Dear Parents and Carers,

SCHOOL UPGRADES

NEW SENIOR PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

Last week I signed off on the new Senior Playground Equipment, completed by Moduplay. The construction of the equipment began in the school holidays and will be operational for students in Term 1, Week 8. During Week 7, students in Years 3-6 will have set times to visit and use the equipment with their classroom teacher and peers. If you have not seen the colourful, creative and modern equipment I urge you to take a look.

NEW SENIOR COLA COVERED SEATING AREA

Look at our new seating area in the Senior Cola. An additional covered space to eat, learn and spend time with friends. Another fabulous addition to our amazing school.

PERSONALISED LEARNING PATHWAYS (PLP's) BREAKFAST

Thank you to our families who attended our PLP breakfast in the school library yesterday. This was a great opportunity for our school to further develop genuine and positive partnerships with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, their parents, carers, and teachers. Our school is committed to continuing to organise and apply personal approaches to learning and engagement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and we welcome parent and community support in this process.

I would like to thank Mrs Chatterton and the Aboriginal Committee for organising this event and to the parents and carers who have nominated to be part of the Aboriginal Education Committee 2023.

To those parents who were unable to make the PLP breakfast, your child’s classroom teacher will be in contact to arrange a convenient time to develop your child's Personalised Learning Pathway.

SCHOOL PHOTO DAY

School photos will be held on Tuesday, 7 March 2023. Photograph order envelopes have been sent home and again this year, payment is online. Students need to wear full school summer uniform with yellow and green shirt, black shoes and white socks with no logos. Girls may also wear school dresses. For any enquiries regarding payment or packages please contact MSP photography at illawarra@msp.com.au or on 4261 3009.

GYMNASTICS

This term students in Years K-2 have been participating in gymnastics lessons. These lessons have been run by qualified instructors who have a passion for all elements of gymnastics. Students have had a wonderful time being active and developing a new skillset. All activities are designed to help students build strength and develop their coordination in a fun and stimulating way. It has been wonderful to see students enthusiastically participating in these lessons!

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS – Save the Date!

Parent/teacher interviews for classes in Years K-6 will be held on Monday, 27 March, commencing at 3.10pm. At this time, parents and teachers will be able to speak about the progress of students, their strengths, areas to be developed and any possible concerns. This is also a good opportunity to find out how well your child has settled into the new school year.

Parent/teacher interviews can be booked online, and information about how to book parent/teacher interviews has been sent via School Enews today. Each interview will be 10 minutes in duration. This will allow as many parents as possible to have a suitable time. If parents cannot make the allotted time, another time will need to be discussed and arranged with your child’s teacher.

THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS

Oak Flats Public School is committed to providing a technology-rich environment for our students. Our school community considers the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fundamental in assisting teaching and learning in all areas of the school curriculum. The school uses third-party providers offering web-based educational resources and cloud-based storage to support our administrative functions and enhance student learning outcomes. The department has a service agreement with some providers it has assessed as meeting privacy and security standards required of the department. The school offers students access to a number of services in addition to these. In most instances, students are required to register before accessing an online service. Registration involves either a staff member or student entering identifying information such as name, grade, and email address onto the provider’s platform. This and any other data entered in the course of accessing the application may be stored on servers located in Australia or offshore in a country not subject to NSW privacy laws. Your consent is required for your child’s information to be provided to these third-party providers. We ask that you please return this notes promptly, so that teachers can get started where appropriate.

Participation in National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)

All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in Australia do NAPLAN tests in March each year. From 2023, NAPLAN is moving to Term 1 and will take place from Wednesday, 15 March to Monday, 27 March 2023. The reason for this change is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.

NAPLAN tests students’ skills in reading, writing, language conventions and Mathematics. NAPLAN is for everyone. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) supports inclusive testing, so all students have the opportunity to participate in the National Assessment Program. Adjustments are available for students with disability who have diverse functional abilities and needs. Schools work with parents/carers and students to identify, on a case-by-case basis, reasonable adjustments required for individual students with disability to access NAPLAN. Adjustments should reflect the support normally provided for classroom assessments.

In exceptional circumstances, a student with a disability that severely limits their capacity to participate in the assessment, or a student who has recently arrived in Australia and has a non-English speaking background, may be granted a formal exemption. Your school principal and your local test administration authority can give you more information on adjustments for students with disability or the process required to gain a formal exemption.

COMMUNICATION AT OAK FLATS PUBLIC SCHOOL

We value our community and know that communication is the key to success when building strong partnerships between home and school. Our school utilises a few different platforms to communicate with parents and caregivers.

• All school operational matters are communicated through our School Enews application or through emails that are sent from the oakflats-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au account.

• All notes and newsletters are uploaded to our website and School Enews for families to access and download.

• If parents or caregivers wish to send an email directly to staff, the process is to send the email directly to the school email account and it will be forwarded by our administration directly to the staff member. Our administration is unable to provide the email addresses of staff to families.

• Our Facebook page is always a great way to connect and read about the wonderful and amazing news stories that occur during the week. From time to time, our school will also utilise Facebook for important operational messages.

NEW CURRICULUM NEWS

K-2 Curriculum Update

The start of 2023 has brought a very exciting change to learning in our K-2 classrooms. After an extensive process of research, review and consultation all Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students in NSW have begun learning, that is guided by reformed English and Mathematics syllabuses. The priority of the new syllabus documents is to build strong foundations in literacy and numeracy in the early years of school.

English K-2

The English K-2 syllabus highlights the importance of strong foundations in the early years across oral language, reading and writing. Our students will develop strong literacy knowledge and skills while still enjoying a wide range of literature. All students will have opportunities to develop their knowledge of phonics, vocabulary, creating written texts, reading fluency and comprehension.

Mathematics K-2

Learning Mathematics in K-2 enables students to develop an understanding of mathematical concepts and processes that helps them interpret and solve problems. Our students will make connections within mathematics and connect mathematical concepts with the world around them. Mathematics is organised into 3 areas:

Number and algebra
Measurement and space
Statistics and probability.

At Oak Flats Public School our teachers are learners too and we are excited to be learning about new ways to support your child as they develop literacy and numeracy skills. We are looking forward to sharing examples of student learning from our classrooms throughout the year and inviting parents into our school to share ways you can support your child in their literacy and numeracy learning at home.

P&C News

Last Wednesday we had our first P&C Meeting for the year, our Annual General Meeting.

Our Executive team was appointed, and I would like to introduce our Amazing P&C for 2023:

President – Nick Higgins

Vice Presidents – Vince Aranda and Megan Sweet

Secretary – Position to be filled

Treasurer – Clare Tomkins

Finance - Rebecca Pearson and Ashleigh Graham

Canteen Supervisor – Sarah Blaker

I look forward to working with our wonderful P&C. Please see below for the P&C upcoming events for 2023.

Have a great fortnight!

Warm Regards,

Alice Wigny

Relieving Principal

SRC