Term 4 Week 4 Newsletter 2021

OUR NEWSLETTER CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES EACH WEEK BY SELECTING THE PREFERRED LANGUAGE IN THE DROP DOWN MENU ABOVE

A WARM WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL TO YEARS  2 TO 6!

It has been so exciting to welcome back our  students to face to face learning. It has been far too quiet over the last few months. We have missed the enthusiasm, beaming smiles and sounds of laughter. - from the students as well as the teachers. It really has not been the same without them!

Our John Purchase students never cease to amaze us. They have quickly settled back into school life and it is obvious how much they are enjoying every minute of re-engaging and re-connecting with their friends and teachers.  

Refer to another article below from the NSW Health Got IT team regarding some practical and useful tips to support the return to school.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of further assistance to support your child's return to face-to-face learning or if you have any concerns about the return to school.

YOUR COVID QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE!

• All students K - 6 are now expected to be back at school. 
• Birthday treats - single portion commercially produced, packaged food is okay.
• Hooray! The Year 6 farewell will go ahead on 1st December.
• Kindy transition continues online - we look forward to meeting our pre-schoolers tomorrow in the virtual world!
• Dedicated school bus services operated by Transport for NSW are running to the normal timetable.
• There may be more updates related to COVID restrictions released this week. I will continue to keep you updated but please call the office if there is anything you are unsure of and keep an eye out on the DoE page for families. Refer to Advice for families.

SAFETY OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL

This is a plea to parents, particularly those dropping off or picking up from Gate 2 - please do not walk across Purchase Road directly from the gate. Please use the pedestrian crossing. We know this takes extra time and is not as convenient, but it really is necessary to facilitate the safety of our students and community.

ATTENTION YEAR 4: OPPORTUNITY CLASS (OC) INFORMATION

As previously advised, this year's Opportunity Class (OC) Placement Test has been rescheduled to Wednesday 17 November 2021. The test will be administered as a computer based test following a similar process to NAPLAN Online that our students are familiar with. The students will sit the test in their own schools. This change of date will delay the notification of placement this year. However, this approach will ensure placement of students in opportunity classes ready for Day 1, Term 1, 2022.

STAY UP TO DATE WITH SZAPP

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, we will now be using SZAPP to send out updates and notifications and we encourage all of our families to download this app onto your phones. This will replace use of the Skoolbag app, effective  today, 18th October.

PLANNING FOR 2022: REPEATED FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS

If your child is leaving the school at the end of this year or returning to school late at the beginning of 2022, please complete the relevant Google Form in the blue box below.

STRANGER DANGER REMINDER

One way we try to protect the children is to talk to them about strangers and by having them take precautions. Here is some information, which may assist parents:

Who is a stranger?

Children are in the company of strangers all the time – at the shops, in parks and many other places. Mostly, strangers are regular, nice people, but not all strangers are.

A stranger is anyone that you do not know very well. Young children often believe that ‘bad strangers’ look different – scary and/or ugly like the villains in stories they have read. This isn’t true as ‘bad strangers’ can be good looking and well dressed. When you talk to your children about strangers, explain that no one can tell if strangers are nice or not nice just by looking at them and that they should be careful around all strangers.

It’s tricky to avoid giving the impressions that all strangers are bad, as there may be times when a stranger may be helpful eg if a child is lost. It may help to emphasise to go to a public place for help and to show them which strangers are okay to trust, such as police officers, teachers and librarians. You may also want to show young children homes of family friends.

Recognising and Handling Dangerous Situations

We try to teach children to be wary of potentially dangerous situations – this will help them when dealing with strangers as well as with known adults who may not have good intentions. Help children recognise the warning signs of suspicious behaviour,  such as when an adult asks them to disobey their parents or do something without permission, asks them to keep a secret, asks children for help, or makes them feel uncomfortable in any way.

You can talk to your children about how they should handle dangerous situations. One way is to teach them “No, Go, Yell, Tell.” If in a dangerous situations, kids should say no, run away, yell as loud as they can (eg "I do not know this person”), and tell a trusted adult what happened right away. Make sure that your children know that it is okay to say no to an adult in a dangerous situation and to yell to keep themselves safe. It’s good to practise this in different situations so that your children will feel confident in knowing know what to do. Here are a few possible scenarios:

• While walking to the shops, a stranger asks for help finding their lost dog.
• A woman who has just moved into the street, invites your child into her house for a snack.
• A stranger approaches the child and says your mum has been held up and wants me to drive you home.
• Your child thinks he or she is being followed.
• An adult your child knows says or does something that makes him or her feel bad or uncomfortable.
• While your child is walking home from a friend’s house, a car pulls over and a stranger asks for directions.

What Else Parents Can Do

• Know where your children are at all times. Give your children your phone number so they can reach you at all times.
• Point out safe places. Show your children safe places to play, safe roads to take, and safe places to go if needed.
• Teach children to trust their instincts. Explain that if they ever feel scared or uncomfortable, they should get away as fast as they can and tell an adult. Tell them that sometimes adults they know may make them feel uncomfortable, and they should still get away as fast as possible and tell another adult what happened.
• Make sure they know that it’s okay to say no to an adult and to run away from adults in dangerous situations.
• Encourage your children to play and walk with others. There’s safety in numbers!

Until next week, keep safe, happy and well!

Mrs Leonie Black

It's Week 4 and I'm sending an extra-special "hello" to students in Years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, today!

Remember, it's quite normal to be feeling a little nervous about returning to school after such a long break. We are here to support every single student's transition back to school and to warmly welcome the contingent of brand new students and their families to the John Purchase community.

Parents of Kindergarten 2022, attended our Zoom orientation meeting last Tuesday evening. Tomorrow morning, I'm looking forward to the second orientation session, where our current Kindergarten students will welcome the new Kinders and their parents, online.

If your child is showing signs of stress caused by returning to school, the short article below by Michael Grose, may be of interest. Strategies such as belly breathing, gazing to the horizon and even a dip in cold water, may just be the cure to any upcoming OC test or HPG test nerves!

Welcome back to school everyone!

Mrs Adela King
Deputy Principal 

Hi everyone! I know that lockdown has been hard, but it is nearly over. Here are some things I’ve been doing with my family to keep me happy.

I’ve spent time with my family going to parks and we have been on long and fun bushwalks. We even saw an echidna! We are lucky we have different things in our LGA, and we’ve been fruit picking mandarins, oranges and lemons. On the way, we saw a baby Komodo dragon (that is a baby lizard).

I’ve been mountain biking at H2O with a friend and it was lots of fun because there is a jump track and lots of mountain biking trails. I was inspired by a friend to build a bike jump, which I did with my Dad. We made it out of spare wood and practised jumping on it, in my friend's front yard.

On rainy days I like cooking and I’ve made cupcakes, cakes and cookies. I also did Donna Hay’s online cooking classes and my sister and I made dinner for our family. What have you done on rainy days?

It’s been fun doing craft and I’ve made my own clay with only two or three ingredients.

I hope all of you are staying healthy and are having fun during lockdown too.

Aaron G 2T

Home learning has been great because there is more time to share with the family, new activities can be done and children learn to be more independent.

Without a doubt, there is more time to spend with the family. Once my school work is done, there is the possibility to be with parents and siblings. This has been a plus for me because I love playing different games with my brothers and my parents.

Secondly, there is also extra time to do activities outdoors. Outside there are all kinds of sports to try out such as basketball, cricket, soccer and many more. During home learning, I did mountain biking and tennis. I had never done these activities before and I truly enjoyed them.

Thirdly, children can get a taste of what independence is like, since we get to choose when to start our learning, when to finish and how fast we want to complete our work. We can even choose what to do first, or if we want to extend our learning.

These are my reasons why I think home learning is excellent.

Alejandra LG 2S

During home learning, one good thing was that school went really quickly, so we could get extra other things like dance lessons and spend time with the family.

Secondly, I found the work to be easier. We could watch the videos and this made it easier. For example: the library videos made it fun and easy.

The next reason why I like home learning is because questions can be solved more quickly because your parents tell you the answers faster and you don’t need to wait, like when you are at school.

Also, I liked home learning because the resources don’t need to be shared with all the students. As well, I loved the roll call questions. They were fun.

Lastly, I loved the fun Olympic challenges and fitness zooms.

Armaan D 2S

Johnny Purchase is so excited to see all the students (as well as all the 'grown-ups') back at school! Welcome back everyone!

Expectation of the Week

Responsibility: Remember our school's expectations

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. Currently, we are not having school assemblies, so badge recipients, whose names have already been published, will be presented with their awards in classrooms, the week after publication in this newsletter.

Congratulations to these Purchase Pride recipients:

Ronit (KH), Shreyas K (1I), Olivia O (KM), Elyse (KH), Olivia (KH), Lucy W (1M)

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. Students need to be responsible for their own awards, as replacements are not issued. 

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!

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. I am currently holding many awards in my office, in the hope that we will be able to congratulate students at an assembly later this term.

HPG Applications

In 2022, we plan to provide High Potential and Gifted (HPG) classes at our school. The quantity and structure of the classes will be dependent on student numbers in Stages 2 and 3, as well as staff available next year.

Selection of students for HPG classes, is based on test performances and the availability of places within the classes formed at JPPS in 2022.

At the end of last term, I emailed application forms and further information to parents of the current Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 students. 

If you would like your child to be considered for HPG class placement in 2022, he/she must participate in the assessment program at our school. Application forms should be returned to the school office via email by 3pm Monday 1st November, 2021. No late applications will be accepted. All candidates who have submitted their applications by the due date, will be tested on site, at school, over two weeks, commencing Monday 15th November 2021. All assessments will be completed during school hours, at flexible times determined by the coordinator, pending Covid guidelines at that time.

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.

ICAS 2021

The ICAS exams will be held on the dates below. If your child is registered for ICAS, please ensure they are at school by 7:15am on the following dates in order for a 7:30am exam start.

English ICAS - Monday, 1st November

Maths ICAS - Thursday, 4th November

Science ICAS - Monday, 8th November

Miss Brennan
ICAS Coordinator

ATTENTION YEAR 5: IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING APPLYING FOR SELECTIVE SCHOOL PLACEMENT 

Selective high schools cater for academically gifted students with high potential who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic standard. Selective high schools help these students to learn by grouping them with students of similar ability, and by using specialised teaching methods.

If you would like to have your child considered for Year 7 selective high school entry in 2023, you need to apply on the internet.

The Selective High School Placement Test will be held on Thursday 10 March 2022.

Detailed instructions on how to apply and the link to the online form will be available in early-October 2021 at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7.

Applications open on 19 October 2021 and close on 17 November 2021. You must apply before the closing date. 

Additionally please complete the Intention to Apply form that has been emailed to you and submit this form to the school office.  If you did not receive the emailed form and would like to submit an application, please notify the office.

Primary schools will not be providing school assessment scores for the 2022 selective high school placement process for Year 7 entry in 2023, due to the COVID pandemic.

Mr Nicholas Johnson
Assistant Principal (Stage 3)

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

Our School Canteen 

*Week 3 (commencing Monday 18 October) – canteen closed

*Week 4 (commencing next Monday 25 October) – canteen re-opens under the following guidelines:

- Lunch orders should be placed online using the flexi schools system.

- Students will not be permitted to queue at the canteen windows before school time to order lunches.

- Any ‘manual’ lunch orders (i.e. pre-ordered in paper bags with cash enclosed) will need to be taken to the classroom, when students arrive. These orders will be collected by staff at 9am and taken to the canteen.

- Allocated school staff will be distributing lunch orders to classrooms.

- As we are required to limit interactions between student cohorts, each grade will be given one ten-minute timeslot during recess or lunch time, to purchase additional treats at the canteen. Food/drink available will be limited, dependent on supplies in stock (e.g. popcorn, ice blocks).

- Students are encouraged to bring their own recess to school, as the canteen will not be open to all students at recess.

Mrs Adela King

UNIFORM SHOP UPDATE

The Uniform Shop will be able to process online orders from October 18th to supply summer uniform requirements. Students are now wearing summer uniforms.

Please order online on the uniform shop website.

The link is https://uniforms.jppspandc.org.au/

As there are still Covid restrictions applying to the school grounds, parents and caregivers can collect their online order from the Purchase Road front gate (GATE 3), on the usual Uniform Shop days of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I will be down at the gate from 8:00AM to 8:30AM on these days. Don’t forget to wear a mask and to socially distance as you wait to collect your order, thanks.

Please call or email me if you have a question, otherwise I’ll look forward to seeing you at the school gate.

S A R A H   N I C H O L S
Uniform Shop Manager | John Purchase Public School
jpps.uniform@gmail.com.au | 0412 987 027