Term 3 Week 7 Newsletter 2021
From the Principal
OUR NEWSLETTER CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES EACH WEEK BY SELECTING THE PREFERRED LANGUAGE IN THE DROP DOWN MENU ABOVE
Masks, social distancing, hand sanitiser, vaccinations, home schooling and lockdown - these have become part of our everyday lives. With the rising case numbers and the extension of lockdown in Greater Sydney until the end of September, many of us are disappointed and concerned. The message we have been hearing during the daily press conferences about how we can return to some level of normality is to vaccinate and abide by the stay at home orders. This will take the combined and continued efforts from all of us in this wonderful Greater Sydney community.
The Premier has mentioned in recent press conferences that an announcement will be made later this week regarding what school may look like in NSW moving forward.
AVOIDING COGNITIVE DECLINE DURING LOCKDOWN
Research tells us that extended lockdowns not only impact our mood, they can also affect our thinking. Examples of how this may manifest itself include: being more forgetful, finding it difficult to stay focused on tasks and being distracted. The good news is there are things we can do to prevent it.
This is what is being recommended:
- Exercise every day, even when we don't feel like it. If we push ourselves we feel better for it.
- Talk to others - including face to face with those in our households and video and phone calls with others. Make use of the allowances we have within the restrictions, such as going for a walk with a friend.
- Make the days different - while routines are great for work and education, we are encouraged to add some variety to our days, making changes to avoid every day feeling the same. For example, take a different route when going for a walk or phone or video chat with a different relative.
- Do what you enjoy - make some time to do things you like to do, whether that's playing with the kids, baking, gardening, completing puzzles, reading, watching a movie, or some other pleasure.
- Use the control we have, including understanding that it is okay if we cannot do our best when balancing home schooling with so many work and other commitments. Something will have to give and that's okay. We are in a pandemic and there are so many demands on us. We each can control when we get up and go outside, when and what we eat, what book we read etc. We are encouraged to go outside and do something different if we are having trouble with our work or the kids are having trouble with home schooling, as this can break the mental fatigue and lead to us feeling more refreshed when we return to our desks.
- Remind ourselves that this will end - we know that the restrictions will not last forever, they will ease and there will be some level of normality returning.
There is further good news in that cognitive decline seems to be reversed once restrictions are eased.
Source: This was summarised by an article in the Guardian which was written by Alyx Gorman and published on 16 August 2021.
PARENT SURVEY RESULTS
As mentioned previously, working in an online environment from home is by no means an ideal situation, and as so many parents acknowledged in the survey results, we are all working hard to make this as effective as possible. While results and our subsequent actions have been emailed to each year group, there were a number of common themes across the school. These are outlined below with our responses.
- Balancing home schooling with fulltime work and other commitments - this was the most common concern. We will continue to provide as much support as we can in terms of zoom, filmed lessons, explicit instructions and the inclusion of independent tasks.
- Appreciation for the work, commitment and support provided by the teachers. I know the teachers really appreciate your acknowledgement and we really appreciate your support as well. Together, we can achieve so much more and get through this. A heartfelt thank you from all of us at JP!
- Feedback - while the majority of responses related to appreciation for the feedback provided, some parents requested more feedback. This is something we will be exploring further in our upcoming training sessions, in terms of how we can make the feedback we provide the most effective in the online environment.
- Extension of zoom sessions - these have been introduced into K to 2, and Years 3 to 6 are using Zoom to deliver daily English and Maths lessons.
- Parents not feeling confident explaining concepts - Embedding filmed recordings of teachers explaining the concepts and extending Zoom lessons will hopefully support our parents.
- Screen time - embedding screen free tasks into the learning plans.
- Lack of physical activity - embedding physical education activities into learning plans.
- Social interactions - this is tricky in the online world. However, our wonderful teachers are building into their zooms some ways of enabling kids to connect. Some parents are allowing their kids to phone their friends, which may be an additonal nice idea if age appropriate.
- Wellbeing - activities to support student wellbeing are being incorporated into learning plans and zoom sessions.
A big thank you is extended to the parents who were able to return surveys, as this gave us a window into your world, and enabled us to make a number of adjustments. While it is not possible to implement all suggestions, we will continually reflect on our provisions and will continue to make adjustments based on what we find is most impactful.
HOW DO OUR STAGE 2 TEACHERS SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL VISION?
EMPOWERING LEARNERS TODAY FOR TOMORROW
- Teach them how to think not what to think
- I encourage them to have a growth mindset in challenging tasks
- Never give up
- Teach them to set goals and have a plan to reach them
- Teach them to take risks
- Teaching students to respect and value the opinions and thoughts of others
- Learn from your mistakes
- Inspire students to see the worth and merit of their own learning
- Teaching students to never take things at face value but to seek out the truth
- Foster a curious mind
- To self reflect in order to change their own learning path
SPOTLIGHT ON STAGE 2
At school the stage 2 students were learning to:
- write a summary
- identify etymology
- understand how dialogue reveals the traits and characteristics of a character
- recognise, draw and classify angles
Stage 2 Learning at School
WHAT ARE THE STAGE 2 STUDENTS LEARNING AT HOME?
The Stage 2 students have been learning to:
- understand how dialogue reveals the traits and characteristics of a character
- build a setting using vocabulary and characters, through direct and indirect characterisation and dialogue
- write a narrative based on a stimulus
- plan a speech to persuade an audience
- recognise, draw and classify angles
- empathise with why we celebrate and commemorate events
Stage 2 Learning at Home
KINDY 2022 ZOOM INFORMATION SESSION
We look forward to meeting our 2022 kindergarten parents for an introductory information session at:
6pm on Tuesday 31 August 2021
Parents should have received an email invitation to attend the Zoom session. If you have not received an invitation, please contact the office on 98753100 between 8.30am and 3pm, Monday to Friday or email the school at johnpurch-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
PARENTING IDEAS
With an increase in use of technology in our homes, this parenting article about establishing digital boundaries may provide some useful tips.
Until next week, keep safe, happy and well!
Mrs Leonie Black
From the Deputy Principal
Welcome to Week 7 of Term 3!
It's Book Week this week and I thought I'd share a short story with you.
Remember a time just before 'lockdown'? This was actually, another unfortunate circumstance. My sister, who is a keen road cyclist, was injured in an accident and required hospitalisation. During a trip to visit her in hospital, I was introduced to one of my sister's many friends in the cycling fraternity, sports journalist and author of many books, Rupert Guinness. Rupert was about to embark on an epic cycling road trip from Darwin to Hobart, promoting his mantra, 'Power of the Pedal - Connecting People, Connecting Minds'. What an extraordinary goal and what a fascinating story! This is how I came to read Rupert's 2018 novel, 'Overlander', which relays the events of his 2017 Indian Pacific Wheel Race from Perth to Sydney. Incredible. Epic. And definitely, out-of-my-league!
Rupert's mission is 'to use the vehicle of cycling to connect with global communities and deliver inspiration, education and promote the importance of communicating our mental health journey to others, so we can heal, accept and grow together in our mental health'. Awareness-raising and the promotion of positive mental health, has greater relevance to our community, in these times of lockdown, than ever before.
While we are obviously keen to promote the many benefits of reading books, especially this week, did you know that only 26% of 5-12 year olds are currently getting enough exercise? The relationship between physical activity and mental health are highlighted in this interesting flyer from Be You below. It's great to learn that our SRC reps are getting exercise. I hope you enjoy their articles published this week.
Take care of yourselves and stay safe!
Mrs Adela King
Deputy Principal adela.king@det.nsw.edu.au
Footnote: While still not back cycling on her road bike, my sister's health continues to improve!
Book Week 2021
Are you in need of some great new titles for your children to read? Not deterred by lockdown, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Wickramasinghe, our wonderful librarians, have been busy preparing for this year's Book Week celebrations. Johnny Purchase enjoyed reading about the nominated titles adorning the library walls.
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) announced the 2021 winners on Friday. I have included the CBCA YouTube clip after the photos from our own school library below.
Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds in our Library
What are our SRC reps up to?
Hi JPPS Parents and Students
Being bored or lonely are probably the two things everyone is experiencing right now. While I miss being face-to-face and having that helpful kindness from both students and teachers, we must always look on the bright side, to keep ourselves happy.
A lockdown can be hard, but there are always fun things to do. Even doing something like reading a book or watching tv, you can get more of it, so that is an advantage. It was starting to get a bit boring, so I needed something else to do, so I tried something new. These were skyping my family and bringing out my family's old tent and camping in the garage. There are so many things to try in lockdown and something new could be just waiting around the corner!
Lockdown probably hasn’t been as hard on me because I have enjoyed having the privileges of being able to actually sleep in our caravan in our front yard for a change in our routine (and for some fun). As well as that, I am able to walk with my family and our dog, which is always enjoyable as well as riding, playing board games, video games and sometimes skyping my friends and family. Luckily, I have been able to keep some sport going, doing taekwondo over zoom.
There are always the upsides to tough times and the following upsides I am grateful for are:
- Having my pets and family for social times
- Having the tech I need to keep in touch and learn as usual
- Being able to flex my routine inside and outside school times
- Having the space for play, practise and to learn
- Honestly, having a rest and relax from our normal lives
I hope you all keep happy healthy and calm.
All the best,
Sam M
6LG SRC Rep
Life is a Kahoot! Don't you just love playing games with your family and friends during lockdown? Lockdown has brought many families closer together. Like glue, we are stuck together whether we like it or not but it's surprisingly fun. Without family, your life would be so boring. When I wake up I go downstairs in the morning and my amazing family will have made me breakfast, which I will always be grateful for. One of my favourite things to do with my family is watch movies; I love Friday nights. I also play games with them. For example: Kahoot, bingo, card games and many more. My biggest competition is my brother. Imagine doing everything alone without any family to annoy or talk to. I am so grateful for them.
Technology helps get my message across, even to the other side of the world. I have family living all over the world, so technology is really useful for me. Not only can I contact my family overseas but I can support my friends over there, who are also in lockdown. My technological skills have improved during the lockdown. I have started using more websites and apps.
Another thing I enjoy is Saturday nights. Every Saturday night, my friends and I interact by calling each other on Zoom and running Kahoots and bingo. Sadly, I have never won in bingo but I have hope for next time. Although we are in lockdown, we are lucky to have technology and family to keep you company. I am very grateful for those things. Another thing I enjoy is riding my bike. Here I am in the photo below!
Ahana G
6G SRC Rep
There's nothing better than being able to go into the fridge and grab endless snacks all day. I believe lockdown is necessary to help slow down the spread of Covid-19 in Sydney, however, my parents have to keep going to Woolies to keep restocking the food.
I am so grateful that I can still go down to the local park and play rugby with a mate. Playing rugby is one of the ways me and my friend keep fit. We have gone to Greenway pretty much every day since the lockdown started. That makes me hungry! Brownies are amazing, so I have to pester my sister to make more brownies all the time as a treat.
I am happy that I can call my friends through social media apps and listen to them on Zoom, as well as in real life, while kicking goals. I can call my friends with or without a camera on, or you can also use apps to message people. I can instantly connect to my friends, so I can hear their voices, which lifts my mood. On Zoom, we can share ideas and get a better understanding of the daily learning schedule. I can also see everyone’s faces if I haven't seen them in a while. Another huge benefit is I can sleep in and still be on time for schoolwork.
The best thing about lockdown is that I can take a break whenever I need and the hot lunches are great! Whilst lockdown is manageable, I can’t wait to get our freedom back.
Matthew H
6G SRC Rep
What am I grateful for?
Expressing gratitude can have mental health benefits, like improving your mood. At last week's staff meeting via Zoom, these messages were expressed:
* I’m grateful for my health and for 5B!
* my loving family, my safe and comfortable home, our strong health system, the sunshine each day, for music
* grateful for my team, working together to share the work load and those who volunteer to help out where they can
* grateful for afternoon walks in the sun
* I’m grateful for 3N, friends, family and internet!
* I'm grateful for each and everyone of the teachers, office staff & support staff at our school.
* I am grateful for the time my APs make in providing feedback on my lessons in their busy schedule
* I'm grateful for living near the water and bushland with many walking tracks.
* spring flowers as I walk around my street
* family, good health
* I'm grateful for working with a great team of people and the ability to still connect through zoom and the phone.
* grateful for my family and fur babies who are always happy to see us!
* I'm grateful for my family and being able to walk safely in my neighbourhood. I'm also grateful for Zoom and to be able to see the students from JPPS.
* I am grateful for kind feedback from parents, 4O students and Stage 2 team that motivates me.
* I am grateful for health and my safe, happy bubble with my fiancé and dog. * I'm grateful for all the kind messages I have received from my students. I know that I am still making a difference even though we are all learning remotely.
* I am grateful to hear family and friends are safe.
* I'm grateful for an amazing group of staff to work with, for my great class of hardworking students and my family and friends.
* I'm really grateful for so many things in my life like the flowers in my garden, friends who call simply to say hello, my family and school community and especially the happy smiles on our students' faces when they are learning together
* I am grateful for the Ginger Ninjas organising the weekly social zooms that keep me sane.
* I am grateful for our school, the wonderful staff I work with and very grateful for my beautiful 1N students and families and all of the effort they put in each day of home learning with big smiles on their faces!
* I am grateful that we live in a safe country where we all have the right to freedom, health care and also woman and children are able to be educated, work, be leaders and share their beliefs.
* grateful to live in Australia and have access the free health care, beautiful location and human rights
* I am grateful for having such lovely people to work with, wonderful friends and being happy to walk in the sun in the afternoon.
* I am grateful for the awesome team that I work with.
Expectation of the Week
Respect: be respectful online
Congratulations to all students, demonstrating our school expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Aspire.
Purchase Pride Badges
When students receive ten Purchase Pride award cards, these should be left in Mrs King’s ‘award shelf’ in the administration corridor. The ten awards need to be bundled together and clearly labelled with the student’s name and current class. Purchase Pride cards have a tear off strip. This strip may be removed by the recipient and placed in the appropriate stage box outside Mrs King’s office, to go in the lucky dip draw for a canteen voucher. Badge recipients, whose names have already been published, will be presented with their awards when we all return to school.
Class Awards System
JPPS has an incremental class awards system. When a student has received ten class awards, these should be left on Mrs King’s ‘award shelf’ in the administration corridor. The ten class awards need to be bundled together and clearly labelled with the student’s name, current class and award level reached:
10 Class Awards = Bronze 20 = Silver 30 = Gold 40 = Bronze Medallion
50 = Silver Medallion 60 = Gold Medallion 75 = Platinum Medallion and Principal for the Day!
A clear, snap lock bag is ideal for this purpose!
With the exception of Bronze Awards (which are published at the end of the term and presented at a Principal’s morning tea for students and parents), all awards received by 3pm on Thursday afternoons, are ‘stamped’ and published in the next school newsletter, which is usually on the following Monday. At this time, I indicate when these awards will be presented at the next Thursday afternoon assembly.
Students need to be responsible for their own awards, as replacements are not issued. Please note: During the learning from home period, teachers are issuing awards remotely and they will present these to students, when we all return to school.
Where is Johnny Purchase? Chapter 4
Books. Books. And more books! Johnny Purchase went searching high and low for interesting books to read this week. Don't forget to check out which titles are this year's Children's Book Council of Australia award winners, in the video above!
Where is Johnny Purchase? Chapter 3
Johnny Purchase has been getting his exercise this week! What an adventure; nibbling herbs that have been growing beautifully in 3/4B's garden, climbing on the row of box trees, practising public speaking in the hall, counting Purchase Pride badges in Mrs King's office and even discovering a brush turkey, scratching about, next to the Year 3 classrooms.
Where is Johnny Purchase? Chapter 2
Can you find Johnny Purchase, our school mascot, as he explores the Year 1 picnic area, knocks on the principal's door, has a sleep outside 6C, finds a book to read from the Library, relaxes in the Library ampitheatre and gets some exercise shooting goals in the K-2 playground?
Where is Johnny Purchase? Chapter 1
Johnny Purchase escaped from Mrs King's office! Can you recognise where he visited on his adventure?
Missing school? Take a 3-minute fly through tour!
Our John Purchase community is representative of many cultural backgrounds. Parents please be advised that the SBS portal provides Coronavirus information and updates translated into 60 different languages. I have shared the link below.
From the Teachers
BOOK WEEK 21ST – 27TH AUGUST 2021
OLD WORLDS, NEW WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS
This week we celebrate The Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. Unfortunately at present we are unable to hold many of the activities we had planned but hope some of them may happen in Term 4.
During Term 2 and early Term 3 classes studied the finalists in a variety of categories including –
• Early Childhood Books in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1
• Picture Books in Stage 2
• Eve Pownall Award (Factual Information) in Stage 3
We are hopeful of having the opportunity to discuss and vote for our preferred texts before too long.
Our school library has been decorated according to the ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’ theme with a dinosaur section for old worlds, a space area for new worlds and a magical section featuring wizards for other worlds and our photos will share this fun with you. This year’s theme offers a wonderful opportunity to escape into any area of literature you enjoy or maybe try something different – remember one of the JPPS library expectations is to read books by a variety of authors. Right now you may not be able to actually go many places but great books can always transport you to fabulous destinations.
Old worlds could include our books about dinosaurs, ancient civilisations, exploration and the not so old world of Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and Treasure Island.
New worlds showcase space, robots and drones, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Other worlds invite us into the mystery and magic of dragons, wizards and monsters, the microscopic world of bugs and germs or undersea fun. Some books embracing this idea include Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Wings of Fire or The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Finally, a quote from the book ‘Matilda’ by one of our favourite authors, Roald Dahl –
‘The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives’.
Let books into your life and reading can do this for you.
Mrs Susan Wilson & Mrs Enoka Wickramasinghe
Teacher Librarians
Kindergarten 2022
Do you have a child enrolling in Kindergarten at John Purchase Public School in 2022?
With the year flying by, it is time to start thinking about Kindergarten enrolment for 2022.
If your child will be starting Kindergarten at John Purchase Public School in 2022 please go to the link below and complete the online school enrolment application.
https://enrol.education.nsw.gov.au/#/?schoolCode=4572
Dates and details regarding information evenings and transition will be provided in the coming months.
We look forward to welcoming our new students to John Purchase Public School in 2022!
Miss Claire Eiffert
Relieving Early Stage One Assistant Principal
ICAS 2021
Due to the uncertainty currently surrounding the unfolding COVID situation in NSW, the ICAS exams have been postponed until Term 4 from 5 Oct – 29 Oct 2021.
Miss Brennan
ICAS Coordinator
GOT IT ‘Resilient Kids’ Seminar
We are lucky to still have the wonderful ‘Got It’ team still working in our school until the end of this year. They are presenting a new and different online seminar ‘Resilient Kids’.
This seminar is for all parents and carers of students from Kindergarten to Year 6.
Please see the flyer below for details of the course and a registration link.
Mrs Leonie Cole
Learning and Support Teacher/Coordinator
Cyberbullying leaves a trail
Many young people are unaware that everything they say and do online leaves a ‘digital footprint’ and although they may have deleted a message, picture or website, this can never fully be deleted.
If your child has been cyberbullied, here are a few tips for how you can save and report the evidence:
Mobile phones: download and print the message or take a photo of the message on the screen with your camera. For nuisance calls or messages you can contact your mobile phone service provider and for threatening calls or messages, contact the Police.
Online content: If content is posted on a website you need to contact the website directly. Most social networking sites (e.g.: Facebook, Twitter, MSN) have pages where you can report ‘inappropriate’ behaviour. Alternatively you can find more information on the safety website at: https://www.esafety.gov.au/
More helpful resources and information for schools, parents and carers, and students can be found on the NSW Department of Education anti-bullying website at:
https://antibullying.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/Keeping-my-child-safe-online
Mrs Leonie Cole
Learning and Support Teacher
Community Announcements
JPPS Parents are invited to a free webinar about digital wellbeing presented by Dr Kristy Goodwin on Wednesday 8 September at 8pm. Details appear in the flyer below.