Blacksmiths Public School

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4. This term is already in full swing as we continue to make it a productive term for our students.

PRESENTATION DAY

Our school’s Presentation Day will be held on Thursday 7 December at 9:30am in the school hall. There will be no live stream this year. I take great delight in inviting our parents/carers and grandparents to join in our celebrations. An email will be sent home to all award recipients via School Bytes prior to the Presentation Day assembly. I look forward to celebrating our students’ successes with you at this event.

KINDER 2024

We have welcomed our 2024 Kindergarten students in recent weeks during our ‘Meet and Greet’ sessions. We look forward to starting our orientation process next Thursday 2 November. This is such an exciting time for these students and we can’t wait to start their learning journey with them at Blacksmiths PS.

LEADERSHIP SPEECHES

We wish all Year 5 students who are about to undertake the leadership process all the best. Students nominating for leadership roles will present speeches to the school this coming Tuesday 31 October.

SWIM SCHOOL

Swim school is quickly approaching and students from Years 1-3 will be given the opportunity to take part in the two-week intensive program at Swansea pool. This program will run during Week 7 and 8 this term with swim sessions going from 1-2pm daily. A note will be sent home via School Bytes.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS & ART SHOW

Christmas Carols and the Art show will be held on Thursday 14 December from 4:30pm-6:30pm. Parents and community are invited to join us for this event. Save the date and further communications about this will be sent out in the coming weeks.

POLICE YOUTH LIAISON OFFICER TALK

In Week 6 this term, we are lucky enough to have the local Police Youth Liaison Officer visit Blacksmiths Public School. The Police Youth Liaison Officer will speak to students in Years 4-6 about the important topics of online safety and road safety. Students will then participate in positive engagement sessions. We look forward to this upcoming visit.

ROAD RULES

We encourage parents to talk to their children about their digital footprint and the importance of following road rules when riding bikes and scooters for their safety and the safety of others.

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/.../skateboards-scooters... https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents...

ATTENDANCE

It is a legal requirement that parents/carers provide an explanation for a variation in attendance. If students arrive later than 8:55am, parents are requested to go firstly to the school office for students to be signed in. Similarly, if students leave early, parents are requested to go to the office to sign the student out. We thank you for your support with this.

EXTERNAL PROVIDERS

We have had an influx of enquiries from psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and paediatricians. Please remember that all these requests need to be tabled and discussed at Learning Support Team meetings. This includes all external provider requests for observation, assessments, checklist, and visits.

Our Learning Support team needs time to review each case individually. This process can take time and we appreciate your understanding with this. Please be mindful that you as the parent and caregiver are responsible for requesting this process. We need to ensure that an Exchange of Information form has been completed by the parent and/or caregivers prior to any visits, observations, checklists and assessments being completed/scheduled. These requests need to be made through the school office.

K-2 EXCURSIONS

K-2 have two exciting excursions planned for the end of year. Next week, K-2 students will participate in a walking excursion to Bahtabah Aboriginal Lands Council in Blacksmiths on Thursday 9 November 2023. Also, in Week 9, Friday 8 December K-2 students will be attending The Reptile Park at Somersby. This note will be sent out to families in coming weeks.

TELL THEM FROM ME SURVEY

The Tell Them From Me survey is anonymous and asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. Completing this survey will help our school understand parents’ and carers’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school and the feedback provided will help our school make improvements. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary and your responses are very much appreciated. The survey closes Friday 3 November. The link to the survey is below.

TTFM Parent Link

Kind regards,

Luke McIlvenie | Principal

We are also planning for 2024, so we ask that, if your circumstances are changing or your child will be attending another school in 2024 (not including Year 6 students going to high school), please inform the school office as soon as possible.

Applications are now open for student singers interested in applying for a vocal role in Star Struck 2024. These roles include featured artists, backing vocalists and the core choir. Anyone interested in being a part of Star Struck 2024 MUST complete the appropriate online application form by Tuesday 14 November 2023 at 4pm.

All information and forms can be found through the Star Struck website: https://starstruck.schools.nsw.gov.au/auditions-and-applications.html

This audition process is conducted independently from the school but we would love to know if you are planning to audition. Please also let either of us know if you need any help.

On Tuesday 17 October, Year 6 students attending Swansea High School in 2024, attended a transition day with Pelican Flat and Swansea Public Schools.

To begin, students were taken on a tour of the school and were introduced to staff members along the way. They participated in PDHPE, Mathematics and English classes.

These days are a great way for students to develop their confidence around attending high school and we are grateful to Swansea High for providing such a great transition program and we are looking forward to our next transition day.

Mrs Hellier

Last term, Mrs Hocking took our Environment Leaders to Pelican foreshore to explore and investigate the local environment. They tested different types of water, examined the human impact on the area and designed a new plan to decrease erosion along the foreshore. Well done to our little scientists!

Last week we were very excited to welcome our 2024 Kindergarten students into our school at their second Meet and Greet session. They all settled in wonderfully and joined in with our current Kindergarten students playing games, taking turns and getting comfortable in their new environment. We look forward to seeing all of our new students again at our first Orientation session next week.

Mrs Hocking

During Week 8 of Term 3, Stage 3 travelled to Canberra with Pelican Flat PS. Students visited major sites like Parliament House, AIS, Australian War Memorial and Old Parliament House.

The trip was enjoyed by all and this wonderful opportunity to explore the national capital was an amazing experience.

Students made new friends, great memories and should be commended for their behaviour in which Blacksmiths PS was represented whilst visiting our nation's capital.

Stage 2 and the teachers had three tremendously fun and memorable days at the Great Aussie Bush Camp.  We practiced archery and used the high ropes and giant swing, explored rainforests and climbed sand dunes! Other activities included the Lost Island mud run and rock climbing. Thank you #GreatAussieBushCamp for an amazing time. Students learnt about resilience, being independent and built their self confidence. Thank you to all of the fantastic staff who went above and beyond to make our experience so memorable. 

Mrs Audsley