The Punchbowl Press

Our school is participating in an exciting initiative to recognise students from Preschool to Year 6 called 'Aussie of the Month'. The program recognises personal endeavour, achievement and contribution to the community and reflects some of the values we share as Australians. 

Each month one student from Preschool to Year 2 and one student from Year 3 to 6 will be nominated by the relevant team to receive the Aussie of the Month Award. This Award acknowledges outstanding performance in such areas as:  

• Mateship - Displaying a spirit of generosity and compassion 

• Respect - Showing respect to self, others or the environment at school and/or in the community 

• Inclusion -  Including others and celebrating the differences and uniqueness in all of us 

• Work Ethic - Dedicated to trying their best and always putting in a great effort 

  Congratulations to Rafika and Sabah who are our Aussie's of the Month for November. 

While face to face visits and parent workshops in our SaCC are on hold, our communication and ongoing contact with families continues to be strong. 

The Early Learners have been engaging in many different experiences through online learning and outdoor activities. Parents have been collecting the children’s learning packs from school and have been keen to engage and share photos and videos of their learning at home experiences. If you are yet to join our Facebook page please follow the link and join. 

The Transition to Preschool program starts on Friday 29th October and more information will be communicated to families who have already enrolled in the preschool.    

Our partnerships with other local community organisations have continued to strengthen throughout the year. AusRelief donated ten sports bags to our families. The attached images are photos of families who happily took part in this initiative. 

On behalf of Punchbowl Public School, SaCC would like to say a big thank you to the Lighthouse Community Support, Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre and AusRelief in supporting our school community during the lockdown.

All families are welcome to reach out to our SaCC at anytime. Please contact Asenati directly on 0439487865. 

Asenati Mareko - SaCC Facilitator 

The Preschool children have been super excited to be back at Preschool with their teachers and friends having lots of fun playing, talking and laughing. The children have been learning and remembering our PBL values and routines at Preschool. We are revisiting on how to keep safe from germs and learning about COVID safe practices. It was lovely to see so many children have grown up and become confident learners. We enjoyed many hours outdoors in the fresh air, remembering our beautiful outdoor learning spaces.  

As it’s our last term at Preschool, we have started discussions about going to kindergarten and ‘big school’ next year. The children are nearly at the end of their preschool journey and will be ready to graduate and onto their next adventure soon. Let’s make the most of our last term. 

Goanna’s are so excited to be back at preschool, as are their teachers. They showed what great learners they are by getting back into the routine, reconnecting with their friends as well as making new ones and having lots of fun all together. We are looking forward to a wonderful term together!  

It has been wonderful having Kindergarten students back at school. They have settled well back into school life and are busy with their learning. This week students have been practicing writing their five star sentences. They have enjoyed sharing their work with each other. Students have been reflecting on their writing by making sure it makes sense, has a capital letter, full stop and finger spaces. Have a look at some of our students' amazing writing!  

Kookaburra’s and Owls are happy to be back to school and learning together in the classroom. During the first half of term 4, Kookaburras and Owls spent time preparing for going back to school.  

We enjoyed connecting on Zoom and completing activities as a whole class.  

Now that we are back at school we are excited to continue developing our skills and knowledge of learning online. Students are given the opportunity to use laptops to schedule their learning and complete some of the daily learning tasks online.  

We also have a new student who has joined the Owls Classroom. Welcome Mohammad (Azmaeen). 

Year 1 were so excited to return to school and couldn't wipe the smiles of their faces. Year 1 loved seeing their friends, talking and catching up with their peers and teachers. They were very happy to be back in the classroom learning again.  

Jasper- “I love being at school and playing with my friends.”  

Tasnim- “I am excited to be learning English and Maths back in the classroom.” 

STEM 

We were asked to try an interesting activity, making string from three sheets of ordinary paper. We were not allowed to use any scissors or glue. We needed to make the string as long as we could, it also needed to be able to hold a weight. The team that made the longest string would win the challenge for length. The team who made string that could hold the most weight would win the challenge for weight. 

We used three papers. Eshaal decided that we should tear each paper into two pieces. We then rolled the six papers into cones and stuck the cones together. We folded the end to stop it falling apart. We didn’t focus on making it long, we wanted it to be sturdy. 

Binna, Eshaal and Helen 

Salam, Destiny and Serena: “We ripped the three pieces of paper into strips. Then we overlapped it and twisted it. We were so happy because our string could hold sixteen large exercise books. Other group’s string could only hold up to three books. We were so happy”. 

Taha and Maher: “We twisted the paper to make it tight. We made a hole to connect the papers together. We couldn’t believe that a piece of paper can be so strong. Our paper string could hold sixteen books”. 

Hussein, Jana and Amir: “We used three papers and tore it into three parts. We joined it together by twisting it. Were we so excited because we made the longest piece of string in the class”. 

What a tremendous effort by all of Stage 3 during the learning from home period. You have all done a wonderful job and we are so happy to finally be teaching you face to face. Here is a snapshot of all Stage 3 classes completing their final learning from home activities.