Kensington Catch Up

17 May 2023

Newsletter Articles

Welcome

Welcome to our Week 4 Newsletter

At KPS, all our staff believe that wellbeing is an essential part of a child's development. We believe that it is crucial to support each individual student’s connection to our school community which in turn supports academic success; I am sure that each parent and carer in our community agrees. As parents, carers and educators, we must recognise the importance of nurturing children's physical, emotional, and social health to ensure that they are well-equipped to face the challenges of life. At primary school, where children spend a considerable amount of time, it is vital to create a positive and supportive environment that promotes their overall wellbeing.

At KPS students are developing their sense of self, building social connections, and discovering their interests and passions. Fostering a positive and supportive environment can help students feel safe and secure, which in turn can lead to better learning outcomes and lifelong success. When children feel good about themselves, they are more likely to engage in the learning process, develop positive relationships with their peers and teachers, and take risks in their academic and social lives.

Schools provide opportunities for physical activity and exercise and various extracurricular programs to support the development of the whole child. I would encourage you speak with your children about the various opportunities at KPS and encourage their involvement.

Building resilience, trying new things and mistakes all help our students learn and become independent and valuable community members that support of school.

I am so appreciative of the efforts of our parents, carers and educators as they support our children to develop the tools for success and utilise the resources that they need to thrive. I am especially excited for our community as we see the instillation of the Wellbeing Hub and the wonderful work that our Wellbeing Committee is doing, continuing to develop student voice, student leadership and further opportunities to build a greater sense of belonging for all our students.

As we continue to return to our pre COVID schedule of activities and events, it was so wonderful to be able to welcome our community to both of our sports carnivals yesterday. There will be an article and photos in our next newsletter.

The wonderful Recorder Ensemble groups had a great rehearsal in the city on Monday and we are so looking forward to their performance at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday 13 June.

Welcome back to Ms Rae and congratulations on her recent wedding. Ms Rae will now be known as Ms Rae-Seymour.

Please always remember to include raincoats and school jumpers in your child’s bag as the weather can be changeable as we head to the winter months.

Best regards,
Ms Louise Stone
Principal

Upcoming Dates

May

Tuesday 23 May -Year One Excursion Vaucluse House
Tuesday 23 May – Q&A Session Principals Randwick Girls’ and Boys’ High School. 7.00 pm -7.30 pm School Hall
Tuesday 23 May – P&C Meeting
Thursday 25 May – Year Two Excursion Vaucluse House

June

Thursday 1 June – Year Six Mufti Day- all students wear “My Favourite Sport”.

Term Invoices and Letters

Student Wellbeing @KPS

Focus of the Fortnight

Through our Focus of the Fortnight sessions, we teach students about our Kensington Public School values: Honour, Knowledge and Community, by learning new skills and making positive choices.

Each rotation we focus on a different aspect of SEL (Social and Emotional Learning). Our learning is also linked to our Personal Development and Health lessons each week. Please take a look at the remainder of our Focus of the Fortnight sessions scheduled for this term.

Term 2

Student Wellbeing Team Update:

Student of the Term, Term Two 2023

Our Student of the Term celebration will take place later in the term. Look out in our Week 10 newsletter for a photo of the students who receive this coveted award. This award is voted by peers, and celebrates positive behaviour and the achievements of peers, teaching students to recognise how they can advocate for themselves and others.

Bullying Prevention:

On Tuesday 9 May, our Student Wellbeing team met with our P&C Student Wellbeing Sub-committee to review and update our KPS Anti-Bullying Plan. Team members discussed the variety of ways in which our staff, community and students can work together to prevent bullying and educate students in aspects of their social and emotional learning. A robust discussion was had with many of the following preventative strategies, recommended by the NSW Department of Education, explored:

Preventative strategies

• Ensuring that there is a whole-school approach
• Developing a school-wide anti-bullying policy, such as the NSW Anti-bullying Plan
• Embedding supportive classroom management and classroom rules
• Developing the role of the teacher and their response to bullying
• Supporting positive relationships between teachers and students
• Utilising school-based anti-bullying programs with high levels of playground supervision
• Promoting a culture of reporting bullying
• Partnering with parents and carers
• Delivering anti-bullying content in the classroom
• A sequential social and emotional learning framework
• Promoting upstander behaviour
• Further teacher support and professional development

Our Student Wellbeing team will present the recommendations and updates to the staff to ensure that our students and school community continue to be supported.

Please find a useful link for parents and carers regarding bullying prevention here:

Kind regards,
The Student Wellbeing Team

Tell Them From Me Student Survey (TTFM): Years 4-6 Only

I am delighted that this term, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices. The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school. More information about the survey is available at this website:

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours from Monday 15 May to Friday 19 May 2023. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. A non-consent form has been sent home with students on Wednesday 3 May 2023. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by Friday 12 May 2023. Copies of the form and FAQs (available in 23 languages) are available from this link:

Reminder Registration for Q&A with the Executive of Randwick Boys and Randwick Girls High School

On Tuesday 23 May, from 7pm to 7.30pm the Executive of Randwick Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools will be coming to the school for a Q&A before the P&C Meeting. All welcome. If you would like to submit a question for the executive beforehand, please email our school and we will be more than happy to send them for you.

Please register your interest below.

Go Pink

In June our staff will be having a GO PINK DAY to raise funds. If you would like to donate, please see details below.

PSSA Sport Results

State Tennis Championships

Jazz took part in the PSSA State Tennis Championships at Wagga last week.

He competed strongly in both singles and doubles and was instrumental in our team, Metropolitan East, finishing 3rd overall, which was a fantastic achievement. Congratulations Jazz!

K-6 Merit Certificate Recipients Weeks 2 & 3

Kindergarten

Iliana, Gracy, Alex, Bell, Mia, Miko, Ameli, Nicholas, Joshua, Cerene

Year One

Hannah V., Reagan, Lillian, Leon, Louis, Madeline, Dan, Benny, Franklin, Jamie

Year Two

Max, Effie, Grace, Elise, Lachlan, Liam, Jude, Stella, Eve, Gigi, Zara, Charlie

Year Three

Orgil, Shamika, Jude, Stella, Spencer, Gul, Aidan, Vanisha

Year Four

Angelina, Brittany

Year Five

Year Six

Eric, Sonny

Materials Matter with the KPS Environmental Team

Our Environmental Team participated in a lesson called ‘Materials Matter’ which is part of the kNOw WasteTM Education Program, delivered by Cleanaway on behalf of Randwick City Council. Our main focus was exploring how we can engage in more sustainable waste management practices, such as recycling and using our bins correctly.

The team also worked together to show how we can ‘Close the Loop’ with the different materials we use in our everyday lives, to reduce the amount of waste that ultimately ends up in landfills. A great initiative of ours this year is the recycling of soft plastics, as Randwick City Council has now opened a recycling service. The soft plastic will be taken to the local facility in Matraville and then pelletised and recycled into practical products, such as garden furniture, fences and railings. By the end of our session, we felt motivated to lead more practices that contribute to a cleaner, greener environment for us and future generations.

Below are some resources we would like to share with you, to hopefully inspire you too!

Cleanaway Recycling Resource Hub:

Cleanaway Material Recovery Facility:

Randwick City Council Soft Plastics Recycling Service:

Mad About Maps Excursion

My Trip to Centennial Parklands to learn about Maps

On Monday the 8th of May Stage Two (years 3 and 4) went to Centennial Parklands to learn about how maps can help us. When we were walking there it was really cold. After we arrived at the Education Centre, we ate our crunch and sip after about 15 minutes all of stage two split up into their year levels. First year 3 had a go at going with the guides to the Wild Play area and Year Four went into the bushes to make a village out of nature. Then we had lunch and we swapped over with the year 3s. Our task was to find areas using a map. After we finished all of our activities we packed up and headed back to school. I had a lot of fun at Centennial Parklands and can't wait to come back.

BY: Sanjana (4F)

Recorder Ensemble - Festival Of Instrumental Music Rehearsal

Miss Aynie, Ms Fredman and the Recorder Ensemble have been working so hard to prepare for the upcoming concert. Kensington will be playing in the Acacia Concert on June 13th at 7:00pm-9:30pm. We are so excited for this fantastic opportunity and look forward to the performance.

Please read some of our student reflections from our rehearsal day:

On Monday 15th May, the recorder ensemble left school at 8:15am! We travelled by light rail into Chinatown. We walked to the Salvation Army Congress Hall to attend the Festival of Instrumental Music recorder rehearsal. We played three songs, Marche Militare, High Road and Singing in the Rain. Miss Susan said we were fantastic! - Xiao-En 4F

It was challenging sitting down for 4 hours! But it was so nice to play with all the other schools! - Libby 4F

The hall was so big and I enjoyed the feeling practising with the other schools. The view from the top was really good and I could see Susan conducting. I loved when Susan called out that we were PERFECT! - Elaine 4R

From the outside, the building looked

I was really surprised seeing all the different types of recorders and schools. Next year I’d love to play the bass recorder or descant 1. I think it would be a great challenge. - Rahi 4R

I liked playing with the other schools and hearing the other types of recorders. I am so excited to play at The Opera House in June. - Alexa 4R

Being Healthy

P&C News

• P&C meeting: Tuesday 23rd May, 7:30 pm.

Parent Library

This book was added to our parent library and is a great resource. Childhood anxiety is becoming a much more common issue these days. In The Anxiety Coach, Michael Hawton, expertly shows parents how to use simple, effective techniques to guide their children and tweens to develop perspective and create emotional reserves and balance they’ll need throughout life.

Parents can come and look at the books before school, which are available in the school library. Books can be borrowed under the child’s name and can be loaned for two weeks. A list of books can be found on the P&C website. Please see the link to the parent library below.

Ethics Teachers Needed 2023

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:

Or contact the KPS Ethics Coordinator, Michael, on 0404506706

School Opal Card Compliance – Letter to Parents

Please see below a letter form TJHB School Engagement Team regarding the importance for all school students to Tap On and Off with a valid Opal Card.

KPSOOSH Newsletter

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!

Community News

Uniform Shop

Randwick Boys’ High School Newsletter

Randwick Girls’ High School Newsletter

Extra Curricula Programs at KPS 2023

Call them directly for information.

Chess Classes

Class Artz Academy

Directions in Music

DZP Dance

Junior Engineers -Coding & Robotics Club

LCF Language Club

Ricky’s Music Tuition

Russian Language Club at KPS

Swedish School