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Athelstane Advocate Athelstane Public School

Friday 17th August 2018

Athelstane Avenue Arncliffe NSW 2205 T 9567 3550 F 9556 1742 E athelstane-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au www.athelstane-p.schools.nsw.edu.au

Term 3 - Week 4

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Back 2 Back Football Champions Athelstane Public School’s Division One Senior Boys Football Team have don’t it again, being crowned Botany Bay Zone Champions in 2018 after an incredible Grand Final against Arncliffe Public School. This was the second consecutive year that these two teams have faced off in the grand final and Arncliffe Public were keen to avenge their loss to Athelstane in last year’s fixture. This year’s grand final was very well supported by a sizable number of family and friends who were entertained with a fantastic display of football, played with great competitive spirit. The Athelstane team started strongly and dominated the match for long periods of time but just couldn’t get that final touch to secure a much deserved goal. The game eventually concluded in a draw and both schools were awarded joint champions. Congratulations to our Senior Boys on an outstanding season.

New Playground Opens It was with great excitement that the first stage of our playground renovations was opened for use earlier this week. After what felt like an incredibly long time, a new and improved Area One is

open for business and certainly received a lot of traffic as excited students were keen to investigate the area. The plans for the second stage are being finalised and it is expected that construction will begin in the not too distant future. Stage two will feature a number of new playground additions which will certainly bring students imagination and creativity alive. The good news is that stage two is a new playground space and will not impact on any existing areas that our students have to play.

Awesome Athletes Shine Last Wednesday 15th August, all of the students of Athelstane had the opportunity to showcase their athletic prowess at the annual school Athletics Carnival. There were some commendable individual performances in the various track and field events and a large number of students have qualified for the Botany Bay Zone Athletics Carnival. One of the most memorable moments of the day was the outstanding display of sportsmanship from one of our senior students, Reda Kassem, who sacrificed any chance of winning his 100m race when he stopped running to lend assistance to another student who had fallen in the race. This incredible selfless act exemplifies the caring nature of the students’ at Athelstane. Congratulations to Reda on this fantastic act of sportsmanship. The champion house for 2018 will be announced in the very near future. The success of the day was a result of the detailed planning and organisation of Mr Mavritsis and Ms Kaddour. Check out some of the fantastic action of the day in our schoolyard snapshot gallery in this newsletter. Final Thought “Victory is remembered for at most for two decades; Good sportsmanship is remembered for a lifetime.” Mr Lindsay Principal

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What’s On Dates For Your Diary

Friday 17th August

Winter PSSA ends

Monday 20th August – Friday 24th August

Book Fair – Held in the Library

Wednesday 22nd August

Book Week – Book Parade, Buddy Reading

Monday 27th August

Gold Award Assembly

Wednesday 29th August

Matt Cosgrove Author Visit

Thursday 30th August

Fathers Day Stall

Friday 31st August

P&C Meeting- 2pm

Friday 7th September

Summer PSSA begins

Monday 10th September

Premier’s Spelling Bee Competition – Wilkins Public School

Wednesday 12th September

Year 5 Visit to Kogarah High School

Assembly Awards The following students have been consistently displaying the values of our school.

They are to be commended for their effort.

KDW Hassan C Hussein S

K-2M Aleksandar V Hussein S

1L Hassan D Ali A

1H Mariam A Erdenebold E

2I Rayan E Marwa M

2M Hussein M Jasmine K

2-3A Maria C Muhammad U

3-5K Batoul C Fatima E

3K Fatimah S Hussayn K

3W Abbas G Ayah S

3-6D Wundarra M Peter D

4BP Zeinab N Zeinab M

4H Maya L Nandin

5A Sarah Z

5/6L Egshiglen E ZeinabE

6CS

Anand M Bilal H Fatima A Soukayna H

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Behaviour Awards Bronze, Silver and Gold awards are presented to students who have exhibited exemplary behaviour. Students earn ACES towards achieving one of these awards for consistent behaviour that follows the class and school rules. Bronze

2M Anand M

3W

Rama F Layal F Shema U Abbas G Mourtatha K Ali S Ganjiguur P

4BP Malak C Sara S

6CS Ali C

Silver

2I

Mohamed Z Zahraa E Ali Z Mohammed E Anand O Mohammed K Rayan E Nour M Aliyana K Abbas B

3W Ganjiguur P Khosoo E Mariam A

4BP

Malak C Zaynab A Radwan A Rhianna K Fatima M Aimen T Zeinab M

5/6L

Abbas S Khongorzul I Abbas S Khalil C Mariam A

Hussein A

6CS Batoule K Zeinab D Anand M

Newsletter Going Paperless Our school newsletter will soon be going paperless. Many parents have expressed a preference to receiving our newsletter electronically rather than paper. And what this will also offer to parents is the ability to translate the newsletter into a different language. This will ensure access for all our school community including extended family members. Subscribing will be easy. All you will be required to do is go online and simply fill in your name and email address and you will never miss a newsletter. What if I don’t have access to the newsletter online? There will be copies of the newsletter in the office. Uniform We all take pride in being part of the Athelstane community. This extends itself to wearing our school uniform with pride. Except for sports day, students are expected to wear full school uniform (this includes black shoes). Blue sports jackets are only worn on sports days. Peer Support Program Each year our Year 6 students have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their leadership skills by leading a group of students through the Peer Support program. Each Friday students spend 40 minutes with their peers from a variety of grades and work through activities that develop positive relationships with others while working on the themes of accepting differences; bullying; being resilient and being cooperative. Be sure to ask your children on Fridays about Peer Support.

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Education Week Open Day Last week, as part of Education Week, parents had the opportunity to visit classrooms and see their children actively engaged in learning. We thank the parents who took time out of their busy day to show their support. The school put on a delicious spread for morning tea and Mrs Galanos delivered an information parent workshop on Mathematics which received positive feedback from the parents who attended. Our class Spelling Bee champions also had the opportunity to compete in the Athelstane Spelling Bee. Congratulations to all students who participated and of course to the winners who will represent our school at Wilkins Public School shortly for the Premier’s Spelling Bee Competition.

Tell Them From Me Parent Survey This Term, our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. Students in Years 4-6 completed a this survey in Term 1 and will again complete the survey this term. The survey asks parents and

carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The survey is conducted entirely online on smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops or computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be commence on 27 August. Although participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, your responses are very much appreciated.

Our school will provide further information about how to access the survey. In the meantime, more information about the survey is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/ Is Your Child Starting Kindergarten in 2019? If you have a child who is starting Kindergarten next year, now is the time to come to the office and request an enrolment form.

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121 Numeracy Program Our Term 3 121 Numeracy Program is up and running. Our mentors have started working with our Year 2 students in building their numeracy skills through Mathematics games.

Library News

Book Week 2018 Each year, the Children’s Book Council of Australia champions the tradition of Book Week, where schools, libraries, booksellers, authors, illustrators and children come together to celebrate the wonderful array of Australian children’s literature. Here at Athelstane PS, we will be celebrating Book Week with lots of events inspired by this year’s Book Week theme: Find Your Treasure. Students will be participating in our Book Character Parade on Wednesday 22nd August, and we will also be having Buddy Reading time on this day. Parents and Carers are warmly invited to attend the Parade. The annual Book Fair will run in the Library from Monday 20th August until Friday 24th August where students can purchase books and

merchandise to take home and treasure. Teachers will be performing book reading sessions in the Library for lucky Golden Ticket winners, and some students will be visiting our local council library for more Book Week fun. On Wednesday 29th August we have the privilege of welcoming author/illustrator, Matt Cosgrove, to Athelstane PS to talk with our students about his books and inspire them in their own reading and writing. We are looking forward to this wonderful week where we can celebrate our very special literary treasures together.

How are we encouraging a love of reading and writing at Athelstane Public School? Students participated in Sydney Writers Festival and National Simultaneous Storytime. Sydney Writers Festival Last term, Ms. Kaddour, Mrs. Price and Mrs Crisafulli, had the privilege of taking our Year 4 students to the Sydney Writers Festival Primary School Day at Sydney Town Hall. Students were treated to four event sessions from both Australian and British authors and illustrators who were keen to share their tips and tricks for great story-telling. Award-winning Australian author, Morris Gleitzman, revealed his secret to overcoming writers-block, while talented author/illustrator, Chris Riddell, simultaneously made hilarious drawings that students could see through a projector. Australian author, Katrina Nannestad engaged children with tales of her writing woes, and how she uses photos and illustrations to help bring her settings and characters to life. Finally,

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A.F. Harrold performed some of his interesting poetry that brought fun and silliness to the day. Students were invited to contribute their thoughts and ask questions after each session which prompted some interesting reflections from all four of the guest speakers. We had a wonderful day and look forward to using the great ideas we learnt in our own writing. Mrs. Crisafulli Teacher Librarian

National Simultaneous Storytime KDW and K-2M participated in a reading of Hickory Dickory Dash by Tony Wilson for National Simultaneous Storytime. Our principal, Mr. Lindsay delighted us with his expressive reading, which included opportunities for students to join in by calling out the sound words in the book. Reading aloud to children builds many important foundational skills, introducing vocabulary and fluency. It also helps children to recognise what reading for pleasure is all about. We look forward to participating in this worthwhile event again next year. Mrs. Crisafulli Teacher Librarian

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