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- Principal's Report
- P&C Report
- Staff Spotlight, Krista Forsstrom, Class Teacher, J3
- Staff Spotlight, Emma Bruce, Teacher, S18
- A Premier Visit!
- Class of 2018
- Farewelling Jan and Damien
- Holroyd School in the news!
- Welcome Anisha!
- Art Exhibition
- Student artists-in-the-making!
- Sea Life Sydney Aquarium
- J7 : First Year Wonders
- Sun, Sea and Saddle with J10!
- Sailing Away with S17
- Five minutes with Pankaj Kumar, class teacher, S21
- Thank you Human Services (Centrelink)!
- Planning for Christmas
- Toys N Tucker
- Happy holidays!
Dear parents and carers,
The 2018 school year is over! Can you believe it? I would like to take this opportunity to thank every staff member for their contribution to a successful year of learning for our students. Thanks also go to you, our parents and carers, for supporting your child’s learning at home and being educational partners with us. A very special thank you to our P & C who have worked hard all year to support our fantastic school.
It’s time to say goodbye to some staff. Farewell to Jan Dunne, our wonderful assistant principal. Jan has worked across the school, supporting students, staff, families and the TRAILS charity team for many, many years. We are going to miss her outstandingly professional, friendly and optimistic contribution. Jan, enjoy that well-earned leave prior to retirement. Goodbye to Damien O’Keefe, who is moving to a school much, much closer to home. Damo, we appreciate the wonderful contribution you have made to the lives of your students, their families and your colleagues. We wish you well at your new school, lucky them!
Finally, I hope each and every staff member and family has the opportunity to relax and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.
Wishing you all the peace of the season.
Anne Flint
Principal
Dear parents and carers,
With many great achievements and some terribly sad news, we say goodbye to 2018.
It has been an extremely productive year for the P&C. We have opened the Holroyd Community Hub; hosted our first major fundraiser, the adults-only 'Comedy for a Cause' evening; and held our successful Mother's and Father's day stalls.
This has been made possible due to the hard work of a growing number of parent volunteers. Thank you to the hard-working P&C committee and many more volunteers for devoting your time and energy to these initiatives. I look forward to new exciting endeavours in 2019.
Many thanks also to the staff at Holroyd School for their unwavering dedication and commitment to the education and welfare of our children.
Congratulations to the Class of 2018 and I wish all graduating students the very best for the future.
I want to finish by extending sincere condolences from the entire school community to the Zreika family on the loss of their son Noah. We will always remember Noah and his beautiful smile.
Wishing all parents, students and staff at Holroyd a safe and restful holiday.
Until next time,
Gricel Mendez
President
Staff Spotlight, Krista Forsstrom, Class Teacher, J3
How long have you worked at Holroyd School?
8 years.
What is your favourite childhood memory?
Making cookies with my Nuna.
What was your favourite subject at school?
Art and drama.
If you could only keep five possessions, what would they be?
My health, my mind, my principles, my talents and my family.
What is your favourite book?
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. I recommend every person read this book or have it read to them!
If you could invite any three guests to a dinner party, who would they be?
My three closest friends.
What is your favourite song to sing along to?
Any song by PJ Harvey.
What pets did you have growing up?
A dog (Patches), 6 lop rabbits (Smokey, Sarah, Annabelle, Danzig, ChaCha and Sherlock), a turtle (Herbert), 4 mice (Gertrude, Gretta, Tigerlilly and Mable), a budgie (Felix), a lot of unnamed hermit crabs and one cat (Cheshire), who I still have.
What is your favourite day of the year?
My birthday!
What fad or trend do you hope comes back?
I don't need trends - I do my own thing!
Staff Spotlight, Emma Bruce, Teacher, S18
How long have you worked at Holroyd School?
6 years.
What is your favourite childhood memory?
Sitting in the kitchen with my family while Dad cooked spaghetti with Cold Chisel blaring.
What was your favourite subject at school?
Drama, English and History.
If you could only keep five possessions, what would they be?
My phone, coffee, laptop, books and engagement ring. But I would trade them all in for my fiance.
What is your favourite book?
Currently Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. Also fond of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
If you could invite any three guests to a dinner party, who would they be?
Tom Hardy, Ian McKellan and David Tennant.
What is your favourite song to sing along to?
So many ... my all-time favourite is Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes, i sing EVERY part.
What pets did you have growing up?
Astro, Sirga, Merlin, Charlie and Kitten. All of them cats, not all at the same time.
What is your favourite day of the year?
Christmas. Family, friends and fun!
What fad or trend do you hope comes back?
Manners.
Congratulations to all our students awarded high accolades - gold certificates (four years), platinum certificates (seven years) and medals (seven years consecutively from years 3 to 9) - in the 2018 Premier's Reading Challenge.
We were honoured to have had the Premier of NSW, The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, personally present the medals to our students, and participating students from other schools, at a special assembly on Tuesday 4 December.
At the assembly, which was live-streamed across the state, The Premier also joined students Anthony and Robert in reading one of our favourite books, Twig, by author and artist Aura Parker. The wonderful charcoal drawings of Heidi, the shy stick insect at the centre of the story, by students in classes S21 and S22, were also on display in the hall.
Thank you to class J3 for its beautiful re-telling of the classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar picture book via video; and to the extremely talented Suzanne (SLSO, J3) for your incredible cake.
At the commencement of the ceremony, students in J3 and S22 performed an Acknowledgement of Country using augmented communication and tapping sticks.
Congratulations to all our certificate and medal recipients, and assembly participants, on your outstanding achievement!
Congratulations to our 13 graduating students.
We celebrated their achievements at an awards ceremony at Guildford Leagues Club on Thursday 29 November.
It was certainly an emotional night as the Year 12 students and families celebrated the end of their schooling at Holroyd and farewelled their friends and teachers.
Special congratulations to our seven award recipients:
Cumberland Council Pursuit of Excellence Award : Michael Istefo
Judy Reilly Memorial Trails Award for a consistent and positive outlook to life : Amanie Shahrouk
Principal's Award for enthusiasm and willingness to assist others : Tony Pham
Caltex Best All Rounder Award : Alex Pham
Rueben F Scarf Award for commitment : Constantine Skapetis
NSW Premier's Sporting Challenge Medal : Abdulla Kanj
Work Experience Award : Catherine Nguyen
We congratulate the Class of 2018 and wish them all the best for the future.
This week we farewell two Holroyd favourites - Assistant Principal Jan Dunne and Class Teacher Damien O'Keefe.
Jan has dedicated three decades of exceptional service to Holroyd School and her unrelenting drive, fierce commitment, strong work ethic and contagious enthusiasm will be dearly missed.
A champion for our children and their families, Jan has set the benchmark for special educators. Her values will live on at Holroyd through the actions of the many staff that she has mentored in both the junior and senior schools.
We wish Jan the very best for her retirement and hope to see her in the Holroyd halls after a well-deserved rest.
Damien has delivered a decade of service to our school. He has proven to be a dedicated and courageous educator, often taking on the complex task of some of our most challenging classes.
Damien will now teach at a school closer to home on the Central Coast and we wish him the best of luck.
Anisha will continue to be available in the Hub from 9am to 3pm every Thursday next year (during school terms) as a support to our families seeking information on a range of government services.
The CMRC develops and delivers services to assist culturally diverse families to settle-in and actively participate in Australian life.
Anisha is available to:
- consult with families to identify service needs
- address concerns by providing information and referrals to various services
- tailor activities, training and programs to meet the needs of our families.
Through the Hub, the CMRC aims to support and improve the social, health and educational outcomes for our students and their families.
No appointment is necessary. Just drop in to the Hub (via the Holroyd School office) if you feel that the CMRC can help you.
Our budding artists, from kindergarten to year 12, were celebrated at our annual art exhibition last week.
Thank you to all the families, staff and community members who stopped in to admire the students' creative efforts and purchase artwork. All money raised will go towards new play equipment and cover the cost of canvases.
We still have some student art available for purchase at $5, $10 and $15 price points. If you are interested, please contact the ladies in the office on 9637 1219.
Many thanks also to all the staff and parents who supported S17's Christmas store last week. Every cent of the money raised will go to our less fortunate school friends in the remote mountain communities of Marcani and Ttio in Peru, in South America.
Student artists-in-the-making!
Students in S21 and S22 were recently treated to a guided step-by-step drawing lesson with Aura Parker, author and illustrator of children's book Twig.
Check out their wonderful charcoal drawings of Heidi, the shy stick insect at the centre of the story!
Aura also read her beautiful picture book to our students and brought in a range of stick insects for them to look at and hold.
Classes J10 and J11 visited Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbour recently.
All the students enjoyed the day and were fascinated by the sharks, stingrays, penguins and colourful Great Barrier Reef exhibition.
They all followed the Positive Behaviour for Learning rule to 'stay with your group' at all times. Well done to both classes!
The students in J7 have enjoyed a busy and productive year, with many highlights.
We loved dressing up in our favourite character costumes for Book Week and participating in the treasure themed activities.
We joined our friends in J5 and practised for the school concert every week leading up to the big event. We learnt to enter and position ourselves on stage following music cues and prompts from teachers. Each and every student in both J7 and J5 made an outstanding contribution to the performance on the day.
Another highlight was attending the recent Special Children’s Christmas Party at Rosehill. We enjoyed the entertainment, food, feeding the farm animals and getting into the big trucks, police cars and fire engines.
This semester we have been learning about our bodies, staying safe and keeping healthy in the PDHPE unit of work titled ‘Looking After Myself’. We have been cooking, brushing our teeth and washing our hands. We have also learnt about sun safety and stranger danger.
We have also loved our weekly sessions in the pool and visiting the mini gym. The class has been learning to kick their feet, float on their back and put their face in the water to blow bubbles. At the mini gym, we all like to climb, jump, crawl through tunnels and balance on beams and stepping stones.
Our Thursday sport sessions in the main playground involve hitting golf balls, kicking soccer balls and throwing basketballs into the hoop.
Each week, we join the students in S30 for gardening and scooter riding as part of a peer support program. We have enjoyed planting and tending to seedlings and observing tomatoes and lettuce grow in our garden.
The students in J7 were all new to Holroyd School at the beginning of 2018. They have all worked hard to settle into a new school and learn classroom routines. We have loved seeing their progress, particularly their communication skills and emotional development.
Well done class on all your achievements in your first year at Holroyd School!
Until next time,
Christiano, Ethan, Teghbir, Isaac, Amjad, Kylie, Lena and Wendy.
Students in J10 have had an extremely busy year getting to know their classmates, socialising with friends and learning many new skills. Some of their favourite class activities have included swimming and bike riding; having fun on the liberty swing and in the mini gym; and horse riding.
We have also participated in many school events throughout the year, including the Easter Hat Parade, Harmony Day, Dream Cricket, NAIDOC Week, Book Week, the Premier's Reading Challenge, our all-school concert, and various special event assemblies. We all enjoyed taking part in these activities and sharing them with our parents, friends and the school community.
By participating in the Premier's Sporting Challenge, as well as gymnastics and soccer skills programs throughout the year, we have learnt the importance of physical activity in order to keep our bodies healthy; improved our sporting skills; and interacted with our classmates.
During second semester, the highlight of the week for many of us was our weekly Riding for the Disabled program. Many of us really stepped out of our comfort zone and can now happily wear a helmet, as well as approach, mount and ride a horse!
This term we also explored the underwater world at our recent visit to Sealife Sydney Aquarium at Darling Harbour. We enjoyed observing various sea life, including sting rays, sharks, penguins and jelly fish. Trip highlights were the penguin ride and colourful Great Barrier Reef exhibition.
After an active and eventful year, we are all now looking forward to a well-deserved, relaxing holiday.
Until next time,
Aya, Angelina, Ayan, Taseen, Pranay, Saasha, Grace, Brad, Katrina and Katherine.
It has been a great year for the students in S17. All five students were happy, respected and challenged in their learning with a focus on valued communication. The differentiated curriculum met each child’s specific and diversified learning needs from a safe and secure learning environment.
The focus for Connie (teacher) and Michelle (SLSO) this year has been to help their students cope in unfamiliar situations and settings in the classroom, around the school and in community venues. This has included learning to self-manage anxiety levels using various toys, sensory materials and time away from sensory overload.
The 'needs of living things' unit of work took the class to a variety of community outings throughout the year, including weekly trips to Fenech’s Egg Farm (to see animals producing food) and Sun’s Fresh Vege Farm (to see vegetables being grown and picked on site), both in Horsley Park.
A wonderful new experience for all the students this year has been weekly sailing trips to Dobroyd Aquatic Club at Rodd Point in Sydney's inner west. Another favourite activity has been weekly library sessions and reading stories. This is where we practise 'Positive Behaviour for Learning' rules outside the classroom by sitting, looking, listening, waiting and, most importantly, making choices.
The students prefer to spend time indoors in their specialised relaxation nooks. Each student has their own section of the classroom where they can retreat and relax between challenging learning activities.
Until next time,
Salmaan, Simon, Vanessa, Khadija, Adam, Connie and Michelle.
Five minutes with Pankaj Kumar, class teacher, S21
What has been the highlight of the year so far for your class?
Our recent trip to Auburn Cinemas to see the movie Ant Man and Wasp Girl, with breakfast at McDonalds.
The boys also love going sailing every Wednesday at Dobroyd Aquatic Centre in Sydney's inner west. It is amazing how relaxed and focussed the students are when they are on the water.
What is your class studying this semester?
We are looking at a unit of work titled 'Working Together'.
All the boys collaborated on a poster depicting the sunrise, using a variety of materials such as paint, crayons and dye.
We also work together every Thursday morning to deliver local newspapers to our Merrylands neighbours.
What has the class focussed on this semester?
Every day we focus on curriculum-based programs such as:
- Hygiene (washing hands, brushing teeth, using deoderant after swimming);
- Fitness (exercises such as running and walking every morning in the senior playground's multi-purpose area to ensure that we are 'in the zone' for learning);
- Cooking (we have enjoyed making a variety of dishes including pizza, spaghetti bolognese, BBQ sausages, fried rice and toast);
- Technology (accessing the internet on class computers to learn more about the Australian lifestyle and to listen to Indigenous music, as well as making good use of the interactive smart board during class lessons).
Do you have a message for your students and families?
All the best to our three graduating students - Aaron, Michael and Kosta. I wish all our students a safe and happy holiday.
Thank you Human Services (Centrelink)!
Thank you to Angela Illingworth and the Multicultural Team at Human Services (Centrelink) for their kind donation of dinner sets, mugs, tea towels and a coffee machine for use in our Community Hub. We certainly appreciate your generosity!
By William Escobar Rojas, School Psychologist.
Once again we approach that time of year where we celebrate Christmas. Our homes are decorated with bright lights, pine trees and gifts. Some of us look forward to a roast ham or turkey, seasonal movies on TV, Christmas carols, the festive feeling.
Christmas is an exciting time for children too. However, the lights, smells and crowds can be overwhelming for some of our students. This is understandable, as it would be fair to say that Christmas is exciting but edged with a little anxiety for many of us adults too. Despite the preparation, the management of expectations and visitors, despite how much online shopping we do, we too become overwhelmed.
As with many things in life, it is good to not battle what you cannot control. For example, we cannot control the overflowing crowds, the traffic, the lights or fireworks. Rather than battling these factors, we should instead find common ground. Here are a few strategies to consider.
Try to have a schedule - know who will visit and who you will be visiting. Plan Christmas dinner and gifts. Plan an alternative to outside noise, such as calming down in the bedroom with a ‘happiness kit’ consisting of a favourite toy, fiddle toy and/or a charged IPAD. Before attending a Christmas party, request a quiet area and understand the schedule of events taking place. Make use of visuals and/or social stories to prepare a child for any changes to their routine. Discuss with your child's classroom teachers any strategies they may suggest.
Above all and despite your faith or none, whether you celebrate Christmas or not; it is worth remembering that the Christmas season is one which brings a message of peace and goodwill to all; to bring each other closer in harmony.
As we approach the festive season and New Year ahead, why not try to accept that there are things we cannot control? Instead, focus on things that are within our reach - happiness, joy and laughter. I urge you to spend your greatest gift during this season, your TIME! Time with those you love the most - your child, spouse, family and yourself. Let us try to plan not just for a season, but rather to create a memory for a lifetime.
Thank you to all the wonderful families and staff members who donated to the Toys N Tucker Anglicare Christmas Appeal.
Your generosity has made this Christmas a much happier time for families in need.
Wishing all our staff, students and families a safe and happy holiday.
School resumes for students in years 1 to 12 on Wednesday 30 January, 2019.