From the Principal’s desk
Welcome to our second last newsletter for the year!
Those of you who have done this before, will understand what chaotic term, Term 4 is!
We have our Rylstone Rocket graduation, Infants Sports Day, Bush to Beach presentation, Captains Speeches, Yr 6 Orientation, Gold Arpy assembly, Parent Thank You morning tea, Parents vs Yr 6 softball game, the end of year assessments and student reports, presentation evening and play, Yr 6 Principal’s lunch, 2nd Gold Arpy morning tea, Yr6 farewell disco, Market Day and talent quest. As well as a variety of other ‘everyday’ things like our regular weekly Friday assemblies etc.
As usual I urge you to keep abreast of school activities by regularly checking the parent calendar on our Sentral app.
PRESENTATION EVENING and PLAY
For our newer parents, I thought I’d quickly explain how our Presentation Evening is run. Firstly, it is a LONG night, although with the new air-conditioning in the Rylstone Memorial Hall it should be a lot more comfortable than previous years!
It will be held at the Rylstone Memorial Hall on Tuesday 10th December; doors will open at 5:00 for a 5:30pm sharp start. Please note there is no booking or purchasing of seats. This is a free event for our whole school community.
The formal award program will run from approximately 5:30pm-7:00pm. Students are required to wear their full SUMMER uniform. Award recipients, including the 2025 School Captains and Prefects are kept secret until revealed on the evening. We then stop for a light supper provided by our fabulous P&C and the children change into their costumes for the play, which will already be at the hall.
The play will start at approximately 7:30pm and go for approximately 45-60mins followed by some Christmas carols. The evening is usually finished by 8:30-9:00pm.
PLAY COSTUMES
As the play draws near, we're starting to work on costumes and would love your help! Just like last year, we're looking for volunteers who can sew or help add special touches to make the costumes magical. Early next week, we'll be reaching out for those willing to assist. If you're available, we'll provide you with a bag of costumes, along with a sample and instructions for what needs to be done. Keep an eye on Dojo for updates on when we'll be ready for volunteers. Please let your class teacher know if you are available to help in any way. Thank you so much for your support and help!
THANK YOU ALISON OLDFIELD
Thank you, Alison, for donating some pop-up soccer goals! The students love them!
CLASS PLANNING FOR 2025
As we look towards 2025 and start planning for classes and grades, it would be extremely beneficial if those families who will not be returning in 2025 to let the office staff know. Alternatively, if any new families who are looking to enrol in 2025 could also confirm their enrolment sooner rather than later, it would really help with our planning. With our growing numbers we need to be proactive and make sure we have a smooth transition into 2025. So please let us know of any definite moves or enrolments where possible.
CHILD PROTECTION EDUCATION
Teachers are beginning their Child Protection Education lessons in the next few days. A permission request with an explanation of these lessons was posted in Sentral. If you do not want your child/ren to participate, please decline this permission request.
ANXIETY PROJECT PARENT TRAINING
This term we will be running Parent Training workshops for the Anxiety Project.
These workshops will be run on Friday mornings, the 8th, 22nd and 29th November from 10am until 12 noon. They will be held here in the school hall. The cost is $10 to cover resources and a light morning tea.
PARENTS WILL LEARN
- An overview of how a well-honed theory of parenting (what you need to repeatedly do) can assist parents to manage children’s worries.
- Coverage of how some misguided policies are making parents and children more anxious.
- The brain, including how the pre-frontal cortex and the amydgala operate, and where fear and anxiety originates.
- Commonly misused phrases and cognitive distortions used by children and their peers.
- A helicopter view of what risks we can allow and which require us to keep children safe.
- ‘Traps and trip wires’: what to do when a child’s amygdala starts to play-up.
- Memorable strengthening sayings, questioning strategies and mindfulness exercises
PARENTS RECEIVE
- A workbook to apply the concepts learnt to their families
- A certificate of completion
We will provide child supervision for the duration. The course will be run by myself, Jodee Burcher.
Enrolments close Monday 28th to allow for ordering of resources. Please follow the QR code for enrolment details.
WORLD TEACHERS DAY
In closing, as tomorrow is World Teachers Day, I would like to thank the staff at Rylstone PS for the outstanding job they do everyday in educating and supporting our children. I have said it before - but will say it again, in all my 33 years of teaching, I have not encountered such a dedicated, knowledgeable, hardworking, caring and professional group of educators and just want to ensure that we all know how lucky we are to have them at our school!
As always, I’ll sign off by thanking you for your commitment to your child’s learning and attendance at school and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on ph: 6739 1404 or Jodee.burcher@det.nsw.edu.au
Jodee
In the classrooms
Wattle
What an incredible start to Term 4, our final term in Kindy! Time has flown by so quickly, and we’ve been working hard, growing, and learning in so many areas.
In Literacy, we’ve been exploring information texts and learning how to gather facts about flowers. In Math, we’ve been focusing on time—looking at hours and figuring out how long different activities take. For example, does it take longer to eat lunch or to do ten star jumps?
In Art, we’ve been experimenting with different techniques. We made some fantastic beach collages using paper and glitter to add detail and texture to our artworks. We also took time to reflect on Remembrance Day by creating beautiful poppy art.
In health, we're examining what is healthy versus unhealthy. It’s evident that Kindy Wattle has a sound understanding in this area. I can't help but wonder if they agree to these guidelines at home.
Thanks to all our hard work, we’ve hit our Dojo point target! Next week, we’ll be celebrating with a special craft afternoon as our reward.
Well done, Kindy Wattle! Keep up the fantastic work—I can’t wait to see how much more you’ll grow throughout the term!
Banksia
As always, we are all systems GO in Banksia!
In English, we’ve been focusing on reading and writing with our focus sounds /oi/ and /ear/. We’ve done lots of partner activities and independent work to build our skills! We’re also working on turning a video story into a written narrative with different types of sentences and paragraphs. We have completed our planning page and are ready to work on the draft, edit and publish phases of the writing process.
In Maths we’ve worked on estimating quantities, adding and subtracting multiples of ten, dividing collections into groups. We’ve also organised and graphed data with Miss Burns.
In Science this term we have started our unit on Materials and Their Purpose. We made predictions and observed some things being mixed and have been looking at how First Nations used natural materials for everyday life. We experimented with weaving paper. Trickier than it looked!
We constructed some fantastic art that will be displayed by the Kandos RSL sub-branch for Remembrance Day.
It was great to be able to complete our Term 3 drama group projects this week. We have worked so hard and now we have most of our groups at school, we added the voice over for our fractured fairy tales. Can you tell which fairy tale they are based on? We hope you enjoy them!
The Four Big Kids https://read.bookcreator.com/iZWcnCBcZZgicBogeuvsiTBW5mm1/sd6B3P0rQyuyTj-23RijzA
Arpy and Mojo https://read.bookcreator.com/iZWcnCBcZZgicBogeuvsiTBW5mm1/Riffx6VsQOyfCbBC3FGUKQ
Little Rainbow Riding Hood https://read.bookcreator.com/iZWcnCBcZZgicBogeuvsiTBW5mm1/BGiIBINpTuSF-piioqEVQQ
The Three Little Puppies https://read.bookcreator.com/iZWcnCBcZZgicBogeuvsiTBW5mm1/eiHZ4y3XSeS6yMxm_tX_FQ/aD7EXO-VSvO1XIdfjvxKFg
Dot and Arlo https://read.bookcreator.com/iZWcnCBcZZgicBogeuvsiTBW5mm1/AHlpP2AZQoCwRWJ2hQKNAw
Bottlebrush
Welcome back! 3/4 Bottlebrush has returned from the break feeling refreshed and ready to dive into learning. It’s been a busy few weeks, filled with exciting new challenges. One area of focus is understanding metaphors, which felt tricky at first. However, with perseverance, Bottlebrush have truly embraced the concept, and are now confidently writing a wide range of creative and descriptive metaphors. It’s wonderful to see their writing transform as they use this powerful figurative to add depth and creativity to their work.
In mathematics, we’ve been tackling the place value of decimals. Initially, using concrete materials to visualise and understand tenths and hundredths was a bit challenging, but as students explored more hands-on activities, their confidence grew. Now, we're moving ahead with place value charts, and it’s clear that everyone is grasping the concept with greater ease. It’s exciting to see their progress as they apply their knowledge to more complex decimal problems!
For science, the class worked with Miss Jacklin to create sundials out of natural materials. Though the sun didn’t cooperate at first, hiding behind clouds, it made a timely appearance just as we finished our sundials. The students were incredibly resourceful, carefully selecting and organising the right materials to build their time-keeping devices. It was a fantastic hands-on project, and everyone had a lot of fun learning how the sun’s position can be used to tell time!
Last but certainly not least, 3/4 Bottlebrush is buzzing with excitement as we prepare for our upcoming school concert. We’ve selected the song for our performance and have begun choreographing a dance routine. Students are also working on designing costumes to complement their performance. Everyone is looking forward to showcasing their hard work on stage, it promises to be a performance to remember!
Waratah
After a refreshing break, Year 6 are gearing up for a busy final term of their primary school experience.
After years of watching their older peers perform lead roles in the play, it is finally their turn. They are eagerly learning their lines and developing their characters. We’re looking forward to seeing how their personalities emerge!
Year 5 have been enjoying the opportunity to be buddies to our Rylstone Rangers and have shown excellent leadership skills as they have shown care to the newest members of our school.
Year 5 have been given the chance to apply for a position for the prefect body in 2025. Those who are interested in representing the school next year are now preparing their speeches. We wish them all the best.
5/6 Waratah have written a cartoon about how to regulate their emotions when their amygdala wants to take charge. They have enjoyed creating an accompanying soundtrack in Garageband. They have expressed the changes of emotions by changing tempo, pitch, dynamics and tone colour. It’s been an enjoyable time.
As Remembrance Day approaches, the students have painted an artwork Lest We Forget. It was particularly special that we were able to visit the War Memorial earlier this year and this has helped deepen their appreciation for those who served us in war.
We are looking forward to our final term of learning together.
LATE ARRIVALS AND EARLY DEPARTURES
All students arriving after 9:20am or departing before 3:20pm are required to present at the school office to sign in or out. This can now be done electronically via a Sentral Kiosk, immediately updating your child's attendance register. An image of the Kiosk Menu can be seen below.
INFANTS SPORTS DAY
SRC
Sentral
UPDATE
Some parents may not be receiving our school notifications on Sentral if they do not update the app regularly. Please remember that Sentral is our official communication portal so it is important to keep it updated.
Sentral is the go-to place for all school information, permission requests, school payments, absences, newsletters, Parent Teacher Interviews. It can be accessed via the app on your phone or the web portal on your computer.
Please note that SMS messages sent via Sentral from our school will come from a random phone number but we will always start our message with RylstonePS or RPS. We have limited space/characters so messages may be brief and to the point.
If you need any help using Sentral please don't hesitate to ask Karon in the office or checkout these Sentral Parent Help pages: https://www.sentral.com.au/parents
Keeping up to date with your child's absence explanations is a legal requirement for parents, as per the Education Act 1990. Also, your child's semester reports will be printed with the total number of Absences for the semester, as well as those that are unexplained. Red on your child's attendance calendar indicates that we do not have an explanation.
Dates for your calendar
Don't forget you can find these dates on your Sentral Calendar too.
October
- 25th - Kinder Orientation 9:30-11am
- 28th - Closing date for enrolment for Anxiety Workshops
November
- 1st - Waratah (5-6) Movie excursion
- 1st - Final Kinder Orientation and Graduation 9:30am-12pm (Grad. begins at 11:45am)
- 2nd - Choir performance at StreetFeast 11am
- 8th - The Anxiety Project Parent Workshops (10am-12pm)
- 10th - P&C Tea Towel fundraiser closes
- 15th - Infants Sports Day in Kandos
- 21st - Captains Speeches
- 22nd - The Anxiety Project Parent Workshop (10am-12pm)
- 29th - The Anxiety Project Parent Workshop (10am-12pm, Final)
December
- 2nd - Yr6 - 7 2025 orientation day at Kandos HS
- 6th - Gold ARPY and Representation Assembly
- 6th - Parent Thank You morning tea
- 6th - Year 6 vs Parents softball match 12pm
- 10th - Presentation and Play Night 6pm at Rylstone Memorial Hall
- 11th - Yr 6 Lunch with Principal
- 13th - 2nd Gold ARPY recipients morning tea
- 13th - Farewell Year 6 Disco
- 16th - Reports go home
- 17th - SRC Market Day
- 18th - Term 4 BBQ, SRC Talent Quest & Students last day
Reminders
- Students arriving late or departing early MUST come to the office to sign in/out.
- Parent helpers must sign in at the office for WH&S.
- Payments to school (not P&C) can be made online via Sentral Pay with a debit or credit card, or cash can be sent in an envelope to the school office. The school does not have an EFTPOS machine.
- Please check your child's attendance on the Sentral app and keep up to date with absence explanations. Explanations are required within 7 days of an absence. A text message will be sent to you if your child is absent and you haven't submitted an explanation.
- School Drive Subsidy and bus transport: Please keep your details current and notify the Dept. of Transport of any address changes at www.transportnsw.info/school-students
P and C News
StreetFeast volunteers needed
StreetFeast is coming up on Saturday 2nd November and we are once again assisting with the set up and pack up of the tables, chairs and gazebos for the event in return for a donation to our P&C.
Many hands make light work, so if you’re able to assist for an hour or so in the morning and/or the afternoon, that would be greatly appreciated. More information on the exact times will be provided in the coming week or so. Please text Kate on 0427331969 or send us a message on our Facebook page if you’re available to help!
Tea Towel & Tote Bag Fundraiser
A notice was sent out on Sentral about our exciting Tea Towel & Tote Bag Fundraiser with orders closing on 10th November. Please get your orders in early to avoid missing out. There is a link to more information on our Facebook page too.
P&C Cocktail Party Fundraiser
Uniform Shop
Just a reminder that the Uniform Shop is run by our P&C volunteers and not the School Office. All orders can be made online via the P&C Website (there is a link below, one on Sentral and also our Facebook page) or the Uniform shop is open on Fridays after assembly from 3:20-3:45pm.
Online orders are not guaranteed to be sent home with your child the same day they are ordered, however if it is urgent, please make a note of that in your order and we will do our very best to have it filled the same day.
If you need to make alternative arrangements or for something very urgent, please text our Uniform Coordinator Shannon Morris on 0427 441 868.
The RPS Uniform Shop is open on Friday afternoons 3:20-3:45pm but don’t forget you can shop anytime 24/7 via our online shop and your order will be sent home with your child: https://rylstone-public-school-parents-and-citizens-association.square.site/