The Punchbowl Press

A huge thank you to our playgroup coordinators Farhana and Hasna and also our partnership providers for facilitating services and supporting our families with children throughout Term 2.

Over the last few weeks we have had two exciting interactive incursions in partnership with Creating Links. The Reptile Dreamtime Story, as part of our NAIDOC week celebrations and Messy Sensory Play.

We look forward to facilitating more programs during Term 3, some of the programs include Step into Work, Bringing Up Great Teens and the  continuation of our playgroup programs,  The planner will be available shortly.  

As we end another busy term we would like to acknowledge our partnerships with other local organisations who we work closely with all year to make our work in the SaCC possible. Creating Links, Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre, 54Reasons, Strong Safe Families, The Smith Family, SLHC Early Childhood Nurse, TAFE NSW, Lighthouse Community Support and AusRelief. 

For all program enquiries please contact Asenati Mareko on 0439487865.

Preschool and Early Intervention have been doing some great things this term. The Therapuppy visits have supported children in developing their confidence and bravery which then has translated over to other areas - what a perfect way to set them up for starting school. Independence skills, following instructions and turn taking are a focus to set them up for life. Vivid artworks linking to our land and imaginations are on display to acknowledge the creativity of the children. Lots of new friends have been made with children mixing together beautifully and looking out for others. All the children are feeling a strong sense of belonging and being as they continue to grow into kind, strong and independent humans. Below the Kangaroos have shared their child initiated Vivid Project.

Kangaroos Vivid Sydney

Some children in the Kangaroos class have been sharing with us their visit to Vivid. This sparked conversations about our city and if children have visited. We further explored Vivid by looking closely at photo images and videoclips of the Vivid displays. Miss Sherin also shared photos of her visit to Vivid. The children then used a variety of paint and collage materials to express their creativity and represent their thinking to create their very own artworks of our city attractions.

Ibrahim and Isaac then created their own “Vivid city” with the blocks.

Learning outcome 4.4- Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials.

Salma: I went to Vivid with the train. I went with my mum and dad and my two sisters.

Abeeha: I go city, the city is cool

Ibrahim: The city has lots of lights

Salma: I like when the show started

Lea: I saw the big light at the Vivid. I went with Nabil

Ibrahim: I can build the city. Abeeha can make it with me

Salma: We need fake lights, fake water and fake Opera house

Ibrahim: We can out water in there. We need to build that. The city is nice.

The project continued for a couple of weeks. Children worked together to construct models of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. They continued to share their experiences of visiting the city and this sparked conversation about rubbish a student saw in the water in the harbour. Our learning then led to discussions about pollution in our waterways and oceans.

 This term K Blue and K Yellow students have had the opportunity to host the K-2 Assembly. This assembly takes place every second Friday. Students were excited to create an item to perform at the assembly. They worked hard to learn and practice this item which they then performed spectacularly. Two students were chosen from each class to lead the assembly. They lead the students through the National Anthem and school oath and shared their learning for this term with the audience. We are looking forward to K Purple and K Orange’s turn in Term 4!

Stage 1 students have been learning about famous artists this term. The first artist students looked at was Pablo Picasso and they explored his cubist style artwork ‘Weeping Woman’. Students looked at facial features and created their own abstract self portrait.

The second artist students looked at was Wassily Kandinsky and they explored his ‘Concentric Circles’ artwork. They learnt about warm and cool colours and explored how colour can evoke different emotions.

Pae – There are cool and warm colours. These warm colours make us feel happy and cool colours make us feel sad.

Youssef S. - My favourite thing about my Picasso artwork was drawing the earrings.

All of Stage 2 went on an excursion to The Royal Botanic Gardens. Throughout the day, student engaged with three different activities looking at how society and the physical environment had changed over time. We have been working hard to learn how places stay the same and change over time, and students were able to experience how Sydney Harbour changed with the arrival of the First Fleet. Students were also able to explore the area around the Sydney Opera House, and connect the Harbour to imagery in texts studied in English.  

These past few weeks, Kookaburras and Owls have been very busy competing in Boccia tournaments, gardening, shopping and learning. Students attended the Boccia competition at the Sutherland Basketball Stadium to compete against several other schools. Congratulations to all our students who participated and fought really hard to secure second place. All that hard work training at school definitely paid off. We had more productive lessons with Panania Free Rangers where composting and the life cycle of honeybees were on the agenda. Both support unit classes visited the Life Education van to participate in a curriculum-based program about Harold’s Friendships and Friends and Feelings. Lessons empowered children to make safe and healthy choices in a highly interactive and engaging environment. Another community access visit ensured life skills continued to be taught while students purchased ingredients for a cooking experience.

Stage 3 students have been busy working on their ICT skills during library sessions with Mrs. Mathews. They have been learning all about Australian history whilst paying respects to the Indigenous peoples of our land today. Students are working independently to take their new learnt knowledge and create this into a virtual book using the ‘Book Creator’ application. They have been demonstrating fantastic participation and enthusiasm in this new learning area.

Hooray!!! We've reached the end of term 2 and the students have had a fantastic term. We, the Arabic teachers and students have been busy working to learn all about the Arabic letters, numbers and colours through various fun ways. We learnt the language on family and friends, we also learnt how to name domestic animals and label their body parts. The Community Language teacher are proud of all the students who participated in the lessons throughout the term.  

Have a wonderful and safe holidays from Mrs Awada and Mrs Roffaell.  

The Green Team has been busy helping turn Punchbowl Public School into an environmentally friendly space. Read first-hand about some of the students' experiences below:

Alan, 6Success

Punchbowl Public School is an upcoming EcoSchool. This year the Green Team have gathered to learn and expand our knowledge of different types of rubbish and composting. Last Thursday, we learned the purpose of the Green Team and the importance of keeping our area clean. We went to two different classes to survey their teacher to further understand our environmental focus. This week we learned about worms and what we could add in compost. We’re allowed to add apple skin, banana skin and even mango skin. We aren’t allowed to add chillies, lemon and mandarins because they are too sour and spicy. We were given a topic to reduce plastic from going into landfills. We came up with the idea of nude food: every Wednesday you wouldn’t be allowed to bring plastic to school. The most successful class will be announced on Monday and will get an ice block. Green Team makes me joyful since I know that I am doing something good for the environment. Thank you Miss Yasin for allowing me to join the Green Team and I hope we achieve the Bronze Award.

Moussa, 6Success

In Punchbowl Public School there’s a program called Green Team and I am in the program. Green Team is about helping the environment. Green team is led by Miss Yasin and in my opinion she fits the role perfectly.Thank you so much for allowing me to join and help my school become a better place.

Arisha, 4Inspire

This year the Green Team has been focusing on helping the environment and the school. Last week the Green Team had an incursion where we learnt about all the different types of bins and what should go in them. It feels good to know that the Green Team is helping the school environment to get better. We have learnt about many different topics like Nude Food and a worm farm.

During their library co-teaching sessions, students from Stage 2 have been learning about different celebrations. They’ve delved into the topic through exciting picture books that align with events happening in society - e.g., Sorry Day, Reconciliation Week and Refugee Week. Some of the stories they’ve enjoyed are: Sorry Day by Coral Vass, Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy & Lisa Kennedy, My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald & Freya Blackwood and Stepping Stones by Margriet Ruurs & Nizar Ali Badr.

Utilising several learning processes such as the Donut, Bus Stop, Graffiti Wall and Gallery Walk, students have shared their thoughtful understanding of events. This has given teachers an insight into their many faceted qualities, in particular empathy, kindness, and care. I encourage you to have a chat with your child about their learning regularly.

Mrs Matthews - Teacher Librarian

Have a read of some students’ comments:

What is Refugee Week?

Refugee Week is a commemoration. It is a sad reminder of people going through war.

Osman G, 4 Inspire.

Who is a refugee?

A refugee is someone who goes to another place because it’s not safe for them to stay in their country. For example, the Russia and Ukraine war people had to move and go to a new place to be safe. We care for people that are going through war.

Mohammed M, 4 Inspire

Why do we acknowledge Refugee Week?

Because people in other countries have war and some die so that is why we should acknowledge Refugee Week.

Omar, 4 Inspire

Because some people don’t have peace like us and because we care about what they went through.

Iman. A 4 Inspire

It has been wonderful witnessing all the students who have received PBL awards this term. The students who have been receiving awards have demonstrated the school's values by being safe, respectful learners. Well done to those students who have also been awards their pennant awards this term. Keep up the amazing effort and looking forward to seeing more award recipients!