Term 2 Week 2

Principal's Report

Election Day BBQ

Many thanks to our P&C, a host of volunteers and over a thousand community members who chose Vardys Road as their place of choice to vote on Saturday.

Once again our P&C organised a BBQ that not only provided sausages, bacon, egg, onions and a patisserie of sweets... it also acted as a warm and welcoming community event.

There is something about lining up for a democracy sausage, that fosters a chat, a catch up, a laugh and our heart-warming community spirit.

Well done to all!

Community Wellbeing Officer

Our new Community Wellbeing Officer, Ben Sterland, is already having an impact, working with the kids in the classroom, touching base with staff and children during the breaks and reaching out to families.

If you see Ben in your travels, stop and say hello.

He is already proving to be another important ingredient in our community-based school culture.

Car Park

Many thanks to our community who have become familiar with our car park procedures and entry/exit gates.

The gates are closed from 7:45am until 4pm.

Please note that when exiting through the automatic exit gate, it takes time for the gate to be opened fully and in the glare of the afternoon sun, is difficult to see.

Please ensure that the gate is fully open before exiting; a recent issue with an exiting car, caused some costly repairs, so your understanding re this matter will be appreciated by the community.

Please also note that the small car park adjacent to the office block is far too small to accommodate parents/carers and to drop off children and tailgating behind staff cars or parking in the preschool are highly dangerous practises.

As always, our community will do what is best for our kids and the community at large, so please take a moment to consider planning your morning and afternoon routines accordingly.

High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE)

The staff and I thank you for your support of our Staff Development Days this term, when we focused our professional learning on High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) and how to allow students the opportunity to show their skills, talents and potential in everything that we do.

It was heart-warming to see the staff work so hard to start to establish systems of identification, tracking and differentiation, while also discussing enrichment groups and school wide systems.

HPGE is an important part of what our school and Department offer and the opportunity to strengthen our systems was gratefully accepted.

More details will be communicated as we work towards our new policy in readiness for 2026.

Mothers Day

We are looking forward to seeing hundreds of our Mothers on Friday, celebrating their special day with our traditional Mother’s Day Breakfast.

Many thanks to the office staff and our temporary General Assistant Chris for working hard to get the treats and activities sorted.

Book Club Reminder

Don’t forget that the due date for the latest Book Club requests is fast approaching.

Thanks for embracing this great way to foster our kids’ love of reading.

Eye Test Coming Up

The up-coming eye tests are a free and convenient way to ensure your children can see their work and can learn without any unnecessary hindrances.

Please have a look at the flyer above and book your children in to this essential service.

Congratulations to our BMX Bandit

Congratulations to Lexie and her very proud parents (as you can see) who are now celebrating Lexie being chosen in the national BMX team.

A huge achievement!

We are looking forward to hearing of your exciting adventures in the upcoming championship Lexie.

Term Overviews

Over the holidays our teaching staff spent many, many hours preparing programs that will engage, challenge and support our children this term.

Please find below overviews of these programs.

Many families print these out, stick them on the fridge and use them as a reference to prompt conversations with their kids about what they are learning at school.

These chats significantly improve student outcomes, by highlighting the importance of school and connecting everyday life to what the kids are learning.

Make yourself a cuppa and sit down for a couple of minutes to read the below overviews... your children will be chuffed to hear that you are interested in what they are learning at school…and maybe even surprised that someone older than them also knows a thing or two!

Enjoy your families,

Ian Short 
Principal

Stage Overviews

EARLY STAGE 1 TERM 2 OVERVIEW

Miss Anderson, Mrs Davis and Mrs Davies are looking forward to another busy term of learning with Kindergarten! During Term 2, we continue to focus on not only developing our students’ literacy and numeracy skills in all Key Learning Areas, but also developing their social and emotional skills.

English

Guided reading lessons will continue to run with explicit instruction to provide differentiated opportunities for students to achieve reading success. Phonological awareness (words, syllables, rhyme, onset-rime, phonemes) is a continued focus during our literacy lessons. Students will be engaging in a variety of imaginative storybook texts to develop their understanding of narrative, character, context and perspective. This is to assist their language growth and literacy skills, particularly oral language skills.

Writing will continue with a focus on sentence structure. Goals for students will include ensuring that each sentence begins with a capital letter, there are spaces between words and each sentence ends with punctuation. Over the term teachers will be looking for students to use a variety of sentence starters as they generate their own ideas and challenge themselves to have a go when writing unknown words.

Students are enjoying their regular weekly news. In Term 2, we would like to enrich this program by encouraging students to speak about specific topics. Weeks 3, 6 and 9 will follow the outline below. All other school weeks will be free choice. To encourage and build confidence in your child, please have a brief discussion about these topics prior to their news day. This is an opportunity for students to gain confidence in speaking for a purpose. No written palm cards or planning is required.

Mathematics

During Term 2, students will continue to investigate numbers 0-20 during whole number lessons using language including count forwards/backwards, number before/after and place value. Addition and subtraction skills will be expanded on, teaching students to combine, separate and compare collections of objects. Students will be introduced to the concept of sharing objects into groups.

Students will also enjoy describing and comparing length, sorting and describing 3D objects, comparing mass and describing position.

Students will have access to Mathletics starting this term. Mathletics is an online learning tool and app that engages students with interactive activities, games and challenges. To access the site/app, students need to log in using the URL https://login.mathletics.com/ and enter their details (found in their homework book). Students can pick and choose from the activities available. Try and obtain a weekly score of 1000 to earn Mathletics awards!

History

Our unit ‘Personal and Family Histories: This Is Me’ delves into the focus of family heritage and the heritage of others. Students will learn about their own family and their family heritage. Please see your child’s homework book for instructions on how you can support us with this unit. Students will develop an understanding of the stories people tell about the past and how these stories are told and shared.

Science & Technology

As part of Science & Technology, students will be inquiring about the ways in which objects move and relate changes in motion to push and pull forces. Students will use language including sliding, rolling, spinning and bouncing to describe how familiar objects move. During the term students will have the opportunity to investigate push and pull forces through a range of experiments.

PDHPE

All students will work with Mr McDonald to learn about healthy decisions and the importance of staying active. Students are to wear their sport uniform on Friday for kindy sport. Please ensure their hat is in their bag.

If you would like to volunteer your time to help with kindergarten sport on Friday morning, please email Miss Anderson (rebecca.anderson41@det.nsw.edu.au).

Creative Arts

Creative Arts activities will continue to have focus on the phoneme (sound) of the week to help reinforce knowledge from English activities. Students will have the opportunity to experiment with different media and materials including paint, pastels, washes and crayons. A continued focus will also be on using scissors correctly and improving fine motor skills.

Homework and Home Reading

Weekly homework resumes this week. Homework is due on Friday morning and will be sent home on Friday afternoon.

Our Home Reading Program supports the implementation of the English Syllabus at school. With a focus on decodable texts, students will be bringing home two books for Home Reading. One will be a decodable reader where students can use their phonics knowledge to decode the words in the text with guidance from an adult or older sibling. We ask parents/carers to read this book to or with their child. As time goes on, independence and skills will develop, allowing students to read these books by themselves. Ask your child comprehension questions (to make predictions and connections to the text, to summarise the text after reading) and talk to them about the high frequency words used in the story. Students can follow along with their finger and re-read the sentence if errors occur or if decoding is needed.

We encourage students to be reading daily. This can be a combination of their Home Reading texts and books they have at home. Students should keep a log of the book they read each day on the Vardys Road Home Reading Log sheet and hand the sheet in to the class teacher once complete. The teacher will give a small Home Reading Award to the student. These awards should be collected by the student as they are part of our whole award system. Once you have 3 awards, hand them in to your teacher for a Home Reading Certificate.

Queries or Changes

Please contact your child’s teacher if you wish to discuss their progress, inform of any changes to circumstance or have any queries this term. We are looking forward to another rewarding term of Kindergarten. Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Anderson, Mrs Davis and Mrs Davies

STAGE 2 TERM 2 OVERVIEW

Stage 2 can look forward to a busy and exciting term full of learning, growth and engaging activities. There will be a broad range of interesting events and programs running throughout the term. This includes the Athletics’ Carnival being held on Tuesday 6th May (Week 2).

It’s time to start practising for the NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee, which will be held in mid-Term 2. Word lists are available for interested students, please see your child’s teacher. The Regional finals will be held in mid-August.

ENGLISH

This term we will continue our study of mentor texts. Year 3 will learn about the concepts of argument and authority through their study of Wandi, and focus on imagery, symbolism, connotation and characterisation in Piano Fingers and Sonam and the Silence. Year 4 will investigate these concepts further through the texts Ned Kelly and the Green Sash, Bindi and Fire.

In their exploration of these texts, students will learn about:

• Oral Language & Communication – Students will be given ample opportunities to contribute to class discussions.
• Vocabulary, Reading Fluency and Comprehension – The vocabulary of the mentor text will be interrogated and students will participate in regular activities to broaden their understanding of words and how to use them to make their own writing more purposeful. Reading fluency and comprehension will be modelled by the teacher with students given the opportunity for regular practice while receiving peer and teacher feedback.
• Creating Written Texts – Daily practice of sentence level writing and the correct use of grammar and punctuation will be part of English lessons. Students will use the mentor text as a basis for their own innovation and work towards creating their own texts.
• Spelling – We will continue with the Sound Waves synthetic phonics program and resources to support the explicit teaching of phonics. Instruction and resources will be differentiated by the teacher to cater for the individual student’s learning needs.
• Handwriting & Digital Transcription - Year 3 will continue practising joins and develop foundation cursive writing. A Pen Licence may be given to Year 4 children in Semester 2, when they show proficiency and neatness in cursive writing using a pencil. Digital Transcription is integrated throughout all curriculum areas.

MATHEMATICS

Our lessons continue to enable students to become confident users of Mathematics learning and applying the language of Mathematics to communicate efficiently and effectively. Focus areas of Representing Number using Place Value, Additive Relations, Multiplicative Relations, Partitioned Fractions as well as Chance, 3D Objects, Time, Volume and Position will be studied in depth, with Working Mathematically as a continual underlying focus. Lessons are designed to introduce mathematical ideas in a logical sequence, with complex concepts broken down into smaller skills which are explicitly taught, practised and mastered to support students to gradually build their knowledge. Daily reviews will continue to allow students to retrieve prior knowledge, practise their understanding and skills and improve their fluency and confidence.

GEOGRAPHY

In our Term 2 unit Australia - similar and different we will discover the diversity of Australia’s places and features, while learning to identify and compare types of climate and geographical features within Australia.

SCIENCE

With a focus on Digital Technologies this term, our Science unit Film Festival will develop our understanding of how digital systems use data and algorithms. Throughout the term, we will learn how to represent data in different ways and use digital technology to design, map out and create a movie using green screen.

CREATIVE ARTS

This term will see a focus on Drama. Students will have opportunities to take part in activities where they will use their body, voice, movement and simple puppets to create dramatic performances.

SPORT AND PDHPE

Winter Interschool Sport will begin in Week 4. Those students not participating in Interschool Sport will engage in a variety of stage sport activities designed to develop skills in team sports.

LIBRARY

Our library days have changed this term. Library borrowing will be on:

Tuesdays - 4 Scarlet and 4 Waratah

Wednesdays - 3 Cherry

Thursdays - 3 Poppy

ASSESSMENTS

Information relating to the ICAS University competitions and test dates will be sent home this term. The OC placement test for students in Year 4 who applied online will be held between 2nd-4th May. Year 3 students completed their NAPLAN assessments in March and Year 4 students will participate in check-in assessments in Term 3. Teachers are continually conducting informal and formal assessments in the classroom to guide learning programs. The Semester 1 reports will be sent home during the last week of term.

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s progress or wellbeing, or if you need to update us with any important information, please contact your child’s class teacher.

Mrs O’Brien, Mrs Christian, Miss Jacobs, Mr Watling, Mrs Richards and Mrs To are looking forward to an exciting and productive term with Stage 2!

STAGE 3 TERM 2 OVERVIEW

Mr Uren, Mrs Mayfield, Mr Salekin, Mr Bartlett, Mrs Sachdev and Mr Bromhead are looking forward to another busy term with Stage 3!

At the beginning of the Term in English, Year 5 students will read the text Spotlight and after analysing a variety of poems they will compose different genres of poetry, applying their understanding of imagery, symbolism and connotation. They will use figurative language and a range of literary devices to collaboratively create and perform a slam poem that evokes an emotional response from a live audience. The second mentor text ‘One Small Island’ will involve focusing on the concepts of argument and authority. This unit will allow students to apply their understanding of imagery, symbolism, connotation, perspective and context to create a range of persuasive, hybrid and poetic written texts.

Students in Year 6 will be reading and analysing the mentor text ‘Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief’ over the course of the term. This unit will focus on the concepts of narrative, characterisation, imagery, symbolism and connotations and how these are represented in different genres. Students will apply their knowledge and understanding to create a range of imaginative and informative written texts.

This term in Mathematics, students will be learning several new addition and subtraction strategies, as well as a variety of strategies for multiplicative relations. Topics including representing quantity fractions, geometric measuring and two-dimensional spatial structure will also be covered.

Our Geography unit this term is called ‘People of the World’. Students will be exploring the geographical and cultural features of Asia, with a country study on Papua New Guinea. In the second half of the term, we will be completing an Inquiry Learning Project (ILP) which will see students investigate an indigenous culture from another country and create informative resources. Part of this project will also involve a take-home task, where students will create an artefact from the indigenous culture they have studied. This unit was very successful and engaging in 2023 and we are looking forward to seeing Stage 3 participate again!

The Science and Technology program focuses on Digital Technologies. Students will learn coding and apply this knowledge to programming robots. In Creative Arts, students will learn about the elements of drama and apply these in a variety of games and activities.

We have a busy and exciting term ahead of us in Stage 3. VRPS staff have been extremely impressed with the maturity and enthusiasm of our Year 5 and 6 students so far and are looking forward to another great term!

Mum's Help Us Bloom

On Friday morning, May 9th at 8:00am, we will celebrate our wonderful Mums and Mother-Figures!

Packs will be containing a muffin and juice for $8.00 per pack.

All orders have now been  finalised and paid for.

Mrs Kelly's News

Podcast

Have you listened to our school podcast?

Don’t miss out! The Stage One special episode is available now. Just search for “The Vardys RoadShow”.

Book of the week:

This book series by Terri Libenson is very popular with students aged 10 to 12 years old. Written in graphic novel style, it covers topics that most students can relate to like friendship, and the drama that can sometimes unfold.

Vote for a Book Club name:

A new Book Club is starting in the library at the end of Week 3.

On Fridays at recess time, students are welcome to come to the library and talk about what they have been reading and listen to hear about the books that their peers enjoy.

To start things off we need to vote on a Book Club name. All students have been coming to the library this week to place a blue dot next to the name they like best. What will our new Book Club name be?

Scholastic Book Club:

Issue 3 of the Scholastic Book Club catalogues are available now.

If you wish to make a purchase, it needs to be before Thursday 15^th May via the online platform.

Every purchase gives the library reward dollars which is used to purchase popular titles for the library.

Term 2 K-6 Assemblies and Class Items

Term 1 marked the exciting return of class assembly items, with standout performances by 2 Palm and 6 Cobalt. We’re thrilled to continue these class presentations during our K-6 Assemblies in Term 2.

Assemblies will be held at 2:10pm on Mondays in Weeks 3, 6, and 9.

Participating in a class item helps students build self-confidence, fosters a strong sense of belonging, and gives them the opportunity to showcase a glimpse of their learning to peers and family members.

Our Term 2 Program:

• Week 3 – 2 Palm and 6 Navy 
• Week 6 – 6 Turquoise 
• Week 9 – 1/2 Apple and 5 Aqua 

MobilEyes Optometry Comes to You!

Mobileyes has partnered with us to bring its fully equipped Mobile Optometry Clinic and AHPRA registered optometrists to our school to conduct eye check-ups throughout this Term in Week 5 - between 26th May to 30th May 2025.
The comprehensive eye check-up program is bulk billed (no gap) to Medicare.

The examination includes:

• Clarity of vision assessment for Distance and Near
• Internal and external eye health assessment
• Eye co-ordination, binocular vision, Depth perception and colour vision assessment
• Testing Report sent to parents/carers.

One in five Australian children suffers from an undetected vision problem, or requires ongoing assessment. Good vision is important for a child’s educational, behavioural and social development and to help them reach their full learning potential. Many children continue to experience undetected and unnecessary vision problems and often they assume that how they see is normal.

If you would like your child to undertake this great service at our school, please complete the online form here.

Alternatively, you may print and complete the attached form and return to the front office.

We would really like for our students to benefit from this service, so parents/carers please take the time to fill in the form. Please submit your form by Friday 16th May 2025.

Prescribed Medication

The Department recognises that all medications, including over-the-counter (OTC) medications, e.g. paracetamol or alternative medicines, may be drugs or poisons and may cause side effects. As such, schools are required to receive medical authorisation from a prescribing health practitioner (e.g. doctor, dentist, optometrist, but not a pharmacist) to administer any medication to students, including those bought over-the-counter.

If your child requires medication at school there are Departmental policies and procedures that need to be followed:

• An adult must deliver the medication to the school office
  For any on-going medication these need to be in a webster-pak (see below photo) packaging with a pharmacy label stating the child’s name, dosage, expiry date, batch number and practitioner’s name. 
• For any incidental medication  e.g antibiotics these need to be in its original packaging with a pharmacy label stating the child’s name, dosage, expiry date, batch number and practitioner’s name. (Pharmacies will print a label for off-the-shelf medications if you tell them that it is for school purposes.)
• You will need to complete and sign the school's 'Administering Prescribed Medication at School' consent form that states your child’s name, the medication, dosage, time and dates that the medication needs to be administered
• You will need to submit a letter from the medical practitioner stating the child’s name, the medication, dosage, time and dates that the medication needs to be administered 
• Please note that the information (chemist label) on the prescribed medication and the two forms submitted must all match i.e. name, dose and time need to correspond with each other 
• If your child attends Jigsaw OOSH in the morning, please ask them for assistance with the delivery of any medication, consent form and medical practitioner letter, to our office on your behalf.

Thank you for your understanding while we endeavour to follow these departmental policies and audit requirements.

Webster-paks

Given the current climate, for students who require daily medication, the best practise would involve the use of Webster-paks.

Webster-paks have already proven to be efficient in schools and have helped improve medication adherence and safety in a way that will help your family feel at ease. Pills are safely and securely sealed within each blister compartment of the medication pack, based on the prescribed dosage and time.

P&C News

Uniform Shop Updates:

This term, the shop will be open during the following days and times:

• Mondays: 8:30am - 9:30am
• Tuesdays: 2:15pm - 3:15pm
• Thursdays: 9:00am - 10:00am
• Fridays: 2:20pm - 3:20pm

Online ordering is always available!

Orders typically arrive in your child’s classroom within one to two days. Just be sure to add your child's name and class in the Notes section during checkout: Order here

Events / Fundraising

Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make our Election Day BBQ and Cake Stall a big success on Saturday, whether you donated time, cakes, items, or supported us by buying a democracy sausage and some cakes while you were voting. It was great to see so many of the school community there – you helped us to raise approximately $2,500 to put towards classroom resources.

My New Gallery

Thanks also to those of you who took advantage of the Uniform Shop special opening times this term (Saturday 3rd May, and Tuesday evening on 6^th May) - we’re glad that these opportunities outside standard hours are of benefit to families.

As we approach our next P&C Meeting in Week 4, we are hoping to find a community-minded volunteer to be our next P&C Secretary. This role was vacated by Karen when she took up the role of President in Term 1. She is looking forward to training and supporting whoever steps into the Secretary role. Please see the P&C Role Vacancies section below for more information.

Mother’s Day Stall

Today was the first day of our annual Mother’s Day Stall, where students had the opportunity to purchase a small gift for their loved one(s).

For any children who missed out or are looking to buy more, the Second Chance stall is on tomorrow, Thursday 8^th May, from 8:30am-9:15am at the OOSH Building/COLA.

Cost: $5 per gift, $1 for cards, $1 for gift bags.

We love welcoming new members, or welcoming back old ones, so if you’ve been meaning to join or rejoin we’d love to have you! Send through your membership form or get in touch with any questions via email: team@vrpspc.org.au , or check out our website: https://www.vrpspc.org.au for further information. 

P&C Role Vacancies

Following the Term 1 Week 8 AGM, we now have a couple of role vacancies, so please consider whether you'd be able to take on one of these important volunteer roles. See the Roles & Responsibilities document for more details, but here's a summary of what's involved:

• Secretary – are you highly organised (e.g. love ticking tasks off lists!)? - this could be the role for you!! Responsible for the day to day organisation of the P&C, including checking the Team email account, following the meeting papers schedule for requesting agenda items, preparing meeting papers, and recording the minutes, maintaining the member register and volunteer register, and assisting other P&C roles with documentation if needed, e.g. to notify our insurance company in preparation for P&C events.

• Planning & Projects Coordinator - this role works closely with the President and has a longer-term focus, coordinating the planning process with the P&C Executive, and is involved in running any major projects that come out of the planning process.

Please contact team@vrpspc.org.au to express interest or to ask questions.

Recipe of the Week

Egg, lettuce and mayonnaise flying saucer sandwiches

Ingredients

• 2 small eggs
• 2 tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 8 large slices light rye bread, crusts removed
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt-reduced margarine
• 1/3 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

Method

Step 1

Place eggs in a small saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 7 minutes. Drain. Refresh under cold water.

Step 2

Peel and finely chop egg. Add mayonnaise and season with pepper. Mash to combine. Using a 9cm round cutter, cut 1 round from the centre of 4 bread slices, discarding offcuts. Using a 10cm round cutter, cut 1 round from the centre of the remaining bread slices, discarding offcuts. Using a rolling pin, flatten rounds slightly.

Step 3

Place the small bread rounds on a flat surface. Spread with margarine. Leaving a 1cm border, top with lettuce, then egg mixture. Spread the large rounds with margarine. Place, margarine-side down, on top of egg mixture. Using a fork, press edges together to seal. Place 1 sandwich in each lunchbox.

Thought of the Week

For mums and mother figures