Principal’s Report

Mr Thomson

It is with great sadness that we will farewell Mr Thomson on Friday June 25, the last day of this term. Mr Thomson and his family are moving to Queensland where his partner will be taking up an exciting new career opportunity.

Mr Thomson is a much-loved member of our Northbridge teaching team who is known for his calm, gentle approach to all aspects of teaching. He is well respected by all students and has made vast contributions to sport and the raising of its profile at NPS.

We all wish Mr Thomson and his family the very best as they move interstate and embark on their next big adventure together.

A Reminder about Pick up

A reminder to parents and carers who pick up their children from inside the school that it is best for our students and teachers if you congregate in the upper quad which is under the COLA (covered outdoor learning area) next to the assembly hall. Please do not venture further into the school site and wait outside classrooms. This is unnecessarily distracting even at the end of the day.

More Works around the School

Please be advised that from Saturday 19^th June (beginning of Week 10) scaffolding and fencing will be erected around the school assembly hall in preparation for the replacement of the roof and guttering during the school holidays. At the same time, renovations to our basketball court will resume, taking approximately 4 weeks to complete. Also , at the beginning of Term 3 TASK will begin operations from our new OOSH hub.

Staff Profiles

This week we find out about Mr James Lundberg who teaches 5L and also organises many of the sporting events that happen at school throughout the year.

How long have you been teaching? How long have you been at NPS?

I started teaching in 2017. I first taught at a school in the Hills district where I also went to school, starting on a Year 6 class, followed by Year 3. After commuting from Crows Nest during this time, I decided to explore schools a little closer to home, before starting at Northbridge in 2019. Since then, I’ve worked in Year 4 and 5 classrooms which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Why did you become a teacher? What do you like to teach?

I studied exercise science at the Australian Catholic University, originally planning on becoming a high school PDHPE teacher. Though, through my work as a swim coach and instructor during this time, I became accustomed to working with younger kids and I made the decision to complete post graduate studies in primary teaching. Definitely the right decision to make!

Coming from this background in PDHPE, sport lessons have always been a particular favourite of mine. Though across all subjects, it’s incredibly rewarding seeing kids gravitate towards different subjects that they can dig their claws into, just as I remember doing as a kid! Witnessing them play to their own strengths, while at the same time persevere with different challenges. It’s really cool to watch children grow and develop. And as teachers, we’re lucky enough to see this sort of thing all the time!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’ve always been a bit of an outdoor type. Going for a walk to get a morning coffee, wandering down to the beach for a swim. I also play soccer in an all age team for Balmain FC and will jump at any opportunity to have a hit of tennis. The Australian Open has got to be one my favourite times of the year to barrack for the Aussies down in Melbourne. Although it looked a little different this year, you can guarantee the flights will be booked again for 2022.

Any interesting facts about you …

I’ve recently just come back from a trip up to sunny north Queensland to support my overly ambitious girlfriend in her endeavors to participate in the Asia Pacific Ironman Championships in Cairns. An awesome experience that I certainly won’t be competing in myself. Though the post race recovery through the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest was incredible. What a stunning country we are lucky to live in.

School Leaders Report

Week 7 and Week 8 Report- Edward and Chelsea

Multicultural Perspectives Speaking Competition

Last week the best of the best Multicultural Perspectives speeches were presented to us by our year 5 and year 6 peers. But only the two best prepared and impromptu speeches would advance to the next round. It was tight, but in the end Isabella L and Ella Q in Stage 3 and Sayah W and Luca M in Stage 2, were victorious . On Thursday {10/6/21} Luca, Sayah, Ella and Bella went to compete in the local final at Willoughby Public School. All students did an amazing job and we are so proud how they represented Northbridge PS.

Debating

Will, April, Danielle and Hannah are the Flamingos and Chelsea, Sienna, Enzo and Georgia are the Echidnas. Both Debating teams went down to Cammeray Public School to go up against their year 5 and 6 teams. The Flamingos won, but the Echidnas didn’t win although it was worth it in the end because we got to have a great debate against some very challenging teams.

Musica Viva

On Wednesday last week we had ‘Eastwinds’ come to perform their songs. East Winds are a music group that have famous songs. They showed us a song that was called early morning, they also held some interactive activities that many kids participated in. Shonshi showed he is incredibly skilled on the didgeridoo, Esfandiar astonishingly played the flutes, Mark played the sax Reeds and Claratubes and Miss Gillman played the majestic Marimba. Overall, it was a great show that Musica Viva put together.

Area

Well done to all of the students who were selected to attend area Cross-Country in Gosford last week. They did an amazing job representing Northbridge. A special mention to Sienna P who came third and is now progressing through to State Cross Country, which will take place next term.

Assembly

In Week 7, 5L performed a readers theater about a missing teapot. It was engaging, riveting and thrilling. In week 8, 1D performed a gangster dance where they excitedly showed us their cool dance moves. Overall the past two assemblies were spectacular.

By Chelsea and Edward

Students of the Week

The Student of the Week program was established with the purpose of celebrating individual academic achievement, as well as recognizing students who model superior character and citizenship.

Congratulations to the following students who are our next lot of Students of the Week for 2021!

They were presented with their certificate at their assembly this past fortnight.

Oliver R	3R
Elyse W	4P
Anais D	KM
Emilie L	2B

National Reconciliation Week

We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) started as the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993 (the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples) and was supported by Australia’s major faith communities. In 1996, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia’s first National Reconciliation Week. In 2001, Reconciliation Australia was established to continue to provide national leadership on reconciliation. In the same year, approximately 300,000 people walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of National Reconciliation Week-and subsequently across bridges in cities and towns-to show their support for reconciliation. Today, National Reconciliation Week is celebrated in workplaces, schools and early learning services, community organisations and groups, and by individuals Australia-wide

As a school we acknowledged and celebrated National Reconciliation Week beginning 27th May to 3rd June 2021.

In Year 3 the children studied the line, colour, mood, form and shape of water colour landscapes by different Indigenous artists. They created their own artworks in the same style. These artworks were created during Reconciliation Week as a way of recognising the talents and culture of our nation’s First People.

Year 4 Scintillating Science Investigations

Through their Science unit, ‘Melting Moments‘ Year 4 have been investigating solids and liquids and how they can change state when they are heated or frozen. This week they investigated what happens to different liquids when they are placed in the freezer. Children worked collaboratively to observe what changes they could see and what may or may not have caused those changes to take place. Throughout this progress the children were working on developing their scientific vocabulary when they were sharing their observations and hypothesis with one another. Here are some of the things they found out…

“The hand sanitiser didn’t freeze because it has alcohol in it – alcohol is really hard to freeze. It needs to be in a freezer set at -114 degress Celsius!” (Sayah W, 4P)

”The milk froze overnight. It froze as it is made up mainly of water. The milk is melting slower than the oil.” (Leo E, 4H)

”The oil turned a pastel-coloured yellow when it was placed in the freezer. It melted very quickly because the molecules in oil are different sizes, unlike the milk.” (Nicola G, 4P)

Year 5 History Panel

This semester year five have been learning about the colonisation of Australia and the impact it had on many people. We were given the task to write an oral presentation on a randomly given individual that had a significant contribution to the history and colonisation of Australia. Some of these people included Arthur Phillip, Charles O Connor, Mary Rieby, Charles Sturt, James Cook and Bungaree.

Last week, we invited the Year 6’s to come and listen to the engaging speeches presented by Year 5. Two people were afterwards invited to ask a question to the speaker about their talk or person. The presenter was given the choice to speak from first person or third person and we gained lots of new and interesting information from the speeches.

-Eliza N and April R

Debating Round 2

Congratulations to both the debating teams who competed in their second round of debates on Thursday of Week 8.

The Year 6 Team, consisting of Chelsea B, Enzo H, Georgia C & Sienna P, competed against Cammeray’s Year 6 team. The topic of their debate was ‘Children should watch 20 minutes of news at school everyday’. Northbridge unfortunately lost the coin toss and were given the negative side. They took a very interesting approach to this debate and chose to interpret the topic as a counter argument. What this means, is that they don’t disagree with the topic. Instead, they stated that students need more than 20 minutes, instead they need 40 minutes of time per day to watch the news. A very complex and challenging way to take on debate, which was a very brave risk of them to take. Unfortunately, they were narrowly defeated by Cammeray.

The Year 5 team, consisting of April R, Will R, Hannah P & Danielle B, competed against Cammeray’s other Year 6 team. The topic of their debate was ‘Children in year 5 and 6 should be allowed to use social media at school’. The Year 5’s took on the negative side and disagreed with the topic. They had a very strong debate with excellent points, which resulted in their second win of the season.

Well done to both teams, as both debates were extremely exciting and interesting to watch. You represented Northbridge with pride and we are extremely proud of both teams.

Multicultural Perspectives Speaking Competition Finals

On Thursday 10th June, 2021 our Multicultural Perspectives Speaking Competition finalists went to Willoughby Public School to compete in the area finals. We are very proud of Isabella L, Ella Q, Saya W and Luca M who proudly represented our school. The adjudicators commented that all of our Northbridge students presented thought provoking and interesting speeches that were both informative and entertaining. Not only did the students need to present their prepared speech which they had presented for their classes and in the stage finals but they also had to quickly prepare an impromptu speech on a topic decided by the adjudicators. Unfortunately none of our entrants made it through to the next round on this occasion.

Well done to all students who took part in this competition!

Musica Viva

Northbridge Public School has invited a Musica Viva ensemble to perform at our school several times over the past few years. Last Thursday, on June 6th, we were visited by the ensemble Eastwinds. They performed two concerts, one for Kindy and Years 1 and 2, and one for Years 3 to 6. Prior to the concerts, students have been learning about Eastwinds and listening to their music in their weekly music lessons.

Essential to the music of Eastwinds is improvising – making music up on the spot. For us, they performed a number of improvised musical pieces on many different instruments. Between the three musicians, they brought over 20 different instruments to play! These instruments included a didgeridoo, Persian ney (a type of flute), a saxophone and other woodwinds and even a rubber glove-based bagpipe. They also invited Miss Gillman to join in on the flute and xylophone marimba in some pieces.

During both of the concerts, students were asked to construct a story that would then be translated to be played on the instruments. K-2 students developed a story in which Santa and the North Pole were enveloped by ice and crushed! 3-6 students made a story of a hectic sounding morning, during which they fell out of bed and into their secret underground base, were attacked by a hippo they had to punch in the face and then proceed to have a perfectly ordinary breakfast. Students were invited to participate in a ‘seated dance’, playing word a association game accompanied by the didgeridoo.

The final performance of both concerts was based on a story of a young girl travelling back to her village. Students in the audience used body percussion and their own voices to create sounds of a creek and inclement weather. During this piece, several students were given the opportunity to play ‘whirly’ tubes then produce a sound when spun. Other students were invited to play a rain stick and also a foot pump-operated bagpipe.

We were very fortunate to have had Eastwinds join us for an engaging and exciting musical experience.

Making a Difference – Can you help?

We are very excited to announce Stage 3’s Making a Difference (MAD) project. The MAD has been specifically designed as a project based learning experience for Stage 3 students to lead an in-depth collaborative inquiry. The project will give students an opportunity to act on a subject they feel passionate about and strengthen our connections with the local community.

Our MAD project is based on the central theme of: people show their passion for a cause through taking action. This action will be inspired by the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These goals form part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Members States in 2015.

At the heart of the goals is an urgent call for action and this is what our Stage 3 students will embrace.

As part of the project, groups or individuals will be mentored to provide support and guidance.

If you hold expertise inline with one of the 17 goals and you are interested in mentoring a group/individual (and you have a Working With Children Check) we would love to hear from you. Please email jasmine.hart2@det.nsw.edu.au.

We envisage the mentoring role will involve approximately 4 sessions throughout Term 3.

We are very excited by this project and we look forward to updating the school community along the journey.

Miss Hart, Miss Osborn, Mrs Huntington and Mr Lundberg

Parent Volunteer Training

Parent volunteers are highly valued at our school and we are excited to announce that parents will be welcomed back into the classroom from Term 3 this year. In order to help in the classroom you will need to undertake Parent Volunteer Training. Training will be held for parents who would like to help in the classroom on Tuesday 23^rd June at 8:40am in the library.

To comply with regulations parent volunteers will sign in at the front office and with the current Covid QR codes. They will receive a visitors badge and sign out at the office at the end of their visit. This applies to volunteers in the classroom, library, uniform shop, on excursions, sports coaching, scripture, ethics etc.

Library Leaders’ Corner

Each newsletter the Library Leaders have been asked to share their love of reading, recommendations and reviews. Here is our latest article by Belinda M:

The Space Artwork Competition

In the library two weeks ago a drawing competition was announced with the topic of SPACE. Entries could be in any format you could imagine! Everyone did an amazing job with their drawings, painting and sculptures. Every time I walk into the library I am greeted with bursting colours!

During our library lessons we have had the chance to vote and admire everyone’s beautiful art pieces and really marvel at all of the hard work and creativity on display. Every single person should be proud and happy because all of your wonderful work has definitely paid off! Even if your artwork doesn’t win you have to remember that contributing to the library competition was a great achievement!

Belinda M

* The winning entries will be announced in week 9 for:

Student choice (4 winners)

Teacher Choice

Best effort K-2 (2 winners)

Best effort 3-6 (2 winners)

‘How many Stars in the Jar?’ was won by:

Scarlett (Kindy)

Itsuki (Yr 5)

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation

The Indigenous Literacy (ILF) recognises that in remote Indigenous communities books are scarce and literacy levels are often much lower than in other areas of Australia. Therefore the ILF aim to make a difference to the lives of Indigenous families by:

(1) Gifting thousands of new, culturally appropriate books – with a focus on early literacy and first language.

(2) Running programs to inspire the communities to tell and publish their own stories, in the languages they choose.

To support their amazing work Northbridge Public School will be holding a Great Book Swap on Thursday 24th June (Week 10). This is not only a great way to donate to a worthy cause but gives you the chance to tidy up your book shelves at home, and what a great way for our students to get a new book or two for their holiday reading!

Week 9:

There will be collection boxes in the library. Please send in your books with your child and they can drop off at the library.
We ask for age appropriate, pre-loved books in good condition (no mould or additional writing inside).
We will be happy to receive more than 1 book per student (I will be sorting into categories with the help of my Library Leaders) as this will provide more choice when the students come on the 24th to select their book(s).
I will send out Skoolbag notifications to remind our wonderful school community. There will be a link to our donation page so you can track our progress.

Week 10:

Keep those books coming in!
On Thursday the Library Leaders, SRC reps and myself will invite year groups to visit the library to choose a book – they must bring a gold coin donation for each book they wish to choose.

This is an amazing cause and we are keen to raise money and awareness to improve the resources and literacy rates in remote Indigenous communities.

Thank you,

Mrs Parker / Teacher Librarian

Japanese Library Section

Mrs Parker and I are very excited to announce that we will be setting up a Japanese section in our school library. We are calling for new or pre-loved Japanese books to be donated to NPS. If you have Japanese books which are in excellent condition or would like to donate new books that are appropriate for primary school aged children, please donate them by leaving them in the nominated box at the front office.

Thank you to our lovely librarian, Mrs Parker, for her generous support. Let’s make our Japanese library together to foster students’ passion for the Japanese language.
ありがとう（ARIGATO）!
あくつせんせい（AKUTSU SENSEI）

Note This!

Semester One Student Statement of Account

All Term 2 student statement of account (fees) were sent to parents on Friday 21st May 2021 via email. Fees are at the end of May. Please note if your child has participated in an incursion or excursion in Term 2 these excursion fees will be included in this statement. Thank you to the many parents who have paid so promptly. If there are financial problems please email Christine Smith directly.

Monitoring Attendance

Students are required by law to attend school each day instruction is It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure their children attend school.
Absences due to sickness, infectious illness, participation in special religious ceremonies or a serious or urgent family situation, are
An explanation for absence must be provided to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of
If absence notes are not provided on the day students return to school, the class teacher will send home a letter requesting a reason for the absence/s in writing
If a student has been absent for 3 days, the class teacher telephones the parent, to ask after the student and to ask them to send an absence letter.
Parents may use SKOOLBAG electronic app to notify school of their child’s absence.

Late arrivals and Early departures

As part of our duty of care it is essential that we have an accurate record of where your child is at all times. Therefore, for partial day absences such as late arrivals, early departures or leave/return to school on the same day all children need to be accompanied by their parent/carer to/from the Administration office where they will be entered into our roll system. If your child arrives at school after the 9:10 am bell this is considered a ’Partial Absence”.

Please also be aware that if you arrive to collect your child during the lunch break, we may be unable to locate your child quickly on the playground. As such please arrive before 1pm or after 2pm for early pickup of students.

Bringing belongings to school

Can you please check that students have all their belongings including lunch for the day before they leave the house in the morning.

Contact tracing within the school

Please be aware that any and all parents that enter the site they must sign-in in two ways.

1. The Service NSW Contact Tracing App. Please bring your phone to the school office when you arrive at the school in order to scan on correctly. This is a strict requirement from the Govt for Contract Tracing.

2. From the Dept of Education – ‘School Sign in Sheet’. This is a handwritten record of who is on the school site at all times, for safety reasons, and needs to be completed at the school office. This is a strict requirement of the DoE.

‘Covid 19’ Testing

As part of our requirements all children who are sent home with cold or flu symptoms will not be able to return to school unless we sight, via email, a negative Covid 19 test.

Uniform Shop: Winter Uniform

Please note the Winter Uniform order form is available on the Skoolbag App on the Uniform shop tab. You are able to order via the Spriggy Schools app (formerly know as Cashless) and the items will be delivered to your child’s classroom. The Uniform shop is now open for walk in on Tuesday morning before school from 8:45am and Thursday afternoon before school pickup at 2:45pm. Any questions regarding appointments or purchasing can be sent directly to the uniform shop manager at npsuniformshop@gmail.com.

See information below from Spriggy Schools:

Cashless is getting a new name

In two weeks, Cashless Canteens will be renamed “Spriggy Schools”. Cashless was originally created by the same team that built Spriggy, Australia’s most loved pocket money app and card, and now it’s time to bring the two under the same roof. Spriggy has over 500,000 members and is a reliable Aussie brand that families know and trust.

On Monday 24th May, your app will simply update to the new Spriggy Schools name, in the same spot on your phone. You will need to log in again after the change is made, but the terms and conditions will remain exactly the same.

With a new name, comes a new website

From Monday 24th May, every page on cashless.school will redirect to a corresponding page on the new website. You won’t need to do anything except be aware of the changes.