Plattsburg Public School Newsletter

PPS will celebrating Harmony Day on Friday 19th March. 'AROUND THE WORLD' will be the theme for the day at PPS. More information will be sent out to the school community in the coming week.

Students please get your costume from around the world organised or you can wear the colour orange on the day. 

Our diversity makes Australia a great place to live. Harmony Day is a celebration of our cultural diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home.

The message of Harmony Day is ‘everyone belongs’, the day aims to engage people to participate in their community, respect cultural and religious diversity and foster sense of belonging for everyone.

New lunchtime activity: Lego Club

If anyone has any Duplo or Lego that they are no longer using and would like to donate this to Plattsburg Public School it would be appreciated to support our new lunch time Lego club. Please send any donations to the office and we will make sure the Lego club organiser receives the donations.

Challenge opens on Monday 1st March 2021. The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is available for all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 9, in government, independent, Catholic and home schools. If you need help using the website and the answer cannot be found on the PRC Support site at https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Don’t forget you can keep track of books you are reading over the summer to be added to your reading log once the challenge opens. Anything you have read from August 31st 2020 can be counted towards the 2021 PRC. 

• The Transition Timetable for families has been updated on the Year 6 Transition page of our Website. : https://wallsend-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment/year-6-transition.html
• Aspire Program (for Gifted and Talented Students) and Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) Program applications will be done online this year. Aspire applicants  need to email two work samples (one paragraph of Persuasive Writing and one paragraph of Creative Writing) to our school email address (subject line Aspire Program Work Samples).  No more paper forms and no work samples/documents except those listed above! Reminder that parents/carers are to complete the form by Wednesday 24 March. https://wallsend-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment/year-7-2019-transition---gifted-and-talented-students---creative.html

Upcoming events:

Tuesday 9 March 2021: Year 6 Expo from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. All interested families and students are welcome to come along and have a tour of the school, speak to key personnel and current students.

Wednesday 10 March 2021: Transition Tour - Representatives of the Aspire and CAPA Programs will be visiting Partner Primary Schools for a quick concert, display of work, and chat with program coordinators and current students.

15th March 2021 at 7.00pm

via Zoom

Following the acceptance of the minutes from the 2020 AGM, all current office bearer roles will be declared vacant and nominations called for the following positions: 

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Executive

The AGM is open to all parents and carers who wish to attend, however only financial members are eligible to vote and/or nominate for vacant positions. Please follow the link to become a financial member of the P&C Association. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfou1vV0wB2Smfu5P8G_yz217-ub9gyFNCyYNDmEwZjXuwN6g/viewform

At the completion of the AGM the March general meeting will be held.

The canteen has updated the classes and teachers in www.quickcliq.com.au.  Having the incorrect class on a lunch order can really slow down the process of sorting lunches into the correct lunch baskets. A drop-down box with the correct class names and teachers has been updated and available now. Could parents/carers please update their students details next time they order at  https://quickcliq.com.au/. The example in this newsletter shows what is received by the canteen when the orders are printed out each day with this example clearing showing the class and teacher/s. 

A reminder that it is against food handling regulations for food from home to be reheated at the canteen. This also applies to cups of noodles that have not been purchased from the canteen. 

Thank you for your continued support of our P&C Canteen.

To the Schools, Kids and Families in the Newcastle Region,

You may have heard that Variety and The City of Newcastle are building an amazing new Inclusive Playspace as part of the redevelopment of Foreshore Park. This is a space we want all kids, families and the wider community to feel welcome, safe and that they belong – and we want to raise the voices of our kids and teens, as they are the real play experts!

Last year we had the pleasure of conducting a  few school consultations with some of the school kids in Newcastle and surrounding areas for the new Variety Livvi’s Place inclusive playspace. The children’s feedback was passed onto the designers and then fed into the draft concept design. This design is now on public display for comment and we would love all the kids of the Newcastle region to have a look at what we have designed and tell us what they think. This is a great opportunity for your students to understand and participate in a community engagement in a safe, fun and exciting way, using great technology. It also is a practical example of how the voices of our kids are important and valued. We want to empower them to share what they think as we create these public spaces  for them to participate and enjoy community life in Newy.

This maybe something your teachers want to run through in an activity in class? Feedback can be anonymous. https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say/projects/reimagine-newcastle-harbour-foreshore

We would be also be grateful if you can share this link through your school newsletter or Facebook page to encourage all students and their families to share their thoughts on the Design.https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say/projects/reimagine-newcastle-harbour-foreshore

The survey is open until the end of next week, Friday 5 March. 

If you have any questions or would like more information , please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or on 4043778142

Let’s Play,

Kim BecherandManager Inclusive Play I Variety – the Children’s Charity NSW/ACT