Dubbo South Public School Respect, Care, Cooperation & Responsibility

From Sharon’s Desk Winter has hit! Please remember to ensure your children have a school jumper when attending school each day and that it is clearly labelled with your child’s name. The uniform shop is open on Tuesday and Thursday morning between 8.30am—9.30am for purchasing uniforms. Sickness: Please remember that during this COVID period, there are to be no children in attendance at school whilst sick with any illness or symptoms. If your child is sick whilst at school, you will be contacted to come and pick them up. If your child has any cold like symptoms and your Dr requests a COVID test, your child needs to stay at home until the results are known. It is very important that you contact the school if your child is required to have a COVID—19 test. Thank you for your support and cooperation with this. This practise will ensure that we are looking after both students and staff at school. Travelling to, and leaving the school safely has caused some concern of late. When students leave school in the afternoon, it is essential that everyone uses the correct gates and students cross the busy Fitzroy Street at the manned crossing. A near hit occurred yesterday afternoon, through no fault of the driver. A student riding a scooter zipped across the traffic diagonally across the busy road. Luckily it resulted in a positive outcome, except we witnessed how easily a near fatal accident could occur. Please remind your children to use the crossing where a crossing supervisor is on duty. As a parent, please set the correct role modelling— don’t call your child across the road and do not walk across the road anywhere but the crossing. Together we all play a part in the safe travels of your child. Let us work together, think before we do! Thank you to the many parents and carers who do the right thing everyday. Your child thanks you for it! Thank you to all parents and carers who attend school each afternoon to pick up children. I appreciate your support in following the physical distancing rules. It is important that this continues and people remember their physical spacing for everyone’s health

Applying for a Year 5 entry to an Opportunity class in 2021. The website opens Tuesday 9th June 2020 and closes on Friday 26th June 2020. Your application must be submitted by this date. There is a booklet available for download with further information. Have a great week, Sharon Murray, Principal.

Email: dubbosouth-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au Website: www.dubbosouth-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 2 Week 6 2nd June 2020

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Changes to the Opportunity Class Placement Process for 2020 Year 4 Students

The 2021 Year 5 opportunity placement process was put on hold in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation.

We now have a revised and simplified timeline for the OC placement process to ensure that students and families can have certainty about their placement as soon as possible. The changes include:

• A new date for online applications. Please apply between 9th June 2020 and 26th June2020. Late applications will not be accepted.

• A new test date—Wednesday 16th September 2020

To ensure fair and consistent assessment of students across NSW, students will be offered places based only on their test results this year—there will be no school assessment scores.

There will also be no opportunity for appeals given the tight timeframes.

For further detailed information I encourage you to visit https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

Teaching and Learning Tales Emma Starr – 3S When it comes to teaching Mrs Starr is a star. She was born in Dubbo but grew up in Coonabarabran. She ventured off to Macquarie University in Sydney with plans to study Psychology. “I loved learning about how the brain works,” she said. But it seemed Mrs Starr’s destiny was to become a teacher. Her mother and father had valued education and Mrs Starr loved her own school experiences. “I can see the positive impact education has had on my life,” she said. “More and more I couldn’t see myself involved in the less appealing parts of Psychology but I still wanted to be involved in positively impacting others’ lives, so I decided to become a teacher.” Mrs Starr began her teaching career in Coonabarabran, before moving to a very small K-12 school in Binnaway. “It certainly was a steep learning curve. I had to become an expert in many things very quickly without a lot of help. It was hard but it presented me with many valuable learning opportunities and certainly has made me the educator I am today.” In 2009 Mrs Starr travelled to Bangladesh and worked in an international school teaching the International Baccalaureate. “This was a very rich learning experience. I learnt so much about the benefits of collaborative planning.”

Mrs Starr returned to Binnaway and gained her proficient accreditation teaching Kindergarten. “I loved teaching students how to read. It is marvellous to witness a child become a reader.” Mrs Starr headed abroad again and taught for 6 months in a low-socioeconomic school in Yorkshire before becoming a nanny for a family in Harrogate. Mrs Starr then took a break from teaching and worked in a pottery shop where community members could come and make their own commemorative pottery items. “I loved working creatively with people at such special moments in their lives.” While abroad Mrs Starr met her now husband and they soon came back to Baradine. Mrs Starr has been teaching in Dubbo for the past 5 years and began at Dubbo South Public this year. Keen to be the best educator she can be, Mrs Starr has also commenced her Masters of Education. “I have a great belief in my ability to learn and keep learning. I think it is really important I model that for my son and students.” Mrs Starr is passionate about sharing her expertise to support the growth of other beginning teachers and after being in her class it is clear she has many skills to impart. Student voices: Addison Skinner, 8 years – “Mrs Starr is funny and kind. She has taught me about procedures in Mathematics.” Caitlin Weber, 9 years – “She is very smart and has taught me how to use bridging in Mathematics.” Zavier Deveigne, 8 years – “Mrs Starr is fun. She is the best teacher. I have learnt my times tables very well in her class.”

Canteen The canteen is now open for

Breakfast, recess and lunch. Orders can be made online through Flexischools or at the canteen.

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Respect, Care, Cooperation & Responsibility

We are taking Kinder enrolments 2021.

Please drop into our school office to get an enrolment

pack. All students will need a Birth Certificate, proof of

address and Immunisation Certificate. Please tell

anyone you may know living in our area and have

school age children for 2021.

Stage 2 and 3 Excursions

At this stage, the Stage 2 excursion to Red

Hill in Term 3 and the Stage 3 excursion to

Canberra in Term 4 will go ahead.

Please continue to pay deposits and regular

instalments. If these excursions are cancelled

then a full refund will be paid.

Deposits for both excursions are due by

the end of this week.

Year 6 Shirts We have been in contact with our supplier and due to quarantine regulations our Year 6 shirts have been delayed. We are hopeful they will be delivered in the next week for students.

We are in this together - Aboriginal Elder Brenda Lake’s Story

During the past week Dubbo South Public School has focused on relationships to connect with and value our community’s Aboriginal people, history and culture. Dubbo born Aboriginal Elder, Mrs Brenda Lake, is a passionate educator who has worked at the school for 14 years. She is an invaluable member of our school community. Mrs Lake spends each day in classrooms assisting students to learn to their potential. While yarning over lunch, Mrs Lake told her family’s story and why reconciliation is so important in moving forward. “My mother was born in Peak Hill and was stolen from my grandmother at a young age and taken to Cootamundra Girl’s Home,” Mrs Lake said as she held a photograph of her mother standing with other young Aboriginal girls in a white dress outside of a large building. “She was sent around to a lot of places, including Angledool past Walgett and eventually Dubbo where met my dad, who was a white man.” “All 9 of us - mum, dad and my 5 sisters and 1 brother, grew up in a tin shack near the river just out of Dubbo.” “I married Lester Lake, who was born in Galah, also from a large family. His mother died when he was just 9 months old.” “Just before the ‘Yes Vote’ came in Aboriginal people were not allowed to go to pubs, cinemas or schools. My father-in-law, Leonard Leopold Lake, was one of the few to be issued with an exemption, or ‘dog tag’, as they were called. There were only approximately 1400 issued in NSW,” Mrs Lake said while running her fingers across the original document. “Leonard applied for one along with his two brothers who fought in WWII. He was granted one because he had fairer skin.” “It’s sad,” Mrs Lake said. “I am overcome with empathy when I think about the horrible experiences my family went through. I can’t imagine how they would of felt.” Mrs Lake remembers being a small child in Dubbo and feeling happy she was allowed to swim in the town pool because she had light skin. “I didn’t understand why my cousins and other Aboriginal children with dark skin were not allowed in. It’s only recently I have had the chance to research my family history and it’s just awful to learn their stories, or not able to find any records.”

Whilst Mrs Lake has endured racism throughout her life she considers herself an optimist, who is committed to ensuring the future is better for Aboriginal people. “It will be a slow process, but we have to move forward together.” “You can’t change the past, but you can work for a better future.” “Growing up we weren’t given the opportunity to learn about our culture. The children I help in classrooms are more aware of the injustices of the past and are learning about the sophistication of our traditional culture. I can see they are growing up with the right attitude.” Student voices: Jayde Palmer, 7 years old - “I felt sorry for the Aboriginal people who were mistreated.” Sukhiyana Mali, 7 years old - “I learned about Aboriginal people’s rights. The apology made me happy.” Hunter Munro, 6 years old - “I learnt what it feels like to be left out.” Riley Stanton, 7 years old - “Sorry Day is important.” Millie Warner, 6 years old - “We read a book about two little Aboriginal girls who couldn’t go to see their grandma. This made me feel sad.” Charlie Skinner, 6 years old - “I learnt children were taken away from their mothers and how sorry our country is about this.” Malleek Riley, 6 years old - “Everyone needs to be nice to each other.” Nevah Shillingsworth, 6 years old - “Friendship is the way.” Katelynn Manning, 6 years old - “You have to say sorry if you do something not kind.”

PRC – Premier’s Reading Challenge Congratulations to Jorden and Larissa West who have completed their reading challenge. There is still plenty of time left, so keep on reading. World Book Encyclopedia Online We have taken out a 12 month subscription. Details of login and some areas of interest are in the World Book letter in this newsletter. We will show classes and staff some of the features over the next few weeks. Great activities and articles to explore. More details to come. Enjoy the first few days of winter. Sue Buttrey Teacher Librarian

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