The newsletter is published fortnightly the next on 30 April. Awards will also be given

Principal’s Address

Our amazing and flexible community – thank you! Thank you for your patience and efforts to engage with our new home based learning plans and upload your child’s work. Your creativity and innovation at home has been inspiring. We have loved the thank you notes, posts, emails and photos. I know this is a challenge for so many of us, this isn’t a sprint but a marathon and looking after our mental health and wellbeing is critical. Please contact us if you need anything, we are here to help and support you all. Thank you for the gorgeous and thoughtful basket of goodies delivered. It was very much appreciated.

To our fabulous staff, thank you for your unwavering flexibility and commitment to the education of our Holgate Public School students. Your openness and readiness to embrace change over the last two weeks has been inspiring. Thank you!

Urgent Update for Zooming – improved safety controls introducted TODAY! For future zooming experiences students will require their Department of Education email and password. For example: username - Jane.smith@det.nsw.edu.au followed by their password. As Term One draws to an end we have put together a movie acknowledging and celebrating our journey over the last few weeks. As well, our school has created a few small videos of staff antics, we thought you might enjoy watching These are attached to the email sending out this newsletter. Have a great Easter break. Staff have moved into a flexible staffing arrangement. Currently, staff have been timetabled onsite and offsite. Currently less than 50% of staff are on site daily. Our final week to Term One involved video conferencing using Zoom with our students (one teaching and one wellbeing) and to make further plans for continued video conferencing with Zoom for Term Two. In Term Two we have timetabled sessions (face to face) through Zoom for learning and look forward to staying connected. Our flexible staff arrangements will remain in place for Term Two. This information will be communicated and shared on Staff Development Day Term Two Monday 27 April through Seesaw.

Up and coming events Event Year Date Note Due/Cost

End of Term 1 Thursday 9 April Term 2 starts Tuesday 28 April To be confirmed

Phone: (02) 4367 7444 • Fax: (02) 4365 3088

Email: holgate-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Web: https://holgate-p.schools.nsw.gov.au

Newsletter 9 April 2020

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

EXCELLENCE / EQUALITY / ENGAGEMENT

Our school sent out last week a flyer called Wellbeing activities for children while learning from home, we will continue to provide additional wellbeing activities throughout Term Two.

In addition, How to talk to children about coronavirus has been inserted into this newsletter.

COVID-19 Updates

The Department of Education has now set up a public-facing COVID-19 page which includes FAQs, information about learning from home, and updates on non-operational schools. We have been asked to share the following website with our school communities: https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC)

The feasibility assessment for an onsite OSHC service was undertaken last week. The results from the feasibility assessments indicates our school meets the requirements to go to market for tendor. The Department of Education will now undertake the coordination of the tendor to market. Ian Goodman (P&C President) and I will participate in the panel process towards the middle of Term Two.

Staff Development Day Monday 27 April

Staff are currently completing online learning to support home based learning for our next Staff Development Day. This includes digital tools and strategies for teaching and learning online. Home based learning resumes Tuesday 28 April unless circumstances change.

Holiday Break!

Enjoy the holiday break, rest and recharge. I hope the Easter Bunny find his way to all Holgate students and families. I look so forward to having all our students return and to hear the laughter of students and activity and buzz return. I will communicate through Seesaw and email if any changes occur over the holiday break.

Congratulations P&C Grants Committee

Well done to the P&C grants committee for receiving the Community Building Project grant from 2019! Congratulations to the team and our school looks forward to the construction of the shade cloth over the bottom playground deck.

P&C Vacant positions

Just a reminder the P&C have two vacant positions – Vice President and Fundraising Committee. If you are interested please contact Ian Goodman P&C President or myself.

Thank you,

Vanessa Gordon, Principal

Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)

This week we have had the wonderful opportunity to teach our PBL lessons using the web conference program ‘Zoom’. So far we have had an amazing response from students and the support from families has been outstanding.

Students have shown they are SAFE, STRONG and RESPECTFUL LEARNERS by making strong choices and following instructions such as taking turns when speaking, using nice words and friendly actions.

We look forward to seeing everyone in ‘ZOOMLAND’ during Term 2 where we will deliver a range of lessons.

Thank you for being so fantastic and willing to learn something new!

The PBL Team

Administration

Assembly

Due to DOE Guidelines there will be no assembly held until further notice.

P&C

Thank you to school staff

The P&C would like to thank all of the staff for the professional manner in which they have been managing the health and welfare of the students and each other during these unusual times. We appreciate there's a multitude of pressures being applied at the moment, and commend them all on the balanced level of caution that's been employed, and the quality of education that has been maintained through a migration to online learning.

There's no doubt about it, they're doing a great job - thank you.

The P&C sent a gift hamper for the staff on behalf of the School community in appreciation of their wonderful efforts which was well received.

Community Building Partnership Grant 2019

I’m excited to share the news that we have been successful in an application for a Community Building Partnership Grant which the Grants committee, along with assistance from Vanessa Gordon and myself, have been working on. The Application was for sunshades to go over the outdoor stage area as well as the play equipment. Unfortunately we did not receive the total amount that we applied for, however we have been successful with a grant value of $32k. This will be enough for the outdoor stage area combined with approximately $9-10k of P&C funds which have been budgeted for. Vanessa has engaged DoE assets to commence appropriate preparation works for the project. We are unsure when the installation will occur given the current state of affairs, however we can celebrate the success, and look forward to the stage sails being installed soon.

Special thanks to Colleen, Suzanne & Crystal for their efforts on this successful grant application.

NSW Healthy School Canteen Certification

Congratulations to Richard Shedden for ensuring the School Canteen is re-certified with the NSW Healthy School Canteen requirements. It’s fantastic to have a canteen that provides healthy offerings to the kids, and is also turning over a profit. Well done.

P&C Positions still open

Getting involved with the P&C gives you a great link into the parent community and staff of Holgate School - it also gives you an opportunity to have an influence on the education experience for your children. The P&C still have two positions that remain open, and we'd love to hear from you if you're interested in getting involved:

- Vice President - steps in when president not available, signatory on accounts, assists with management of P&C affairs

- Fundraising - preference is to have someone oversee fundraising activities, each individual event will be managed by a class or volunteer group.

Please email us at holgate.pandc@gmail.com if you're interested or would like to know more.

School Representative Sports Shirts

The new sports shirts will be ready soon, and they look fantastic. The base design was generated from an in-school competition amongst the kids and the final design decided through a vote by the students. Congratulations Eamon, your winning design looks great. The shirts are due to hit the printers in the next few days, and will be ready for the kids return to school. We look forward to seeing the kids back out on the sporting field, proudly wearing the new Holgate stripes in the near future.

The canteen will be closed until further notice.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Easter break.

Regards, Ian Goodman

Online learning can be fun!

Class 1/2

Class 2/3

Class 3/4

Class 5/6B

Class 5/6N

Class K/1

Class Kindergarten