Breakfast ClubCan you butter toast? Are you a wizz at pouring milk? Any chance you can spare 30 minutes a week? Plattsburg Breakfast Club is a volunteer run initative supported by the Red Cross. Toast, cereal, milk and water is provided to students between 8.30am and 9.00am each morning to ensure they have full tummies for a day of learning. We need more volunteers to help and would love to hear from you. If you can’t donate your time, we are always looking for donations of vegemite, honey, milk and margarine to keep up with demand. A reminder too that a silver coin donation from students is always welcome when coming along to breakfast club, to help with the ongoing costs of the program.See the office for further details.

Woolworths Earn and LearnThe Woolworths Earn and Learn program has begun. Start collecting your stickers when you shop at Woolworths. You can collect stickers and stick them to the Woolworths sticker sheets or simply place them in the Earn and Learn box in the library.

Previously Plattsburg Public School has been able to purchase a variety of valuable resources using the stickers that we collect so ask your friends, grandparents or anyone you know to collect stickers and support our school.

August 2017 Term 3 Week 4

NewsletterPlattsburg Public School

1Plattsburg Public School Newsletter

Principals MessageWow, how much has happened since our last newsletter? Flouncing cerise gowns, Hogwart uniforms, Where’s Wally outfits and onsies! Not to mention crazy scientists doing some amazing experiments in our playground. And that’s just the teachers I’m talking about. We had another brilliant Education Week/Book Week Celebration thanks to the hard work of Miss Lannutti, Miss Bruce and Mrs Brooks. I don’t know what that stuff was that was on my old sound system. But it was rock’n to some cool music. Thank you to all our parents, carers, grandparents and friends that were able to make it to the school to help our kids enjoy the day. Thanks too for the great costumes kids wore on the day - they were clever, creative and good fun.

All Half Yearly Reports were e-mailed out last week. These reports are a true reflection of performance across half the year. We’ve received some feedback on the reports already from parents and have started to follow up on that. Over the next few weeks I will be seeking the opinions, ideas and suggestions of the parents/carers I can ambush in the playground. So, please think about the things you like about the school, things we could change and things perhaps we should discontinue. ALL feedback is welcome.

Finally, good luck to all Zone Athletics competitors.

Important Dates

Thursday10th August 2017

P&C Meeting. 6pm in staff room

Wednesday30th August 2017Father’s Day Stall

Wear your footy colours

Wednesday30th August 2017

Year 6 Taster LessonsCallaghan Wallsend

Friday1st September 2017

Father’s Day Breakfast

Tuesday5th September 2017

MSP Photo Daybring your envelope and

payment on the day

Friday27th October 2017

Day for Daniel

Thursday9th November 2017

Digital Media FestivalCallaghan Wallsend

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Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Tell Them From Me SurveyOur school is taking part in the Tell Them From Me student survey. The survey will provide us with valuable feedback on what our students think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please complete the “opt out” form from the Skoolbag App and return it to your child’s school by 18th of August.

Book Week FairA big thank you to everyone for making Book Week a huge success once again. Everyone enjoyed dressing up, looking at the junk sculptures, having a special lunch, participating in the book week parade. It was fantastic to see our students purchase so many books and show such enthusiasm towards reading. With all the books we sold, we are able to purchase new resources for the school and classrooms for all students to enjoy.

Gigalees Science ShowPlattsburg students were treated to the Gigalees Science Show on Monday afternoon. There were lots of laughs, acrobatic stunts and an overall great time had by the students.

Junk ScupturesCongratulations to everyone who entered the Junk Sculpture and

Colouring In competitions. All the entries were amazing and Miss Lannutti had a hard time picking winners. Congratulations go to Rosette S, Charlotte O, Maisy G, Eyvah Z, Kai E and Mollie M.

Science FairThe students enjoyed a rotation of Science experiments as part of Education Week Celebrations. The Children’s University brought two students who are studying Food Science and Biomedical Science to run two of the activities - the kids made silly putty and the other ones used food colouring and milk to look at the properties of fat and protein.

Zone Public SpeakingWell done to Isabella and Chloe who represented Plattsburg at the Stage 3 Zone Public Speaking finals last week at Shortland Public School. Both the girls should be proud of their efforts. Good luck to Amelia from Stage 1 and Charlotte and Kaylee from Stage 2 who will presenting their speeches at the Zone Public Speaking finals next Wednesday and Thursday.

Education Week AwardsCongratulations to Isabella Turner, Chevy Partridge, Jorja McBeth, Mark Wallace and Payton Bauer who received Excellence in School Achievement awards at last weeks ceremony at Callaghan College Jesmond Campus.

Book Week Raffle

Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Congratulations to our winners in the P&C Book Week/Education Week raffle. Jonesi you are one lucky duck, an Xbox One for you and your girls to enjoy. The Page family’s luck struck again with winning a prize again, two years in a row. Thank you to the P&C for donating such an amazing prize.

Isabella and Chloe at Zone Public Speaking Finals at Shortland PS

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Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Book Week/Education Week Celebrations

Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

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Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Canteen RosterMonday

Sandra MoriartyOdette Radburn

TuesdayAlison & Chris Smith

Bernadette JobbWednesday

Rebecca DonaldsonMel RossThursday

Sandra MoriartyFriday

Susan SaxbyAmanda Wasowski

Sandra Moriarty

Father’s Day Breakfast

You’re Invited!

Join us for a delicious breakfast to celebrate all the wonderful Dads, Fathers, Grandfathers and significant others.

Breakfast from 8amFriday 1st September

Wear your favourite Footy Colours

Uniform ShopMonday

8.30am to 8.55am

Friday2.45pm to 3.15pm

Uniforms can be ordered online

www.ouronlinecanteen.com.au

anytime and uniforms will be delivered to your child’s class on the next school day. Alternatively you can collect it from the office

Plattsburg Public School Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Plattsburg Public School Newsletter 75

1NAPLAN Online – Fact sheet for parents and carers

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Fact sheet for parents and carersThe National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Planning has begun to move NAPLAN from a pen and paper assessment to an online assessment.

What are the benefits of NAPLAN Online?Results will be faster and more precise

• Your child’s individual results will be returned to you within just a few weeks of the NAPLAN testing.

• Online assessment will reduce the time it takes to mark and provide feedback to schools, teachers and parents.

• Improved precision and timing of results will help teachers to tailor their teaching more specifically to address students’ learning needs.

Tailored tests will provide better assessment

• The online format allows for ‘tailored testing’, where the test adapts to a student’s performance and asks questions that match their achievement level.

• Students in each year level start with the same set of questions which can then branch into a different set of questions based on their responses to the first set of questions.

• This means that students will be directed to questions that may be easier or more challenging depending on their responses.

• This test design will allow students to better demonstrate their literacy and numeracy skills.

• Students find online assessment is more engaging*, which means they are encouraged to persist longer and try harder.

* Research by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) into online assessment has shown that students

have engaged well with electronic tests.

NAPLAN Online School Readiness TestNSW schools will participate in a school readiness test between 14 August and 22 September 2017.

The school readiness test is a ‘practice run’ for schools to assess their technology ahead of NAPLAN Online. The readiness test is not an assessment of student ability. The readiness test allows schools to:

• become familiar with the NAPLAN Online test format and processes

• check whether they have the technical capacity, rooms and devices to administer NAPLAN Online

• provide students in NAPLAN years 3, 5, 7 and 9 with the opportunity to experience the online test question types and format by completing a practice NAPLAN online test.

For more information Parents, students and schools interested in familiarising themselves with the NAPLAN Online format can access the NAPLAN Online demonstration site that includes sample tests for each NAPLAN year. Use the following link:

http://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/naplan-online/naplan-online-public-demonstration-site

Further information about NAPLAN Online is available on the national ACARA website:

http://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/naplan-online

Contact your school principal or visit the ACARA NAP website for more detailed information:

http://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/online-assessment.html

22NAPLAN Online – Fact sheet for parents and carers

Frequently asked questionsWhich students will participate in the NAPLAN Online School Readiness Test?

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will participate.

How should I prepare my child for the NAPLAN Online School Readiness Test?

Your child will not need any academic preparation for the school readiness test. This is not a test of their literacy and numeracy skills, but an opportunity for them to experience the online test format and for their school to assess its online testing capability.

How long is the school readiness test?

The school readiness test is expected to include two assessments: a writing assessment* and a combined numeracy/literacy assessment. The duration of each assessment will be approximately 40 minutes.

* Year 3 students will only be expected to complete the combined numeracy/literacy assessment.

When will my school participate in the readiness test?

One week within the test period in August and September will be identified for each school to conduct readiness testing.

How will students be prevented from using the internet or spellcheckers when completing the test?

The NAPLAN Online assessment platform will have state-of-the-art security protections. The assessment is delivered inside a locked-down browser. This ensures students cannot access the internet or spellcheckers while completing the test.

Will schools and parents be provided with information on the results of the readiness test?

There will be feedback to schools about the technical information gained from the readiness testing. There will be no reporting of student test results from the readiness test.