THE UPSIDE

18th of October 2023 -ISSUE 16

News and updates from

It was wonderful to welcome our students and families back last week! 

Term 4 is always an exciting term with many special events and celebrations in our calendar. In addition to that the end of the year always promises to be a time of growth and learning.

As parents and carers you know your child better than anyone and you are best placed to provide opportunities to support and guide your children to have safer online experiences. It is timely reminder that all children need help learning how to remain safe when using technology online. The eSafety Commissioner has wonderful parent resources that provide a range of practical tips and advice on what to do if things go wrong. Please click the image below to access a the booklet English, Chinese, Greek, Italian and Spanish.

Is your child in Year 5 and considering applying for a selective high school? 

Applications for Year 7 entry in 2025 are open from Monday, 9 October 2023 and close Monday, 20 November 2023.

You apply online through the application site during this time.

The parent or carer who lives with their child for most of the time should submit the application.

The application takes approximately 8 minutes to complete. Use landscape mode on a mobile phone for the best viewing experience.

We are currently searching for interested parties to start-up our school canteen. As per NSW Department of Education guidelines, an advertisement calling for tenders is currently online. Please select the image below to access advertisement.

Make sure to mark the date in your calendar......as the school year draws to a close, we want to celebrate the wonderful sense of togetherness that defines our Ultimo Public School community. Join us for an enchanting evening of music, laughter and camaraderie at our end of year sing-a-long.

Families are invited to bring a picnic and blanket to the evening.

Tell Them From Me is a suite of surveys for measuring student engagement and wellbeing.  The surveys capture student, parent and teacher voices, providing reliable evidence for schools to use in identifying strengths and areas for improvement. Please navigate to the Department's website if you would like additional information about the survey.

The parent survey is now open and I would like to encourage all of our families to complete it. The survey is short and should only take approximately 15 minutes.

Our Years 4-6 students will complete the student surveys from next week. Please contact your child's teacher if you would like your child to opt-out.

This term Stage 3 will be hosting their Mini Fair Fundraiser on Friday 3rd November (Week 4)

All students are encouraged to fundraiser within their families to purchase tickets that can be used on the day.

These tickets can be purchased on Flexi schools and will be distributed the morning of the fair.

Harris Scholarship

Year 6 students have the opportunity to apply for the Harris Community Scholarship, which assists with the cost of secondary and tertiary education.
Applications close at 3:00 pm on Friday 24th November 2023.
Further information and consent form can be found on ENews and/or students Google Classrooms

Please download Sentral Parents app to consent to the excursions and incursions for Term 4 and make a payment. If you have any difficulties please email the school to set up a time for a quick meeting. 

If your child is in Year 2 and has a Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre Membership please email the school to amend the fees .Any emails prior to today have been amended. 

Singers from our school in Stage 2 will be part of a huge choir of more than 700 singers + orchestra + the famous pipe organ, performing a fabulous program of great choral and orchestral works at the Sydney Town Hall on October 22. We're raising money to continue to fund Music Therapy for sick kids at The Children's Hospital at Westmead. It's therapy that's proven to work! Come join us on the day or perhaps consider making a donation. Help us help them if you can.  Find out more and book tickets at csme.org.au. 

Ms Barbagallo

Welcome to Term 4! I hope you all had a restful break with your families and were able to enjoy some great books with your child. A few dates to be aware of this term.

Scholastic Book Club: Orders due Friday 27th October

Scholastic Book Club Issue 7 was distributed to families this week. Orders are due by Friday 27th October. Students can purchase books at a discounted rate through scholastic book club. The best part is 15% of your order value is given back to our school. It is easy to order. Just go to scholastic.com.au/loop or by using the LOOP app which you can download from the App Store or Google Play. Once you select your books, use the drop-down menu to find your class and the books will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Please note the school does not take cash for Book Club orders.

Stage 1: Author studies

Shaun Tan

Years 1 & 2 during Term 3 library lessons, learnt about visual literacy and how to apply these techniques when understanding a character’s thoughts and feelings within a text. Students also applied their knowledge of the textual concept learnt earlier in the year, of connotation, symbol and imagery and how Shaun Tan uses this within his text to portray a deeper message. In Week 10, students were able to enjoy a screening of the Academy award winning animated short film, The Lost Thing, which is a picture book written and illustrated by Shaun Tan. The library had that familiar smell of popcorn at the movies and as you can see, students were mesmerised by the creative abilities of Shaun Tan to bring his characters to life.

Premiers Reading Challenge certificates

The Premiers Reading challenge for 2023 has closed. Congratulations to all students who have completed the challenge. Students will receive their participation certificates towards the end of the term.

Students who have achieved their Gold and Platinum certificates will have these presented at the Presentation Day Assembly this term.

Please note it has come to my attention that Kindergarten last year (current Year 1 students) did not receive their participation certificates last year for the PRC. These will be sent home with classroom teachers this week.

Library Day

This term, some classes have had their Library day moved. Please check with child’s teacher or myself, if you are unsure which day your child has Library. Also, a friendly reminder that your child must have a library bag if they wish to borrow books. Ultimo Public School Library bags can be purchased via Flexischools, or you are welcome to send your child with a fabric tote bag. Thank you for your support

By Claire, Jeehwan, Yash, Zaria

Welcome back students to Ultimo public school. We hope you enjoyed your holiday. As this is the last term of the year, we will have a very busy term, so remember to be a respectful, responsible learner at all times.

This term Stage 2 and 3 will have a chance to participate in a hockey competition. The teams are the Arizona Coyotes, the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanches. Good luck to all the teams.

Last week 3 students made it to the regional athletics carnival. Congratulations to the 3 students.

 Martin came 3rd and will be going to States Athletic Carnival  next Wednesday representing  our region. We wish him the best.

In Week 4 Stage 3 are hosting the Stage 3 Mini Fair on Friday the 3rd of November.  It will be GREAT fun especially since there will be heaps of stickers and raffle prizes to be won. To have a chance to win the School Raffle Prize make sure to get some tickets on the Flexischools app for $1 each. The tickets have to be purchased before Friday the 3rd of November for them to be valid. Also each stall will have a Stage Raffle Prize which you can have a chance to win if you spend tickets at their stall! So remember to buy heaps of tickets for your kid/kids to spend and have fun with at the Stage 3 Mini Fair!!!

This week on Tuesday, 15 students went to the very first rehearsal of School Spectacular, an event that showcases students' talents and has happened for the last 40 years. This year is the 40th anniversary of the event. We wish them good luck with their upcoming show.

Kindergarten has had a fantastic start to Term 4! In writing, students have been studying a text called ‘Wombat Stew’ and learning about recipes. They even wrote a recipe for friendship! In mathematics, students have been measuring different items around the classroom and finding which one is the tallest or shortest. Students have really enjoyed measuring different lengths, including shoes! Lastly, students have started gymnastics and dance in sports. They enjoyed creating dance movement patterns, flying through the air, hanging on bars, and building many other skills.  

We had a fantastic start to Transition 1 for our Kindergarten students starting in 2024. The students were excited to spend the morning at Ultimo Public School, where they participated in a literacy session exploring the text ‘Elmer’ and colors. We are thrilled to see them again at our next Transition!

Year 1 Excursion: Alphabetical Sydney 

On Thursday of week 10 last term, Year 1 attended a performance of Alphabetical Sydney at the beautiful Sydney Opera House. After exploring this text as our focus for the term, it was a fantastic way to end the term and experience a creative interpretation of text. Big shout out to the incredible music in the production from our very own Greta Gertler Gold and Lila from 2T! After the performance students enjoyed lunch with a pretty amazing view.

Year 2 Excursion: A is for Awesome Science 

Last Friday Year 2 attended the A is for Awesome Science performance at the Seymour Centre that saw students enjoy Professor Lexi Con’s curation of  a curious collection of her favourite words (one for every letter of the alphabet) with each word providing Professor Noel Edge with an inspirational jumping-off point for 26 quirky scientific demonstrations that squish and squirt, float and fly, erupt and explode. It was an exciting and energised way to begin the term!

K-2 Incursion: Just you like program

 Last Wednesday students attended a free incursion run by Variety NSW. Just Like You is a disability awareness program designed to build understanding, acceptance and inclusion. Through celebrating differences, developing empathy and creating inclusion, students learn that people with a disability are the same as everyone else – they are ‘Just Like You’.Through the incursion, students gained a fundamental understanding of why uniqueness is valued and should be celebrated, learning how to identify differences as a positive feature in their lives. We had a high rate of positive feedback from students about this opportunity with several students asking to share anecdotal stories in class about their family and own lived experience with disability - how special.

Integrated writing unit: A is for Australia and A is for Australian Reefs 

Our focus texts for the first half of this term are A is for Australia and A is for Australian Reefs. These texts act as the inspiration for our integrated geography and writing unit which has a strong focus on building the vocabulary of students to describe:

- the natural and man-made features of places

-connections people have with places 

-how people can care for places 

You can support this learning at home by:

-identifying and describing natural and man-made features of places that you visit

-exploring maps to investigate Australia’s position in relation to other countries 

-share personal stories of travel and experiences of how technology has improved people’s access to places

Stage 1 Soccer Skills - Lunchtime group

Mr Riordan and Mr Roby have continued the Stage 1 soccer group into term 4. This group alternates between the year groups each week and involves students practising a range of skill drills before playing a short game. All students are welcome to join - they attend Wentworth Park at lunch on a Monday

Parents as Partners - Term 4 support

If you are interested in supporting reading in literacy groups (first block of the day) or other learning experiences, please reach out to your classroom teacher. We would love your help and to have you involved!

Morning Drop off routine 

This is a friendly reminder that our students should be walking independently to their classrooms each morning. At times, it might be necessary to escort your child. Please be mindful that lingering outside of classrooms can cause unnecessary distractions for our students and prevent lessons from beginning during optimum learning time.  We appreciate your understanding and diligence. 

Christmas In Pyrmont

Sunday, 26th November 2023: Christmas In Pyrmont community event, Refinery Square, Bowman St .
P & C will be seeking volunteers to assist with a Barbecue Stall from 8.30am on the day.
Stay tuned for a Volunteer list to follow soon!

UPS Halloween Disco

Volunteer opportunities for "UPS Halloween Disco Fri 27 Oct 23" are now open.

Please click on the following web link (or copy it into your web browser if clicking doesn't work) to go to the signup sheet:

volunteersignup.org/3ALYT

To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do.

Thank you for volunteering!

 

Please note all our important dates are live on our school website and your Sentral Calendar on your app that can be merged to your personal calendar 

October:

Friday 20th - K Honduras Assembly

Tuesday 24th-Stage 2 Koori Kinnections Incursion

Wednesday 25th -Just Like Me Incursion (3-6)

Friday 27th- 3/4 Chile Assembly

Friday 27th- P&C Halloween Disco

 November

Friday 3rd November- Year 6 fundraiser

Ultimo PS is not affiliated with any of the following companies or organizations.