Week 8 Term 1 Newsletter 2023

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Congratulations to all our swimmers who went to Western Region Trials in Dubbo last Friday. All 19 swimmers did exceptionally well and achieved lots of PBs. We had 4 students who have made it through to State swimming in a few weeks’ time. Ava Thornberry made it through in 5 events and broke the 12 years record for freestyle, which is a huge effort, congratulations Ava.  The senior girls relay team came 1^st, consisting of Haylee Stanbury, Marley Ryan, Lucy Neville & Ava Thornberry. This is the second time in as many years that we have had swimmers through to State swimming. We are all very proud of everyone’s efforts, well done!

Spencer Markrow is back from his representative duties for Western Cricket team at the state carnival in Ballina. Western won 2 out of 4 games and nearly made it into the top tier after a narrow loss on the first day. They came 8^th out of 14 overall. A great effort for everyone involved. Yesterday our school cricket team had an emphatic win over Mulyan with some great fielding, with Mulyan all out for 41. Spencer and Jay steered the team to a victory just before lunch. Stay tuned for the next round against Cowra in a few weeks’ time.

Three Way Interviews started yesterday and it was great to see these taking place with students, teachers and parents in the hall. If you missed your appointment, please contact the office to organise another time at a later date.

NAPLAN started today for Year 3 & 5. A huge thank to Mrs Pengilly for coordinating this every year. Please ensure students have earphones for the rest of the week and next Tuesday for Maths. If any students are away, they will be able to catch up next week.

It seems that COVID-19 is going around again as well as a nasty gastro “bug”. If your child is showing any signs of illness, please keep them at home until they are well and symptom free. We have about 75 RAT kits left at school. If anyone would like some more tests for the winter months, please contact the office and we can send them home with your child.

Have a great week!

Kind regards

Sharon Hawker

Upcoming Events and Excursions

Week 8 - 3 Way Interviews for families of students in Years 1 to 6 Wed 15th March - Fri 17th March, NAPLAN 

Week 9 - NAPLAN Mon 20th March - Friday 24th March

Week 10 - NAPLAN concludes Monday 27th March, Cross Country - Friday 31st March, Rugby League Gala                    Day - Cowra Wednesday 29th March

Week 11 - School Photo Day - Tuesday 4th April

NAPLAN - Week 8

Students in Year 3 and Year 5 are reminded to bring their headphones for NAPLAN next week.

NAPLAN begins next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and continues the following week for students in Year 3 and Year 5. Naplan is an online test and students will need headphones or earphones to complete it. Could students please bring in their own headphones and earphones next week. They MUST be wired, no blue tooth earphones please. 

Mandatory School Visitor Check-in

School Visitor Check-in for School Visitors, Parents, Contractors is a mandatory reliable digital sign-in system at New South Wales' public schools.

Here's how it works.

· When you arrive at the school, you must go to the office and sign in on the Visitor Concierge iPad.

· Select the appropriate visitor category, such as parent or carer, contractor, or select other if you're           volunteering or holding a special event.

· Enter the reason for your visit and the name of your school contact person.

· Once you have checked in, the school will issue you with your Visitor Lanyard.

· When your visit is complete please return you Visitor Lanyard to the office and check out on the iPad.

· By checking out, you assist the school and emergency services in an evacuation event.

3 Way Interviews

Information for families of students in Years 1 to 6.

Three Way Interviews (Parent-Student-Teacher) have been set up in Sentral. Please book an interview with your childs/ren teacher via the Sentral Parent Portal befor Monday 13th March 2023. We encourage all parents to book an interview time.

Students in Kindergarten do not require a 3 Way Interview at this time.
The interview times are as follows:

^{Wednesday 15th March 2023 1:30pm-5:45pm}

Miss Benjafield     Year 2

Miss Lander        Year 1 students only (Kinder will have an opportunity for interviews later in the year)

Miss Groves        1/2

^{Thursday 16th March 2023 1:30pm-5:45pm}

Mrs Swords       3/4A

Ms Laurie        3/4B
Interviews will be conducted in the hall and access will be via the gate on Tilga Street at the rear of the hall. Students will need to be in attendance for each interview.

All our students are encouraged to ride to school safely on this day, if possible!

PSSA Cricket

Yesterday our school cricket team had an emphatic win over Mulyan with some great fielding, with Mulyan all out for 41. Spencer and Jay then steered the team to a victory just before lunch. Stay tuned for the next round against Cowra in a few weeks’ time. This game will be played in Cowra, therfore we'll need some parents to help transport students on the day.

Year 6 Leadership Conference in Sydney

We left school at 9:00 am on Monday morning to go to Sydney. We went through Mandurama to Blayney and then travelled to Bathurst and Lithgow. As we were going up the Blue Mountains, we were talking about what we would ask Her Excellency Margaret Beazly and what we would do when we grow up. As we slowly made it to the city the traffic was really noisy and long. It took at least three and a half hours to drive there and when we got to the hotel car park we were full of energy.

The accommodation was lovely, the boys’ room had three beds, two singles and one double also a TV and the girls’ room had five beds, two doubles and three singles. But before we could relax we had to leave to go see Her Excellency. We went to Government House and had a tour of every room and then we met Her Excellency for afternoon tea on the terrace. We ate from gold plated plates and drank from crystal glasses. After Meeting the Governor we went back to the hotel and changed into our casual clothes. We then walked down to the bus stop and got on a bendy bus. All the girls stood up and surfed the corners while the boys were boring and sat at the back. We had dinner at Burgers and Ribs near the harbour. We walked halfway across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We stopped because it was very long and some of us were scared of heights. As we walked back we got ice cream and sorbet. We caught the train back and all went to bed.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel.  We got ready and walked down to Darling Harbour. We were a bit early for the Young Halogen Leaders Conference so we went to the park. After that we entered the conference room and waited for it to start.There were 5000 students there. We learnt some cool dance moves  with the  Dance Curriculum  team. They were really good dancers.There were brain breaks where we had dance challenges. 

The first speaker was Chris Green. Chris Green plays for Sydney Thunder, In the most recent summer Chris captained the team. He moved to Australia when he was 7 from South Africa. The second speaker was Caitlin Bassett. Caitlin Bassett is a former Australian Diamond netball captain, who has won nearly every award that exists in netball. She was 6 ft before she was 12. And is now 6’5 ft at the age of 34. 

The third speaker was Nazeem Hussain.  Nazeem Hussain is one of the biggest stars of Australian Comedy, and a much loved TV and radio personality. He recently published a book called Hy-larious Hyena. He was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Australia at a young age so he could have a better life growing up. 

The next speaker was David Hurley. His Excellency has been Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia since 2019 and before that Governor of New South Wales. He started leading at an early age as he was captain of his primary school and high school. He studied at Dunford University and joined the Army in 1972. He graduated at the age of 21.

The last speaker was Dr Jordan Nguyen. Dr Jordan Nguyen is a young Biomedical engineer who has a mission to improve the lives of as many people as possible He designs life changing technologies focusing on intelligent, futuristic and inclusive technology. 

They were all very interesting speakers and we learnt  what motivates and inspires these people to strive to succeed, make change and assist others. We now have a solid understanding and several ideas of how to be a leader. We all got a Halogen pin, a Halogen pin is worn by many who have attended the Halogen conference. 

There was lots of laughter and fun in the cars on the way home! There were also some hilarious jokes that Georgia picked up from the leadership conference. Once we got home we got all of your stuff out of Mrs Pengilly’s and Brian’s car and went home. The leadership camp was so fun and I hope the leaders next year enjoy it as much as we did. 

Thank you to Mrs Pengilly and Mr Swords for taking us to Sydney, we really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to accompany us for the two days, we hope you enjoyed it as much as us!

Book Club Edition 2

Edition 2 Book Club Order forms went home with students last week. All orders MUST be paid for via LOOP.

Visit www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP

Orders close - Wednesday 22nd March 2023

Western Swimming

Last Friday 19 students travelled to Dubbo to compete at the Western Swimming Trials against the best swimmers in the Western Region.

Congratulations to Ava Thornberry who made it to State Swimming in 5 individual events. 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 200m IM.

Not to mention also breaking the 12 years 50m girls Freestyle RECORD!

Congratulations also, to our Senior Girls relay team (Haylee Stanbury, Lucy Neville, Marlee Ryan & Ava Thornberry) who had a fantastic swim and came in 1^st.

Our junior girls were just tipped out, placing 4^th.

Good luck to our 4 swimmers who will compete in Sydney at Homebush at State on the 5^th & 6^th April.

Well done to all swimmers who competed in Dubbo, you are all amazing.

Miss Dixon

Class in Focus

Each week one of our classes will be chosen to showcase the great learning that is happening in our school. This week's class is : K/1

 K/1 have had lots of fun learning new sounds. Last week, we were learning the 'f' sound. We made fudge in a bag by squishing and shaking the ingredients together. We let it set in the fridge and then we had a taste. We all thought that it was delicious! Afterwards, we wrote some sentences using great adjectives about the fudge. 
ENE-PHOKW-0: uses single-letter grapheme–phoneme correspondences and common digraphs to decode and encode words when reading and creating texts

PBL Focus - CPS Wellbeing Program

Stewart House Donation Drive 2023

Every year, 1,600 public school children attend our safe haven next to Curl Curl beach at no cost to their parents or carers. During a 12-day stay, they are provided with dental, optical, hearing and medical screening and treatment. 

Children participate in educational programs and excursions designed to develop their social and emotional skills, build self-esteem and improve their overall wellbeing. 

This experience provides children with a much-needed break from their current circumstances. Our children are inspired to see beyond the present and to have real hope and positive aspirations for their future. 

Please donate to Stewart House for a chance to win a $4,000 GIFT VOUCHER. 

STEP 1 - Collect an envelope from the office at school.  

STEP 2 - Fill out information on the envelope, insert a donation of at least $2 into the envelope and seal it.  

STEP 3 - Return the envelope to our school office by 10th May 2023.

Thank you for your support.  

Sentral Parents App

All new student parents/carers that are yet to download the Sentral Parents App. Please go to the App store on your mobile and follow the prompts.

Log in with your email address or username and password previouly used to book your 3 Way Interview (new parents will need to create their password).

If you have not previously logged in - go to register now and create your account.

You will then receive an verification email to the email address you entered. Go to your emails and click on  verify. 

You are then taken to the Canowindra Public School Student and Parent Portal Log in. Enter email address or username and password and log in. Then go to My Access and type in your access key, if you are unsure of your access key, please call the office for assistance. All new student parents/carers have been emailed their access key.

The HUB - Canteen Lunches

Canowindra High School Canteen provide lunch orders to our school from Monday to Friday. This year they have moved to a new online ordering app called 'Spriggy Schools'. This is the ONLY payment method accepted. Please follow the instructions below to register your child/ren for online ordering.

Introducing our Learner Qualities

These qualities will be referred to in all lessons and will give students the necessary skills to become lifelong learners. Stay tuned for more news on these learner qualities via our newsletter and Facebook.

Big Childcare

As you may be aware, the NSW Department of Education (the Department) has selected a successful provider, Big Childcare Pty Ltd, for the provision of before and after school care services for our school. You can find more information about Big Childcare on their website:  https://bigchildcare.com/

The provider is working closely with the Early Childhood Regulator to confirm service approval for as many services as possible, however a start date for this service cannot be confirmed until service approval is finalised.   

The Department is aware of the importance of this service for our community and is working to find an alternative arrangement to support families in the meantime.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Before and After School Care Program team at the Department of Education by Phone: 1300 244 145 or Email at: BASCReform@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Healthy Snippets

Healthy "Snippets" from NSW Health covering a range of topics including; healthy eating, lunchbox ideas, drinking water and food budgeting. 

P&C News

The P&C are running the annual Easter Egg raffle this month and we are seeking donations of Easter goodies! Donations can be delivered to the office or to P&C committee members. Tickets will be coming home with students next week and will be drawn at the Eater Hat parade Friday 31 March. 
The Canowindra Public School P&C AGM was held on Monday night. Your Committee for 2023 is:President - Eleena MarkcrowVice President - Natika MillarTreasurer - Emma Grey Secretary - (acting) Kobie Rogers 
We are on the lookout for a Secretary to join the team. If this is something you have considered, or have never had experience with, the team is always here to assist you along the way and would be a perfect opportunity to get you started! 

Should you wish to contact the P&C, you can send a confidential email to canowindrapandc@gmail.com

Community News

Please find the following events happening in our community:

Are you interested in working at the upcoming State Election ?

Are you interested in working at the Canowindra or Eugowra polling booths for the State Election - 25th March 2023?

If so, please call the Electoral Office on 917 909 10 or 0478 993 250