Welcome to 2025 Term 1, our first newsletter for the year. The first day of school is always a highlight as last week we witnessed students and parents juggling the associated logistical and emotional elements associated. The vast majority of returning students were happy to see their friends and were great ambassadors in welcoming the new students. It was evident that among the parents, there were mixed emotions, especially for those for whom it was their first time. 

In the days leading up to the students’ return, school staff were engaged in professional development. These opportunities for the adults of our school to learn together are invaluable. This year we welcome a new teacher to our school, Mrs Amie Foscholo.  From next week, Mrs Alison Freeman, will be the rel. School Administration Manager. We also congratulate Mrs Freeman on the birth of her grandson, Isaac, born yesterday. Additionally we congratulate the wonderfull news for Mrs Greenaway on the birth of baby Aurora and Ms Laws on the birth of baby Oscar.

After this edition, the school newsletter will be sent via the School App each fortnight in each even week of the school term.

All the older students as well as the school staff are enjoying the arrival of our new Kindergarten students. It is an exciting time for the school community. Starting school is a rite of passage and a key transition point in education. Thank you to the school P&C for organising the ‘tears and tissues’ at the local café for our Kindergarten parents. We look forward to continuing the support for our newest students. 

Parent and teacher meetings are scheduled for Weeks 4, 5 and 6 of this term. For Years 1-4, this meeting is a two-way meeting for the sharing of information from not only the teacher but especially parents. For Years 5&6, your child will be encouraged to be part of the interview to contribute with goal setting and information sharing. 

It is still early in the year but the meeting should offer more information and direction from parents about their child which will benefit their child’s learning progress for the remainder of 2025. 

On the afternoon of 21 February, all Kindergarten parents are encouraged to attend to obtain important information from their child’s teacher, the school and P&C.   Parent and teacher interviews for kindergarten will occur towards the end of this school term.

The school warmly welcomes 85 new K-6 families. To all our new students and families here at Samuel Gilbert PS, we wish you a very warm welcome, and we hope that you enjoy your time here at this wonderful school. 

Next week, Friday 21 February, the school P&C and staff will be hosting our annual 'Welcome to School BBQ' to welcome all Kindergarten students and their families as well as families new to the school. It will commence at 5.30pm and there will be a free sausage sizzle as well as refreshments. It will be a fun-filled way to start the year and will provide a fabulous opportunity for you to meet other families in the school. 

Stating the obvious, your child/ren receive the best education when you and the teachers work together as a team. It is through reasonable parent enthusiasm, support and involvement that children are inspired to do their best; and teachers are able to facilitate what they need to learn. It is almost impossible for a child to reach their potential if you rely completely on 6 hours at school a day for their education.

It is also very important to communicate with the best person to help solve your questions. Teachers need to be informed of relevant information about the academic, social and developmental aspects of your child. This has to work the other way too for teachers to inform parents. Often our teachers will not be available for a lengthy meeting without it being scheduled. Parents are encouraged to negotiate an appointment time with your child’s teacher or through our administration office, telephone 8855 9500.  Alternatively, you may use the school’s email address samuelgilb-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

The following is our current school practice and will give you some direction.

• The Teacher for your child is always the first and best professional person with whom to speak regarding academic progress, social or behavioural concerns, class policy and procedures.
• Assistant Principals: If the question relates to a specific issue that is outside of the classroom, any questions regarding specific grade programs, issues relating to discipline / bullying, concerns that have not been resolved by speaking with the classroom teacher or queries relating to teaching and learning within the classroom.

Assistant Principal, K-6, esp. Kindergarten               Mrs Daniel Botton
Assistant Principal rel. K-6, esp. Years 1-2:                Mrs Belinda Buckley
Assistant Principal K-6, especially Years 3-4:             Mrs Garylene Neldner
Assistant Principal. K-6, esp. Years 5-6:                      Ms Kate Hayley

Deputy Principal K-6, especially Kindy - Yr2:              Ms Gilliane Appave
Deputy Principal K-6, especially Yrs 3-6:                     Ms Cathie Barclay 

Assistant Principal: Curriculum & Instruction:          Ms Amanda Keane

Administration and Finance:      
Rel School Administrative Manager:                          Mrs Alison Freeman

Principal                                                                           Mr Greg McLaren

The Principal & Deputy Principals: Issues that have not been resolved first through discussions with the class teacher and /or the Assistant Principal. Issues that relate to the whole school, child protection and student welfare, governance and management, financial and budgeting, community, concerns relating to teachers and other school staff.

The ‘school app’ is the best way to keep up to date with school events. Please continue to use the school app to maintain an up-to-date calendar and the ability to receive notifications when activities like excursions or carnivals are cancelled due to wet weather. If you search for Samuel Gilbert Public School in either store (App Store for Apple users or Play Store for Android users), you should find the app. Alternatively, visit our school website link to School eNews.

The school’s first business manager, Mrs Martinuzzo, is taking leave pending retirement. Mrs Martinuzzo’s vast knowledge and experience has enhanced systems in administration for the school. Her interpersonal skills were also appreciated and valued by all. She will be missed. We thank and wish Mrs Martinuzzo the very best for the future as she moves closer to her family on the mid north coast of NSW.

The first 2025 Parent & Citizens (P&C) meeting was held on Tuesday night. The P&C provides a great opportunity for new families to the school to be part of the important roles the school’s P&C undertakes. The P&C Federation states “Crucially, P&C Associations are a window to a child’s education. Participation in the education process is one of the best expressions of support you can give your child. It has the greatest impact on children’s engagement with schooling and educational success”. The school has a proud tradition of enjoying the efforts of an active P&C. We have a diligent P&C executive which organises community special events, operating the canteen, fundraising, uniform merchandising and when permitted overseeing extra curricula activities. The school is extremely grateful to Mrs Katie Pike for her leadership as P&C president as well as other community minded members of the P&C.

Greg McLaren
PRINCIPAL

We are pleased to see most students happy and settled into their new classrooms and taking the opportunity to establish new friendships as well as rekindling existing ones. Starting a new year is always an exciting time with many new opportunities available to our students.

Over the next few weeks teachers are looking forward to having the opportunity to meet with you to discuss your child’s learning needs, goals for the year and any other matters you feel are important to share. Stage 3 students will be an integral part of these interviews as we believe, as our senior students, they should have the opportunity to share with us what matters most to them at school. We are excited to see if this new initiative is appreciated by families. 

We would like as many families as possible to attend the interviews and encourage you to call the office for assistance if you are having difficulty making a booking. All information for making a booking is available on the app.   Go to https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au and use the code y8r4t to make your booking. 

NAPLAN is a National testing program for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The reporting format was changed in 2023 from the bands used in previous years to 4 levels of achievement. 

With the exception of the Year 3 Writing component all tests will be conducted online. 

The test period is between Wednesday 12 March and Monday 24 March. At Samuel Gilbert we endeavour to complete the testing in the first 5 days of the window to allow a few catch up tests to be provided.

Ideally students will be at school on the test days so that they can complete these with their classmates. We encourage you to make appointments etc outside the test period and ensure students are on time for school. 

Students will require a working set of headphones. These should be functional headphones as we often find the novelty style of headphones ( eg covered in fur fabric etc) do not pick up the NAPLAN audio effectively. 

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s participation in NAPLAN please speak to your child’s teacher. Contact will be made by the school to families with children in Years 3 and 5 who may be eligible for exemption or withdrawal. 

Parents and carers can access support and resources on the NAP – National Assessment website https://nap.edu.au
Additional information can be found on the NESA website which is NESA is the Test Administration Authority (TAA) of all NSW schools. https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au

Our school swimming carnival at Waves Pool will be held in Week 5 on Wednesday 26 February. All children in Years 3-6 are expected to attend and participate in some of the activities provided on the day. The Splash Pad provides a wonderful opportunity for our non swimmers to cool down as there is no deep water, slides and showers are designed to keep children wet and entertained regardless of swimming ability. 

If you have not yet returned the entry forms and permission notes sent via School Bytes please do so as soon as possible so that we can finalise events and bus organisation. 

A reminder to families with students in Year 4 wishing to apply for Opportunity Class placement and Year 6 wishing to apply for Selective High School placement in 2026 that the online application portal will close for applications on Friday 21 February 2025. The application process was altered last year with applications being accepted online from 7 November 2024 changes to the application and placement process

The online application link for parents and carers is available at Selective high schools and opportunity classes until 21 February 2025.

On Monday 3 March online expressions of interest for High School placements will open. Parents and Carers will be able to use the enrolment tab on the school website to apply.

All Year 6 students need to have an application entered even if they are not seeking an enrolment in a government school and a placement is not required (PNR).

This application process will inform you of your local school on the basis of your home address and will also provide the opportunity to make an application for placement at other government schools.

It is important that if you have changed address this is updated on our system – please notify the office if this is the case. 

Assemblies are held  fortnightly on Friday afternoons at 2:00pm.

We will hold a whole school assembly once a term in Week 10 at the same time. 

Years K-2 will hold their assemblies in the odd weeks and Years 3-6 in the even weeks. More details of assemblies will be sent via your class teachers.

PSSA trials for summer teams continue this week. The summer sports we participate in at PSSA are Cricket, Touch Football, Softball and Tee Ball and Basketball. For children who miss out this year on inclusion in a team a fun school sport program is run at school for house points between recess and lunch. 

On Thursday 20 February approximately 35 students will be attending the Castle Hill Zone trials at Bernie Mullane for inclusion in a representative Zone team in either AFL, Basketball, Netball, Rugby League, Football, Softball or Touch Football. With 17 schools participating the standard of play for selection is extremely high, with some coaches expecting students to play at a representative level outside of school. Each school is able to send three students from Years 5 or 6 for each sport with additional students sometimes accepted with convenor permission. Students nominated for the sports they were interested in last year, listing their highest level of achievement. Following this coaches of PSSA teams were consulted to list their top three students in each sport. From here we made a determination of the three children we would send and where children were deemed of similar ability priority was given to Year 6 students. 

We wish all students attending the trial the best of luck. Thank you to Mr Lau who will attend as team manager on the day. 

Tennis – On Monday 3 March the Sydney West trials will be held at the Dural Tennis Courts. A new process has been introduced for these trials which I will inform students of next Monday at assembly. Children need to be of Yellow Ball standard or above.  In addition to this I believe there are a number of students keen to be involved in the Todd Woodbridge Cup which is held in August. https://www.tennis.com.au/nsw/players/school/todd-woodbridge-cup

Last year we were unable to form full teams so please let me know if you would like your child to be involved in 2025. 

The dance program with Miss Stacey has commenced this week with both Before School Groups and class groups underway. This term Year 6, Year 5, Year 4, Year 2 and 1JE and 1B will have their 8 lessons with Year 3, 1O, 1L and Kindergarten having their lessons in Term 3. 

Lessons with Miss Stacey will be held in the new hall. 

Mrs Grossmith will be taking a Stage 3 Pom group, Ms Spencer and Mrs Zebib a Stage 1 group and Miss Mahony a Kindergarten group. Auditions for these groups are being held over the next few weeks. A small cost is required for costumes for children selected into these groups. We thank these teachers for giving up their time to facilitate these groups. 

If any families have jazz shoes that their children have outgrown we always appreciate donations to help students in school groups who do not participate in dance outside of school.

Our Kindergarten students have had an excellent start to their schooling at Samuel Gilbert. We thank parents for their positivity, teachers for their boundless care and energy and SLSOs for their kind support in ensuring our youngest students have a strong start to school.

Kindergarten students have been going on school adventure tours and getting to know the school. Mr McLaren, Ms Barclay and Ms Appave have enjoyed their visits from KB, KF, KK and KM. Today two of our classes had their first visit to the school library (photo below).

Many of our older students have been looking out for their younger siblings, neighbours and friends and helping them learn school routines, particularly and playtimes.

As we are making a change from Meet the Teacher afternoons to earlier Parent/Teacher interviews please read the Stage newsletters coming home Thursday and Friday. These will contain important information for families on class routines and expectations, stage timetables, which will give you information on when to wear your sports uniform and bring library bags, and an overview of learning in each key learning area.

Our K-2 students are trialling a morning drop off under the blue COLA. This is a central meeting point for families and not a general assembly time. As soon as the bell goes, students will be walked from the COLA to their classes to begin their morning learning. Kindergarten students have had a strong start to the year and are learning to be brave and independent. We ask that prior to the bell or no later than bell time, parents and grandparents give their students a reassuring wave and smile and leave, allowing our teachers to take pastoral care and walk their classes to their classrooms. We promise that although there might be a few tears, the quicker we start the morning routine, the more quickly they settle.

Cathie Barclay and Gilliane Appave
DEPUTY PRINCIPALS

Welcome to the 2025 school year. We are delighted to see our returning families for a new year, and we extend a warm welcome to the new families who have joined us in 2025.  There are exciting plans underway for events in 2025 and the P&C look forward to partnering with the school and our parents and carers as we work to support the special community that we have here at SGPS.

For decades, researchers have pointed to one key success factor for students that transcends nearly all others, such as socio-economic status, student background or the kind of school a student attends: parental involvement. The P&C is the perfect avenue to be involved your child’s education. The SGPS P&C has a strong community presence thanks to the legacy of P&C volunteers over the years and so we invite all members of our community to consider how you can be involved in our school community in 2025.

The purpose of the P&C is to assist our school and promote the interests of the entire school community. The SGPS P&C:

• promote the interests of the school by partnering with our parents, students and the School Executive, and
• assist in providing facilities and equipment that promote the wellbeing of the students.

We do this by facilitating services such as the Band program, Canteen and Uniform Shop and organising events that build community and raise funds such as the Great Fete, Trivia Night, BBQ’s, Disco and Fun Runs. We also facilitate the class parent network at the school so that we can support our school and parents.

Our SGPS P&C is an active Association because we have a community of committed parents who volunteer for the benefit of our school. The SGPS P&C Executive comprise of working parents who like you, juggle work, extra-curricular activities and family.

For those who are new to SGPS, we would like to introduce a few of our 2025 P&C Executive members over the course of the next few weeks and highlight the contribution that these wonderful volunteers make to our School community. To begin, we introduce our P&C President, Katie Pike.

Family: My husband Stu and I have 3 children – James in year 9 at Castle Hill High, Archie in year 6 and Eleanor in year 4 at SGPS.   We also have a 3 year old Beaglier named Papley who is probably the most adored family member.

What do you do when you are not volunteering at SGPS? For my day job, I work full time in finance as the Public Sector Controller for Microsoft ANZ.  Outside of work, I spend a lot of time driving my children to their various sporting activities (AFL, soccer, basketball, dancing and netball) and I also volunteer as secretary for the Westbrook Junior Australian Rules Football club and manager for my son Archie’s footy team.  As a family, we are very passionate Sydney Swans supporters and we also like to take a walk (on any weekend morning we have free) to the Local Bean for a coffee/smoothie.

Why do you volunteer with the P&C? I grew up with parents who were heavily involved in the P&C at my primary school (in Birrong for those who have heard of it), and I always loved being involved and helping out.  I loved feeling like a part of a close-knit community and I have always seen the value it brings to a school.  So when my kids started at school here at SGPS I also wanted to get involved.  Now I can see just what a huge impact the P&C has here at Samuel Gilbert, from providing amazing resources to our kids in conjunction with the school (e.g. 1 to 1 laptops/devices for the whole school), to running services and programs that help families out (e.g. the canteen), and making sure that no family or community member is in need.   I am proud of what the P&C does here, and I am glad that I can work here to leave a legacy that will benefit many families in the future.

Thank you Katie for all you do, especially behind the scenes for our school community!

What about you? 
If you would like to contribute to your child’s school this year, the P&C is a wonderful place to start. Come and meet some like-minded parents and together, we can make a difference to our school community. For more information, please contact our President, Katie Pike at katie.pike@sgpspc.org.au.

With the 2025 Kindergarten cohort beginning their schooling journey last week, the P&C welcomed our new parents at the annual Cheers and Tears at the Local Bean Café. Thank you to the P&C Exec members and school executive members who attended. We are very much looking forward to seeing you at our Kindy/new Family BBQ.

The P&C in partnership with the School and OOSH, will be hosting a Welcome to School BBQ on Friday 21 February 2025 at 5:30pm following the Kindy Information session. All new families to the school from Kindy and other year groups are invited to attend. This is an opportunity to meet other new parents as well as current parents from the school. We look forward to meeting you and your family!

All SGPS community members to attend our monthly P&C meetings. Our P&C meets every second Tuesday of the month in person and/or online. We are supported by the attendance of our School Executive. We were delighted to welcome some new parents at the first P&C meeting for the year which was held on Tuesday 11 February 2025.

To find out more about the P&C and how you can get involved in your child’s school please join us for our next P&C meeting on Tuesday 11 March at 7:30pm in the school library or online. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Each year we have a wonderful group of parents who are assigned as class parents for each class. Our class parents provide a conduit between the school and P&C, the classroom teacher and the parents in each class. Information about the role and responsibilities of a SGPS Class Parent and Expressions of Interest Forms for 2025 have been distributed on the school app this week. Please return your expression of interest by Wednesday 19^th February to your class teacher. We hope to notify class parents by Friday 21 February.  

In order to receive communications from your 2025 class parent, parents and carers must sign up to be on the class contact list. If you have previously signed up, you must sign up each year as the school cannot provide us with your private contact information. The P&C values your privacy and as such, consent is required each year. The link to sign up will be posted on the school app shortly. A copy of the QR code will also be made available around the school and we encourage our parents and carers to sign up as soon as possible so that class whats app groups can be formed as soon as possible.

The P&C are hiring! The P&C is currently recruiting for 2 positions:

1.            A Uniform Shop Sales Assistant – 10 hours per week across 2 days during school terms; and

2.           A P&C Business Manager managing the uniform shop and canteen businesses – 24 hours per week during school term.

If you know of anyone interested, please contact us. A copy of the position descriptions are available on the school app. Applications can be sent via email to katie.pike@sgpspc.org.au

The uniform shop continues to be open on a Monday 8:15-9:30am and Wednesday 2:30pm-3:30pm Online orders can be placed using Munch Monitor. Ordered items will be delivered to classrooms and sent home with students once prepared. For more information please visit:  SGPS P&C Uniform Shop

The SGPS P&C are still in need of volunteers to help in the canteen in Term 1.  The canteen roster is live on Sign-Up, thank you to those who have already signed up. We do need more volunteers to help in the canteen for Term 1 to help us keep costs down.  If you can help to do either the first shift (9am-11:15am) or the second shift (11:30am-2pm) please sign up at this link on the day/s you can help - https://signup.com/go/jFXBxbT

The SGPS P&C oversee a fabulous Band Program at SPGS for Years 3-6 students. A reminder that Band rehearsals commence next week at 7:30am (arrive by 7:25am) as follows:

• Monday 17^th February – Performance Band
• Tuesday 18^th February – Training Band
• Wednesday 19^th February – Concert Band
• Thursday 20^th February – Performance Band

Our Band program is run by a Band Committee which comprises of a group of dedicated parent volunteers and volunteer staff members, with Jana Luchman as our Band Chairperson. Our Band program continues to grow from strength to strength under the expertise of our conductor, Heather Skinner who will be overseeing the Band program this year. A reminder to check see the Band section of this newsletter for further information as well as the Band Portal, Bandforte. We look forward to hearing more wonderful music from our band students this year.

If you have any questions regarding our Band Program or are interested in volunteering on the Band Committee, please contact our Band Coordinator, Jana Luchman at: sgpsbandcoordinator@gmail.com.  

Our parents and carers are a valuable part of our school community and we are very much looking forward to working with you in 2025. If you have any questions about the SGPS P&C, please do not hesitate to send an email to our president Katie Pike at katie.pike@sgpspc.org.au.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Tye
SGPS P&C

Please make sure you order your children’s lunches before the cut off time of 9am and confirm it has gone through.

We need your help. Volunteers are very low at the moment and we only ask that you help as little as once a term, once a month or whenever you can. Please go on to the sign up available on the school website and put your name down. If you put your name down and have to take it off, please ring the school and they will put you through to us and let us know. If you don’t turn up we are left on our own.

Please remember children should not be bringing more then $5 notes as we don’t carry much change, and $5 is plenty to buy something.

Thanks Jenelle, Sue and Kiarn 

Week 4
Monday, 17 February 
Kindergarten Best Start in class
Tuesday, 18 February
Kindergarten Best Start in class
Wednesday, 19 February
Kindergarten Best Start in class
Thursday, 20 February
Kindergarten Best Start in class
CHPSSA Zone Sport Trials Day
Friday, 21 February
Kindergarten Best Start in class
Lorin Nicholson Year 6 Leadership Day 

Week 5
Monday, 24 to Friday, 28 February
Life Education
Year 2 Swim Scheme 
Wednesday, 26 February
SGPS Swimming Carnival