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GUILDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOL

APIA STREET GUILDFORD NSW 2161 Phone: 9632 9675 fax: 9892 1325

www.guildford-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

8th MARCH NEWS UPDATE

Principal’s News

School Captains, Vice-Captains, Prefects, Class Student Representative Council members and House captains were presented their badges at the 2019 Leadership Induction Assembly on Wednesday of this week. Cumberland Council Lord Mayor Greg Cum-mings, Guildford Leagues Club General Manager Alan Crow and Acting P&C President Fatima Saadeddine presented student leaders with their respective badges. It goes without saying that student leaders have been elected through processes that demonstrate their ca-pacity to be well trusted by students and staff. The three key traits the school community expects to see and hear from all student leaders are; Integrity – confidence that leaders will do the right thing having in mind the best interest of the school community. Competence – knowing that leaders will have the skill to listen and look at a situation, get organised, make informed decisions and be resilient to achieve group goals. Empathy – leaders genuinely care about their people and always look to improve situations. SCHOOL UNIFORM All students are expected to wear a school hat to school, on the playground, during sport, PSSA or fitness time and to excursions. Hats are available from the school canteen for $12. Also, as the days become cooler, students need to wear a school jumper or jacket. No multi-coloured clothes or branded pants or jumpers should be worn. NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLYING AND VIOLENCE Guildford PS is registered for National Day of action Against Bullying and Violence which is on Friday 15 March. Check out the website below, in particular the video “BULLYING IS NEVER OK!” Looking through the website together with your child would show that you too believe that BULLYING IS NEVER OK. https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/Resources/Videos/Pages/VideoPlayer.aspx?VideoID=183

      

PAYMENT BY STUDENTS Students should pay for excursions including PSSA by the set date. Money needs to be counted and processed by office staff before teachers can be provided a list of students who can attend. PSSA payment is due Thursday morning or students risk missing out. Guildford PS charges no school fees. In 2019 students have been provided a note with a list of equipment they need to bring to class. A trip to one of the major shopping outlets should put you back $10 - $15 per child for the entire list of supplies. All other resources are provided by school. EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Guildford PS offers a large range of extra-curricular activities that students can join up to eg dance, art club, PSSA, debating, environment club etc. I remind students to turn-up to their activities on time and ready to participate. Remember that PSSA team players during Terms 1 & 4 must be at school ready to have their named marked of the roll at 8.15am ready for the 8.30am bus. Students must arrive on-time as their team-mates are relying on them. SPECIAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SRE) The Department of Education needs to ensure that ‘in every government School, time is to be allowed for the religious education of children of any religious persuasion’. For Guildford PS, Scripture classes will continue each Thursday after lunch time for 30 minutes. Anglican, Catholic and Muslim Scripture classes commenced two weeks ago. More information about SRE can be found in the following link https://guildford-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/learning-at-our-school/religion-and-ethics.html         GROUNDS IMPROVEMENTS Planned improvements for 2019 include: Courtyard upgrade with new surface and seating Carpark perimeter safety fence and new parking for 7 cars Hall and Kindergarten block toilets upgrade Centre of school/Flags upgrade with sandpit and new surfaces.

 

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SCHOOL HOURS AND STAFF DUTY OF CARE School hours are effectively 8.30am – 3.00pm. Playground supervision begins at 8.30am under the COLA, lower concrete and basketball court areas. Any children arriving before 8.30am are to sit on a silver bench seat in the courtyard area located between the administration, Library and Years 5&6 blocks. Once the 8.30am bell sounds, all children must move down the stairs. Parents are welcome to enter the school, but once in, school and duty teachers have a ‘Duty of Care’ in which they must supervise all children. The 3.00pm bell signifies time to go home. No child should be left at school unsupervised. Part of the purpose of establishing the new Out of School Hours Care (OOSH) was to help families out at a very affordable cost. School will be contacting parents whose children are often late to be picked up. PARENT EXCUSION Community Liaison Officers (CLO) Zainab Ashrafi and Jamile Daher are organising an excursion for parents and carers to Auburn Botanical Gardens on Thursday 21st March. This is sure to be an adventurous, informa-tive though informal day. So, why not let the office know you are interested or talk with Zainab or Jamile. PARENTS AND CITIZENS (P&C) ASSOCIATION The first P&C meeting of 2019 took place on Thursday 21 February. Mrs Saadeddine will act as President until the Annual General Meeting in July/August. The P&C is an extremely positive way for parents to connect, build a stronger understanding of Australian school culture, and contribute to school activities and fundraising. Together with the newly established and dedicated Community Hub, our parents and carers are encouraged to get involved, engage in discussions and build friendships with like-minded people.

Follow us on Twitter @Guildford PS #gps2018 Guildford Public School is now connecting on Twitter to up-date and connect with other schools and educators about the wonderful learning experiences and opportunities provid-ed to our students. Please note that students will not be identified by full names at any time on a Twitter post.

The P&C hosted a terrific ‘Welcome morning tea’ last week. About 80 parents and carers attended this event, engaging in valuable conversation with each other and staff members to build a greater understanding of how Guildford PS operates and how their child can be best supported. Thank you to all those who attended as I know myself and other staff members gained a lot of information about families and their children. Obviously, food was a big part of this event, and the P&C group catered beautifully. The food was delicious and the hot pizza was particularly popu-lar. I encourage all parents and carers to attend a P&C meeting to gain a deeper knowledge of Guildford PS and how the community can support your child’s education.

SPECIAL STUDENTS SENT TO SHOW GOOD WORK TO THE PRINCIPAL TERM Week 2&5 2M Sophia Barghachoun 1D Sumaiya Omar, Nathan Xin 3K Phoebe Empasis, Amin Kowaider, Amira Taleb

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK Mr Christopher Haberecht (Principal)

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SCHOOLD CAPTAINS

Ghazal Mahdavi

6L Faraz Hussain

6Y

VICE CAPTAINS

Margaret Tan Terles

6L Zahraa Alghizi

6L

PREFECTS

Ayah Tarabiya

6L Neyfa Taleb

6Y Mohammad Rahimi

6Y

2019 GPS SCHOOL LEADERS

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Representative

Armani Moseley

3F

2019 CLASS REPRESENTATIVES

Naveya Cogger

2E Finlay Veloso

2G Jeremy Tran

2M Nathaniel Guerrero

2S Fatima El Musta-

fa 3F

Ghayure Ali Naz-

ari 3K Bronte Eastwood

3L Youssef Khaled

4B Habiba Ziky

4J Mahnaz Masoudi

4MZ

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Heba Ali Minhas

5C Rawan Al Doukhi

5E Fiona Chen

5G Muddather Abdalla

5/6AB

Shokoofeh Ishaq

6L Rubaba Ebrahimi

6Y

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Guildford Public School Anti-Bullying Plan 2019 (DRAFT) This plan outlines the processes for preventing and

responding to student bullying in our school and reflects

the Bullying: Preventing and Responding to Student

Bullying in Schools Policy of the New South Wales De-

partment of Education. This was developed by mem-

bers of Student Representative Council (SRC), teachers

and members of the school community and P&C.

SCHOOL VISION Guildford Public School promotes and embraces the development of respectful relationships, a sense of be-longing, inclusion and diversity. All students, staff, parents and community members have a shared responsibility to respect and support each other and to model and encourage positive behaviour. We discourage the use of labelling terms such as ‘bully’ and ‘victim’, rather replacing them with reference to the behaviour e.g, a person perceives that they are being bullied because the see bullying behaviour. All students are encouraged to be up standers if they witness bully-ing behaviour. GUILDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOL COMMITMENT Our school rejects all forms of bullying behaviours, including verbal, physical, social, psychological and online (cyber) bullying. All staff are committed to provid-ing a safe, inclusive and respectful learning community that promotes student wellbeing. Executive staff are committed to establishing evidence-based approaches and strategies that promote a positive climate where bullying is less likely to occur.

GPS SCHOOL RULES BE SAFE

BE RESPECTFUL BE RESPONSIBLE

BE A LEARNER

DEFINITIONS Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and in-volves the misuse of power by an individual or groups towards one or more persons. Cyber bullying refers to bullying through information and communication technolo-gies . Examples of different types of bullying include, but are not limited to the following: Verbal ● name calling, teasing, abuse, put downs, sarcasm, insults, threats Physical ● hitting, punching, kicking, screaming, scratching, tripping, spitting Social ● ignoring, excluding, ostracizing, alienating, making inappropriate gestures Psychological ● spreading rumours, dirty looks, hiding or damaging possessions Cyberbullying ● Sending of abusive texts or emails ● Taking and sharing unflattering or private images ● Posting unkind messages or inappropriate images on social networking sites ● Excluding individuals from online chats or other communication Assuming the identity of the victim online and representing them in a negative manner or manner that may damage their relationship with others ● Repeatedly and for no strategic reasons attacking players in online gaming ● Stealing passwords Blogs that share information about another person without their knowledge PREVENTION Students, teachers, parents and the community are aware that the school holds a position of zero toler-ance towards bullying behaviour: Preventative strategies in place: ● Education and promotion of the school’s Anti-Bullying Policy ● Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) - includes weekly explicit lessons around our four school expec-tations ● Peer Support Program ● Child Protection ● Second Step ● Zones Of Regulation ● Student Welfare Policy and Practices ● Social Hub ● Classroom rules, routines and processes negotiated and applied consistently ● proactive supervision of students on the playground and in classrooms ● Anti-Bullying program ● Social Skills programs ● Social Stories created for students to assist them with transition to school and new classes. ● Student Representative Council (SRC) ● School Assemblies buddy systems in class

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EARLY INTERVENTION All teachers, parents and the community members have a responsibility to model positive behaviour in the classroom, playground and at home. Teachers and parents are in a position where they can assist students to deal with incidents of bully-ing by supporting and guiding them with strategies to manage the situation. Teachers will: create and maintain safe learning environments to support student wellbeing while at school. ● foster positive relationships with students ● regularly remind students to report incidents of nega-tive behaviour ● acknowledge student concerns about bullying behav-iour ● will follow the school’s discipline policy and anti-bullying plan when dealing with any instances of bully-ing ● document and report any incidents of bullying behav-iour to school executive. ● follow up with student to check on the situation. Parents are: ● encouraged to contact the school if they become aware of any repeated occurrences of negative behav-iour ● encouraged to keep open lines of communication with the school following a report of bullying behaviour ● build your child’s self-confidence by recognising and affirming his/her positive qualities and by valuing him/her for who he/she is. RESPONSE There are observable behaviours in the classroom which may indicate that bullying is going on. A process the teacher could follow if bullying is reported to them is: 1. Listen carefully to the students concern and acknowledge their feelings 2. Ask: What have you already tried? 3. Ask: How would you like me to help you? 4. Follow discipline policy for consequences OR if student responds with a request for no help, say: “I am sure you would like this to stop, that’s why you came to me. Let’s work out a plan.” 5. Check in with the student again to follow up at another time. What a student can do if you witness bullying? Help someone who is being bullied. Remember that nobody deserves to be bullied. ● If possible, show the bully that you and your friends strongly disapprove of bullying and racism. ● Say things like “cut it out” or “leave him/her alone”. Offer support and friendship to students who are bul-lied. Encourage the person being bullied to seek help

from teachers or parents. Seek help. Report the incident to your teacher or another adult you can trust.

What parents can do if they suspect bullying has occurred at school Watch for signs of distress in your child. Some of the following may indicate bullying: ● not wanting to go to school ● persistent headaches or feeling sick ● missing equipment ● wanting extra money ● damaged clothing or property ● bruises or cuts or other injuries ● becoming withdrawn ● losing self-confidence ● lack of interest in social events lower academic performance Procedures for Reporting Bullying: ● Students are to be encouraged to report bullying incidents involving themselves or others. ● All reported bullying incidents will be dealt with in line with the Guildford Public School Discipline Policy Reporting Procedures ● All students involved in an incident should be given the opportunity to voice their concerns and feelings about the incident in a non-threatening environment. Parents and school teaching staff to look at underlying problems and seek solutions after reported incidents of bullying. ● Referral to Learning & Support Team ● Referral to school counsellor and/or Department Of Education student welfare offices, if additional assis-tance is required.

● All students at Guildford Public School are expected to take responsibility for their own actions ● Principal and executive staff may need to imple-ment the DOE suspension and expulsion of student procedures as a result of major bullying incidents. FURTHER INFORMATION If you are worried that your child is being bullied,

ask him/her directly. Reassure your child that you will help them sort

out the problem. If your child feels she/he can’t tell anyone at

school you should inform the school immediately that your child feels is being bullied.

Do not encourage your child to fight or back an-swer.

Be willing to attend an interview at school if necessary. Be willing to tell the school of any cases of suspected bullying even if your own child is not directly affected. Support the school, by telling your child that bully-

ing is not acceptable anywhere, at any time. Students who have engaged in serious acts of bully-ing involving assaults, threats, intimidation or harassment may require the involvement of the police, Child Well-being Unit or Community Services where appropriate.

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At the first P&C meeting in February, Mrs Moussa (Learning and Support teacher) presented to parents our school's draft anti-bullying policy. Majority of parents voted for approval of sharing the policy to the wider parent/carer community to seek feedback. The link for Guildford Public School's anti-bullying policy is:

Please complete the parent survey by the 30th March to have your say. The link for the

feedback survey is: https://goo.gl/forms/EY8cKHkG0tbN9Rtc2

Kind Regards Lorena Moussa Learning and Support Teacher

The Guildford Public School Discipline and Anti-bullying plan can be found on the school website. Par-ents wishing to appeal any decisions related to bullying behaviours at school can contact the principal – Mr Chris Haberecht 02 9632 9675. The school uses Sentral database to collect information on bullying incidents. The School leader-ship team monitors the data weekly and responds ap-propriately. Also, data is collected each semester to ascertain the effectiveness of school programs such as PBL & Peer Support. This information is detailed in the Annual School Report and presented on the school website. The Anti-bullying policy is updated annually in re-sponse to data and school survey evaluations. The policy is communicated through various mediums such as the website, The Scene, P&C meetings, staff meet-ings and SRC meetings.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Lyndall Hatton - Youth Liaison Officer

(Merrylands Police Station) PLAN DEVELOPED BY:

Monique Levis - Deputy Principal Dot Hemming - Learning and Support Teacher Lorena Moussa - Learning and Support Teach-

er Melodie Bryceland - Assistant Principal

Miriam Gergie - PBL Coordinator SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION

GUILDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOL 457 Apia Street,

GUILDFORD NSW 2135 Phone: (02) 9632 9675 Fax: (02) 9892

1325 Email: guildford‐p.school@det.nsw.edu.au 

Website : https://guildford-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/ Guildford Public School is getting involved and taking action on the ninth National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA) on Friday 15 March 2019. The theme for the 2019 NDA is Bullying. No Way! Take action everyday! As part of creating awareness, your child will be receiving a wristband with an anti-bullying mes-sage on it. This provides a good conversation starter for issues around bullying and how we can prevent it.

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Think about having a weekly schedule or calendar

with reminders of what your child needs to take to school each day – for example, library books, sports clothes, show and tell, and so on.

Think about getting ready for your day the night before as well, to help ease time pressure in the morning.

Try to read school newsletters and check bags for notes the night before. You could also try to prepare clothes, sign school notes, and get school bags ready the night before. Your morning routine for school: tips Rushing can really increase everyone’s stress levels, so it helps to give yourself a bit more time in the morning. One of the best ways to do this is to get up 15-30 minutes earli-er. Here are more tips to take the stress out of mornings:

Think about an alarm clock for children who find it hard to wake up or don’t like getting out of bed.

Tackle the morning as positively and as optimisti-cally as you can. Good moods can be infectious. One way to do this is by focusing on the posi-tive aspects of your children’s behaviour and praising them – for example, ‘Great to see you eating some toast’.

Give your children calm, clear instructions about what you want them to do, and follow up with specific praise as soon as they start to cooper-ate. You might need to remind younger children more often about what they’re meant to be do-ing and when. Simple ‘to do’ checklists, even with pictures, can help.

As your children get older and more capable, en-courage them to do more for themselves – for example, an eight-year-old can get dressed on his own, make his own breakfast, and tidy up after himself. A five-year-old can do things like putting his lunch box in his bag.

Cut down on distractions like television, tablets and other devices. Many families have a rule about no screen time in the morning. Think about leaving screens off, unless screen time is a spe-cial treat for being ready on time.

Try not to give your children extra attention for ar-guing, whining or stalling. Even negative atten-tion is an incentive for them to keep going with this behaviour.

Make it fun – for example, try our ‘Beat the buzzer’ game to encourage your child to

be ready on time.

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/school_morning_routines.html

Morning Routine for School: Tips

How things go at home in the morning can set the tone

for the day ahead. A predictable and positive morning

routine for school can help children arrive at school

feeling calm, fed and ready to make the most of the first

few hours of the day.

Morning routine for school: the whys and hows Children don’t understand time in the same way as grown-ups. This can make school mornings a stressful time of day for families. But staying calm and getting along in the morning will help you all feel positive about the day ahead. For example, fighting with children in the morning makes it harder for you to work well. It even increases the risk of you having an accident at work. The most useful way to reduce morning chaos is to set up a morning routine for school. Sticking to a morning routine for school helps your children predict what’s coming, and remember what they need to do. Here are some ideas to take some of the pressure out of school mornings – even if things don’t always go smoothly! Planning ahead for school mornings: the night before The first step in your morning routine for school is to think about what you need to do and work out a plan for doing it. You’ll probably find that you and your child can do many things the night before. Here are some ideas: Try to find out the night before (or even earlier) if

there is something special going on at school the next day.

Organise lunches and set the breakfast table ready for the morning rush. Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, and helps your child to concentrate better at school.

Get your child to have a bath or shower the night before. This means you won’t have to worry about this in the morning.

You might know something is going to come up that could cause conflict, like your child not wanting to eat breakfast, or wanting to wear sneakers ra-ther than school shoes. Talk about it the night before when everybody has time and you’re all less likely to be stressed.

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Message From the Office

Parents please be advised if you and/or your child/children are going

away on a holiday or leaving Guildford Public School could you

please come to the office and ask for a “Students leaving/taking

leave” note. Read the note carefully, answer all the questions then hand it into the office. Could

you also inform your child/children’s teacher of your

intentions.

Thank you and we appreciate your cooperation on this matter.

GPS SCHOOL APP

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PLEASE VISIT GUILDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOL WEBSITE TO VIEW THE NEWSLETTER www.guildford-p.school.nsw.edu.au

TERM 1 – DATES TO REMEMBER

PSSA

TEEBALL - Mondays - Lower Grass - 3pm-3:55pm

AFL - Tuesdays - Lower Grass - 3pm-3:55pm

BASKET BALL - Thursdays - Multi-purpose Court - 3pm 3:55pm

SOFTBALL - Thursdays - Lower Grass - 3pm-4pm

MONDAYS SPARKS - In the Library - 3pm-4pm

TUESDAYS ART CLUB - 2E Class Room - 3pm-3:55pm

ENVIRONMENT CLUB - Meet in the library - 3pm-4pm

THURSDAYS GARDENING CLUB - Meet in front of Library - 1pm-2pm

ENGLISH LESSONS - All purpose room - 9:30am-11am

WEEK 7

Wednesday,13th March Debating Gala Day

Thursday, 14th March Selective High School Placement Test

Friday, 15th March National Day of Action Against BULLYING & VIOLENCE DAY

WEEK 8 Thursday, 21st March

Harmony Day (WEAR ORANGE)

Sydney West Swimming Carnival

Parent Excursion—”Auburn Botanical Gardens” 9:10am - 2:30pm

Saturday, 23rd March STATE ELECTIONS IN THE SCHOOL HALL

WEEK 11 FRIDAY, 12th April LAST DAY OF TERM 1