5 March 2025

Welcome

Welcome to Week Six Newsletter 

The Importance of School Attendance

Regular school attendance is vital for your child’s educational success. The NSW Department of Education emphasises that students who attend school consistently are more likely to achieve academic success, build strong social skills, and develop a positive attitude towards learning. Attendance plays a crucial role in shaping the future of our students, and as a school community, we are committed to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed.

Disruptions from Late Arrivals and Early Departures

Arriving late or leaving early from school can significantly disrupt your child’s learning and the learning of their peers. When students arrive late, they miss important instructions and can feel rushed or unsettled. Early departures mean missing valuable lesson time, leading to gaps in learning that can be challenging to bridge. We encourage all families to prioritise timely arrivals and full-day attendance to support a stable and effective learning environment. We would recommend arrival by 8.45 am ready for the 8.55 am bell to ensure our students are settled and ready for their learning in classrooms for 9.00 am.

Leave Requirements for Extended Absences

If your child requires leave from school for more than 10 school days, it is essential to complete the necessary paperwork in advance. The NSW Department of Education requires families to submit an Application for Extended Leave, which must be approved by the school principal. This ensures that the absence is recorded appropriately and helps us maintain accurate attendance records. Forms are available from the school office or can be downloaded from the school’s website.

Reporting Absences Efficiently

Parents are obligated to inform the school of any absences as soon as possible. The most efficient method to notify us is through the Sentral Parent Portal. Using Sentral, you can quickly and easily mark your child absent, ensuring that our records are up-to-date and accurate. This tool helps us manage attendance effectively and ensures that your child’s absence is recorded correctly.

Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation in fostering a culture of consistent attendance. Together, we can ensure that every child has the best opportunity to thrive and succeed.

Warm regards,
Ms Louise Stone
Principal

Upcoming Dates

Thursday 6 March – Year 6 Mufti Day -  Sports Jerseys

Monday 17 March to Friday 21 March – Year 2 Intensive Swimming

Friday 21 March – Harmony Day

Monday 24 March to Wednesday 26 March – Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings - see below to register

Tuesday 25 March - P&C AGM 7.30 pm

Student, Parent, Teacher Meetings 2025

Please see the link below  for booking our ‘Student/ Parent/ Teacher Meetings’ .

Please ensure you have the class name and name of your child’s teacher ready for booking.

Booking will be available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday  24-26 March. Please don't forget that students are  to attend these meetings.

Year 6 moving to Year 7

To enrol your child in Year 7 for 2025, you will need to complete an Expression of Interest for Year 6 to Year 7 transition. The Expression of Interest (EOI) lets you indicate which school(s) you would like your child to attend in Year 7.

The EOI process is available online. After you submit an EOI and it has been assessed, your child will be offered a place at a high school.

If your child will not be attending a NSW Government high school next year, please let us know by completing a Placement Not Required form.

If you are unsure whether they will be attending a NSW Government school (you’ve applied for a private school, or you are moving interstate), we ask that you still complete an EOI and follow up with your school once a decision has been made.

The online process will guide you through your options and collect the information required to make the process as smooth as possible.

For parents/carers who are not able to complete an application online, a paper EOI form can be collected from the school office.

Please visit https://kensington-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/enrolment.html section of our website to complete an EOI or PNR online.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Is your child involved in any of these activities. For external providers please see contact details at end of this newsletter or email your classroom teacher for details.

SRC Badging

SRC Update - Term 1 Week 5 - SRC Badging Ceremony

On Monday of Week 5, we were honoured to present our incoming Term 1, SRC and Committee Leader badges to our deserving students. While many leadership positions were announced last year, badges were only recently presented to students. These students were chosen by their peers as they consistently demonstrate Honour, Knowledge and Community. Congratulations to all our leaders and term 1 SRC.

School Leaders:

School Captains: Elaine and Rahi

School Vice Captains: Jada and Annabel

IT Leaders:

Cassandra, Hugo, Jaykob, Ryder and Libby

Library Monitors:

Kayra, Emma, Amelie, Henry, Leah, Xinyi and Febriana

Performing Arts Leaders: 

Alice, Zoe and Estelle

Environmental Leaders:

Brittany and Venus

Congratulations to all students who have already shown strong leadership, and continue to be role models for their classmates and friends.

Young Archie Competition

In many classes, children have created their own portraits or a portrait of someone special to them. We were then given the task of choosing which ones we should send to the NSW Art Gallery and submit to the Young Archie Competition. 

There were too many to choose from as there are too many talented artists at this school! 

Sadly, we were only allowed to submit 10 from our school so we will be displaying all other portraits around the school. Next time you are wandering through our corridors, you may come across the next winner of the Young Archies!

I've added a few examples into our newsletter so that you can see the incredible talent.

Ms Fredman

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Performing Arts News

At school we announced our forth coming production of 'SNOW', and the children saw how talented some of our teachers are at acting. Our production for all 3-6 students will be in Week 8 of Term 3 this year. Keep it free to  be blown away by, 'A Hint of Snow'. 

NAPLAN 2025 Reminder

Please ensure your child has their headphones at school.

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is sat by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN 2025 will take place from Wednesday 12 March to Monday 24 March.

NAPLAN is just one part of our school’s learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school, so the best preparation is their everyday classroom learning. Our school will also undertake activities to help students become familiar with the types of questions and tools available in the online tests.

The public demonstration site https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site is available for you to see the format of the online tests.

Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/naplan

 and the NAP website https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, including questions about Ramadan, please contact the school.

Student Wellbeing @ KPS

Focus of the Fortnight

Across the school, students are continuing to revisit the Focus of the Fortnight skills and values. It has been great to see how well students have demonstrated their capacity to reflect upon our Focus of the Fortnight and our school values to recognise how they can individually and collectively support positive student wellbeing practices and one another at school. 

Take a look (below) at some of the fantastic Focus of the Fortnight posters and resources completed, last year, by some of our Stage 3 students: Venus, Hannah and Annabelle and Grace, Jada and Sophie.

Please also find the remaining Focus of the Fortnight topics for this term copied below:

Student of the Term, Term One 2025 

Students across the school have been busy revisiting and reflecting upon our core school values of Honour, Knowledge, and Community, particularly as they prepare to vote who this term’s Student of the Term will be. This coveted award celebrates positive behaviour and the achievements of peers, teaching students to recognise how they can advocate for themselves and others. Students who receive an award will receive their award at our Student of the Term assembly for Term One which will be held in Week 10 on Monday 31 March at 2:30 pm. Please look out for a special announcement and the names of the worthy recipients in the Term 2, Week 2 newsletter.

Harmony Week Celebration: Monday 17 March - Sunday 23 March

The ongoing theme of Harmony Week is ‘Everyone Belongs’. Harmony Week is a time of cultural respect for all. In class, during this week, students will participate in Harmony Week activities to learn and understand how all Australians equally belong to this nation and enrich it.

Please support our Harmony Day by wearing a ‘Splash of’ orange on Friday 21 March. 

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Students can choose to wear something orange during Harmony Day to show their support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia. Examples may include an orange t-shirt, orange socks, orange hair ties. 

Warmest regards,

The Student Wellbeing Team 

Merit Certificates Weeks 4 & 5

Swimming Carnival

On Tuesday 18 February we held our annual Swimming Carnival, and what a successful day we had at The Des Renford Aquatic Centre! Congratulations to all students for their efforts both in the pool and cheering on teammates. Many thanks to all the parents who were able to be there to support the children. 

The winning house, swimming age champions and ribbons will be presented at our Sports Assembly early next term.

We wish or Zone Team good luck for today. 

Once again, we finished the day with the exciting relay race between our Year 6 swimmers and parents! This year the students got even, narrowly beating the parents in an absolute nail biter of a finish! Congratulations students! 

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PSSA Sport Results

Clean up Kensington

On Friday 28 March, our annual Clean Up Kensington Day took place with a focus on our school value of Community. All students K-6 did their part to clean our playground after lunch, taking care of our environment and the equipment that we enjoy using every day. Our  students also continued their weekly recycling duty, ensuring that the paper bins in each classroom were emptied, returned and ready for the new week.

We made pledges to use less paper, be conscious of our different bins and the rubbish they collect and try our best to bring “Nude Food” lunch boxes.

Where possible, we continue to encourage families to prepare a “Nude Food” lunch and refrain from using single-use plastics. Alternative methods of packaging food means that there is a lot less rubbish to clean on the playground!

P&C AGM Notice

Hair with Heart Chop

At the end of March I will be donating (a lot of) my hair to a child in need of a wig to gain confidence and happiness.  I’m choosing Hair with Heart as my charity this year and taking the Big Chop to donate my hair to someone who needs it more than me. Plus, I’m fundraising to support Aussie kids who are sick, living with a disability or experiencing disadvantage. Can you help out in the lead-up to my Big Chop? Any small amount makes a big difference!!

You can donate at the following link:

https://hairwithheart.variety.org.au/fundraisers/paigekelly/hair-with-heart

I appreciate your support to this wonderful charity!

Thank you so much,

Kind regards,

Ms Kelly

Ethics Teachers Needed 2025

We currently cannot meet the demand for ethics classes at KPS and so there are many students on waiting lists. Ethics classes can only be offered as an alternative if we have volunteer teachers. Volunteers can come from our parents, grandparents, friends, and local community, from every walk of life. Primary Ethics offers full, free training, lesson scripts and teaching support.

Ethics encourages children to listen closely and to develop their opinions through ethical reasoning. Ethics helps kids develop confidence and empathy. As an ethics teacher, you will get a lot out of it too!

If you have an hour a week and want to ensure children at our school can access this valuable program, go to: https://primaryethics.com.au/volunteer/ethics-teacher/

Or contact the KPS Ethics Coordinator, John-Daniel Encel jd.encel@unsw.edu.au

Celebrating and Highlighting Our Community

Please email the school with details of any accomplishments that our wonderful community has achieved, and we will publish it in our next newsletter. Don’t forget to include a photo!

Agam in Year 3 competed in the Oz tag 2025 NSW State Championships - Junior. He was selected to play in the Boys 9's Representative team for Easts Junior Oz tag. Congratulations Agam!

Toby in Year 2 completed the Canterbury Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre Summer Reading Club which encourages children to enjoy reading throughout the summer holidays. Well done Toby!

Kids Giving Back - Congratulations to Evie and Alexa in Year 3 who generously gave their time to volunteer with Kids Giving Back during Term 4 of 2024 and the recent Dec/Jan school holidays.

They helped to make over 6500 meals, breakfast boxes, snack packs, and care packs for vulnerable communities across Sydney. They also wrote thoughtful, encouraging messages to be shared with those in need. Fantastic effort Evie and Alexa!

Randwick High School Open Night

Matraville Sports High School Open Sports High School - Open Night and Talented Sports Trials

Newtown High School of the Performing Auditions now open for Years 7 and 11 2025

School Holiday Camps

Code Camp

Community News

Canteen

Uniform Shop

Group Singing Classes for Adults - Wednesday Night in the Hall

Register Your Interest New Extra Curricula Program

DZP Acting Program Lunchtime Classes. Please contact them directly to express your interest.

Extra Curricula Programs at KPS 2025

Call them directly for information. 

Animal Oz Illustration- Comic Art- Animation

Chess Classes

Class Artz Academy

Directions in Music

DZP Dance

Ricky’s Music Tuition

Swedish School