The newsletter for our school community

Passfield Park School

53 Guernsey Avenue Phone: 9820 1700 Minto NSW 2566

Passfield-s.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.passfield-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

Diary Dates………. Sept 14 Flannos for Farmers Sept 21 Vaccinations for Year 7 students Nov 23&24 School Spectacular, Homebush Nov 30 High school formal

From the principal…… We are half way through another busy term at Passfield Park School. Children have been engaged in lots of great learning both at school and through programs in the community. We continue to have our fortnightly assemblies where students showcase their talents and we celebrate student learning. Parents and friends are always welcome and encouraged to attend. We are looking forward to a special assembly in the near future to celebrate additions to the main playground. A note with details will follow in due course.

Staffing Over the next few weeks we farewell two of our teachers, Bella and Louisa, who are both taking maternity leave. We wish them well and look forward to seeing their new babies very soon. We welcome Tapiwa who will be teaching Green Class and Dominique who will cover RFF for many classes. Both Tapiwa and Dominique have extensive experience teaching students with special needs and have been working casually in our classrooms this term, getting to know our students.

Flannos for Farmers Please also help to support our local farmers by participating in “Flannos for Farmers” on September 14, 2018. We ask that your send your child to school dressed as a farmer or in mufti and bring a gold coin donation. A note will be sent home next week regarding this day.

August 24, 2018

Valuing and respecting student and staff learning in a safe 21st century learning environment

Education Week During Education Week, we will be holding an open day on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 where parents will be invited to see the music program in action. Parents will watch their children interacting with instruments, each other and the music teacher. Students receive so much enjoyment from this program. You will receive a note shortly with further information and advising times.

Kind regards Wendy Low

Our charity, Passfield Park Kids Inc., was set up in 2013 to support the therapy needs of our students. The committee meet once each term. If you would like to find out more or be a part of this wonderful charity, please call Cheryl (in the office).

Red Class Red Class students are working

hard on the Passfield Park School

rule of Be kind and friendly as they

work collaboratively and

cooperatively throughout many

tasks, always use their best

manners and actively interact

together in their personal time and

through structured activities,

including speech therapy, social games and class

discussion. It is also evident in the big warm welcome they

gave to Ethan, our newest member of Red Class who has

been quick to make many friends in high school.

During Staff Café, Red Class students have already developed some great skills in cooking and preparing meals for staff to purchase. This semester the menu includes, spinach & cheese gozleme; meat, spinach & cheese gozleme, jacket potatoes and fresh fruit juices. Students have even been sourcing spinach from our school garden. The feedback from the staff (and the students who have enjoyed a taste) is that they are DELICIOUS!

Sarah C, Belinda, Sharon, Kris B & Sukhraj.

Green Class In Green Class we have been looking at patterns in maths. We have been experimenting with different pattern types using colours and shapes to help us with recognising patterns in number. We began by using simple pattern combinations making them harder as we got better at them. We have also been preparing some beautiful gifts for Father’s Day. We can’t wait to bring them home and share them with our Dads.

Louisa & Kris W

Pink Class In Science this term, Pink Class has been learning about Living Things. We have learned about the things plants need to grow and have planted our own chickpea seeds. We care for them by giving them water and sunlight and we have been watching them grow. Pink Class’ RFF teacher Bella will be finishing up this week to go on maternity leave. Her baby is due in October and we hope to see them visit us soon.

Di, Dominique, Narelle and Jeanette

Yellow Class Measurement lessons were exceptional as Yellow Class enjoyed exploring how to measure length, width and height using blocks, paperclips and buttons. They all quickly and confidently measured the height and length of objects but initially found the new term of width a challenge. All students worked together to explore and experiment with different ideas and techniques to measure objects’ width. It was impressive to see how their independence and confidence have grown. We had an exciting day last Friday as we celebrated Jackson’s birthday in a joint party with Pink Class.

Cheryl, Julie B & Jeanette

Purple Class It has been an exciting start to Term 3. Purple Class has been working extremely hard on our book study We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Every morning students enjoy reading alongside Sarah and Michele as well as completing many activities and artworks. Students from Purple Class have enjoyed playing in Passfield Park School’s new sandpit. We have dug and built many sandcastles already this term. It is a great addition to the main playground. Purple Class had the pleasure of going to a disability dance workshop on Friday, August 17 in Sarah Redfern hall. We danced the day away learning many new moves. Thanks to Sarah C for organising such a great day.

Sarah H and Michele

Orange Class What an amazing start to Term 3 it has been for Orange Class. We are having so much fun during morning fitness sessions. We are continuing to improve our skills and increasing our max reps for daily exercises. The best part is we are practicing counting every day! On Tuesdays, the senior girls in our class attend Subway on community access trips, practicing money skills and having the opportunity to independently order their own lunches. While they are away, junior students are participating in cooking lessons to learn more about chemical and physical changes occurring when heat is applied to food. During cooking we are also working on recipe books as part of our technology project. Orange Class would also like to say a great big welcome to Lucinda who has joined Orange Class as our Learning Support Officer for the remainder of the year.

Karen and Lucinda

Check out our school website www.passfield-s.schools.nsw.edu.au

White Class Term 3 has really flown with many activities happening in White Class. We have been learning about ‘living and non living things’ in Science and ‘past and present’ in History. Many thanks to the families who sent their children’s baby photos as it made the topics much more interesting. In Science, the students enjoyed participating in several activities around the topics that included growing bean and pea plants and nurturing them, completing activities on what living things need to grow and classifying living and non living things into categories. The students enjoyed watching and comparing their baby and current photos and completing various activities as part of their History program. In Numeracy, the boys have been learning to identify Australian notes and coins and telling time in hours. The students continue to practice safe walking skills including walking with the group around the school. They also continue to practice team building both during school work and in the playground.

Tapiwa, Sandi & Rob