RICHMOND PUBLIC SCHOOL

RICHMOND PUBLIC SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Thank you to Richmond Public School's P & C for their sponsorship of our school Newsletter

Term 1 ? Week 6 Thursday 7 March, 2019

"To Strive for Excellence"

Important Dates

Friday, 8 March Wednesday, 13 March

Thursday, 14 March

Monday, 18 March Thursday, 21 March Thursday, 21 March

Caf? ? 2:30pm School Photo Day Selective High School

Testing Day P&C Meeting ? 7pm

Harmony Day Parent/Carer English Tutorial ? 2:00pm -

Library

District Swimming Carnival ? Well Done!

Congratulations to our wonderful students who competed at the District Swimming Carnival on Monday, 4 March. Mrs Barrow was the Team Manager and she reported to me that our Richmond Public School students were fantastic; all cheering on their team mates and congratulating each other for their successes and effort. Richmond Public School achieved some excellent results with a number of our students moving onto the Regional Swimming Carnival. Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended the carnival to support their children and the school. I know the students love having their parents/carers at the carnival supporting them and watching their times. This year the organisers had the relays in the middle of the day rather than being the last event of the carnival. This meant that some students did not have to wait the whole day in the sun to compete in one event. It appeared to work very well and this process will continue through to 2020. Thank you to Mrs Barrow who organised for Richmond Public School's Team to compete at the District Swimming Carnival and for being the Team Manager on the day. Well done Richmond Public School! (There are results

further into this Newsletter)

115 Windsor Street RICHMOND NSW 2753 Email: richmond-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Phone: 4578 2027 Fax: 4588 5886

Mathematics Computation Quizzes

Date

Stage Skill

7 March -

21 March

K Year 1

Reading and writing numbers to 10

+3 and - 3

Year 2

+30 and -30

Years

X10 and ?10

3-6

Richmond Public School's Website

On Thursday, 28 February and Friday 1 March, 2019 there were School Website Training Days held at Richmond Public School by the Department of Education, in particular the School Website Services Training Team. Over the past six months the Department has moved over to a new platform for the school website which unfortunately has left many schools with a a very static website; therefore there was need for training. Over the two days, forty-six participants attended the training at Richmond Public School; totalling twenty-five schools. Ms Peterson and I attended the Friday training with now a plan to update our new website. Our new website will have current photos of events, all notes that have been sent home, our Newsletter, summaries of what is happening over the term for each Stage and most importantly our Term Planner. In addition, the new website has the capability for the user to have our Newsletter and any other documents translated into another language. Ms Peterson and I are in the planning stages and we are beginning to put items onto the website with the aim of having the website a focus area of communication along with our Skoolbag App'.

School Improvements

There has been work going on around the school as part of the Preventative Maintenance Program by the Department of Education. The external areas of the Students' Toilet Block has been cleaned and is to be fully repainted, the ceilings of the Toilet Block have been painted, the ceilings in the main build directly at the bottom of the stairs leading to the next floor have been stripped and repainted and there are now plans for the library to be fully recarpeted along with three classrooms. In addition, as stated in our Term 4 2018 Newsletter, the Library is to be re-roofed with galvanised sheeting along with all facia boards around Block C. The roof sheeting and facia boards will be dark grey in colour to minimise reflection and to avoid the roof being too noticeable; the roofing work is to be carried out during the next term break. There are also plans for additional Promethean Boards to be purchased and installed during the term break but this will be at a cost to the school. For the safety of our students and community, I will keep the community informed of any other work that may be going ahead at Richmond Public School.

Parent / Teacher Interviews ? On-line Bookings Now Open

Our On-Line Parent/Carer/Teacher Interview System is now open and is presently taking Parent/Carer bookings for interviews. Parent/ Carer/Teacher Interviews are to be held in Term 1 from Monday, 1 April through to Wednesday, 10 April. This is a chance for the teachers to discuss specific programs the student may be working on and how best this work can be consolidated at home. It may also give the parents/carers an opportunity to discuss any concerns they may have in regards to their child's progress and well-being. If you have any difficulty booking your interviews with your child/children's teacher, please call the office and the staff will assist you.

K-2 Open Reading Sessions

As part of the school's Strategic Directions, the Literacy Team is inviting parents/carers to come into their classrooms to observe the school's K-2 Guided Reading Sessions. These sessions are held three days per week and take place from 9:15am ? 10:00am. The Literacy Team are attempting to accommodate our parent/carer's busy schedules and therefore have offered the three days as an opportunity for you to come to the school, observe a Guided Reading Session and possibly take some ideas for home. The Open Reading Sessions are from Monday, 25 March through to Wednesday 27 March, 2019. The Literacy Team hopes that many parent/carers will take up this opportunity.

Scooters / Bikes and Helmets (Reminder)

Thank you to all the students who ride a scooter or bike to school wearing their helmets. It is a rule at Richmond Public School that if you ride a scooter or bike to school that you must also wear a helmet. On many days I watch the students leaving the school walking their bikes through the school playground with their helmet. The students know that without a helmet, the scooter or bike cannot be ridden home. Great work, Richmond Public School.

Feeding Families Friday (Reminder)

Mobile Phones ~ 2019 (Reminder)

Thank you to the many families who continue to donate to our Feeding Families Friday Program which began in 2017. For our new families, this is an initiative started by our Student Representative Council who are supporting a local charity titled, `Hawkesbury Helping Hands'. This charity assists the homeless along with many families who are in desperate need of food items. The SRC is not asking for donations from each family every Friday. However, as you go shopping during the fortnight, possibly purchase one item for this worthy cause. The basket and sign is in the school's foyer and is in a permanent position within the foyer. Each Monday, a member from Helping Hands comes to collect the donated items. Richmond Public School is such a wonderful school with many good things happening, it is nice to stretch our generosity outside of the school and to those who are needy.

With our many new families and students coming to our school from around the area, it is important that students and parents / caregivers are aware of the policy regarding mobile phones at Richmond Public School.

The policy states:

"All students bringing mobiles phones to school are to have them off and out of sight by 8:40am. At 3:10pm, students are permitted to turn their mobile phones back on. Any phone that is seen, heard or used between the hours of 8:40am and 3:10pm will be confiscated and handed to the Principal / Executive teacher in charge. Collection of the confiscated phone must be made by the parent/carer. Parents/carers wishing to contact their children during the day are to call the school."

Signs have been placed in classrooms reminding students of this policy. There are many reasons for the policy, primarily the school does not accept responsibility for any phone brought into the school grounds, in addition to the fact that there is a need for us to understand that technology is moving very quickly, especially for our younger students.

Saint Vincent De Paul Clothing Bin

(Reminder)

As of 2016, Richmond Public School had a St Vincent De Paul clothing bin placed within the school grounds. Though the school still fully supports Stewart House and the wonderful work that they do, providing a clothing bin within the school throughout the year may assist families in clearing out their wardrobes on a regular basis. There are a few guidelines which I kindly ask the community to follow: 1. The clothing bin is for school community use

only;

2. School community members who are donating clothes are not permitted to drive their car onto school grounds;

3. Donations are to go directly in to the bin and are not to be left on the ground at the base of the clothing bin; and

4. All donations are for St Vincent De Paul, community members are not to remove items from the clothing bin.

Working with Children Check (Reminder)

It has been legislated that from 2016 all volunteers, be it sporting, reading helpers, fundraising helpers, canteen workers and the like are to have a Working with Children Check. There are exemptions to this expectation. However, this is also very difficult to monitor and therefore we ask that all volunteers at Richmond Public School have their Working with Children Check. The initial Working with Children Check can be accessed at;

.

Once this check is completed online, volunteers will need to submit relevant paperwork to the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) in order to be issued a WWC number. As a volunteer, there is no cost involved in gaining this WWC number. This number must be given to the school office along with the paperwork in order for volunteers to begin service in our school. We understand that this process takes a little time to complete, however the safety of our students is imperative to all concerned.

Richmond Public School App' ~ for our new families (Reminder)

In 2015, Richmond Public School initiated its own app titled, `Skoolbag'. There are instructions further into this Newsletter in getting the app onto your phone. Both the Play Store and the Apple Store have the free app'. This process was undertaken as part of the school's Strategic Directions for 2015 under the Community Participation and Engagement direction. The app' has many options for you to access including Alerts, Events, the school's website, the fortnightly Newsletter and much more. In addition, the school is now able to notify families through their phones if an excursion is late or early. On the app', you are able to turn on notifications for the grades your child/ren are in, thus ensuring you don't receive notifications unnecessarily. In 2015, the app' proved extremely valuable when Stage 3 was required to return back early from their Canberra excursion due to a number of illnesses. The message of their early return was sent out on the app' as an Alert and

parents/caregivers were fully informed of the incident and their early return. Thank you to the Community Participation and Engagement Team for their continued work in this area. I encourage all families to explore this great initiative.

School Uniform (Reminder)

Thank you to the many parents who have sent their child/children to school in our beautiful school uniform. The uniform policy was established by the school and the school community and is discussed on a regular basis at our P&C meetings.

Just a few reminders regarding uniform:

1. Necklaces are not to be worn;

2. Studs or sleepers are permissible in your child's ear. Any earrings that dangle are not permitted;

3. Rub on tattoos are not permitted as this is not part of the school's uniform;

4. Nail polish is not permitted. Clear gloss is acceptable;

5. Any lipstick or eye shadow is also against the school's uniform policy; and

6. Any long hair should be securely tied back (or in ponytails). This is not only for safety but minimises the risk of head lice.

Commonwealth School Banking Day is Thursday (Reminder)

Remember Thursday is School Banking Day and students should bring in their weekly deposit.

For every deposit made at school, students will

receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students

have

individually

collected 10 tokens they

can redeem them for an

exclusive School Banking

reward item in

recognition of their

regular savings habits.

School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school. Our school receives a Regular Savers Contribution of $5 for every 10 deposits processed per student as well as an Annual Contribution which is based on the number of students who made at least one School Banking deposit in the prior year.

If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2019 School Banking program information pack from the school office or visit .au/schoolbanking

2019 School Banking rewards

For all school uniform needs we presently recommend going to Brynorms Richmond. Brynorms is located at Shop 2, 328 Windsor Street Richmond. The Uniform Policy was established for the safety of your child apart from the fact that Richmond Public School is not a place to set fashion trends. I thank you for following these simple guidelines.

Gary Ruzgas

Principal

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