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Term 4 Week 6 Newsletter

Remembrance Day

On Wednesday 11 November I was delighted to accompany our Year 6 Student Leaders to the North Sydney Memorial to take time to honour and remember those who served to protect our freedom as part of our Remembrance Day commemorations.

Welcome to our 2021 Kindergarten Students

Over recent weeks we have welcomed all of our 2021 Kindergarten children to our school for the Orientation Program. The children settled into the classrooms beautifully. Our student language buddies also did a brilliant job welcoming and assisting the children in the classrooms. We look forward to seeing all of our new students when they start at Anzac Park on Wednesday 3 February next year!

2021 Enrolments and Class Placements

I am currently in the process of finalising our staffing and classes for 2021. At this stage we are waiting on some new families to confirm that their children will be attending Anzac Park and as a result I am unable to finalise our class structures and staffing entitlements. Families can assist me in this process by:

  • Informing us if you are moving out of the area and your child will not be returning to Anzac Park in 2021.
  • Ensuring we have notification in writing if your child will be returning late at the beginning of the 2021 school year so that we can hold a place for them. Most families have provided this information. If your circumstances change, please inform the school office.

Over the remainder of this term, our teaching team will be working on 2021 organisation and class placements for each child. This process is completed by teachers of the current year level (i.e. Year 4 teachers confer on Year 5 class groupings) and is overseen by the school leadership team.

School Development Days

Parents will be aware that schools have school development days on the first day of Terms 1, 2 and 3 and the last two days of Term 4. These days are non-teaching days and focus on teacher professional learning and school planning.

  • The school development day scheduled for Friday 18 December was re-scheduled this year with teachers completing their professional learning workshops during evening sessions. Accordingly, there will be no teaching staff present on Friday 18 December and the school will be deemed ‘non-operational’. Staff will work on Thursday 17 December. This is a professional learning day so no students are to attend school. Jigsaw vacation care will operate on these days. The last day of attendance for students is Wednesday 16 December.
  • At the beginning of 2021 staff will return on 27 and 28 January to participate in professional learning related to our school plan for two days and look forward to sharing this with you early next year.
  • The first day of attendance for students in Years 1-6 for the 2021 school year is Friday 29 January 2021.
  • New Kindergarten students will complete their Best Start Assessments on Friday 29 January – Tuesday 2 February. Their first day of school will be Wednesday 3 February.

What Works Best

Our school is committed to ensuring that how we teach your child is based on what we know makes the biggest difference to their learning. In our school, we have a focus on using the ‘What works best’ eight practices for effective teaching. These practices include:

  • Having high expectations of your child.
  • Using explicit teaching in the classroom.
  • Giving effective feedback to your child on their learning.
  • Using data to inform how we teach your child.
  • Using regular and effective assessments so we know how your child’s learning is going.
  • Supporting the wellbeing of your child by looking out for their mental, physical and emotional health.
  • Managing the classrooms well so they are safe, positive and stimulating environments for learning.
  • Making sure our teachers collaborate with each other, and experts outside the school, so teaching practice continuously improves.

In addition, research shows that greater levels of support and engagement from parents and carers are associated with better student academic and wellbeing outcomes. We also know that students learn more effectively when the home and school environments form complementary and supportive roles for learning. It is for this reason that we are focused on continuing to foster the partnership between our school and parents.

The Department of Education has now released a ‘What works best’ resource for parents and carers, which provides tips for having conversations with your child about their learning. You can visit the department’s Parent Hub where you’ll find other tailored resources for parents and carers, as well as message from the NSW Minister for Education the Hon. Sarah Mitchell MLC

School Planning

A big thank you to the families who participated in the school planning forum last week. It was an important part of the school planning process. Below is a summary of data from our student, parent and teacher Forums.

This week the school’s executive team have participated in a planning conference pulling together all the data that will inform our 2021-2024 School Plan. These data sources include:

  • Focus Groups: Student, Parent and Teacher Forums
  • School Excellence Framework External Validation
  • Tell Them From Me: Student, Parent and Teacher Surveys
  • Evaluation of our 2018-2020 School Plan
  • Research scan including the latest information about how children learn
  • Evaluation of literacy, numeracy and wellbeing student performance data

Following our deep dive into the data, we are looking towards having three key strategic directions which will inform our school plan for the next four years. These strategic directions include;

  1. Foundations. Foundations is our commitment to ensure that all students at Anzac Park have the essential knowledge, skills and understanding in literacy and numeracy, enabled through data driven teaching practices that are responsive to student needs. These foundations will form the basis for life-long learning.
  2. Belonging. Belonging is our commitment to ensure students have a sense of connectedness, purpose and meaning that enables them to thrive at school. We foster strong community partnerships, positive student-teacher relationships and engagement by knowing the whole child. Students understand the world around them and the potential within them, so they can be fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens.
  3. Synergy. We ensure students develop deep knowledge, skills and understandings so they can become change agents in a 21st Century society and economy. Students develop global competencies to become creative, critical and collaborative individuals who can adapt and feel fulfilled in a changing world.
As we begin to develop these focus areas, we will be asking our community to engage in surveys and community forums to further develop a clear vision for our next school plan.

Mountain Top

Our end of year Mountain Top website is going live on Thursday 10 December to Monday 14 December. This will be an opportunity for our community to view the wonderful gains of all of our students. Students are currently working hard on their projects to “put on the Mountain Top” and I am looking forward to connecting with the community and celebrating student learning.

Snapshot from Sky

Sky have been learning all about narratives in English this term. They have been practicing using ‘wow’ words to describe the characters and setting, and writing all about the beginning, middle and end of stories.

Congratulations to our new Deputy Principal Jeremy Hart

Congratulations to Jeremy Hart for being the successful applicant for our vacant Deputy Principal position. Jeremy will start in the second Deputy Principal position from the beginning of 2021.

From The Library

Book Week celebrations took place in the library during Week 4. Thank you to all students who made an effort to wear a crazy or weird or wild accessory. There was some amazing creativity on show among the K-2 classes.

Congratulations to Arthur L (Sunshine) who won the Dogman Competition and Charlotte T and Hanna R (also from Sunshine) who won the Curious Catalogue Quiz. These competitions were open to all in Years 3-6.

The Online Book Fair which ran in Week 4 was also a great success. Many thanks to all the families who generously donated books to the school library. Please be patient as we catalogue and process these new additions to our collection. Each book will be marked with a bookplate acknowledging your gift and the students have the opportunity of being the first borrower.

Our final Book Club brochures have gone home and parent orders close on November 30. These will be distributed promptly. This is another great way to support the school library as all your orders earn points which we can use to purchase Scholastic books and resources.

We anticipate the 289 Anzac Park students who completed the Premier's Reading Challenge in 2020 will be receiving their certificates very soon. Please keep a look out for these coming home in the school bag.

The Arts Unit @ Home

This year we haven't been able to enjoy some of the amazing dance and music programs Anzac Park Public School usually offers. The NSW Department of Education has designed some engaging units and videos to inspire and encourage students to continue to develop their musical and artistic skills at home.

Use the link below to find out more and get creative!

Anzac Park PS School Band & Strings Ensemble

2021 BAND & STRINGS ENSEMBLE MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN!

The Anzac Park PS Band & Strings Program is a vibrant and fun program, where every student has an opportunity to learn an instrument in a supportive and collaborative setting. Our experienced music teachers from Directions In Music specialise in teaching primary school instrumental music programs, and we are excited to be welcoming our newest young musicians to join our band or strings ensemble in 2021!

Learning a musical instrument is a wonderful skill for young people to have, and provides many rewarding benefits to a child’s development. Most importantly, playing music with our friends is fun!

If you are interested in enrolling your child in the 2021 Anzac Park PS Music Program please use the link below to register online.

You can also contact Directions in Music on 9662 2211

Congratulations to our Silver & Gold Award Recipients!

Silver Awards are presented to students when they have received 3 Bronze Awards. Make sure you keep your child’s Bronze Awards safe and when they have collected 3, bring them into the office. Gold awards are presented to students when they have received 3 Silver Awards.

Upcoming Events

Monday 23 November to Wednesday 25 November Stage 3 Camp
Monday 23 November/ Wednesday 25 November Year 3 excursion to West Head
Tuesday 24 November Year 2 excursion to Gibberagong
Thursday 26 November/Friday 27 November Kindergarten Coastal Excursion
Wednesday 2 December Stage 3 Field Of Mars Excursion
Thursday 3 December Year 2 Water Safety Incursion
Monday 7 December to 9 December Yr 4 Camp
Created By
Wendy Bright
Appreciate