Being the last newsletter for this term, time sure does fly when you are having fun! It is difficult to comprehend that we only have 2 weeks left of Term 3 for the 2026 school year. It truly has been an actioned packed term and we hope that our students have enjoyed all of their learning experiences in and out of their classrooms. 

It is a term that brought former and current school community members together to celebrate 40 years of education. Amongst other achievements from our students, our school has a new reputation as being the ‘fireworks’ school in the Hills. We should also be credited as the school with the best community barbeque thanks to our P&C led events.

Two weeks ago our Year 5 students returned from camp with most safe and tired. The experience offered challenges for our students with their personal development and their health. Thank you to the supervising teachers diligently keeping our students safe for the entire camp. We wish Year 6 well for next week as they will experience the three-day camp to Broken Bay SRC. Thank you to the supervising teachers for both camps.

Parents are reminded that students are required to wear their summer uniform from Day 1, Term 4 (13 October). If the weather warms up, students are permitted to commence wearing their summer uniform from Wednesday 16 September (after sport and extra groups school photographing on Tuesday). At times, children may misplace their belongings so please name / label all items. 

The school executive is currently planning for 2027. If any family with children currently in Kindergarten to Year 5 intends to leave Samuel Gilbert PS at the end of the school year please notify the school office.

Many thanks to those parents who have already notified the office about their child starting Kindergarten in 2027. If any current Samuel Gilbert PS parent has a child who will be starting school next year or if any of our families have neighbours in that position, please inform them Samuel Gilbert PS is now taking enrolments for next year. It is important to get enrolments in as soon as possible as this assists our planning for 2027. 

Enrolment forms are available online https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/going-to-a-public-school/enrolment/primary-school-enrolment

Thank you to all families who have paid their term 3 invoice over the last week. All outstanding monies are now due to be paid to facilitate the continuation of quality learning programs at the school. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please commit to contacting the office to arrange an appointment to see me to discuss how we can help.

Today, Thursday 10 September, is R U OK? Day. At Samuel Gilbert PS, we continue to focus on promoting and supporting kindness, mental health and wellbeing for everyone in our school community and beyond so please take the opportunity to check in with and look after someone. If you have a worrying feeling that someone you know or care about is not behaving as they normally would, trust your instinct and act on it. Four simple steps can make a difference to someone in need: 

Ask R U OK?          Listen             Encourage action             Check in

As this is the last newsletter for term 3, when the school holidays arrive in two weeks, I wish a safe and enjoyable break for your child and hopefully for our parents/carers (if you do not have other commitments). The last school day of term 3 will be Friday, 25 September. 

There is a school development (pupil free) day at the beginning of term 4.

School will resume for the students on Tuesday, 13 October. 

Greg McLaren 
PRINCIPAL

Apologies to Olivia W who was omitted from the last Newsletter. Congratulations to Olivia who won the 11 years girls high jump at the Zone Cross Country.

 Along with Aria F., Celine H. and Kyra G.   Olivia will represent Samuel Gilbert and Castle Hill Zone at the upcoming Sydney West Carnival on Thursday, 24 September. Best wishes to the four girls at this event. 

Last week the Netball Knockout team played Kings Langley PS in the Sydney West/Sydney South West Regional final. It was a challenging match with both teams playing a high level of Netball. Congratulations to our girls who maintained their focus and secured a fabulous win, defeating Kings Langley 32 – 28. 

The girls have now reached the Top 8 play offs where they will meet the winner of the Sydney North/Sydney East Region, Newport Public School, tomorrow. 

We wish them the very best of luck and congratulate both the girls and Mrs Spears and Mrs Foscholo on reaching this round of the competition. 

We are regularly alerted to “close call” incidents by concerned parents and community members who witness our students putting themselves at risk on our busy local roads. 

If your child uses the lights to cross Gilbert Road please remind them that they must NOT cross until they see the cars actually come to a stop. 

The green walk indicator does NOT mean it is safe to cross, as too often motorists coming through the round-a-bout do not expect lights as well, and fail to stop. 

Further to this we ask parents to set a good example and use the pedestrian crossing on Ridgecrop Drive when collecting or bringing their children to school. Although convenient, crossing in front of the main entrance is not safe and we actively discourage this practice. 

It was fabulous to see so many dads and students here for our Fathers’ Day Breakfast last Friday, decked out in their favourite jerseys acknowledging the Nathan Gremmo Organ Donation Awareness Day. 

Thanks to the P&C volunteers who ran the Fathers’ Day stall throughout the week to ensure all dads were surprised with gifts carefully selected by their children. Also to the volunteers who coordinated and ran the BBQ and served an endless supply of egg and bacon rolls. It was a great morning providing a wonderful start to the Father’s Day weekend. 

On Sunday 30 August, seven talented Stage 3 students travelled to Penrith to compete in the Tournament of Minds. After six weeks of hard work, creativity and teamwork, the students proudly presented their challenge against teams from other schools.

The judges praised their fantastic acting, creative props and masks, unique ideas and wonderfully put-together presentation, particularly enjoying their clever cliffhanger ending!

A huge congratulations to the team for their commitment, teamwork and creativity throughout the entire experience. They should be incredibly proud of what they achieved!

Huge thanks to Mrs Foscholo for dedicating so much of her time to give our students this wonderful learning opportunity. 

Congratulations to the Concert Band who brightened Father’s Day for many of the elderly fathers and grandfathers last week with a performance at Baptist Care Gracewood, an aged care home in Kellyville. 

Read more about it in the Band report later in this newsletter but I believe the residents were absolutely thrilled to receive thoughtful pictures and cards from our students as well as enjoy the musical performance. Well done Concert Band!

 Students and teachers embraced Book Week with a variety of costumes representing characters from some of their favourite books. Thank you to Mr Hands for coordinating the parade and for the extra morning reads throughout Book Week . 

Congratulations also to parents for some of the very creative costumes on display. It’s amazing what some parents were able to create with cardboard, glue, fabric and a huge amount of perseverance and patience. I was very impressed!

Applications to enrol for Kindergarten at Samuel Gilbert Public School in 2027 are now open. If you, or someone that you know, is looking to enrol a child into Kindergarten next year, enrolment forms can be lodged online by following a link on our school website Online Enrolment Application.

The parent information evening for enrolled families will be on Monday 21^st September at 5:30pm. 

If you, or someone you know is yet to enrol, we encourage them to do so sooner rather than later to ensure that they do not miss information regarding the transition to school days in term 4. 

Last Thursday, 3^rd September, Kindergarten and Year 1 students competed in the Spring Carnival. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful Spring day to enjoy the various activities. Through the session students had the opportunity to run a sprint race, and were involved in fun rotational activities, including, baton races, parachute games, quoits, egg and spoon races and sack races. There was a lot of excitement and sportsmanship shown through these games and activities.

We were fortunate to have two preschools visit us with children who will be attending Samuel Gilbert in 2027. We would like to thank Castle Glen and Miss Parker’s Preschool for bringing these children to participate in the running race. It looked like they had a lot of fun and got to experience some of the Samuel Glbert sporting magic!

A huge thank you to Mrs Buckley and Miss Johns for organising such a successful carnival. The students enjoyed the surprise teacher race at the end of the day with Kindergarten teachers racing in ride on inflatables, and Year 1 teachers dressed as super heroes!

It was a fun day had by all involved!

Stage 1 students were excited to embark on an immersive journey through space when a mobile planetarium transformed our school into a window to the universe!

Inside the inflatable dome, students explored Earth, day and night, the Sun and Moon, before travelling through our solar system to investigate the planets and their unique features. Their journey continued beyond our solar system as they discovered stars, constellations and galaxies, helping them develop an appreciation of just how vast our universe really is. Students were actively involved throughout the experience, using interactive LED lights to test their knowledge in a space-themed quiz.

As an exciting extension to their learning, Stage 1 students also stepped into the world of Virtual Reality! Using VR headsets, students explored the solar system from a whole new perspective, getting up close to planets and space environments. They also had the opportunity to explore the International Space Station, discovering what life is like for astronauts living and working in orbit. This hands-on experience allowed students to build on the concepts they had learned in the planetarium while bringing their space learning to life!

It was a truly unique learning experience that brought our Science and STEAM learning to life, sparking curiosity, wonder and plenty of questions about the world beyond our planet!

As this is the last Newsletter for this term we would like to wish all families a safe and restful holiday. 

It has been an extremely busy term with camps, 40^th Anniversary festivities, Athletics and Spring Carnivals, Band, Choir and Dance events and Check In assessments, amongst many other things, keeping the staff and students busy. 

Term 4 will be underway before we know it so enjoy the holiday ready to return for a very full final term of the year.

Cathie Barclay and Danii Alam
DEPUTY PRINCIPALS

Reading is an important skill that children use every day. One of the best ways to encourage your child to become a confident reader is to show them how reading and writing are a part of everyday life. Taking a few minutes each day to listen to your child read at home can make a big difference. Talk about the story, ask questions and celebrate their efforts. Most importantly, make reading a positive and enjoyable learning experience.

• Read aloud to your child. It helps them to learn the language of books and will encourage them to enjoy books and reading.
• Talk about books, read together and make reading an enjoyable, shared activity.
• Make sure there is a wide range of reading material for your child at home, both fiction and non-fiction.
• It is important to read to your child in your home language if your first language is not English. Experience shows that using your home language will help your child to learn to read in English.
• Make a special time for reading with your child, away from interruption. Listen to your child read every day, even for a short time.
• Give books as treats and presents.

• Before reading, talk about the cover, the title, the pictures and discuss what the book may be about. During reading, discuss what has been read up to that point and imagine what will happen next time. After reading is finished, talk and ask questions about the story and the pictures.
• When reading a harder book together, take turns. Beginning readers can read the repetitive parts and more experienced readers can read a paragraph or a page.
• On finding an unknown word: Pause to give your child time to work out the word. Prompt them to go back to the beginning of the sentence or read past the difficult word to the end of the sentence. Look at the first letter and think about what the words could be asking or try to sound out the word – if necessary, tell your child the word. Praise your child for trying even if mistakes are made.
• Tell and re-tell stories of all kinds including favourite stories, fairy tales, movie plots, local news items and family history.

Amanda Keane

 Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction

What a fantastic year it has been so far for 3S! We have shared so many wonderful learning experiences, celebrated achievements and, most importantly, continued to grow together as a class.

Our Student Leaders

In Term 1, we were very excited to vote for our Student Representative Council (SRC) leaders. After the votes were counted, our class erupted with applause when it was announced that Artin would be a leader alongside Ayla and Melody! Our leaders have carried out their responsibilities with maturity and enthusiasm, representing 3S with pride.

A Puzzle Brings Us Together

One of the highlights of our year was completing our first 1000-piece puzzle together! Our puzzle was a detailed map of Australia, and completing it required patience, persistence and teamwork. Aras and Artin even wanted to stay at school after the bell and keep working on it!

It became a wonderful way for us to work together, encourage one another and celebrate our progress. Now that we have successfully completed our Australian map, we are excited to begin our next challenge — a puzzle of the Solar System!

Celebrating Through Art

This term, the excitement surrounding Samuel Gilbert’s 40th Anniversary was incorporated into our Visual Arts program. We explored the work of Piet Mondrian, one of the great artists of the 20th century, and created two artworks inspired by him.

Using the elements of line, colour and shape, and even some celebratory touches, 3S completed magnificent art.

Something beginning with J

Jellyfish, Jumping, Jealousy, Jam, Jellybeans, Jupiter, Jasper, Jeans were some of the topics in our class for the public speaking competition. Congratulations to everyone who presented a speech and to our class finalists, Sheehan and Adeline.  

Learning, Growing and Achieving

Every child in 3S has shown great commitment to their learning and to achieving their individual goals. It has been wonderful to see students challenge themselves, persevere and celebrate their successes along the way.

Most importantly, I am extremely proud of the way 3S is learning to show kindness and respect towards one another every day. The way they care and encourage their peers is a joy to watch. Thank you 3S!

Ms Spencer

Last Thursday morning, our Concert Band visited BaptistCare Gracewood Centre Aged Care Home to celebrate Father’s Day with the residents, which was very well received.

A big thank you to Pam for providing the contacts, and to Mrs. Skinner and the Concert Band for delivering a wonderful performance!

On Friday, September 18th (Week 9), the Training Band will perform at the K-2 Assembly.  

The students are very excited about their upcoming performance, and parents are warmly encouraged to attend.  

We look forward to seeing you there!  

Early in Term 4, we will be holding a Band Information Evening on Monday, 26th October at 6:00 pm in the New Hall.  

We are seeking new students to join the Band Program for 2027.  

Please start talking to your child about joining if they are in Years 2, 3, 4, or 5 this year — all are welcome!  

  Instruments available for 2027:  

- Alto Saxophone  - Tenor Saxophone  - Flute  - Clarinet  - French Horn  - Trumpet  - Trombone  - Euphonium  - Tuba  - Bass Guitar  - Percussion  

No prior musical experience necessary!  

We look forward to welcoming new members to our band community!  

Kind regards,
Band Co-ordinator Samuel Gilbert Public School Band

Last week it was the NSW DoE SASS Appreciation Week— an opportunity to recognise the dedication of our School Administrative and Support Staff (SASS). From the wonderful office staff who support our students and families, to the ground staff who maintain our beautiful school, and the incredible School Learning and Support Officers (SLSOs) who support students in so many vital ways — we appreciate and value the difference our SASS make to learning at SGPS. The P&C will celebrate our SASS staff alongside our other school staff in Term 4. 

On behalf of our parents and carers, the P&C would also like to acknowledge our hardworking teachers who continue to demonstrate their commitment to providing our students with wonderful opportunities. There have been a number of extracurricular activities for our students in Terms 2 & 3, made possible by the support of staff before school, during lunch times, in the evenings and on weekends. Thank you also to our Stage 3 school staff who have taken or will take time away from their own family to attend Year 5 camp and Year 6 camp scheduled for next week. Your support and encouragement of our students is very much appreciated.  

A big thank you to Paddy Jessing and Kally Mitchell and all our parent and carer volunteers who made the Father’s Day stall possible this year. Our students always love attending the stall and we hope that our Dad’s and Father figures were equally delighted with their stall gifts. We appreciate all our parents and carers who assisted our students with their special purchases. 

Thank you to all our Dad’s, Grandpa’s and special father figures who attended our recent Father’s Day/Jersey Day Breakfast. A special thank you to Paddy Jessing, our fantastic OOSH volunteers Josh and Lily and all our fabulous parents and carers who cooked and served. 

In honour of our School’s Anniversary, the P&C launched on Friday evening the 40^th Anniversary Tree Project. “Leaves of Legacy” is a whole-school community art installation commemorating 40 years of Samuel Gilbert Public School. 

Families can sponsor a leaf and personalise it with a name, drawing, image or special message. Each unique leaf will become part of a permanent installation on the wall of the school to be installed by the end of Term 4 this year. Each leaf tag costs $50 and is available now to purchase/order on Flexischools. Payments may also be received at the uniform shop in person. 

Forms are available via the School App and should be completed and returned to the School Office. Orders close on Friday 18^th September. 

Events for your radar: Please note these events for your calendar:

• Leaf Legacy Fundraiser – Orders close Friday 18th September
• P&C October Meeting: Tuesday 13^th October 7:30pm School Library 
• P&C AGM: Tuesday 10^th November 7:30pm (General Meeting followed by AGM)

More information: For more information on events and news please check out the following: 

• Website: www.sgpspc.org.au 
• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SGPSPC
• School website: www.samuelgilbertnsw.edu.au 
• School app: You can find the link to the school app on our front page of the www.sgpspc.org.au website 

Elizabeth Tye

SGPS P&C

etye@sgpspc.org.au

As term 3 comes gets close to finishing, please be aware that certain items will be reduced or unavailable. Sushi will be available term 4 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from Week 2.
Volunteers are still needed. We have had only an average of 3 volunteers per week instead of 10 that is needed to help us through the week. Please help us out it would be great to have some new volunteers.

Thanks Jenelle, Sue and Kiarn