Term 3 Week 7 Newsletter - Monday 1st September 2025
From the Relieving Principal
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Term 3 Week 7
Monday 1st September 2025
Dear Parents and Carers
Congratulations to Mrs Vanessa Rogers, who will commence as the new principal of JPPS, next term. On behalf of our students, staff and parent community, I warmly welcome Mrs Rogers to our school and look forward to meeting her soon.
As we celebrate SASS Week, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the incredible School Administrative and Support Staff (SASS) who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our school running smoothly.
Our Business Manager and School Administration Manager expertly handle the financial and administrative operations, ensuring our resources are well-managed. The School Administration Officers provide vital support by managing enrolments, communications, first aid and daily office tasks, with care and efficiency.
Our General Assistants help maintain a safe, clean, and welcoming environment for our students and staff, while our Technical Support Officer ensures all our technology works seamlessly to support learning and our Student Learning Support Officers play a crucial role in assisting students with their learning and wellbeing, making a positive difference every day.
The John Purchase Public School SASS team is:
Business Manager - Mrs Clare Cattell
School Administration Manager - Mrs Sharena Ratnarajah
School Administration Officers - Mrs Helen Dechnicz, Mrs Svetlana Blieva, Mrs Priya Desai
General Assistants - Mr Cecil Louw and Mr Brian Berry
Technical Support Officer - Mr Ming Teo
Student Learning Support Officers - Mrs Susan Moriarty, Mrs Donna Aoutal and Miss Sareen Karadanian
We deeply appreciate the dedication and hard work of all our SASS team. Their commitment helps create the wonderful school community we are proud to be a part of.
Thank you to P & C stalwart, Natalie Campbell, and her team of parent volunteers, for providing our students with the much-anticipated Father's Day shopping stall, at school, last week. Your time and energy is always greatly appreciated.
Kindergarten 2026 - I look forward to meeting the parents of Kindergarten 2026 tomorrow, with Early Stage 1 Assistant Principal, Miss Samantha Nelson, as we begin the orientation to school program. The first session will be held at school at 9am and repeated online at 6pm, for those parents unable to attend the morning session.
The Anxiety Project Parent Course commences at school this Wednesday evening. Mrs Paris and I look forward to hosting these information sessions over the next three weeks, for all the parents who have registered. Each session will commence at 5pm in the school hall.
Congratulations Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 Dance Troupes and their teachers: Miss Shine, Mrs Walters, Miss Davidson and Mrs Berry. Your performances at recent eisteddfods and festivals have been outstanding. Congratulations!
Good luck to the JPPS athletes participating at the Zone Carnival at Olympic Park this Thursday. We wish them well!
Have a positive week!
If you can be anything, be kind!
Adela King
Relieving Principal
Celebrating SASS Recognition Week
Some of the wonderful JPPS SASS team members are pictured below: Mrs Dechnicz, Mrs Desai, Mr Louw, Mrs Cattell, Mrs Blieva and Mrs Ratnarajah.
It's Literacy and Numeracy Week
The NSW Department of Education produces many worthwhile resources for families to support each child's learning journey.
Literacy Resources for Parents and Carers:
Numeracy Resources for Parents and Carers:
Congratulations Soccer Stars
Huge congratulations to the Stage 3 PSSA team and their coach, Mrs Walters, as they ended the season undefeated and ultimate PSSA champions for 2025!
Selective High Schools and Opportunity Classes 2026
Information regarding selective high school placement for Year 7 2026, was released on Friday afternoon, 22nd August.
Information regarding placement in Opportunity Classes for Year 5 2026, is expected to be released from 3pm Friday, 5th September.
Parents are advised to refer to the following information from the NSW Department of Education, should you have queries regarding this year's process and testing methodology. This 'Outcomes' information site will have updates to parents' frequently asked questions, as well as translation pages:
Student Attendance - Every Day Matters (repeated)
If your child is absent from school, a member of the administrative team will send you a text message or email. Parents are encouraged to respond to these messages as soon as possible, to avoid absences being recorded as unjustified.
To support you in monitoring your child’s attendance, we encourage parents to access the Parent Portal in School Bytes, where you can view your child’s attendance levels on a visual map. This map provides a clear view of your child’s attendance rate, at any day during the year. The attendance rate is calculated on the number of actual and partial days attended, as a percentage of the total possible school days for the term.
As part of your child's Semester 1 and Semester 2 report, we include the semester's attendance summary, imported from School Bytes.
If you need any assistance setting up or navigating the School Bytes portal, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our office administration team.
2025 Term Dates & Holidays
We encourage student travel to be taken in school holiday periods, not during term time.
Please note: School development days for staff are included in these term dates and parents and carers should not send their children to school on these days.
- Winter school holidays - Monday 7 July to Friday 18 July
- Term 3 – Monday 21 July to Friday 26 September. The school development day is on Monday 21 July and all students K- 6 start on Tuesday 22 July.
- Spring school holidays – Monday 29 September to Friday 10 October
- Term 4 – Monday 13 October to Friday 19 December. The school development day is Monday 13 October. All students K - 6 start on Tuesday 14 October.
- Summer school holidays (Eastern) – Monday 22 December to Monday 26 January 2026
From the Relieving Deputy Principal
Term 3 Week 7
Community Spirit and Storybook Magic
Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who so generously give their time to support our school community. The recent P&C Father’s Day Stall was a fantastic opportunity for our students to shop ‘secretly’ for their dads, bringing lots of joy and excitement. We are truly grateful for the generous spirit and commitment our parent community shares with us—it makes such a positive difference!
Our Stage 1 students have been diving into creativity during their art lessons, inspired by the enchanting story Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. They are exploring beautiful watercolour techniques of blending to create stunning shades of blue and green, capturing the mood of a stormy ocean. In the photo gallery below, you’ll find a few early snapshots of the students beginning their artwork. We look forward to sharing their finished pieces with you next week.
As we continue to celebrate books that inspire us, our students are also busy planning their costumes for the upcoming Book Parade. This special event will be held on Thursday, 18th September at 9:30am in the K-6 COLA. Please note this earlier time for our next K-6 assembly and be sure to save the date in your calendar. The Book Parade is always a highlight of the school year, filled with colourful costumes and a joyful celebration of reading.
Our librarian, Mrs Chapman, has shared more details about the parade further along in this newsletter. We look forward to welcoming parents and carers to join us for this wonderful event.
Irene Robbins
Relieving Deputy Principal
Father's Day Stall
Storybook Magic
Congratulations Silver Award Recipients
Term 3 Diary Dates
- Tuesday 2 September - Kindergarten 2026 Parent Meeting at school 9am or 6pm via Microsoft Teams
- Thursday 4 September - Zone Athletics Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park
- Friday 5 September - ES1 and Stage 1 Science Incursion
- Monday 8 September - P&C Meeting via zoom
- Tuesday 9 September - Maths Olympiad
- Wednesday 3 September - 5pm to 7pm Parent Session 1 The Anxiety Project
- Wednesday 10 September - 5pm to 7pm Parent Session 2 The Anxiety Project
- Wednesday 17 September - 5pm to 7pm Parent Session 3 The Anxiety Project
- Wednesday 10 September - Year 5 Leadership Day
- Friday 12 September - Summer PSSA resumes
- Thursday 18 September 9:30am K-6 Assembly and Book Character Parade
- Tuesday 23 September 10:30am Principal’s Morning Tea in Hall
- Wednesday 24 September – 11am Bronze Medallion Morning Tea in Principal’s Office
- Friday 26 September - Last day of Term 3
Our School Expectations
Congratulations to our students who have demonstrated our school expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Aspire.
This week's expectation is:
Aspire: Be proud of our school and keep it clean
Purchase Pride Badges
Purchase Pride awards recognise positive student behaviour on the playground and in the classroom. When students receive ten Purchase Pride award cards, these should be left in the boxes on the ‘award shelf’ inside the school office foyer. Each set of ten awards needs to be bundled together and clearly labelled with the student’s name and current class. The acceptance of awards closes for administration at 9am every Thursday morning.
Purchase Pride cards also have a 'tear-off' strip. This strip may be removed by the recipient and placed in the appropriate stage box in the award shelf, to go in the lucky dip draw, for a canteen voucher. Canteen vouchers are drawn by our SRC representatives, at the end of each term. Students are notified directly, if successful.
Award recipients will be presented with a coloured Purchase Pride badge, the week after their name is published in this newsletter, at the Monday morning assembly, during term time. This badge may be worn on the school uniform. Students are encouraged to hand in their awards regularly and not 'stockpile' them.
Congratulations:
Asher P (KS), Maddie T (3ES), Ahaan K (3L), Kaitlyn O (3N), Ryan L (4D), Chris L (4ML)
Class Awards System
In addition to Purchase Prides, JPPS has an incremental class awards system. When a student has received ten class awards, these should be left in the boxes on the ‘award shelf’ inside the school office. The ten class awards need to be bundled together and clearly labelled with the student’s name, current class and award level reached. A clear, snap lock bag is ideal for this purpose! Students need to be responsible for their own awards, as replacements are not issued. Students are encouraged to hand in their awards, rather than 'stockpiling' them until Term 4, so they don't miss out on special celebrations, such as the Principal's Morning Tea.
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!
All awards (including Bronze) received by 9am on Thursday mornings, are ‘stamped’ and published in the next school newsletter, which is usually on the following Monday, in term time. At this time, I indicate when these awards will be presented. Silver Awards, Gold Awards and all Medallions, are presented at whole school assemblies. Please note that Bronze Awards are only presented at the end of each term, at the Principal's Morning Tea.
Bronze Award
Bronze Awards will be presented at the Term 3 Principal's Morning Tea, for Bronze Award recipients. This special event will be held Tuesday 23 September at 10.30am, in the school hall. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
Silver Award
These awards will be presented at the next assembly. This assembly is planned to occur at 9:30am on Thursday 18th September, under the COLA. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
Olivia C (3N), Kaitlyn O (3N), Salome M (5D)
Gold Award
These awards will be presented at the next assembly. This assembly is planned to occur at 9:30m on Thursday 18th September, under the COLA. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
Bronze Medallion
These awards will be presented at the next assembly. This assembly is planned to occur at 1:35pm on Thursday 28th August, under the COLA. Stage 3 students will be presenting an item. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
A morning tea for Term 3 Bronze Medallion recipients will be held in the principal's office at recess on Wednesday 24 September at 11am.
Max T (5/6B)
Silver Medallion
These awards will be presented at the next assembly. This assembly is planned to occur at 9:30am on Thursday 18th September, under the COLA. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
Gold Medallion
These awards will be presented at the next assembly. This assembly is planned to occur at 9:30m on Thursday 18th September, under the COLA. Parents are cordially invited to attend.
From the Teachers
The Anxiety Project Lessons
CHECK-IN ASSESSMENTS
2025 ‘Check-in’ Assessments Year 3-6
‘Check-in’ Assessments for 2025 will commence on Monday 1st September 2025 and will continue until Friday 12th September 2025. These assessments are completed online by students in Year 3 to 9, in NSW public schools every year.
John Purchase Public School students in Years 3-6 will each complete a reading test and a numeracy test. Students in Year 6 will also complete a writing task. The reading and numeracy tests are designed to take up to 60 minutes each. The Year 6 writing task is designed to take 40 minutes (including 5 minutes planning at the start, 30 minutes writing and 5 minutes to check and edit work at the end). Both the reading and numeracy tests have approximately 50 items (including a small number of items for trial purposes). The Year 6 writing task is a single prompt marked against set criteria.
No preparation is required at home. The assessments will be completed during lesson time, and there is no expectation for students to revise or study in advance.There is no formal feedback or test results shared with parents. These are internal assessments intended to guide classroom teaching rather than to report student achievement. The results are used by teachers to identify areas of strength and where further support may be needed.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact class teachers.
Adele Walters
Stage 3 Relieving Assistant Principal
PSSA WINTER FINALS
It has been a fantastic winter PSSA season for both soccer and netball. Congratulations to all students who participated this season! We are proud to share the final results of each team below:
Stage 2 Netball Finals
Girls: 5th place
Boys: 6th place
Stage 2 Soccer Finals
Girls: 8th place
Boys: 9th place
Stage 3 Netball Finals
Girls: 10th place
Boys: 3rd place
Stage 3 Soccer Finals
Girls: 12th place
Boys: 1st place
A special congratulations goes to our Stage 3 Boys Soccer team for their outstanding win this season! The boys showed determination, teamwork, and respect throughout the competition, holding first place from start to finish. They should be incredibly proud of their achievement.
Stage 3 soccer boys will be presented with their ribbons next Monday, the 8th of September, during morning assembly.
DANCE NEWS
We are incredibly proud of our three amazing JPPS dance troupes who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to perfect their routines, and their dedication has truly paid off!
Over the past week, our talented dancers performed at two major eisteddfods, showcasing their skills, energy, and teamwork.
Last Tuesday, our Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 groups travelled to the Hawkesbury Eisteddfod, where they absolutely stole the show. All three troupes placed FIRST in their respective sections, winning every section of the day!
Then on Sunday, all three troupes competed at the Hills Eisteddfod, going up against a strong field of both public and private schools. We are thrilled to share that Stage 1 and Stage 3 groups received a Highly Commended Award, a fantastic achievement in such a competitive environment!
This is an outstanding achievement and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students and dance teachers, and the wonderful support of our families. Congratulations to every dancer involved, you have made us all so proud!
Mrs Berry
JPPS Dance Co-ordinator
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge The NSW PRC will be wrapping up this term and has been extended for students until Friday 19 September 2025 (Week 9). Well done to the 134 students who have completed the Challenge so far! All students who complete the Challenge before the end date will receive a Purchase Pride award and a personalised bookmark as a reward for their efforts. Their names are also on display on their class bookshelf in the Library!
K-2 | 30 books
3-6 | 20 books
Books read should be from the list of approved books for their age range or above. All students are able to add up to 10 Personal Choice titles to their list. Please note that only 5 books from a same series can be counted and any PRC books below their age level will also be considered a Personal Choice book. These are to be entered online through the NSW PRC Student Experience site, which can also be found via your child's Student Portal. For more information, please see Mrs Chapman in the Library.
Renee ChapmanTeacher Librarian
Kind regards,
Mrs Renee Chapman | Teacher Librarian
From the Office
STUDENT TRAVEL PASSES
Students who require a School Opal card or travel pass but have not yet applied need to apply or update their details as soon as possible.
In the Opal network, students should travel with a Child/Youth Opal card until they receive their valid School Opal card. If outside Greater Sydney, parents should contact their local bus operator to discuss their travel needs.
Students living in rural and regional areas will receive their travel pass from their nominated transport operator. It may be issued via their school or be sent directly to them at home. Note: some rural and regional operators do not issue travel passes. Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.
TERMS OF USE
Students using School Opal cards must tap on and tap off in line with the Opal terms of use .
This includes travel within the approved times between 6.30am and 7.00pm from Monday to Friday on school days only. Students must use their Child/Youth Opal card for any travel outside these times.
All students are required to comply with the Student code of conduct. The code of conduct aims to ensure the safety and well-being of school children and other passengers. It is important that parents ensure their child is aware of this, as failure to comply with the code of conduct can result in a suspension from travel.
From the P & C
JPPS UNIFORM SHOP
General Notes:
Opening Hours (School Days): 8:30-9:30am every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Online Ordering & Pick Up In Shop:
To shorten your waiting time in the shop, we highly recommend all parents order uniforms online and arrange pick up. Items can be changed if there is a sizing issue.https://uniforms.jppspandc.org.au/
Friendly Reminders:
Any size change of items (except hats & socks) has to be arranged within 14 days upon purchase with FULL packaging and receipt shown ONLY. Any used items or missing packaging will definitely NOT be accepted.
FROM THE CANTEEN
Volunteers needed: Our school canteen is in URGENT need of volunteers to help keep it running smoothly! especially on our busiest day--FRIDAY. If you can spare time from 9.30am - 1.15pm once a month, please email jpps.canteen@gmail.com Thank you for your support!
From the OOSH
From the Community
Please note our school publishes community information for the convenience of families but does not endorse any activity, organisation, person or product.
JOHN PURCHASE PUBLIC SCHOOL accepts no responsibility for content on third-party websites and providing a link does not imply that the school endorses that website.
A MESSAGE FROM THEIRCARE OOSH SERVICE
TheirCare is an experienced Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) company with 495 services nationally. TheirCare was founded in 2017 and provides a stimulating and safe environment for all children in OSHC. During sessions, children develop life-skills, friendships, confidence, and creativity through play-based programs. We look forward to starting the TheirCare service with an official start date of Monday 21st July - 2025. An online information night is scheduled on Tuesday 1st July – 5.30pm (details attached) so families can meet the team and to find out about registrations, times and bookings for the service.
🎉 Ready to Jump In? Let’s Get Started!
Not enrolled yet for OSHC? No stress—it’s super quick and easy to sign up! Just click here and get started.
📝 A Few Quick Checks Before You Finish:
To help us create the best experience for your child, please double-check these details during enrolment:
- ✅ Emergency contacts – make sure we have someone to call if needed
- ✅ Medical information – including allergies, medications, or health conditions
- ✅ Any diagnoses – like asthma, anaphylaxis, or other important info
This info helps us keep your child safe, supported, and smiling throughout their time with us.💬 Got Questions? We’re Here to Help! Our friendly Customer Support Team is available Monday to Friday, 6:30 AM – 8:00 PM (AEST) 📞 1300 072 410📧 info@theircare.com.au
We can’t wait to welcome your family to TheirCare!
Please also refer to the flyers below for further information.
