Arcadia Public School

( Term 4, Week 6 ) Tuesday, 15 November 2011

CALENDAR DATES

TERM 4

TERM 1 2012

Principal's Report

Schools Spectacular
The children have taken home a note requesting payment for the coach transport. On the day we will have an early morning tea at school at around 11am and depart at
approximately 11.15am. Could all accompanying adults please be at school by 11am? We will eat lunch at Darling Harbour outside the Entertainment Centre. The
performance will begin at 1pm. The Schools Spectacular has two acts that run to about two and a half hours in total; there is also a twenty minute interval and it is not unusual for the show to run slightly over time. I anticipate that we will be back at school between 5pm and 5.30pm depending on traffic. Please remember to pack some extra food - afternoon tea and a water bottle in a small bag labelled with your child’s name. We are looking forward to a great day out!

Uniform
Our school uniform projects an image of pride and inclusivity as well as promoting the strong sense of ownership evident in our wonderful school.
In the week 2 newsletter I listed our summer uniform requirements. I have been so pleased to see the effort that the children have been making to ensure that they have
been wearing the correct uniform on the correct day.
Elements of the sports uniform, that is, the green shorts and white running shoes still seem to sneak in on the wrong days, although, I congratulate the swimmers who
must have been tempted to throw on their shorts over their swimming costumes but have instead worn their correct summer tunic and grey shorts with black shoes from
Monday to Thursday.
After discussions with Year 5 students, the P&C, and teachers on the best way to encourage uniformity in the wearing of our uniform we have decided that from the
beginning of 2012 the sports uniform, which includes long green bootleg pants for the girls in winter, should be worn on Thursday and Friday each week and the girl’s tunic or boy’s grey shorts/grey long pants and black shoes on the other three days.
This will allow Year 6 to wear their special shirt two days each week. We will change gymnastics and dance lessons to Thursdays, making Fridays less hectic.
We have a great uniform. Its colours and design reflect the ‘acreage’ lifestyle of our students while the styles offer the formality of dress code that distinguish us as an excellent school of choice.

Working Bee
Thank you so much to the following families who generously donated their time and effort last Saturday to mulch the scented garden, trim the front hedge, lop branches, clean the roofs, hang a school sign, mow, chop up dead trees, blow the hard surfaces, weed and prune....and they made it look pleasantly social as they chatted over a delicious morning tea supplied by Tania Modde! We say thank you to -
Lindsey Atkinson
Sonja & Andy Cameron
Tim Cashman
Peter Jones
Pat & Lori Modde
Alain & Tania Modde
Jo & Jeff Lovell
Leanne Davies
Brent Tallis

Selective High School Placement Process 2013
Earlier this term each student in year 5 received information regarding the Selective HS placement process 2013. Parents of students in year 5 wishing to apply on behalf of their child for Year 7 in 2013 may apply online. Online applications close shortly on November 21st. Printed application forms are available in schools for parents
without internet access. If using the paper application, when completed it must be returned to the school by Friday,18th November 2011. Any enquiries regarding Selective High School placement should be directed to the school office or
Selective High School and Opportunity Class Placement Unit - Telephone 9707 6249

Values of the Week Award - Respect Ben, Angela, Kianna, Matthew & Gypsy

Level Award Achievers - Level 7 Nathan, Lorene, Sophie, Nellie & Reagan

Staffing for 2012
As discussed with the P&C last Wednesday evening, our staffing entitlement for 2012 does not allow for an Assistant Principal allocation, therefore, Mrs Davies has accepted a transfer to Turramurra PS effective in January 2012. I personally feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Leanne throughout this year. She has the respect of all students, staff and the community and will be sadly missed
by all.
Mrs Wood has decided to cut back to working odd casual days when needed. Mr Reid, Mrs Warren, Mrs Kelly, Mrs Crouch (Mrs Hargraves has decided to remain on leave as a lead up to retirement) and I will look forward to another busy year after a well deserved break.

P&C and School Auxiliary
Arcadia PS is in the enviable position of boasting a School Auxiliary and P&C body which reflect the values that we work so hard to instil in our children, that is, support, cooperation and collaboration and respect for others. The School Auxiliary will
meet on Friday, 9th December at 2:30pm in the canteen to discuss planning for 2012. The P&C will meet on Wednesday evening 14th December at the Galston Club; 6pm for dinner, followed by the meeting at 7:30pm. I would really encourage you to come along either or both of these meeting and be part of these important groups. Thank you to the School Auxiliary for supplying a delicious afternoon tea along with welcoming smiles for our 2012 Kindy parents last Thursday at their orientation meeting.

Arcadia OOSH Signs
Thank you to Lori Modde who accessed these great signs. Our OOSH numbers are building however we need to really keep promoting this service. Now is the time to enrol your child for 2012 if you know that you will be using before or after school
care. Forms are available from the school office or you can email arcadiaoosh@hotmail.com. Hot off the email - great news. From Meryl at The OOSH Company -
“Yes, we will be opening for Vacation Care from Monday, 2nd January, 2012 to the beginning of the new school term.
Also, dependent on demand we will be open for Vacation Care from Monday 19th December, 2011 to Friday 23rd December, 2011. At this point we only plan on closing between Xmas and New Year.
We will be publishing a full Vacation Care programme in the School Newsletter in addition to placing advertisements in the Local paper advertising the Vacation Care programme which will be open to children in the local area.”

School Arrival Time
Arrival time at school- teacher supervision begins at 9am.
Children are asked not to arrive before 9am – thank you.

Student Leadership
We are all looking forward to year 5 student leadership nomination speeches. The children will present on a roster each morning next week. The school will then vote on Thursday 24th. Everyone is welcome to come to school and listen to the speeches

Best wishes
Sharon O’Brien

Congratulations
Congratulations to Ella Cashman in Year 4 for her second place win in the Design an
Ad Project. More than 15,000 primary and high school students took part. The project requires students to create an advertisement for the local business which has agreed to sponsor the school. The business supplies an advertisement brief and the students are given several weeks to complete their creative efforts. Advertisements must be hand-drawn by students who are aged between 8 and 17.
Our school designed ads for Hill Bus. Ella won $250.00 for second place in the primary schools section.Well done Ella.

School Banking
Peta McGavin from the Commonwealth Bank will be coming to our school this Thursday afternoon, 17th of November, to talk about school banking.
The students who have been banking already this year have been collecting tokens.
I have included pictures of the rewards they are able to swap their tokens for.
Some students will have enough tokens to order their reward on Thursday and others will need to collect a few more.
If anyone is wanting to do school banking there are forms in the front office.
Regards, Jo Lovell

Market Day
White Elephant Stall
Donations for our White Elephant Stall on Market Day - November 19.
Drop off of goods this week to the weather shed from 3pm on 16, 17 & 18 November.
Canteen Helpers
Thank you to those already rostered on. However we still need some more helpers for Market Day. Please contact Tania 0412 743 609 to fill these canteen vacancies.

Transition to School at Arcadia
The school has been buzzing with excitement over the past few weeks as next year’s Kindies have been visiting us for Transition to School. They are so ready to join us at Arcadia and we are having so much fun together.
We read and discussed “Owl Babies”, all chiming in together when Bill says “I want my mummy!” We drew pictures, sang “The Ning Nang Nong” and last week, each new Kindy made an owl of their own to take home.
The best part was they had the help of their big year 3/4 buddy. As soon as big buddies and little buddies were introduced – it was like they’d known each other for
years! After introductions and owl making, the buddies went off to tour the school. It looked to me like some of the little buddies were showing the big buddies around!
The next few week’s activities include getting to know Mrs O’Brien with craft and stories and gross motor activities with Kindergarten, year 1 and year 2. K/1 are so excited about this they have been asking me every day for weeks “Are the new Kindies coming today?”
As part of our Transition to School program, I have recently made several visits to KU Preschool and Galston Long Day Care to spend some time getting to know next year’s Kindies. They have greeted me with excitement and have been keen to tell me all about what they are looking forward to most at “big school”.
Lennox, Jack and I had a very close and thrilling game of Snakes & Ladders with many cheering onlookers.
Mrs Crouch

Click here to download latest Canteen Price List for 2011

Click here to download Blackboard Specials for Term 4, 2011

Click here to download Canteen Roster for parent helpers for Term 4, 2011