The Brief | Term 4 Week 3

Principal Message

2025 School Planning

We're at the beginning of our planning phase and getting ready for an amazing 2025 school year, and knowing our student numbers in advance allows us to create the best possible learning environment for everyone. If your family is considering a move to our school zone, we'd love to hear from you!

Here's how you can help:

• Are you moving? Let us know as soon as possible by calling or emailing the school. This helps us plan our class structures and resourcing for next year.
• Know someone moving here? Encourage them to contact our school at their earliest convenience. We can include them in our upcoming planning and answer any questions they might have.
• New to the area and ready to join our learning community? Families can begin the enrolment process by visiting Online Enrolment Application.

Your cooperation helps us plan effectively for another fantastic school year.

Changes for 2025

The NSW Department of Education and the NSW Teachers Federation have announced key changes for 2025, including an updated school calendar that will incorporate additional professional learning days for teachers. These changes aim to enhance teaching and learning outcomes, ensuring that our teachers have the necessary support and resources. Families can expect adjustments to the school year schedule, including modified start and end dates, designed to benefit both students and staff. We appreciate your understanding and support as we implement these positive changes for our school community.

The start date for all students in 2025, Kindergarten to Year 6, will be Thursday, 6 February. We understand that changes to the schedule can be challenging, and we appreciate your flexibility and support as we work to ensure a smooth transition into the new school year. Thank you for your understanding as we strive to enhance our professional learning and ultimately benefit our students.

Term 4 Events

Our school has commenced planning for many end-of-year events and we would like to give families as much notice as possible.

High School Orientation Day – Tuesday 3 December
Presentation Day – Thursday 12 December
Party Day – Monday 16 December
Year 6 Farewell – Tuesday 17 December
Year 6 Clap Out – Wednesday 18 December
Last day for students – Wednesday 18 December

Presentation Day will be held on Thursday, 12 December, split into two sessions. Kindergarten to Year 2 students will have their Presentation Day at 9:15 am, ending around 10 am. Years 3 to 6 will have their Presentation Day at 10 am, ending around 11:15 am. Please note that the start of the first break may be slightly delayed. We're excited to celebrate the achievements of students at these special events.

Kirstie Yeo
Principal

Awabakal Word of the Week

Learning and Support Team Update

Meet the team!

What does the LST do?

Every school has a Learning and Support Team (LST), and they will look different in every school. At Floraville PS, our LST consists of the staff members above, and this term we welcome back our school counsellor Phoebe Burchill on Wednesdays and Carly Erich, Assistant Principal. This team collects information and gives recommendations for the teachers of students who need adjustments to access the curriculum and meet their educational goals. The team plays a key role in meeting the specific needs of children with disability and additional learning and support needs. Our Learning Support Team welcomes collaboration with parents, carers, caseworkers, pre-school settings and external agencies.

LST teaching focus areas for Term 4

• Kindergarten: Reading single sounds, VC and CVC words
• Year 1: Phonemic awareness/ Recognising digraphs
• Year 2: Reading and comprehension
• Year 3: Reading and comprehension; Seasons for Growth program
• Year 4: Targeted numeracy support; reading and comprehension; Seasons for Growth program
• Years 5 & 6: Targeted social/emotional group; reading and comprehension

What is the ‘Seasons for Growth’ program?

Seasons for Growth is a small group education program that supports children to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand and respond well to experiences of change, loss and grief. Seasons for Growth supports connection with others, fostering emotional literacy and resilience as a pathway to improved social and emotional wellbeing. Please contact the school via email or call Ms Thacker or Ms Yeo if you think this program may benefit your child. Further information can be found at https://www.mackillopseasons.org.au/programs/seasons-for-growth-children-and-young-people/

Helping your child with literacy and numeracy at home

The Department of Education has created resources for parents, carers and families of children in the early years of school. The activities support the important learning that happens at home. They are designed for you to have fun with your child and to help them have a great start at school. Visit https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/literacy-and-numeracy/resources-for-parents-and-carers/helping-your-child-with-literacy-and-numeracy-at-home

Contact us

If you would like more information regarding our learning support processes, please contact the school:

Email: floraville-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au  | Phone: (02) 49454845

School News

Library

Two students from Year 6, Sophie R and Kiara M, are organising a Book Swap here at school on Wednesday 13 November.

Students are invited to bring along any 2^nd hand books they no longer need. These can be brought to the school library any time leading up to the Book Swap date.

There will also be a number of 2^nd hand books that have been weeded from our library included in the Book Swap.

Overdue Library Books
We have been trialling sending Overdue Notices for library books via email. So far, it seems to be more successful than printing out overdue notes. Thank you for responding positively to these emails, it is greatly appreciated.

Mrs Southward
Library Teacher

School Uniform

The department supports the wearing of school uniforms, which promote a sense of belonging for students and contribute to a positive identity for the school community. School uniforms also contribute to the personal safety of students by allowing for easier recognition of students, both at school and in the wider community.

We understand that there may be occasions when wearing the full school uniform isn't feasible, and we appreciate your efforts when this happens. We also recognise that some uniform items can be costly, so we want to remind you that similar items are often available at local stores and can be suitable alternatives. We encourage our students to wear their uniforms with pride and thank you for your support in encouraging your child to wear the correct uniform to school each day.

School Opal Card

Sport News

Celebrating Our Athletes at the NSWPSSA Athletics Carnival

We are thrilled to share the fantastic achievements of our talented students who recently competed at the NSWPSSA Athletics Carnival in Sydney!

Despite not feeling her best, Elsie K. showcased her determination by finishing 19th in the 1500m and 29th in the high jump. Audrey K achieved a personal best in the discus throw, placing 13th overall. Zahra B. had a remarkable run, finishing 11th out of 40 in her 1500m race. She qualified as the 5th fastest for the 800m final and secured an impressive 8th place overall in that event.

We also want to give a shoutout to Brooklyn M. who placed 7th in Senior Girls Shot Put, and Aleyah V. for her impressive 20th place in high jump.

At this week’s Primary assembly, we were delighted to present the girls with their medals for the Hunter PSSA Athletics Carnival, which they had been patiently waiting for.

Congratulations to all our athletes for their hard work, dedication, and sportsmanship. We are so proud of you!

Stage 1 League Tag Gala Day

On Tuesday 29 October, Floraville took 4 teams to the Stage 1 League Tag Gala Day. The event featured 80 teams from 28 schools, making it the largest school league tag event ever held in the Hunter! A big thank you to Miss Katen and Mrs Jacobson for attending and helping get our teams to the correct field on time.

Our 4 teams from Floraville were keen for a massive day of running, tagging, stepping and try-scoring. Our students represented Floraville with pride and had a fantastic day doing it as well. Instead of telling you how good a time they had, let’s hear from the athletes themselves.

River – “It was excellent!”
Willow – “Playing a whole day of league tag was awesome!”
Maddie – “The best part of the day was scoring a try!”
Levi – “It was fun and I scored a try too!”
Sienna & Emmie – “Playing league tag all day was great!”
Lachlan – “It was a fun day and I scored 9 tries!”

We are all very proud of your new skills and showing sportsmanship when playing games. Well done!

Mr Dimmers

From The Office

Beat the Bite

This week, students in Kindergarten to Year 2 came home with a book titled ‘Jack & Angie Beat the Bite’, an entertaining story about two youngsters who love playing in and exploring the great outdoors while staying safe from mosquito bites.  These books have been provided by NSW Health as a fun and informative way of helping children understand the risk mosquitoes pose and ways to protect themselves and their families.

As part of this initiative, our school has been provided with RID Tropical Antiseptic Bite Protection 100ml pump spray bottles that are available for families to purchase at a discounted cost of $5 (RRP $9.50).  These can be purchased from the office with cash or EFTPOS, or you can log into your School Bytes parent portal, go to the ‘Payments’ tab, select the ‘Add other item’ tab, and from there you can complete your purchase. To ensure there is sufficient stock available for all families, until next Friday 1 November, there will be a maximum of 2 bottles per family available for purchase.  We will update families in week 4 if there is still stock available for purchase.

For all online purchases, office staff will send these home with students, or email the school if you would prefer to collect your order from the office.

Statement of Accounts

This is a reminder that statements will be sent home on Monday, November 4. We kindly ask that any outstanding payments be finalised as soon as possible.

Additionally, party day and other end of year event payments will be advised shortly, so stay tuned for more details.

If you notice any discrepancies in your statement, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email: floraville-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au  or phone: (02) 4945 4845.

P&C Community News

Mango Wrap Up!

Thank you to everyone who placed orders. Orders have now closed. We sold 136 trays and raised almost $1000 for the P&C to put towards school resources. This is an amazing achievement so thank you!

At this stage the mango trays will be delivered to school around the week commencing 2 December. This date may vary depending on weather, crops, transport – factors outside of our control. If you have placed an order, the P&C will send you a text message towards the end of November once we know more about the delivery details.

So start getting your mango recipes organised!

Last P&C Meeting for 2024

Our last P&C meeting for 2024 is coming up on Tuesday 12 November, 6:30pm in the school library. We will share more information next week about items up for discussion.

I’d like to take the opportunity to remind families that being involved with the P&C comes in many shapes and forms – some of our members are active and hold office bearer positions; others come along to every meeting and have lots of ideas; others prefer to sit at the back of meetings and listen; others come to a meeting occasionally when they can; and some never come to a meeting but like to keep in the loop with what’s happening with the P&C through the meeting minutes and principal’s reports. Joining the P&C does not mean you have to take on jobs or tasks (unless you want to, of course). Anyone can come to a meeting, anytime. If you would like to become a financial member of the P&C, the cost is $1 per year (which resets at the March AGM each year). Being a financial member means you can vote on any issues raised at a meeting, receive the minutes and reports from each month’s meetings, or nominate for an office bearer or sub-committee position. But you don’t have to be a financial member to get involved with the P&C. The more people we have involved, the more exciting and successful it will be! As we near the end of the year, we’d love to engage more of our school community as part of the P&C, in ways big and small, whatever is feasible for the individual. Please consider coming along to our last meeting for 2024 or making it a goal for you in 2025, and seeing for yourself what the P&C is all about.

Kindergarten orientation

Some of our P&C met with our incoming Kindergarten parents this week. It was great to meet everyone and share some of the opportunities that parents can be involved with at our school, to be a part of the school community. Ways to get involved can include helping in the canteen, coming along to a meeting, joining the P&C, or helping at fundraising events or behind the scenes. 

Canteen

We appreciate everyone’s patience as we sort through some issues with the Flexischools system. Orders can be placed the “old-school” way any time, with your order written on a bag (don’t forget your child’s name and class!) with money included, taken to the canteen on arrival to school.

NPA Sports Equipment Fundraiser 

The Christmas countdown is on – 55 days until Santa arrives!!! NPA sports offer personalised sporting equipment, and these make fabulous Christmas gifts. Our affiliation with NPA finishes at the end of the year so we’d love to add some extra sales before the promotion ends. Families are invited to purchase anything from the NPA website using our unique link and 20% of sales go back to the P&C, which then go back to our school. Items can be personalised with your child’s name or team/club name, so this means no more lost equipment! Items are sent quickly and posted directly to your home. Sports included are netball, soccer, basketball, AFL, league, rugby, touch football, tennis, volleyball, cricket and gridiron. They also stock drink bottles, sports bags, and personalised Christmas baubles. For our school to receive the funds, orders need to be made using the following unique link: https://npaevents.com.au/?sca_ref=5593459.I2Qxx5OoE9.

P&C Communication

Please follow the official P&C Facebook page to keep up to date with the latest P&C information and events. Our page is www.facebook.com/p.c.floraville. If you need to get in touch with the P&C, you can send us a message on our Facebook page, or send an email to fpspresident@gmail.com. 

Amanda Bailey
P&C Committee

Community Newsletter

Please see October Community Newsletter for community events and news.