Principals Message

We are now in our final week of Term 1 and as always its mind blowing how quickly it has come along. We’ve seen our new little Kinders settle in and become part of the school fabric and welcomed some other new students into our school community. We have also had a lot of fun events whilst keeping heads down and completing some high quality work. As always we have a very strong focus on independent ability with our students as we want them to become confident and self-driven learners which is just what they will need in this amazingly complex and technological 21st Century. Take the time to congratulate your kids over the break as we haven’t had any children not make progress and their efforts should make you proud.

Easter Hat Parade – Thanks for coming along! It was great fun and a fantastic lead into the Easter long weekend. Thank you to Bron Williams for organising the Hot Cross Buns they were a HIT. Yummo!

I’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy break from school, take the opportunity to connect with your wonderful children and rest up; Term Two is going to be awesome. Term Two is our annual Multicultural focus, where we travel around the world in 40 days. We will finish the term with another multicultural feast and sharing table. Thank you also to our Harrington Team Awesome which includes our teaching and support staff. They work very hard, give up a lot of their own time and cherish the students at this school wholeheartedly. Well done, everyone.

Thought for the Week

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens and nature. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be”. ≈ Anne Frank

Fundraising

I would like to thank you all for contributing to our fundraising this term. It did come up at the last P & C meeting that there were some concerns at how much fundraising has taken place this term so I would like to reassure parents and explain what has and will happen over the year. In most schools fundraising takes place solely with the P & C and they raise funds to subsidise and support events, excursions, resources etc. for their schools. It has been a practice here for many years that the school fundraisers for excursions which allow it to be kept separate from P & C though they always, willingly, participate in our school fete. Last year it was decided that the money raised through fundraising would support all of our students K-6 to have cheaper major excursions throughout the year. I need to make that clear, as some families have felt they didn’t want to support fundraising for 3-6 excursions if their children weren’t involved even though we did have a K-2 excursion that was subsidised last year and will be every year. Students and families in K-2 will also benefit for 3-6 excursions being subsidised when their child is in those grades. We are also looking for the K-2 component of the fundraising to involve a great reading program for our K-2 students called Books in Homes which involves a number of free books for each student and encouragement in their home reading.

This term we have had 2 fundraising events, the Chocolate Drive and the 5c Collection. These will be the only school based fundraisers for the rest of the year until the fete in Term 4. P & C historically have the Easter Raffle then raise the rest of their revenue through the canteen; Bunning’s BBQs, the Halloween Disco and the stalls at the fete. We hope now that you see them in perspective you can appreciate that we’ve tried to keep them to a minimum but also rely on them to keep costs to a minimum for our students whilst still attempting to offer them every opportunity possible.

The SRC will hold 2 charity fundraisers over the year; they’ve already done Crazy Hair Day for the Leukaemia Foundation and will do Genes for Jeans Day to support Genetic Research.

Good Luck to Mr & Mrs Eggins

We would like to thank Mrs Eggins for her commitment this term and wish her and Brian all the best for the addition to their family that is coming along very soon.

ANZAC School Service

We are holding our school ANZAC Service this Friday 8 April between 2-3pm. We have some special guests attending, Paul Pannowitz, Neil Gibson and Mike Kelly. We would also like to thank in advance Mrs Gai Collison for once again creating the wreaths for the school and town ANZAC services – she is an incredibly valued member of our school community. We welcome all family and community members to attend this school service if they would like to.

ANZAC March and harrington Service

We have been once again invited to march alongside veterans and current Army/Air force and Naval personnel at our Harrington ANZAC march. This is an incredibly important event for our children to be involved with and assists them to appreciate and embrace our past and the efforts of all that have gone before us.

Our School Captains and Vice Captains will be a part of the service and our School Choir is singing a medley of songs starting with ‘I am Australian’ during the service. We ask that as many of our school community be at the march, to stand tall and proud with us on the day. All students participating in the march will be provided with a thankyou sausage sizzle during the next week at school. Our focus across the whole school during week one will be ANZACs.

When: Monday 25 April, 2016

Meet: Butcher shop on Beach Street at 10:30 am to march at 10:45

Wear: full sport/representative uniform and please bring a hat for the service.

Traffic details - Stop Sign, Drop Off Zone, SCHOOL ZONE speeds

We have had some interest in creating a Drop Off Zone at the front of the school which will mean no parking just in front of the bus bay so parents can safely drop off students without parking. We ask that parents park further down, in Coode Street or across the road if they are going to stop. I will need to lodge this request with council but I’m sure we can attempt to develop this Drop Off Zone ourselves in the meantime as it is a very logical request.

Mother’s Day- Our Communal Cookbook

Last week a note went home asking for families to contribute a recipe to our school Cook Book. Please get your recipe in as soon as you can so we can start getting it together. These will be collated and our cookbook created ready for Mother’s Day. Notes outlining cost and number required will go out early in Term 2. The amount we charge for Mother’s and Father’s Day gifts are designed to cover costs with minimal revenue gained.

Chocolate Drive Fundraising Event

Please make sure you have brought in your fundraising envelopes for our Chocolate Drive. We have got some more to sell if anyone wants to do a last effort over the break. Thank you to all of our families for supporting us.

Check Skoolbag for:

·  Active After School Sports details

·  Friday Sport Organisation

·  Event details for each week

·  Newsletters and copies of letters/flyers that have been sent home.

PBL: Focus for this two week period:

Each week classes explore what these look like and what behaviour is expected of them to meet these goals.

Week 1 - All Settings: Personal Best - Accept and Follow directions.

Week 2 - All Teaching & Learning Spaces: Personal Best - Have a Go before you say no.

Awards

We will be including in the next few newsletters an outline of the school reward systems. We like to use our awards to acknowledge the efforts and hard work of students not necessarily the outcome they’ve produced. Students receive Class Awards and PBL Awards that are chosen by class teachers each fortnight. Class Awards are for efforts in any learning area whilst a PBL Award is for embracing and working towards our school values and expectations. Each teacher also recommends a student for a Principal Award and when it’s their turn to perform at an assembly teachers choose a Superstar of the Class Award. Class Awards, Principal Awards, Academic Certificates (ICAS), can be counted towards our Gold Award and Honour Student System.

Ten Awards = One Gold Award. Five Gold Awards = Honour Student.

Across all of our areas we have our Hi 5s these are for students who are seen embracing our school expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Personal Best. These can be given across many settings and are acknowledged by a Random Prize Draw on Mondays and a pizza lunch at the end of each term for students achieving the highest number of High 5s over 10 weeks. Classrooms have a Dojo acknowledgement and reward system which is driven by class teachers.

Please understand that teachers will make every effort to contact parents about students getting Principal Awards and Superstar of the Class at assemblies. It may not always be possible as their days are very full - all families are welcome and encouraged to attend all assemblies though.

Stewart House

Each year, 1800 public school children in need, stay at Stewart House from many parts of NSW and the ACT. During their stay, children are provided with optometric, dental and medical treatment as well as emotional support. This is balanced with health and educational programs and out of school activities to boost their self-esteem and to promote a healthier lifestyle.

This year our school would love to support this wonderful program. An envelope has been attached to this newsletter requesting a donation of at least $2. Please place the donation in the envelope and return to the school office by Monday 9 May 2016. Please get behind this wonderful program. The name of the person donating will be placed in the draw to win a $4000 holiday to a destination of your choice.

school Payments/School EFTPOS

Just a little reminder, all school payments to the office need to be made in the morning to allow for banking. The school has established an EFTPOS facility which is available for amounts of $20 and over. We cannot accept payment over the phone; however credit card slips will be available.

Assembly

Congratulations to Kindergarten and Mrs Burrows for their delightful presentation at last week’s assembly. There is nothing cuter than a Kinder presentation, they can never do anything wrong with that cute factor!! Well done to all students receiving awards. Can we also apologise for the mistake made in our last newsletter. The Superstar of the 1 / 2 class was Mya not Issy sorry for the mistake.

K / Principal Awards
Travis / Luke
Charlie / Myles
Paige / Bailey
Bria / Sabella
Makayla - PBL / Bridie
1/2 / Music Awards
Madyson / Iris
Chevy / Lucas
Shaylee / Bridie
Tiarna
Jake
Pearl - PBL
2/3/4 / Class Of The Week
Paris / 4/5
Declan
Connor
Trinesha
Tamara - PBL
4/5 / Super Star Of The Week
Mitch / Michael
Makayla
Hayden
Summer
Wil
Karisa - PBL
5/6
Max
Tynesha
Darcy
Kai
Blair - PBL

Calendar -

Term 1, Coming Events

Week 11

Friday, April 8 School ANZAC Ceremony 2-3pm

Term 2, Coming Events

Week 1

Monday, April 25 ANZAC Day

Tuesday, April 26 Staff Development Day

Wednesday, April 27 Students Return

Friday, April 29 PSSA Soccer

Week 2

Wednesday, May 4 Zone Touch Football Trials

Friday, May 6 Zone Cross Country Assembly 5/6 Class Item

P & C Events

Our next P & C meeting will be on Monday evening 16 May from 6:30pm. We would love to see as many people come along as possible.

Easter Raffle

Thank you to all of our families that contributed to the Easter Raffle this year by either donating chocolates, selling tickets or both as we know many of you did. We appreciate all that you do to support our P & C.

Easter Raffle Major Prizes winner were:

1st - Lorraine Musgrave

2nd - Stevens Family

3rd - Angie Galante

4th - Max Dyer

5th - Lucas Prins

6th - Ebony Grant

Phones, Hand Held Devices and Social Media

This is just a reminder that all phones and hand held devices (iPods, mp3’s etc.) are to be kept at the office throughout the school day. They can be handed to the office in the mornings and collected as the students leave. We would also like to make it very clear, due to many ongoing issues with senior students and social media, that the school does not support primary school students on social media. We have clear policies and procedures regarding cyber-safety and if need be will follow them up with students bullying or inappropriately involving other students on social media sites if they cross over into the school domain.

Sporting Schools Program

The Sporting Schools Program (Active After School Sport) will commence on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 2 May 2016. Monday will be tennis with Alex Smith, 3 to 4pm and Wednesday will be hockey with Chaplain Mark Smith, 3-4pm. Numbers are limited to 20 students so please ensure you return your child’s permission slip ASAP. It will be a First In basis. As funding has been reduced students will need to bring their own afternoon tea.

Could parents please discuss the afternoon pick up arrangements with your child.

community Notices

Students Return – Wednesday April 27.

Stepping Stones Triple P Parenting Seminars Series

Is this you?

Most of the time, you know you are doing a good job with parenting. But there are times when things get a little tricky. Like when your toddler won’t eat her dinner. Or your six year old won't share his toys. If only someone could give you some ideas to make those times easier! If this sounds like you, then a Stepping Stones TripleP seminar may be right for you.