The Punchbowl Press

2020 Term 4 Week 10

Important Dates

Wednesday 16 December - Last day of Term 4

Wednesday 27 January & Thursday 28 January - Staff development days

Friday 29 January - First day of Term 1 for students


Relieving Principal's Message

To all our families

Thank you for all your support in what has been a challenging year, and yet one of our most successful for the school.  Together we have been able to continue supporting our students with their learning when at home, and transition them successfully back to school for the latter half of the year. 

Over this week we have been celebrating the achievements of our students for their academic achievements, following our school values and for attendance.  While we were unable to accommodate parents onsite, I hope you enjoy the enduring memory of those moments through the videos compiled by our Community Engagement team.

Farewell to our Year 6 students. We are proud of who you have become over your time here at Punchbowl Public School and we know you will continue to be guided by our values of respect, learning and safety as you begin your high school journey.  We look forward to hearing about your achievements in the future when you return for a visit.

I would also like to thank the leadership team made up of the Assistant Principals and Deputy Principals who have supported me at different times through the year as the Relieving Principal.  Most recently they have been working diligently on the creation of our new Strategic Directions for the next Strategic Improvement Plan which will guide the school over the next four years.  We look forward to sharing this with our community early in 2021 as part our community engagement strategy.

To the wonderful, dedicated teaching staff and our superb SLSOs, have a restful holiday.  You have had one of the most challenging years as an educator and I appreciate everything you do to support every individual student in our school.  Have a safe holiday and I look forward to seeing you all back again in 2021.

To the administrative staff, the back bone of our school.  Thank you for keeping us all on track with the care and attention you give to those everyday tasks we rely on.  Have a safe, relaxing holiday.

To all the community, enjoy time with friends and family, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles over this summer break.  I look forward to working with you again in the new year.

Donna McGeary

Relieving Principal

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a restful and safe holiday break. School resumes for students on Friday 29 January. We look forward to seeing you back again for a wonderful year of teaching and learning at Punchbowl Public School. 

Fun Kids Punchbowl PS - OSHC

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) is coming to Punchbowl Public School in 2021. We are pleased to announce that following a tender process Fun Kids OSHC will be providing Before School Care, After School Care and Vacation Care within the grounds of Punchbowl Public School starting in 2021. Fun Kids OSHC prides on providing children with safe, fun, play based learning experiences with a positive attitude. From exciting activities, healthy nutritious food, to warm and caring team members. Copies of the enrolment form can be obtained from the front office or alternatively you can access more information by visiting https://www.funkids.com.au/punchbowl/, phoning 0422968085 or email punchbowl@funkids.com.au

P&C News

The P&C have registered an online fundraiser with Bright Star Kids. Bright Star Kids is a family-owned business that designs and produces top quality personalised products for kids. For every order you place our school will receive up to 20% in commission. 

All you need to do is visit their webpage, create an account, place an order and select LINK A FUNDRAISING ACCOUNT in the checkout and enter our school name PUNCHBOWL PUBLIC SCHOOL. 

Label it and never lose a thing! Get ready with your labels and personalised products for 2021. 

Happy Shopping. 

If you have any questions please phone the office on 9750 5055 and leave a message and one of the friendly P&C members will contact you. 

Punchbowl Public School P&C Committee 

 

Schools as Community Centre - SaCC

During Week 9 our three playgroups held their End of Year celebrations. The children and parents dressed up in their party costumes, enjoyed morning tea together and received goodies from our SaCC educators. It was a week full of fun and laughter.

Mums & Bubs Group

During 2020 parents and babies came together every Monday to participate in playground activities including stories, songs and games. We saw our babies crawl, take their first steps and reach many other milestone. At the end of year celebration each little learner received a gift pack including a book to enjoy over the holiday break. We encouraged our mums to spend time talking, singing and reading with their children, as they will develop confidence, language, social skills and listening skills.

Play-to-Learn playgroup

The parents and their children had fun learning through play and participated in a variety of activities, storytelling and singing. In 2020, Play-to-Learn groups ran on Tuesday from 9.30am – 11.30am.   We welcomed many new families to our community and look forward to seeing more in 2021.

Transition to Preschool Playgroup

Our Transition to Preschool program concluded at the end of Week 9. The children participated in a variety of activities such as tracing the names and alphabet, craft, painting, play dough, interactive games, singing and story time. It has been a very busy term for us and we enjoyed learning together with our children. Parents have been supportive and we are very pleased to have these families with us. Each student received a bag with writing activities, three books to promote home reading, and a few games and craft activities to enjoy over the break. We would like to wish our students all the best in Preschool next year and have a safe holiday break.

2021

All families and friends of the SaCC centre are encouraged to check on Punchbowl Public School Facebook page and the Skoolbag App for the starting dates for our playgroups in 2021.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Asenati Mareko

SaCC Facilitator

Certificate of Service awarded to Mrs Fifi Fakhouri - Community Liaison Officer

Mrs Fifi Fakhouri was recognised with a Certificate of Service with the NSW Department of Education for more than 20 years at our end of year assembly . We thank Mrs Fakhouri for her ongoing commitment and dedication to working with our community to strengthen, promote and facilitate effective partnerships across all areas of our school. 
Highlights of Early Stage 1 2020 Presentation and PBL Reward Day

Preschool

It is a bittersweet moment as we farewell our preschool children, sending them off to begin their next journey in Kindergarten. We have loved watching all our children grow, play, and learn and now they are ready for ‘big school.’ It has been a privilege to observe the connection they have with their peers, their growing confidence, and the determination they will take with them into next year.  

Most students have had orientation visits to their new schools, and have shown that they are ready for the next step of their journey as lifelong learners.  

This term we have had the opportunity to have a student teacher from the University of Sydney, Miss Lexi. She has worked closely with the Possums and Koalas groups. The children have enjoyed having Miss Lexi at preschool where she has helped them learn new songs and other things, and to play games and make new friends. We thank Miss Lexi and wish her all the best in her future career as a teacher.  

 

We will miss the class of 2020, and we wish them all the best for 2021 and beyond. Thank you to all families for putting your trust in us to guide your children through this crucial stage of their development. We have loved every moment! 

K-6 Owls & K-6 Kookaburras

K-6 Kookaburras and K-6 Owls are busy wrapping up the school year for 2020. Over the past 5 weeks we have been learning a range of new skills as well as creating and exploring new ideas. For Mathematics we have been learning about Multiplication, Division, Fractions and Telling Time. In Literacy we have been reivising sentence structure and creating compound sentences using adjectives, conjunctions and adverbs. Kookaburras enjoyed making bridges and towers to consolidate their learning in Science about forces and energy. They also made a delicious New Zealand Lolly Cake. The Owls and Kookaburras have enjoyed taking part in NRL over the past 5 weeks. As gardening finishes up for the year, we have created our own little succulent pots to take home. The Owls and Kookabuuras would like to extend a big thank you to Miss Clare for all her amazing work she does in helping us create and maintain our garden.  We hope everyone has a very happy holiday! 

Early Stage 1

This term, our Kindergarten students visited Year 1 for the first two hours every day in week 8 and 10. It was a great opportunity for students to meet their 2021 teachers and see the year 1 building as well as the playground that they will be moving to next year

We have produced a video to show our 2021 Kindergarten students some of the great things that happen here at Punchbowl Public school. The school leaders had a blast being film stars in our orientation video! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqhI_4GypG0&t=456s.  

Stage 1

 

This term, Year 2 had the opportunity to attend the Swim Scheme program at Roselands Aquatic Centre. As part of the PDHPE program, students were taught about being safe in and around the pool. They learnt to get in and out of the water safely, and how to call for help. The instructors helped them to float on their front and on their backs and blow bubbles under the water. Over the week the students learnt many valuable skills to use in the pool this summer! 

 

"I liked having a turn jumping into the water" - Bilal, 2 Turtles 

"We played a game to catch the stick under water. One by one we had to try and find it." - Fariz, 2 Turtles.  

 

Stage 2

This semester, Stage 2 have been studying Australia and its Neighbours. As part of a homework project, Stage 2 students researched and made models of artefacts from neighbouring countries. 3/4 Victory have also been learning about New Zealand and have looked closely at some of the artefacts found there.   

 

In 3/4 Victory, we have been learning about a New Zealand artefact called a Mere. Throughout the process we have been learning in a fun and educational way. We have learnt many facts about this amazing New Zealand artefact. Mere’s are found in the South Island of New Zealand, it is made out of greenstone and was used as a powerful weapon to defend and attack. We made our Mere out of clay, moulding it into a tear drop shape with two flat sides and several grooves on the handle. We also painted them green to replicate the greenstone. 

 Dalia, Yacoub and Zaynab 

Stage 3

In week 6, Western Sydney University came to teach Stage 3 about engineering. We constructed a solar powered car! This consolidated our learning from our science unit this term on Energy. Our solar cars needed a solar panel to convert potential energy from the sun, into kinetic electrical energy then into mechanical energy, to make them drive. We all got to race our solar powered cars! 

 

I had fun engineering the solar car and testing it. It was challenging at first but it was worth the results. I observed the sun’s power which made the car move. -Jayda, 5/6 Earth 

 I saw how the sun’s energy hits the solar panel and makes the solar car run by itself. – Caitlyn, 5/6 Earth  

 I noticed when there is sun, it powers the car to move but when there is shade the car slows down or stops. -Redwan, 5/6 Earth 

Year 6 had a blast celebrating their last year at Punchbowl Public School at the Year 6 Graduation Dinner and Teen Ranch. They have worked so hard and overcome the many obstacles that 2020 has brought (Learning at Home being one of them). Well done Year 6, on the resilience and determination you have showed towards your learning this year! 

 

The farewell was great and I loved how my friends and I performed the drums in Punchbowl’s Got Talent. I loved Teen Ranch and my favourite activities were canoeing and the giant swing. The best part of the giant swing was the adrenaline.  -Youssef, 5/6 Earth 


 I enjoyed the graduation dinner because I got to see my friends dressed up. I thought Punchbowls Got Talent was awesome. My favourite part of Teen Ranch was archery and the giant swing. It was fun to shoot the arrows and hit the targets. -Houssein, 5/6 Supernova 


 Teen Ranch was GREAT! I had so much fun. One of my favourite activities was the giant swing and canoeing because the giant swing was scary but so fun and canoeing because we had to work as a team. The farewell was the best night ever!  It was fun and everyone was looking amazing. Everyone was amazing in Punchbowl’s Got Talent, the drums the dances the singing even the food it was great. -Zeinab, 5/6 Supernova 


 I loved the giant swing at Teen Ranch as it felt like my heart was in my throat! -Reanna, 5/6 Halo  


 Teen Ranch was amazing! It had a lot of activities and it was full of fun. Me personally, my favourite activities were canoeing and giant swing. Al Sleiman. -5/6 Earth 


 It was fun to sit with my friends at the graduation dinner and see all the teachers dressed up looking pretty. I got to take pictures with my favourite teachers and perform Tic Tok dancers. I especially loved the LA Doughnuts we had for dessert (Thanks Mr Noshie). -Sara, 5/6 Earth 

Visual Arts

Kindy rainbows have learnt about warm and cool colours. The general idea is that warm colours are red, orange and yellow.  The cool colours are green, blue and magenta. Using the cool and warm colour chart helps to create contrasts in art works.  Check out the wonderful sunsets at the beach kindy students have drawn.

Community Language

It was a really interesting and challenging year for everyone. Teaching a language online with no face to face communication was a difficult task for teachers and parents. However, we really appreciate all the efforts that all our students and parents put in and this was obvious in their achievements. The Community Language teachers would like to wish everyone a Happy and safe New Year. 

 

Mrs Roffaell and Mrs Awada 

Library

The 2020 Premiers Reading Challenge 

Developing a love of reading requires effort and commitment. A strong school-home partnership in this area would help pave the way for life-long learning.  

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) aims to encourage students to embark on their reading journey for enjoyment. The PRC Booklist provides students with the opportunity to read more widely from a selection of quality literature. Despite all the obstacles this year, all of our students have completed the PRC which involved reading between 20 to 30 books. With the commitment of teachers and parents many students have received a Gold Certificate from the Premier’s Office, acknowledging that they have completed four years of participation. There were also a number of students who have received Platinum certificates for completing seven years of the PRC. Congratulations to all our students, teachers and parents for the continued partnership to enable our students to succeed as readers and learners. 

 

Why not join your local library? 

In recent years Canterbury-Bankstown Council have invested in upgrading its local libraries. The facilities are second to none, it would be worth your while to visit the libraries and Knowledge Centres. Joining your local library would give you access to a huge selection of fantastic books, including online libraries. Of particular interest are: 

Story Box Library – an online ‘Reading Room” where children can connect, engage and be inspired by a range of quality stories read on film. 

https://www.storyboxlibrary.com.au/login 

Ziptales – an online literacy library which consists of educational stories, videos, games and activities. The Ziptales content has been designed by trained teachers with the purpose of making reading a pleasurable experience. 

https://www.ziptales.com/subs/canterburybankstown/ 

Parents, you can register online to access the extensive resources and would need to visit the library within 30 days with photo identification for issuing of a library card. Libraries are located at Riverwood, Lakemba, Campsie and Bankstown, all close to train stations. Check the Canterbury-Bankstown library website for more details and school holiday programs. The link has details about joining the library.  

https://www.cbcity.nsw.gov.au/community/library-knowledge-centres/locations-memberships 

STEAM

Our students have enjoyed their STEM projects this semester. They were involved in plenty of discussion, mistakes, redoing, learning to be patient, helping and encouraging each other to be engaged learners. 

 Stage 1 were learning about geometric shapes in their classrooms. They continued this learning in the library by using MS Word to draw geometric shapes, fill the shapes with different colours then producing pictures with the geometric shapes. I hope you enjoy looking at some of their amazing work samples. 

Stage 2 were researching interesting places around our beautiful country, the best place in the world! They’ve compiled their research into an eBook, learning lots of new skills and surprising themselves with what they are capable of achieving! Their ability to use technology for learning are continually improving. Keep your eye on SkoolBag for a link to view their final publications. 

Stage 3 worked on designing and printing 3D trinkets to send to an Aged Care Facility. The student designs highlighted their creativity and thoughtfulness. These gifts, accompanied with a handmade card and heart-warming message, were mailed to our elderly citizens. Our students are looking forward to a response. 

 

It has been an absolute pleasure working in the library with our students and watching them grow in confidence as learners. I look forward to the year ahead with great excitement. Have a safe and enjoyable summer break. 

Mrs Faiza Matthews 

Teacher librarian/ STEM Teacher 

Sun Safety - Hats

Sun safety remains an important health and safety issue at our school. Our expectation is 'No hat, play in the shade'. Students will be directed to shade if they are not wearing a hat. Please ensure that all students start 2021 with a school hat. These can be purchased from the office or through Saouma's School Uniform shop. 

To protect skin and eyes from ultraviolet (UV) damage all staff and students are advised to wear a hat that protects the face, back of the neck, eyes and ears. Broad-brimmed, bucket or legionnaire hats offer the best protection from UV radiation. Baseball or peaked caps and sun visors are not recommended, as these styles do not protect the ears, cheeks or neck.

For best protection during the day we recommend that you:

  • Slop on SPF30 (or higher) broadspectrum, water-resistant sunscreen
  • Slap on a hat
  • Seek shade
  • Slide on sunglasses.


P&C - Second Hand Uniform Sales are on every Thursday

Our second hand school uniform store will be open every Thursday morning from 9:00-9:45am during Term 1 in 2021. 

If you have any good quality uniform items that you would like to donate to the school please bring collect them over the school holidays and  bring them to the office in Term 1. 

P&C Uniform Committee

Saoma's School Wear - Uniforms

Saouma's School Uniforms are the stockists of the Punchbowl Public School uniform.  Please find attached an updated price list for 2020/2021. Saouma's are offering 15% off from 30 November to 12 December. 

Contact Saouma's for more information. 

2/200 The Boulevarde, Punchbowl NSW 2196

​T: (02) 9750 3276

https://www.saoumaschoolwear.com.au/punchbowl-public-school

Bankstown Bulls

Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

Healthy Lunch Box website A one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about packing a healthy lunch box.

Check out the online presentation that will show you how easy it can be to pack a healthy lunch box that your kids will love to eat!

Download

Updated Information from the NSW Department of Education

The NSW Department of Education are working closely with the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), NSW Health and other agencies to ensure our schools continue to operate in the safest ways possible during the COVID environment. Please read the updated information available at https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

Skoolbag

Skoolbag is our main form of parent communication at Punchbowl Public School. This app can be downloaded free from your app store by following the instructions below. Stay up to date with school and community events, access the newsletter and send absentee and permission notes online.

Department of Education - School Updates App

Calling all parents and carers: Have you downloaded the School Updates app yet? Opt in to receive notifications about the operational status of our school (e.g. temporary closures). Find out more and download via https://bit.ly/2PD2jd3