Harrington Public School

ISSUE 14 | TERM 3 – WEEK 7 | 6 September 2019

Principal’s Report Events- What an exciting couple of weeks we have all had at Harrington Public School. From camps, a book fair/parade, local legends visiting our school, a Father’s Day stall, Spelling Bee Finals to Year 6 participating in cooking classes at the high school! We also have a lot of very excited students, parents and teachers looking forward to our annual Spring Fair this Sunday. I just wanted to take the time to thank all of the staff at Harrington Public School, especially our ladies in the front office, who, behind the scenes, have been working extremely hard to finalise all the administration and logistics of organising such a wonderful event. A huge shout out also to all of our families and community members who have generously donated various items that go towards raising money for our school. It is greatly appreciated, and as I have mentioned in the past, it is so pleasing to see such positive school spirit.

Enrolment- As you may be aware, there has been lots of news about some changes to enrolment procedures for government schools across NSW and how these may affect you. To help keep you informed, please find attached to this newsletter, key information about the changes. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call the front office to make an appointment so I can help clarify any queries you may have.

Canteen- Please help! Our canteen may have to close Wednesdays unless additional volunteers come forward.

P&C- Once again I would like to thank our generous P&C who thoughtfully gave up their time on Sunday 25 August to run a BBQ at Bunnings in order to raise money for our school. An extraordinary amount of effort goes into organising such a fundraiser. Jobs included: ordering all of the required food, timetabling, arriving early to set up and then packing up later in the day. A special thanks to Claudia and Ange who were at Bunnings from the early hours of the morning to late in the afternoon! On behalf of Harrington Public School, thank you so much for all of your hard work and ultimately, supporting our students.

Monday 26 August also marked a special occasion as the P&C hosted an annual dinner at Club Harrington. Key community agencies of Harrington who have a strong affiliation with our school, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Lion’s Club, CWA, Men’s Shed and RSL Sub-Branch were invited to come along and share their experience of working with the school and to discuss what future events they would like to be part of. It was such an honour, as principal, to see such enthusiasm and commitment towards supporting our students’ civic development.

CWA- Robyn Smith, President, Wendy Shoesmith, Treasurer, and Carole Allen, Secretary Lion’s Club- Eric Mason- President and Dianne, Neil Gibson, Chris Elford- Secretary and Bill Burges- Treasurer Men’s Shed- Dave Pollard- President, Bill Burgess- Vice President Chamber of Commerce- Cliff Hoare- President and Wendy RSL –Sub Branch- Paul Pannowitz Paul Haste

What’s been happening at Harrington PS?

Stage 2 Camp Adventure Land Forster was super enjoyable and the instructors were really considerate and humorous. My three activities were archery, flying fox and canoeing. The activities included: archery, challenge ropes, bushcraft, Zorb Balls, canoes, mud world, giant swing and flying fox. It was great fun watching the teachers do

all the activities, except for Mrs Potts, she was a chicken!

By Stephanie and Luke

Stage 3 Camp – Canberra & Perisher Last week, we had to get up bright and early to catch the bus to Canberra. We had a few breaks on the way and it was an amazing trip. To and from Canberra was 10hrs.

We were visiting Black Mountain Tower that night. I could tell that everyone was tired.

We went to many places, including Telstra Tower, New Parliament House and Old Parliament House, Perisher Valley and the Australian Institute of Sport. We also went to The Australian War Memorial. Sadly, in WW1 an unknown soldier was buried; he was in a chamber made out of marble. We got to see the wall of poppies with the names of all the soldiers that served in WW1 and WW2.

We got to sit in the Senate (Red Chamber) at Old Parliament House and we had to go through a scanner to see that we didn’t have anything bad on us at the new Parliament House and also when we went to Questacon. There was one activity that I liked at Questacon and it was the freefall. You had to get in a jumpsuit and drop from 6.7m, I went down this drop eight times!

We went to the snow and we had a snowball fight we also got to slide down a snowy hill on our bellies and make snow angels and we built a snowman. I bet you didn’t know that the old Parliament House has now been converted into the new Museum of Australian Democracy.

We got to do some activities at the Australian Electoral Commission, we even got to see how the elections work and role-play an election. We also got to watch a video on the history of Australian elections and when Indigenous people got to vote and the history behind it.

At the Australian Institute of Sport there was a video game centre that we got to use. It was called Sportex and there was all sorts of games: skiing sim, skeleton board, cycling, canoe sim, NRL, AFL and basketball. One of the things I liked was Questacon (Connor). Isabella liked the old Parliament House seeing the home of the old politicians. And my favourite was the free fall and the snow (Paris).

By Connor, Isabella, Paris

Gymnastics Lessons Due to a few missed gymnastic lessons this term, the PCYC have kindly agreed to give three additional lessons in Term 4 at no extra cost to families. There will be no gymnastics in Week 9 due to the Moorland Soccer Gala Day.

Spelling Bee On the 3rd September 2019 Kaitlyn and Jake represented the Junior Stage and Gemma and Kale from the Senior Stage at the Spelling Bee Regional Finals at Forster Public School. There were 36 students in the 5-6 Spelling Bee with two students representing each school. Kale made it to the 6th round spelling words such as traffic, influenza virtuoso and stupefy.

By Kale and Gemma.

PBL Report On Friday the 30th August 2019 we had a Father’s Day stall selling lots of things for our wonderful fathers, grandfathers and carers. PBL has been going very well this term and we have been focusing on PBL moving forward. Over the next couple of weeks we will be going to the shops for a visit. We have two new shops that have come aboard with our Community PBL Support Network. By Luke and Issy.

Local Legends A big thank you to our local community members (and Kirst) for coming to our school and reading to our students. Students were treated to many stories and the guest readers were asked many ‘interesting’ questions afterwards .

Book Fair and Parade Book Fair 2019 was very successful. We would like to thank everyone for their support and for all purchases made throughout the week. The students enjoyed looking through all the amazing books we had and creating their wish lists. Thanks to all the purchases, the school received $539 commission and now has the opportunity to purchase new and exciting books for our library. By Rachael Aitchison

Year 6 Cooking On the 3rd September Year 6 went to Chatham High School for a cooking lesson. We went with Mr Haste and Sharee along with two other schools. The dish we made was a cup with chopped banana, strawberries and blueberries. Then we added a spoonful of yogurt, ice-cream and crushed granola. It was a nice, creamy dessert. By Logan

Assembly Awards Congratulations to all of our Week 6 Assembly Award recipients! Keep up the good work!

Coming up soon School Banking News School Banking is every Tuesday please remember to bring your bank books. Our School Banking volunteers are vital in helping teach students the importance of saving regularly.

WOW Day at Chatham High School Our Year 5 and 6 children have been invited to the Chatham HS WOW Day on the 10th September 2019. Notes have been sent home – please return as soon as possible.

CAPA Night – new date Please be advised that our CAPA night has been rescheduled to 18 September 2019 (Term 3, Week 9).

P & C Fundraiser The P&C are organising Crazy Camel Fundraising – students will design artwork which is then printed onto keepsakes which can be ordered by families. More information in the next newsletter!

Community News Thank You A big thank you to Kathey Doyle-Smart for donating a number of items to our Music Room including an electric guitar and microphone.

FOR THE FRIDGE

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Term 3 – August/September 2019

Week MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT SUN

8 9 September

10 September Years 5-6 WOW Day Chatham High School

11 September ICAS SCIENCE

12 September ICAS ENGLISH

13 September Assembly 9.10am Gymnastics

14/15 Sept

9 16 September

17 September

18 September CAPA Night

19 September ICAS MATHS

20 September KINDER ORIENTATION DAY Mooreland Soccer Gala Day - Years 1-6

21/22 Sept

10 23 September P&C Meeting

24 September

25 September Year 6 Williamtown

26 September K-1-2 Excursions

27 September Assembly 9.10am Gymnastics Last day Term 3

28/29 Sept