Newsletter Term 4 Week 6 2024

On the Monday morning assembly, I mentioned to the students that we are now in the second half of Term 4. We are now really on the downhill run. There are many fantastic events occurring in the next 4 weeks, so please keep an eye out for information about the events on the School Bytes app or in notes that are sent home. 

Change to the start of the year and SDD’s 

Last week the Department of Education announced a change to School Development Days and the start date for all students next year. There will now be 4 School Development Days at the start of the year, which are for staff only. The staff will be engaged in professional learning on Friday 31 January, Monday 3 February, Tuesday 4 February and Wednesday 5 February. All students, including Kindergarten 2025 students will start on Thursday 6 February. All students will be expected to be onsite for our 9:10am start time, however our 2025 kindergarten students will meet on the veranda outside the Kindergarten Room for photos. Mrs Guthrie, Mrs Harris and myself will be there to meet them on arrival.  

For future planning for the rest of the 2025 school year there will be 2 School development days at the beginning of Term 2, and one school development day at the start of Term 3 and Term 4. There will be no school development days at the end of Term 4 in 2025.  

Student Leaders Policy 

The Student Leaders Policy has been reviewed and updated. The staff had input into its update and I presented it to the P&C last Monday evening. The Year 5 students were given a copy of the policy as well as the timeline for elections for our 2025 Student Leadership team. The Policy will be available on the school website shortly. 

Computers for the Library 

I would like to thank our amazingly hard working P&C for their generous donation to upgrade the fleet of computers in the library. These computers are regularly used by all classes and by students completing NAPLAN and Check-In assessments throughout the year.  I would like to thank Mr Yock for setting them up at the end of last week. 

Breakfast Club  

Mr Sexty has set up a breakfast club at school that runs Monday-Wednesday. All the food has been donated to the school through Foodbank NSW & ACT. Although only new, it has been extremely popular with the students. The Breakfast Club operates on the three days, from 8:30am & 8.55am. Students have a choice of cereals, smoothies, toast and fruit. Thank you to Mrs Themsen, Ms Sev, Mr Sexty and the parents that have volunteered to run the breakfast club.  Thank you also to St Vincent de Paul and Bakers Delight Cronulla for their bread donations. We are lucky to have such great community support!

Staffing Changes for 2025 

I am sad to report that Mrs Amy Jamieson will be leaving us at the end of the year. Mrs Jamieson has been our school chaplain, librarian, wellbeing officer and RFF teacher for over 3 years. Her impact on the Taren Point Community has been huge and she will be sorely missed. Mrs Jamieson will be taking up a position as Youth Minister with her church and we wish her all the best in her new role. 

Miss Imogen Grant our Aboriginal Education Officer will also finish up with us at the end of the year. Miss Imogen has been at Taren Point for the last two years and has also had a massive impact on the school, students and the community. Miss Imogen has been accepted to university to study teaching and therefore won’t have the time to dedicate to the AEO role. We wish Miss Imogen all the best for her studies. 

Swimming and Water Safety Program

Students in Years 2-4 recently participated in the Department of Education swimming and water safety program at Caringbah Leisure Centre. The program instructors sent through results from pre and post testing of the students swimming ability and every student showed a marked improvement. Water safety is so important, especially where we live. I would like to make the community aware that during the summer vacation period, Elouera Surf Life Saving Club run a Surf Awareness Clinic for children aged 7-12. This is an amazing program where students learn about being safe when swimming at the beach. The clinic runs from Monday 6 January to Friday 10 January. There will be a link to the program in this newsletter if you would like to register your child for it.  

Colour Run  

Thank you to Shenee Wyld and the P&C for organising the ever popular Colour Run. Thank you to all the families members, neighbours and friends that donated to this fundraiser. The Colour Run is always a great event and the staff and students appeared to have a great time. Hopefully no one wore their good clothes to the event! It was a very successful fundraiser for the school community. 

Kindergarten Transition  

It was great to have the opportunity to catch up with a number of our new parents for 2025. I joined the parents at Noah’s café for a coffee and chat, while their children were spending the last transition day getting to know Mrs Guthrie, their buddies and class mates. We look forward to welcoming our new families next year.

AAFEBS Conference 

Mrs McLean, Mme Robbins, Mme Souchon and I attended the AAFEBS (Australian Association of French English Bilingual Schools) conference at Tingalpa and Whites Hill State Schools in Brisbane at the end of Week 4. Strong connections were made with other bilingual schools across Australia and the Pacific. We heard from keynote speakers Dr Kelly Shoecraft and Dr Simone Smala. Dr Shoecraft’s keynote was titled My Bilingual Self and Translanguaging and Dr Smala spoke about Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in bilingual and immersion settings and the use of AI in teaching of languages. The two days were very informative. 

Prix du Civisme Award 

Last Monday evening, our school captains, Zara, Joelle, Aiden and Ari attended the Prix du Civisme awards ceremony at the Consul General of France in Sydney’s residence. Our Stage 3 class received second prize for their contribution to the school’s intergenerational program. All our classes regularly visit the residents of Goodhew Gardens and our Stage 3 class also worked with students at local preschools. Congratulations to both Joelle and Ari for addressing the function in French. 

Grandparents Day 

Last week we had a number of events happening at school. The highlight for many was Grandparents' Day. Grandparents and special friends were invited into classrooms to see the students working firsthand and then were encouraged to stay for a picnic lunch with their grandchildren. The day was a great success with many smiling faces. We were very grateful that the weather behaved itself so all visitors could enjoy our beautiful grounds. 

Reports 

Teachers are currently finalising Semester 2 reports for all students. As previously mentioned, this semester reports will only be available electronically through the School Bytes Parent Portal. If you have not already set up access to the parent portal, please do so. If you require assistance with the parent portal, please contact the school. Semester 2 reports will not be printed and sent home. 

Presentation Evening

We look forward to celebrating our students with you at our Presentation Evening on Tuesday 3 December @ 6pm in the Sylvania High School hall. We hope you can join us!

The last 4 weeks of term are extremely busy. Please note the important dates in the Dates for your Diary below.

As always, if there is anything that you wish to discuss about school, feel free to contact me either by email or at school. 

Have a great weekend, 

James Nobbs 

Principal. 

This year, we will again be collecting for Shire Hamper Helpers who provide much needed food and items to families in the Sutherland Shire. We will have a donation box in the office foyer for items to be dropped off when convenient. Please ensure all donations are made by Friday 6 December to ensure sufficient time for families to receive their special hampers before Christmas.