10 June 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

It has been very exciting to see our students from KA and KS return to their classrooms this week. The heavy rains we experienced in early February had caused some significant damage to the ceilings in these learning spaces. They have had the ceiling completely replaced, as well as new underlay and sealing around the eaves. There is still some work needed to be completed on the actual roof and we are waiting on the Department of Education to approve the budget for the work to commence. I have appreciated the support and patience of the students, teachers and families through the completion of this project.

Opportunity Class Test for Year 5 2021

The 2021 Year 5 opportunity class placement process was put on hold in April due to the COVID-19 situation. We now have a revised and simplified timeline for the OC Placement Assessment to ensure that students and families can have certainty about their placement as soon as possible. The change includes:

• A new date for online applications. Parents must apply between 9 June 2020 and 26 June 2020. Late applications will not be accepted.
• A new test date – Wednesday 16 September

To ensure fair and consistent assessment of students across NSW, students will be offered places based only on their test results this year – there will be no school assessment scores. There will also be no opportunity for appeals given the tight timeframes.

For further information please visit at the link below.

PCS Extension Test for Year 7 2021

The PCS Extension Test has been moved to the 27 July. The Year 6 students that applied to sit the extension test earlier this year will be contacted in regards to the change from their local high school.

School Photos

School photos will be on the 23 July 2020. Please note that all students must wear their winter uniform. New envelopes will soon be sent out with the updated dates. For any existing online orders made earlier this year, these will still be in the system. You can confirm this with our photographers at Advanced Life. You can also log on at the link below and use the code QT64DLEC7 to order your packages online.

Parking

Please be reminded that the safety of our students around our school, at both before and after school, is extremely important to all of us.

The council have just shared with us an update on the laws around school zones.

The off street disabled parking area needs to be accessible at all times, please do not park in this, or over this, driveway at any time. We have students who require this access at all times during the day.

ICAS

This year, Narrabeen Lakes will not be participating in these online assessments. The organisation and delivery of these assessments has become problematic since going to the online platform.

Tell Them From Me

This term, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

More information about the survey is available at the link below.

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school.

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 9 March and 19 June. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

There will also be a parent survey for our community to complete later in the year. All the information we can accumulate will help us to plan for our future directions in our next School Plan.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

All Government and non-Government schools across Australia are required to participate annually in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).

All Australian schools will collect data on their students who are receiving adjustments to meet additional learning and support needs in accordance with their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for Education 2005. This data will be provided to the Australian Government to assist in the development of a consistent, national picture of the education needs of students with disability.

The data provided to the Australian Government by the NSW Department of Education is provided in such a way that it cannot be used to identify any individual student or school.

General information about the national data collection can be found on the Australian Government Department of Education website at the link below.

Privacy Protection

The NSW Department of Education follows the requirements of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. Schools will collect, record, store and use data about individual students in line with these requirements. Data security and protection is a priority and students’ personal details will be kept confidential.

Under Clause 52 of the Commonwealth Australian Education Regulation 2013, data collected by the NSW Department of Education for the NCCD must be provided to the Australian Government Department of Education. This includes the number of students at each level of education, the number in each category of disability and the number at each level of adjustment. The information is provided to the Commonwealth as a series of number sets that cannot be used to identify any individual student or school.

The Australian Government Department of Education follows the requirements of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 when handling any data provided by NSW Department of Education in connection with the national data collection. A public information notice has been developed to by the Australian Government to provide students, parents and carers with important privacy information in relation to the data collection. This notice is available on the department’s website at the link below.

If you have any questions about the data collection please do not hesitate to contact Lynn Chant (Assistant Principal).

As things slowly return to normal, we again thank you for your support in keeping our school community safe and well.

Rob Zappia
Principal

House Points

Our students earn house points throughout the week for various reasons. At the end of the week, our School Captains tally the points and award 3 points to the winner, 2 points to second and 1 point to third. These accumulate over the term and the winning house will be given a special treat.

Dates for the Diary

Star Writers

1J
How to Make Popcorn

Materials

Popcorn
Bowl
Popcorn maker

Steps

1. Scoop the popcorn into the cup
2. Pour the popcorn into the popcorn maker
3. Turn the popcorn maker on
4. Turn the popcorn maker off
5. Eat the popcorn

By Adele 1J

1H

On t

he weekend, first I went to the Rockpool in North Narrabeen. It was freezing cold! Then I went out of the swimming pool to see the shells and they looked so cool. Next I went back in but it was still freezing cold so I got straight out. Finally I got my towel and put my clothes on.

By Sebastian L-R 1H

Green Spot

Scholastic Book Clubs

ALL ORDERS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY 12 JUNE, 2020

COVID-19 and Anxiety

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about challenges we have not had to face before and it has been a time of great uncertainty.

Macquarie University’s Centre for Emotional Health and the School of Education, have joined together to provide a collection of information and expert videos to help you as parents support your child's mental health during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The website includes information on how and when to seek help for your child, how you can help your child if they are anxious, how to talk to your child about their worries and many other useful topics.

Please find attached, the parent tip sheet on ‘When and How to Seek Help for your Child?’

For further information, please see their website

Mrs Jenny Slade

Your Child’s NDIS Plan – A Free Information Session

State Transit School Bus Information

Please read the information in the link below. It has important information from State Transit regarding school bus services, and what the new physical distancing measures mean.

Library News

Library is now back to normal borrowing on allocated class days. Please, could you remind your child to bring any overdue books back on their class day. Just a reminder that Year 3 – 6 students borrow every second week, starting Week 1. (Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9).

Premier’s Reading Challenge

All students will be able to watch iPad videos, of their teachers, dressed up, reading Premier’s Reading Challenge books, via Google Classroom and SeeSaw.

These books may be added to your PRC reading log. Watch out for them!

Happy Reading
Miss Garden

Catholic SRE

The Lakes Catholic Parish sends its best wishes to the children, families, and staff of the Narrabeen Lakes PS community. Simple to follow Catholic SRE lessons are available online at the following link: Catholic SRE Online

Anglican SRE

An online link for Anglican SRE lessons can be found at Connect:Learning at Home.

Primary Ethics Classes

We are currently seeking volunteers so that we can continue to provide Ethics classes for all the families who have requested it for their children.

Ethics Teachers receive full training by Primary Ethics, the not-for-profit organisation approved to design curriculum and training for the ethics program. Training consists of a two day workshop and short online modules. Less materials are provided. Suitable volunteers have an interest in children's education and development of critical thinking skills and must be available on Tuesday afternoons each week.

In Ethics classes, children learn how to think logically, disagree respectfully and support their arguments with evidence.

If you are looking for an opportunity to make a valuable contribution to our school, please visit the link below or contact Lisa Kol, Primary Ethics Co-Ordinator/Teacher at lisa_kol@outlook.com for further information.

Kind regards,

Lisa Kol
Primary Ethics Co-Ordinator/Teacher
Narrabeen Lakes Public School