Dear Parents and Carers,

In our final newsletter of the year I congratulate all our teachers, support staff, parents, active grandparents and most importantly our students for what they have achieved in 2023. Our school is certainly a productive learning place and we pride ourself on the provision of a wholistic educational experience for our students. Thank you all for the continued support I received as Principal. As reported throughout the year, it was very reassuring that external assessments together with grade-based assessments indicated progress from our students. We knew this but it is always great to celebrate such marvellous news.

Next Wednesday, we are looking forward to providing an outstanding presentation assembly at Cherrybrook Technology HS. Our student captains, Lily P and Owen T, will be our hosts. Congratulations to all award recipients. Thank you to our event coordinators, Ms Barclay and Mrs Frank.

As mentioned in the last newsletter, several of our talented students had the honour to present NSW Public Education in the 40^th Anniversary of School Spectacular, at Qudos Bank Arena, Homebush. Joined by nearly 5000 other students from selected schools in our state, our students were an obvious standout with their voices and positioning during the event.  Thank you to each student and their family for the huge commitment. Thank you to Mrs Spears for her hours of preparation with our students.

We will sadly farewell 130 Year 6 students on 15 December. We wish them the very best with future endeavours and trust they have fond memories of their time at Samuel Gilbert PS. We are very proud of the student leadership displayed by all Year 6 students. They will be missed. Special mention to our exceptional student leaders. We also acknowledge all students able to fulfil other important student leadership roles and experiences especially, senior library monitors, our performing arts, sport, peer tutors and other student leaders. Over the next fortnight, Year 6 will experience a few tributes leading up to their completion of primary school with a farewell dinner and a graduation assembly.

The end of 2023 marks a very important milestone for our wonderful Kindergarten students. It is the completion of their first year at ‘big school’. They experienced so many wonderful learning opportunities and at differing rates achieved so many educational successes. We are very proud of each one of these students.  

An added feature for Year 2 is the ability to play the recorder. This learning opportunity is often a kick start to their musical instrument experience. We are proud of their ability and look forward to many students joining the school training band in 2024. They will be performing in Week 2, 2024.

At the completion of the school year we farewell Ms Glass. Her commitment to the school and especially her students was commendable. We wish her well as she travels overseas and we look forward to her possible return in 2025.
We also wish the very best to Miss Rourke as she leaves the Department. We thank Ms Rourke for her input to the school and students especially through providing performing arts opportunities for your children.

We sadly farewell 74 families as their youngest child finishes Year 6 with eight families from other grades relocating. Warm regards to all of these families as they will forever be part of the Samuel Gilbert ‘family’. Thank you for investing in your child’s learning at Samuel Gilbert PS and for your child/ren I wish for a bright future. Many of our departing families offered a lot of their time, expertise and support to the school community. 

A friend of Samuel Gilbert PS is Mr Gary Johnson, Principal of Cherrybrook Technology High School. Mr Johnson is retiring at the completion of this school year. Apart from leading the largest comprehensive high school in NSW, Mr Johnson played an active and valuable part in the planning of our school’s new build. His input as a member of the NSW Board of Education provided a genuine school lens contribution to that Authority’s operation. I personally thank Mr Johnson for his friendship. The Samuel Gilbert PS community wishes the best to Mr Johnson and Mrs Johnson, a long term well respected former teacher at our school.

We are currently planning for next year and would appreciate any news you need to share about your child in the current Kindergarten to Year 5 if they are not returning to Samuel Gilbert PS in 2024. Please also let the school office know if you are holidaying and returning to school later than 1 February. As usual, student numbers in all grades will direct how we arrange classes across our whole school.

School will resume for 2024 Years 1-6 students on Thursday, 1 February. We look forward to welcoming 2024 Kindergarten when they commence their formal learning journey on Tuesday 6 February, after their Best Start assessments between Thursday 1 February and Monday 5 February. 

As this is our final Newsletter for 2023, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents, carers and friends of our school once again for your ongoing support, advocacy and contributions to the school in 2023. On behalf of the entire Samuel Gilbert PS staff, a Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year to all!

Greg McLaren
PRINCIPAL 

Next week we will be celebrating student success and highlighting the talents of our performance groups at our annual Presentation Assembly at 11:00am at Cherrybrook Technology High School. We look forward to sharing this day with family and friends.
If you are unable to join us on the day the assembly will be live streamed via this link.
https://link.cths.nsw.edu.au/sgps23

Information;
- Time 11:00am (access to the link will be available 15 minutes prior to the event start time).
- Browser required: Mac – Chrome. Windows – Edge or Chrome
- Buffering may occur depending on your internet speed. Don’t worry, the stream will pick up from where you left it.

A program will be sent via the app along with a list of additional reminders to ensure students and families are prepared for the day. Congratulations to all students who will be recognised for their achievements at this assembly.

Unless in a dance item all students should wear their full school uniform on this day, inclusive of black school shoes and correctly coloured socks. 

The canteen will not be operating on this day so children will need to ensure they have recess and lunch if not being collected from the venue. 

If being taken home from the venue ( as previously indicated on the permission form) children do not need to bring a bag to school. They will need recess only in a disposable container. 

On Friday 17 November the Senior Boys Softball, Junior Girls and Boys Tee Ball and Junior Boys Touch Football played their respective finals of the Summer PSSA competition. All games were closely contested with the Boys Softball and Tee Ball teams winning on the day. Congratulations to the four teams for reaching the finals. A great achievement. 

Congratulations also to the children who participated over the weekend in the Cheerleading National Championships. A very exciting event by all accounts!

With the school year rapidly drawing to a close we have a number of events occurring over the next few weeks. 

All students who have achieved their gold star badge this year will be joining Mr McLaren with their families for afternoon tea on either Monday or Tuesday afternoon next week.  We congratulate these students who have earned this level of recognition by upholding the school values and being committed  and caring school citizens. 

Also next week we will be holding our Thank you Morning Tea for the parents, carers and grandparents who have supported our school this year either in the classroom, canteen, at the school fete or in any other facet of school life. All volunteers are welcome to join us in the staffroom at 10:30am. 

The P&C Carols Night is always a fabulous community event and we look forward to that next Friday 8 December.  The Bands are looking forward to playing a few pieces to add to the Christmas cheer. They should come in their favourite Christmas mufti for their performance. 

Year 6 have a very full calendar with much planned for them as they celebrate their final week at Samuel Gilbert. Week 10 begins with the Year 6 Dinner on Monday 11 December at 6:30pm. On Tuesday it is off to Luna Park for Party Day. Years 3 – 5 are also enjoying Party Day on this Tuesday.  Wednesday is a “rest” day for year 6 but Kindergarten and Stage 1 will enjoy their Party Days at the movies and Lollipops. Reports will also be sent home on this day. On Thursday 14 December, Year 6 will present their Kindy buddies with the books they have been working so hard on and share a special lunch together. 

The final day of school for all students is Friday 15 December. The day will begin for Year 6 with their formal farewell assembly at 9:30am. Parents of  Year 6 are encouraged to attend however we ask that school siblings remain in class during this assembly. At the end of the day a guard of honour will be formed for all Year 6 and other departing students and staff, through the school and out of the front Ridgecrop Road main gate. 

Please ensure that permissions and payments for these end of year events have been finalised so that all students are able to participate and celebrate together. 

We wish all departing students our very best wishes for their new schools and all families a relaxing, safe and happy holiday season. 

With just over two weeks left of the school year we would still like to remind parents to stay safe on the road and to keep our students safe particularly around pick up and drop off times. Castle Hill police have recently been patrolling Ridgecrop Dr and Gilbert Rd. Please be careful not to make a U-turn over the parallel lines on Ridgecrop Dr. Galahad Cres can be used in both directions to avoid the traffic on Ridgecrop or make a loop around and back to kiss-and-drop.

Please read the flyer on Driving and Parking Safely around schools attached to the end of this newsletter.

Cathie Barclay & Gilliane Appave
DEPUTY PRINCIPALS 

With the summer holidays feeling like they are just around the corner, it’s time to start planning some holiday activities. Learning can continue outside of the classroom these school holidays. Explore the following collection of fun mathematics activities with your child.

• Give your child a map of a venue that you are visiting, like the zoo, a farm or even a shopping centre, and put them in charge of navigation. Encourage your child to suggest the route you should take and have them navigate you through it.
• Next time you're heading on a long car journey, let the kids take control of the music but under one condition: their playlist has to match the length of the journey!
• Solving a Rubik's cube is not easy on the first try, but there's actually a cool set of algorithms to help your child complete the puzzle.
• Whether your child is playing in the bath or sandpit or at the beach, give them containers of different sizes and shapes. Then, get them to estimate which container holds the most, and ask they why think that before testing it out.
• Make some paper planes with your child, and then throw them to see which ones fly the furthest. Which design results in the longest flight length.
• If you've got a child who enjoys getting crafty in the kitchen or a child that has a sweet tooth, get them to bake different shaped cookies with various toppings. This activity allows them to get as elaborate as they want and experiment with flavour – all while working with shapes.
• On a long car journey, at the local park or even at the supermarket, play a game of I-spy that involves everyone looking around for different 3D objects. For example, you might say “I spy with my little eye, something that is shaped like a cone”.
• Car cricket is a fun game to play when you are out and about. Runs are based on the colour of the cars you pass, with a red car getting a player out. There are many scoring variations based on different colour cars and vehicle sizes, and you can even make up your own.
• With your child and their friends splashing around in the pool, get them to estimate the number of strokes they’ll need to swim from one point to another. Try this with a range of different swimming strokes.
• Art is a great way for children and teens to learn about different shapes. They could draw their family pet, siblings, or even you!

Mathematics is all around us- even during the school holidays! You will find plenty of fun and exciting things to do together. Learning mathematics never stops! Have a safe and wonderful holiday with your families and loved ones. Happy learning!

Amanda Keane
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, CURRICULUM and INSTRUCTION  

Thank you to all our families who attended the recent Mother/Daughter Camp. It was another successful time away and we do hope that our families enjoyed all the activities and their time together. The weekend would not have been possible without the time and effort of Abbey Huang – thank you Abbey! Next year will be the Father/Son camp. If you are interested in assisting to organise this event, please reach out to Tym Richardson at  Tym.Richardson@sgpspc.org.au.

A big thank you to Kylie Jones and her helpers for the Gingerbread Evening next Tuesday. Don’t forget to BYO lollies and meet at 7pm in the old hall.

The SGPS Carols returns next Friday 8 December 2023. Come join us for this free event for all families of SGPS. Gates will open at 6pm for a 6:30pm start, with the event concluding at approximately 8:30pm.

WHAT TO BRING - BYO food and drinks, chairs, rugs, your singing voices and plenty of Christmas cheer!

SPECIAL PROGRAM OF PERFORMANCES - We are pleased to welcome St Pauls Castle Hill Band to lead us in song. We are also looking forward to performances by our SGPS Band members and there may be a special visitor too! 

We are thrilled that the rectification work in the playground has been completed and we can now proceed with the laying of the bricks. The plan is to lay the pavers over the school holidays and there is a meeting scheduled with the landscaper next week. We thank you for your patience. 

The P&C will meet for a casual end of year meeting/gathering on Tuesday 12 December at 7:30pm in the Library (face-to-face only). All parents and carers are welcome to join us as we celebrate the end of a successful year.

The SGPS P&C meets on the second Tuesday of the month in the school library and online. Our first P&C Meeting for 2024, will be on Tuesday 13 February 2024. All parents and carers are invited to attend.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jacqui Cumming as she finishes her role in the Canteen this year. On behalf of the P&C, we thank Jacqui for her years of service and the difference she has made to our school and community. We wish Jacqui and her family all the very best. Whether it is volunteering at a P&C event, helping at a Mother’s/Father’s Day stalls, cooking on a BBQ, serving on the Band Committee, being a Class Parent, assisting with the Band Program or helping in the Canteen or volunteering in any other capacity - thank you to all those parents and carers who have supported our school community in 2023.  In particular, we would like to acknowledge the recipients of our P&C Life Membership for 2023:

• Samantha Jones
• Ivanna Sukkar

Samantha has made a significant contribution to the OOSH as Treasurer and assisted the P&C in providing accounting services across a number of years. Ivanna has coordinated our BBQ and Cake Stalls, served on the Fete and Movie Night committees, assisted with communications and social media and has been an executive P&C member. We thank both of these individuals for their contribution to our school community and look forward to honouring them at Presentation Day.

We would also like to thank our departing Year 6 families for their contribution to our school community. Many of these families are ending a significant number of years as part of the Samuel Gilbert family, some of whom have been associated with our school for 14 plus years. We will miss you. Thank you for your time and service to our school over many years and we wish you and your family all the very best.

Finally, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful, safe holiday and a happy new year! We look forward to serving alongside you in 2024.

More information: For more information please check out the following: 

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

Elizabeth Tye
SGPS P&C Vice President
etye@sgpspc.org.au

Thank you to all those who attended last week’s Open Band Rehearsal’s. It is wonderful to hear the progress of our Band Students. Band rehearsals for the year have been completed for Training and Concert Band. Performance Band have their final rehearsal on Monday, 4th December (Week 9). It is essential that all students attend this rehearsal in preparation for Presentation Day.

We look forward to welcoming our new Training Band members in 2024. If your child is still interested in joining the Training Band in 2024, there are still some instrument options available. Please fill out the form below:

Expression of Interest: SGPS Training Band 2024 - Google Forms

A reminder for the final events for Term 4:

• Friday, 1 December – Band Celebration Breakfast – 7:30am in the Old Hall
  This is the end of year celebration for our Band students and their families! Join us for a Concert, Presentation and Breakfast (pastries, croissants and juice) from 7:30-8:45am. 
• Wednesday, 6 December – Presentation Day Performance – Performance Band ONLY
  Further details TBA
• Friday, 8 December – Carols Evening (Massed Band – ALL Bands)
  All Band Students will form a massed Band to play an item at the School Carols Evening. The evening will start at 6pm.. Please RSVP in Bandforte.

A reminder also that if you have purchased an instrument, are planning to purchase an instrument over the holidays or are leaving the school at the end of this year, please return your Hire Instrument to Burragali on Monday, 11th December. If your tutor has identified that there is an issue with your child's instrument that needs repairing, please also return it on this date with a note inside the case with the issue.

Finally, thank you to our Year 6 Band students for their contrinbution to the SGPS Band Program. It has been wonderful to be part of your musical journey and we wish you all the best as you continue to develop your skills.

Briony Geekie
Band Co-ordinator Samuel Gilbert Public School Band

Last day for lunch orders is Wednesday 13 December. Canteen will be closed for cleaning Thursday 14 December and Friday 15 December but will still be open at recess and lunch for over the counter items while stocks last.

As usual, canteen is reducing stock levels in preparation for the canteen cleaning and Munch Monitor will be kept updated with numbers.

Please contact the canteen if you wish to volunteer with us next year, volunteers help to keep costs down. There are 3 shifts available - Morning shift is 9:00am to 11:15am; Afternoon shift is 11:30am to 2:00pm or you could do a whole day from 9:00am to 2:00pm. Shifts are monthly or you can do a one-off shift of your choice. 

Volunteers now need to have Food Handling Training--the canteen has created an 8 page handbook or you can do the full online training. A separate note will be coming out shortly detailing the new Food Standards requirements for the canteen. 

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for your assistance this year. Also thank you to Brian from Pumpkin Head for once again donating fruit and vegetables to canteen.

Canteen will be reopening on Thursday, 1 February 2024. 

Wishing everyone safe and happy holidays.

Jacqui Cumming, Jenelle Lockrey & the Canteen Committee 2023 

Monday 8.30am - 9.30am & Wednesday 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Only one family per time will be served in the shop.

Please book through the P&C website: //www.sgpspc.org.au/uniformshopappointment// and follow any updates from the P&C or school about COVID safe measures.

The shop will be open for appointments until Wednesday, 13 December (Week 10) 2023.

MM orders need to be placed before that date.

The shop will be closed on Monday, 29/01/24, being the last day of the School Holidays.

The shop will be open 9am to 10am on the Pupil Free Days of Tuesday, 30/01 and Wednesday, 31/01. However, the shop will be closed Wednesday 2.30pm to 3.30pm.

The shop will be open 9am to 10am on Thursday, 1/02 and Friday, 2/02/24.

Shop times will return to normal in Week 2.

We have plenty of items available at very good prices. Donations always welcome. These can be left at the School Office, the Canteen or at the Uniform Shop. Please block out previous child’s name on items, if at all possible.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday, and Merry Christmas,

Sheryl Naylor
SGPS P&C Uniform Shop Manager
Email: //uniformshop@sgpspc.org.au//

The students have been busy planting seeds and watering their gardens over the past term. We have decided to move the vegetable gardens to a slightly shadier position that will allow us to grow a wider variety of crops and to get our worm farms and composting programs off to a flying start in 2024. 

The students have begun to deconstruct the gardens and move the soil in preparation to recommence gardening in the new year.

In Term 3, we received a welcome addition to our gardens in the form of a new portable garden system called a “VegePod” that was won by one of our Year 6 Students Addison, in a national competition run by Transurban. Addison and other students have enjoyed following instructions and using various tools to assemble this garden.

The “Vegepod” garden is now complete, and the students have planted capsicums and tomatoes. We are sure it will get great use in future years. We look forward to working with our gardening group and producing many crops for the students to enjoy in 2024.

Ms Meyers & Mr Wicks
Gardening Club Co-ordinators

Debating has concluded for 2023 at Samuel Gilbert and there continues to be a huge amount of success for all students involved.

Last week, the Trischools Debating Team completed their final round of the “Trischools Debating Challenge” against Castle Hill Public School at Castle Hill. The team of Lucy, Amani, Alisha and Deanna were allocated the affirmative side and presented with the topic, “That all primary school classes should adopt a dog or cat as a class pet”. 

The debate was a very tough one and both schools presented very convincing modelled arguments and rebuttals about why primary schools should adopt a cat or dog as a class pet. After a long deliberation by the adjudicator, Samuel Gilbert was awarded the victory. 

The win meant that Samuel Gilbert was crowned as the winners of the Trischools Debating Challenge for 2023 after winning 3 out of the 4 rounds. They were presented with the trophy by the organising teachers and the team were extremely happy with their efforts.


2023 has been a very successful year in debating, with our Premiers Debating Team becoming Zone Champions and making it into the Regional Final and our Trischools Team winning the newly developed Trischools Debating Challenge.

We are extremely proud of the efforts of all our debaters and wish our Year 6 members all the best and continued success with their public speaking in high school and we look forward to another big year of debating in 2024.

Mr Wicks & Mrs Pelizzari
Debating Co-ordinators

We are a Fabulous School! 

Last week 20 students from Samuel Gilbert joined 5000+ students from across NSW public schools to perform as part of Schools Spectacular which was held at Qudos Bank Arena last weekend. To say we had a blast is an understatement! The students performed outstandingly and had loads of fun meeting students from across the state. All the rehearsals and early mornings were well and truly worth it. Thanks to the parents who supported us with carpooling to and from rehearsals and performances.

Mrs Spears
3-6 Vocal Ensemble Coordinator

Last week we held our Mock High School Program for our Year 6 students. I was very impressed by the participation of all of our students and heard a lot of positive feedback about the variety of lessons on offer. Thanks to our Year 6 teachers, Ms Botton, Mr Lau and Mrs Khakh for running lessons on these days. I wish all of our Year 6 students the very best over the next few weeks and especially as they transition to high school at the beginning of 2024.

Mrs Medcalf (Learning and Support Teacher.)   

Week 9
Monday, 4 December 
Gold Badge Afternoon Tea 2pm
Tuesday, 5 December
Gold Badge Afternoon Tea 2pm
Wednesday, 6 December
Presentation Day Assembly at
Cherrybrook Technology High School
11am - 1pm
Thursday, 7 December
Combined scripture service & parent helper
morning tea
Friday, 8 December
P&C Carols night
Gates open at 6pm for a 6:30pm start

 Week 10
Monday, 11 December
Year 6 Dinner
Tuesday, 12 December
Stages 2 & 3 Party Days
Last P&C Meeting at 7:30pm in the Library (face-to-face only)
Wednesday, 13 December
Report to parents ES1 & Stage 1 Party Days
Friday, 15 December
Year 6 farewell assembly
Student's last day 

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