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- Principal's Report
- P&C Report
- Staff Spotlight, Elizabeth Vizadis, J1 Teacher
- Staff Spotlight, Elizabeth Butterfield, S27 Teacher
- Premier's Reading Challenge
- Learning from home
- In tune with J7
- J8's just great
- It's plain sailing with S24
- S30's garden growth
- Holroyd School Song
- Covid-19, Staying Connected, Help, Groceries & More
Monday marked the return to full-time attendance for our students. There were lovely smiles on our students’ faces and some of you looked very happy at parent drop-off to have your child return to school too. Congratulations for supporting learning at home and keeping the school safe for those families who required their children to attend. We acknowledge that whether you kept your child at home or sent them to school was a very difficult decision and we respect the way you have all worked with us.
This has been an extraordinary time! I am immensely proud of the executive team, teachers, SLSOs and administration team. They have worked tirelessly in creative ways to ensure children could learn at home or school, stay connected with the school, support you as parents and plan for the phased, then full time return to school. Staff have committed to hours and hours of professional learning that has and will continue to benefit our students’ learning.
Now that we are back at school for learning, the Department of Education expects that all children will return to school. From 25 May 2020 all students should be at school unless:
- they have a medical certificate which states that they are unable to return to school due to an ongoing medical condition
- they are currently unwell. All sick children should remain at home.
Please contact the school if you need any further clarification. I know that some parents have already discussed particular concerns with the deputy principals, Annie Baker and Noel Gover.
We want everyone to be safe at school. All school activities and operations will be in line with Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and NSW Health guidelines.
The school has enhanced cleaning in place. We have plenty of hygiene supplies including soap, hand sanitiser and hospital grade disinfectant for regular cleaning of surfaces and equipment. Staff will be helping your children with good hygiene practices, ensuring regular hand washing. Staff will be using personal protective equipment when assisting students with personal care. To the best of our ability, staff will maintain social distance from you and other staff.
There should be no visitors to school sites unless they are essential. At present, this includes therapists, parents for P&C meetings and community users. If you need to enter the school, please use the hand sanitiser at the door and maintain social distance. We cannot have several families in the foyer at once. Parents dropping off and picking up students are asked to avoid congregating with other adults. I ask that if possible you continue to contact the school via the phone, email or communication book.
None of us know how long COVID-19 will be in our community. We want our school to be safe and remain open. We all have a part to play to ensure that happens. Every positive individual action can help to keep our school and wider community safe.
Stay safe and well,
Anne Flint
Three years.
What is your favourite childhood memory?
Christmas.
What was your favourite subject at school?
English.
If you could only keep five possessions, what would they be?
Keys, credit card, sunglasses and my sense of humour.
What is your favourite book?
I like reading biographies but I don't have a favourite.
If you could invite any three guests to a dinner party, who would they be?
Three friends.
What is your favourite song to sing along to?
Baby Shark.
What pets did you have growing up?
None.
What is your favourite day of the year?
New Years Eve.
What fad or trend do you hope comes back?
I don't know ... but there are a few I hope never come back!
Since July 2015.
What is your favourite childhood memory?
Holidays to my Grandparents' house in Pambula, a village on the NSW Sapphire Coast.
What was your favourite subject at school?
Music.
If you could only keep five possessions, what would they be?
My phone, sewing machine, Bible, notebook and pen.
What is your favourite book?
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.
If you could invite any three guests to a dinner party, who would they be?
American actor and comedian Billy Crystal; American singer, songwriter and actress Bette Midler; and Australian singer John Farnham.
What is your favourite song to sing along to?
Young Years by Dragon.
What pets did you have growing up?
Four cats, three birds and a couple of fish!
What is your favourite day of the year?
Boxing Day.
What fad or trend do you hope comes back?
Letter writing.
All Holroyd students will participate in this year's Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC). The program encourages students to develop a love of reading for leisure, and allows them to experience quality literature.
To complete the challenge, students must read or listen to a minimum of thirty books from the PRC book list. Students had access to books and associated art activities via the Seesaw portal while engaged in remote learning.
All students who complete the challenge will receive a certificate in term 4. Students who have completed the challenge for seven consecutive years (years 3 to 9) will be awarded a medal.
Music lessons are a weekly highlight for the five students in J7.
We have recently studied traditional indigenous music as well as listened to popular songs of recent decades. Srinjoy, Ethan and Joseph's favourite instrument is the drums, while Austin and Yu Lin enjoy playing the chimes, piano and xylophone.
We are eager to see the students further develop their music interest in term two and look forward to supporting and guiding them as they continue to learn.
Until next time,
Austin, Ethan, Joseph, Srinjoy, Yu Lin, April, Rachel, Ramona and Katrina.
What a start to the year it has been!
We certainly never imagined in January that we would be teaching online. Congratulations to all the students in J8 for embracing home learning. We have loved seeing their online work samples, photos, videos and voice recordings. Thank you to our wonderful parents and carers for their continued support and encouragement.
Our students have been working hard from home - listening to stories from the Premier's Reading Challenge, practising their number and literacy skills and making some impressive artworks for Easter, ANZAC Day and Mother's Day. They have also enjoyed opportunities to use their home learning packs to make leisure choices such as helping to hang out the washing; and movement activities such as bike riding, going to the park and walking the dog.
Our most exciting times have been the few days we've spent together recently. Both staff and students were happy to be at school together and practising our social distancing 'Aeroplane Arms'!
We hope everyone stays healthy and safe.
Muhammad, Ayham, Aboudi, Isabella, Heather, Laya, Rose, Rachel, Michelle and Kylie.
What a busy and strange year we’ve had so far! We certainly hit the ground running right from the start. Some of the exciting learning experiences that S24 has been involved with have been: grocery shopping for many of the high school classes (online ordering and physical collections from the supermarket), making sandwiches for the school staff as a fundraiser and as a work skills activity, and packaging and delivering pamphlets to homes near the school as another work skills activity. Other fun weekly activities have been: swimming, cooking (and eating!), bike track exercises and combined fitness sessions which incorporated targeted movement skills and games.
However, our most exciting weekly activity has been sailing. On Wednesdays last term, we travelled to Drummoyne and every student had individual sailing experiences with a volunteer sailor in a 303 sailboat and a power boat. The students really enjoyed these experiences and were always looking forward to their next sailing day. Consistently beautiful weather throughout most of Term 1 helped to ensure that we had wonderful sailing adventures. A part of the sailing activities included a barbeque lunch and then assisting volunteers to clean and pack away boats and equipment. That was teamwork!
Then, Covid-19 hit! Our whole way of learning and socialising changed almost overnight. Many of our programs had to be altered, with the safety of both students and staff given priority. Along with other schools, home learning then became the principal form of education and the students did a wonderful job adapting to this new style of learning, supported by their amazing families!
Time will tell how the rest of the year will shape out, but one thing is for certain – we will have fun and will all continue to do our very best! See you again next time!
Hanna, Serena, Kuhan, Jack, Robert, Kelly, Vincent, Anthony, Tracy and Alain.
Students in S30 enjoy group-based, sensory activities.
Last term we sat together and planted seeds. They quickly grew into seedlings and together we planted them in a raised garden bed behind our classroom. We now take turns to water our new plants.
Painting is another fun group activity. Together we created a Harmony Day 'everybody belongs' poster using our hand prints to resemble colourful flowers in a vase. We also enjoy using rolling pins and cookie cutters to make shapes with playdoh.
Before the holidays we worked very hard to improve our personal hygiene by washing our hands more often, and especially before we handled food.
Until next time,
Ali, Anneliese, Jason, Maryam, Murtaza, Shubhan, Maria, Sandra and Joan.
Every day we learn at school, there's lots to know
A place where we belong, we always grow
At Holroyd friendships start and friendships stay
Together caring for each other every day
We learn, we are safe and we care at Holroyd School
Our teachers and our friends are always there at Holroyd School.
With family and friends and our community
We work and learn together in unity
We always try our best to learn and understand
Teachers and students moving forward hand-in-hand
We learn, we are safe and we care at Holroyd School
Our teachers and our friends are always there at Holroyd School.
We learn, we are safe and we care at Holroyd School
Our teachers and our friends are always there at Holroyd School.
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