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………. Mar 21 Harmony Day Mar 30 Easter Friday Apr 2 Easter Monday May 15 School photos

From the principal…… Dear parents, carers and friends Community A major clean up occurred at the end of the school holidays and more than here large skip bins of rubbish was and is still being disposed of. This has enabled more resources to e out around the school and being used, clearer areas across he school and a more pleasant and calmer work environment. A huge thank you to the people who donated time and sweat in the extreme hot weather—school staff, Rotary president, Drew Percival, Brunker Building, Summit Landscapes and community members. An excellent achievement. In Week 3 we held a very successful Meet and Greet afternoon with over 30 families and friends attending an informal classroom visit and time to meet new staff members. Our Community Liaison Officer, Kaylene is developing and maintaining connections with families and carers; shae prepared the afternoon tea for our Meet and Greet and chatted with families. Kaylene is now working on acknowledging Internatoinal Women’s Day next week and assisting with upcoming Harmony Day. Class Do Jo is increasingly being used by families and staff as a very effective means of communication between home and school as well as celebrating student, class and school activities, programs and progress. Harmony Day, with the ongoing theme of ‘Everyone belongs’, celebrating cultural respect for all, will be held on Wednesday, March 21. An invitation will be going out in the next few days.

Education At the end of 2017, class groupings and locations were extensively adjusted to safely accommodate a number of

March 2, 2018

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

issues. Students in wheelchairs are in ground floor classrooms with access to the larger toilet blocks. The result is a complex mix of high school classes and junior classes in all physical areas of the school. Teachers are working extremely hard completing documentation for relevant health care, class timetables, initial assessment of skills and knowledge and developing teaching and learning programs. The new format of individual education plans for every student this year is called Personalised Learning and Support Plan (PLSP) and focuses on priority goals in communication, social and emotional wellbeing, independence and engagement. These goals will be embedded within class programs and ongoing data collection is an integral part of the format. Adequate and safe supervision across our many playground areas continues to be an issue and executive staff spend a great amount of time mapping and risk managing to ensure students and staff are kept as safe as possible and engaged. This is an ongoing and complex task.

School Plan The 2018-2020 School plan is currently in draft form and will be finalised and uploaded to the Department and school’s website by the end of this term. Three strategic directions:

Learning for all; students, staff and community

Wellbeing for all; students, staff and community

Safe and inclusive for all; students, staff and

community

School Improvement A number of improvements have occurred and are ongoing to improve school, student and staff safety and wellbeing—part of our school plan focus. Some of the improvements have been: - magnetic fobs to certain rooms to allow easier access and change of general classroom key access, - walkie talkies for all staff to call for assistance when needed, - removal of chook pen in main playground to increase play area and supervision access.

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).

Green Class Green Class has had a fantastic start to the year and all students have settled into their new class and are actively engaging in all class programs. We are reading the text ‘There’s a Sea in My Bedroom’ by Margaret Wild for our literacy and are using the ocean theme to influence our topic work this term focusing on habitats and marine life. We are very lucky to have Raquel on class on alternate Wednesdays to teach music, IT and all about our feelings. We are all very excited for the year ahead!

Louisa and Kris

Pink Class Welcome back, we hope you had an enjoyable break. Pink Class had an enthusiastic return to school and students are settling into their new class and routines very well. Congratulations to Sarah, one of our new school captains, who consistently demonstrates her great citizenship qualities to peers and staff.

Tuesday’s music sessions with Daniel from Rhythm Village are proving to be very popular. All our students love music and it is wonderful to see the high levels of engagement, participation and enjoyment each week. Our class is looking forward to an enjoyable and productive year together.

Di, Bella, Narelle and Jeanette

Orange Class Wow what a busy start to the term Orange Class has had! We have been working hard learning all about each other, learning to play new songs with our friends from Rhythm Village, celebrating birth-days, helping each learn and having lots of fun along the way.

Karen and Julie

Yellow Class Claire, Dwayne, Jackson Lincon, Mikayla, Mayss and Pri-ma have settled into their new classroom and routines. They are exceptional students who are keen to learn and participate in the many activities Passfield Park School has to offer. The students of Yellow Class have particular-ly enjoyed the musical program from Rhythm Village with smiles all around. The students have developed their par-ticipation, creativity and skills with the support of the Rhythm Village’s talented musicians, Daniel and Josh.

Cheryl and Sonia

Purple Class Welcome to Purple Class 2018. This year we have welcomed Brodie to Passfield Park School and it is great to see him settle into Purple Class. We are reading ‘There’s a Sea in my Bedroom’ during Term 1 and are enjoying reading alongside the teacher. For Maths this term, we are looking at big and small, for science - what is water, for geography - habitats and for PDH we are looking at emotions. Purple Class will be participating in many regular and special events this term including swimming and community access each Friday, Special Olympics and NRL each Monday, as well as celebrating special events with the school. Looking forward to a great year.

Sarah and Michele

Red Class Red Class has really settled in and working well together in the team teach environment. Students have made a great start to Cafe this year as they experiment making fresh watermelon and mint juice and chicken caesar salad. Staff are already making purchases and are giving the students great feedback. Red Class has also been enjoying Crunch & Sip (fruit/veg & water). It is great to see some students trying new fruits as they are encouraged to eat a healthy and balanced diet.

The students have begun an author study of David Walliams. At the moment we are reading ‘Gangsta Granny’. The story is about a boy called Ben who spends every Friday night at his granny’s house. The students agree that Ben’s Granny is very different to their grandmothers. Ben does not like going and he is bored beyond belief. She is the boringest grandma ever: all she wants to do is play Scrabble and eat cabbage

soup. But there are two things Ben doesn’t know about his granny! The students have been responsive and engaged in listening to the story, answering questions, and designing and creating works related to the book. And think it is a funny story especially the things that Gangsta Granny does. Red Class students have also been learning to relax and self-regulate their emotions and feelings through breathing and music. This is done after playing at afternoon tea and is helping them to remain calm and

focused ready for lessons in the last session. They also enjoy Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R) time after lunch where they read their chosen book/s. Thomas and Friends, Dr Seuss, jokes and Disney have been popular! Sarah, Belinda, Sukhraj, Kris, Sharon & Lucinda.

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

With such a fantastic start to the school year, we have decided to call ourselves the ‘Silver Super Stars!’ Each

student has settled into class and school routines remarkably well and are already working hard towards personal and class goals. The start of the year was extra special for Shari who celebrated her 7

th birthday!

Our class has been learning all about the ocean through our

study of the book ‘There’s a Sea in my Bedroom’. We think creative arts is going to be a class favourite this year. Each student is engaging in activities such as music and painting with a great deal of enthusiasm. We have built upon our letter of the week studies with some very exciting art projects including ‘M is for Minions’ and ‘S is for Superman’. We are very excited to be preparing for the start of our weekly swimming program, with an emphasis on our school rule, ‘Be Safe’. We are looking at ways to be safe whilst travelling to and from the pool and during swimming, including wearing our seatbelts, walking with a partner and staying with the group. We are very excited about working with our students and families in 2018 and are looking forward to meeting with parents, families and carers to discuss Personalised Learning Support Plans (PLSPs) in the next few weeks.

Amanda, Nicole and Raquel

White Class We have had a great start to 2018. All students in White Class have settled in extremely well and we are very proud of them. They have all accepted change of classmates and staff very well and have been happy and settled during their day at school. We have been doing lots of work based on a book called “There’s a Sea in my Bedroom.” We have been reading the story regularly and all boys are able to answer questions and identify different aspects of the story. This is great to see. We have also been looking at things we take to the beach, animals habitats at the beach and safety at the beach. Each morning we start the day with a walk around the school. During this time, we are practicing safe walking skills including walking with the group, stopping when asked to and coming back when needed. Everyone is getting much better at these skills each day. We also do a little exercise including running forward and backward. We getting faster and more enthusiastic each time we do this. We are looking forward to a great term working with all the boys in White Class

Sandi and Rob

Bingo Fundraiser—Can you help our students Our charity, Passfield Park Kids Inc, is holding a Bingo fundraising night on Saturday, May 27, 2018 to raise funds for equipment for our students. If you would like to donate prizes or have any contacts who might be willing to donate prizes for this night, could you please contact Cheryl or Chris in the office on 9820 1700.