Principal's Update
At Dundas Public School we do our best always
On behalf of the entire Dundas Public School staff, we wish our students a safe and restful holiday. We hope that you are able to spend some quality time together as a family and enjoy the spring weather. Please note that there is no School Development Day at the beginning of Term 4. Students return on Monday 10th October.
What an amazing result! The school community has raised $26,067.65 from only 179 of our students! The average amount raised by each of our 179 students was $145 (the national average is $118!) We have already started ordering new iPads for our students which is very exciting.
We were blessed by the weather on Monday which was such a relief and the day was a wonderful day full of fun and laughter. It was lovely to see staff, parents/carers and some of our older students on the course, drenching the students as they ran around the obstacles.
Some of our staff and students have commented that it was one of the most fun events we have held at Dundas which is the best type of feedback to receive!
A huge thank you to the parents and carers who came up on the day to participate or support the students on Monday. It truly became a community event, one that we will definitely organize again in the future.
Ordering prizes
Students who raised $10 or more are able to order their prizes now until Wednesday, 12th October.
Competition winners
- Class profile competition – Congratulations 1 Bunduluk for winning the class profile competition. 1B students enjoyed a movie afternoon with snacks as their prize.
- VIP tent winners – Congratulations to 2 Buru (K-2) and 4/5 Gudugulung (3-6) for winning entry into the VIP tent on Monday. These students enjoyed VIP seating (best seating in the house) as well as snacks and drinks.
- Free canteen lunches draw – Congratulations to Bella 2B ; Manuele 3/4B ; Muhammad 3W ; Clara K/1G ; Mya 1W ; Adante 6W ; Mille 1W ; Sade 2B ; Natalie 6G ; Robin 4D.
- Colouring competition - Congratulations to KB - Naomi ; KW - Kevin C ; K/1G - Claire K ; 1B - Leo ; 1W - Lucas ; 2B - Anna L ; 2M - Kylie ; 3W - Jadelyn ; 3/4B - Patrick ; 4D - Joey ; 4/5G - Jessy ; 5M - Alofa ; 6G - Yuna ; 6W - Isla.
- Students who slimed me – Thank you to the students who enjoyed covering me with slime on Monday. The students included Oliver, Nicholas, Harper, Gabrielle, Audrey, Benji, Cian, Eleanor, Patrick, Muhammad & Cameron.
- Teachers – A huge thank you to the teachers who volunteered to get drenched during our fundraising campaign. I know the students all looked forward to the Friday afternoon assemblies to see which teacher/s were going to get wet every week. They made our Fun Run preparations so much more enjoyable. Thank you to Ms Edwards, Mr Talevski, Mrs Percincula, Mr Salvatore, Miss Kim and Mrs Percincula (again), Mr Dean, Mr Jones, Mr Yee, Mrs Keegan and finally Mrs Kesby!
Staffing News
3W - A note will be coming home today with 3W students informing 3W families that unfortunately, Ms Gillmer is unable to continue teaching 3W on Mondays. To ensure there is some consistency for our students, Miss Riccobono will be teaching 3W on Mondays and Tuesdays for the remainder of the year. Miss Riccobono knows the students in 3W exceptionally well having taught them in previous years.
A detailed handover for Miss Riccobono has already taken place this week during a Stage 3 planning day for Term 4. Mrs Percincula will continue to teach the class 3 days a week on Wednesdays to Fridays. Miss Gillmer will move to an RFF (Relief from face to face) teaching role, delivering RFF to students on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Student absences from school
Starting next term, Dundas Public school will start using a SMS communication platform if a student is absent. A lot of schools have implemented the SMS system with much success and the feedback has been very positive.
Some key features and benefits include:
✔ Messaging is a semi-automated daily text message, personalised for parents with children absent from school.
✔ Reduce parent ‘notice fatigue’ by targeting messages to relevant groups and individuals. DPS will send home fewer attendance letters during the term as most absences will be explained via the SMS service.
✔ Two-way text messaging allows parents to provide absence justification straight away.
The message will look like this:
Dundas Public School: Your {son_daughter} {student_first_name} {student_surname_initial} was marked absent from school today {absence}. Please reply to this SMS to explain this absence.
2022 NAPLAN – Lot’s to celebrate!
The hard work that we have invested into how we explicitly teach reading and numeracy is starting to pay dividends. We still have areas we need to further improve, but the data from NAPLAN is very encouraging and validates the changes we have implemented since the beginning of 2021.
Year 3 results – In 2023, we will continue to focus on reading with a focus on writing and grammar and punctuation.
Year 3 Spelling:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 3 Numeracy:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 5 results – In 2023, we will continue to focus on reading with a focus on writing.
Year 5 Reading:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 5 Writing:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 5 Spelling:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 5 Grammar & Punctuation
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Year 5 Numeracy:
DPS is the green line. On average, our students have performed much better than State (red) and similar school groups (black).
Check In Assessments for Years 3, 4 and 5
During Terms 3 and 4, students will participate in the Check-in assessment. The Check-in assessment is a NSW Department of Education online literacy and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor student learning. The assessment can supplement existing school practices to identify how students are performing in literacy and numeracy and to help teachers tailor their teaching more specifically to student needs. Students with a disability may receive the same level of support during the assessment they would normally receive in the classroom.
• Students in Years 3, 4, 5 will complete their assessments during weeks 1-4 in Term 4
• All students complete a reading assessment and a numeracy assessment.
Students are asked to bring headphones that plug into a computer to enable them to hear audio during the assessment.
2023 Planning (reminder from previous newsletter)
In order to assist with planning for 2023, we have sent home a form to each family requesting information on students returning to Dundas Public School next year. This will help us with a great deal, especially when it comes to staffing.
Lost property (reminder from previous newsletter)
There is currently a large amount of lost property, particularly school jackets. If your child has lost an item of their uniform or a lunch box, please remind them to look for it at lost property.
Please ensure that all your child’s belongings have been labelled so they can be returned. Also, please check that your child has their own belongings and that they have not taken home another child’s hat or jacket.
School Bytes (reminder from previous newsletter)
As you are already aware, we have introduced an online platform that we will be using to share permission notes with our families. The platform is called 'School Bytes' and is a quick and efficient method of receiving and processing permission notes.
Families will receive an email with the online permission note. Parents and carers will be able to easily open the email, read the information in the note, give permission and sign the document straight away on any device. Permission notes that require payment will have a link straight to our payment tab on the school website.
As stated previously, our intention is to not send home paper information/permission notes starting this term. Please contact the school is you have recently changed your email address so your contact information can be updated.
2023 Kindergarten enrolments (reminder from previous newsletter)
We are currently accepting enrolments for 2023. Families need to complete an online enrolment form for DPS. General enrolment information can be found on the NSW Department of Education website.
Enrol in a NSW public primary school | Service NSW
Online Enrolment is a web-based system which will allow parents to submit an application to enrol a child in a local intake area in a NSW Government School. The online form can be accessed from the enrolment page on the school's website.
The information once completed by the parent, will be submitted to the school through the Online Enrolment School Interface. Our School Administrative Support Staff are then able to review and edit the enrolment application submitted by the parent/carer and send to the Enrolment and Registration Number (ERN) system.
The NSW Education Department Enrolment Policy has been revised to support schools to manage all enrolment applications, encourage greater consistency in decision-making and make sure the enrolment choices are clear for parents.
The enrolment cap is the number of students that can be enrolled at a school based on the school’s permanent accommodation. The enrolment cap tells us whether the school will be able to accept non-local enrolments. Schools with a local intake area have a cap set by the department.
Within the enrolment cap, a number of enrolment places (the buffer) must be kept aside for the likely number of local students who will need to enrol during the year. For this reason, a school will not take non-local students once they reach their buffer, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
We invite families to visit the school website and select ‘Enrolment’ to start the Kindergarten enrolment process.
A link to the 2023 DPS Kindergarten Transition website is below. It contains lots of information that will be very useful to new DPS families.
2023 DPS Kindergarten Transition website
We will be offering Orientation visits for new Kindy students and their parents/carers in Term 4 which will include classroom visits, school information/tour and the Dundas Expo!
Communication platforms (reminder from previous newsletter)
Kind regards,
Lee Shipley
Principal