Spring Farm Public School

Please download the Skoolbag app for all school information: https://www.skoolbag.com.au/parentinstructions.pdf

Newsletters will be published by week 3, 6 and 9 of each term.

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a busy mid- term and all of the students have settled into their classes and are focused on their learning! Teachers have been busy programming and planning for their class and are continually working on differentiating the learning to meet the needs of each of their students.  

Our teachers have also been providing the opportunities for students to excel in the other areas of the curriculum such as, developing our Student Leaders and Buddy reading Helpers, providing sporting opportunities, organising after school dance rehearsals, training the school choir and hosting lunchtime activities. We thank them for their dedication and providing the opportunity to develop the Whole Child.

Spring Farm estate has grown exceptionally and will continue to be established for another few years. This has meant an increase in traffic and pedestrians using either the footpaths and roads. As a result, there is greater potential of accidents occuring and it is very important that we as a school community educate our students on being safe around traffic.

Through the PDHPE syllabus, each stage covers various aspects of Road Safety, please refer to the link for more information. It is very comprehensive and is a great opportunity to get some ideas and strategies that you can share with your family and discuss the importance of obeying the road rules especially being extra vigilant when travelling to and from the school : https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/road-safety-education

Spring Farm Public School is also in constant communication with key personnel such as,the Police Youth liaison officer,  Community and Road Safety Officer (Camden Council), Department of Education Road Safety Education Officer and the Department of Education Work Health and Safety team. 

In early June 2021, a number of the aforementioned personnel will be visiting Spring Farm Public School to make road safety assessments and to see what programs and strategies can be implemented to educate the school community on road safety.

In the meantime, the school will be continuously reminding students of road safety within class lessons, at assemblies and through social media outlets. Please support us and your children by consistently having the important talks on road safety, demonstrating at home how to be safe around vehicles and being a good role model by obeying the road rules especially using the school crossing and not jaywalking in front of your child or children. 

A great resource can be accessed: https://www.safetytown.com.au

If you have concerns over local community road safety, please feel free to contact Camden Council to express your concerns.

School photos Tuesday 8 June 2021. Students wear full school uniforms, either full summer uniform or full winter uniform. We encourage all students to wear their school polo shirt, navy pants, winter tunics or summer dress and if possible, black shoes.

Please label all uniforms and items (lunch boxes and drink bottles) with your child’s name and if 

possible, the class that they are in.  The Students Leadership team are assisting students to 

collect their own belongings from each break and from their classrooms. Please continuously remind your child/ren of being responsible for collecting their own belongings and putting their jumpers into their school bag!

To assist our students and staff, please use white sticky labels to write your child’s name. It is easier to read names and return it to the individual students in a timely manner.  Using black markers to write the names on the collar tags is difficult to read and they fade from frequent washing.

Kindergarten students will receive a slightly different report version from Stage 1 to Stage 3 student reports, as this is due to Policy guidelines. Kindergarten reports will describe how a child’s achievement compares with syllabus standards through teacher comments. It is important to remember that Kindergarten students are settling into school routines and understanding the expectations of ‘big school’. What we have found,  the biggest learning and social growth for kindergarten students, comes in the second semester (Terms 3 and 4). Please celebrate the overall learning and effort that your child has achieved so far. 

This will also be similar for students whose learning is impacted by a disability. They may receive a progress report based on an individual personalised learning program. Once again, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the individual goals that your child has achieved. 

For Stage 1 to 3 students their reports will be based on five point achievement scale with a teacher’s comment and recommendations. Students are provided grades based on what has been taught and how they demonstrate their understanding consistently. To give a specific grade, teachers make a professional on-balance judgement to decide which grade best matches the standards your students have achieved, based on assessment information that have been collected throughout the semester. An on-balance judgement does not just focus on a single piece of work. Teachers weigh up the assessment information that they have collected for their students up to that point in time. That information comes from both formal assessment activities and informal observations and are built up over time and in different situations.

For more information on student achievement and the allocation of grades, please visit The Assessment Resource Centre website (https://arc.nesa.nsw.edu.au/) as it provides work samples and other information to help you see the standards associated with each grade. The example below is a work sample of a student in their first year of Stage 1, who obtained a Sound grade due to the student’s ability to produce this type of writing at a consistent level. 

Student progress reports will be sent home at the end of Term 2, 2021. In Term 3, 2021 the school will be organising Learning Conferences which will be a three way conference between student, teacher and parents or carers. This will also be an opportunity to discuss the student academic report and revise new learning goals for semester 2.

Early Pick Up

A friendly reminder to our parents and carers to try to minimise early pick up during play times, as it can take time to locate your child/ren during these times. Our break times are:

Lunch – 11.40am -12.10pm

Recess – 1.30pm - 2.00pm

If early pick up does need to take place during these times, please make prior arrangements with the front office, so that we can organise for your child/ren can be waiting for you in the office.

Our next P & C meeting is on Monday 7 June 2021 in A Block class. All parents and carers are welcome.

Please contact P&C via email: springfarmpublicschoolpc@gmail.com

P&C fundraiser Colour Run will be held on Friday 4 June. More details will be sent to parents and carers through Operoo. Refer to our P&C facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SFPSPANDC/ for sponsorship information.