Head of Primary
The Term ahead
There is lots happening in Primary school over the coming term. Please keep these dates handy and also refer to the information from Mrs Van Wyke regarding all of the Book Week activities, competitions and Premiers reading challenge.
Monday 7 - Tuesday 8 August - Year 4 Cru Camp
Wednesday 8 August - Year 4 rest day
Monday 14 August – Wakakiri Performance Riverside Theatre - Parramatta
Friday 25 August - Book Week fair and Parade
Wednesday 30 August – K-2 Athletics Carnival
Book Week Costumes
One of the areas I consistently challenge students on is being mindful and considerate of those around us. What we wear and how we behave often effects not just ourselves but those we come in contact with. For this reason we want to extend this consideration to how we dress on days such as Book Week costume day. Please reflect on the following when preparing for Book Week:
- Students should not come to Book Week dressed as witches, warlocks (Harry Potter characters are permitted)
- Students should wear a costume that is congruent with their gender. Eg male students should dress as male book characters.
- Students should not bring with them any weapons, swords or knives as part of their costumes.
- Students should not represent anything from the occult or spiritual realm such as ghosts
- Students are encouraged to bring the book that their character is in, (this is not compulsory).
There are many many book characters that do not involve purchasing a costume and could easily be created using clothes and accessories already at home. I look forward to seeing the creativity of our students on this fun and exciting day.
Uniform
As we return from holidays it is timely to remind students of the correct uniform requirements. Students should only be in their sports uniform on the day they have sport and sneakers are not to be worn with the formal uniform.
Girls and boys with shoulder length hair must have it tied back and Primary students are not permitted to wear bracelets, rings or necklaces. Please take time to remind your child of the importance of taking pride in the College uniform.
Kiss and Drop 3 – Parents arriving early
So that our YVCS students can be collected safely at 3:00pm, please park in the overflow parking of P3 until students are released from class at 3:15pm.
You will notice that several spaces will be bollarded off for these parents to quickly park and collect their children and access to these spaces need to be left clear. These spaces will be released at 3:15pm
After 3:15pm parents may then leave the overflow parking and join the Kiss and Drop pick up lines.
This assists us in keeping our students safe and allowing the flow of traffic to flow well.
Please note there is no supervision for students, before school, until 8:15 am. Students arriving before 8:15 am must go to before school care.
DaVinci DecathlonOver 1000 students from Sydney and regional NSW gathered at Knox Grammar School on Thursday 27 July for the DaVinci Decathlon. 16 students from Years 5 and 6 were also in attendance, having trained for the event since the beginning of Term 2.
Some students felt a little nervous on arrival at The Great Hall, however, they managed to tame their ‘butterflies’ and redirect their slightly nervous energy, ploughing through 10 very challenging tasks for the next few hours. Subject areas included: code-breaking, cartography, engineering, maths, art and poetry, English, legacy, creative producers, science, and ideation.
Tasks were designed to stretch even the most exceptional and high achieving students (as well as Mrs Lines and Mr Cantor, who helped to mark the papers).
At the end of the day, our Year 6 team was announced as the team with the most outstanding behaviour (out of over 80 Yr 6 teams)!
Somehow, our Year 5 team ended up with the prize – Chuppa Chups for everyone! Once the error was realised, Year 5 were allowed to keep the prize (as they had also shown great citizenship throughout the day). Year 6 were presented with an additional set of Chuppa Chups, which were enjoyed on the way home in the bus.
Thanks to Mr Shaw, who drove the bus to and from the event.
NAPLAN Reports
The College has received NAPLAN reports for all students who participated in NAPLAN in 2023. Reports have been posted this week. If parents and carers have not received the report by 4 August, please contact the Deputy Principal, Mrs Jane McLarty; jmclarty@gpcc.nsw.edu.au
Please note that from 2023, proficiency standards replace the previous reporting of student NAPLAN results that used numerical bands and the national minimum standard. A fact sheet explaining the results is included in the results envelope.
What are proficiency standards?
Proficiency standards describe what students are expected to know and should be able to do in literacy and numeracy at the time of NAPLAN.
Students’ results are measured against 4 levels of proficiency:
- Exceeding
- Strong
- Developing
- Needs additional support.
Primary Choir (Years 1 - 6)
Let’s Recycle some Plastic to create some Art
During Term 3 students are encouraged to collect and bring into school plastic lids for a ‘Recycling’ Art Project. Please wash the lids, remove any white insert and pop the lids directly into the buckets located outside L1 (Primary Science room) Kindy and Lunch eating area.
We will then sort the colours and sizes.