24 September 2024
WASSUP Woonona
Principal's Report
Term 3 Draws to an End
This Friday, we will be at the end of Term 3 and looking forward to a well-earned two-week break. I would like to congratulate the students on a successful term and the staff for their ongoing commitment and professionalism. I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday, and we look forward to seeing you all return on Monday 14 October for the beginning of what will no doubt be a very busy Term 4.
Stage 3 Camp
Last week saw our Stage 3 students head off to camp at The Tops Conference Centre. What a huge but enjoyable 3 days and 2 nights our students and staff experienced. On Friday afternoon there were many tired but proud and happy faces, as everyone involved reflected on their experiences and the challenges they faced and overcame. Congratulations to everyone involved and a huge thank you to our Stage 3 team of teachers, for coordinating this event, with particular thanks to Ms Phillips for her exceptional organisation of the whole experience.
Kinder 2025 - Teddy Bear's Picnic
Our Kinder enrolments for 2025 continue to steadily come in. If you are planning on enrolling your child next year, or know of someone who is thinking about it, that lives in our school drawing area, please fill in an online enrolment application, located on our school website.
This Wednesday is our first session with our Kindy 2025, as our excited new students participate in a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Some fun activities are planned, with a wonderful opportunity for students and families to get familiar with our school and make connections. It should be a fantastic first session.
Twilight
This afternoon, all teaching staff will be attending a “Twilight Staff Meeting.” This session will run from 3:00pm – 6:00pm, with staff involved in professional learning and planning sessions as a whole staff, and with stages. These sessions are highly valued by staff as they have uninterrupted and sustained opportunities to look at data, plan and collaborate. Work that is done today will be positively impacting students tomorrow, which is why these sessions are so valuable.
Election BBQ
Saturday 14 September, our wonderful P&C ran the Election BBQ at school. It was a hugely successful day, with lots of bacon and egg rolls and sausage sandwiches sold. Congratulations to everyone involved, especially Tim L (affectionately now known as “BBQ Tim”) for running such a successful event. Your dedication to our school and students is genuinely appreciated.
Sideshow Carnival
This Friday will be a special day, as our school gets the opportunity to participate in the Sideshow Carnival Year 6 fundraiser. This event is truly unique to our school and is a wonderful event for all students. Congratulations to all our Year 6 students for getting involved and being so prepared. Thank you also to families for your support and for teachers for coordinating the event. I’m looking forward to seeing the many happy and smiling faces on the day.
PSSA Sport
I was so pleased, yet not surprised, that our students in Years 3-6 were exceptional representatives of our school last Friday. Reports from teachers were extremely positive at both the soccer and touch football PSSA Gala Days. From all accounts, students were keen, had fun and played respectfully and by the rules. Well done to all our students who attended, to our teachers who supported and to our teachers who organised the day for the whole PSSA.
Baby Banzon Number 3
Congratulations to Mrs Banzon, her husband, and future big brothers Billy and Bowie. Mrs Banzon recently let staff know that she is pregnant and will be having her third child early next year. Mrs Banzon will continue in her role for the remainder of 2024 but will not return in 2025. We look forward to hearing the good news when the time comes and then seeing her return in some capacity in 2026.
Mr Tim Fisher
Principal
Events, Permission & Payment Due Dates
- Sideshow Carnival Friday 27 September
- Stage 3 History Excursion - permission & payment due by Monday 21 October
- Dental Health Program running week of Monday 18 November - permission forms due now
Stage 3 Camp
The Tops Camp Trip
By Vincent
This term Stage 3 went on a three day trip to The Tops Conference Centre. We were split into random groups and participated in eight exciting activities. All activities were extremely fun and some definitely tested your skills. All staff were welcoming and kind.
My favourite activity by far was Survivor. All the teamwork and skill required was so cool; I wish I did all the Survivor games, as each group did something different. I think the food was really good, the best was nachos and breakfast. Staying in a cabin with your friends was super fun too.
Overall, going to camp is one of the best things you will do in your school journey. It was awesome!
By Sophie
When we arrived at Stanwell Tops, we could not wait for the joys to come. We dropped out luggage and without day bags on our backs, we were ready for hours of fun. Sunscreen and hats were essential for everyone to have fun in the sun all day. Some of the awesome activities were the inflatable course, cart racing, 10m rock wall, the high ropes, archery, survivor, the silent disco, cup stacking, and we cannot forget the terrifying 20m giant swing! Camp was one of the best experiences of my life. I cannot wait till next year’s camp!
By Amira
When we arrived at Stanwell Tops, I could feel the excitement rushing through my blood. When we arrived after a 20minute drive on the bus, we grabbed out luggage and went to the auditorium. The man explained what we were doing and how camp works.
We ate some outstanding food for morning tea then were split into out 8 activity groups. My first activity was Survivor. Survivor is a set of activities and games in the bush. The first game was charades, we split into two teams, and the first team to guess won the point. Then we did a rope swing game and lastly a marble puzzle game.
After Survivor, we left to have lunch. After lunch we went to archery. Then it was soon time for afternoon tea, our cabins and dinner. My favourite bit was after dinner at the silent disco! I loved every single minute of camp and which I could go back and do it all again.
Camp Poems
Our Cabin
Limerick
School camp was super duper fun
We danced and played in the sun
But the cabins made us bored
While our peers sat and snored
We are so sad school camp is done.
By Maia, Olivia and Bianca
At The Tops
Limerick
We went to The Tops
Nearly every animal there hops
We had such a blast
Wish I could go back to the past
In archery we scored some shots.
By Kaylie
Cabins
Quatrain
The cabins, a loud and crazy place
Kids falling on their face
There is never (kids dream) a time for bed
Because kids are wild in their head
Madi and Io
Moments In Maths
Moments in maths – Holiday Maths
Whilst it is easy to keep up with some holiday reading, it is often difficult to come up with ideas on how to keep maths going over the holidays. Here are a few ways you can encourage your students to keep thinking mathematically.
Beach and bath time
Whether your child is playing in the bath or sandpit or at the beach, give them containers of different sizes and shapes. Then, get them to estimate which container holds the most, and ask they why think that before testing it out.
Things you need
- Buckets or containers of varying size and shape.
The challenge
Step 1
Give your child the different containers to play with.
Step 2
Ask them to predict which container will hold the most sand or water. Get them to arrange the containers in order of the one that'll hold the least to the one that they predict will hold the most.
Step 3
Now help your child test out their thinking. How can they find out which container holds the most? They can try filling one up with water, then pouring that water into the next container. Does it all fit? Is there room for more? They can also do this with sand.
The conversation
During the activity, ask them these questions to support their mathematical learning and understanding:
- "Were you surprised that this short, fat container holds more water than this tall, skinny container?"
- "Let's use this small container as a way to measure the water. How many small containers full of water are needed to fill these bigger containers over here?"
Bubble wands
Create your own homemade bubble wands to explore different shapes with your child. Make triangles, squares, rectangles and circles and then encourage your child to notice a curious thing about the shape of the bubbles the wands create.
Things you need
Pipe cleaners
Scissors
Bucket
Bubble solution.
The challenge
Step 1
Help your child bend pipe cleaners to make a triangle, rectangle, circle and a square. Then use another pipe cleaner to make wand handles for each of their shapes.
Step 2
Put some soap-bubble solution in a bucket and dip your DIY wand in and blow some bubbles. Ask your child what they notice about the bubbles when they use the triangle wand, the square wand, the rectangle wand and the circle wand?
Hint:
The bubbles will be spherical no matter the wand's shape.
The conversation
As your child is creating their bubble wands, here are some things to talk about:
Wonder out aloud about the features of the shapes. For example, "Oh, I can see that's a triangle because it has three sides and three corners. What other triangles have you seen today? What's the same about them? What's different?"
"What's the same about a square and a rectangle? What's different?"
"What other shapes could we make into wands?"
Moments in Maths Years 2, 3 and 4
This term, Year 2 have continued on their Maths Quest Journey and have been working on using diagrams to solve problems.
They have been exploring how to use Venn and Carol Diagrams to organise data and using drawings and symbols to record their working when solving multi-step problems.
Stage 2 have recently been delving into geometric and number patterns. They have been using tables and finding rules to continue patterns and find unknown values!
If you are looking for a fun holiday maths game, Number Hive is a fun and challenging multiplication fact game. It has a levels that cater for all abilities from Year 2 and up!
Healthy Harold Van
In weeks 8 & 9, K-2 visited Harold in the Life Education Van. The modules presented build on students' strengths, empowering them with knowledge & skills to make safer and healthier choices.
Stage 1 learnt about:
- what our body needs to be healthy, including nutrition, water and sleep
- the benefits of physical activity
- identifying how our bodies react in new situations
- how to manage emotions and calm down when worried or stressed
- strategies to keep safe in different situations and environments
Kindergarten learnt about:
- How to build respectful relationships
- Recognising and identifying emotions and body clues
- Strategies to manage different feelings and emotions
- Protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies
Science News
Deadly in Generation STEM Science Lessons
This semester, all students across the school have been engaging in STEM inquiry methods during science. Within these STEM lessons, they have been exploring the Deadly in Generation STEM content that shares Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples scientific knowledge and methods.
During the last few weeks, students conducted experiments using these methods. As seen in the photographs, stage three students investigated ways to filter water using natural resources inspired by traditional methods of water filtration. It was such an honour to learn scientific methods from our first scientists.
Miss Bracco
Sideshow Carnival
Library News
Library Loans
Happy reading,
Mrs Carroll
Librarian
Stage 3 Cricket State Knockout
Let's Go Woonona!
In some huge sporting news, our Stage 3 Cricket State Knockout side has defeated the highly skilled Dapto PS with an incredible team performance.
Dapto won the toss and elected to bat on a lightning fast Hollymount Park surface. The Dapto batters took the attack to the Woonona bowlers and started with some delightful stroke making. The Woonona bowlers stuck to their guns and soon started to take wickets at regular intervals, with Ollie again the pick of pace attack with two wickets. He was well supported by Jethro, Harry and JP who were extremely tight and picked up crucial scalps of their own. However, it was the fielding of Woonona that made a huge difference, as they built pressure on opposition batters and executed 4 runouts! This great display in the field meant Dapto were all out for 84 and leaving Woonona with an achievable run chase.
Dapto began the defence of their total fired up and had Woonona two down early, with some searing pace knocking over our opening batters. It was cricket captain Bob and school captain Archie who weathered the early storm from the big Dapto quick and batted with a maturity beyond their years to begin to put the pressure on the Dapto change bowlers. Bob played elegantly through the offside and was serene at the crease under pressure, while Archie was patient and waited to dispatch the rare bad delivery. These two put on over 50 runs in their partnership, with Bob making 34 and Archie scoring 20. Some lovely late striking from Harry got the team over the line as they chased the total 4 wickets down.
The team is now off to face the winner of Jerrabomberra and Milton in the South Coast Final!
Woonona 4/85 (Bob 34, Archie 20) Def Dapto 10/84 (Ollie 2 wickets, JP 2 wickets)
Declan McMullen
NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook
The Handbook’s emphasis is on prevention. Our children are precious and all of us who live and work with them will find information in the Handbook useful to keep them out of trouble and safe.
Health In Motion
Stuck for ideas to get the kids out and about each weekend? Are you looking for ideas to get your children away from their screens and to eat more veggies?
Sign up for free text messages for fun weekend adventure ideas and simple health tips for you and your kids. For more information and to register, visit Adventure and Veg.
Canteen And Uniform Shop
Onsite uniform shop closed until further notice.
School Canteen
Uniform Shop
Canteen Lunch Pack
Co-operation - Respect - Effort - Responsibility
Community News
JUNKLANDIA at IPAC
These school holidays bring the kids to JUNKLANDIA at IPAC - a show full of rhythm, dance, circus and comedy!
Junkyards Beats took IPAC by storm in 2022 with their high energy, sustainable, fun The Box Show. Now they are back with more amazing junk percussion in JUNKLANDIA! This show is a spectacle of rhythm, dance, circus and comedy, guaranteed to blow your mind! With an incredible ‘Junk Orchestra’ grand finale, everyone will be equipped with a recycled instrument, and come together to create a one-of-a-kind Junkyard Band! Uniting in rhythm, music, and movement, kids can experience the tangible power of collaboration and teamwork whilst having fun!
10 - 11 Oct | Book tickets at merrigong.com.au
FREE Share Our Space Spring school holiday activities (cricket and bike skills) in the Wollongong area
Share Our Space is holding FREE activities in your local area during the upcoming Spring school holidays.
Cricket NSW FREE holiday program –
Stanwell Park Public
Tuesday, 8 October 2024
9.30am - 3.30pm
Ages 5 -12
Cricket NSW FREE holiday program –
Tarrawanna Park Public
Wednesday, 9 October 2024
9.30am - 3.30pm
Ages 5 -12
Join us for a FREE "Share Our Space" Cricket Clinics, designed for kids aged 5-12 who are new to the game!
This fun-filled program will introduce participants to exciting skills and games, providing a great way to experience the sport in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.
Please ensure your child comes prepared with their lunch, a hat, sunscreen, a water bottle, and comfortable shoes and clothing suitable for outdoor activities.
AusBike Bike skills holiday workshop
AusBike and TNSW are running two school holiday bike skills workshops for 8-12 year olds, on Sunday October 13.
Venue is Coledale Public School on Lawrence Hargrave Drive. Times are 10.00 am and 1.00 pm. Duration is two hours. More details at the registration link below:
https://raceroster.com/events/2024/94356/coledale-public-school