrelate 6pm/7.15pm

28 School Photos

Engadine Public School supports

the Sydney Region White Ribbon Project.

INSIDE

Principal’s Report 1 Awards 3

Pitter Patter 4 Community Notices 4

Fun Day - Monday, 17 December

Children will be free to wear their favourite casual

clothes. Please consider all children will be involved

in a lot of movement, jumping, climbing, etc, so the

clothes should be selected with this in mind. Students

must wear closed-in shoes - no thongs or sandals. A

hat is also essential for the day.

Nut Free

As we have a number of students commencing in

2013 with nut allergies, I must remind you that we

are a nut free school. Two cases, one before the cor-

oner at this time, reminds us all of how easy it is for

lives to be lost.

I would ask that all families keep this in the forefront

of their minds when packing lunches and treats:

Especially when providing cakes for cake days and

birthdays.

Congratulations and Welcome

Please see the letter on page 4 from Sue Cran, School

Education Director for Woronora River Network,

announcing the appointment of the new principal

Ms Hendrika Green. I certainly wish Hendrika well

as my successor.

Cyber Safety

Whilst most of what goes on Facebook is harmless,

there are times when Facebook is used by school-

aged children to “name” people who have done

something during school. This has happened very

recently at this school. Unfortunately, in many cases

once this occurs, we end up with a snowball effect

and many people who do and do not know the

student join in. This is cyber bullying! I would suggest

that all parents should be aware of what their

children are up to when on the web. Chat sites such

as MSN are fantastic and I have used this when

travelling to keep in touch with my children,

however, do you know just who your child is talking

to and the content of their conversations? We

continually warn children about “Stranger Danger”,

however, we are not all that vigilant with stranger

danger when it comes to the World Wide Web. As a

parent, I implore you to supervise your children

when they are on-line. “Who is that you are chatting

with?” is a very important question. It is easy for

children to get caught out by the dark side of the

WWW and to be involved in cyber bullying or

chatting with inappropriate people. The best

weapon is your own supervision.

Parking at School

From time to time we have had parents use the

delivery entrance off Waratah Rd to collect children.

This is not allowed. There are a number of parking

areas adjacent to our school and to have cars leaving

the delivery bay when students are departing school

is fraught with danger. Please refrain from this

practice.

First Days 2013

When our students return in 2013 they will remain in

their current classes for a number of days. In so

doing, it allows us to be sure of our numbers and

then, once confirmed, we can then form our 2013

classes. The teachers that your child has during this

time are not necessarily their permanent teacher.

The Last Word

My final words at the Presentation Day related to the

pride that I have in this school. After 40 years and 11

schools, I have experienced “the good, the bad and

the ugly” and I can tell you that this is the best school

I have been at. The students are a fantastic group of

children. Yes, we do have issues, however, these are

very much in the minority of what we see day to

day. I have found your children to be most

respectful, very compliant and a credit to their

families. Similarly, the support for our school by our

school community has grown stronger and stronger.

This can only benefit the school. Consider, however,

that our micro sized P & C really needs some new

blood to take on some of the load. In a perfect

world P & C’s would not be needed to raise funds for

the school. This is not a perfect world and so P & C’s

are being called upon more and more to top up the

funding of the State Government. On average, we

have 7-8 parents present at meetings and with the

loss of 3 hard working members in Jenny Williams,

Cris Breitenbach and Casey Haley, that number plum-

mets. Get involved!

The staff of Engadine Public School has made my

final posting an absolute delight. They are extremely

hard working and the empathy that they show for

your children is outstanding. Their commitment,

willingness to give so generously of their own time

and resources is hard to match in any school. It has

been my privilege to work with these delightful

people.

I have been asked “what will you miss?” Well, I

could give you a long list of things that I won’t miss,

however, I will miss the daily interaction with what is

the world’s greatest natural resource - your

children and watching them grow. Thank you.

And with that, it is goodbye from me.

Ron Pallas

CONT’D FROM THE FRONT COVER CONT’D FROM FRONT COVER

To the Engadine Public School community I am pleased to announce that Ms Hendrika Green has been successful at interview for the position of Principal of Engadine Public School. Hendrika has experience in leading quality teaching and learning, student welfare and wellbeing, and working with students who have additional support needs. She has a particular interest in and commitment to curriculum and educational leadership. Hendrika will be commencing as Principal of Engadine Public School at the beginning of Term 1, 2013. I know you will join with me in congratulating Hendrika on her appointment and welcoming her warmly to her new position. I am hoping that she will have the opportunity to meet you before the end of the school year. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Mr Ron Pallas’ outstanding leadership of the School for the past two years. Ron will leave a lasting legacy for the children and families of the Engadine school community. With the support of the staff, Ron has built a culture of respectful relationships that underpin quality teaching and learning. I am confident that Engadine Public School will go from strength to strength based on the strong foundations he has built in his time as Principal. I look forward to working closely with Hendrika and the Engadine school community to ensure that the School continues to deliver quality teaching and learning in an environment that respects and values students, staff and the wider school community. Yours sincerely Sue Cran School Education Director, Sydney Region 14 December 2012

Merit Dale KP

Sophie KP

Erin KP

Chloe KP

Tayla KR

Fletcher KR

Bianca KR

Matthew KR

Jake 1M

Jai 1M

Josh x 2 1-6E

Anna 1-6E

Joshua 1-6E

Mitchell 1-6E

Michael 1-6E

Anthony 1-6E

Zoe 1-2S

Zac 1-2S

Ella 1-2S

Mathew 1-2S

Wade 2RW

Kailey 2RW

Arthur 2RW

Allirah 2RW

Tanish 3-6M

Olivia 3-6M

Michael 3-6M

Bradley 3-6M

Traci 3CR

Zac 3CR

Madi 3CR

Brodie 3CR

Taryn 4W

Jacinta 4W

Katie 4W

Elise 4W

Aneisha 4-5D

Zac 4-5D

Rayden 4-5D

Zoe 4-5D

Gabby 5-6D

Jye 5-6D

Tyler 5-6D

Cheyenne 5-6D

Silver Savanna KR

Zac KR

Ming K-6C

Bill K-6C

Finn 1M

Christopher x 2 1M

Alex 1M

Samuel 1M

Jamieson 1M

Seth O 1-2S

Matthew G x 2 1-2S

Mikayla 1-2S

Tye 1-2S

Elsa 1-2S

Sophie 1-2S

Jessica 2RW

Sophia 2RW

Zac Lee x 2 3-6M

Astrid 3-6M

Rayden 4-5D

Gold Emily K-6C

Ming K-6C

Elsa 1-2S

Sophia 2RW

Zac-Lee 3-6M

Astrid 3-6M

School Medallion

Brodie K-6C

Emily K-6C

Ming K-6C

Astrid K-6C

Joel 5-6D

Theresa 5-6D

AWARDS

Uniform Shop

NEXT OPEN Friday

1/2/13 from 8.30am—9.30am.

We are currently our of stock of size 6

polo shirts but these will be available

again on Friday, 1 Feb 2013.

Orders can be left at the Office and will

be filled asap.

No orders can be accepted

without payment. Cash or cheque (made out

to Engadine Public School Uniform Shop) only please.

FROM THE OFFICE

Payments

All Walk-A-Thon money should now have been brought in.

If you still have any of this money at home, please bring it

into the Office asap.

When making payments, please mark your child’s name

and class on the front of the envelope.

Hats

Old style hats on sale for $5 until gone—small size only—

great for a spare!

Delivery Bay

Please do not drop-off or pick-up children in our Delivery

Bay at anytime. This is a serious safety issue.

Wishing all our families a Merry Christmas

and happy and safe New Year!

Monday, 17 December

Wear Mufti clothes

Students should wear comfortable clothes they can move

easily in as they will be playing various activities and need

to wear running shoes. No donation required!

Years K-2 must be at school by 9.15am as the bus

leaves at 9.30am sharp!

FUN

DAY

Fun French classes

starting Term 1, 2013

Learn French language through games, drama, stories

and songs with a native speaker. 45mn session @ $12

Classes before school on Fridays, date TBA.

To enrol your child and for more information, please

contact Agnès Thévenin on: 0425 821 223 or email agnes.thevenin@lcfclubs.com.au

Don’t miss out on our great French holiday program (21st – 24th January 2013)

Year 6 finished their S.T.A.R.T. program today with a visit from Lisa and Glenn from Engadine District Youth Services.

They had a great time building with spaghetti & marshmallows and learning about the wonderful pro-grams available to them at EDYS.

Mrs Franke

No lunch orders until next year. Over the counter items still available

until Wednesday until sold out.

Please note that the last day for lunch orders this year will be Friday, 14 December. The canteen will be

open for over-the-counter sales on Monday, 17 and Wednesday, 19 December. Some items may not be available in the last few days of Term as we run down our stocks for the holidays. We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

Merry Christmas!

CANTEEN NEWS CANTEEN NEWS

Engadine Uniting Church Tel: 9548 2314

Before & After School Care Centre