Relieving Principal: Kim Smith Cowra-Carcoar Road, Cowra NSW 2794 63422172 0458 422 000 63411247 @ holmwood-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.holmwood-p.schools.nsw.edu.au Term 4 Week 8 – Week Ending 2nd December 2016
Students of the Week! Congratulations to our Week 7 Students of the Week!
Jack Lawler (Kinder), Eloise Newell (Stage 1)
Parent Surveys
Jaydan Wright (Stage 2), Katelyn Judd (Stage 3)
Merit Awards were presented to; Kinder- Anabelle Newell Stage 1- Addison Skinner Stage 2- Grace Murphy Stage 3- Annaliese Cameron
Mrs Pagett, Principal Holmwood 2017 On Monday 28th November, the children and staff were treated to a visit from their new Principal for 2017, Mrs Pagett. Mrs Pagett spent the day meeting the children and staff in preparation for 2017. After talking to the children, Mrs Pagett enjoyed a tour of the facilities at Holmwood Public School. A wonderful morning tea was supplied by the P&C Committee for all to enjoy. Thank you ladies!
At this time of year we are beginning to write our Annual School Report. As part of this process we need to evaluate aspects of our school policies and practices. This year we are going to evaluate Satisfaction and Mathematics. Attached to this Newsletter is an envelope which contains these two surveys. We would appreciate you completing and returning them to the school by Monday 5th of December. Your child will be asked to place your surveys in the collection box located in the office. All surveys will remain anonymous.
Presentation Night Holmwood Public School’s Annual Presentation Night will be held on Thursday 8th December 2016 starting at 6.30pm at the school. All students and families are encouraged to attend to celebrate the achievements of our students in 2016. It is expected that the Awards Ceremony will conclude at around 8:00pm, with supper to follow.
ALL FAMILIES ARE ASKED TO PLEASE BRING ALONG A PLATE FOR SUPPER. At around 8:30pm, “Santa” will make an appearance and will present each child with a lolly bag (to HPS students, friends and siblings). Parents do not need to provide a gift for their child. Presentation Night will conclude after Santa’s visit before it gets dark so that Staff can lock up. We look forward to seeing you there!
Year 6 Farewell Last Thursday the Year 5 and 6 children stayed after swimming at the Cowra pool to celebrate Year 6’s last year of Primary school. The children had a fun time with lots of yummy food, pizza and fizzy drink. Supervised by the teaching staff, the children played cricket, used the water rocker and ate lots of food!
Student Council Helping Hand Hamper
Report Folders Could all parents please return the red HPS Student Report Folders which were sent home with Semester 1 Reports in June. This is so we can add your child’s latest report to the folder to ensure it stays safe, ready to be handed out on Presentation Night. Thank you!
The Student Council has had another very productive and successful year and greatly appreciate the generous support of our students and families which has enabled each activity and event to be a huge success. WOW….what an incredible year it has been!! Our final activity for the year is to collect non perishable food and items for our Helping Hand Hamper which will go to a family in need of our support. Thank you. Mrs Kiely
School Magazine Pre-orders This year we will again be compiling a Holmwood Public School Magazine. Each student in the school will have their own page where they create a personal profile and submit a piece of writing which they are proud to have published in the Magazine. As well as student pages, we feature photo pages of some of the events we have participated in during the year, P&C, Student Leader and Principal Reports and a special page to welcome our new Kindergarten students for 2016. The Magazines are printed in colour and bound and as such are expensive to produce. To cover the costs of printing and paper, the school charges $6.00 per copy. If you would like to pre-order a copy of this year’s School Magazine, please complete the order form sent home previously and return with $6 payment to the school office by Wednesday 7th December. Magazines will be distributed on Presentation Night. There will be some copies for sale, however once we run out, there will be no further copies available.
Dates for your Diary End of year events are rapidly approaching. Please note the following dates for your diary… P&C Meeting – Monday 5th December at 6.00pm a the school Presentation Night – Thursday 8th December Last Day of Term – Wed 16th December
Calendar Term 4 Week 9 th
Mon 5 Dec
Tues 6th Dec
No Canteen P&C Meeting – 6.00pm at the School Order your School Magazine $6 LAST KINDER TRANSITION TODAY!
Wed 7th Dec th
Thurs 8 Dec
Presentation Night – 6.30pm
Term 4 Week 10
th
Mon 12 Dec Tues 13th Dec
mixture of reactions. But Riley and Jack B. enjoyed it immensly and came back for seconds. No Kinder Transition today
Wed 14th Dec Thurs 15th Dec Fri 16th Dec
Last day of Term 4, 2016.
Kind Regards, Kim Smith Relieving Principal
P&C News The next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 5th December at the school. This meeting will commence at 6pm.
Kindergarten News
Kindergarten have been very busy collecting the eggs from the STEM Chicken Coop everyday. Because the chickens are so productive, the school is now selling one dozen eggs for $3.50. Call in to the office and pick some up!
This week Kindergarten, Year 1 and the Transition group have been enjoying stories by Mem Fox. After reading ‘Where is the Green Sheep?’, the children enjoyed making their own sheep of varying colours. The children were able to view and discuss the many different types of sheep and relate them to people and the many different roles they fulfil in society.
For Kindergarten Week 8 will be the last week for Homework. Please return all books for marking. Over the next two weeks more of your children’s work books will be sent home to keep. Kind Regards Mrs Smith
Stage 1 News A delicious smell was coming out of the Kindy room last Thursday as the K/1/2 children cooked a native dish from Tanzania- Rice in Coconut Milk (Wali Wa Nazi). This dish brought about a
On Monday Stage 1 had some special visitors to our classroom. Mrs Pagett, our 2017 Principal, and Mr Duncan Auld, the School Education Director, came to meet the students. We had a chance to ask Mrs Pagett some questions to get to know her better. (Mr Auld also had a lot
asked to him as well). It was really nice to finally meet Mrs Pagett.
more activities on Scratch during the final weeks of the term.
This week, we finished our class novel ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’. We answered some comprehension questions on it to develop our understanding of the text. After recess, the Stage 3 students ran a fantastic tabloid of games. It was great fun!
Ms Edgerton, Mrs Knight, Mrs Lewis and I had a fantastic time in Sydney attending the Primary STEM Showcase on Tuesday. Ms Edgerton and Mrs Lewis did an outstanding job with their presentation at the showcase of the ‘Holmwood Chicken Coop Stem Project’. Everyone should be very proud of what Holmwood has achieved this year. It was also wonderful to see and learn what other schools in NSW have been undertaking in the STEM field. We have lots of ideas for next year!
On Tuesday, Year 1 went and joined the Kindergarten class for the day. They made sheep out of cotton wool and paint. Madison made a rainbow sheep. They also played some Maths games. Meanwhile, Year 2 joined Year 3 and Mrs Webster. Their task for the day was to research and complete a mini-project on insects. They all were able to share some interesting facts on Wednesday with the class. Thank you Mrs Smith and Mrs Webster for an enjoyable day!! On Wednesday, we looked at narratives. As a class we read the book ‘Stellaluna’. Using this text, the students examined the problems and resolutions found in the narrative. We also created a whole class oral narrative about a boy named Charlie who got lost in the jungle. Luckily, he found his way home. In the afternoon, we were joined by Kindergarten. We spent the afternoon learning some new dance steps and movement skills. Until next week…Mrs Knight Stage 1 Teacher
Stage 2 News Busy, busy, busy!! Is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the last week in the 3/4 classroom. We have been busy little beavers working to finish off our Units of work in all of our subject areas. Last Friday I introduced the class to a new coding website ‘Scratch’. Scratch helps children learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century. It was so much fun learning to code our very own animation. We shall be completing some
For the last time this year, homework is due back in tomorrow! I can hear the cheers from here!! News topic for next week is: Free Choice. Have a fabulous weekend! Kind Regards Mrs Fiona Skene Stage 3 News Wow the weeks are flying by!! We are on the count down to the end of the year! Last week the Year 5 and 6 students had a great afternoon at the pool celebrating the year 6 farewell party! They had lots of yummy food and Pizza for dinner. All students were excited to see Mrs Lewis drop in for a visit. Students are to be commended on their great behaviour at the pool throughout the afternoon.
Congratulations to the entire Lifesaving Group in Levels 4, 5 and 6, each and every one passed their Level. All students greatly improved their swimming stroke and are developing their water safety awareness. We have had some fun and exciting STEM days this week in building robotics. By going through the process of building a robot in the classroom, students explored many different learning pathways. It’s amazing to watch the students passions grow in subjects that they never knew they would love. Through this extension of robotics, the students are learning how to communicate across different technology platforms, understand the audience of these different platforms and gain experience crafting effective messages for the various audiences, a crucial skill that we all need to be familiar with, no matter what career path we follow. We are getting better with practice each time we engage in robotics. Thank you to Mrs Kiely for taking the Year 4, 5 and 6 students on Tuesday while Mrs Lewis, Mrs Skene, Mrs Knight and I were in Sydney presenting the STEM Chicken Run Presentation at the Primary STEM Conference. This was an amazing opportunity for all staff. We were very proud to present the Learning Journey of all our work creating our Chicken Coop. We would like to thank Tania Coli and Katherin Cartwright, the Primary Education Unit and the HPS staff, students and community for all the help, dedication and commitment to the project throughout the year. Without everyone’s enthusiasm for STEM and the project it would not have been possible. Wow! the weeks are flying by, we are on the count down to the end of the year! Last week the year 5 and 6 students had a great afternoon at the pool celebrating the Year 6 farewell party! They had lots of yummy food and Pizza for dinner. All students were excited to see Mrs Lewis drop in for a visit. Students are to be commended on their great behaviour at the pool throughout the afternoon. Have a great weekend Regards Ms Edgerton.
Attachments
Parent Surveys Stage 1 permission note for Fantastic Mr Fox Royal Life Saving Certificate Order for students who passed their Swimming Assessments on Friday