Caves Beach Public School Newsletter

Welcome to Term 3 Week 6

Education Week

Education Week is an annual celebration of NSW public education and the achievements of our schools, teachers and students. Education Week was held last week with our open day Tuesday 19th August.  

This year our teachers opened their classrooms and shared teaching and learning with parents, grandparents and our larger school community. Our Library again hosted a Book Fair with many families taking up the opportunity to purchase from a large selection of books. We also presented an awesome Art Show comprising works using many art forms from all our CBPS students.

Thank you to all our community members for supporting this day and to our staff specifically Sheree Tonks and Kristen Tiananga for the hard work that created such a great event.

2025 Exchange

This Thursday Yr 6 students will be treated to an international exchange with PSBB Chennai India. This is our 5th year of collaboration with PSBB Chennai where both our schools come together to share information about current and topical conservation works of interest. This year Dr Supraja Dharini will be speaking to both schools about her conservation work in India.

Bio for Dr Supraja Dharini

https://treefoundationindia.org/about-us/about-dr-supraja-dharini/

The connection with this school was established in 2016 when Mrs Chensee who was a teacher at Swansea PS at the time, visited India on an exchange program linking with Radha Balasubramanaina teacher from PSBB Chennai. Mrs Chensee who is now our Learning and Support teacher, has continued the connection and each year possible has organised an exchange for our CBPS senior students.  Please access the Weebly below to follow the progress of this valuable, educational project. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmartkids2.weebly.com%2Four-world.html&data=05%7C02%7CSUSAN.R.GIBSON%40det.nsw.edu.au%7Ce9b0839200ac4cb1547e08dde03a8b30%7C05a0e69a418a47c19c259387261bf991%7C0%7C0%7C638913264230543493%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=TzpWFBjwClaQp0eVozkdjw%2BHV5aFWNKY%2F3HiPhjgSnM%3D&reserved=0

Sue Gibson

Principal

Week 6

• Tuesday 26th August - Sea Stars Playgroup 10.00am

Week 7

• Monday 1st - Thursday 4th September - Zone Public Speaking
• Tuesday 26th September - Sea Stars Playgroup 10.00am

Week 8

• Tuesday 9th September - Sea Stars Playgroup 10.00am
• Thursday 11th September - Stage 1 Reptile Park Excursion

Congratulations to the following Gold Award recipients:

    Alexa D        3P

    Lucas P        3P

    Lilah B          5N

    Cooper H     5/6R

    Oliver R        5/6R

    Jarvie M          6M

Congratulations to the following Merit Award recipients:

Week 4

Congratulations to the following Celebration Award recipients:

Week 4

Congratulations to the following Merit Award recipients:

Week 5

Congratulations to the following Celebration Award recipients:

Week 5

Dear parents and carers,

During Term 3, students will participate in the Check-in assessment.

The Check-in assessment is a NSW Department of Education online literacy and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor student learning.

The assessment can supplement existing school practices to identify how students are performing in literacy and numeracy and to help teachers tailor their teaching more specifically to student needs. Students with disability may receive the same level of support during the assessment they would normally receive in the classroom.

·         The assessment will be scheduled for our Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 students during Weeks 6 to 9 (Monday 25 August to Friday 19 September) with a finalisation week in week 10 (22 September to 26 September).    

·         All students complete a reading assessment and a numeracy assessment. Year 6 students will also complete a writing assessment during weeks 6 to 9.

As your child becomes more confident with phonics and decoding, they’ll start to move beyond decodable readers and into what we call authentic texts - real world books not written for the sole purpose of teaching reading. These books have a wider range of vocabulary, sentence structures, and storylines. This transition doesn’t happen overnight and it’s perfectly normal for children to move back and forth between decodable texts and more complex books as they learn to read. 

Decodable readers are designed to match specific phonics skills in a structured sequence. They are sequenced to align with phonics instruction - they contain only words made up of taught grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences, plus a few high-frequency heart words. Once children have mastered most common letter-sound patterns, they’re ready to apply those skills to less controlled texts where not every word follows a familiar phonics rule. This is when comprehension, vocabulary growth, and reading fluency become key focuses. 

Continue to support independent reading with level-appropriate decodable texts, while also reading together from a rich variety of authentic texts – chapter books, poems and information books. These mixed reading experiences build confidence, comprehension, vocabulary - and most importantly - a love of reading. 

Last week our talented athletes proudly represented Caves Beach Public School at the Zone Athletics Carnival.

From sprints to long-distance events, high jumps to relays, every student gave their best effort and showed incredible sportsmanship. We are so proud of the way you encouraged one another, tried your hardest, and wore our school colours with pride.

Congratulations to all who competed – you’ve done yourselves and our school proud!

Band - Week 6 and 7 - Term 3

Band rehearsals will run as normal for the next 2 weeks! 

While the weather put a hold on performing last week for Education Day celebrations I was very impressed with he mature response from all students during this time, although there was disappointment expressed by students they quickly bounced back and saw the perspective of the decision. Junior band also had a fun rehearsal in costume! 

The band took possession of two brand new Timpani last week! A very special addition to the percussion section. Lance is looking forward to introducing these to our percussionists in their lessons.

If your child has recently stopped attending band please ensure you send a notification through the school email and return any instrument that belongs to the school. 

Band Camp - Permission Notes Overdue

Please return permission notes to school ASAP, if your child is not attending camp, please return the note indicating this so that numbers can be finalised. 

An additional medication note will be sent home this week for students that require medication on the excursion, very sorry it wasn't attached to the original note. 

The camps objective is to prepare for the upcoming excursion in term 4 to Bandfest, so attendance to the camp is highly encouraged to best prepare as a team.

Camp will also provide the first steps in the transition to senior band for our junior members,  a very exciting time for these members!  

Week 6

Junior band 8:15am – 8:55am - Tuesday and Thursday  

Senior band 8:00am – 8:55am - Wednesday and Friday 

Week 7

Junior band 8:15am – 8:55am - Tuesday and Thursday  

Senior band 8:00am – 8:55am - Wednesday and Friday 

 Please send a black display folder with current band music to rehearsals each week. 

• Please keep in close contact with your tutors regarding absences. 

Lance Verdon- Clarinet, Saxophone and Percussion - Tuesday, Thursday, Friday  

Bethanee Swilks- Keyboard - Monday 

Isabella O'Brien - Flute and Bass guitar - Tuesday 

Bryn Wilson-Kellaway - Trumpet and Trombone – Wednesday

 Fees:

Fees will be collected through the school office for all band members. These have been added to your school bytes accounts, please let Mrs Scott know if there are any errors or if you cannot view these fees. 

Fees can be paid off termly @ $60 per term. Instrument hire fees are due term 1 to secure the instrument for your child. Instrument hire fee is non- refundable.

Band fee - $60 per student per term, Junior and Senior band.

Instrument Hire fee - $100 per year, due term 1

Reeds:

Reeds are available for purchase with cash only to Mrs Scott:

Clarinet - Rico - $3.50 (Beginner students) 

Clarinet - Vandoren - $4.50 (Intermediate - advanced students) 

Saxophone - $4.50 

Bass Clarinet - $7.50

Students will be supplied with a reed when one is broken so they can continue to participate in rehearsals and lessons.  A slip will be sent home with your child with the cost displayed and payment is expected within the same week. 

Happy music making,

Kelsey Scott 

Band coordinator 

“I enjoyed dancing with the girls from Swansea High School and the Aboriginal dances up on stage. I am looking forward to trying new dances including the goanna dance and picking berry dance.” 

“I enjoyed learning new dances especially the crab dance and dancing with everyone during Opening Ceremony in the hall.” 

“I really enjoyed celebrating about my culture by playing the didgeridoo with my friends and the high school students.” 

“I played in the Closing Ceremony and found it fun.” 

“I’m proud of my culture and playing the didgeridoo was good experience.” 

“I’m proud that I’ve got to learn how to play the didgeridoo and that I can share my culture with others.” 

"I liked getting involved with my culture, learning the dances and seeing my friends from high school. I enjoyed speaking about the NAIDOC week theme about the next generation.” 

“I’m proud of my culture and playing clap sticks in the didgeridoo group” 

“I’m new to the group but I feel like I belong, and I’m attached to my culture and the people in it. Thank you, Mr Honeysett, for teaching us the yidaki, also known as the didgeridoo. Thank you everyone for sharing our culture with us."

Book Week

Our Book Week Parade was a true highlight, bringing stories to life in the most colourful and creative ways. The playground was filled with fairy tale heroes, adventurous explorers, and beloved book characters — all thanks to the incredible effort from our students and families.

We are so proud of the enthusiasm and imagination shown by everyone who took part. A big thank you to our parents and carers for your support with costumes and for helping to make the day so special.

The parade reminded us all just how powerful and fun reading can be. Let’s continue to inspire a love of books both at school and at home.

Congratulations to the competition winners below:

Lego build:

Kindergarten: Toby S

Stage 1: Hudson J

Stage 2:  Robbie E

Stage 3: Beau C

K6R: Will C

Adventure poem:

Stage 2:  Bonnie D

Stage 3: Koah T

Guessing Competition:

Eleanor B and Willow J

PRC

Students have until Friday September 19 to log their books for this years challenge. 

💃🕺 Disco Thank You!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make our Community Kids’ Disco such a glowing success! 🌟🎶

This event would not have been possible without our amazing volunteers:

Helpers 🙌

Jade Maxworthy• Britt Fowell • Alison Zooks • Vanessa Fisher • Tarnia and Blake Richards • Cath and Scott Shepard • Bart Simpson • Mel and Tony Asmar • Mel Rickets • Nicole Heaton • Nicole Owen • Bree Waring • Natalie Blackman • Jodie Gauci • Shae Peterson • Rick Felton • Jake • Kaye and Steven McDonald • Spencer Thebus • Nat Blackman • Mel Tinsley •  Abby • Danni DeCourcey 💛

Student Helpers 🌟

Cindy and Allie • Amelia • Koah • Keeley and Zahli • Dash • Pepper • Emelia • Alexa • Zahli

💡 Special Thanks To:

Steph Davies (P&C President) – for organising the disco and pulling everything together 👏

Madonna Frost (SeaSide Bites Canteen supervisor) – for making sure the canteen was fully stocked with goodies, drinks, and ice blocks 🧃🍭

Mandy Tyndall (P&C Vice President) – for organising the sausage sizzle, which was a huge hit! 🌭

✨ If your name was accidentally missed, please know your time and efforts were invaluable and we are so grateful for your support

👏 Thank you ALL for your incredible contributions: setting up, packing down, supervising, and bringing energy to the night. 

📸 If you’d like a digital copy of your child’s photo booth pictures, please email:

cavesbeachpublicschool@pcaffiliate.onmicrosoft.com

The kids had an absolute blast, and that’s thanks to you!

📣 Where to Find Us & Stay Connected

📧 Email: cavesbeachpublicschool@pcaffiliate.onmicrosoft.com

🌐 Website: Caves Parent

📱 Facebook: Caves Beach Public School P&C

🛍️ Buy, Swap & Sell Group: Caves Beach Public School P&C Buy, Swap and Sell

💛 Thank you for supporting our P&C. We couldn’t do it without you!

Caves Beach Public School P&C

Working together for our kids 🏫✨

Seaside Bites Update - 

🌭 Hot Dog Day – A Book Week Hit! 📚

As part of last week’s Book Week celebrations, Hot Dog Day was a huge success! A special shout-out to Kahli and Sandra for your fantastic help ! 🎉👏

🪩 Disco Fun at Seaside Bites 🎶 The canteen was full of energy and excitement during the disco! A massive thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to help out – your support made the night even more special, and it’s very much appreciated! 💃🕺🍭

🍔 Seaside Bites Update & Volunteer Call-Out 🌊

🍽️ Seaside Bites – A Big Thank You! 💙 We’d like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of our wonderful Seaside Bites volunteers for your ongoing support. Your time, energy, and commitment help keep our canteen running smoothly – we truly couldn’t do it without you! 🙌

We need your help!

We are currently looking for parents, grandparents & carers who may be available to help out in the canteen once a month on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and/or Friday morning (9:00am – 12:00pm). If you’re free and would like to lend a hand, we’d love to hear from you – even if it’s on a more casual basis. 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

The kids love seeing you at school and it’s a great way to connect and meet other parents. Not feeling confident? No problem – we’ll teach you everything you need to know! 💡

📩 Interested? Give the school a call or pop us an email at cavescanteen@gmail.com to sign up — we’d love to have you on board! 🥪

— The Seaside Bites Team 🏖️

The roster for Weeks 6 and 7 is below: