NBPS Newsletters

Term 4 Week 9 Newsletter

December 8, 2011

From the Principal

Congratulations 2012 School Leaders

Last week the school leaders for 2012 were announced. This followed the nomination presentation of speeches by 93 children and the election by their peers. Competition for the 32 [the number of classes] places on the Student Representative Council is very tough with so many outstanding boys and girls nominating for these leadership positions. We are very fortunate to have such fine young people wanting to take on additional responsibilities at Neutral Bay.

The children will be presented with their badges by Mrs Jillian Skinner, the NSW Minister for Health, at tomorrow’s Year 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly.

The school captains for 2012 are Lucy Woodcock and Eliza Wright, Kye Milne and Alexander Frisina.

The SRC members are:

Jaela Barney, Oscar Bird, Alice Bishop, Darcy Bradley, Oscar Brisset, Angus Carre, Benjamin Dempsey, Sophie Dews, Ryo Enomoto, Will Franklin, Rohan Geraghty, Samuel Hansen, Brittanie Hsu, Renee Hurley, Georgie Joyce, Milly Joyce, Amelia Langley, James Leeming, Thomas Lockhart, Evie Maslen, Max Mikkelsen, Ella Ryan, Jun Sasagawa, Jessica Wait, Samuel Watkins, Sharon Xu, Koh Yamada, Josiah Zanardo.

These incoming leaders have big shoes to fill! Charlotte, Matt, Maya and Daniel have been outstanding school captains this year. The SRC boys and girls have provided exemplary leadership and been fine role models for all the children at NBPS. I am very proud of all these wonderful young people.

Other children will be able to nominate for House [Sports] Captains and Vice Captains, Library Monitors, Sound and Light Monitors and Canteen Assistants. I encourage the children who missed out on SRC positions to volunteer for these positions of responsibility.

Final Assemblies

Parents are invited to join us for our final assemblies.

Years 5 and 6 – Friday 9^th – concert Band and Senior Choir will perform

Full summer uniform – not sports uniform to be worn

Years 3 and 4 – Monday 12^th – Senior Band and Junior Choir will perform

Years 1 and 2 – Tuesday 13^th – String Ensemble will perform. Every child in Years 1 and 2 will perform in class items.

Kinder Graduation – Wednesday 14^th – This is a very special event for all our Kinder children and their families. Every Kindergarten child will perform.

Orchestra/String Group

Our String Group is looking for more musicians to join in 2012. If your child would like to play violin, viola or cello in the group, please see attached link here.

End of Year Family Picnic

Reminder – Family Picnic – Friday 9^th December – 6:00pm – BYO Everything – Live Music.

Wet Weather organisation: Hall and COLA.

Year 6 Farewell

We are all looking forward to the Year 6 Farewell next Wednesday evening. This is always a very special night for the children parents and teachers. My thanks to Mr Taylor and the wonderful group of parents for their organisation. It promises to be a most memorable occasion.

Student Reports

Student Semester 2 reports will be sent home with the children next Thursday. If your child will not be at school next week, please let class teachers know and the report will be sent to the home address or retained by the office for collection next year. If you do not receive a report, please contact the office.

Party Day and Talent Quest

The last day of term – Friday 16 December – is our Party Day. Children may come in “mufti” and bring a small amount of party food to share with friends, in addition to their usual lunch.

The Years 3-6 Talent Quest will be held on Thursday 15 December. Mr Thomson has already spoken to the children about the organisation for the Talent Quest. Parents are most welcome to attend. This is a low key event – not a competition – no prizes – not a school concert. It is an opportunity for the children to perform and have some fun!

Miss Barnard will also organise something similar for the Year 2 children and will send home more information next week.

Year 2 Bus Passes for 2012

Year 2 children who are eligible for free bus passes need to reapply for passes for 2012. Please go to the office for application forms.

Final Newsletter

As this will be the final Newsletter for the year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents who have supported and assisted us in so many ways in 2011. Most of our parents are busy working parents or busy at home with little ones – but still find time to assist in the classrooms, canteen, uniform shop, with the P&C, bands, excursions and attend functions and fundraising events. Your continuing support of our school is greatly appreciated. A strong supportive parent community is one of the most important ingredients in a successful school.

I want to pay tribute to the wonderful teachers at our school and the office staff who support the teachers, parents and children. We are most fortunate to have such a committed team of professionals who give so much to the children and are always prepared to “go the extra mile”.

I am particularly grateful to Mr Owen Taylor and Mrs Gai Javorsky, our two Deputy Principals, for their outstanding leadership, energy and support of all the staff and students.

Special thanks to Mr Michael who works tirelessly to look after our school buildings, grounds and all our equipment. He really is our “Mr Fixit”!

I am constantly impressed and inspired by our wonderful children who come to school each day “bright eyed” and wanting to learn. Their obvious joy in learning makes our job so worthwhile. Our boys and girls are generally sunny, well behaved, courteous, caring and conscientious. It really is a privilege to work with such a fantastic group of young people.

I wish our year 6 students the very best for the future and look forward to sharing their special night with them next Wednesday. They have been wonderful leaders and will be greatly missed.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and enjoyable summer holidays. My best wishes to every Neutral Bay Family.

I look forward to welcoming everyone back to school next year.

Year 1-6 – Monday 30^th January

Year 5 OCs – Tuesday 31^st January at 10:00am

Kindergarten – Thursday 2^nd February

Note: The Uniform Shop will be open on Friday 27^th January at 9:00am

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Our choir members- both Junior and Senior – who sang so well on Sunday at the Nutcote Carols held here at school because of the poor weather. Many thanks to Miss Muston for your work with the children. We received this letter from the organisers:

On behalf of Nutcote I would like to thank you most sincerely for the gift of music last night.

The choirs were excellent and a great credit to you, your teaching staff and the school.

The evening was a huge success and a wonderful start to the festive season.

With our very best wishes for the festive season.

Regards, Jenny Mathieson and the Nutcote Event Team.

· Melinda Hayes who organised the Kinder picnic last Sunday. It was a shame the rain came on Sunday morning – however, the children tell me they had great fun!
· All the Year 6 boys and girls who organised the Mini Fete stalls and activities. It was a lot of fun! Thank you to the teachers for all their organisation and support of the children. The Mini Fete raised $3,381.80 which will be used to purchase the Year 6 farewell gift to the school.
· Our school chess champions: Max Mikkelson, Adrian Freiburg, Sam Rogers, Ryan Seeto, Naomi Stephens and Aiden Odenthal. Great work! Thanks to everyone who entered the championship. Many thanks to Miss Magney for her organisation.
· All the boys and girls in our three bands who performed so beautifully at the end of year Band Concert last Thursday evening. Congratulations on excellent performances.
· Laef Whittaker 5K who represented North Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club at the South Maroubra Junior Carnival on Saturday, completing his first major rough water ocean swim. Well done Laef!
· Callum Fraser, a Senior Band member, who so willingly lent his clarinet to a Junior Band member whose instrument had been forgotten for the Band Concert. There was much distress and Callum saved the day without a blink. Thank you Callum!
· Asher Simkins 6L was invited by SCECGS Redlands – her Year 7 school – to take part in the annual Swimming Carnival last Thursday. Asher came 1^st in backstroke and breaststroke, and 2^nd in freestyle and butterly – taking the 12-Year Age Champion Medal! Fantastic results Asher! Congratulations!
· All the boys and girls involved in Drama Club and Glee Club. We are looking forward to your performances next week. Thanks to Miss Taylor for all her work with both these lunch time clubs.
· Congratulations to Erika Blendell, Noa Matsuda and Carolyn Chen who have all been invited to a call back audition for the Sydney North Junior Dance Ensemble for 2012. The auditions will be held in February next year. The competition for these places is very tough with so many talented dancers. Well done girls and best of luck with the call back!

Homework Survey: Parent Response Summary

Thank you to all of the parents who took time to complete our homework surveys. We now have plenty of data to help inform future planning. We received 173 responses to our online parent homework survey – 65 of those responses were for K-2 children and 108 for children in Years 3 -6.

Here are the response percentages for each question:

How much time, on average per week, does your child spend on homework tasks, including reading?

0 – 30 minutes 4.6%

30 minutes – 1 hour 15.4%

1 – 2 hours 34.3%

2 – 3 hours 18.3%

More than 3 hours 27.4%

How much encouragement or assistance does your child require to complete homework tasks?

None – independently and willingly does homework. 17.6%

A little – from time to time. 41.2%

A lot – would not do homework tasks without parental involvement. 41.2%

Do you consider the standard or level of homework tasks your child is expected to complete to be:

Appropriate 82.6%

Too difficult 4.8%

Too easy 12.6%

Do your child’s homework tasks assist you to be more informed or involved with your child’s learning?

Yes 78.3%

No 21.7%

Does completing homework tasks cause stress or anxiety for your child?

Never 31.5%

Sometimes 50.0%

Often 18.5%

Does completing homework tasks cause you stress or anxiety?

Never 35.4%

Sometimes 47.0%

Often 17.7%

How often do you do some or all of your child’s homework for them?

Never 70.1%

Occasionally 26.2%

Regularly 3.7%

Always 0.0%

The general comments were mixed in support of and against homework, and regarding the amount of homework set. Some parents thought that homework was essential, others felt their children were busy enough already.

Homework Survey: Student Response Summary

313 children in Years 3-6 completed the online student homework survey. Here is a summary of their responses:

How much time do you spend on homework each week including reading?

0 – 30 minutes 7.9%

30 mins – 1 hour 22.2%

1 – 2 hours 21.9%

2 – 3 hours 23.1%

More than 3 hours 24.9%

How much help do you need from an adult to complete homework?

None – I can do all my homework myself. 37.3%

A little – with some difficult tasks. 61.4%

A lot – I need help with all of my homework. 1.2%

Do you think the amount of homework you have to do is:

Too much 27.4%

Just right 65.4%

Not enough 7.2%

Do you think the homework you have to do is:

Too easy 16.7%

Just right 80.2%

Too hard 3.1%

Does doing homework make you feel anxious or worried or cause you stress?

Never 35.8%

Sometimes 55.9%

Often 8.3%

Given the diversity of opinions, we plan to make homework a focus in our 2012 School Management Plan, and will continue the conversation with parents in the new year. Further details of the homework survey will be provided in our 2011 Annual School Report.

Dangerous Pedestrian Behaviour

In the last two weeks, several parents have spoken to me about the unsafe road-crossing practices by children at our school. We do live in a busy, built-up area with a regular stream of traffic before and after school. Please discuss with your children the importance of looking both ways before they cross the road. Some children assume that because there is a pedestrian crossing or a ‘green man’ that it is ok to cross without looking, which is not the case. We need to protect our precious children by teaching them the correct road safety messages.

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

Mathletics

Congratulations to the following students who have received GOLD certificates this term. Well done and keep up the great work!

Kindergarten

Mayuri Aithala, Elliot Hudson, Pavle Hornby, Alexandra Suttor

Year 1

Mika Floury, Gracie Bottomley, Sofia Nearhos, Toby Willington, Ruby Scott, Vetaka Viseshom,

Year 2

Timothy Doubinski, Mallika Aithala, Alexandra Dent, Aoibh Costello, Jack Wormald

Year 3

Anna De Lange, Adrian Freiburg, Alexandra Kourakis, Billie Clow, Zahra Padmanathan, Gautam Chintala, Jonathon Woodcock

Year 4

Lily-Ann Aspley-Smith, Tess Guo, Samantha Wavish-Dixon, Shirley Chan, Dylan Odenthal, Lara Bate

Year 5

Victor Steel,

Leanne Gassman, Debbie Horsley and Nadine Walsh, Mathletics Coordinators

School Chess Championship

On Monday 5 December, 26 students from Year 1 to Year 6 participated in the annual school chess competition. Congratulations to this year’s School Chess Champion, Max Mikkelsen. Max has had many successes in chess competitions played in and out of school throughout the year and is a worthy recipient of this coveted award. Adrain Frieberg will be a student to watch next year. This Year 3 player came in second place and Sam Rogers in third place.

Medals for outstanding play in each stage group were awarded to:

Stage 3 – Ryan Seeto

Stage 2- Naomie Stephens

Stage 1 - Aidan Odenthal

Congratulations to all the students who entered into the competition: Guillaume Troadec, John Marshall, Richard Zhou, Ryo Enomoto, Kieran Connor, Ben Crimp, Ethan Low, Dylan Odenthal, Alex Au, Jonny Woodcock, Leah Guo, Ripley Voeten, Tess Guo, Loukas Triantis, Reni Mazzagatti, Aidan Odenthal, Maxime Troadec, Tom Siede, Sonia Freiburg, Astrid Girdis and Oscar Brisset.

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

Christmas Bells

Oh!

Santa’s riding reindeer with the presents in the sleigh,

We’ll decorate the Christmas tree and sleep till Christmas day.

Hey!

On the door there is a wreath with lots of tinsel,

And this time I won’t rest my head on the windowsill.

We’ll wake up in the morning and the presents will be there,

Hopefully he’ll give me a little teddy bear.

Oh!

Santa’s riding reindeer with the presents in the sleigh,

We’ll decorate the Christmas tree and sleep till Christmas day.

Hey!

By Chantelle Forder 3/4M

Visit to 6J

On 8 December Mrs Baker’s brother-in-law, Kevin Baker, came in to teach us about his job in the animation industry. He had been in many films and games such as LA Noire and Happy Feet 2. He told us what it was like in the industry and the many different ways that games are made. He also recommended a few of his favourites programs to us. He told us that he loves his job and he is not in it for the money. He was happy to stay awhile and show me and my friends some programs and answer some questions. Overall, it was extremely interesting and he is a very good role model. I hope to be a game designer like him.

Declan Clunes 6J

Today Mrs Baker’s brother-in-law, Kevin Baker, came into 6J to tell us about his job. He worked in the animation and games industry. In his career he worked on many films such as Night at the Museum. He also worked on LA Noire, a game that has come of the best character designs to date. Kevin told us that you don’t have to do one job for your whole life and you can change what you do. He also said that you should always do a career for the love of the job and not the money. After he answered all of our questions and showed us the programs he uses for his job. So thank you Kevin for sharing that information with us.

Felix Lempriere 6J

Poems from 6J

Moods

Lounging on the log,

Or ‘sleeping’ in the sun.

Laziness is so much fun,

Especially when there are things to be done!

My face gets hot

My voice gets loud

I can’t control my face

Or the unpredictable sound

My stomach is tensed

Like my mind and my mouth.

Sweaty hands are clenched

Like the lips I don’t trust.

I start to panic

My legs want to run

But my mind is frozen

And can’t make a sound

A bounce in my skip,

A spring in my step.

Delirious glee

Is happiness for me!

Tears start appearing

Running down my face

There’s a lump in my throat

I’m such a miserable case

The food is the same,

The life is the same.

I’m incredibly bored

And I’m going insane!

Giselle Dreyer and Janae Cheung

The Eternal Cycle

Summer

Sunlight dances through

The silky water,

On to sculptured sand.

Autumn

Dead leaves hide my feet

Wading through autumns remnants.

Snap, cracker and pop!

Winter

Slow drops fall to earth,

Soaking the already wet,

So green shoots may bloom.

Spring

Colours excploding,

Throufh moise soil and bright green grass.

Petals blanket earth.

Giselle Dreyer

I am Mary

I am complicated and confusing.

I wonder about my future

I hear the turning of well-read pages.

I see a never-ending library; I want to read it all.

I am Mary.

I pretend that no-one else exists; when I’m reading.

I feel excited.

I touch the spines of books.

I worry about the real world.

I cry for my dead dogs.

I am Mary.

I understand my parents problems.

I say they try hard to fix them. But,

I still dream of never-ending libraries.

I try to deal with the real world.

I hope I can learn to.

I am Mary.

Mary Davidson

Why I Love Poetry

I love poetry for a lot of different reasons. I love the way the words flow together, or are pulled apart. I love the cleverness in the way they sound when read aloud. I love their different rhythms, and how they are almost music. I love that in a well written poem, you hardly notice the rhyming, and I love the way you can convey the deepest of feelings through a few simple words.

Mary Davidson

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Special Meeting of the P&C Thursday 15 December 08:45: Canteen Refurbishment

A special meeting of the P&C will be held next week to delegate and finalise terms of reference for a sub-committee of the P&C to research options for the refurbishment of the canteen to meet anticipated needs over the next 5-10 years. All parents are encouraged to attend.

The meeting will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room.

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! It has been a terrifically busy year in the canteen, and we’ve loved every minute of it (well, most of them!). The more I learn about canteens in our area, the more grateful I am for the volunteer support, our fantastic menu of healthy foods, and the great support we get from the administration and Mr. Michael.

A few reminders as we head into the last week: the special from Monday-Thursday is the Hip Hot Doggie, which can be served plain, with just sauce, just cheese, or both sauce and cheese.

The canteen will not be open on Friday 16^th.

Please send your children to school with lunch and recess.

Also, from the start of next year, Friday lunches will be online only. Recess will be cash-over-the-counter as usual. There will be signs up to help you remember, as well as other communications. Please be assured, however, that we will always feed the children, no matter what! Feel free to contact Kristina on 0407 297 691 or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Also, please let me know if you can fill the gap on Monday of next week!

Canteen Roster

Monday – Lesley Carre – HELP!

Tuesday – Jane Bush, Liesel Wightwick

Wednesday – Renuka Viseshom, Monika Zanardo

Thursday – Ping Xu, Elise Lockwood

Friday – CANTEEN CLOSED

Uniform Shop
It’s all go with Flexischools!
We are pleased to announce that from Monday 12th December all school uniform items are available to order online through
the Flexischools website. If you haven’t already registered, it only takes a few minutes and then it’s so easy to select items,
complete payments and have your order either delivered to your child’s classroom or collected from the uniform shop on a
Tuesday morning.
Go to www.flexischools.com.au<http://www.flexischools.com.au> and have a look!
Last Orders for Christmas
The last day for orders to be completed before school closes for the holidays is Wednesday 14th December, deliveries
will be made on Thursday 15th December.
All orders placed after this time will be ready for school returning in January and can be collected from the uniform shop
on Friday 27th January or delivered to classrooms during the first week of Term 1 2012.
Holiday Opening Times
The Uniform Shop will be open on Friday 27th January from 8.30am until 10.30am, to help to get you organised before school
resumes. If you know what you’re looking for then place your order through Flexischools, you can have your order ready
for collection on that day from the shop. Or alternatively we’ll be there to help you get kitted out for the new year! The usual system
for ordering through the school office or be emailing the uniform shop direct will also continue.
Thank you Volunteers
I wanted to say thank you again to all of the wonderful volunteers who have helped with the uniform shop this year, we really couldn’t do it without you! Thank you to Irene Bottomley, Erica Kidston, Eilidh Kennedy, Marion Braslin and Maria Gimenez for all of your efforts every week, it’s always service with a smile and it’s very much appreciated!
Special Thanks
I wanted to give a special thank you too to Claudia Solomons this week for all of her hard work and dedication in the Uniform Shop over the past few years. Claudia’s daughter Yvonne Clark Lewis 6T will be leaving Year 6 and she’ll no longer be able to help us in the shop, she’s going to
be such a miss to us, thank you Claudia.
Happy Holidays
Helen and the Uniform Shop Team

Year 6 Farewell, Informal Parent Dinner at Mosman RSL next Wednesday December 14

If you haven’t already bought tickets you have until midnight this Saturday to jump online and buy them at http://www.stickytickets.com.au/7129

Tickets will not be available after this time as the organisers need to finalise numbers for catering purposes. No tickets will be sold on the night.

Please come and support the last big social event of your child’s primary school life. It’ll be a great night, kicking off at 6.45 after the kids are dropped off for their separate event and concluding at around 9.15pm.

Tickets are $29 a head and include finger food. Drinks are to be bought separately at bar prices. Siblings are not invited.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next Wednesday!

The Year 6 Farewell Dinner organising committee

Year 3 – End of Year Family Picnic

Sunday December 11^th

From 10.30am

Clifton Gardens Reserve

We anticipate gathering close to the enclosed playground and under a big tree.

All of Year 3, their families & teachers are welcome

BYO picnic, chairs & drinks. There is a small cafe but it can get very busy on nice days!

There is no wet weather plan, fingers crossed for sunshine. There is paid parking available adjacent to the reserve. There is no need to RSVP, just come along.

Look forward to seeing you there.

The Neutral Bay Community Christmas Carols will be held on Sunday 18 December from 6pm at the Neutral Bay Club, Westleigh Street (end of Barry Street), Neutral Bay. Carols will be performed by the St Augustine’s Church Choir and Band from 6pm. Residents, families and friends are invited to join in the festive celebrations by bringing a rug and picnic, and sitting in Ilbery Park; alternatively enjoy the facilities of our local Club which will serve food and beverages from 5pm. Children are welcome to dress in the Christmas spirit and sit in front of the band as the carols are played. In the event of wet or inclement weather, carols will be held at St Augustine’s, Wycombe Road, Neutral Bay. We look forward to seeing you there.

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Term 4 Week 8 Newsletter

December 1, 2011

From the Principal

Cyberbullying

I have had very positive feedback from a number of parents who attended last week’s parent Forum with Susan MacLean at Mosman High School. It was disappointing that more parents were not able to attend as it was most informative and somewhat disturbing. It was also timely as this week teachers and parents have had to deal with issues relating to the inappropriate use of social network sites including Penguin Club and Moshie Monster. Passwords have been shared by children and a good deal of hurt caused.

Susan’s tips for parents included:

· delete does not mean gone for ever
· always have home computers in shared spaces – not bedrooms
· Facebook should never be permitted for primary aged children – teachers were advised to report any children on Facebook in their classes
· parents must always be their child’s friend on Facebook
· parents must have children’s passwords
· passwords must be secure – mix of upper/lower case, numerals, symbols etc [not pet’s names or other obvious choices]
· check your child’s messages or their photos
· be aware of any changes in child’s behaviour
· future employers will request digital profiles.

End of Year Picnic

Reminder – We are all looking forward to a fine evening for our Family Picnic to be held on Friday 9^th December from 6:00pm in the playground. Bring Your Own everything or order in!

Year 6 Mini Fete

Tomorrow the Year 6 boys and girls will host their annual Mini Fete. This will be lot of fun for everyone. The Year 6 children have planned activities, games, food and drink stalls which they will set up in the Hall, Multi Purpose Room and the playground.

The Year 5 children will assist the Kindergarten children at the Mini Fete with the activities and with handling money. They will eat their lunch first!

The money raised by the Year 6 children will be used to purchase their farewell gift to the school.

Children should bring small amounts of money, preferably in coins – no more than $10 please for Years 3-6 and $5 for K-2.

Art by Kids Cards

Art by Kids cards were sent home with the children this week. Congratulations to Ryo, Sarah H, Leo and Maya P whose cards were all selected for school use. Thanks to Nita Parkes for her organisation of this fundraiser.

Choir Visits to Nursing Homes

Next Wednesday our Junior and Senior choirs will be visiting two local nursing homes to sing for the elderly residents. This is always a very special occasion for both our children and the older people. Many of the residents of the nursing homes don’t see young people and they always love our visit. It is heart warming to see their reactions! It is a lovely opportunity for our children to bring joy and pleasure to the older people particularly at this time of the year. My thanks to Miss Muston and Miss Haigh for their organisation. Our choirs will also be singing at the Nutcote Carol Evening this Sunday. Thank you boys and girls and parents.

Term 4 Dates

December

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year

Tuesday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 6:30pm

Friday 9^th – Years 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 and 4 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 and 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kindergarten Graduation 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th –Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

January 2012

Monday January 30^th – 1^st day of Term 1 2012 for Years 1 to 6

Tuesday January 31^st – Year 5 OC commence

Thursday February 2^nd – Kindergarten commences

Friday 27^th and Saturday 28^th January are Teacher Planning Days.

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Congratulations to Henry Quibell-Arnott 2DH who represented Mosman Little Athletics on Saturday at Olympic Park in the State Relay Championships. The team was placed 5^th in the heats and made the finals. Great work Henry!
· Congratulations to Jacqueline Brown 6T who was awarded an A for her recent AMEB Grade 6 Piano exam. Great result, Jacqueline!
· Congratulations to MayaYaffe 6T who was awarded an A in her recent AMEB Grade 8 Violin exam. Wonderful result, Maya! What next?
· A big thank you to Leith Wavish [Elliot Year 1 and Samantha Year 4] who took the time to come to Kindyland and talk to the children about dinosaurs. Leith is a paleontologist and she fascinated Kindy with stories of our own Australian dinosaur discoveries. The slide show and presentation were fabulous. You are a star Leith! Kindy loved your visit.
· Ryo Enomoto 5C won two gold medals in full contact and kata (movement pattern) divisions at Shinkyokushin Karate Northern Beaches Tournament on 27th November. Well done Ryo!
· Hamish Lesley 2N who helped the Mayor of Mosman unveil a plaque to name Beauty Point Park. Well done Hamish!
· 5C secretly and successfully organised a surprise birthday party for Miss Carnegie’s birthday and held it at lunchtime “on the day”. The giant iced cupcake/birthday cake was much appreciated together with the music, food and presents. Well done 5C! Great planning!
· A big “1-2-3 Wolf” to Isaac Irvine and Ollie Elmgreen who represented Balmoral Sea Scouts at last Thursday’s Australian Citizenship Ceremony held by Mosman Council. Both Cubs were great ambassadors for their Group and also Scouting in general. The Cubs acted as ushers, ceremonial escorts for the Mayoral procession and finally as waiters helping to serve food at the function which followed. Well done boys !
· Max Mikkelsen, Kieren Connor and Ryan Seeto competed in the NSW Primary Schools Chess Finals last Sunday. Congratulations boys on this wonderful achievement.

Presentation Day Assemblies

The first of our end of year assemblies takes place next Friday. Our Year 5 & 6 Assembly is on Friday 9^th December, the Years 3 & 4 Assembly is on Monday 12^th December, the Years 1 & 2 Assembly will be on Tuesday 13^th December and our Kindergarten Graduation will be held on Wednesday 14^th December. All assemblies commence at 9:30am and parents are welcome to attend. Parents of Year 3 – 6 children receiving class, special or sports awards, including our 2012 SRC members, will receive a note from their child’s teacher today or tomorrow.

Cybersafety talks

On Tuesday, 6^th December representatives from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are visiting our school to talk with our Year 5 & 6 children about Cybersafety. They will meet with the teachers after school and there will also be a presentation for parents from 6:30 – 8pm in the Hall. Cybersafety and digital citizenship are very important issues for our children. If you missed the Susan MacLean talk earlier this term, you should come along to this one next week. Coffee, tea and biscuits will be provided.

Milo Cup regional Cricket Final

On Tuesday the 28^th November the School participated in the Regional Finals of the Milo Cup at Morrison Bay. It was a beautiful day for cricket and the setting was perfect. The overall standard was incredibly high. Our boys team played three matches and unfortunately were defeated in the first two, but managed to win the third. They battled hard in every game and were disappointed to lose the games they did. They should be proud of their efforts and I know they had a really fun time taking part. The boys also managed to win their last game too to finish in fifth position over all not bad considering 108 schools took part in the whole competition overall!

The girls had a fabulous time competing against the other schools but like the boys won only one of their three games. They also should all be very proud of their efforts and be content with the fact that the school is incredibly proud of their efforts too. The sportsmanship and general attitude was exemplary from all of the students.

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

School Chess Championship

I hope that all the girls and boys entered in the annual School Chess Championship have been practising for this coming Monday. Thank you to all the children who have given their permission notes and payment into the office already. There is still time to sign up and notes are available from the office and the school web site.

Players are asked to go straight to the school hall after morning lines on Monday 5th December to begin at 9.30 am sharp. Children in K-2 will be collected from their classroom. Good luck everybody!

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

Milo Cup

On Wednesday 9^th November 11 boys and 11 girls played in a cricket competition called the Milo Cup. We arrived at Nolans Reserve Manly at 9:00am and it was already 30 degrees.

The boy’s first game was against St Augustine’s and we decided that we wanted to bat. We started a bit slowly but got better as the game went on. We scored a good total of 60 runs. It was a good total but not enough to be comfortable. We bowled extremely well and they only got 24 runs.

Our next game was against Cromer Public School. This time we decided to bowl first. Turns out it was the right decision because they only scored 39 runs. We then went on to bat and we got a total of 70 runs, which meant we had demolished the other team yet again.

The girls were a bit worried on how to play cricket which showed in our first game. We started bowling not knowing what to do most of the time but had great fun. Our bowling was off target and our batting was ok. We finished the game losing by 5 runs and we knew we had to improve.

Having found our feet and figured out what to do from our first game we were now ready for our second game. Batting was great fun and we started hitting many 4s which helped us to a nice total. Our bowling improved with not giving as many runs away from wides and no-balls. This helped up win our next two games which put us into the final.

After lunch we found out that both the girls and boys had both made the final and were both playing Harbord Pubic School. This was going to be a close one for both teams.

Unfortunately we, the girls, lost by 8 runs but from the start of the competition we had improved immensely and all the girls should be proud of their performance.

The boys decided to bowl first in our grand final. Our first over was a good one and then Zac Morris got 4 wickets in one over! They went on to only score 45 runs, which was an average total, but we knew they were good bowlers. We went on to score 46 runs in only 4 overs. We had won the grand final of Milo Cup and we were through to regional.

Thank you to Mr Thomson for organising the day and all the parents who helped drive.

Dan Ward & Eloise Doherty

Poems from 4PW

The Highway Rat

The highway rat was washing the window

And a posh rat Amber meets him in the door

They get married and have kids

And he continues to scrub the floor

A cat came running, running, running

And scratched his feet on the floor

He ate the parents whole

And left them in the door

The spirits rose from the bodies

The children started to scream

For the cat has killed the parents

The parents- the parents

They still say he killed the parents

And the cake shop was the scene

The spirits danced with the children

And the kids gave a soft sigh

For the children of the spirits

Looked in their parents eyes

Amber and the highway rat

Taught the kids how to cook

They reopened the shop

And named it: CAKES IN NOOK

Georgia Lees

The Highway Rat

A puppy came bounding along the road.

Then stopped in her tracks with fear,

For in front of her was the highway rat.

Who cried out, “Listen here!”

Give me all your ice-cream and lollies,

Give me all your hot dogs and chips!

For I am the rat of the highway the highway

Yes I am the rat of the high way,

So give me all your crackers and dips!

I have no chips! The dog replied for all I have is bones; my teeth are not sharp enough for those the hairy rodent had moaned. These bones are hard and tough,

These bones are as plain as can be! But I am the highway rat and whatever I want I take!

Sarah and Maya

Laughter smells like Dew on the grass J

It looks like the sunset sinking under the sea J

It tastes like a pastry with custard in the middle cream strawberries and that nice cake jelly yum J

It sounds like when Arkie and I saw each other when she came back from Singapore.

Laughter

Maris

Persona Poem

I am hopeful and thoughtful,

I wonder what it would be like to try and survive in the wild,

I hear the sounds of all creatures in a chorus of life

I want all people to understand one another and value what they already have.

I pretend to be something I am not,

I feel as if no-one understands how hard change is,

I touch my Lucky Charms when things become hard for me,

I worry about things I can’t control,

I cry when I can’t become better then I am,

I care.

I understand that things won’t always turn out the way you want them to,

I say to myself that I will always try things I love again,

I dream about a better future,

I try to make the world a better place,

I hope people recognize the Earth for what it is…

BEFORE IT’S TO LATE

Arquette

The Highway Rat [cat and dog]

A racoon came strolling along the road

then stopped at a halt and a screech

for blocking his way was the highway rat

who was on his way to the beach

Give me your ice-creams and goodies

give me your pies and chips

for I am the rat of the highway

the highway the highway the highway

yes I am the rat of the highway

and I like to lick my lips

The goose came waddling along the road

then stopped in alarm and shock

for blocking his way was the highway rat

who had a key but no lock

Give me all your burgers and beans

give me your bones with no fees

for I am the rat of the highway

the highway the highway the highway

yes I am the rat of the highway

and my backups are as busy as bees

A cat came hurrying along the road

and stopped with a smile of glee

for the highway rat was there in shock

then he fell and hurt his knee

Give me all your burgers and goodies

give me all your money and rings

for I am the new cat of the highway

the highway the highway

yes I am the new cat of the highway

and I like to take all of your things

Now the dog came barking along the road

and stopped with a laugh and a giggle

for the highway cat was there in alarm

and for some reason started to wiggle

Give me all your beans and ice-cream

give me all your flesh and bones

for I am the new dog of the highway

the highway the highway the highway

yes I am the new dog of the highway

and this place is one of my zones

The pound van came clanking along the road

and stopped at the sight of the dog

for the highway dog he never saw the light again

now for comfort he only gets a log.

Danielle Smith

Photo Section

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! As we wind down what has been a very busy year in the canteen, I would like to thank our terrific staff: Nina, Linda, Angelica, and Thalia, as well as all of our terrific volunteers. And special thanks to Mr. Michael who solves innumerable problems throughout the year!

A few important pieces of information for the last two weeks:

the Week 9 special (from 5/12-8/12) is the Loopy Noodle Stir Fry, and

the Week 10 special (from 12/12-15/12) is the Hip Hot Doggie.

Please don’t forget that the

Canteen is closed on the last day of this term -

we will not be providing lunch or recess on Friday 16^th December

The canteen will be open for Day 1 of the 2012 school year, and the special will be Freaky Fried Rice. The menu will be posted on the website before the end of the year, and updated with our online vendor www.flexischools.com.au And please remember that

Friday lunches will be online only from the start of next year.

Please contact me (Kristina) on 0407 297 691 or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com if you can fill a gap in our roster on Wednesday.

Canteen Roster

Monday – Drina Brezniak, Gwen Murdoch

Tuesday – Jenny Jones, Leanne Taratoris

Wednesday – Ameeta, HELP

Thursday – Kanako Malthouse, Makiko Melbourne

Friday – Liz Skinner, Marion Brazlin, Jane Wilder till 11am, Melinda Hayes from 10am

Year 6 Farewell, Informal Parent Dinner – Wednesday December 14.

upstairs at Mosman RSL. Buy your tickets now!
A reminder to all Year 6 parents who haven’t bought their tickets yet for this event. Tickets can only be bought online at
http://www.stickytickets.com.au/7129
Please come and support the last big social event of your child’s primary school life. It’ll be a great night, kicking off at 6.45 when the kids are dropped off for their separate event and concluding at around 9.15pm.
Tickets are $29 a head and include finger food. Drinks are to be bought separately at bar prices. Note too that siblings are not invited.

The Year 6 Farewell Dinner Organising Committee

Year 6 Camp

Could parents please check your child’s sleeping bag brought home from camp. A black bag with the name Mattana written on it has accidently been picked up after camp and an identical sleeping bag left at school.

If you find you have the wrong sleeping bag, please return it and collect your sleeping bag from Mr Thomson (6T). Thank you.

Regards

Eleanore Mattana

Mosman Netball

Considering playing Netball for Winter 2012? Please make a note – our ONLINE registrations for 2012 Winter season will OPEN 16 January and CLOSE strictly 6 February 2012.
Mosman Netball plays competition matches @ Willoughby for Nettas turning 8 & 9yrs & Juniors 10yrs on Friday nights, Juniors 11yrs+ Saturday mornings and Seniors Saturday afternoons.

Training is weekly @ Cross St, Mosman. Junior grading for 10yrs+ (Scheduled from 13 March-see our grading section). Player, umpire & coaching development offered by our active club….more than just games. Fun, fitness and fair competition.
For more details & ONLINE registration please refer to www.mosmannetball.com.au

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Term 4 Week 7 Newsletter

November 24, 2011

From the Principal

Congratulations Mr Taylor

Congratulations to Mr Taylor and his wife Kirsty on the birth of their new baby girl. Amelie Sara was born last Sunday morning weighing 3.91 kg and measuring 50 cm. All well and big sisters Isabella and Olivia are thrilled! We look forward to meeting the youngest member of the Taylor family soon. Congratulations and best wishes!

Parent Helper Morning Tea

Class teachers sent home via pupil post red invitations to our Thank You Morning Tea to be held next Wednesday 30^th November in the Hall at 11:00am. This function is held each year to acknowledge the efforts of those parents who have assisted teachers with reading groups, excursions, sport, transport to events etc. If for some reason you did not receive your invitation, please come along and join the teachers for morning tea. We are very grateful to all the parents who assist the teachers in classrooms and in so many other ways.

End of Year Picnic

Pale blue flyers publicising the P & C End of Year Picnic were sent home earlier this week. This will be held on Friday 9^th December from 6pm – 8pm in the main playground. Come along and join the fun. See flyer here

Congratulations Artists

Framed prints of our Operation Art pieces were delivered earlier this week and are now hanging near the office outside Mrs Harrison’s room. They are wonderful!

Congratulations to:

Brittanie Hsu 5S and Penny MacGill KJ – Geometric Seascape

Chloe Minnett 1G – Fruit Bowl

Edwin Chung 5S – The Colourful Lady

Penny MacGill KJ – Penny’s Self Portrait

Class Formation 2012

I have been asked by parents to outline our class formation policy. [The Opportunity Classes are filled by the Selective Schools Unit and have 30 students in each class. Entry to these classes is by an external test which children in Year 4 sit in August each year.]

In line with Department of Education policy, all classes at Neutral Bay are mixed ability/parallel classes. The only exception to this is a composite extension class that is formed when numbers dictate. This year, this has been a 3/4 class and in other years we have formed a 4/5 class. We do not need to form a composite class if student numbers are able to be accommodated in parallel classes.

Teachers are allocated to schools based on average class numbers eg Years 3-6 the average number is 30 students and K-2 the ratio is 20-24 students. Unfortunately we don’t have these exact numbers of children enrolling in each grade so some grades may have larger class sizes than others.

Current class teachers meet towards the end of Term 4 each year with the Assistant Principals to form classes for the following year. They use test results and their knowledge of the children to form mixed ability classes with a good gender balance. Children are also given the opportunity to nominate a couple of friends they would like to be with. Teachers do try to accommodate these requests particularly if they are mutual.

One of the great advantages for children of being in a large school is that they are able to get to know so many people and make friends with a variety of different children. Learning to make new friends and mix comfortably with different children is a great skill for later life. Children who attend small schools with only one class per grade have little opportunity to meet and mix with a range of different children. Children need to learn to make and sustain friendships.

From time to time parents request that their children are placed with/not with certain other children. We really cannot accommodate all these requests unless there are very compelling circumstances. To do so could compromise our policy and upset the social and academic balance of the children in the classes.

Parents are not always best placed to select classmates or teachers for their children.

We really do try to ensure that every child is well placed to learn in a happy and supportive environment.

It is my intention that all classes will be formed and teachers allocated by the end of this year so that children can begin the new school year in their 2012 classes. This ensures a very smooth start to the year.

Multi Faith End of Year Service

The combined End of Year Service will be held in regular scripture times next Wednesday 30^th November at St Joseph’s Church, Neutral Bay. Parents are most welcome to attend and children who do not usually attend scripture classes are most welcome.

Ethics classes will be held as usual.

We would appreciate donations of non perishable food items, toiletries etc. which will be distributed to needy families. Children should bring these in to school on Wednesday Scripture Service times:

9:30 to 10:00 for K-3

10:15 to 10:45 for Years 4-6

End of Term 2011

A number of parents have contacted the office seeking clarification of dates for the end of Term 4 2011 and start of Term 1 2012.

Friday December 16^th – Last day of Term 4 2011

Monday January 30^th – 1^st day of Term 1 2012 for Years 1 to 6

Tuesday January 31^st – Year 5 OC commence

Thursday February 2^nd – Kindergarten commences

Friday 27^th and Saturday 28^th January are Teacher Planning Days.

OzTag Gala Day and Milo Cup

The OzTag Gala Day and Milo Cup were postponed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to wet weather. They will be rescheduled and parents will be notified. Thanks to Mrs Love for her coordination of OzTag and to Mr Thomson for his coordination of the Milo Cup. Good luck everyone!

Lost Property Reminder

Please claim lost property which is located in the entrance to B Block. All remaining unclaimed property will be disposed of at the end of term.

After School Language Lessons 2012

We are planning to offer Mandarin, German and French/Italian lessons after school next year depending on the level of interest. I will send out Expression of Interest/Enrolment forms in the first week of the new school year to all parents.

End of Year Assembly Dates

I would like to provide parents with advance notice of our end-of-year special assemblies. These are also on the Term Calendar on the website.

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 and 4 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 and 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kindergarten Graduation 9:30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are most welcome at all these end of year events.

Term 4 Dates

November

Monday 28^th – K-2 Santa Show

Wednesday 30^th Combined Scripture Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea

December

Thursday 1^st – Years 1 and 2 Pet Education session, and Band Concert

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year 6

Thursday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 7:00pm

Wednesday 14^th –Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Our String Ensemble musicians have been invited to play for the Christmas shoppers at Bunnings at Artarmon on Saturday 10^th December at 10:00am. Good luck Strings and many thanks to Sharmila Soorian who is coordinating the group. Enjoy the experience boys and girls.
· The Year 6 boys and girls who continue to provide such positive role modelling for our younger children right up to the last few weeks of Term 4. Well done boys and girls and thank you to Year 6 teachers for your support and guidance of our senior students.
· Congratulations to Amy McLean 4K who won the Manly Junior Art Festival People’s Choice art prize last Saturday. The work was selected by all parents and friends who visited the gallery and depicted her Mum and her Nanna outside a church. The work showed a “maturity beyond her years for her perspective and style”. Well done Amy!
· Congratulations to Farnaz Ganji in KJ who received a Gold Mathletics award. Well done, Farnaz!

NSW Junior Chess Tournament

Well done to all the children who represented the school at the junior chess tournament last week. The record twenty-one children who entered this year all played extremely well and demonstrated fine sportsmanship on the day.

Thomas Lockhart, Ryan Seeto, Kieran Connar, Jessica Findlay, Max Mikkelsen, Benjamin Crimp, Adrian Freiburg, Dylan Odenthal, Joshua Benn, Benjamin Dempsay, Oscar Brisset, Sam Worrall, Astrid Girdis, Richard Zhou, Loukas Triantis , Aidan Odenthal, Morris Chen, Naomi Stephens, Sam Rogers, Felix Lempriere and Emma Guo.

Neutral Bay Chess Championship 2011

It is that time of year again! On Monday 5th December, Sydney Academy of Chess will host the inter-school chess tournament. The tournament will be held in the school hall and is open to anyone at Neutral Bay who enjoys playing chess and knows the basic rules of competitive play. The cost to enter is $16.50. Notes are available from the school office and the web site.

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

North Sydney Regional Debating

Sam Rogers 6J was invited to join the North Sydney Regional Debate team after attending the selection day at the end of last term. He has trained with the team in preparation for the State Debating Camp which was held this week.

The North Sydney team debated superbly on such varied topics as “the legal drinking age should be raised to 21″ and “NAPLAN testing should be abolished”. They were placed 5th overall, narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals on a count back. This has been a wonderful experience for Sam. He learned so much about debating from his wonderful team coaches, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He was awarded a medal for all of his hard work! Well done, Sam!

Jessica Baker, Class Teacher 6J

Photo Section: Lego Dacta by 3H

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! Our wonderful team in the canteen is keeping the kids cool on hot days, and warming them up on those which feel more like winter! Next week’s Monday-Thursday special is Chicken Korma, always a huge hit.

As the year winds down, we find ourselves with a few more open spots than usual on the roster, so if you could help out, even for a few hours, it would be a great help. Please contact Kristina on 0407 297 691 or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com.

Canteen Roster

Monday – Jasmine Lo and HELP!

Tuesday – Louise Beaton and HELP!

Wednesday – Elise Lockwood, Jenny Dunn and Makiko Tokashiki

Thursday – Ping Xu and Amanda Petrides

Friday – Kate Michele, Liesel Wightwick and Marg Martin until 11am

Band News

End of Year Band Concert – Thursday 1^st December – 6.00pm in the School Hall.

Everyone Welcome!

Uniform Shop

Raincoats, Raincoats, Raincoats!

Due to wet weather, the uniform shop will open tomorrow, Friday 25^t,h from 8.30am to 9.30am as a special one-off – to sell raincoats.

Yes, the uniform shop now sells raincoats!

Navy Raincoat with fleece lining, sizes 4-6, 8-10 and 12-14, $40

Raincoat in a bag, in either navy or yellow, sizes 4,6,8,10,12,14, $25

Sock clearance

Non-branded white up and down anklet socks, $3 a pair or $8 for a pack of three, available in sizes 2-8 and 13-3, only while stocks last!

Remember all orders can now be emailed to us direct at nbpsuniformshop@gmail.com, the order form and current price list are available to download from the school website.

Thanks.

Helen and the Uniform Shop Team

Before and After School Care News

School Development days: Mon 19 December and Tue 20 December

· The centre will be open both days from 7.45am to 6.00pm
· Cost: $40 per day.
· Payment is by Cash on the Day Only
· Bookings: To be made with Libbie
· Tel 9953-9366 or Mob 0418-683-458 or Email: nbcag@bigpond.com

We would also like to inform all parents who send their children to the Centre on a CASUAL basis that it is necessary to:

Ring and make a booking and to leave a contact telephone number.

We are astounded as the number of children who just turn up at the Centre with no contact number from the parent whatsoever. This is not acceptable, and is an extremely risky practice.

Similarly, if your child has a regular booking at the centre and is not attending for any reason, please contact us so that we don’t spent precious time searching for your child.

This practice is also very important for the safety of your children.

Libbie Jamieson, Director

Year 6 Farewell, Informal Parent Dinner – Wednesday December 14.

Put the date in your diaries.
As many of you will have seen in last week’s newsletter, all Year 6 parents (no siblings please) are invited to celebrate the Class of 2011’s graduation at an informal dinner upstairs at Mosman RSL on December 14 – the same night the kids will be enjoying their own dinner downstairs.
Drinks and dinner will begin from 6.45pm after the kids are dropped off. Parents will be invited downstairs for speeches at around 8:15pm, and the whole night will conclude at about 9.15pm.
This promises to be a very special night for everyone, particularly those families who are saying goodbye to NBPS for the last time. Dinner will be finger food with drinks at bar prices. Total cost of the dinner is $29 a head.
Tickets can only be purchased online at
http://www.stickytickets.com.au/7129
We’d love to see as many parents as possible so please come along and support what is always a fantastic social event.
The Year 6 Farewell Dinner Organising Committee

HOPE

A fundraiser for Breast Cancer on Wednesday 30 November at The Star of the Sea Theatre, 52 Eurobin Avenue, Manly, 6.30 for a 7pm start [Stella Maris, Manly].

A fundraiser for the community with tickets $15 flat rate for all. Sydney performers of all ages and varying dance styles. Tickets can be purchased at www.trybooking.com/ZJS

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Term 4 Week 6 Newsletter

November 17, 2011

From the Principal

Children Leaving NBPS

Reminder: Please let class teachers or the office know if your child is not returning to NBPS next year. Many thanks. This information is most important to us in forming classes and engaging teachers for 2012.

Keeping Safe in Cyberspace

A pale blue coloured flyer has been sent home this week publicising the Susan McLean information session to be held at

Mosman High School – Wednesday 23^rd November – at 7:00pm

This is a MUST for all parents. I strongly encourage all our parents to attend. Speakers who are leaders in this field are difficult to find and expensive to engage. Take advantage of this opportunity. See link

State Public Speaking Finals

Our best wishes go with Sam Rogers 6J who is competing in the State Public Speaking finals tomorrow in the Eugene Goosens Hall at the ABC studio at Ultimo. Sam will present a prepared speech and then be given a topic for an impromptu speech. Sam is a talented public speaker with a very quick mind! We wish him the best of luck and are all very proud of him! The boys and girls in 6J and 6T will be in the audience to support Sam and will learn a great deal about public speaking from this opportunity.

Lost Property

There is a large amount of clothing, hats, lunchboxes etc in the Lost Property boxes in the entrance to B Block. With only four weeks to go until the holidays, it is most important that this is claimed. At the end of the year, the lunch boxes will be thrown away as they will attract vermin and the uniform items will be donated to the uniform shop, given to Stewart House or to children who can use the.

Please encourage your child to claim his/her belongings.

Many thanks for your assistance with this.

End of Year School Picnic – Friday 9^th December

Flyers will be sent home in the next few days with details of the school picnic to be held on 9^th December 6-8pm. This is always a great school community event. Bring Your Own Everything!

Big Week – Senior Boys and Girls

Best of luck to our senior boys and girls who are competing in the Year 6 Robotics Competition, Regional Oz Tag Gala Day and Milo Cup Finals next week. Enjoy these experiences!

Chess Championship Results

Yesterday two teams from NBPS competed in the NSW Junior Chess League Primary Schools Competition at Castle Cove.

The A Team [Ryan, Max and Kieran] came 2^nd and will go on to represent the lower North Shore in the finals at Lidcombe on Sunday 27^th November.

The B Team [Sam, Jessica and Adrian] were placed 3^rd. They won both individual and school trophies.

Fantastic results chess players!

Many thanks to Miss Magney for her organisation and to the parents who assisted with transport. Good Luck A Team!

End of Year Assembly Dates

I would like to provide parents with advance notice of our end-of-year special assemblies. These are also on the Term Calendar on the website.

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 and 4 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 and 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kindergarten Graduation 9:30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are most welcome at all these end of year events.

Term 4 Dates

November

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

Thursday 24^th – Years 5 and 6 Harry Potter Exhibition and Kinder Orientation Session 3

Monday 28^th – K-2 Santa Show

Wednesday 30^th Combined Scripture Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea

December

Thursday 1^st – Years 1 and 2 Pet Education session, and Band Concert

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year 6

Thursday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 7:00pm

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am and Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Thank you to Melinda Hayes and the Kinder parents who baked, made and bought the delicious treats for the new Kinder parents’ Morning Tea. It was a lovely way to welcome the new Kinder mums and dads.
· Thank you to Helen and her uniform shop team who have been doing big business in the uniform shop with all the new Kinder and OC children purchasing uniforms for next year. Many thanks ladies!
· Our Year 5 representatives from each class who assisted with the first Kindergarten Orientation session. The teachers were so impressed with these boys and girls who were mature, sensible and caring with the new little Kinder children. Well done boys and girls.
· All the Year 3C and 3/4M children, Mrs Willingham and Miss Magney who made a delicious tabouli salad with their own school grown vegetables and herbs. Great work everyone! These garden beds were purchased with North Sydney Council grants last year.
· Noa, Anja, Poppy, India and Billie 3DJ who have been looking after Lost Property – sorting, returning and labelling boxes. Well done girls. Thank you.
· 3H boys and girls who were so well behaved and cooperative when Miss Haigh was away on Wednesday. The teachers loved having the 3H children join them in their classes for part of the day. Well done!
· Ella Spencer (3/4M) bravely had her beautiful long hair cut this week and donated it to the Cancer Council to be made into a wig for a girl undergoing treatment. Her new haircut looks great!
· Congratulations to Naomi Stephens, David Tai, Callista Surjadi and Alexander Burfoot (3/4M) for becoming finalists in the Sydney Youth Writing Competition. As finalists they will be published in Moon, Mirror and Beyond: Winning Entries in the Sydney Youth Writing Competition 2011.

Maths Olympiad

Congratulations to Geena Sharma for also scoring within the top 10% of competitors during the Maths Olympiad competition.

Jessica Baker, Organising Teacher

Oz Tag Gala Day

Last week Neutral Bay Girls went to Naremburn Park to play in an Oz-Tag gala day. We started off our first game by winning 3-0 against Willoughby. We played 3 more games and won all of them without a try scored against us, in the rain. We heard the news that we made it through to the semi-finals and we were very excited since we were undefeated in our pool. The whistle blew and the game began. Our opposition was Northbridge.

Seconds to go Northbridge scored a try. We had lost and were out of the tournament but everyone played a great game!

Eloise, Emmie and Carolyn

Salad

On Monday we picked some vegetables from our garden. The vegetables were: basil, mint, tomato, parsley, and Spanish onion. On Tuesday after lunch, we went into the ASC area, it was as cold as an iceberg, it was so refreshing! It was time for people to do some jobs. The jobs were:

Cutting tomatoes

Chopping onions

Cutting basil, parsley and mint

Finely chopping bocconcini.

I got to cut the bocconcini, delicious!

Once I finished my job with Cordelia, we drew our plant [tomatoes].

3/4M had to leave so they got to have some yummy tabouli. Then we got some. I had 5 serves. Then it was time to go.

Ella 3C

The Garden

Wow! I cannot believe how it turned out. Green leaves. Plump cherry tomatoes, beautiful capsicums and one big jalapeno chilli burning away in the morning – light green and perfect.

After lunch we started to pick all of the fruit and veg. We picked basil, mint, lots of tomatoes, and some parsley but Mrs Willingham had to buy some Spanish onion and bocconcini, some

cracked wheat and some lemons. The day after that, at the break of dawn Mrs Willingham went down into the staff room and washed all the vegetables and fruit and got them ready for making the salads. We made tabouli and Caprese salad.

Luke 3C

Plants

On Monday after our spelling test we went down to the garden. We picked the ripest yummiest plants. We picked mint, tomato, parsley, and basil.

On Tuesday we made the salad. We made a Caprese. In the Caprese there was tomato, bocconcini, onions and mint.

We also made a tabouli. And we all got to taste the Heavenly Salads.

Cordelia 3C

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! Business in the canteen just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Last year we had a few days that topped $1000. Last Friday the team took over $1,800!! Many thanks to the staff and volunteers who did an amazing job. Unless you have been in the canteen on a Friday in the last term or so, you can’t really imagine just how physically demanding it is.

As a result of the continuous growth we have seen in the canteen this year, the P&C agreed to support the canteen in requiring all Friday lunch orders to be placed online from Term 1 2012 through 9 May 2012. Recess and lunch extras will remain available for cash purchase. Details will be sent via email (through your class coordinators) in coming days, and you are always welcome to contact Kristina on 0407 297 691, or at nbps canteen@gmail.com.

Next week’s special is Chicken Caesar Salad – perfect for these hot days!

Canteen Roster

Monday 14Fi Hearne and Michelle Gardiner

Tuesday 15Gil Scheiber and Melinda Kelly

Wednesday 16Anna Widolf and Kate Leveaux from 9.45

Thursday 17 Kindergarten Orientation, Kanako Malthouse and Gloria Xu

Friday 18 Jane Wilder, Helen Triantis and Jane Tham until 11

Band News

Junior Band 2012

Congratulations to the Year 2 children who are starting in Junior Band next year. It’s going to be a fantastic year!

End of Year Concert – Rehearsal Last Sunday

It was wonderful to see so many former concert band students from NBPS come back to the school on Sunday to rehearse with the current concert band in preparation for the end of year concert on Thursday December 1. Returning students from a variety of high schools in Years 7, 8 and 9 joined us. Great fun! See you all again on the 1^st.

End of Year Concert – Band Parent Volunteers Needed

The end of year concert is shaping up to be a big event. As such, we need band parent volunteers to assist all the coordinators – especially with the catering in the lead-up to the concert as well as on the night. Parents, if you are able to help to arrange the catering (BBQ etc) prior to the event and/or on the evening, please email your individual band coordinator and let them know you are willing and able – a variety of jobs available! Many thanks.

Simone Bird and Sharon Mitchell, Overall Band Coordinators

End of Year Family Picnic

This year the end of year social event will be a family picnic. The P&C have organised a Live Band and just like the Twilight Picnic earlier in the year we invite all families and staff along to a BYO picnic on Friday 9^th December – 6pm to 8pm. It’s a great chance to catch up with families and friends before the school holidays begin. See link here

Fiona Hearne, Events Coordinator

Year 6 Farewell, Informal Parent Dinner – Wednesday December 14

Mark the date in your diaries now.

The countdown to the end of primary school life has begun for our Year 6 children. All Year 6 parents (no siblings please) are invited to celebrate this big milestone at an informal dinner upstairs at Mosman RSL on December 14 – at the same time as the kids enjoy their own celebration downstairs.

This promises to be a very special night for everyone, particularly for those families saying goodbye to NBPS for the last time. The dinner – at an approximate cost of $28 a head – will be finger food with drinks at bar prices.

Details are still being finalised so watch this space and look out for an email from class co-ordinators with information on how to buy tickets.

The Year 6 Farewell Dinner Organising Committee

Spit Swimming Club @ Balmoral Baths

New members are welcome to join us for Saturday morning races at Balmoral Beach baths during summer.

Spit Swimming Club is a family-friendly club open to all ages and levels of swimming. The atmosphere is relaxed, with the emphasis on having fun and joining in. Grab a coffee and sit on the wharf and cheer the kids on or enter a race yourself.

Visit our website for more information and how to join:

http://www.spitswimming.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spit-Swimming-Club/202576963097714

Before and After School Care News

School Development days: Mon 19 December and Tue 20 December

· The centre will be open both days from 7.45am to 6.00pm
· Cost: $40 per day.
· Payment is by Cash on the Day Only
· Bookings: To be made with Libbie
· Tel 9953-9366 or Mob 0418-683-458 or Email: nbcag@bigpond.com

We would also like to inform all parents who send their children to the Centre on a CASUAL basis that it is necessary to:

Ring and make a booking and to leave a contact telephone number.

We are astounded as the number of children who just turn up at the Centre with no contact number from the parent whatsoever. This is not acceptable, and is an extremely risky practice.

Similarly, if your child has a regular booking at the centre and is not attending for any reason, please contact us so that we don’t spent precious time searching for your child.

This practice is also very important for the safety of your children.

Libbie Jamieson, Director

Christmas Holiday Sports Camps

Alex from After-School Care will be conducting three multi-sport camps in the upcoming holidays. They will be held at the Marie Bashir Sports Complex in Mosman from 8am – 5pm on various dates. Online booking is available. For more information go to

www.musclesprouts.com.au or contact Alex on 0422 617 726.

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Term 4 Week 5 Newsletter

November 10, 2011

From the Principal

Parent Forum – Wednesday 23^rd November 2011

I would like to encourage all parents to attend the parent forum on Cybersafety to be held on Wednesday 23^rd at 7:00pm at Mosman High School. We have joined with the other Harbourside Schools to engage Susan McLean – an expert in Cybersafety. She is regarded as a leader in this field.

Cyberbullying is a real and growing issue for parents and teachers. At Neutral Bay we have had a number of Cyberbullying issues that have had serious negative impacts on all the children and parents involved. This presentation is relevant to all parents – those with young children who are just beginning to use technology as well as those with older children who independently use the internet and social media.

Not to be missed!

A blue flyer will be sent home in the next few days with full details.

Band – Ex-Student Reunion

A number of our former band members will be joining Concert Band this Sunday for a special band get together and rehearsal for the end of year concert to be held on Thursday 1^st December. This is a fantastic initiative of our wonderful Band Coordinator Sharon Mitchell.

I hear wonderful reports of our ex band members’ musical accomplishments and achievements in high school and look forward to hearing them play at the concert. This is also a great opportunity for our Concert Band members to play with these older, more experienced musicians.

P & C AGM

Many thanks to all the parents who attended last night’s P & C AGM and volunteered for positions in 2012. Without your wonderful support for our school, we would not be able to offer the excellent programs we do for all our children.

Congratulations to the “2012 Team”.

· President – Michael O’Sullivan
· Vice President – Peter Girdis
· Secretary – Sevaly Sen
· Treasurer – Jennifer Neil-Smith
· Band – Sharon Mitchell
· Canteen – Kristina Lawton
· Uniform Shop – Helen Heneghan
· Functions/Fundraising – Gail Minns

Art by Kids

Thank you to all the parents who have ordered cards through the P&C Art by Kids fundraising initiative. Thanks also to Nita Parkes [Maya 5K and Josh 2B] who is coordinating the program. The cards will be printed and sent home around 25^th November.

We are able to select some of the children’s cards which will be donated to the school for us to use. I will ensure that I send the Minister and all the other VIPs Christmas cards from NBPS this year!

The last chance to hand in your child’s submission is tomorrow, Friday. Please leave artwork, order form and money at the school office.

End of Year Assembly Dates

I would like to provide parents with advance notice of our end-of-year special assemblies. These are also on the Term Calendar on the website.

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 and 4 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 and 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kindergarten Graduation 9:30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are most welcome at all these end of year events.

Term 4 Dates

November

Thursday 17^th – Kinder Orientation Session 2

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

Thursday 24^th – Years 5 and 6 Harry Potter Exhibition and Kinder Orientation Session 3

Monday 28^th – K-2 Santa Show

Wednesday 30^th Combined Scripture Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea

December

Thursday 1^st – Years 1 and 2 Pet Education session, and Band Concert

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year 6

Thursday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 7:00pm

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am and Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Mr Michael, our wonderful General Assistant, who spent many hours here at school last Saturday painting the red steps, doors and poles in the COLA. He wouldn’t paint in “work hours” as he didn’t want to inconvenience the children! We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated and considerate G.A. at our school. Thank you so much Mr Michael.
· Thanks to Ms Simone Bird [Band Coordinator] and Ms Claudia Solomon [OC parent] who both spoke so well at last week’s OC 2012 Information Session. We are most grateful to them – the new parents were most appreciative. Many thanks, ladies.
· Katelyn Smith 6M and her mum, Mona, who stayed back after last week’s Year 6 Interrelate session assisting the teachers to pack up the chairs and tidy the Hall. Many thanks Katelyn and Mona – you are stars!
· The girls and boys in 3C and 1K who have entered the Dulux Jelly Bean Competition at Bunnings. They were given a tub of jelly beans to use in an art/craft lesson. Mrs Willingham and Mrs Keeling worked with the children to create a Jelly Bean Christmas Tree! Great work everyone and good luck!
· Our wonderful canteen ladies – Nina and Angelica and the volunteers who worked on Monday are all stars! Our visitors [36 children and two teachers] from Grays Point Public School who demonstrated Dancesport came without lunch on Monday! We didn’t realise this until 1:00pm. Our canteen did a loaves and fishes miracle and created a delicious lunch for everyone! Many thanks ladies.
· Asher Simkins 6L was awarded the most prestigious dance award of the year – “Performer of the Year” – at the Dance 102 Annual Concert on Sunday night. Congratulations Asher. You are a star!

DanceSports

Last Monday, some Year 4 and 5 kids were treated to a ballroom dancing display by a group of children from Grays Point Public School. The dance instructor, Gordon Gilks, who has performed on Dancing With the Stars, took our children through an impromptu salsa dance routine while we waited for our guests to arrive. The GPPS dancers were fabulous, and lots of our children volunteered to join in and dance ‘The Jive’ as part of the grand finale. We may even join the program next year.

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

Photo Section

Oztag Gala Day

Year 6 Great Aussie Bush Camp

School Chess Championship 2011

On Monday 5th December, Sydney Academy of Chess will host a school chess tournament exclusively for Neutral Bay School students. The tournament will be held from 9.30 - 3.00 in the school hall. All abilities are welcome to participate though an understanding of competitive play is required. The three highest scores will receive a trophy and medals will be awarded in each age group. The cost to participate is $16.50 and entrance forms are available outside the office.

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

Mathematical Olympiad

Congratulations to all who competed in the 2011 Mathematical Olympiads! The following students demonstrated exceptional mathematical problem solving skills and were ranked in the top 10% of Australasia for a score of 21 or over out of a possible 25:

Tomoki Kondo, Karin Nishimuta-Jang, Charlie Ward, Maya Yaffe, Frank Chan, Kieren Connor, Jessica Findlay, Oliver Jin, Lori Zhou, James Wang, Brandon Wong, Sharon Xu, Rearden Gao, Paul Shim, Sam Rogers, Kevin Surjadi, Joshua Holmes.

Jessica Baker, Maths Olympiad Organiser

Jelly Bean Christmas Tree 3C and 1K

Last Friday 3C and 1K got together and we made a delicious, beautiful not to mention colourful, jelly bean mosaic Christmas tree.

Ella

I could smell the delicious jelly beans by the time I stepped out the door. They smelt so yummy that I nearly happily gobbled one up. The jelly beans smelt as sweet as a flower.

Emily

The PVA glue was so sticky just like yellow honey and it looked like white paint. The colours of the jelly beans liked like a rainbow in the sun.

Samantha

The mosaic was as colourful as a rainbow. It was shaped like 2D Christmas tree on a green A3 piece of paper.

Rory

I wish I could eat the jelly beans if they didn’t drop on the floor.

Natasha

It looked like the most wonderful thing I ever say. Sometimes my mouth waters so much it’s like I am walking past a huge block of chocolate. It’s so good it looks like it is worth one million dollars.

I like it so much it has delicious smells floating in the air like scratch and sniff stickers. Sometimes I’m full of excitement about the Christmas tree it’s like a bomb of excitement.

Alex

It felt bumpy like all jelly beans. It felt smooth on the top. It felt like I was in heaven but when you lift it, it is quite heavy.

Evie

I thought when we finished the whole thing it would like a disaster. But at the end it looked so beautiful. If I didn’t know it had been on the floor, I would have eaten it all up.

Stephany

The end result was fantastic with colours everywhere and the most delicious smells drifting through the air. This jelly bean mosaic Christmas tree was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen that was for sure.

Beanie

Witches Concoction

To make a very soothing potion,

Or concoction, or some lotion

We need to mix and stir and brew,

The most disgusting, well made stew.

Tail of lizard,

Wand of wizard,

Then stick it in the largest blizzard.

After day 1, day 2, or more,

You’ll have much less half the score.

In maybe 3 or 4 days after,

Send it over with a rafter,

Dung or horse,

Teach it Morse,

Stick it in heat, before it goes hoarse.

3 doses of immortal’s spit,

Come on and rest, it’s time to sit.

Once you’re done,

Have some fun,

It’s time to get straight to the pun.

Drink it, sink it

Drown it, link it,

It doesn’t matter which,

The poem you just read,

Was made up by a witch.

Ofri 5K

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! These last few days have made moosies, juicies and smoothies very popular items indeed. As the end of the year gets busy for many of us at work and with friends and family, so business picks up in the canteen. If you can help out on any of the recently vacated days, we (and everybody who orders) would really appreciate it!

Contact Kristina on 0407 297 691 or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com.

Next week’s Monday-Thursday special is Freaky Fried Rice.

Canteen Roster

Monday 14Paula Wyton, HELP NEEDED

Tuesday 15Jenny Jones, Jane Bush

Wednesday 16Ana Mulcahy, Marion Gies

Thursday 17 HELP NEEDED, Ping Xu, Kindergarten Orientation

Friday 18 Claudia Kennedy, Hilit Einav, Liz Skinner until 11am

ZooSnooze

All three of our bands have enjoyed their ZooSnooze overnight excursion during the past week. A huge thank you to all the band parents (and coordinators) who either stayed overnight with the children at the zoo, or who helped transport them back to school afterwards – the excursion would not have been possible without the assistance of these band parents so many thanks again!

Concert Band – Reminder

A reminder that concert band students have an End of Year Concert REHEARSAL with former concert band students (over 25 former students want to come and join us!) this Sunday in the school hall at 3pm-5.30pm with Mr Hampton. Pizza, drinks etc afterwards! See you there! Any last minute queries please email Sharon at

bishop.mitchell@bigpond.com

Sharon Mitchell & Simone Bird, Overall Band Coordinators

Lifeline Book Fair

The next Lifeline Northern Beaches Book Fair will take place on the weekend of 25-27 November

at Balgowlah Boys High — the full details are below.

Venue: Balgowlah Boys High School, Sydney Road & Maretimo Street, Balgowlah

Dates/Times:

Fri 25 Nov 4pm — 9pm
Sat 26 Nov 9am — 5pm
Sun 27 Nov 9am — 2pm
Entry by gold coin donation very much appreciated. Visa, Mastercard and EFTPOS accepted.

Over 20,000 quality bargains on offer at bargain prices including a beautiful selection of children’s Christmas books.

Lynne Peterson,Volunteer Book Fair Publicist – Lifeline Northern Beaches - 0421 084 622

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Term 4 Week 4 Newsletter

November 3, 2011

From the Principal

Children Leaving NBPS

If your child is not returning to Neutral Bay in 2012 please let class teachers or the office know as soon as possible. I am aware that some families are moving interstate or overseas, and that some children may be taking up places in private schools. It is most important that I have accurate numbers for 2012 in order to form classes and engage teachers.

As you can imagine, this is a big job in such a large school and a couple more or fewer children can result in forming/not forming an additional class in a grade. Your cooperation with this is much appreciated.

P & C Annual General Meeting

Next Wednesday 9^th November is the date for the P & C AGM at 8:00pm in the Hall. Parents are invited to come to this meeting to review the 2011 year and plan for 2012. The P & C has had a most successful year supporting the school in so many ways. My thanks to the P & C Executive and the sub-committees – Uniform Shop, Canteen, Band, Functions and Fundraising and Class Coordinators. Your work is much appreciated and your contribution to our school is high valued.

Kindergarten Orientation Sessions

Next Thursday 10^th November we welcome our new Kindergarten 2012 children for their first “taste” of school. This is a very exciting time for our new children and their families. We host three orientation visits – Thursday 10^th, 17^th and 24^th November – to prepare the children for the transition to school. We are looking forward to meeting our new Kindergarten children and their parents. My thanks to Melinda Hayes who is organising the morning tea for the parents. This is always a very special welcome and introduction to our school – and it is greatly appreciated by the new parents.

End of Year Assembly Dates

I would like to provide parents with advance notice of our end-of-year special assemblies. These are also on the Term Calendar on the website.

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 and 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 and 4 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 and 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kindergarten Graduation 9:30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are most welcome at all these end of year events.

Coles and Woolworths Dockets

Many thanks to all the parents and children who brought in Coles and Woolworths shopping dockets. Many thanks also to the parent coordinators. Mr Kessler has ordered sports and games equipment with the Coles promotion and Mrs Javorsky has order “hands on” maths equipment using the Woolworths redemption program. We look forward to receiving this new equipment.

Term 4 Dates

November

Wednesday 9^th – P&C Annual General Meeting and Milo Cup

Thursday 10^th – Kinder Orientation Session 1

Thursday 17^th – Kinder Orientation Session 2

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

Thursday 24^th – Years 5 and 6 Harry Potter Exhibition and Kinder Orientation Session 3

Monday 28^th – K-2 Santa Show

Wednesday 30^th Combined Scripture Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea

December

Thursday 1^st – Years 1 and 2 Pet Education session, and Band Concert

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year 6

Thursday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 7:00pm

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am and Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

Mr Kevin Mayne, our Science Teacher, who has been nominated for a Rotary award for vocational excellence. He was nominated by a local community member for his work with the outstanding props and costumes for Beauty and the Beast. Mr Mayne will be presented with his award at a special function at Nutcote in the next few weeks. Congratulations Mr Mayne!
Ms Vic Barbeler [Sebastian KC and Charles 5S] who presented a wonderful papier-mâché workshop for the Kindergarten teachers. Parents teaching teachers! Many thanks Vic!
Mrs Naty Millar [Maya 5J] who again this year coordinated the Entertainment Book sales. This fundraiser earned $793.00 for the P & C. Thank you Naty and all the parents who supported this initiative!
Mr Michael who climbed up a tall ladder this week to retrieve a football in a gutter. Three boys were very happy to have it again. Thank you Mr Michael.

Homework Surveys

Thanks to everyone who completed the online surveys. We now have plenty of data to analyse. We will publish results in next week’s newsletter.

DanceSports

Next Monday, a group of children from Grays Point Public School in Sydney’s south, will be coming to perform their DanceSports routines for the Year 4 children. The GPPS kids have been part of a ‘Dancing With the Stars’ type competition in Sydney Region this year, and we are looking forward to seeing how they salsa, cha-cha and rumba. Who knows… maybe we have some budding young ballroom dancers in our midst?!?

Remembrance Day Assembly

We will be hosting a Remembrance Day Assembly next Friday at 10:30am for the Years 4-6 children. Parents are most welcome to attend.

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

Mathletics

Congratulations to Lucinda Peace 3H and Naomi Peace KC who also received a GOLD certificate last term. Well done and keep up the great work!

Leanne Gassmann, Debbie Horsley and Nadine Walsh, Mathletics Coordinators

Message from the Office

A Commonwealth Bank cheque has been found on the floor in the corridor outside the school office. The drawer is S. G. O’Neill. We are unable to link the name to a current student. Please contact the office on 9953-1798 or send an email to the school address so the cheque can be receipted and banked. Thank you.

E. Bell, School Administrative Manager

Timmy the Dog

In the olden days there was a cute baby dog called Timmy who was very naughty. He lived with his very own owners Mum, Dad, Popy and Jim who adored him even though he was naughty. Sometimes he was so so soooo naughty that they got sick of him. So they tried to train him but he wouldn’t listen. One afternoon Popy and Jim took Timmy to the park and Jim needed to go to the toilet so Popy waited and suddenly there was a bark. It was Timmy chasing another dog. He bit the other dog’s leash! So Popy chased and chased until she caught him. They went home exhausted. Popy told Mum, Dad and Jim what had happened. So they all took Timmy to Puppy School. And when they picked him up, Timmy was very well TRAINED! So he never did that stuff again and he had a great life.

Isla O’Sullivan 1K

The Locked Door

There I sat looking at an ancient door that had not been open for hundreds of years. There was a story about one girl that had opened the door at the age of seven. That night was Halloween the spookiest night of all.

All through the night I wondered should or shouldn’t I go through the door. If I decide yes I should but will I end up as the girl who went through the doors? So that morning I snuck out of the house. I arrived at the door. I tried to open it but it did not open. I decided to try again but it did not open. What should I do? I decided to search for the key. After 12 days of searching I found the key at last. I screamed: “I found it, I found it”.

I start to open the door. It creaked. I went inside. I saw an old witch hat could it be so a witch lived in here and killed the girl. As I reached for the hat I heard a voice come from behind me. I looked behind me. There was a ghost. I screamed. The witch had got out. The whole city was in danger. What should I do I thought. I came up with the plan. I would turn the ghost nice.

So I tried and tried. I finally made the city not in danger. The witch’s home was changed into a church.

Mackenzie Argent 3DJ

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! In addition to our usual offerings, the children have really been enjoying the strawberry smoothies which have been available most days. I can understand why, having sampled them – they are delicious and refreshing.

Next week’s Monday-Thursday special is Sticky Chicken, and the roster is below. Please let Kristina (nbpscanteen@gmail.com) know if you can help out on Wednesday (or any day, for that matter!)

Canteen Roster

Monday 7^thMichele Celler, Gwen Murdoch

Tuesday 8^thLeanne Taratoris, Susan Hay, Senior Band Zoo Snooze

Wednesday 9^thCarole Edwards, HELP NEEDED, Concert Band Zoo Snooze

Thursday 10^thGloria, Kanako Malthouse, Kinder Orientation

Friday 11^thPhilippa SJ, Kate Michele, Marion Braslin till 11am

Uniform Shop

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful volunteers who worked so hard on the Kindy Orientation evening to organise and sell uniforms and also to welcome all of the parents to Neutral Bay. So well done Irene Bottomley, Erica Kidston, Claudia Solomons, Eilidh Kennedy, Maria Gimenez, Marion Braslin, Julie Nearhos and Fiona and India Hearne – thank you for giving up your time and doing such a fantastic job!

Remember you can now contact us and email your orders to nbpsuniformshop@gmail.com.

Order forms and price lists can be downloaded from the school website.

We’re now selling waterproof jackets and Red Robin socks – check out the price list or come along to the shop on a Tuesday morning to have a look – we’re open as always from 8.30am.

We’re on the lookout for good quality pre-loved items! Particularly in demand are summer uniform items – white short sleeved polos, summer dresses and sport shorts, in reusable condition only please. So if you have anything hiding in the back of your cupboards and are having a spring clear out, now is a great time to pass them along! Thanks.

Helen and the Uniform Shop Team

Northern Beaches Secondary College -

Open Days 2012

Balgowlah Boys Campus

Tuesday 28^th February 9.30 – 11.30 am

Info Night: Wednesday 29^th February 6.30 – 7.30 pm

Enquiries: 9949 4200

Mackellar Girls Campus

Tuesday 28^th February 9.30 – 11.30 am

Info Night: Thursday 1^st March 6.30 – 7.30 pm

Enquiries: 9949 2083

Manly Selective Campus

Thursday 1^st March 9.30 – 11.00 am

Enquiries: 9905 3982

Cromer Campus

Friday 2^nd March 9.30 – 11.30 am

Info Night: Monday 5^th March 6.30 – 7.30 pm

Enquiries: 9981 1155

Freshwater Senior Campus

Tuesday 6^th March 4.00 – 7.00 pm

Tuesday 22^nd May 3.00 – 5.00pm

Enquiries: 9905 2634

Academic Placement Test

For 2013 Year 7 academic extension classes at
Balgowlah Boys Campus, Cromer Campus and Mackellar Girls Campus

To be held at all three campuses on

Tuesday, 20^th March 2012

Closing date: Tuesday, 6^th March 2012

Enquiries: Debbie Quirk, 9939 7348

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Term 4 Week 3 Newsletter

October 27, 2011

From the Principal

Parent Survey – Homework

If you have not already done so, I would like to request that all parents complete the online Homework Survey. This closes next Monday 31^st October. Many thanks for your cooperation with this. Survey link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F2VTTNY

Zoo Snooze

Our band members are sleeping over at the Zoo! Junior Band last night, Senior Band on 8^th November and Concert Band on 9^th November.

Our boys and girls will have a great time with animal encounters, a night safari and Behind the Scenes guided tours with the zoo keepers at Taronga Zoo. This is a wonderful experience for our children – to be able to go to sleep with the sounds of the animals and wake up to their morning calls.

My thanks to Sharon Mitchell, Simone Bird and all the band parent coordinators for providing the children with this very special experience. I hope you do get some sleep!

Kindergarten 2012 Information Evening

Many thanks to the parents who presented information at last week’s session: Michael O’Sullivan [P & C], Helen Henaghan [Uniform Shop], Kristina Lawton [Canteen] and Libbie Jamieson [After School Care]. Special thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who sold uniforms.

Selective Schools Application 2012

Year 5 parents are able to apply for Selective School entry for 2013 up until 21^st November. The application portal is

www.schools.nsw.edu.au/shsplacement

I will conduct a short parent information session to assist parents with questions about the application procedures, school assessments, test, choosing schools, appeals process etc. This will be held next Tuesday 1^st November at 8.30am. Interested parents are most welcome to attend.

Opportunity Class Offers 2012

Congratulations to the boys and girls who have been offered places in our Year 5 Opportunity Classes for 2012. This year 13 children have received offers with several more on the Reserve List.

P & C Meeting – AGM – Wednesday 9^th November

Parents are most welcome to attend the P & C AGM on Wednesday 9^th November at 8:00pm in the Hall. Come along and be involved in your school.

OzTag Gala Day

Good Luck to our OzTag teams for next week’s Gala Day. Many thanks to Mrs Love and Mr Kessler for their organisation and preparation of the teams. Have fun everyone!

Congratulations Mrs Black

Mrs Kelli Black [4K class teacher] had a beautiful baby boy earlier this week. He weighted 4kg, is 57cm long and both Mum and Dad are thrilled. Name to be announced! Congratulations to the Black family. We look forward to seeing Mrs Black and meeting her new baby soon.

Term 4 Dates

November

Wednesday 2^nd – Year 6 Interrelate 7:00pm and Mosman High School Visit Year 5

Thursday 3^rd – OzTag Gala Day

Wednesday 9^th – P&C Annual General Meeting and Milo Cup

Thursday 10^th – Kinder Orientation Session 1

Thursday 17^th – Kinder Orientation Session 2

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

Thursday 24^th – Years 5 and 6 Harry Potter Exhibition and Kinder Orientation Session 3

Monday 28^th – K-2 Santa Show

Wednesday 30^th Combined Scripture Service and Parent Helpers Morning Tea

December

Thursday 1^st – Years 1 and 2 Pet Education session, and Band Concert

Friday 2^nd – Mini Fete – Year 6

Thursday 6^th – Years 5 and 6 Cybersafety, and Parent Session 7:00pm

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am and Year 6 Farewell

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

·All our boys and girls who behaved so well and cooperated so beautifully with the photographers on Monday. It was very hot on the “grass” and you were so all sensible helping to make the organisation run so smoothly. The photographers complimented our children – one of the best schools they have photographed!
Our school captains who assisted with the organisation of Monday’s photographs. They acted as “runners”, helped with equipment and assisted Mr Taylor. Many thanks Maya, Daniel, Charlotte and Matthew.
Our Junior Girls Relay team of Emmanuelle Mattana, Bailey Markman, Lucy Woodcock and Caitlin Du Plooy who finished 10^th at the NSW PSSA Athletics Carnival last week.
Koh Yamada, 5S, who came first in three categories at the Foottapper Spring Dance Festival last weekend.

Chess

Thank you to everyone who brought in their expression of interest form to play in the upcoming tournament at Castle Cove Public School. There are no positions left so the office will no longer be accepting requests to play. More information will be coming to those students who did enter a form before today.

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

K-2 Sports Day

Yesterday at the School Carnival I did a good race. I came fourth. I got a special ribbon and it was yellow and one was white. It was an exciting day! I thought the parent race was the funniest race of all! When it was the teachers race I thought Miss Kennedy was going to win!

Amelia Soh KK

Yesterday was the Sports Carnival. I was crying because I was scared. Next I had morning tea. My favourite was the teacher race. Miss Kennedy was the funniest at racing. The fastest was Miss Carew. It was a good Sport Carnival day.

Kein Chang KK

The night before Christmas

On the night before Christmas as at 9:30 a little boy snuck up on to the carpet to play video games. At 11:10 be began to feel drowsey and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

He awoke to the sound of crunching. He followed the sound to see a very big man. No???

It was SANTA. Santa then waved his hand and disappeared. It was magic, no, Christmas magic. He couldn’t wait to tell his parents. And that boy was in fact me.

Xavier Kim 3H

The night before Christmas

The night before Christmas is very exciting for me because I usually get an early present at my house. In the afternoon we decorate the Christmas tree with bright shiny baubles.

At about 8.30 I go to bed. When I try to go to sleep in my soft bed it’s nearly impossible. I’m too excited. After an hour I finally get to sleep. When I wake up, the world feels different.

You can smell the pine tree in the lounge room. But when I look at my watch, it’s 3:00am so I get up anyway. Then I find my brother already playing games. So then my dad gets up a few hours later, then we open our presents and say we woke up at six!

Later on our dad cooks us a yummy roast chicken and salad. It’s the best Christmas ever!

Marcel Qayoom-Taylor 3H

Dragons!

Do you have allergies and want to get a pet? Why don’t you get an awesome dragon pet! I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that dragons are very scary and hard to handle. But when you think about it they are really nice and sweet. You can get Blue, Green, yellow and etc. They also come in Rainbow. There is also fire, water, air, rock, and electricity and grass types of dragons.

Dragons are a big help in the house they can easily sweep the floor by their tail and I am certain you won’t need a hose anymore, if your dragon is a water type they can just blow water out of their mouth to clean the car for example. They are so big in the house but they can shrink. Just a drop of gum leaf juice then poof! The dragon is small!

Are you getting bullied at school? Why don’t you get a dragon, so you can be safe anytime, anywhere. I’m absolutely sure you will be safe walking to school by yourself now that you’ve got a dragon. And also have you seen the news on the television how there was just a robbery yesterday? You don’t want your prized possessions taken do you? So get a dragon now there is no doubt that owning a dragon will keep the thieves at bay. If your home is robbed or you are getting bullied this creature is the best pet ever.

Do you want to travel to France or anywhere? The Dragon is your pet! It can travel 1000 km per hour and that’s fast! Just hold onto its wings and off you go to the country you have been waiting to see! A cars maximum speed is 110 km per hour the dragon can travel a couple more times faster than that. You can get to your destination easily.

A dragon’s egg has a lot of vitamins in it. Such as dragons claws have healing powers, like if you trip over and graze yourself just get a claw from a dragon and voila! You are better! And if all your hair is falling out just get a tip of the dragon scales where the tail is and you will have the hair of your life. There is also other ways but that will be enough!

Do you want to go camping sometime? You can get a portable BBQ just get a dragon and make your dragon lie on its back let it breathe fire and have a roast chicken have cooked sausages and etc. You can even use your dragon as shelter. Open its wings and go under its wings and you have shelter where ever you go!

For your information go to www.dragonsareawesome.com

By Jess Riley 4PW

Dragon Pets!

Are you looking for the perfect pet? Then a dragon is perfect pet strong and fierce, gentle and kind then a dragon is perfect for you it will keep your family safe at all times.

Do you want to beat the traffic? Well it’s without a doubt a good idea to get a dragon because it does beat the traffic! And it goes twice as fast as a cars usual speed. It’s much better for the environment. I am certain you would want to get to work on time and not have to wait for the traffic lights to change.

Well trained dragons will guard your house so if your neighbourhood you have a lot of robberies then the dragon will warn you.

When the dragon lays an egg you can feed it to your family because it is full of lots of vitamins and other delicious things.

As you can see a dragon is the perfect pet and will follow all your command and will love you more than anything.

By Maya Burton-Stoeve 4PW

Buy A Dragon!!

I think that you should purchase a dragon because of these reasons…..I Hope that I convince you. I am absolutely sure that getting a dragon will keep you and your family safe. I have heard that your area has had a few robberies these passing few weeks so I certainly recommend that you should get a dragon for your safety.

Are you a hard working mum who finds it hard to feed your kids every morning well your dragon’s eggs are easy to cook and I am certain that your dragon’s eggs will keep you and your family very healthy. Dr William Johns says that “dragon eggs will give you vitamin A, B, C and D also lots of nutrients plus an energy boost”.

Your dragon will save you money I’m talking bills here, thousands of dollars, For example if there is a black out or you have difficulties with your electrical lights and you have to pay lots of money for repair, Welllllllllll when you have a dragon there is no doubt it will help with the lighting until you save up for repairs. So it is absolutely necessary that you get a dragon.

Usually my car goes to 220km per hour /per hr but my dragon and yours will go up to 550km/per hr wow!! That’s a good deal so you could get places 10x faster.

So come to your local dragon store and get your dragon…..a perfect dragon for you and your family, YOU WONT REGRET IT!!!

By Zizo Ayoub 4PW

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

P & C Annual General Meeting

The P&C will hold its Annual General Meeting on at 8pm on Wednesday 9th November 2011 in the school hall. All positions are declared vacant and elected or re-elected. The positions together with a brief description of activities can be found on the school website

http://www.neutralbay-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/p_c/index.html.

Please return nomination forms to the School Office, or hand to Owen Taylor (Deputy-Principal), who has agreed to act as “Returns Officer” for these elections. Nominations will be accepted at the office until Tuesday 8th November 3pm, and at the AGM.”

Sevaly Sen, Hon Secretary

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! It has been another busy week in the canteen, with many of the children enjoying the delicious Greek Salad which has been on offer as the special. Next week we return to a tried and true favourite, Pasta Bolognese for the Monday-Thursday special.

Before the term gets too busy, I would like to thank some of our wonderful suppliers, who help make the every busier canteen run smoothly: Baker’s Delight at Big Bear supplies our copious bread needs. Dom the Grocer (also in Big Bear) delivers the impressive quantities of fresh fruit and veg we use every week. And Sushi 2 Go (Cremorne Town Centre) delivers the always popular sushi – please give them your custom, and let them know that you are from the school!

Next week’s roster is below, and please don’t hesitate to contact Kristina on nbpscanteen@gmail.com if you would like to come help – we always need new volunteers!

Canteen Roster

Monday 31st Drina Brezniak, Makiko Tokashiki, Annie Xhao

Tuesday 1st Jenny Dunn, Melinda Kelly

Wednesday 2nd Leslie Wait, Marion Gies

Thursday 3rd Ping Xu, Gloria Xu

Friday 4th Laurel Hixon, Sara Winchester, Jane Tham

Junior Band 2012

On Tuesday this week the majority of Year 2 children tried out (via an instrument test) for Junior Band 2012. Well done to everyone. We discovered lots of budding musicians!

If your child did the instrument test without an already-completed Expression of Interest form filled out by a parent/carer, your child was sent home with one after the instrument test. As no child will be placed into Junior Band without a completed Expression of Interest form, please ensure that this form is returned to the school office no later than Monday October 31.

The bandmaster Mr Hampton and band coordinators will be selecting children and their instruments for Junior Band 2012 on Tuesday November 1 so it is essential that these forms are returned to school ASAP, signed by parents/carers.

If you do not have this form, it can be downloaded from the school website band page or collected from the school office. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS contact Sharon Mitchell bishop.mitchell@bigpond.com

A big thank you to our Year 2 teachers for allowing the interruption and to our volunteer overall band coordinator, Sharon Mitchell, who orchestrated and implemented these instrument tests. The fact that almost every child in Year 2 had the opportunity to try out for junior band over a three hour period is a great commitment to the band. Thank you also to Melinda Kelly who assisted Sharon on the day and to Ray Hampton who listened very carefully and noted every noise the children made!

ZooSnooze

Our 2011 Junior Band attended ZooSnooze this week – next week’s newsletter will advise who snoozed at the zoo and who was kept awake by the snoring animals. Senior band’s ZooSnooz takes place on November 8 and Concert Band’s on November 9. Lots to look forward to!

Simone Bird, Overall Band Coordinator with Sharon Mitchell

I’m with Cupid

The school musical has been reborn at Northern Beaches Senior Campus – Cromer Campus. I’m with Cupid is a big budget all-star production on November 24/25/26 at 7.00pm. Adults $10 Children $5 – tickets available at the door.

Learn Music on Keyboard at School
Enrolment for 2012 closes on: Fri 18 November. Music theory, instrument playing, ensemble practice, fun music games, weekly 45-min lesson, small group, music material included, instrument not required initially.

Call 9411 3122 to enrol (VIP Music est. 1984)

www.learnmusicatschool.com.au

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Term 4 Week 2 Newsletter

October 20, 2011

From the Principal

School Photographs

School photographs – individual, class, groups and family – will all be taken next Monday 24^th October. Children should wear full summer school uniform. Payment envelopes were sent home with the children on Monday. These must be returned to class teachers tomorrow or Monday. Family envelopes are available from the office.

Parent Survey – Homework

We will be surveying parents, children in Years 3-6 and teachers on the topic of Homework. An online survey will be available for parents from today and will be open until 31^st October. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey – your thoughts and opinions are important to us. Homework can be a divisive and difficult issue for school communities. Schools are encouraged to develop Homework policies in consultation with their communities.

Our current policy is in line with the Department of Education and Community guidelines

http://www.neutralbay-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/policies/HomeworkPolicy.pdf

I am aware that for some families homework tasks can intrude on family life and that homework can be stressful for some children and parents. Some parents tell me that they “hate” homework, others that they would like their children to have more set homework. While there is no evidence to show that homework improves learning outcomes for primary students, I do believe that it is useful in establishing work and study habits required for secondary school and beyond. It can also be important in involving parents in their child’s learning. Teachers often report that the time and work involved in setting and correcting homework is not well spent. They can find it difficult to set meaningful tasks that all children in their class can accomplish.

Even if as a community we do not reach a consensus on this, we will appreciate and value parental input.

Survey link https://surveymonkey.com/s/F2VTTNY

Semester 2 Student Invoices

Semester 2 [Terms 3 and 4] invoices were sent home early last term. There are many outstanding. I suspect that they may have been mislaid or forgotten. Reminder invoices will be posted home next week. These invoices cover resources and activities your child has utilised and prompt payment would be much appreciated. Please do not ignore the invoice – if payment presents a problem, please contact the office. Many thanks for your assistance with this.

Chicken Pox and Head Lice [Nits]

Teachers have reported that there have been a couple of cases of chicken pox and more than a couple of cases of head lice. Please check your child’s hair and treat if necessary. Head Lice are common in schools and very difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate. Timely treatment is effective in preventing them spreading.

Year 6 Camp

Next week our Year 6 boys and girls will spend three days at the Great Aussie Bush Camp at Tea Gardens. This is a great opportunity for them to spend time together in an outdoors setting, working together in teams and undertaking personally challenging activities. I know it will be a highlight of their time in primary school.

I am very grateful to the Year 6 teachers for giving up their time to provide the children with this opportunity.

Band Information Session – Tomorrow 8:30am – Reminder

All Year 2 parents are invited to a Parent Information Session tomorrow morning at 8:30am in the Hall. This is very important for parents whose children will be joining the band next year. Fees, instrument hire, lessons, etc – all aspects of band involvement – will be covered.

New Hall Stage – Thank you Parents

We have had a removable modular stage installed in the Hall this week. This sits on the existing stage raising the current height by 1.5 meters. We have always had problems with our stage which is so low and it came into clear focus again with the Stage 2 Musical last term. It was almost impossible for the audience to see many of the children if they were not seated in the front rows.

The new stage – a great improvement to our school – was funded by the P & C through the 2011 fundraising activities including the Carnival. Many thanks P & C and all our parents who so generously support our fundraising events and initiatives.

This year the P & C has funded the new shade sails in Kindyland and the new rubber running track.

Term 4 Dates

October

Friday 21^st – Year 2 Band Information Session for parents 8:30am

Monday 24^th – School Photos

Wednesday 24^th – Year 5 Mosman High visit and Year 6 Camp

November

Wednesday 9^th – P&C Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Camilla Pemberton 6M and Katelyn Smith 6M who cycled in the Spring Cycle Classic on Sunday. The 55km event started at St Leonards Park, went through the Domain, Rocks, Pyrmont, Rozelle and Silverwater before heading to Homebush. A great effort girls!
· Alex Dent 2W was featured on Chanel 7 News on Monday night in a story on self defence – kids fighting back against bullies. Alex has been learning martial arts to build confidence and self discipline since she was 4 years old and has a Brown Belt. Well done Alex – a TV star!
· Koh Yamada 5S who recently competed in the Showcase State Dance Championships. Koh was awarded Gold in the Contemporary and Hip Hop sections. Congratulations Koh!
· Congratulations to Mona Martyn Smith, Katelyn Smith 6M and Phionna Tomaszewski who took part in the Guinness World Record attempt for the Largest Choir on Bicycles! 400 cyclists sang continuously [Waltzing Matilda] across the Harbour Bridge during the Spring Cycle Classic on Sunday. Our NBPS singers were “accompanied” by a number of Opera Australia stars! Wonderful work ladies!
· 3/4M and Miss Magney who have made two beautiful framed collages of the photographs of Beauty and the Beast. We will display them for all to see. Many thanks!
· Congratulations to Stephanie Wong (3/4M) for receiving an A in her grade 4 piano exam. Wow! Well done Stephanie.

Resilient Kids Parenting Workshop

What a great turn-out for our ‘Resilient Kids’ workshop on Tuesday night! There were over 80 parents in attendance. The workshop was full of great ideas for building both children’s and parents’ resilience. Thanks to the P&C for funding the workshop.

Junior Girls Relay team

Our Junior Girls Relay team – Emmanuelle Mattana, Bailey Markman, Lucy Woodcock and Caitlin Du Plooy – are competing at the NSW PSSA Athletics Carnival today. We’ll let you know how they fared in next week’s newsletter.

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

North Shore Primary Schools One-Day Chess Tournament

The North Shore Primary Chess Tournament is happening again this year on Wednesday 16 November at Castle Cove Public School. Children wanting to enter must collect a yellow permission note from the office. Children in all years are allowed to enter though it is expected that they understand the rules of chess and competitive play. There are limited positions available so students will be placed in a team on a first-in, first-served basis. Because the all day tournament is being held at Castle Cove Public School, we will be asking for parent volunteers to assist with transporting teams there and back.

Mary Magney, Chess Coordinator

Mathletics

Congratulations to the Samara Foulds-KL who also received a GOLD certificate last term. Well done and keep up the great work!

Volunteer Expert for Visual and Audio Recording

Does this wonderful school have a parent who is able to video to a professional standard?

Miss Muston would love to talk to this kind person who would video the Junior Choir for an audition DVD. The recording could happen any time in school hours and the DVD is needed for submission in Week 4 of November. Please see Miss Muston if you can help. Thank you.

Harriet Muston, Music Teacher

The home of a stranger

I entered a room where I saw a man working quietly and mischievously so I crept to him and his featherful owl. Suddenly I saw a huge shadow that looked like the Minotaur. As I tip toed to the man the room there were cracks in the floor, the fire place is useless, the dinner table was rotten and the kitchen cups had cracks and holes in them. Then the man broke his pencil and looked at me like a devil only angrier. He told me to come to him to see what I was doing at his house and I said. I just needed a home to stay at just for the night, please? Okay answered the stranger. So that dark and mysterious night I stayed up until 12am and the man was making me a soup made of steak, chicken, pork, herbs and carrots. Then when I finished my dinner the man and his owl were at their spot just doing what they were doing.

Liam Wilson 4PW

36 down the alley

It was a cold night at number 36. Inside the old, mouldy house stood a rusty coat hanger. Hanging on the hanger was a dusty coat .Clinging to smooth piece of wood perched a snow white owl who was hooting as loud as it could which made everything more scary .There was a dim light shining softly in the corner. Near the coat stand was a pine desk .on the desk there was a blue and black oil lamp next to that a small pile of study books that hadn’t been dusted for a long time .Sitting on a chair was a young boy. In front of him was an old man holding something strange. It looked like the owl was trying to stop the old man but i guess he didn’t understand the warning…..

Francesca Garcia 4PW

Mystery Scene

The big wooden clock chimed twelve at night. As the mysterious man walked towards the desk the wooden floor made a revolting squeaky sound. Suddenly an owl flew in through the open window and perched on a cupboard, its brown beady eyes staring at the boy who must have been the man’s son. As the curious man bent down to see what his son was making a shadow grew behind him. It grew bigger and bigger until it stopped growing and revealed a dark shape that looked like a devil. The floor creaked again and the boy got up. He and his father went to bed and the owl started flying around and broke the beautiful lamp that the boy had made.

Rebekah Finselbach 4PW

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! In addition to our regular menu items, the team sometimes offers special one-off items for a limited time. These are listed on the blackboard, and are available until we run out. Examples are smoothies, dumpling, or even seaweed strips. But for those who prefer the tried and true, those items freshly prepared items from our regular menu are always available.

Next week’s lunch special is Greek Salad with Chicken. If you prefer vegetarian, please let us know!

Canteen Roster

Monday 24^th Marian Gies and Sarah Bailey

Tuesday 25th Marica Rudan and Teresa Tyacke

Wednesday 26th Jodie Frazer and Rika Xu

Thursday 27^th Kanako Malthouse, HELP NEEDED

Friday 28th Josie Minnett and Liz Skinner

Uniform Shop

On the website will be a new Uniform Shop Price List, effective immediately, 17^th October 2011 as well as a revised order form for your use.

Prices will remain the same with the exception of the Girls Summer Dress which, we are pleased to say, we have managed to reduce to $55. The small Back Packs will increase to $45.

Due to a number of requests from parents we have sourced good quality raincoats. There are two options available:

Raincoat with fleece lining and concealed hood $40

(Navy only)

Raincoat-in-a-bag, lightweight mac with concealed hood, $25

folds into its own bag (Navy or Yellow)

We now stock Red Robin socks, priced below the RRP:

Red Robin White Crew Sports Sock Pack of 3 $12 per pack
Red Robin White Turnover Socks Pack of 3 $15 per pack

Remember! Orders can now be emailed directly to the uniform shop at nbpsuniformshop@gmail.com or alternatively, left at the school office.

All items will then be delivered to your child’s classroom.

As always we are on the lookout for great quality pre loved items of uniforms that we can sell on – if you have anything hiding in the back of your cupboard, now would be a great time to pass it along to us! Thanks.

The Uniform Shop Team

Coles and Woolies Vouchers

Both stores have reached the deadline for issuing of vouchers. The response from Neutral Bay families has been fantastic – we have 31,143 points from Coles and 26,251 from Woolies.

A big thank you to Nilva Danis [Andy 2W] for counting the Coles vouchers.

We will advise you as soon as we can as to what we will order for the school and what will be sent to a school with fewer advantages than ours. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Sharmila Soorian, P & C Coordinator

Lifeline Northern Beaches

Volunteers are urgently needed at the new shop at 112 Cabramatta Road Cremorne. Ring 9949-5522 if you can help.

Someone in crisis rings Lifeline every minute of every day. The telephone counsellors take more than 22,000 calls a year. Crisis support and suicide prevention are the core business. The majority of funds raised provides the telephone counselling services and are funded through the Op Shops.

Hayes Street Community Street Party, Sunday 30 October 2011, 3pm – 7pm

The annual Hayes Street Community Street Party will be held on Sunday, 30 October 2011 from 3pm-7pm at the bottom of Hayes Street, Neutral Bay. The road will be blocked off for an afternoon of fun and entertainment for all the family. As well as performances by local artists and entertainers on a stage by the harbour, there will be face painting, art and craft activities, hip hop dancing, a giant raffle, sporting activities and delicious food. At 4pm, there will be a Halloween-themed fancy-dress parade for the children which will be judged by the Mayor of North Sydney, Genia McCaffery, former Australian cricketer Stuart MacGill and TV personality, Rachel Friend. Each child wins a prize! Come dressed in your favourite Halloween costume or any other costume you like. We look forward to seeing you at this community event.

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Term 4 Week 1 Newsletter

October 13, 2011

From the Principal

Welcome Back

I would like to warmly welcome everyone back to school for the final term of 2011. I hope all our children and their families enjoyed the break. The children all appear to be in good spirits and have settled well into class and school routines. We are looking forward to another great term.

Carnival – A Great Success!

Our Carnival late last term was a great success not only as a fundraiser for the school but importantly as a wonderful school community event. The day was bright and sunny, the entertainment most enjoyable, the rides and stalls were great fun and the food was fabulous. Congratulations and many thanks to everyone involved in the organisation, to the teachers, to those who worked on the stalls and to all the families who came along to support the Carnival. Special thanks to Leslie Wait and Soraya Salvatico who “masterminded” the Carnival and to all the children who performed in Dance, Choir and Band items. It was a wonderful day which we will all remember for a long time and over $40,000 was raised for our great school!

Term 4 Dates

The Term 4 Calendar has been posted on the website. Parents may wish to take note of the following important dates.

October

Tuesday 18^th – Parent Workshop – Resilient Kids 7:00pm

Thursday 20^th – K-2 Sports Day and Kinder 2012 Parents Information Evening

Friday 21^st – Year 2 Band Information Session for parents 8:30am

Monday 24^th – School Photos

Wednesday 24^th – Year 5 Mosman High Visit and Year 6 Camp

November

Wednesday 9^th – P&C Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 23^rd – Cyberbullying – Parent Information Session

December

Friday 9^th – Years 5 & 6 Presentation Assembly 9:30am

Monday 12^th – Years 3 & 4 Final Assembly 9:30am

Tuesday 13^th – Years 1 & 2 Final Assembly 9:30am

Wednesday 14^th – Kinder Graduation 9:30am

Friday 16^th – Last day of term

Condolences

Our sincere condolences to the Brown family [Peter 6J] and the Mather family [Kai 6L and Mia 5S] who both lost their fathers at the beginning of the holidays. Our thoughts and prayers are with both families during this very sad time.

Congratulations Daniel and Will!

We have so many talented boys and girls at NBPS! During the holiday period two of our Year 6 boys were featured in articles in the Mosman Daily.

Will Freyer 6M is a very worthy nominee for the Mosman Daily Junior Sport Star of the Year Award. Will is an outstanding sportsman across a range of sports. This year again for the second time he is the Zone Senior Boy Athletics Champion winning the 100m, 200m, long jump and high jump events. He was also our Senior Boy Champion at our school Athletics Carnival. He plays Aussie Rules for the Mosman Swans in the Under 12 division and plays rugby for Roseville Under 12s. Best wishes for the State titles, Will.

Daniel Heyworth 6J, aka Dee, is one of the top 20 contestants in the Junior MasterChef Competition on Channel 10. His fantastic dessert – banana and hazel praline parfait with lemon zest tuile and caramelised banana – earned him his spot in the top 20! Not only is Daniel a great cook – he is one our School Captains this year! Good Luck Daniel!

Congratulations to Mrs Willingham (Miss Cumberland). What a beautiful bride!

UNSW Maths Competition Results

Congratulations to all the following children who were awarded Distinctions and High Distrinctions in this year’s Maths Competition. A special award will be presented to Kieran Connor 5C who achieved a perfect score – 40/40 – in the competition. Congratulations Kieran!

Year 6 – High Distinction

Sam Rogers, Kondo Tomoki, Paul Shim, Loris Zhou, Oliver Jin,

Year 6 Distinction

Rearden Gao, Giselle Collins,Geena Sharma, James Wang, Wilson Zhao, Jasleen Kaur, Rene Shi, Jacqueline Brown, Vicki Chen, Marisa Zhou, Karin Nishimuta-Jang, Amy Bentley, Peter Brown, Max Chen, Felix Lempriere, Ciaran Loh, EwanNicholl, Vincent Ho, Matthew Hu, Annabel Ryan,Isobel Klein, Lachlan David, Heejin Chang, Carolyn Chen, Giselle Dreyer, Joshua Holmes, Muskan Salhan, Brandon Wong.

Year 5 – High Distinction

Chris Chung, Kieran Connor, Jessica Findlay, James Leeming, Thomas Meredith, Evan Mitchell, Lucy Woodcock and Max Xu.

Year 5 Distinction

Guillaume Troadec, Jaela Barney, Joshua Benn, Darcy Bradley, Oscar Brisset, Christopher Chong, Hwayeon Chung, Benjamin Dempsey, Sophie Dews, Ryo Enomoto, Callum Fraser, Stefan Gebhard, Roham Geraghty, Oliver Gordon, Sarah Halnan, Samuel Hansen, Colin Hon, Renee Hurley, Camilla Joyce, Marcus Kaldor, Alex Keane, Steve Kraynov, Lauren Lancaster, Amelia Langley, Sebastian Lewis, Thoma Lockhart, Simon Ma, Teddy McGregor, Max Mikkelsen, Max Moon, Maia Morse, Paddy Nicols, Amelia Reeve, Jason Sasagawa Haddad, Serena Song, Grace Underhill, Sam Worrall, Gordon Wu, Sharon Xu, Jackie Yao, Ned Young, Richard Zhou

Year 4 High Distinctions

Alexander Burfoot, David Tai, Jennifer Wang

Year 4 Distinctions

Tom Nedoboy,Justin Chen, Tess Guo, Nathan Jo, Rececca Kim, Kimmy Liu, William Magarey, Naomi Stephens, Callista Surjadi, Ripley Voeten, Sophie Zhang.

Year 3 High Distinctions

Morris Chen, Adrian Freiburg, Ross Poole

Year 3 Distinctions

Billie Clow, Vadim Renard, Claire Stephens, Loukas Triantis, David Tweedie, Reuben Wilder, Kai Wong, Jonathan Woodcock, Emily Yu.

Parent Information Sessions

This term we have organised a number of Parent Information Sessions/Workshops which we hope will be well supported by our parents. [Details of each presentation will be sent home close to the dates.]

· Tuesday 18^th October – Resilient Kids – 7:00pm School Hall
· Wednesday 2^nd November – Interrelate Presentation – Year 6 – Personal Development and Sex Education information for parents and Year 6 students. School Hall 7:00pm.
· Wednesday 23^rd November – Cyberbullying talk presented by expert Susan McLean at Mosman High School 7:00pm
· Tuesday 6^th December – Cybersafety Presentation for Years 5 and 6 parents. School Hall.

Selective High School Applications

Selective High School Applications packages should be available on line in the next few weeks. Advice will be sent home to all Year 5 children. I will conduct a parent meeting before school when the packages are available to assist parents with information in regard to the application procedures, school choices and the appeals process. Further information will follow.

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Mei Yamada KL who has won the Prime Minister’s NAIDOC Medal and an MP3 Player in the 2011 NAIDOC Week Initiative Colouring-in Competition. More than 116,000 entries were received from schools all over the country and only 22 prizes were awarded. Congratulations Mei!
· Mallika Aithala 2W won a gold award in the Showcase National Dance Championships during the holidays with a score of 91.5. Fantastic dancing Mallika!
· 5C and Miss Carnegie who have produced a fantastic class newspaper. Great work boys and girls and Miss Carnegie! We all look forward to reading the articles.
· Tess Guo 3/4M was awarded a high distinction in her Grade 3 piano exam. Well done Tess!
· Jun Sasagawa 5J was selected by Tennis NSW to play in 10/U Medibank State Teams Championship and played as the number one in his team. Winning all of his singles matches, Jun was presented with the Talent Development Award, which acknowledged the player demonstrating the best of tennis, including results, etiquette and sportsmanship.
· Alex Keane won Best 10 and Under category at the 9th Inner West Chess Challenge held during the holidays. Well done Alex!
· Mr Mayne, our science teacher, who organised a fabulous Science Expo at the end of last term. Great work Mr Mayne.

NAPLAN Results

Our children in Years 3 and 5 received their NAPLAN results just before the school holidays. Once again, our results were outstanding. In Year 3, 75% of our children were placed in the top two bands (bands 5 & 6) in Reading, 86% in writing, and 58% in Numeracy. We also scored well in Year 5 where the percentage of children in the top two bands (bands 7 & 8 ) was 82% in reading, 70% in Writing, and 80% in Numeracy. We also achieved outstanding growth in results between Year 3 and Year 5. We achieved the highest growth in Numeracy scores, and the second highest in Literacy, of the 21 schools in our Middle Harbour schools’ network.

Resilient Kids Parenting Workshop

The P&C have organised for a ‘Resilient Kids’ workshop to be held here at school next Tuesday night. The workshop will commence at 7pm and some light refreshments will be provided. The two and a half hour workshop will be delivered by expert parenting educators from Northern Sydney Area Health. Please let the office know if you intend coming.

Musical photos

We have uploaded photos from our School Musical to the website. The images have been reduced in size to cut down page loading time, but parents can click on the smaller image which will link to the large, high-resolution version of the same photograph. These can then be downloaded to your PC for printing. You can access the photos here: http://www.neutralbay-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/musical/index.html Many thanks to Mr Nigel Wright [Eliza 5T] for taking the beautiful photos and Angelica Klages [Elijah 2w] who had them all printed.

Prime Minister’s NAIDOC Medal

Earlier this year, all of our Kindergarten children participated in a colouring-in competition as part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations. On Tuesday, Mei Yamada from KL was presented with the Prime Minister’s Medal in recognition of her outstanding efforts. The award was presented by Dylan Williams, the Executive Director of NAIDOC Week, and was one of only 22 medals awarded in NSW. Mei also received an MP3 player as part of her prize.

Junior Girls Relay team

Good luck to our Junior Girls Relay team – Emmanuelle Mattana, Bailey Markman, Lucy Woodcock and Caitlin Du Plooy – who will be competing at the New South Wales Athletics Carnival next Thursday. It is a MASSIVE achievement to make it to this level of competition and we are very proud of you! All the best!

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

Science Expo 2011

During Term 3, the children in Year 6 and Year 5 OC had some fun organising a Science Expo for children in Years 3 and 4. Each group had to come up with an experiment or activity that demonstrated an idea in science. The results were outstanding and many of them enjoyed presenting their ideas to the younger children.

Download the images here http://www.neutralbay-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/science-expo.pdf

Mr Mayne, Science Teacher

Junior Choir – The Town Hall Performance

On Wednesday 21^st September the Town Hall Choir Performance was held. There were a lot of different things. One of them was the primary proms combined Choir. That was what I was in.

Our songs were A Seachange, Lullabye, Start the engine, Walking in the air, Whistle down the wind, Be kind to your parents, Where did that little dog go? How much is that doggie in the window? Humpty Dumpty, Hushabye mountain, Boatman, Jambo rafiki and lastly Jungle Rhthym. If I had to choose my favourites I would choose A Seachange, Boatman and Jambo rafiki.

Probably the best thing about the performance was that we rehearsed all the songs and did even a few with the Chatswood strings and percussion group. They were awesome!! They made the songs sound great!!

Then the parents took their kids out for dinner. Then we came back to the Town Hall and did the big performance. I loved it!! My parents said it was great! Choir rocks!!

by Jemima Rice 3H

Swim Swim Swim – Learn to swim!!

Ahh swimming I love to swim the big blue ocean or just the pool. It’s so important to know how to swim! Can you swim?

Once you learn how to swim you know how to for life.

But why bother learning? One of the main reasons to learn is for your own safety and the others around you. Did you know it takes 2 minutes for someone to drown? And that drowning could lead to death.

Do you want to be active or fit? Well swimming is so good for you and so much fun, its rewarding each way!

Do you like to surf, row, go sailing or kayak? Well what if you were surfing you’re catching this huge wave SPLASH!! You fall off you can’t swim or if you were sailing then suddenly a storm approaches it knocks you boat over again you can’t swim. Australia has so many beautiful beaches and water based activity’s including pool party’s I’m certain you don’t want to miss out on that!

Where can I learn? It’s essential you learn even if your parents teach you but there are so many good swim schools out there.

Without a doubt you should learn for your own safety and for your own good.

Eliza Fitzgerald 4PW

Wanted crew members!!!!!!!!!!

AHRRR!!!!!!! Are you bored of your every day job? If you ahrrr!!!!!!! Get on the princess Josephina (our ship) and enjoy a much better life!!!!!!!

If you join our ship you will have fame and fortune and I mean it!!!!! You’ll get rubies diamonds and gold!!!! If you don’t join our ship without doubt you will regret it!!!

We need doctors, navigators, chefs and cabin boys!!! You can choose what you be!!!!!!! So get over here and join the princess Josephina’s crew!!!!

Jack Binney 4PW

Animals should have better living at the Zoo

Having visited the zoo recently I was horrified to see that all the poor animals had enclosures that were nothing like their natural habitat. They looked like they were very ill & their small cells were dirty and boring with nothing to do in them.

The Orang tans were screwed up in their tiny cell with no doubt freezing to the bone it looked like it had no food at all. Orang tans should be jumping from tree to tree with great joy as well as eating as much food as it wants not getting 1 or 2 pieces of lettuce a day.

The polar bear was stood gazing out at the polluted water around his cage. I am horrified to see kids tapping on the thin glass whilst shouting at the poor polar bear trying to make it do something.

Just thinking about the lonely giraffe made me feel like an orphan with no friends, I only just saw him camouflaged against the cold brick wall. He looked like he was about to pass out the poor thing, I think you are cruel to keep such a beautiful animal in there like that.

So please transform all the animal’s cells in to their own paradise.

Danielle Smith 4PW

A Description of a Werewolf

The werewolf stepped towards me and growled. The growl was low and gravelly, faintly like the feeling of dragging your knuckles across asphalt. His fur was patchy in places and had split ends. It was bloody around the mouth like it had just been feeding. As its lips lifted in a horrible snarl, I could see its yellow teeth with meat stuck in between. What was the meat? Was it rabbit? Deer? Or . . . human? Its grotesque face looked similar to a human’s that had been in a car crash. As it limped closer, I caught a whiff of long dead animals. What was the time? Was it near dawn? As the first rays of sun broke, the werewolf whimpered, started to tremble, and then sprinted away through the trees, with its clumpy tail in between its legs.

by Ruth Mukheibir 5J

Regional Spelling Bee

Hallucinate. Ambiguous. Embarrass. Itinerary. Gastroenteritis.

How would you go at spelling some of these words out loud? These are just some of the words that Grade 5 & 6 students were learning for the 2011 Premier’s Spelling Bee, an initiative proving that spelling is not only an important skill for our students, but can be fun too.

On Thursday 15th September, Callum Fraser, 5C, and Charlie Ward, 6J, represented our school at the Senior Regional Final of the Premier’s Spelling Bee, which makes them two of the top spellers in the Northern Sydney region.

The Regional Final was long and closely fought. After 22 consecutive rounds, Charlie was successful in becoming Runner Up, which is a fantastic result! Callum fought hard against a very competitive field to reach the top 10. We are very proud of both of these students. They spoke beautifully, thought quickly on their feet and were composed and articulate under enormous pressure.

The students should be congratulated for their wonderful efforts, which are a credit to them.

Thank you to all students and families who participated, collectively memorising hundreds of words and making the Spelling Bee so competitive and so successful.

G. Carnegie, Assistant Principal Years 5 and 6

Mathletics

Congratulations to the following students who have received their GOLD certificates last term. Well done and keep up the great work!

Kindergarten

Mayuri Aithala KC, Naomi Peace KC, Faraz Ganji KJ, Emma Sargeant KK, Fuga Higashi KL, Connor Lee KK

Year 1

Alexandra Wong 1BH, Katherine Wen 1H, Kinjal Kumari 1K

Year 2

Sara Ebina 2W, Shyaan Patel 2W, Kaitlyn Petrides 2B, Andy Danis 2W, Ela Parkinson 2DH

Year 3

Lucinda Peace 3H

Leanne Gassmann, Debbie Horsley and Nadine Walsh, Mathletics Coordinators

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! I hope that everyone is well-rested and excited for the last term of 2011. In the canteen we’ve been cooking up a storm, with many children stopping by to ask what on earth we are doing. The answer: cooking up the rather large number of delicious meat pies we go through on Fridays during term! Incredible but true, they are made by the incredible staff in the canteen, and are worth a try as a Friday treat.

Some of you will have noticed an error in the online ordering system, which didn’t show this week’s special as available on Monday or Tuesday. Please accept my apologies for that – it should be correct for the rest of the term. And on the subject of online ordering, if you haven’t made the time to go to www.flexischools.com.au, I’d strongly recommend it. Term 4 is busy enough without having to search for coins or wonder whether your children remembered to put in their lunch order.

The Term 4 Menu is available online, and is posted on the board opposite the canteen. Many of the favourites will be available this term, and we will also offer some freshly made salad specials as well. Next week’s Monday-Thursday special is the Loopy Noodle Stir Fry, and Fridays will continue to be the ONLY day on which the fabulous meat pies, pizzas (also made in the canteen), lasagne, and sausage rolls will be available.

If you haven’t had a chance to help out in the canteen, this would be a great time to give it a try – cooking experience is NOT REQUIRED, as the staff guide you through what you need to know. Contact Kristina on 0407 297 691 or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com.

Canteen Roster

Monday 17^th – Jenni de Jager and Gwen Murdoch

Tuesday 18^th – Jenny Jones and Leanne Taratoris

Wednesday 19^th - Ana Mulcahy, Sally Donnelly, Bahai Excursion

Thursday 20^th – Ping Xu and Gloria Xu. K-2 Sports Day

Friday 21^st – Jane Tham, Sibila Thompson, Linda Mather ½.

Band Information meeting for new parents in 2012

Please join us in the school hall at 8.30am on Friday 21^st Oct, to hear about the Neutral Bay Public School Band Program for 2012.

We will provide a brief overview for all parents of current Y2 or above students, interested in the school band program.

We will cover:

Overview and how our bands work
Discussion of band event calendar for 2012
Parent volunteer roles & responsibilities
Insights from parent volunteers
Fees structure 2012
Question & answer session

We look forward to meeting you then.

Kind regards

Sharon Mitchell & Simone Bird -Overall Band Coordinators

Band News

Welcome back everyone for the start of a fun term for band members. All bands are already in full swing this week.

Parents, please look out for information coming to you this week about our ZoosnooZ overnight excursion (ROAR!).

During the excursion, band members will:

• Enjoy a great dinner under the stars.
• Discover wild creatures on the night zoo walk!
• Get close to amazing mammals and many other zoo residents with a lesson in the Education Centre
• Enjoy a yummy breakfast then go on a behind-the-scenes early morning walk

It is essential that payment and permission forms are returned to us ASAP.

We’ll also be keeping everyone well informed about upcoming performances and auditions for 2012 so again, please keep checking your emails and the school newsletter throughout the term.

Sharon Mitchell & Simone Bird, Overall Band Coordinators

Be part of a Guinness world record attempt this Sunday

Bicycle New South Wales is organising a Guinness World Record Attempt to set a World Record for the largest amount of singing cyclists ever recorded. The cyclists will be singing Waltzing Matilda as part of the Spring Cycle this Sunday 16 October. They need more than 250 people to set this record. You can register for the 16km City Ride online at http://www.bicycleinfo.nsw.gov.au . For more information contact Tom Tansey at Bicycle NSW on 9704 0807 or TomT@bicyclensw.org.au.

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Term 3 Week 9 Newsletter

September 15, 2011

From the Principal

Musical – Beauty and the Beast

Congratulations to all the Years 3 and 4 children who performed brilliantly in the musical this week. The performances were all fully subscribed and were outstanding. I know the parents and friends and our children in the audiences really enjoyed Beauty and the Beast. It was difficult to believe that the principal cast were only Years 3 and 4 children! The standard of acting, singing and dancing was exceptionally high. I don’t know that many primary schools could stage a large school show of this standard. The children clearly enjoyed the experience which I know will stay with them for many years to come.

The talented teachers responsible for this production deserve much acclaim. Miss Taylor and Mrs Love who produced the show, Miss Muston who taught the classes all the songs, Mr Mayne who made all the fantastic costumes, Mrs Keeling who worked with the classes on the dances, and all the class teachers. We were also blessed to have a parent, Angelica Klages [Elijah 2W] who provided expert singing tuition and microphone technique to the principal cast. My thanks to everyone involved for providing the children with this wonderful opportunity. We look forward to closing night tonight!

Carnival – this Saturday!

We are all looking forward to a wonderful day of fun, food, friendship and spring sunshine on Saturday. The gates open at 3pm with entertainment in the Hall from 3:30PM. Don’t forget there are special attractions in Kindyland – worth a visit.

Lost Children and First Aid will be located in 4PW, the classroom on the ground floor of the new building closest to the main school office.

Program

3.30 – Junior Band, Senior Band, Concert Band. Holding Rooms are Science Room, 1H and Science Room

4.00 – Junior Choir, Senior Choir – Holding room for both is the Music Room

4.15 – Dance 102 – Holding room is 1H

4.30 – NBPS Girls Dance, NBPS Boys Dance – Holding room for girls is 1K, and for boys 1G

4.45 – String Ensemble – Music Room is the holding room

4.55 – NB School of Dance – holding room is Yeo Street Demountable 1

5.00 – Mango Dance - holding room is Yeo Street Demountable 2

5.30 – Polynesian Dance Group – Yeo Street Demountable 1

5.45 – All Stars – Yeo Street Demountable 2

University of New South Wales English Competition Results 2011

Congratulations to all the children who were awarded High Distinctions and Distinctions in this year’s English Competition.

Year 3 High Distinction

Claire Stephens

Year 3 Distinctions

Adrian Freiburg, Oscar Harmstorf, Sophie Hilton, Joshua Lawton, Ross Poole, Vadim Renard, Nathalie Wilder, Reuben Wilder, Kai Wong, Stephanie Wong.

Year 4 High Distinctions

Alexander Burfoot, Kashi Saunders, Naomi Stephens, Sophie Zhang

Year 4 Distinctions

Ben Crimp, Sarah Danaee, Ella Spencer, David Tai, Ripley Voeten

Year 5 High Distinctions

Sam Worrall, Christopher Chong, Chris Chung, Kieran Connor, Juliette Davies, Sophie Dews, Ryo Enomoto, Jessica Findlay, Callum Fraser, Stefan Gebhard, Sarah Halnan, Samuel Hansen, Renee Hurley, Camille Joyce, Lauren Lancaster, Amelia Langley, James Leeming, Simon Ma, Max Mikkelsen, Amelia Reeve, Ian Stewart, Sam Watkins, Lucy Woodcock, Max Xu, Sharon Xu.

Year 5 Distinctions

Guillaume Troadec, Oscar Brisset, Eliza Wright, Darcy Bradley, Angus Carre, Hwayeon Chung, Alex Crowhurst, Benjamin Dempsey, Flynn Dunbavan, Rohan Geraghty, Oliver Gordon, Vanessa Ham, Colin Hon, Georgina Joyce, Steve Kraynov, Thomas Lockhart, Thomas Meredith, Kye Milne, Paddy Nicols, Karl Oosthuizen, Jack Palmer, Anika Thakur, Lara Urquhart, Gordon Wu, Richard Zhou.

Year 6 High Distinctions

Rene Shi, Dominic Collins, Max Chan, Joshua Danaee, Oliver Jin, Tomoki Kondo, Geena Harma, Casey Zhu.

Year 6 Distinctions

Rearden Gao, Isobel Klein, K.Nishimuta-Jang, Lachlan Davis, Emmanuelle Mattana, Jake Abraham, Jacqueline Brown, Peter Brown, Carolyn Chen, Janae Cheung, Giselle Collins, Thomas Dunbavan, Oliver Gashi, Kate Harrison, Vince Ho, Charlotte Lawrence, Ewan Nicholl, Charlotte Poole, Sam Rogers, Annabel Ryan, Abigail Thompson, James Wang, Daniel Ward, Maja Wilbring, Arthur Wong, Maya Yaffe, Wilson Zhao, Lori Zhou.

Neutral Bay Public School Ex Students

We regularly have visits from our ex students who come back to visit their teachers and share their high school stories. It is always great to see them growing and maturing into such fine young people.

I am always proud to hear of the successes and accomplishments of our ex students in so many areas. I read the HSC Honour Roll with great interest and a highlighter each December!

Not only do our ex students achieve excellent academic results in secondary school and beyond – many have achieved success in the arts, music, sciences and in the trades and technical areas, and school leadership.

We were all thrilled to hear that Lillian Donnell was invested as School Captain at North Sydney Girls High School this week. A great honour for one of our terrific ex students!

We look forward to seeing lots of ex students at the Carnival on Saturday.

Best Wishes Miss Cumberland

Miss Cherie Cumberland 3C will be married next week in her home town of Port Macquarie. We wish her all the very best for her special day and look forward to seeing the beautiful photos of the wedding. Good luck Miss Cumberland – enjoy every minute!

Final Newsletter for Term 3

What a busy term of wonderful learning and activities we have had! Congratulations to all the children on their achievements in and out of the classroom. Many thanks to all the wonderful teachers for their continued hard work and dedication to the children. Thanks to our great parents who have supported us in so many ways again this term. I wish all our children and their families a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday and look forward to seeing you all back at school on Monday 10^th October.

Summer Uniform

Children should return to school next term in summer uniform. Hopefully, the weather will be warm!

Many thanks to our wonderful uniform shop coordinators who have worked to hard to ensure that there are good supplies of uniform items.

Good Luck Sydney Marathon

A number of our staff are participating in the Sydney Marathon, Half Marathon and Bridge Run this Sunday as part of the Sydney Running Festival. The sponsorship money raised will be donated to Cancer Research through the CanToo organisation. A great cause. Miss Starr has already raised almost $1,600 herself. Good luck to Mr Thomson, Mr Taylor, Mrs Harrison, Mrs Black and Mrs Collett for a successful run on Sunday.

Principal’s Award

Zac Taylor 6T – Citizenship

Diary Dates

September

Saturday 17^th – Carnival 3.00pm – 7.00pm

Monday 19^th – Talk Like A Pirate Day

Tuesday 20^th – Regional Debating Championship

Wednesday 21^st – Primary Proms – Junior Choir and Multifaith Scripture Service

Friday 23^rd – School Council Meeting 8.00am and Last Day of Term 3

October

Monday 10^th – First Day of Term 4 – Students return.

Gai Collett, Principal

Stars of the Week

· Briar and Jeremy, KL who presented their speeches at the Kindy 2012 School Tour last week. They were both such confident and polished public speakers! Fantastic work Briar and Jeremy. Many thanks!
· The 5T and 6L boys and girls who have worked as “stage crew” for the musical. They have all been outstanding – organising props, costumes etc and assisting the younger children. This has been an important leadership opportunity for these children.
· Our Junior Choir will be performing next Wednesday evening at the Sydney Town Hall in the Primary Proms. They are sounding beautiful. We wish them luck and know they will really enjoy this special concert. Thanks to Miss Muston and Miss Haigh for all their work with the choir.
· Alex Au 3H was awarded an “A” in his preliminary grade piano exam last Saturday. Well done Alex – keep up the good work!
· Our Junior Girls Relay Team – Bailey, Lucy, Emmanuelle and Caitlin, who will go to the State Championships next term to represent Northern Sydney Area! Great work girls!
· Isabella Scully 5K received an ‘A’ Honours for her AMEB Grade 3 piano exam. Well done Isabella – a great reward for all the hard work!
· Vadim Renard (3H) and Lachlan Harris (3H), who represented NBPS, won the NSTA Junior Tennis Competition in their category on Saturday 10th of September. Well done boys and keep up the great work!
· Juliette Davies 5C who will be representing NBPS next week on tour with the Northern Sydney Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Grafton. Congratulations Juliette and enjoy the week!
· Mr Michael who has installed specially designed acoustic tiles on the ceiling of the Multi Purpose room. This should really address the sound issues in this room which has so much glass and hard surfaces. Great work Mr Michael.

Talk Like a Pirate Day – THIS MONDAY!

Ahoy Mums and Dads! This Monday 19^th September be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. On Monday, we’ll all be comin’ to school dressin’ and talkin’ like PIRATES, but we won’t be collectin’ any loot – it’s all a bit of ‘armless fun. Thanks to me-hearties on their SRC for their ‘ard work. Arrrr!

Owen Taylor, Deputy Principal

Neutral Bay Junior Girls Relay Team

Sydney Olympic Athletics Track, perfect sunny day, baton changes organised and the warm up done. The Neutral Bay Junior Girls relay team comprising of Bailey Markman, Caitlin DuPlooy, Lucy Woodcock and Emmanuelle Mattana with coach David Woodcock at their side, were ready for their moment to shine.

The girls qualified 2^nd fastest for the final and the girls were pumped. After settling their nerves and running through a few baton changes the time had arrived for the final.

Bailey got off to a quick start and ran the bend perfectly. The baton change was seamless and Caitlin was off down the back straight. She quickly pegged back the two outside lanes and set up Lucy brilliantly. Another immaculate baton change saw the girls gain a solid lead with only two other teams pressuring. Lucy ran the final bend with great poise and determination and with the final baton change being nothing less than perfect the girls had done everything flawlessly. Emmanuelle took off like a rocket, with baton in hand she was heading for home. The two other relay teams were quickly gaining. Neutral Bay parents were screaming and jumping up and down unable to contain their excitement. Five metres to go and the three teams were almost neck and neck. Emmanuelle dipped at the perfect time giving Neutral Bay 2^nd place by .02 of a second and earning them a spot at the State Athletics Carnival.

A special mention goes to David Woodcock for all the hours he has spent training the team and getting those baton changes to be so smooth. Congratulations girls and good luck at the State Carnival.

Mr Thomson, Athletics Coordinator

A Maths Filled Day at MathsCup

Last Thursday nine students from 6J and 6T attended Sule College’s MathsCup Competition in Prestons. Our 3 teams were joined by 80 other teams during a morning of competition that involved a maths quiz, a ‘Letters and Numbers’ inspired maths problem and hands-on problem solving tasks.

All of our teams performed very well on the day and one team was able to move onto the final round. After a nail-biting final round our team took home first place! Thank you to Sule College and Harvey Norman the winning boys took home a $2000 gift card and an iPad2 for the school. Those lucky boys also each won their own iPad2!

All of the students attending made a fantastic impression on the teachers from the competing schools as they were polite and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship throughout the day. A special mention goes to Zachary Taylor who, knowing he had won an iPad through the competition declined a prize when his name was pulled to win an iPod Shuffle. The boy who then went on to win the iPod was incredibly happy! We were very proud that a member of our school would make such a kind gesture!

Well done Jackie (6T), Lori (6T), Max (6T), Vincent (6J), Zac (6T), Anna (6J), Sam (6J), Oliver(6J), and Tomoki (6T)!

PREMIER’S DEBATING CHALLENGE

During our fourth and final round of zone level debates for the Premier’s Debating Challenge our two Neutral Bay teams faced each other in a very challenging debate where they argued the topic that playing sport should be voluntary. Eloise, Dan, Emmie and Oliver argued the affirmative side and Jackie, Maya, Sam and Milan argued the negative. It was a very close debate with the win going to the negative side.

Following that win Sam, Jackie, Maya and Milan earned themselves a place in the Regional Debate Round as the undefeated winners of our zone. On Tuesday Sam, Maya, Milan and Sarah will compete against one of the other 15 zone winning teams in hopes of continuing on in the competition. Our other Neutral Bay debaters will be there to cheer them on along with Mrs Baker. Good Luck Team!

Mrs Baker, Coordinator

SCHOOL COMMUNITY NEWS

Canteen News

Greetings from the canteen! The Power Up and Win program has been really popular, with the kids buying lots of fresh fruit and veggies! Keep those entry forms coming back to the canteen – for every four stickers on an entry form, the kids get a key ring, and a chance at some great prizes. The program closes next Thursday, 22 September.

Next week’s special is the Hip Hot Doggie, which I am sure will delight many children. This will be available Monday-Thursday, and please note: the CANTEEN IS CLOSED FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER for cleaning. We will reopen for service on Monday 10 October, and the special will be Freaky Fried Rice. The T4 menu will be posted on the canteen link by the end of this term.

If you haven’t had a chance to help in the canteen, T4 is a great time to give it a try! Contact Kristina on 0407 297 691, or at nbpscanteen@gmail.com if you would like to join us.

Canteen Roster

Monday 19^th – Marion Gies, Milton Sams, Talk Like a Pirate Day

Tuesday 20^th – Louise Beaton, Kristina

Wednesday 21^st – Jenny Dunn, Geoff Clow

Thursday 22^nd – Philippa Shelly Jones, Renuka Viseshom

Friday 23^rd – CLOSED FOR CLEANING

Band News

Neutral Bay Public School Carnival Band Performances

Our bands have been preparing for their performances at the school carnival. Please ensure your child is at school on Saturday at 3pm sharp with their instrument and their music. (Casual clothes, not uniform). All bands will meet in the science room – entry is near the after-school care doors. We look forward to a fun performance from each band!

Sharon Mitchell and Simone Bird, Overall Band Coordinators

2 Days to Go until our Carnival Comes to Life!

Get your party hat on to celebrate our school, children and beautiful community spirit. The time has come to enjoy a great day in a friendly, fun and relaxing atmosphere where “Petits et Grands” will find something to their taste such as a great variety of delicious treats, fun activities and rides for the kids, delightful hand massage, gorgeous hand bags, wine tasting and all sorts or treasures whether it is a board game, a book that you have been looking for or little cuddly soft teddy. Don’t forget the Chocolate Wheel with so many great surprises for all. And while browsing around you might cross paths with Mr Frizzy who will make you smile.

Get ready for a wonderful day and watch out for our new stall at the Carnival this Saturday, The Treasure Trove! We have over 20 amazing prizes and surprises which have been donated by local businesses & organisations!! The prizes can be won by making a bid on the item on Carnival Day. Look out for wonderful gifts from the likes of Aqua Dining, Bloom Fashions, Blue and White Drycleaners, Cranks Bikes, Delante Cafe, Fourth Village, Heart and Soul Health Club, Henri Lloyd, Imagine Photography, Kitchen Curries, Laser Clinics Australia, Lego, North Sydney Swimming Pool, Number Works and World, Simone Logue, Sports Fundamentals, The Salon Cammeray, The White Hart, Via Spiga Hair, Wicked Digital, Wolf Eyes and more!!! RRP for these treasures ranges from $50 to $450 so don’t miss out on being the highest bidder!

Soraya Salvatico & Leslie Wait and the Carnival Team

Raffle Prizewinners

· All winners will be contacted today to pick up their prizes from the office between 8.30am and 3.30pm.

· $500 Vouchers from Deborah Windfield Jewellers, Neutral Bay (Five Vouchers to be won) – 1 Nicols Family Ticket No 3560, 2 Joel Callahan Ticket No 3870, 3 Mrs G Ellis Ticket No 6430, 4 Perry Sarmiento Ticket No 6789, 5 Peggy Westerman Ticket No 2585.
· $250 Barefoot Bowling Vouchers from Neutral Bay Club (Two Vouchers to be won) – 1 J & P Mitchell Ticket No 3204 and 2 Fiona Burton Ticket No 5632
· Two free terms of Dance Classes at Evolution Performance Centre, Crows Nest at $150 each (Two Vouchers to be won) 1 Isobel Klein Ticket No 3321 and 2 Jim Smith Ticket No 3056
· One hour photo session with IsaBelle plus 6 enlargements (2 x 5″x7″, 2 x 6″x8″ and 2 x 8″x10″) Arkey Astill Ticket No 1588
· Interior Cushion Collection from Kvadrat Maharam – Amazing collection of 8 interior cushions (includes a Paul Smith cushion valued at $380 – Reid Donaldson Ticket No 3718
· One Term 2012 Fees for Neutral Bay School of Dance – Ricky Grant Ticket No 2097
· One dozen White Wine from Warraroong Estate – Jeremy Davie Ticket No 5571
· Women’s Oroton Bag – Kirsten York Ticket No 3441
· One lady’s Panama Hat from Carolyn Unwin’s collection – Jean Sweidan Ticket No 2399
· One free term Warringah Gymnastics – Andrew Kleiman Ticket No 2301
· The Medispa by Matty – Kate Ticket No 1114
· Pink Nokia C3 plus mini hair straightener – Bryan Leslie Ticket No 0601
· Kellett & Sharp Design – 1 hour design and colour consultation – Elle Feirier Ticket No 2396
· Glow Medispa Microdermabrasion valid until 31/1/12 – Monday to Friday – Jackie Cross Ticket No 0430
· Parrots Hairdressing shampoo and blow wave (2 Vouchers to be won valued at $80 each) – 1 Lesley Carre Ticket No 4466 and 2 K. Meredith Ticket No 3709
· Borscz Hair Design – Andrew Jinkinson Ticket No 3926
· My Little Cupcake Voucher – Charlie Ward Ticket No 4127
· Gourmet Gift Basket –Bender Ticket No 1166
· Myer Gift Voucher – Sophia Ticket No 3621
· Package of Microsoft Computer Games – Mari Enomoto Ticket No 2922
· Sports Fundamentals –Melanie Leihn Ticket No 5981
· Henri Lloyd (2) – 1 Joanne and David Young Ticket No 6378 and 2 Nena Ticket No 5341
· Kidstuff – Rosa/Office Ticket No 5923
· Imagine Photography – studio photo session and prints – Max, Jessica and Fraser Ticket No 3990

Sharmila Soorian, Raffle Coordinator

sharmila.soorian@ihug.com.au

Woolworths and Coles Dockets

The deadline for all Woolworths dockets has been extended to 18 October 2011. Thank you to all parents and children who have been submitting their dockets and vouchers. A big thank you to Maisha Tory 6B for collecting 271 Woolworths points.
So far we have collected:

13,262 points for Coles; and
14,727 points for Woolworths.

Sharmila Soorian, Coordinator

Year 3 End of Term Dinner!
Tuesday 20th September
Neutral Bay Lawn Bowls Club, Barry Street
7.30pm on (dinner only, no bowling this time)
Please RSVP Mon 19th Sept – melinda_hayes@yahoo.com.au
Lawn Bowls Cafe/Restaurant is now open Wed-Sun 9am-11pm, fully licensed

Melinda Hayes

Sydney University Junior Hockey registering players now

Sydney University Hockey Club Juniors are based on the lower North Shore.

In summer, we play indoor hockey which is a fast game with lighter sticks

played on basketball courts. The Club currently has vacancies in the U9,

U11, U13 mixed teams.

Games commence mid October and continue until early December.

There is no midweek training for indoor hockey, and games are held on Friday evenings or Sundays, depending on the competition.

Players do not have to have played with the club before and we welcome all

newcomers. If you are interested in playing indoor hockey, we would love you to join

Sydney Uni. For more details, please email juniorhockey@suhc.asn.au.

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