Marks Point Classroom

School Development Day - Thank you for supporting our School Development Day. As a staff  we reviewed our Welfare and Discipline policy and procedures, finalised processes for assessment and reporting for this semester, and organised our Consistent Teacher Judgement plan.

Influenza Virus - As the World Health Organisation has raised its swine flu alert our department has indicated that NSW Health and other relevant State and Commonwealth government agencies have comprehensive strategies in place to manage this situation.

However, it is a timely reminder to carry out good hygiene practices and minimise the spread of infections. Some simple precautions include washing hands, covering mouth when sneezing or coughing and if symptoms of flu exist, stay at home and seek medical advice.

Ride 2 School - Our school applied to become a coach school for the Ride 2 school program and has been successful. On the 19th May our Year 5 and 6 students will be able to participate in a bike safety workshop. An officer from Bicycle NSW will be in attendance on the day.

Anzac Day March - Thank you to the students, parents and teachers who attended the ANZAC DAY march last weekend and represented our school so proudly.

School Cross Country - Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Cross Country event today. The 8, 9 and 10 years ran a challenging 2000 metres and the 11 and 12 years, 3000 metres. Thank you to Mr Gleeson and Mrs Banks for organising the event.

Start of the Junior Boys Cross Country Race

Active After School Communities - Our Active After School program will recommence this coming Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Monday will be for seniors participating in an athletics program and multiple games on Tuesdays for the juniors.

P & C Mother’s Day Stall donations - The P&C are asking for donations for their Mother’s Day Stall to be held on Friday 8th May. Anything that you think would make a great Mother’s Day surprise would be greatly appreciated. Please leave these donations in your child’s classroom in the tubs provided. Your support is always greatly appreciated.

The P&C will also be holding a wrapping bee on Thursday 7th May in the hall at 9:30am for those parents who are able to spare some time and help out.

The uniform shop is open on Thursdays from 8:45am - 9:15am and is located at the end of the verandah near Mrs Bank’s room.

Numeracy Activities at Home - A parent survey will be sent home this week for Numeracy Activities at Home. Parents of students in K-2, Miss Arthurson’s and Miss McDonell’s maths groups will receive these surveys. Please complete the survey as soon as possible and return it to your class teacher, thank you.

Volunteers Needed - canteen volunteers are urgently needed. Please contact the school if you are able to help out.

Stage 2 Starlight Activity morning and fundraiser - Tomorrow in Friday groups Stage 2 children along with Miss Arthurson and Mrs Banks will be participating in Starlight themed activities to raise money for the children’s charity “The Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia”.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia, provides support for seriously ill children throughout Australia by providing fun activities, weekend escapes and special wishes for seriously ill children and their families.

Please help us to support this charity by allowing your child to make a gold coin donation on Friday. The students will be allowed to wear purple and/or yellow or dress up as their favourite superstar on the day.

For more information on the Starlight Children’s Foundation visit www.starlight.org.au

Dates to Remember:

• 8th May -  Mother’s Day Stall
• 12th - 14th May - NAPLAN Yr 3 & 5
• 14th May - Science Made Fun 12:30 K- 6 

Today Australians have honoured the 94th Anzac Day by gathering at memorials across the country to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by more than 100,000 Australian servicemen and women.

The Sydney Morning Herald says as Australians mark the 94th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, troops are serving in at least seven overseas operations.

The largest group is in Afghanistan, where last month the 10th Australian soldier fell, his sacrifice and those of his mates reminders of the true cost of serving our country and the true meaning of Anzac Day.

Our students joined students from a number of local schools invited by the Belmont RSL sub branch to march from the Gunyah Hotel through Belmont today. The March concluded with a service held to commemorate the Anzac spirit and pay tribute to Australia’s fallen soldiers.

Thank you to all the students and parents who attended.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your holidays. Sorry I haven’t posted anything over the break but I have been busy, busy, busy enjoying the break

I will post photos etc from the last week of Term One shortly, and I will see all those students who are marching on Anzac Day in Belmont on Saturday.

I just wanted to quickly post something about Starlight Day which is coming up next month. Last year our Year 3/4 students, Mrs Banks and I held a Starlight Party at our school to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Year 3/4 students at the Starlight Party in 2008

To read more about Starlight Day click on the picture below:

Starlight Day is Friday 1st May.

News from this week’s  School Newsletter:

Term 2:  Our staff will be participating in a School Development Day on Tuesday 28th April. Classes for Term 2 will commence for all students on Wednesday 29th April.

ANZAC Day: Some of our students will be attending the ANZAC Day march at the invitation of the Belmont RSL Sub Branch on ANZAC Day, Saturday 25th April. Thank you to those students and parents who are participating on this special commemorative event.

P&C Easter Egg Raffle: The raffle was drawn today. Thank you to the parents who wrapped the copious quantities of eggs into forty one delicious looking parcels. Thank you again for supporting this fund raiser.

Mathematics: Our world of Maths day was enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to those parents/carers who were able to spend some time with the student groups yesterday.

NAPLAN 2009: a reminder that the National Assessment Plan Literacy and Numeracy tests will take place commencing on Tuesday 12th May and finish on Thursday 14th May. If you have any queries please contact the school.

Book Fair: Our book Fair was held yesterday. Aside from the opportunity to purchase excellent reading material from a great range of books, our school library will also benefit from the sales. Thank you to Miss McDonnell and her volunteers for putting on this event and to our parents for supporting it.

School Cross Country: Our school cross-country event will be held on Thursday 30th April. This is in week one of next term. students who are 8 or turn 8 years of age this year, and older, are able to participate. The age divisions and distances are: 8/9 and 10 yrs girls and boys - 2000m; 11/12 and 13 yrs boys and girls - 3000m. Training runs over the holiday period are highly recommended.

Softball: Our boys’ softball team were ready to go on Tuesday, dressed in their team uniform and looking very professional. Unfortunately the grounds at Belmont were declared unusable and so the game against Belmont had to be postponed until next term.

Library News: The Premier’s Reading Challenge is beginning again for 2009. Thank you to all those students who have registered. Students may begin reading now! Student reading logs will be given out once all students are oficially registered. Please look on the PRC website, click here, or in the library for the appropriate age booklists. Don’t forget that five books may be free choice.

Also a big thank you to Mr and Mrs Willoughby for their enormous donation of a class set of each of the 15 book series recently published by the Daily Telegraph. The students and staff greatly appreciate this kind of donation and will get lots of enjoyment from these books.

As mentioned in previous posts our school is participating in the Active After-School Communities program again this year.

The Active After-school Communities program is a national initiative that provides primary school-aged children with access to free, structured physical activity programs in the after-school timeslot of 3.00pm to 5.30pm.

The program aims to engage children in structured physical activities and to build pathways with local community organisations, including sporting clubs.

In this term’s AASC State Newsletter our school blog has received the following mention under the title:

Marks Point Public School’s surfing program gets rave reviews on their blog.

“Children at Marks Point School, in the Lake Maquarie region south of Newcastle, have used their school’s blog to document the fun they have in the AASC surfing sessions. Their slideshow says it all - the anticipation during their on-the-beach warm up, paddling out for a wave, and the extreme excitement of standing up on a wave. Students described their AASC  program as ‘one of the many opportunities offered to students to engage in healthy living and active lifestyles at our school.’

To read the full newsletter click on the picture below:

We currently have a family of ducks visiting our playground and hanging out with our kids. Mrs Parker took this video of Mr and Mrs Duck teaching their ducklings about “persistence”.

Congratulations to:

Stage 2 - Jason D, Flynn F, Larnie B

Stage 3 - Shae O, Samuel H

As part of our Science & Technology Unit on the Environment 2L made models from recycled rubbish this week.

Mrs Lowe’s Senior Literacy Class buddied up with Miss Arthurson’s Stage 2 Literacy group last week to work on writing narrative “orientations”. The topic was “A mini creature”. Equipped with a thesauras each, Year 5/6 worked one on one with Year 3/4 students to come up with catchy, creative introductions, writing through the eyes of the mini creatures.