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Rylstone Review Term 1 Week 8 - 19th March 2020

From the Principal’s desk

I’ll begin this week’s newsletter by thanking everyone in our school community for being so supportive and understanding in this very stressful time. We are in the difficult position of waiting each day to hear from the Department of Education as to what our next instructions will be in regards to COVID-19.

I am sorry for having to cancel many activities that I know the children were looking forward to. Trust me, we are doing everything we can to ensure your children are safe and happy at school and trying very hard to minimise the impact this horrible virus is having.

We are practising stringent handwashing routines and social distancing (as much as we can … it’s hard to get kinder to stop holding hands and hugging each other!) We no longer sit in the covered eating area but spread out throughout the playground.

The Department is standing firm that schools WILL NOT close. The staff at RPS are preparing for any eventuality, we have ‘learning packs’ organised in the extreme possibility that we do close, but are also continuing our everyday teaching program with as minimal interruption as possible.

More information can be found here…

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/school-safety/novel-coronavirus.html

This is an excerpt from the Department of Education webpage…

Advice for school communities

The NSW Department of Education is introducing proactive measures to limit the impact of COVID-19 in our schools.

We continue to work closely with NSW Health and the Australian Government to monitor and respond to developments and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff.

Our schools have adopted social distancing measures including cancelling or postponing:

  • assemblies, events and conferences
  • all major arts, sports and initiative activities and events (including whole-school sporting events and inter-school events involving three or more schools
  • excursions and travel (both within and outside Australia).

If you or your child is unwell with a respiratory illness, stay at home until symptoms clear up.

NSW public schools resources for:

Thank you for keeping your children home if they are unwell. Whilst the schools are open we cannot provide work for families who voluntarily choose to self-isolate, however if your child is sick, contact your class teacher to see what they can do.

Again I’d like to thank all families for supporting us, any spare soap, tissues or hand sanitiser would be greatly welcome also!

In closing, I’d like to thank the amazing staff we have at Rylstone, who despite being potentially frightened and unsure of what is happening, have turned up every day and put on a brave and happy face, to make sure our children feel safe and happy, and that their wellbeing and learning needs are addressed.

The RPS staff have been an amazing support for me during these uncertain times and I am grateful and so lucky to be able to work with such a dedicated and caring group of people.

Stay safe everyone, be kind, care for your neighbours….we’ll get through this together.

As always,

If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on Jodee.burcher@det.nsw.edu.au

Jodee

Proud Principal

Dates for your calendar

March

  • 23rd P&C AGM & Meeting at 3.30pm

April

  • Last day of term
  • 10th Good Friday

Cancelled or postponed

  • All assemblies
  • Easter Hat Parade
  • Interschool sporting events
  • Gulgong Eisteddfod - Speech
  • School Photos - now in Term 4

Around the classrooms ...

Southern Ocean with Mrs Balfoort

What a wonderful time Southern Ocean has had in the past fortnight. They have had many new experiences. They performed enthusiastically at the Seniors Luncheon where they recited poems, sang songs and showed their creative art works.

They met Healthy Harold in the Life Education Van and many had check ups with the Dental Van ladies. Our class has joined Class Dojo and are thinking very hard about ways that they can achieve points. Our 20 Days of Kindness has been completed and everyone is very proud of their success and have learnt many new strategies to spread their kindness around.

In Maths they have been learning about length. One fun activity was to measure each other with streamers, then halve each piece to make a half sized skeleton of themselves. It was a great learning experience we shared with Ms Burcher.

Also we learnt about capacity - luckily it was a warm day!

In writing we have been trying to make our stories more interesting by using describing words. After reading The Meanies, you can see some stories that Rhys, Caitlin and Phoebe wrote.

Indian Ocean with Ms Jacklin & Mrs D'Ilio

What a crazy time!

We are having a great old time in the Indian Ocean. We have been washing our hands before and after each break. We have a good little hand washing song that the students love to watch each morning.

ANZAC Stories have been a big part of daily routine, the discussion that follow each story is so interesting. Everyone has different ideas and perspectives on what the ANZAC story means. We started our artwork today after finishing a story about a rescue dog that helped to locate injured soldiers in Gallipoli.

We are been looking at area and measurement this week in Mathematics.

One of our activities was measuring how many duplo blocks tall a friend was. How 'tall' do you think your child was? We have also been getting used to logging into matific and everyone is getting the hang of it.

Our Daily 5 rotations are working really well. We are listening to stories online, completing read and sequence activities, using Reading Eggs, fixing up 'sick sentences' and focusing on our writing intention by using action words in our writing.

We had some great action words after looking at a picture of Cinderella being whisked away on her carriage!

Our art this week celebrated Water. You can also see our feet which we made when looking at Measurement in Mathematics.

How are we finishing Week 8, I feel as if it is only just starting...

Ms Jacklin

Atlantic Ocean with Miss Burns

In the Atlantic Ocean this week we have been focusing on the topic of ‘length’ in Maths. The students have been learning to convert between different units of measurement: millimetres, centimetres and metres. They enjoyed measuring the height of everyone in the class and writing their heights in centimetres and then in decimal notation.

We have continued to learn lots of interesting facts about the First Fleet and the students amazing artworks of the First Fleet are now on display in our classroom.

We have also been reading lots of Anzac stories and the students have all been working on writing their own Anzac narrative or letter.

Pacific Ocean with Ms Burcher

This week we have been doing fractions and decimals. Here’s Charlie working on his maths sheet. We had to divide the fractions with the number that we had put on there. We took the denominator and divided the number with it then we would write the answer on the line. Then we had to use the array to find the fraction of the group of 48. We used the array to figure out the answer of the equation. Then we had to solve the problems and use the boxes to figure out the answer.

We have finally finished our dream story that tied in to the Rylstone Show. We had to write the story down in our literacy books first and then we wrote it down on two sheets of paper with our best handwriting. Then we drew a beautiful picture with coloured pencils down the bottom of the sheets. Here is one of the pictures on the dream stories.

Amelia & Alisha

Honey Haven Bee Box

Schools in the local area have been asked to paint a bee box in a competition run by Honey Haven. Our school box was painted by Janine, Tamara, Milly and Amelia. They did a great job and gave up many of their lunchtimes to complete it. They are very proud of their creativity.

Thanks girls, Mrs Balfoort

Just starting and proudly showing off just one side of their finished box.

Book Club

Hello Book Clubbers!

During my recent absence from school a very kind person sent home the final Book Club brochures for this term. To ensure that ordered books are in stock and returned to us before the holidays, could all completed forms and payments be returned to the school THIS FRIDAY (March 20th) please? I will put the order in over the weekend. Once again, please do not feel obligated to order books from Book Club, it is only and 'extra' offered to those who would like to act on it.

Happy reading!

Mrs D

Reminders

Absences require an explanation via a note to the teacher, the green Absentee Note or Sentral's Parent Portal messaging platform. Currently, we have far too many unexplained absences. Please keep on top of this task to avoid a referral to the Home School Liaison Officer.

Guitar Lessons on Thursdays with Mr Burns. Please remember your guitar!

Meal Deal orders are due on Monday 23rd March. No late orders accepted.

School Drive Subsidy: Please submit your application at www.transportnsw.info/school-students

P&C News

Uniform Shop

Winter stock is now available including girls winter tunics and boys grey pants. Note that girls summer and winter dresses are no longer available to purchase from Grace’s Uniforms.

Uniforms can be purchased online and during Shop opening times. You can find the shop at https://rylstone-public-school-parents-and-citizens-association.square.site/

Online purchases will be sent home with your child on Fridays.

The Shop will be open every Friday from 9am-9.30am. If you need to make another time to access the Shop please contact Sandra Stroud on 0419 149478.

Notice from CommBank School Banking

The health, safety and wellbeing of our communities and our people is our first priority. Due to the rapidly developing situation with coronavirus, School Banking has been temporarily paused from 20 March 2020 until the start of Term 2. Please don’t bring your deposit book with your weekly banking into school and we will notify you when banking will recommence.

Next Meeting

AGM 3.30pm, Monday 23rd March 2020 with a general meeting to follow.

Sandra Stroud, President

rylstonepandc@gmail.com

Community News

Mudgee District Hockey Association

Due to the COVID19 situation all hockey activities have been postponed until at least May 3. This will include the Come and Try hockey days scheduled for 26/3 and 2/4 and the April School holiday clinic. Please email mudgeejuniorhockey@gmail.com if you need further information. Information on the junior hockey season and events will be posted in school newsletters, Mudgee District Hockey Associations Facebook page and at https://www.revolutionise.com.au/mudgeedha/home/.