Week 1 Term 4, 9th October 2013 Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the final term of the 2013 school year. The calendar for the term has been posted on the school website for your information and forward planning. The first significant date is Monday 14th October which is the last P & C meeting before the Twilight Fair on Friday, 1st November. If you are able to offer assistance at the Fair and are able to attend the meeting it would greatly assist the organisers. The meeting is held in the staffroom at 7.30pm.

During the previous term, two surveys for parent response were advertised in the newsletters. The surveys are Parent Satisfaction and School Anti Bullying. To date the response has been extremely low to both surveys. The links to the surveys are listed below and they have also been posted on the school website. Please take a few minutes to respond to the surveys. The school is genuine in its interest of parent perceptions but we can only respond when we have information.

School Satisfaction Survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/23S8ZF7 Anti Bullying http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8V68QBD

School Prayer - Over the course of the year there has been considerable discussion and debate around the status of the School Prayer. The school has responded to concerns within the context of the current DEC policy and procedures. As a consequence of community feedback and the identified support for the prayer in its current format, the school prayer will be returned to school assemblies. Parents who do not wish their child to participate in the prayer may request an exemption under the General Religious Education Policy. Copies of this form are available form the office and from the website.

We are hoping for this term, to focus on our inherent responsibility to provide a quality education for all of our students. Term 4 assessments for end of year reporting, will commence from Week 4 and will continue across a couple of weeks. Attendance has a significant impact upon academic progress, so please ensure students are at school every day unless there is a very valid reason. If you are going to be away during the assessment period, please let you child’s teacher know in advance so that plans can be adjusted.

All system go for a busy and productive Term 4 at KPS. Sue Mackay, Principal.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK! Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and test

of our civilization. - Mahatma Gandhi

Important Dates

Friday, 11th October

Assembly 3/4MS at 2.30pm

Monday, 14th October

P&C Meeting 7.30pm

Friday, 18th October

Assembly 6DH at 2.30pm

HABIT 6: SYNERGY

Synergy lets us discover jointly things

we are much less likely to discover by

ourselves. It is the idea that the whole

is greater than the sum of the parts.

When people begin to interact together genuinely, and

they're open to each other's influence, they begin to gain

new insight. The capability of inventing new approaches is

increased exponentially because of differences.

GIRLS BASKETBALL STATE FINALS Last term the Girls’ Basketball team consisting of Nikki L, Paris H, Bella G, Katelyn E, Isobel M, Emily P and Ella D travelled to Bathurst to compete in the State Basketball Knockout. It was an absolute pleasure to accompany the girls on this trip. They competed with good sportsmanship and gave 100% both on and off the court. The girls lost their first game in a hard fought tussle. They led until the end of the third quarter but were unable to hold Ariah Park in defence in the final quarter. In their following game they did not make the same mistake and fought all the way to the end to defeat Queanbeyan by 1 point in the final seconds. I must also commend the girls on their behaviour over the three days they were travelling and representing Kororo. As usual I was approached by more than one person asking me where we were from and congratulating the girls on the way they conducted themselves. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful parents; Tracy Grace, Steph Devereux, Kathy Eagles and Melinda Pavey. As well as being a fabulous

cheer squad, your support in caring for the girls was appreciated immensely. The trip would not have been as much fun without you! Congratulations girls on your wonderful achievement. You

should be very proud of yourselves! Coach Lynda Martyn

Nationally consistent collection of data on school students– 2013

Our school is participating in the first year of the collection of nationally consistent data on school students with disability. This important data collection will reflect the support that is already being provided to students and will focus on the steps the school is taking to ensure that all students can access education on the same basis. The data will be used to inform future planning by governments and education authorities and will help us to better support the participation of students with disability in our school and all other NSW public schools. Currently, different states and territories collect information on school students with disability in different ways. In 2010 all state and territories agreed to the development of a nationally consistent approach for collecting data on school students with disability. The data collected in 2013 will be used to inform policy development for future funding and other policy requirements. The data collection will focus on the adjustments that are being made by teachers and schools to support individual students to access and participate in education. Schools will collect information already available in the school about:

The level of adjustment being provided to support students with disability to participate in their schooling like all other students

The number of students who receive each level of adjustment

Where known, the student’s type of disability. The data collection process will have no direct impact on your child and they will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide the information to the Department of Education and Communities’ Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation. The data that is sent by the school to the Centre will be done in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified. The Centre will remove further identifiable features, such as school name, when it gives this data to the Commonwealth. This ensures that the privacy and confidentiality of all students is protected.

All information collected by the Commonwealth and the Department is protected by privacy laws which regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. The Commonwealth follows the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and the Department of Education and Communities follows the requirements of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. For further information about the Commonwealth’s Privacy Policy please see: http://deewr.gov.au/privacy Further information about the NSW Government’s privacy policies can be found on the Information and Privacy Commission website: http://www.ipc.nsw.gov.au/

If you do not want your child to be counted in the data collection you must complete the attached form and return it to the

school before 18th October 2013.

If you have any questions about your child being counted in the data collection please contact the school.

If you need help with English to make an enquiry contact the Telephone Interpreter Service on 131 450 and ask for an

interpreter in your language. The operator will call the number you provide and get an interpreter on the line to assist you with

your conversation. You will not be charged for this service.

Further information about the data collection can be found at the website www.deewr.gov.au/students-disability. Kind regards, Sue Mackay If you do not want your child to be counted in the data collection, please complete the attached form and return it to the school before 18th October 2013. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability – 2013

I/We ___________________________________ do not wish my child _______________________________ to be counted Name of parent/carer Name of child for the purposes of the collection of nationally consistent data on school students with disability.

Parent/Carer signature: ____________________________ Date: __________