3 December 2020

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Shooting Star Assemblies

It was great to be able to hold our Term 4 Shooting Star Assemblies on Wednesday. Many students were recognised and received their next award level. It was especially exciting to see our first group of Kindergarten students receive their Bronze Awards.

Congratulations to all our wonderful students for the way they embrace our school expectations each day – ‘To be Safe, Respectful Learners’.

Livestreaming: Unfortunately, we are not permitted to have parents and family members attend these celebration assemblies but it was great to see the many who were able to join us on Facebook for our livestream or view the Assembly Videos later in the day.

The videos of these assemblies are still on our Facebook site if you have not had an opportunity to view them.

Shooting Star Assembly

P&C Meeting and Annual General Meeting

We held our final P&C Meeting for 2020 last week and our AGM. I would like to thank our 2020 P&C Executive for all your effort and support this year.

I would like to congratulate the office bearers for 2021.

President - Renee Tsingolis
Vice President - Mandi Ashraf
Treasurer - Breamini Maniraj
Secretary - Mandy Ennion

We also recognised Kim Jeffreys for her years of service to our school through the P&C and K-6 Club with Life Membership of the P&C. Thank you Kim for your service and leadership in the P&C.

Changes to Staff for 2021

Congratulations to Ms Amanda Sheaves who was successful in her application to fill the vacant Assistant Principal position at Blacktown South PS. Ms Sheaves is now permanently appointed Assistant Principal at our school.

Welcome to Joel McMurtrie who has been appointed to our school for 2021.

Mrs Robyn Kimbley will be taking leave in 2021 pending retirement. Mrs Tali Martinez will be taking up a teaching position on the Central Coast. We wish these two permanent staff all the very best for the future.

Mr Fabian Riviera will also be taking leave in 2021. We wish Mr Riviera all the very best for his adventures next year.

2020 Presentation Assemblies

The 2020 Presentation Assemblies will be held in the Hall and COLA over two days, Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th December. This year we will be holding a separate Assembly for each year level.

On Monday 7th - Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Assemblies

On Tuesday 8th – Kindergarten, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 Assemblies

Due to the current COVID Protocols we are only able to accommodate one parent per award recipient at these assemblies. Information about registering your attendance has been sent home. Without prior registration you will not be permitted to attend these assemblies.

All assemblies will be live-streamed to our School Facebook site.

Year 6 Farewell Dinner

Date: Tuesday 15th December, 2020
Time: 6.00pm start

The Year 6 Farewell Dinner will be held in the School Hall this year to ensure that we meet our COVID Safety protocols. Information regarding this special event has been sent home to families.

Year 6 Farwell Assembly

The Year 6 Farewell Assembly will be held under the school COLA.

Date: Tuesday 15th December, 2020
Time: 9.30am

Unfortunately, only one parent per student is permitted to attend. All attending adults must have registered their attendance with the school office prior to the day.

Please see that attached information.

End of Year Fun Day

The End of Year Fun Day will be held over two days this year, Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th December.

Wednesday 9/12: Kindergarten and Year 1 will have a special performance by Gigalees.

Thursday 10/12: Year 2 to 5 students will have a special performance by African Drum Beats.

Thursday 10/12: Year 6 will be attending bowling.

Other End of Year Activities

Library- Library borrowing has now stopped for the year. Please ensure all Library books are returned to the Library for our annual stocktake.

Talent Quest – Our annual talent quest will be held over the last week of the school year - Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th December, these performances will be zoomed into classrooms for students to enjoy.

Reports

Student Reports are due to be sent home on Friday 11th December. Please look out for these in your child’s bag.

Class Structure for 2021

Teachers and executive are busily working to form our new classes for 2021.

It is very important that parents understand that until we confirm our final numbers about week three next year. We cannot be absolutely sure of our exact class structure until that time. I hope that the class structures we have formed will be the ones we can stay with but this relies on families who are leaving informing us early of their intensions and that we don’t get a last-minute rush of enrolments into a certain grade.

Next year is also complicated because of the lateness of finalising the OC placements for 2021. We will not know those students who have been successful in gaining a place in an Opportunity Class until the end of January.

Change of Staff Professional Development Days (Pupil Free Days) 2021

The Department of Education has made changes to the Pupil Free Day arrangements for all schools.

The Department has gazetted two Staff Development Days or Pupil Free Days for the first two days of Term 1.

Term 4 now will only have the last day as a student free day. Please see below for the dates for the beginning of 2021.

End of 2020 School Dates:

Wednesday 16th December - Last Day of School for 2020.

Beginning 2021 School Dates:

Wednesday 27th January 2021 - Staff only return.
Thursday 28th January 2021 – Staff Only
Friday 29th January 2021 – Year 1 to 6 Students return to school.
Friday 29/1/21 to Wednesday 3/2/21 - Kindergarten Best Start Assessments for 2020 Kindergarten students.
Thursday 4th February 2021- Kindergarten students commence.

Please stay safe
Andrew Bowmer

Newsletter Articles

Cultural Calendar

Dear Parents

I endeavour to include as many cultural events as possible, unfortunately I do accidently miss some. If I have missed an import cultural event for your culture or religion please inform me so I

December 5th – The King’s Birthday Anniversary- Thailand
December 6th – St Nicholas’ Day
December 6th – Independence Day – Finland
December 11th – National Day – Burkin Faso
December 11th – Chanukah or Ḥanukah is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It is also known as the Festival of Lights.
December 12th – Jamhuri Day – Kenya, celebrates Kenya becoming a republic on 12 December 1964, and also marks Kenya's independence from the United Kingdom.
December 16th – National Day – Bahrain, Independence Day – Kazakhstan
December 17th – National Day – Bhutan
December 18th – National Day – Niger, National Day – Qatar
December 21st – Summer Solstice
December 24th – Christmas Eve (Christian)
December 25th – Christmas Day (Christian)
December 26th – Boxing Day- is a holiday celebrated on the day after Christmas Day. It originated in the United Kingdom, and is celebrated in a number of countries that previously formed part of the British Empire.
December 31st – New Year’s Eve

Important Australian Milestones

December 21st – Australia is named in 1817

Principal’s Reading Awards

Congratulations to the following students from Kindergarten – Year 6 who have been awarded the Principal’s Reading award for 100 nights of home reading.

Principal’s Reading Awards

Congratulations to the following students from Kindergarten – Year 6 who have been awarded the Principal’s Reading award for 200 nights of home reading.

Term 4 Shooting Star Assembly

Congratulations to the recipients of the BRONZE Awards

Congratulations to the recipients of the Silver Award

Congratulations to the recipients of the Gold Award

Congratulations to the recipients of the Sapphire Award

Congratulations to the recipients of the South Star Pin Award

PBL – Week 7 & 8

In Week 7 our PBL lesson was to Be Safe – ‘Keep your hands and feet to yourself’

The students discussed as a class why do they need to keep their hands and feet to themselves?

They learnt that- We must keep our hands and feet to ourselves- to keep us and others safe, we are less likely to hurt someone and to respect the personal space of others.

We can now refill our water bottle at our new water refill station next to the hall.

By Kush Patel 2L

In week 8 our PBL lesson was to be a learner- Learn from mistakes. The students at Blacktown South were encouraged to discuss and brainstorm as a class what can they do to learn from mistakes. Students response-

Year 5 Science

This term in Science, Year 5 have been learning about states of matter. They have been experimenting with solids, liquids and gases. The children have enjoyed the opportunity to engage in hands-on experiences with Science.

The students were given a task to devise an experiment that demonstrated that a gas had been released from a chemical reaction. The photos below show the students conducting their experiments. Although it was messy and noisy, the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There were lots of smiles and cheers as their balloons inflated with gas.

Uniform Store

Opening times for the Uniform Stores are now Monday 9:00am–11:00am and

Thursday 9:00am–11:00am.

We strongly encourage parents to order online and uniform orders will be sent to your child’s class.

If you do go to the uniform store, please ensure that you follow Covid procedures correctly, this includes: signing a register, practising good hand hygiene and following the social distancing rules.

Thank you
Kim Jeffreys

P & C Committee

As a fundraising activity the P & C are presenting the new digital Entertainment App, this deal offers thousands of incredible saving from dining, activities, travel and much more. Buy a Membership and download the Entertainment App. Please see attached flyer for more information.

Blacktown South Public School Calendar

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