Twice a year student progress reports are sent home. Semester 1 reports will be sent home Wednesday, 28 June. The report aims to show your child’s academic results in each of the Key Learning Areas: English; Mathematics; Science and Technology; Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) - History & Geography; Creative Arts; and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE). The report also aims to provide information on your child’s work habits and social development. See attachment below for more information on our Semester 1 reporting format.
 
A student progress report is a time to dually celebrate successes and identify any weaknesses in your child’s academic and social progress. The contemporary method of reporting encompasses the A–E grading scale which allows teachers to report student academic achievement ‘at point in time’ using clear standards. Achievement grade ‘C’ - sound, for example, offers a judgement that the student is working at their grade level. Teachers make a professional judgement as to which grade best matches the standard students have achieved through ongoing formal and informal assessments.

Student progress reports will be sent home on Wednesday 3 July (week 10). I wish to acknowledge the teachers for the preparation of these reports using the evidence from various forms of assessment. 

On Tuesday, our talented student dancers performed at the Synergy Dance Festival. It was held in front of a large crowd at The Evan Theatre in Penrith. We are very proud of all our performers. Thank you to Ms Barclay and Mrs Medcalf with the assistance of other teaching staff overseeing our school’s involvement in this prestigious experience for our students. Well done to Ms Corso and her fellow committee members for staging the festival. I hope our performers also thanked their parents for driving from Penrith on the cold evening.

A wonderful day with special visitors. This well attended event allowed our students to show pride in their school through the classroom visits, P&C refreshments and the sensational performances of our student bands, choralists and dancers. Some grandparents travelled great distances. We thank Ms Fedczyna for successfully coordinating the memorable day.

Many thanks to those parents who have already notified the office about their child starting Kindergarten in 2025. If any current SGPS 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 term. It is important to get enrolments in as soon as possible as this assists our planning for 2025. 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 Statement of Account. As you know these funds allow us to offer quality educational experiences and activities for our students. If you are yet to settle your account I would be grateful if you could do so as soon as possible so that school finances can be finalised by the end of the year. Please contact the school office on 8855 9500 if you wish to discuss any items on your account.

We very much appreciate your support to enhance your child’s experience at school.

A huge congratulations to Mrs Noni Medcalf on being nominated for and receiving an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Castle Hill Rotary Club.  Yesterday evening she was officially presented her award at a celebration dinner with only 6 other award recipients from the local teaching community. Mrs Medcalf attended the dinner with school executive and staff and was incredibly gracious in her acceptance speech. On behalf of all of our staff and students, ‘Thank you for everything that you do at Samuel Gilbert and congratulations on your well deserved award'.

As a reminder this will be the last newsletter for term 2. We wish all families a safe and enjoyable school holiday when it arrives 2.55pm Friday, 5 July.

Students return to school for Term 3 on Tuesday, 23 July. 

Monday, 22 July is a school development day. Families will need to make alternate arrangements for their children on this day as school staff will be involved in professional learning activities. 

Greg McLaren
PRINCIPAL

Our Kindergarten students had a fabulous day out, learning about living things at Calmsley Hill City Farm. They experienced life on the farm which for many of them is a completely new experience. They did such a good job braving the windy weather and were able to touch and pat a variety of different animals, watch a shearing demonstration and watch a working sheep dog in training. A few of our lucky students had a safe go at cracking a stock whip and had a giggle watching Ms Thornhill have a go as well. Thank you to all of the Kindergarten teachers for their care of our Early Stage 1 students on this excursion, to the Student Learning and Support Officers (SLSOs) who supported them and to Ms Thornhill for being a good sport!

This week our primary students have been competing in their grade finals of the Premier’s Spelling Bee. A huge congratulations to all who represented their class in this challenging competition. Spelling words out aloud is a skill in itself but for children to spell words that they have often never read or heard before adds a whole new level of complexity to a spelling bee. I must commend the students on not only coping with the stress of spelling aloud in front of their peers but also on gallantly coping with being knocked out, particularly by super tricky words like “beech” as in the timber. Why isn’t it spelt  b-e-a-c-h we could ask and why doesn’t “auction” begin with an “o” and not “au”? 

In Stage 3 Asaph and Zach battled it out for a number of rounds with no word challenging their outstanding spelling ability. Finally with teachers resorting to the dictionary to find words not on the list, “roughage” and “derrick” separated the pair with Zach successfully spelling “derrick” – a type of lifting device for those who were wondering. 

However there could only be one winner so an enormous CONGRATULATIONS to Jones D.( 3SB) and Zach F. who will now represent Samuel Gilbert in the Stage 2 and Stage 3 regional finals held during Weeks 4 and 5 in Term 3. These finals are held at school via video connection.

Congratulations to Zara M. and Sailor D. who represented Castle Hill PSSA last week at the Sydney West Touch Football Carnival. The girls went through to the semi finals undefeated with two 4-0 victories under their belt. The semi final proved to be a very tough match against Blacktown but again the girls came away with a 1-0 win. The Grand Final was against Ridges, also undefeated coming into the match. In an action packed game, Castle Hill experienced relentless attacks from Ridges, allowing them space to score on the counter. In a thrilling finish, Castle Hill's Elle Moxham weaved her way through the defence to score the winning try just before the final buzzer to win the game 3-2 and give the Castle Hill girls their 5th Sydney West Championship in a row. An outstanding result from an outstanding squad of athletes.

Last Wednesday eight students represented Castle Hill PSSA in the Sydney West Cross Country Carnival at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre. With approximately 80 runners in every race all students performed extremely well with nearly all placing in the top half of their age group. Particular congratulations to Zac F. and Oliver H. who placed 5^th and 6^th respectively. An outstanding effort which will see them representing Sydney West at the State Carnival on Tuesday 23 July at the same venue. Well done boys and good luck!

Final selections for the Boys Castle Hill PSSA zone softball team have now been confirmed with Ed H., Cameron K. and Charlie L. all securing a place in the team and Jarlath J. selected as a reserve. Congratulations boys! Along with Darcy S. and Nina P. who were previously selected in the girls team, the boys will play in the Sydney West Carnival on Thursday 4 July at International Peace Park. We wish them the best of luck.

The weather was kind to us and students and grandparents were able to enjoy a wonderful morning together. Our students were very excited to be performing dances and choir items for the very first time this year made even more special by the fact that it was to one of their favourite audiences. This is always a very special and much enjoyed day at Samuel Gilbert and we thank all our visitors for making the effort to attend. Thank you also to the canteen for coordinating morning tea and to all parents who sent along goodies to share.

From 2025 the placement tests for both opportunity classes and selective high schools will move from single version paper based tests to computer based tests.

There will also be changes to the application process for 2026 with applications open from November to the following February. This means that applications for 2026 placements will open from 7 November 2024 and close 21 February 2025. For opportunity classes this means the application can commence in November when a child is in Year 3 but for selective high school, parents will apply in November when their child is in Year 5 up to February when their child is in Year 6.

Yesterday a lot of fun was had by our Year 2 -6 students who attended the Athletics Carnival at Alfred Whaling Reserve. Novelty events were held for everyone coordinated by Zing and races and field events were run to select our representatives for the Zone Athletics Carnival to be held on Monday 26 August at Blacktown International Sports Park. Congratulations to all students who entered events and particularly to those who have qualified to represent Samuel Gilbert PS at the Zone Carnival.

On Tuesday evening four of our dance groups took to the stage at Evan Theatre in the Penrith Panthers club as part of the Synergy Dance Festival. All groups did an amazing job and parents and teachers were all justifiably proud of our dancers. Congratulations to all dancers and also to Miss Stacey and Mrs Medcalf on preparing the groups for the festival. Thankyou to Mrs Medcalf for her coordination of this event and also to Ms Hayley, Mrs Khakh and Mrs Buckley for assisting with supervision.

Last Wednesday our Tri School’s debating team travelled to North Rocks Public School where, as the negative team, they successfully convinced the adjudicator that   students should NOT be able to use smart phones in class. Our Premier’s Debating team were equally persuasive in their debate against Bella Vista PS on Thursday arguing that Stage 3 students should watch the News in class. Congratulations to all debaters, Mr Wicks and Mrs Pellizzari for two great debates. A more detailed report on the debates is included in this Newsletter.    

Next week our band members head off to the Benedict XVI Retreat Centre at Grose Vale for the annual Band Camp. Band camp not only provides a wonderful opportunity to hone musical skills and practise band pieces but also gives our younger students the opportunity to experience a night away from home with the safety net of being within an hour’s drive of home if a “rescue mission” is required. For students that don’t often have opportunities to sleep over at other homes, this is excellent preparation for the Stage 3 two night excursions to Canberra and Sport and Recreation camps held when in Year 5 and Year 6. We look forward to hearing about the fun had at band camp and hearing the fruits of their labour at the Band Concert being held on Wednesday 3 July in the new hall. 

School photos were taken on Tuesday and these included all photos requiring school uniform. Later in the year we will take all specialist group photos such as PSSA and representative sports photos, dance photos etc. 

We did notice that quite a number of students were not in uniform on photo day and remind families that all uniform items are sold through our school uniform store and a number of second hand items in excellent condition are available. Leggings, blue track suit pants, various coloured tights and undershirts are not part of the school uniform. 

Cathie Barclay & Gilliane Appave
DEPUTY PRINCIPALS

It’s important that writing is a part of your child’s daily life at home. By writing every day, your child will become increasingly more confident in their writing abilities - and they may even have fun!

How to support younger children with writing at home: 

• have fun with drawing and writing. Ask your child to draw or write about things they like to do, make or play
• encourage your child to talk about their writing. This could include talking about their scribbles, drawings, letters or words
• use different materials such as chalk, paper and pencils, markers and pens to draw and write with 
• ask your child to write their name. Your child could also attempt to write the names of other people who are important to them
• while your child is writing or drawing, talk about the picture and the sounds of the letters that he or she is attempting to write 
• encourage your child to use their imagination and create stories. They could create a storybook by drawing pictures and writing words for the story
• support your child to write messages in their home language
• encourage your child to draw or write a shopping list, or about their favourite person in the family, or their favourite book
• create a song or a poem and write the words or draw a picture to go with the song or poem
• ask your child to describe what they are drawing or writing about as they are creating it 
• encourage them to write a letter to a friend or someone in the family about something interesting, funny or exciting that happened
• have a booklet, journal or diary that your child can write or draw in daily.

Tips for older children:

• encourage them to read widely as much as possible
• you can use creative writing prompts as ideas to spark writing
• use positive feedback as encouragement
• try fun writing activities and games

Amanda Keane
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, CURRICULUM and INSTRUCTION  

Thank you to our Canteen staff, school staff and volunteers who assisted with Grandparents Day. It was lovely to have so many family and grandparent figures attend and for our children to share their world with their visitors. Thank you to our hard-working school staff for making this event possible. The P&C look forward to supporting this again event next year. 

Unfortunately, the P&C Trivia Night due to be held this Saturday 22 June has been postponed. We would like to thank all those who had already booked to attend. A new date will be proposed at the August P&C meeting and we would welcome all our Trivia buffs to attend to provide input for the event. In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding the event, please reach out to Katie at president@sgpspc.org.au. 

We would like to congratulate our Band students who performed at the Greater Wester Sydney Music Festival on the weekend. Performing for others is an important part of playing in a Band and we would like to thank our Band Conductors and Band Committee for organising this opportunity as well as our parents who supported their child’s attendance on Sunday. All our Band’s performed exceptionally well and received some constructive feedback. A special mention to our Training Band who did a magnificent job in appearing in their first public performance outside of School. 

It is busy time in our P&C Band Program as students depart for the 2024 Band Camp next week. A very big thank you to Briony Geekie, (Band Chairperson), Jaimy McGilvray (Camp Co-ordinator), Band Conductors and our supportive school staff who have been working hard to make the camp possible. Band camp provides an invaluable opportunity for our Band students to develop their music skills together and we look forward to the wonderful performance ahead at the Evening Band Concert on Wednesday 3 July. 

Can you help? Our Band Chairperson will be stepping down at the end of Term 3. Our P&C Band program has a legacy of commitment by parents to providing music opportunities to the students of SGPS. Our Band committee currently comprises mostly of parents with students in Years 5 & 6. The committee meet online at least once per Term. In order to futureproof our Band Program, we are looking for parent or grandparent volunteers and a Band Chairperson with children in the Band preferably Training or Concert Band, commencing Term 4. The Band Chairperson does not work in isolation and is supported by an established committee of parents and school staff. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the role of Band Chairperson, please reach out to Briony Geekie at sgpsbandcoordinator@gmail.com.  

We are looking for a Cake Stall Coordinator for the upcoming NSW Local Elections to be held on Saturday 14 September. We have BBQ Coordinators (thank you Tym Richardson and Matt Young). The Cake Stall Coordinator is a great role that can be shared by one or two people. The P&C Executive can assist you and we have lots of documentation about how to run the stall. This is a great opportunity to raise funds for our school. Can you help? If you are interested in coordinating the Cake Stall please reach out to Katie at president@sgpspc.org.au. 

Please join us on Tuesday, 13 August at 7:30pm for our first Term 3 P&C meeting. We have busy end of year planned and we would love to see you in person in the School Library or alternatively online. If you have attended a P&C meeting online this year, you will automatically receive the meeting link next term. If you have not attended online before but would like to join us for our next meeting, please contact Lauren Wright our P&C Secretary for the meeting link at secretary@sgpspc.org.au and the link will be provided to you prior to the meeting. 

• Band Camp: Monday/Tuesday 24-25 June
• Band Evening Concert, Wednesday 3 July
• P&C Meeting Tuesday 13 August, 7:30pm
• Election BBQ Saturday 14 September
• Interrelate (Years 3 – 6) Online on Tuesday 17 September 
• Where Did I Come From: 6pm
• Preparing for Puberty: 7:15pm

• For more information about the SGPS P&C, who we are and what we do, 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

Kind regards,

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

A holiday with family is a wonderful thing and Queensland was certainly warm, but I am glad to be back. As we wind down to the end of term I must remind everyone that it is time to return all your library books for the mid-year sorting, last borrowing will be in Week 9 so I can verify books have been returned and check any books for repair or replacement.

This term we are going to be looking at many of the Children’s Book Council of Australia – Shortlisted books for 2024, the students are going to explore how a critique is written for each of these books, explaining the positive qualities of the books and why they were included in the shortlist. Students will then be writing their own critiques of their favourite books. This will support the students in developing their critical thinking skills and ability to evaluate reading material for the purpose of pleasure reading or educational reading.

EVERY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT
Peter Cheong

“This highly original and engaging book about staying true to one’s identity and finding friendship in an unlikely place would be very appealing for the younger reader. Evocative language is used effectively, setting the tone for this whimsical story and maintaining mood throughout. Soft rhythm and effective repetition of phrasing reinforce elements of the narrative with a minimalistic approach used in placement of written text between each double page spread. Illustrative style is creative with colour palette perfectly matched to the written text. Design and layout are imaginative and creative in reinforcing and expanding on the narrative. Visuals provide added elements to the written text e.g. the subtle shadows in some windows towards the end of the book hint at another layer to the narrative.” 

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA
A useful guide including all critiques from our panel of 2024 CBCA expert judges, arranged by category. 

As promised here are the final numbers from our Book Fair 2024, our wonderful community spent a little over $12 200 on books, 32 donations were made to the library, we purchased 35 new books and were able to receive over $3000 in Scholastic credits to spend on new books and resources to support programs and student interests across the school. Well done everyone and a huge thank you to all the students, parents, family members and staff who supported Samuel Gilbert Public School through the Book Fair. Now I have to start picking costumes for next year, Hmmmm, any suggestions?

The Thursday Morning Read is going to have a two-week break while I am away, however, it will be back on in Week 7 and will be continuing every Thursday Morning at 8:20 am in the tiered Learning Space in the Library. All are welcome, students, siblings, parents, and grandparents, come along and listen to two fun stories before school. We will be reading some fun and entertaining books as well as some other books celebrating the many different cultural events that occur throughout the year.

Just a couple of friendly reminders about the twice a term Book Club catalogues that are sent home. 

• Book Club is sent home twice a term, early and mid-term. 
• Closing dates for ordering are usually Friday Week 5 and Friday Week 8 to allow for deliveries before the break. 
• Orders need to be made online via the Scholastic Book Club website, instructions can be found at the back of the Book Club catalogue.
• NO CASH PAYMENTS can be accepted by the school, please don’t send cash to the school.

Just a reminder that the Premiers Reading Challenge opened on 26 February 2024. Please use this information to access the Premier’s Reading Challenge to register your child/ren for the challenge:

How to Log-on to the Premier’s Reading Challenge:

Go to the NSW Department of Education portal login page, https://portal.education.nsw.gov.au/studentPortal/portal.education.nsw.gov.au

Students need to enter their username and password here.

If you do not know your username or password for the PRC website, please see the PRC coordinator at your school, or ask your teacher to help you find out your login details. 
 
 A link to the Premier’s Reading Challenge website can be found in the Student Portal under the Learning section.  Students are also able to add a link to the PRC in the My Link List section to make the PRC easier to find.  The URL to use is: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/studentExperience.html#/.

Public school students can also log in directly to the PRC websiteusing their Department of Education (DoE) username and password.  These are the same details a student would use to access the Student Portaland the computer network at school.  If you are unaware of your username and/or password, please contact your class teacher and ask for your Student Portal username and/or password.

For all the rules and booklists for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please visit the Premier’s Reading Challenge website: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/logon.html 

Rules for the Premier’s Reading Challenge can be found here: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/rules.html 

Booklists can be found here: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html but make sure you read from the right level of books.

If you have any questions, please, come and speak to me before or after school in the library.

• All students are permitted to borrow up to 4 books at a time, however they must use a book bag to carry and protect their books, this bag may be the excursion bag available from the uniform shop, a canvas shopping bag or any other suitable bag, the only requirement is the books must fit inside the bag. 
• If you have any concerns about lost, damaged or overdue books, please come and see me in the library before or after school to discuss what actions (if any) are needed to satisfy your concerns.
• The Premier’s Reading Challenge has started, please register your children to participate in this wonderful program, successful completion of the challenge will earn a certificate for your child’s efforts and, if the challenge is completed consistently across a number of years, a medallion at the end of the challenge. 
• When registering for the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please remember to FIRST log into your child’s departmental page, this has a link to the PRC which, when clicked, will automatically log you in and register your child as a participant. For more information, please read the Premier’s Reading Challenge section above.
• Treasure Hunt #3 will commence when I return, I am working on a whole new set of clues and a fun new set of experiences to help students explore the library and the different services at resources we have on offer. With so many students completing each treasure hunt I am going to have to increase the challenge level!

Yours in reading,

Adam Hands,
Librarian

The shop will be closed during the school holidays - Saturday 6 July to Sunday 21 July, 2024.

The shop will reopen on Monday 22 July, 2024 (8.30am – 9.30am).

Please bag the item/s, label the bag with your child’s name and class, explain what you want done and return to the school office or canteen. I will collect the item/s, exchange or credit as requested, and return the item/s to the classroom basket.

Kind Regards,

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

Last week, our Trischool’s Debating Team headed off to North Rocks Public School for Round 2 for the Trischool’s Debating Challenge. 

The team of Sebastian, Sailor, Paula and Lincoln were faced with the topic:

“That primary students should be allowed to use smartphones in the classroom”. 

We were assigned the negative side of the topic and after presenting some strong arguments and rebuttals our team was awarded with the win. 

Our Trischool’s Teams have now two wins and one loss from three debates in their competition and are doing exceptionally well for being first time debaters.

Also, last week our Premier’s Debating Team competed in Rd 2 of the Premier’s Debating Competition against Bella Vista Public School. The team of Amairaa, Ella, Lucy and Olivia were faced with a tough topic:“That Year 5 and 6 classes should set aside 20 minutes each day to watch and discuss the news.” We were lucky enough to win the toss and elected to take the affirmative case for the topic. 

After 1 hour of being locked away in a room preparing their case, the team performed outstandingly in presenting very convincing arguments and rebutting the oppositions arguments with great skill. 

After a long deliberation by the adjudicator, Samuel Gilbert was awarded the victory and the team is undefeated in the competition, winning two from two debates.

Mr Wicks & Mrs Pellizzari
Debating Coordinators

Week 9
Monday, 24 June and Tuesday, 25 June
Band Camp
  
Week 10
Wednesday, 3 July
Band Concert - Evening