Dudley Public School Newsletter

Our school production SKYHIGH is fast approaching with al tickets for evening performances now sold out. The matinee performance on Wednesday 13 September still has tickets available. More information regarding how the evening performances will operate will come home in coming weeks. Every student across the school K-6 is involved in the performance and will be featured on stage throughout the show. Many thanks to Mrs Murray for leading this wonderful performing arts opportunity which will showcase the musical, dance and drama talents of our students. Matinee Tickets available here: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1091551 

We have organised a photographer to take quality photographs during the performance of each item within the production. These photos will be made available for families to download after the production. We also request that no mobile phones are used during the performances by the audience for filming or taking photos of any of the performances due to child protection issues. We would like the audience to be present for the performances and have the students perform to smiling faces rather than the backs of mobile phones. Thankyou in advance for your cooperation and support.

We are currently in the final stages of coordinating our Kindergarten Orientation program for our 2024 incoming students. This orientation involves preschool visits, individual student interviews, parent information sessions and an extensive 3 week orientation program for students. This year we will also be inviting incoming kindergarten students and their families to attend the school for a school site tour with the principal and student leaders. If you have a child, or know of a child, who lives in the Dudley area and has not yet completed an enrolment then please share the link below to complete the online enrolment process. We don’t want any student, or their family, to miss out on this valuable orientation program. https://ehub.enrol.education.nsw.gov.au/schoolenrolment/?schoolCode=1778

Our student leaders were very lucky to have a private morning tea with the Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Cr Kay Fraser. Her meeting with our school captains and vice captains centred on a discussion around leadership and the Mayor was able to answer some questions that the students had prepared to gain a deeper insight into the challenges and tasks associated with being the mayor of a an area with over 217 000 people. The students had a wonderful time and gained some great wisdom and inspirations to support their leadership journey.

The Canberra trip is a rite of passage in schools where students engage in social and academic development opportunities with their peers at the final years of their primary school experience. Many students who reflect on their primary years, fondly remember their Canberra trip. Best wishes to the students and teachers as they learn about the democratic processes of our nation together with many other iconic institutions that are located in the Canberra precinct including Australian War Memorial, Australian Institute of Sport, Questacon and the CSIRO.

Just a friendly reminder that we will be changing the way we distribute permission notes and obtain payments through the introduction of a new software platform called ‘Schoolbytes”. This change will be occurring soon, however we will continue to use Sentral parent portal for communicating attendance, academic reports and school events calendar for the remainder of 2023. Only payments and permission notes processes will change this year.

This platform will eventually be our one-stop place for all school communications and services including attendance, reports, payments, permission notes and school events calendar in 2024. Staff are about to start the formal training

in how to setup and use the modules. We will share our learning with the community once we are ready to go live on Schoolbytes. Watch this space…

We are thrilled to see the grand total of fundraising money for the Read-a-thon over $9000 now! What an amazing effort from the 82 registered students. We would ;love to see more student register for the Read-a-thon by creating a sharing page from the website: https://dudleypsreadathon.goraiseit.com.au/hub

Class 1/2W continue to be the highest fundraising class still remaining in first position on the leaderboard. There are currently 4 students who have individually raised over $500 so far – well done to everyone. We will be handing out some spot prizes over the coming weeks to encourage students to register on the site and keep up the fundraising efforts. The P&C have updated the prize for the highest fundraising student to be the choice of either an electric scooter or a summer prize pack. There are amazing entertainment vouchers for the students who raise the most in their respective grade and a pizza party for the highest fundraising class.

Keep up the effort Dudley Public School – you are smashing this!

The conversion of our old hall space to a classroom is almost complete with brand new furniture arriving next week. The demountable classroom where Miss McPherson and 4/5M are currently located will be decommissioned and removed from the school site within the coming weeks. 4/5M will be the lucky class to occupy the incredibly large learning space for the remainder of 2023.

Have a fabulous week everyone.

Chad Tsakissiris

Principal

Friday 18 August	Crazy Hair Day
Tuesday 22 August	St 3 Canberra Excursion ICAS Science and Spelling Bee
Wednesday 23 August	St 3 Canberra Excursion
Thursday 24 August	St 3 Canberra Excursion
Friday 25 August	St 3 Canberra Excursion Whole School Assembly 11.35am
Monday 28 August	Year 6 Valid Science Assessment P&C Meeting 7pm
Tuesday 29 August	ICAS Maths
Wednesday 30 August	Newsletter Release Day Canteen: Special Lunch Order Day (Nachos)
Friday 1 September	Fathers Day Stall  9am Fathers Day Assembly 2pm
Friday 8 September	Whole School Musical  - Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday 13 September	Whole School Musical - Matinee Whole School Musical - Evening Show
Thursday 14 September	Whole School Musical - Evening Show

Students are to wear their usual coloured sports shirt for Crazy Hair Day this Friday

On the 27th July, the Stage 2 dance group went to perform at the Hunter Dance Festival. We had to practise a lot and do an audition video so we were really excited to find out we had gotten in to the show. Mrs Mullins and Miss Mac came with us and some mums and dads helped to drive us there.First we had a rehearsal. We had to go in our costumes and danced on a very large stage. The lady who was organising was really excited to see us. She said that Dudley had never been in the festival before so we were the first Dudley dancers they had met. The photographer took our photos. The funnest part was that we got to see all the dancers from the other schools as well. There were high school kids who were really amazing and other kids like us.After the rehearsal, we had a break before the show. We walked to have some dinner. and the rolls were delicious. We hurried back in time for the show. Our dance was right in the middle. While we were waiting, we could watch the other schools dance on the screen. When it was our turn we were all a bit nervous. Lots of people had never been on a big stage to perform before. Some of us were freaking out a bit but then our music started and we just did what we had practiced. Mrs Mullins and Miss Mac said they were super proud of us. After we danced, Mrs M got out the dessert and we had brownies and strawberries. Our parents picked us up after the show. Mrs M said that we can maybe go again next year and we would really like that. Overall the Hunter Dance Festival was really fun.

• Stage 2 Dancers

If you would like to see our Stage 2 Dancers and their item: Fly Away, they'll be performing for the school at the next assembly on Friday 25th. They were a wonderful group of students to take away and represent Dudley Public School and should be proud of the hard work they put in throughout this year. A huge thankyou to Miss McPherson who stepped up to help and gave up her time to supervise for the evening performance. - Mrs Mullins

The PRC ends this Friday, 18th August. Students in years 3 -6 please complete your online reading logs by Friday to ensure your entry is validated so that you receive your certificate in term 4. If you need any help to get across the finish line, come and see me!I will complete all logs for students in years K - 2!Well done to all those students who have already completed the challenge for this year!

Every year the P&C contributes thousands of dollars to the school to help fund learning resources and equipment. This year we have already contributed over $20,000 and the P&C has pre- approved the spending of more funds to go on exciting projects such as new lighting for the hall, the school band, and a new solar panel system! This is why our fundraising is so important. Many of the luxuries that our students get to enjoy at DPS wouldn’t be possible without our fundraising and your support.

Thank you

We are always keen to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved or has suggestions and ideas. Please get in touch:

General business: dudleyschoolpandc@gmail.com Canteen: dudley.canteen@gmail.com Uniform shop: dudley.uniformshop@gmail.com Fundraising: dudley.fundraising@gmail.com

Keep up to date via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DudleyPandC

The best way to find out what’s happening at the school and within the P&C is to become a member (you’ll receive meeting agendas and minutes via email) and/or come along to a meeting held at 7pm on Mondays in weeks 3 and 7 of each term in the library and via zoom.

To join, simply bring $2 to a meeting or transfer $2 to the account below and email dudleyschoolpandc@gmail.com to advise of payment and provide contact details.

Name: Dudley P&C

BSB: 032-513

ACC: 338 433

Ref: First and Last Name.

Our poor garden group have been missing their time in the garden over the past few weeks with Mrs Adams and Mrs Mullins both being away. We are definitely looking forward to getting out in the sunshine this week and potting up some plants ready for the delightful spring weather. A few weeks ago, we had a tasting tour of our garden plants. We tried the baby spinach and sugar snap peas that have been happily growing. We also had the option to try out the herbs. Lemon balm, pineapple sage and native mint weren't as delicious as a traditional spearmint plant. We toured our bush tucker plants in the hopes of finding some midgen berries or lily pillies but they're not fruiting yet. It was a very un-fruit-ful trip but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and did some small garden maintenance clearing rubbish and weeds as we went.

The Dudley gardeners are entering a garden bed competition at the Lake Macquarie Living Smart festival in September. We are making a cup of tea garden but we're in need of a few items that you may have around your home or garden.Our Wishlist- tin cans that are empty and clean (and pose no risk of cuts to children)- chipped or unwanted cups, saucers, mugs or teapots. - plant pots around 150 - 200mm in diameter- a lavender plantAll donated items can  be sent in to the office or brought directly to Mrs Mullins. 

Last week, our Stage 3 students collaborated with the staff down at Awabakal Environmental Education Centre to plant trees for Schools Tree Day. Every year over 300,000 people take part in planting trees to give back to the environment and community and Dudley are proud to be a part of it. We planted a range of plants down in the Awabakal grounds this year. We collaborated in teams and had a fun time.

This term we continuing to focus on helping the environment and assisting our P&C’s fundraising efforts through our Return and Earn recycling program. Students are encouraged to place their poppers as well as their milk, juice and water bottles in the blue buckets located on our rubbish pods. Garbage Guardians are reminding all of us to ensure that bottles are empty and straws are removed. Additionally, bottles should not be squashed and labels must remain on – otherwise, we cannot claim them! Extra buckets will be on hand for our upcoming Nachos Canteen Day to ensure we collect as many bottles as possible. A huge thanks to our school community, especially our amazing P&C volunteers, who pick up and deposit our Return and Earn bottles each and every week!

Our special Nachos Day is back by popular demand on Wednesday 30th August (week 7)!

 

Orders are now open in the EVENTS section of School 24. Orders DUE BY 9pm, Thursday 24th August (no late orders will be accepted). Please email Dudley.canteen@gmail.com with any questions or to arrange an alternative ordering method.

 

Options available:

Mex mix: Beef OR vegetarian bean mix.

Toppings: Cheese, salsa, sour cream.

Drinks: Chill J, flavoured milk, water.

 

We also need a few canteen helpers for the day from 10.30am to 1pm. If you are available, please let Nicole know via email Dudley.canteen@gmail.com.

 

Thank you for your support and we hope that the students enjoy this special nachos day again this year!

Second Hand Uniforms Grab yourself a bargain! The second hand uniform racks are located behind the screen, under the stairs of the admin foyer.  Honesty system applies - please pay via bank transfer (details are shown on the racks). On your way past, please let the office know:

Your Name

Total value $

Tops are $5 each, bottoms and everything else: $2.

Happy Shopping!