Woonona East Notice Board

•    There will be a teachers strike this Thursday, 22nd May. There will be minimal supervision provided on this day at school with 3 teachers on duty.  Parents may consider arranging alternate supervision for their children if possible. . Information from the department can be accessed at https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/ and from Teachers Federation at http://www.nswtf.org.au/
•    Well done to our touch football teams! Ms Armstrong reported very positive comments by a teacher from another school about the sporting behaviour of our students. They were well-mannered, well-behaved and played the game in good spirit.
•    Thank you to Craig, father of Georgia, who arranged for a donation of plants indigenous to our school area. These were planted by 6P and Jennifer, mother of Thomas and Alexandra. Jennifer is also the driving force behind our school’s environmental management planning group. A meeting was held last week and details are in the newsletter.
•    Congratulations to Keely, Taryn, Shaylah, Thomas, Nathanial and Connor for earning their Principal’s Award last week.

Upcoming Events

Monday 19th May
Stage 2 & 3 Assessment Day
Tuesday 20th May
District Cross Country – Bulli Park (Ms Clarkson & Mrs Lindley going with team)
2pm Band
Wednesday 21st May
Creative Writing Professional Development (Mrs Pechey & Ms Clarkson attending)
Thursday 22nd May
Teachers Strike – minimal supervision at school
Friday 23rd May
PSSA sport – Round 3

Week 5 – Education Week
Tuesday 27th May
School Education Group meeting – Mr Cummins
State Basketball – Brittany
2pm Band
Big Expo at Bulli Workers 7pm
Wednesday 28th May
Life Education starts
6P & 5/6C to the Art Gallery, Wollongong
Thursday 29th May
9:00 am Life Education – parent session
UNSW Science test
Regional Director Graeham Kennedy visiting
10:30 Open Classrooms
11:00 Morning Tea break with parents & students
11:30 Public Speaking assembly
Friday 30th May
PSSA sport – Round 4
Kindergarten to Killalea
School News 

Education Week
Next week is Education Week at Woonona East. We have an extremely busy week with the  Life Education program starting, excursions for 5/6C and 6P to Wollongong Art Gallery and KB and K/1M to Killalea as well as all the ongoing programs such as band and PSSA sport. Our highlight day will be Thursday 29th May. The Regional Director of Schools, Mr Graeham Kennedy will be paying a visit. We’ll have open classrooms from 10:30, a shared morning tea with parents and children at 11:00am and our Public Speaking Assembly from 11:30am. At this assembly we’ll hear the finalists from K-6 give their speeches. There may also be some other highlights to the week. More details will be forwarded home.

Life Education
A permission note for the Life Education program is being sent home today. The program starts next week and costs $5.50 per student. A note and envelope was sent home with all students earlier this term. If you have not already paid, could you please send in the $5.50 with the permission note.

Voluntary School Fees
Parents are invited to contribute the voluntary school fees for 2008.
One child $25.00; two or more children $50.00.
All funds donated will be allocated directly to the school library for the purchase of children’s books. It would be appreciated if these fees could be paid by the end of this term to help our library budget.

Smith’s Hill High School Expo Night
Prospective students who are in Years 5 and 6 are invited to attend our Expo open night on Thursday May 29, 2008. The evening will be begin at 6pm with an address in the Hall (enter from Keira St) and will end by 8:30 with some performances. For further information, please contact the school on 4229 4266.

Bullying – Signs of being bullied

Children who are being bullied may not always tell adults. They may be afraid or ashamed. Some signs of being bullied may be:
•    not wanting to go to school
•    finding excuses for not going to school, such as feeling sick
•    wanting to go to school a different way to avoid the children who are bullying them
•    being very tense, tearful and unhappy after school
•    talking about hating school
•    bruises or scratches
•    talking about not having any friends
•    refusing to tell you about what happens at school.

Your child may show other signs of unhappiness as well. For example, they may have problems sleeping. These signs may not necessarily mean they are being bullied but you need to check out what is worrying them.

Library News
This year the students in years 2 to 6 are invited to participate in the MS Readathon. As classes visit the library this week they will find out about Multiple Sclerosis and how they can help by joining in with the MS Readathon. Each child will receive a registration form this week when they visit the library.
Scientists do not know how people get MS – it is still a mystery. A great deal of research is being done to investigate the cause and treatments and also trying to find a cure for MS. MS is not hereditary, though genes do play a part in having MS. We know this because more women than men get MS.
The Readathon runs from June 1 to June 30. Please support this Readathon.
Happy reading!
Donna
Teacher Librarian

P & C News
Outcome of the P & C meeting held on 13 May:
•    Mothers day stall was very successful, approx $1300 of goodies were sold. Although, extra help was very much needed
•    Southern Stars are being supported by P & C again this year
•    The uniform, rewards and Nit policies were all discussed – ongoing
•    Strike action by the teachers is planned for Thursday May 22
•    Open classroom, public speaking and shared morning tea on Thursday 29 May as part of Education Week
The next meeting is Tuesday 10 June, please come along and support your school. If you would like a topic discussed either enter it in the agenda book in the office or email it to:
woononaest-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
If you would like a copy of the minutes emailed to you, leave your email address in the P & C folder in the office.

Environment News
1.  Planting last week
Year 6 planted shrubs in the garden bed next to their classroom (the umbrella garden), near the library and in the garden near the entrance/flagpole.  Many thanks to these students for carrying out this work.  The plants used are associated with coastal sand scrub which occurs directly behind the sand dunes.
2.  School Environment Management Plan
Thanks to all those who attended the School Environment Management Plan meeting last week.  The agreed priorities for 2008 are:
•    Underplant trees in the street frontage zone with banksias, lilly pilly’s and leptospermum as examples to create a wind break and encourage the birds – use an open planting approach rather than a dense planting.
•    Continue to maintain and infill planting the social zones (frog pond area, flagpole area and umbrella area).
•    Interpret the gardens to educate the children on what is planted and why.
•    Repair and replace the Australian animals.
•    Develop a composting system to use canteen vegetable scraps and packed lunches scraps.  Keep an eye out in future newsletters for a date for a ‘composting mufti day’ to raise money to purchase some rotating drums for the composting.
3.  Bush regeneration/weeding Tuesday
Don’t forget our bush regeneration group on Tuesday!  Come along to maintain the school gardens, have a chat and contribute to our school environment.  Bring a hat and trowel.  Meet at the sandpit at 9am on Tuesday mornings and stay for half an hour.

Loud Shirt Day
Thank you everyone for the fabulous response to Loud Shirt Day.  We had raised $277.35 on Friday and there is still money coming in.  The Shepherd Centre for deaf children will be very pleased.  Congratulations everyone and a special thanks to 2D for raising the most money.
By Olivia for the SRC.

Fundraising News
Hello again from the fundraising team.  Just a little note to tell all of the families out there that $466.74 was raised from the Mother’s Day stall this year.  This is a wonderful result for Woonona East School.  We hope all mother’s enjoyed their presents and their day.
We will let you all know in next weeks newsletter what our next fundraising event is going to be and when.
All the best
Fundraising Team

Kids Café
Kids Café Special this week is Potato Bake & Popper for $3.00.
Just a reminder that canteen is CLOSED FRIDAYS.  We now open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Canteen Helper Needed
1 Helper needed for Monday 26th May.
Needed for Canteen
1 tuckerbox freezer.  If you can help out, much appreciated.

Canteen Roster
Term 2 – Week 4
Mon    19/05    Leanne, Joy, Jackie
Tues     20/05    Melanie, Kristen, Toni
Wed     21/05    Joanne, Vimala
Thurs    22/05    Kate De, Terri
Friday Closed
Mon    26/05    Toni, 1 helper needed
Tues    27/05    Carolyn, Lorraine
Wed    28/05    Doris, Rosie-Ann, Johanne
Thurs    29/5    Tracey, Kylie