GORDON WEST BULLETIN V O L U M E 2 2 0 2 0 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 2 0

Principal’s Report Ryde Road Pymble 2073 Telephone: 9498 4644 Fax: 9498 4436 Email: gordonwest-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.gordonwest-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Friday 21 February

PSSA Starts

Tuesday 25 February

School Photos

645pm Kindy Parent Info Night

715pm Yr 1 & 2 Parent Info Night

Wed 26 February

645pm Yr 3 & 4 Parent Info Night

715pm Yr 5

Parent Info Night

Thurs 27 February

7pm Yr 6 Parent Info Night

Friday 28 February

Zone Swimming

Thursday 12 March

Selective HS Testing

Dates to Remember

It has certainly been an exci ng beginning to 2020 bordering on a li le crazy. Once again thank you to the Gordon West Chinese community for your wonderful coopera on in our a empts to contain the Novel Coronavirus. The last of our families who have been in voluntary isola on are due to return to school at the end of the week or early next week. Of the approximately 30 parents who were phoned individually to confirm their travel status, everyone was very suppor ve of what we were trying to achieve. To those parents who were asked to keep their children at home for at least 14 days we extend our thanks. To make ma ers more challenging some of those families experienced power outages during this isola on period. In some extreme cases families chose to live apart during this isola on period. At one stage we had over 70 students on leave related to the Coronaviris. Thank you! We appreciate your incredibly responsible behaviour. I would also like to acknowledge and thank those individuals who were so suppor ve and vigilant in rela on to the vicious storms that

struck our area on Sunday 9 February. Quick thinking by neighbours of the school enabled us to have the school operable by 8:30 am Monday morning. Temporary repairs have been completed. We only have one more tree to remove which we have been assured is safe and all classes have returned to their rooms. Before the recent storm deluge, for a number of months fires were a challenge to the state and school community. A number of parents worked relessly to combat these fires in a variety of roles and were very suppor ve and helpful to the school in the formula on of fire evacua on plans etc. We wholeheartedly thank you. All of these challenges help to develop resilience in all members of the school community, children and adults alike. It is mes like these that you really appreciate working in a community such as ours where everyone works together for the benefit of the whole community and demonstrates to our students that life isn’t always easy and is full of challenges that can be overcome by sharing responsibili es, careful planning and doing one thing at a

me.

Hopefully as many families as possible can join with us for the Welcome Fest to be held on Saturday 29 February 2020. Our FRASC parent organisa on has put together a dynamic Welcome Fest commi ee under the leadership of Mrs Jull who was responsible for the organisa on of last year’s Welcome Fest. The commi ee is really looking forward to providing an a ernoon/early evening event where old and new parents can socialise in a friendly safe environment. The commi ee has provided an array of a ernoon and evening ac vi es for everyone and hope that you can join us to celebrate the beginning of another school year. Try booking on www.trybooking.com/BIERS or search the key term WelcomeFest 2020. If all else fails give us a call and we will help you book. The FRASC commi ee under the very capable leadership of Mrs Belinda Mark held its first mee ng on Friday February 7 and has many exci ng events planned for the year ahead. The Fathers and Children’s Camping Weekend at the Basin, adver sed in the Bulle n is a wonderful event but it is not a school or P&C sanc oned ac vity. Parents are advised that risk management procedures and supervisory prac ces at the “Fathers and Children Camping Weekend” planned for The Basin are totally the responsibility of the camp par cipants with the school having no involvement whatsoever. Par cipants are advised that children need to be closely supervised when swimming and playing in such a

popular public camping area and that it is not a good idea to feed the monitor lizards by hand, that roas ng marsh mellows over a raging fire is fraught with danger and finally that consump on of alcohol even in modera on can inhibit best prac ce supervision.

The Parent/ Teacher Evenings will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights of next week.(25/26/27 February) Gordon West parents are invited to take the opportunity to listen to presenta ons from classroom teachers and their supervisors providing a comprehensive overview of class programs for the year. Although this isn’t a me to conduct in depth interviews with individual parents, parents are advised that the school is totally accountable to the Gordon West school community and welcomes parents contac ng teachers to arrange a more comprehensive individual interview at a later date. Parent Teacher interviews will be held at the end of

Term 1.

Parents have been a li le confused in rela on to the loca on of adult toilets in the school. Staff toilets are located in the Administra on Building foyer and of course parents can use these toilets if necessary. However specifically designated parent toilets can be found at the Ryde Road end of the Canteen Building and adjacent to the entrance to the library. We have posted signs to familiarise parents with these loca ons. Parents are not to use student toilets. Enclosed in the Bulle n is an ar cle rela ng to parking restric ons in the vicinity of the school. Please remember that if you park illegally you may inadvertently contribute to the injury of an innocent bystander which is a serious offence. Please familiarise yourself with these parking regula ons because the school has zero tolerance for illegal driving in the vicinity of the school.

J Huckerby Principal

The school encourages parents to report offenders immediately to Ku‐ring‐gai Council. This can be done by telephoning or sending a picture of the illegal act.

The school welcomes parents as partners in the educa on of our students. However being an ac ve partner has a certain level of responsibility associated with the role. The expecta on is that if parents a end the morning assembly they will refrain from talking as is expected of our children. Even more importantly parents are requested not to take group photos or videos of our students because certain children may have restraining orders on them being photographed and/ or published. Please be mindful of these facts when next a ending the

morning assembly or other school events and I thank you in

an cipa on of your co opera on.

Congratula ons to Mrs Sheldon on her appointment as

Relieving learning Quality Advisor at the Teacher

Accredita on Pathways and learning Quality Division in

Parrama a.

Mrs Sheldon has considerable exper se and passion in this

area of educa on and we congratulate her and wish her all

the best in her new posi on.

The challenge for Gordon West Public School is that Mrs

Sheldon has also interviewed (23 January 2020) for a more

senior and defined period of employment role in this

Division and is currently wai ng for the results of this

interview process.

Once the process has been completed Gordon West can

then adver se for an Expression of Interest in Mrs Sheldon’s

Assistant Principal role at Gordon West.

Although the wait can be a li le frustra ng we have no

op on but to wait un l a decision is made.

A big thank you to Mrs Waugh and Mrs Lawson who are

currently filling the Relieving Assistant Principal role Stage 3.

At short no ce Ms Harper our Substan ve Deputy Principal

kindly returned to Sydney to teach the class un l such mes

a decision was made.

Unfortunately because it has taken so long to make a

decision Ms Harper has had to return to her home on the

South Coast and Ms Joanne Coleman will teach the class a

un l a more permanent appointment is made.

J Huckerby Principal

P&CClassContactListsThank you to all the families who’ve added or updated their school contact information for the Gordon West PS P&C contact list in the last week. I will be sending out updated electronic copies next Friday, 28th February 2020. If you are planning on submitting your contact information to the P&C contact list, please do so in the next week. In particular, there are still many kindergarten families who haven’t responded. The link to submit your details via a Google form is at: bit.ly/GordonWestPS-PandC-class-contact-lists If this link isn’t working for you, feel free to e-mail me your information at ehwenk@gmail.com. If you have children in both kindergarten and an older year, you can simply e-mail me your children’s names and classes so I can match your details. Thank you, Lizzy Wenk GWPS P&C Vice-president, mum to Sophia Bock in 6S

The Premier’s Reading Challenge has now commenced for 2020.

To access the website please use this link — https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Uniform Shop

Volunteers Needed

The Uniform Shop is run by Gordon West P&C and is staffed predominately by volunteers to allow us to keep the prices down. We need parents to help out on Friday mornings between 8.30 and 9.30/10am to assist parents with sizing, filling orders, stacking shelves among other things.

It is a great way to meet other parents, and a fun way to be part of the school’s wonderful community!

The me commitment is not a big one, just one hour per term, or more if you want.

If you are able to volunteer, please click on the link (https://signup.com/go/ginYiC) in the email you received and select a day and me that works for you.

Thank you for helping out.

Yasmin Balkir

Uniform Shop Manager

gwpsuniformshop@gmail.com

2020 Gordon West Public School Swimming Carnival On Monday 10 February 2020, Gordon West Public School held its annual Swimming Carnival at the Ku‐ring‐gai Aqua c & Fitness Centre.

Despite the heavy storm in the days leading up to the carnival, we were fortunate enough to have weather that was beyond amazing. This definitely inspired the spirit and mo va on of students and it was evident in the fantas c results. It was brilliant to witness everyone a emp ng various events, suppor ng each other and challenging themselves, all while having a smile and enjoying the day. This definitely reflected the idea that Gordon West truly is “The Best.”

Firstly, a huge thank you to all our parent helpers who were involved with mekeeping and recording. Your efforts and me ensured making our day a success. To all our Gordon West staff, thank you, the carnival would not have been possible without all your help.

Annual events such as the swimming and athle cs carnivals really showcase how truly talented and gi ed Gordon West students are and we would like to acknowledge the following students who demonstrated outstanding performances;

Ethan C, Amelia H, Marco C, Amy D, Tyson N, Emily H, Fuyu H, Nina S, Coby N and Sacha L.

It was truly a special day for Ethan C who set 5 new records at the carnival. Huge congratula ons

to Ethan C as well as everyone who competed, well done!

The House Champion for 2020 was between Mulgo and Waugan, with 489 points and 483 points respec vely. It all came down to the War Cries and our judges, Mr Huckerby and Mr O’Keefe chose Waugan as the winners. Waugan with 533 points were 2020 House Champions.

The Sydney North Zone Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 28 February at the Sydney

Olympic Park Aqua c Centre, Homebush. Thirty five students from Gordon West will be a ending

on the day and we wish them all the best. The results will be released in the coming weeks.

Mr Lee

Sports Corordinator

Event New Rec-ord

Previ-ous Rec-

ord

Previous Record Holder/s

10 Years 50m Freestyle 33:63 34:97 Hamish C (2014)

Noah M (2017) Jrs Breaststroke 46:66 50:25 Kevin G (2001) Jrs Backstroke 42:44 43:31 Tom P (2016) Jrs Butterfly 38:27 41:73 Ethan C (2019)

Jrs Medley 2:58:07 3:28:87 Hamish C (2014)

Noah M (2017)