The Wattle

Principal's Update

At Dundas Public School we do our best always

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Thank you! 

This week has been my first week back after my long service leave. I wanted to thank Mr Yee and Mrs Zalaf for stepping in on my behalf and managing the school so effectively while I was on leave.  

 

During my leave, I was not surprised at all to hear that Mr Yee had been seconded to act as relieving principal for the remainder of the year at a neighbouring school. All of his many, many years of experience as well as his calm demeanour, ensures that Mr Yee is well positioned to lead his own school and enrich the lives of his staff and students in the process.  Hopefully, we will see Mr Yee back at Dundas PS next year. I am sure everyone will join with me in congratulating Mr Yee. 

 

World Teacher Appreciation Day

Thank you to our wonderful P&C Committee for making our teachers feel special on World Teacher Appreciation Day by purchasing staff a coffee machine. Staff absolutely love it! 

 

 

  

League Tag competition  

This term, staff at Dundas PS are running a school league tag competition for students in Years 4-6. Last term, students were asked to register their interest and 12 teams were formed. Games are being played on the field during lunch times. Staff have volunteered their time to referee the games which is most appreciated. 

 

The initiative is a student leadership and wellbeing program. Senior students help to run the competition by being responsible for their teams, setting up and packing away equipment, help officiate at the games in different roles, while modelling good sportsmanship and fairness to team members and spectators.   

 

After each game, the referee chooses a student to receive a player of the match medallion.  

 

Over the next few days, we will be updating a display on the school notice board (located on the wall opposite The Fun Club) with progress points for each pool of teams. We are confident participating students will be checking the points table regularly! 

 

In week 10, we will be inviting the school community to come and watch the grand final where the 2 final teams will play each other. Both teams will be rewarded with trophies at the award ceremony after the game.  

 

Below is the draw of the league tag competition.  

Application for Year 7 Selective High School Placement in 2024  

Selective high schools cater for high potential and intellectually gifted students. Applications are currently open for entry to Year 7 in 2024 close on 16 November 2022. The Selective High School Placement Test will be held on 4 May 2023. The test will be paper-based.  

 

Apply online at: shsoc.education.nsw.gov.au 

 

Where are they located? 

 

There are 47 selective high schools for Year 7 entry each year, including an online class, Aurora College, for rural and remote students. 

2024 Planning  

All families should have received an email asking parents and carers to indicate their intentions for 2024. It would be appreciated if all families could please complete the short form by the end of week 6, Friday 17th November.  

2024 Classes and Planning  

Planning for 2024 classes is underway and will continue throughout Term 4. The number of classes in our school is determined according to the Department of Education’s staffing formula, which is linked to the number of students enrolled.  

 

Teachers will be collaboratively providing information to support class placements, taking many factors into consideration such as academic ability, attitude and commitment towards learning, as well as emotional and social needs. Student friendship groups are also one of many considerations.  

 

Speaking of friendships, each year we ask the children to nominate 5 peers on a ‘friendship list’. We try to ensure that each child is placed with at least one of their selected friends in all but a very few instances. Please speak to your child about their friendship choices, thinking about nominating friends who may good to share a class with and those who they may prefer to socialise with at recess and lunchtime.  

 

Forming classes involves considerable time and care. It is not a process about one child; all of our students at Dundas PS are important. Every child is placed in reference to a bigger plan of how students, classes and teachers come together, all bound by the Department’s staffing allocation and the number of classes in our school.  

 

I know that many of you value the hard work and time that goes into this process. Please be aware that requesting a particular teacher that you would like your child to have, or not have, will not be necessary. We are yet to finalise the classes/grades that teachers will be taking next year, and teachers will not necessarily be teaching the same grade/s as they are currently teaching. However, please let us know via the school email about any factors regarding your child’s class for 2024 that you would like us to be mindful of. 

 

Kindergarten enrolment for 2024 

(reminder from previous newsletter) 

 

Dundas Public School is now taking online enrolments for Kindergarten 2024.  

Go to our school website and select the enrolment tab at the top of the page. A link to the page is below. 

 

https://dundas-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html 

 

Feel free to share this with friends/neighbours who may have a child starting Kindergarten. 

 

 

Kind regards, 

Lee Shipley 

Principal