Term 1 Week 4 Newsletter 2023

Thank you to Mr Gold for organising such an enjoyable and smooth-running event for our students.

Appropriate Use of Communication Devices

Recently, the school sent out APPS’ ‘Guidelines for Appropriate Use of Communication Devices at School’. This is based on the Department of Education’s Policy ‘Student use of digital devices and online services’. To bring either a smartwatch or smartphone to school, families must complete an ‘Appropriate Use of Communication Devices Agreement’, which was sent out to all families via Compass. Students must then leave their phone and/or smartwatch switched off in their bag throughout the school day. This includes devices which are on 'school mode' or 'aeroplane mode', as teachers are not able to monitor devices during the school day. Student can use these devices, with parent's permission, as they leave school at the end of the day.

Welcome Kindergarten 2023

It was a true delight to see our new Kindergarten students and their families start school! Starting school is such a special moment. For some families it was their first experience of starting school and for others it was a significant moment as they had their last child starting. Either way, it was special and great to see such big smiles, gleaming shoes and immaculate uniforms. Our Kinder students have settled in so well thanks to their amazing teachers!

Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction

The department has introduced a new Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction position in all primary public schools with enrolments from Kindergarten to Year 6. This new leadership role is designed to work alongside Assistant Principals and Deputy Principals to support teachers in literacy and numeracy. They will work collaboratively with the leadership team to ensure the successful implementation of the new English and Mathematics Syllabus.

The Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction will provide guidance and professional learning to staff. They work alongside teachers in classrooms to enhance high-quality teaching practices. This might look like demonstration lessons, team teaching or working with small groups of students in focused literacy and numeracy tasks. Their role is dedicated to ensuring our students have strong literacy and numeracy knowledge.

At Anzac Park Public School we are fortunate enough to have two Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction who will be in this position from Monday to Wednesday. These roles have been broken down into a K-2 Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction, led by Nicholas Johnson and a 3-6 Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Instruction, led by Louie Cordwell.

Special Religious Education and Special Education in Ethics

Special Religious Education (SRE) and Special Education in Ethics (SEE) lessons are provided every week and are taught by visiting teachers organised through approved religious and ethics providers. These 30 minute lessons take place on a Tuesday starting from Tuesday 28 February. At Anzac Park PS the following options are available;

• Catholic
• Protestant
• Judaism
• Islam
• Ethics (Years 1-5 in Term 1)
• Non SRE/SEE

P&C AGM Tuesday 14 March

The Annual General Meeting for the Anzac Park Public School P&C will take place on the Tuesday 14 March. At the AGM, some members of the current executive will be standing down and new members will be elected. If you are interested in or would like to nominate somebody for any of the executive positions please fill in the nomination form. Only people who attend the meeting onsite at Anzac Park and are financial P&C members will be eligible to vote at the meeting. Parents are able to become financial members with a gold coin donation on the evening of the AGM. There are many opportunities both big and small for parents to become involved in the school. P&C Nomination Forms are available from the office.

ARCO (Anti-Racism Contact Officer)

Each school has a trained Anti-Racism Contact Officer (ARCO) to work with staff to promote anti-racism education and to facilitate the complaint handling process. The role of the ARCO is to assist any member of the school community who wishes to bring up a suggestion, or lodge a complaint in regards to racism. The ARCO may assist in putting the complaint into writing and explaining to the complainants their rights and responsibilities. The key role is to respond professionally as a mediator to any suggestions or complaints regarding racism at school and to contribute, together with other members of staff, to promote anti-racism education. Anzac Park Public School’s Anti-Racism Contact Officers are Mrs Rachel Deane and Mrs Katrina Calverley.

For more information on the role of the ARCO, please visit the website www.racismnoway.com.au. Information in a variety of languages about the role of the ARCO can be found here: https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/going-to-a-public-school/translated-documents/anti-racism-contact-officer

We would like to celebrate our diverse Anzac Park community in our future newsletters. If you would like to share information, photos or insight into a cultural celebration with the school community please email: katrina.wall@det.nsw.edu.au .

Sharing of Food & Birthday Treats

A reminder to all families that due to student allergies, please do not send to school food items for your child to share with the class. Rather than sending in a food treat on your child's birthday, we suggest that your child can wear a special birthday badge, for example, to help celebrate their special day.

An introduction for Parents about Restorative Practices.

Our school has made a very important decision this year and that is to become a Restorative School. Using Restorative Practices isn’t something we take lightly. We’ve been watching what’s been happening in the world of education when it comes to creating a strong school culture, to building effective relationships, to resolving conflict and to improving student behaviour and bullying. The bottom line is that we think there’s a better way.

Restorative Practices is that way. Working restoratively is really all about asking the right questions to students when things go wrong. You see, most approaches have us putting our detective hats on and focusing everything in the past. It really doesn’t get us very far because we never get to the present or the future.

Put simply, we’ll be asking your children questions like:

• What happened?
• How has that made people feel?
• And what action needs to be taken to make that better?

It’s all about teaching responsibility for your actions and knowing that nobody is going to do it for you. Our job is to help them do just that … better and better and better.

There’s a LOT more to Restorative Practices and we’re going to ensure you find out all of it. Our ongoing Partnership with Real Schools is supporting and resourcing us to make this change and you have access to all the resources too. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting development for our school.

Spotlight on Ocean