12 September 2023

Principal’s Report

NEPEAN BLUE MOUNTAINS DANCE FESTIVAL

Congratulations to our two amazing dance groups who performed with such skill and confidence at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith last week. I was very excited to spend the matinee performance backstage with our Stage 1 group feeling and experiencing their excitement and getting a great look of their performance from the wings. For the night performance I was in the audience able to witness the beautiful costumes of our Stage 2 and 3 Group as well as see their outstanding performance. Both dances were tremendous! A big congratulations to Miss Antonelli in her planning, practicing, organisation and skill and bringing these students to such a wonderful performance level. A thankyou to Miss Wynn for supporting and working with these dance groups and Miss Antonelli as well. Well done to all involved.

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NSW MINISTER’S AND SECRETARY’S AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

What an honour it was to attend these awards at the Sydney Town Hall with the team from Cambridge Gardens Public School and having three members of our school community honoured on the night. A big shout out to Miss Alanna Vella, Mrs Kim Latter and Mrs Belinda Adams for being nominated and being successful in being recognised and applauded at such a high level. I have included below the testament put forward on behalf of each individual that gained the award.

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STAGE ONE ZOO EXCURSION

What a great day I had joining our Stage 1 students at the zoo. The excitement and the learning was amazing with our students so interested in the various animals and habitats. A big congratulations to our students on their outstanding behaviour and their engagement in our lesson and in the exhibits.

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DEALING WITH STUDENT DISTRESS OR CONFUSION

Unfortunately, our families and students sometimes experience difficult times and stresses in their home life and as a school we will always provide support and assistance as we can to help our students and their families. Sometimes these matters are shared across families, friends and our students and our children can become quite confused or upset by the information they hear. As a school, we deal with things as we become aware of them but there will be times when your child may come home upset or asking questions. Our advice is to talk through your child’s concerns and questions and provide them with the love and comfort that you can. When we are asked about things by students, we will normally say that yes we know that, as well as, and yes it is sad or upsetting. Following that we would focus on the positive, saying we hope things go well around a situation moving forward. If your child comes home distressed or concerned, please feel free to contact the school and discuss this with myself, Mr Attard, our Assistant Principal Student Wellbeing, your child’s teacher or our School Counsellor, Miss Carolyn Hadfield. Miss Hadfield is on site on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but we can contact her immediately if necessary. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to our families currently dealing with difficult circumstances.

STUDENT BEHAVIOUR

As a school our students display wonderful behaviour and a great understanding of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. At times, usually around games, our students can become physical in their responses to conflict or disagreement. It is important that we always emphasise to our children that physical violence such as kicking, hitting, or punching is not acceptable at school, on the footy field or in the shopping centre. Over the last week or so, we have had an elevation in punching or hitting by a number of students which have been dealt with under our School Discipline Policy with serious consequences for those students. I ask all parents to remind their children that at no time is physical violence acceptable. Our children look to us as parents and teachers for guidance and it is important that we are clear on our expectations of behaviour.

SUPPORTING OUR SCHOOL AND P&C

One of the things that I am most proud of across our school community is our positive outlook and our respectful relationships. As individuals, we will always have differing opinions and ideas around many things. It is always important for us to be kind and to reflect on the motivation behind the actions of our school, our staff and our parent volunteers as well as other school community members. When you have an issue, concern or problem with something, please come and discuss it in the appropriate arena. Unfortunately, in this day and age, social media is often used inappropriately resulting in upset to our school staff or parent volunteers. We ask that if you want to voice a concern that you come to a meeting or private message the appropriate body. It is really upsetting and sad when people comment on FACEBOOK posts in a negative way resulting in other users also feeling comfortable to be very negative in their postings. I am aware that there has been some negative feedback around the upcoming fundraising activity by our P&C. Decisions around these activities are considered very carefully and discussed at our P&C. Please come along and share your thoughts at these meetings. Please remember that fundraising activities are voluntary and that the results benefit all students. Please always consider the invaluable support of our P&C in the work they do for our students. Too often we lose great volunteers and workers. It would also be a shame if we needed to limit comments or block users on our social media.

Have a great two weeks!

Adam Wynn
Principal

Event                                                                         Date                           Closing Date

Reading Eggs 2023 – for all students

Mathletics 2023-for all students 

General Voluntary Contributions

A deposit of $100 will be required by Tuesday 14^th March, 2023. Deposits are non-refundable as student numbers will be confirmed with the bus company on this day. Please be aware, we will confirm the final cost and update the instalment plan below once we have finalised accommodation and activities:

Please note:

For any above Excursion/Incursion Notes attached, ALL Notes must be returned by the return date of the note for the purpose of Risk Management, confirming numbers with Venues/Performers and payments received.

Online Payments cannot be made after the return date of the note. Only Cash will be accepted after the return date, as long as the note has been returned on time.

REFUNDS are not possible after the return/closing date as all above Excursions/Incursions are priced and planned to include all students.

Kindergarten 2024 Enrolments

Kindergarten 2024 Information Evening

Attendance Matters!

We’re getting to the end of Term 3, and there’s still lots to learn and fun activities to participate in. It remains important that your child attends school every single day. Being at school is the best place for students to learn as well as to keep social connections and build life-long skills. 

We understand that families are eager to see and reconnect with loved ones and take a well-deserved break, but please remember that planned travel should only be taken during scheduled school holidays. Students should be at school every day during school terms, including until the end of term, unless they are sick or are absent for a justified reason.

Missing a day here or there may not seem like much, but absences add up and can negatively impact your child's learning and wellbeing. When your child misses one day a week, that’s 40 days of school and 8 weeks of learning in one year. Over an entire school journey this adds up to 2.5 years of lost learning.

It would be great to see every child at school at school every day and on time every day – can you do it until the end of the term?

Alison Patrick
Assistant Principal Attendance

The Anxiety Project - Child Development Workshop

In Term 4, we will be holding a Child Development Workshop that will span over three weeks. The aim of this workshop is to share the knowledge and practical strategies that staff and students have been learning with our families. The workshop will also dive deeper into child development and provide specific parent strategies to better support your children during feelings of worry and anxiety. Please keep your eye out for an email with dates and further information.

Warm regards

Casey Hetherington
The Anxiety Project Implementation Coach

Library News

Monday 11^th September to 15^th September (Week 9) is our staff planning week. Mrs Antonelli will have to cover classes during this week, there will be no library lessons or borrowing in Week 9.

The library staff have been busy accessioning and covering many new book resources for the students. These will all be available for borrowing from Week 10. Students are encouraged to borrow for the holidays and utilise some of their free time to read or be read to for pleasure.

Never underestimate the power of reading books to your children. They develop increased vocabulary knowledge, and a greater insight into what good writing sounds and looks like. Below are some images of the new books that are popular with students at present.

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Rose Antonelli
Teacher Librarian

Kindergarten News

What a fabulous day Kindergarten experienced on Thursday 7^th September at Calmsley Hill Farm Fairfield City. Many students were super excited about catching the bus as this was something they had never experienced before. The weather was fantastic for an all day outside adventure. The students experienced first hand sights, smells and touch of many farm animals. The baby chicks and ducks were soft, chirpy and fluffy. The pigs and goats were messy and noisy. The sheep were baffled and amusing as they were rounded up by the well trained Kelpie dog. The tractor ride through the rugged paddock trail was a thrilling and entertaining one where we saw various long horned species of cattle and camels. Kindergarten had two students who were brave and successful at cracking a cowboy’s whip. Students also sighted several Australian animals including cuddly koalas, sleepy wombats, lazy lizards and many native and colourful birds. A great learning time was experienced by all.

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Stage 1 Fun!

Stage 1 recently embarked on a fun adventure to Sydney Zoo! It was a day filled with smiles, curiosity and lots of learning! There was lots of excitement in the air as we visited the elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras, meerkats, walked the primate boulevard, saw lots of marine life in the aquarium and came up close and personal with a crocodile!! 

 In addition to the incredible wildlife encounters, our students had the privilege of experiencing a wonderful Bungaribee Dreaming Aboiginal workshop. This unique opportunity allowed us to delve into the rich cultural heritage of Australia’s First Nations People. During the workshop, we were introduced to a fascinating array of Aboriginal tools and artefacts and had Aboriginal ochre painting done on our faces. Our students also had the chance to witness the mesmerising sounds of the didgeridoo, which beautifully mimicked the calls of many Australian animals.

 A huge thank you to Mrs Patrick for her organisation and planning for this excursion! And a huge well done to our students who exhibited the values of Cambridge Gardens Public School and represented our school with pride. 

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Alanna Vella
Assistant Principal - Stage 1

Interschool Chess Challenge Regional Semi-Final

On Wednesday 6th September, our five top-ranked students from the Interschool Chess Challenge Tournament in Term 1 competed in the Regional Semi-Final stage of the Interschool Chess Challenge. Steve Cochoco, David McMillan, Mukun Chen, Cayden Rigelsford and Ethan Robinson travelled to the Australian Christian College in Marsden Park for an intense day of high quality chess tournament play. Once again, the tournament format was a 7 round ‘Swiss’ format where the winners of each round would play each other in the following round and the losers of each round would also play each other in the following round.

There were 60 students from various schools in this stage of the competition. Our students played with great determination and sportsmanship, but unfortunately our team did not finish highly enough to progress through to the Regional Final. A special congratulations to David McMillan who was our highest ranked player on the day, winning 4 out of his 7 matches.

I would like to congratulate all of these students who have dedicated their own play time and time at home this year to keep learning and improving their chess skills. I’m looking forward to working with them all again next year.

James Kristof
Chess Coordinator

Maths Games

On Wednesday and Thursday in Week 8, the fourth and final round of the Maths Games was held. This saw the culmination of a series of maths challenges for each competition that took place over three months. The Maths Games was the non-competitive challenge where our results were not compared against students from other schools. A big congratulations to Allegra Bavaro who was the top scoring student in the Games with 16 out of 20 questions correct throughout the Games. Well done also to Steve Cochoco and Emily Denis who tied for second with 11 questions correct out of 20.

Lost Property

Missing File Float Right: Lost Property: JPEG

First it’s cold, then it get’s hot. As the day goes on, children are taking off jumpers and forgetting to collect them at the end of playtime. Our Lost Property racks are overflowing with school jackets and jumpers. There is even a pair of trackpants and a shirt waiting for an owner. Other items of clothing, such as branded hoodies and caps, are also needing to be collected.

All items which had a legible name have already been handed back, so if your child is missing an item, please come to the verandah outside Mrs Patrick’s classroom to check if that item is hiding in Lost Property. The end of term is approaching fast and I would like to clear Lost Property out before then. Any remaining items will, as usual, be donated either to our wonderful P&C clothing pool, or to one of the local charity shops.

Hoping to see lots of parents either before or after school, or on one of our fun days, locating lost items.

Alison Patrick

Staff Profile – Mrs Laura Williams

1 How long have you been teaching? About 25 years.

2 How long have you been at C.G.P.S? 12 years

3 Rate your class 1-10. 10

4 What is your favourite year to teach? Year one.

5 What is your favourite class you have taught? Too hard to choose just one they are all special.

6 Dynasty or Holocene? Equal

7 What is your favourite subject to teach? English or art

8 What could this school have more of? New musical instruments.

9 What inspired you to become a teacher? Her year two teacher.

10 What did you want to be when you grew up as a young child? A teacher

11: Did you enjoy this interview? Yes “I had the most wonderful and kind interviewers”

Mrs. Williams was interviewed by
Brianna-Rose C and Summer Hommel

Live Life Well

Alanna Vella
Live Life Well at School Coordinator

P&C News

Contact Us 

P&C are more than happy to discuss matters pertaining to the P&C. Please get in touch via Facebook or email cambridgegardenspublicschoolpandcaffiliate.org.au and we will get back to you as soon as possible. For all matters pertaining to school business, please discuss with the school via telephone or direct message on Facebook. 

Katy
On behalf of the P&C

Canteen – Kids Pantry Canteens

Camp Australia

Uniforms – Back to Basics

Go4Fun Programs

Gateway Family Services – Term 4 2023

Misisng File - Tuning into Teens Parenting Program Flyer 

2023

2024