WOW end of Term 2 already! My apologies for the late newsletter. This week has really got away on me with all of the exciting activities.

 Haven’t we ended with a BANG! Our NAIDOC celebrations have been absolutely superb. Thank you to the team of teachers that have worked tirelessly in the background. These events for the students do not just happen. I am grateful to have the team here at Stockton Public School, they always put our students front and centre.  Christine Anu was certainly the highlight of my term. Christine spoke passionately of her life as a Torres Strait Islander woman. She spoke and sang in language and taught us some of her language too. It was fabulous to witness her pride and connection to culture and land.   Speaking of which, it was wonderful to meet Uncle John Ridgeway. Uncle John is a Worrimi elder and Ava Wendy’s grandfather. Uncle John was also passionate about his connection to culture and country. We look forward to Uncle John joining us on many occasions, some formal and other just for a cuppa. Mowane, the Aboriginal dancers from Hamilton Public School were fantastic. Our choir blew us all away with their version of "My Island Home". Thank you to all of the parents, grandparents and carers that come along. 

As we finish this afternoon for school holidays, I would like to thank all of the staff. This term has been challenging and at the same time rewarding. This certainly couldn’t be the school that it is without the staff that are here. I am very grateful every day to work with this team.  I trust that you all have a safe and restful break. Staff return Monday 12 July and students K-6 return Tuesday 13 July. Bathu Bila will return Tuesday 13 July to preschool.

Ms Jodie Holt

Principal

We are currently taking enrolments for Kindergarten and Preschool 2022. To enable us to correctly estimate enrolments and staff the school appropriately for 2022, any parents enrolling new children P-6 need to complete enrolment forms and leave their details at the office. Please let any neighbours and friends in the local area know that we are enrolling now. Please be reminded that if you live out of zone and are enrolling in Kindergarten to Year 6, I am unable to confirm an enrolment for your child or for siblings at this point in time. This is dependent on current and new enrolments across the school K-6. There is also no guarantee of placement in local/feeder high schools. Please see school website for current enrolment procedures.

This year we are trying something different for our Parent Information session for Kindergarten Transition for students starting in 2022. Usually we hold a parent meeting - you sit and listen, we stand and talk.... I have a feeling this is outdated and to be honest a little boring for us all. We want you to get all of the information that you need so that your child has a successful transition into Kindergarten at Stockton Public School. 

So we are inviting you to our EARLY YEARS EXPO! 

On Wednesday 14 July our school hall will be full of stalls for you to visit to hear information, collect flyers and information packs, meet other parents, staff and students of Stockton Public School.  The EXPO will be open from 4:30pm-6:30pm. A flyer is attached for further information for you. 

We are hoping that this experience will be far more interactive and engaging than our usual Parent meeting for Kindergarten Orientation.

If your child is starting Kindergarten next year 2022, please come along! We look forward to meeting you.

On Friday 11 June, Merewether Public School hosted the K - 2 Cultural day for the schools within Newcastle Learning Community. Even though it was very cold, we were lucky to avoid the rain and have the sun shining all day. Some of our K - 2 Aboriginal students were able to attend and join in all the activities. The students participated in art, dance, Aboriginal games, story telling and cooking. It was a great opportunity for the students to make new friends from other schools and learning more about Aboriginal culture. The day was made possible through sponsorship from The Wollotuka Institute. We are looking forward to the 3 - 6 Cultural day that is planned for later in the year. 

On Friday Week 6 of Term 2, Year 5 from 4/5S were the first Stage 3 students to attend Claymation. Claymation was very interesting and was held in the Library with the director Matt. Claymation was about building characters out of clay and putting it into stop motion. The biggest challenge we came across was inputting the sound to the Claymation video. The biggest success was working with each other's ideas and putting them together into a video. With how it all turned out, the Claymation day was the best!

Written by Oscar and Jarvis 

On Wednesday 9 June, the Year 5 students at Stockton Public School were lucky enough to be able to have a tour of Newcastle High School and two taster lessons.

We were split into two groups, with each group participating in two different taster lessons. One of our taster lessons was cooking which was a very fun learning experience. It was also a very yummy lesson as we got to make very delicious pikelets with a choice of whipped cream and raspberry jam.    

The second taster lesson that our group got to participate in was maths, where we tried to solve different maths problems.

A special thanks to all the teachers who taught cooking, PE, maths and  some very cool experiments in the science lab.

Written by Courtney and Chloe.

First we went to the hall and we met all the teachers we were going to do lessons with.

Then we got put into groups (two groups). Group 1 went to science and mashed up strawberries, put them in a test tube, put a stocking in and poured the strawberry juice in and all the chunks got stuck in the stocking. Then one of the teachers came around and poured a special liquid that made the liquid look like spit+snot.

Then Group 2 went to cook and cooked pikelets and we ate them with strawberry jam and whipped cream. After that Group 1 did PE. In one of the games the teacher called out an ice-cream flavour and if your flavour was called out you had to run to the other end of the hall without getting tipped from the person who was in.

Group 2 went and did maths and  there was a picture on the board and there were two pictures in one. One of the pictures was white and one was black and we had to try to find both of the pictures, then the teacher explained that the people that could only see one of the pictures is like the way that people see maths. Everyone sees maths differently - some questions are easier for some people and for others it's hard. Then everyone had a popper and chips or popcorn and we went back to school!  

Written by Leni and Bitsy 

Should you become aware of a security incident at our school please contact the School Security Unit's hotline 24/7 on 1300 88 00 21.