I hope you are all enjoying the magnificent weather that May is sharing with us. The kookaburras are laughing in the background. The peace and space that is Fairfax PS. All our students have thoroughly enjoyed being back at school with each other. I asked the class on Monday what was the best thing about being back at school. Responses were either, “I get to see everyone!” or “I get to talk to everyone.” Definitely a social

Last week primary students completed their English unit based on “A Waltz for Matilda.” Mrs Harvey compered an “On the Red Cardboard” Presentation with the stage being the Academy Awards and the characters from “A Waltz for Matilda” being the main attraction.Students selected a char- acter and prepared ques-tions and responses appro-priate and reflective of that character from the novel. Eileen portrayed Matilda, Blake was Tommy, Chelsea was Mr Drinkwater and Molly was Ah Ching. Mrs Nobilo joined in as Aunty Love and Mrs Murphy at-tended as the audience. The presentation was highly entertaining and students had to really think deeply as to why their character thought and acted as they did. Students provided an interesting insight into the characters represented. Thank you, Mrs Harvey, for preparing such an enter-taining but valuable learn- ing experience. It was an excellent activity to wrap up an engaging and inter- esting unit. All the students and Mrs Harvey loved the oppor-tunity to dress up!

Mr Drinkwater, Tommy, Ah Ching and Matilda (from left to right)

FAIRFAXPUBLIC SCHOOL NEWS

Term 2 | Week 5 | 28.05.2020

2227 Harparary Road|Maules Creek|NSW 2382|T 02 6794 4502|F 02 6794 4547|fairfax-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Greetings everyone, highlight for each and every one of our students. Welcome back everybody. Ms Smith, Mrs Raeck, Mrs Harvey and myself are all thrilled to see everyone back each and every day, all day. It is lovely to have the time to reconnect and chat with students without feeling there is something to be done. Students are thoroughly enjoying playing with each other and definitely talking with each other at lunch and recess.

Wrap-up of “Waltzing

Matilda” unit.

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LibraryA reminder that all library books need to be returned on Friday. It has been great to see students utilising our wonderful selection of books. It is particularly satisfying to see students borrowing the new Senior Fiction books that have been purchased to follow-on from Matilda. What an incredible author Jackie French is. We look forward to reading the book reviews the primary students have been working on.Please remember the Premier’s Reading Challenge is taking place. Details were sent out in previous newsletters regarding book choices being opened up due to restrictions due to COVID-19. Hopefully everyone is reading and recording.

National Simultaneous StorytimeOn Wednesday, students read Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas as part of the National Simultaneous Storytime. The story and characters were quite relevant with the Fairfax chooks safely tucked away. We know they don’t get dressed up in sequins in the evening but we do know they get up to mischief when they are let out!

EnglishStudents have commenced en-gaging in our new unit, titled “Displaced.” It will focus on the Stolen Generation initially and move to focusing on refugees.

MathsStudents have been focusing on the Measurement strand of Length and are winding up their learning this week on this subject. Students have also been focusing on their mental strategies of addition and subtraction. Next fortnight we will be learning about Area and Multiplication and Division.

Science and TechnologyThis term, students are engaging in the Science unit, “How do we use plants and animals for food and fibre?” Ms Smith will be teaching this unit two afternoons per week.

Creative ArtsStudents were eager to welcome Mrs Harvey back to school all for the love of music! A fun-filled boom whacker session was enjoyed Monday afternoon, along with some beautiful singing. It is lovely to hear a chorus of voices ringing out from the Fairfax classroom once again. Mrs Harvey will also be teaching students visual arts this term. So, lots to look forward to getting creative together again.

Professional LearningThroughout COVID-19, Ms Smith and Mrs Burtenshaw have been engaging in extensive PL, particularly technology.On Monday, we attended via Zoom, professional learning on Visible Learning for Mathematics from 8-2pm.

It was an excellent day’s learning. Ms Smith and Mrs Burtenshaw have been engaging with the Visible Learning for Mathematics each week as in-school pro-fessional learning, which we are incorporating into our teaching practice to engage and improve student learning and outcomes. Mrs Raeck and Mrs Burtenshaw have been working on our school Emergency Management Plan with our local DET expert Mrs Kerrie Bielfield which has been extremely helpful.

Behind the ScenesThe garden has been receiving considerable attention in recent weeks in preparation for new plantings in the coming months. Thank you to Dave and Jasmin Smith for composting and transplanting.

Infrastructure IssuesOn Tuesday the bore ceased to function due to power failure. Unfortunately, this led to our toilets being unable to be flushed. Thank you to the boys from Damien Chiplin Plumbing and John Barden for reconnecting power and water by the afternoon. Further investigation will be carried out to try to avoid this occurring in the future as this is the second time this same issue has occurred. My apologies to parents and students but we all managed to make it through the day without too much inconvenience.

Synopsis

Congratulations to our recent award winners:Blake NobiloIncreasingly making connections to his learningJackson Smith Reflecting on, and articulating his learning

Weekly Awards

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During the COVID-19 event, Mrs Raeck and Mrs Burtenshaw have received copious amounts of emails directed at supplying the school, students and staff with something! In fact, our emails have exploded! Most have found their way to the Bin but some are gems and are shared with you in this newsletter.Joyful June is one such item from Action for Happiness. I encourage you to stick it on the fridge, and as a family embrace each daily activity throughout the month of June – starts Monday next week. I like the quote, “Every day may not

be good, but there is something good in every day.” (Alice Morse Earle)The second item is 7 Things Mindful People Do Differently from Mindful.org The 7 Things seem a pretty good code to live by. Please share with your family and be mindful of how mindful you are. There are a couple in the list that I need to work on.Gail from Narrabri and District Community Aid Service has reached out to the Fairfax community to touch base and see how we are all going. Each year, NDCAS has provided a valuable social-emotional program to the

students of Fairfax. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, they are unable to visit us at this time. Until then, Gail has provided the school with some resources of services available, through NDCAS and other agencies. I have included three resources attached to the newsletter: NDCAS contact details, Parent Line contact details, and How are you going? from the Centre for Rural and Remote Health. It is good to know a local service exists to support our school community. We look forward to catching up with the team from NDCAS hopefully later in the year.

Included in this newsletter…

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