BOLWARRA PUBLIC SCHOOLBolwarra Road Phone: 4930 1296 Bolwarra 2320 Fax: 4930 0032 Email:[email protected]Website: www.b olwarra-p.schoo ls.nsw.edu.au BULLETIN NO. 23 WEEK 4 – TERM 3 Wednesday 7 th August 2013Dear Parents and Care-givers What beautiful weather we are having for winter! Thank you to the parents, grandparents and care-givers who joined us last week for Education Week celebrations on Thursday. You saw a snippet of the wonderful talent in existence at Bolwarra as your children sang, danced and performed in the courtyard and then proceeded to share their performances in the classroom. Thank you. At the School Council meeting on Monday night, mention was made of the ‘cancellation’ of the school musical. At the beginning of the year we were discussing the possibility of having a whole school musical, but with Star Struck taking a huge chunk of teaching time, not to mention money, it was decided to host a musical on the alternate year to Star Struck. Staff have been concerned that they will not be able to cover the outcomes and learning programs with so many disruptions to their daily lessons. One of the hardest things to do in primary is to get the right balance between delivering high quality teaching and learning programs and providing a broad range of cultural and sporting opportunities for our students. They are currently coming to grips with the new Australian curriculums, new technologies that accompany them as well as focussing on our school improvement targets in literacy, numeracy, student welfare and technology. There will be a whole school Christmas Concert at the end of the year just not a massive musical performance, as we’ll leave that to 2014. Speaking of performances if you are looking for a quality performance to t ake your children to next holidays, Upstage Theatre (a local community based children’s theatre group) is putti ng on Charlotte’s Web at the beautiful and historic Tocal Homestead. There are a number of ourstudents who will be starring in this truly magical production. If you wish to purchase tickets you can get them from Willows Home Trading, High St Maitland or p hone 49341516. Congratulations to our students who have represented us this week in the Zone Public Speaking competition. Congratulations to Saffron, Ruby and Fletcher who have impressed the judges with their brilliant speeches and will now represent Maitland at the Newcastle Finals. Well done to all children who participated and for their parents for transporting them to and from the venues. Thank you. Food for the school day: Any parent of school-aged children knows how famished their kids are the minute they walk in the door from school. And the simple reason for that is learning makes you hungry. Or, to put it another way, children need to eat well if they are to learn well. Here is some advice to help feed developing brains: http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/en/wellbeing/food/power-foods-for-kids Ten cybersafety tips every parent should know: Keeping your kids safe online is easy with a few simple precautions. Find out more: http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/t echnology/cybersafety /cybersafety-tips-every-parent-should- know
BULLETIN NO. 23 WEEK 4 – TERM 3 Wednesday 7 th August 2013
Dear Parents and Care-givers
What beautiful weather we are having for winter! Thank you to the parents, grandparents andcare-givers who joined us last week for Education Week celebrations on Thursday. You saw asnippet of the wonderful talent in existence at Bolwarra as your children sang, danced andperformed in the courtyard and then proceeded to share their performances in the classroom.Thank you.
At the School Council meeting on Monday night, mention was made of the ‘cancellation’ of theschool musical. At the beginning of the year we were discussing the possibility of having a wholeschool musical, but with Star Struck taking a huge chunk of teaching time, not to mention money, itwas decided to host a musical on the alternate year to Star Struck. Staff have been concerned thatthey will not be able to cover the outcomes and learning programs with so many disruptions totheir daily lessons. One of the hardest things to do in primary is to get the right balance betweendelivering high quality teaching and learning programs and providing a broad range of cultural andsporting opportunities for our students. They are currently coming to grips with the new Australiancurriculums, new technologies that accompany them as well as focussing on our schoolimprovement targets in literacy, numeracy, student welfare and technology. There will be a whole
school Christmas Concert at the end of the ye ar just not a massive musical performance, as we’llleave that to 2014.
Speaking of performances if you are looking for a quality performance to take your children to nextholidays, Upstage Theatre (a local community based children’s theatre group) is putti ng onCharlotte’s Web at the beautiful and historic Tocal Homestead. There are a number of our students who will be starring in this truly magical production. If you wish to purchase tickets youcan get them from Willows Home Trading, High St Maitland or phone 49341516.
Congratulations to our students who have represented us this week in the Zone Public Speakingcompetition. Congratulations to Saffron, Ruby and Fletcher who have impressed the judges withtheir brilliant speeches and will now represent Maitland at the Newcastle Finals. Well done to allchildren who participated and for their parents for transporting them to and from the venues.Thank you.
Food for the school day: Any parent of school-aged children knows how famished their kids arethe minute they walk in the door from school. And the simple reason for that is learning makes youhungry. Or, to put it another way, children need to eat well if they are to learn well. Here is someadvice to help feed developing brains:http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/en/wellbeing/food/power-foods-for-kids
Ten cybersafety tips every parent should know: Keeping your kids safe online is easy with afew simple precautions. Find out more:http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/technology/cybersafety/cybersafety-tips-every-parent-should-know
Getting kids into nature: Does it really matter if children are spending more of their time indoorsrather than climbing trees and catching cicadas? According to the experts, the answer is aresounding "yes". Find out more:http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/en/wellbeing/fitness/getting-into-nature
Leaving your children at home alone: All parents make the decision to leave their child at homealone sooner or later. Although parents may worry at first, most kids will be fine on their own when
the appropriate time comes, so long as some guidelines are followed. Find out more:http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/en/wellbeing/development/leaving-your-children-at-home-alone
I have fun with faces: Try our fun, free app that helps pre-schoolers develop their reading andnumeracy skills. Find out more:http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/educational-games/i-have-fun-with-faces
Well done to our Girls’ Soccer team who played Singleton on T uesday and to Floyd and Loganwho participated in the Zone Cricket Trials. You have all been congratulated on your excellentsportsmanship.
Have a good week.
RegardsSue SwetnamPrincipal
IMPORTANT DATES 19 th Aug P&C Meeting - 6pm in the School Staffroom21 st Aug Book Week Parade - 11.30am
23rd
Aug Senior Choir Cluster Rehearsal - Hunter School of Performing Arts28 th Aug Boys Choir - Maitland View Club30 th Aug Regional Athletics - Glendale10 th-13 th Sep Year 6 Canberra Excursion
WEBSITES
School Website www.bolwarra-p.schools.nsw.edu.au
P&C Website www.bolwarrapandc.wordpress.com
Online Lunch Orders www.flexischools.com.au
YEAR K – 6 NEWS
Birthday Book ClubWhen it is your child’s birthday, they have the opportunity to donate a book of their choice (already purchased by the library) for the small cost of $6.00.The books will be presented to the children on assembly. Each book will have aspecial message inside saying who has donated the book. The birthday child will bethe first to borrow the book.The following children have recently joined the Bolwarra Birthday Book Club:Isabella, Grace, Jacklyn, Oliver, Leigha, Lucy, Milla, James, Addison, James, Apriland Josephine.
Girls’ Soccer Team On Tuesday the Bolwarra Girls ’ Soccer Team travelled to Howe Park Singleton to competeagainst Singleton Public School in Round 4 of the PSSA Knockout Soccer Competition. Our amazing team were defeated 2-0 in a windy and competitive match. Thank you to our parents andfamily members who were able to assist with transport on the day and also to those who were ableto provide support, oranges and cheers from the sideline! All girls displayed high levels of sportsmanship, dedication and team spirit. Congratulations to the following girls who haverepresented Bolwarra Public School in soccer this year: Katie, Lydia, April, Courtney, Isabella,Kiara, Olivia, Zoe, Sophie, Leigha, Josephine, Grace, Amber, Ruby, Lucy, Mercedes and Ivy. Ihave thoroughly enjoyed working with you all and learning some new skills along the way! It hasbeen a joy to help guide and nurture your genuine interest in the game. Well done!Mrs Caffery
Netball NSW Schools Cup Last Wednesday 10 girls represented our school at the NSW Netball Schools Cup at Newcastlenetball courts. During the course of the day the team played 7 games of netball! The girls showedgreat skill and sportsmanship. We won 5 games out of the seven and came third overall on the
day. We were very lucky to have the help of Megan and Jade from Hunter Sports High who helpedwith the refereeing duties on the day. Most valuable player of the day went to Sophie, well done!Congratulations to all girls. I was so proud of the effort and commitment you all showed both onthe day and during training sessions held at lunchtime. The team consisted of: Sophie, Grace,Ruby, Mersaydes, Lucy, Caitlin, Josie, Libby, Amara and Jorja. We will continue our training onFriday afternoons at lunch when we have a wonderful student from Hunter Sports High, Megancoming in to help coach the girls ready for next year.Mrs Baxter
Zone Athletics CarnivalI would just like to say what a wonderful day I had at the Zone Athletics Carnival last Friday. Whata pleasure it was to witness the behaviour and sportsmanship of our students. Thanks to theparents for their support (as always!). My voice recovered on Saturday!Regards Maz
P remier’s Reading Challenge Caleb is the latest student to complete this year's challenge. Students wishing to complete thisyear's challenge need to have their books entered online by 22 nd August.
Book Week Parade – 2013 Read Across The UniverseThere will be a Book Week Parade this year, where the children can dress up as one of their favourite book characters. The children may come to school and stayed dressed intheir costume all day. It is a very exciting time for the children, both dressing up andbeing a spectator, looking at everyone’s costumes (teachers included). There will belucky spot prizes for every class.
The Parade will be held on Wednesday 21 st August 2013. The Parade will begin at 11:30am andshould be finished by lunchtime. Parents can stay for a picnic lunch afterwards.
The children will be attending a special story time session, provided by Maitland City Library, inour school hall, in the morning. The two sessions will be held for Kinder to Year 3 from 9:30am to10:00am and Years 4 to 6 will attend from 10:15am until 10:45am. There will be no cost.There are also some Poster and colouring in competitions being held at school.
We hope you can join us.
CANTEEN NEWS
Do you have your new menu? If not please print it off the facebook site.
Please remember when writing out lunch orders that due to a supplier price increase, pies (plain,potato & party), sausage rolls and cheese & bacon rolls have gone up by 10c each.
Thank you to Lara and her Mum Lisa for making our jelly again this week, also thank you to Amanda, Lana, Lisa, Sheree and Colette for the delicious banana bread this week and next. Lastweek I missed Janien when thanking families for our new lunch baskets.
It would be great if every family could commit to volunteering for the canteen in some way at leastonce each term. You can volunteer by coming in and preparing food and/or serving the children.You can volunteer to cook pikelets and/or ANZAC biscuits at home to send in to the canteen. Youcan volunteer to help on our cooking day in the school holidays, or you can volunteer to donate
much needed equipment or supplies that we mention regularly in this newsletter. Currently we arecrossing our fingers that we can get our canteen roster filled for the term! It's looking so good and Ionly need a few more people to put their hands up for at least one or two more days this term. If you have never considered volunteering and are able to spare your time, now is the time to comeforward.
Next week's specials are; fresh fruit 30c, fresh fruit ice blocks 50c, fruit juice jelly 20c, garlic bread30c and cheesy bread fingers 50c. For lunch orders on Wednesday only, we have canteenprepared chunky chicken and noodle soup for $2.00, with ½ long hot buttered roll 50c or full longbuttered roll $1.
Please don't forget that we are trying to encourage as many families as possible to register for online lunch orders during our three month trial period. Why not give it a try, or let your childrenhave a go themselves. You can order your lunch days/weeks/months in advance.Visit www.flexischools.com.au to register, or download the ipad app.Thanks Kristi (0431 432 716)
If you are unable to volunteer your time to work in the canteen we would reallyappreciate it if you could bake some ANZAC biscuits or cook some pikelets. Thechildren love them and are always disappointed when we run out.
If you can fill a vacancy on the following roster please let us know, we appreciate allof our volunteers!
Kristi 0431432716 or Amanda 0439939934
DATE SHIFTS8.45-2.30 8.45-11.00 11.00-2.30 12.00-2.30 PIKELETS
KE This week we had a look at maple syrup and where it comes from. We sure had someinteresting ideas! We are also learning about England and enjoyed making crowns. Inmaths we are learning about division and have enjoyed playing lots of games.
KT KT are learning about England this week in HSIE. Our focus in maths is multiplication anddivision which we are exploring through group work and games. We have been revisingnouns in our big book, ‘Smarty Pants’.
KW It is another busy week in KW learning all about children from aroundthe world. This week we are travelling to England and learning lots of funfacts along the way. We are looking at Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, theThames River and many other places on our travels. We have also beenmoving and grooving at Dance2bfit.
1B The very talented girls and boys in 1B are learning an “old” song and are playing musicalinstruments! We are enjoying maths groups and learning about halves, quarters andeighths. Max represented our school in Public Speaking today and we wished him all thebest!
1P 1P have been busy puttin g our story plans together for ’Going for a Walk’ and typing themon the computer. We are really becoming much more competent at logging on to thedepartment's system. Don't forget to send in the next plan for our description about 'cars'.
1-2M It was great to have so many family and friends visit our room on open day! This week inmaths our focus is on fractions. We are revising halves and demonstrating the meaning of one quarter and one eighth using practical examples. Our independent writing will be linkedto the book ’Where the Wild Things Are’ and our unit on ‘Journeys’. Thank you to our helpers who keep our reading groups functioning so well. We continue to follow MrsMoore’s travels and enjo y reading her emails.
2B 2B have been working on chance in maths this week. It is a very interesting topic. We havealso started to look at a new website called Glogster which allows us to create postersusing video, audio and images. We have also started to use our Edmodo accounts to doour work in reading groups. Some children are unsure of their usernames and passwords,so I will email them to parents one day this week so children can become more confident atlogging in - please practise this at home with your children! I have been posting some greatthings for the children to look at and comment on. Good luck to Grace at the Zone Public
Speaking this week!2HP 2HP are becoming terrific dancers during our Dance2bfit sessions. They are
also working hard to create their own subtraction problems using words. Itwas great to see so many 2HP students hand in homework and homereaders last Friday!
2-3C We have been exploring the use of adverbs in our writing and have started writing detaileddescriptions about people we know. This week we are learning about remainders in divisionproblems and are really enjoying our Dance2bfit program. Reminder homework is due thisFriday. Keep up the hard work 2-3C.
3B In 3B this week we have been learning about subtraction using trading. In HSIE we areexploring where we go to buy the items we need and want. In English we are thinking aboutheroes - who or what is a hero? This week we are looking at stereotypes of heroes incomics. In music we have been exploring percussion and we are working in groups to
compose a piece of music. Students please remember to wear your sports uniform onThursday - this is our new sports day for the rest of the term.
3-4R 3-4R have had a busy week. We enjoyed Education Day. We loved having our parents inour room. We have also had our Spellathon. Remember sport is on a Thursday for the restof this term so please wear your sports uniform.
4T Congratulations to all athletes who competed at zone last Fridayon your wonderful results and efforts. Well done to Fletcher whoprogressed through the Zone rounds of Public Speaking and bestof luck at the Regional finals. Note taking and summaries havebeen the focus of explanations this week, while expanding writtenand mental multiplications strategies has been challenging in maths lessons. Please joinour class Edmodo site and class bolg!
4-5WP In maths this week, 4-5WP have been revising the 7x tables and continuing to focus onproblem solving and measuring the volume of objects. We have enjoyed filling containerswith water and pouring the contents into measuring cylinders to find out how many millilitres
of water the containers hold. We are also learning to convert litres to millilitres and viceversa. In literacy, we are continuing to focus on writing information reports. During guidedreading sessions, the Ocelots group have started to read their new novel 'Onion Tears' byDianna Kid while the Leopards and Lions have started to read 'Charlotte's Web' by E.BWhite.
5A I am really pleased with the amount of work 5A have been doing both at home and in class.Never have I had students who ask for more homework each day! This week we will befinishing our work on explanations, working on our Goldrush presentations and looking atnumber patterns in maths. I am really pleased by the work ethic shown by all students in5A. Keep up the good work! I
5-6P 5-6P enjoyed our Education Week celebrations and open day! It was wonderfulto showcase so many of our talents and share all of the hard work we aredoing in class. This week in maths we have been looking at different types of graphs including sector and divided bar graphs. Being very timely with theannouncement of the Federal Election, we have looked at the Senate andHouse of Representatives.
6L Our work on Government is well underway and we are currently learning about past andpresent prime Ministers. Each of us will be choosing a Prime Minister to create apowerpoint in computer time. More work on long multiplication in maths this week. Thankyou to all parents and grandparents who visited last week.
LibraryThe Librarians have been busy getting our Library ready for Book Week. Information on thebook Week Parade will come out over the next few weeks. Also, can you please check for any overdue library books as we need to do a stocktake of the library and we need all our resources returned.
Choir Congratulations to all our choirs for their performances duringEducation Week. The Boys’ Choir will be performing for the MaitlandView Club at the end of the month and the Senior Choir will be going toHSPA for a cluster rehearsal in a few weeks.
SportThere were many outstanding results from the Zone Athletics Carnival held last Friday atWoodberry. We had all four relay teams progress to Regional which is on 30 th August atGlendale. Notes will come out as soon as I have confirmation of the Zone Team fromMaitland Zone PSSA. Training will commence Monday next week on a daily basis. Our girls ’ soccer team put up a mighty effort against Singleton in their PSSA Knockout competition,but went down 2-0.
ScienceStage 3 are having fun making a video clip using their iPods and iPads. The results so far are very impressive. There are quite a few budding actors, actresses and camera people. Ican’t wait to see the finished products.
EnvironmentDon’t forget our Env iro days for bringing in items (cans, ring pulls, corks, batteries andgrass clippings) are on Wednesday and Friday mornings. Large recycling batteries go toBattery World and small batteries come to the school.
Kurri Kurri Public School is looking for stall holders for their fete on 19 th October. Stalls are $25each for 3m x 3m. No food please. Please contact Lisa on 0400 620 467Ride arm bands will be $25 presale or $30 on the day - please purchase at Kurri Kurri PublicSchool during 9am - 3pm.
If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, why not contact the Foster Care Association at
[email protected] or go to our website for more information fcansw.org.au to gain information andbackground? The Association is made up of experienced carers who can answer your questionsabout what caring "feels like". Foster Care Association NSW Inc. provides information andadvocacy for foster and kinship carers throughout the State.
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