5 April 2024
Principal’s Report
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Easter Hat Parade
Our annual Easter Hat Parade for Kindergarten to Year 2 Students was held last Wednesday. It was wonderful to be able to have many families join us on the school courts area for this great event. Thank you to Ms Mitchell for your efforts and coordination of this fun event.
School Cross Country – Wednesday 10th April
This event will be held on Wednesday 10th April, the last week of the term, starting at 9.30am and finishing at approximately 11.30am. This year, we are extending the Carnival time in an attempt to provide more students the opportunity to complete the full run.
Please note that the finishing time has been adjusted from the original note that was sent home.
All students from Years 3-6 are encouraged to enter, and Year 2 who turn 8 in 2024 are welcome to participate. Sports Uniform should be worn on the day. Students may wear a t-shirt in their house colour. Parents and caregivers are most welcome to attend.
Information about this activity has been sent home.
P&C Glow Disco – Thursday 11th April
The P&C are holding a disco for BSPS students on the afternoon and evening of Thursday 11th April.
- Kindergarten to Year 2 Disco – 4.45pm - 6.00pm
- Year 3 to Year 6 Disco – 6.15pm to 7.30pm
Please purchase your child’s wrist band through the P&C. Wrist bands will be sent home prior to the disco and should be worn on the night.
Please find the notes attached for more information.
OC Applications for Year 4 Students
Online Applications for the 2025 Year 5 Opportunity Classes open on Thursday 4th April. Applications must be completed online by Monday 20th May. Parents of Year 4 students please see the attached note and information that was distributed this week.
Additional information
Important Changes to OC classes in NSW and at Blacktown South PS
As of 2025 the NSW Department of Education is making important changes to OC classes, particularly to a number of schools in Sydney, including Blacktown South PS. The Department will be redistributing OC class placements to create OC classes at more schools and to make better use of school infrastructure.
Starting in 2025 Blacktown South PS will have an intake of 15 OC students each year, not 30 students. This will mean that in 2026 Blacktown South PS will have one OC composite class of 30 students, made up of 15 Year 5 and 15 Year 6 students.
These changes will not affect students already attending our OC classes.
OC school changes for 2025:
These schools will have a reduced intake from 2025, mostly from 30 to 15 places, unless otherwise specified:
- Artarmon Public School (60 to 30 places)
- Balgowlah Heights Public School
- Blacktown South Public School
- Caringbah North Public School
- Colyton Public School
- Kingswood Public School
- Woollahra Public School (60 to 30 places)
Schools with a new OC class with 15 places per year from 2025:
- Blacktown West Public School
- Brookvale Public School
- Lindfield East Public School
- Maroubra Junction Public School
- Miranda Public School
- Penrith Public School
- St Clair Public School
- Toongabbie Public School
- Wahroonga Public School
If you have any questions or concerns for the Selective Education Unit please email or call them directly.
Email: ssu@det.nsw.edu.au
Phone: 1300 880 367
Harmony Day 2024 – Wednesday 22nd May - Term 2
This Year Harmony Day will again be held in Term 2, on Wednesday 22nd May. We have been forced to make this change of date because NAPLAN was held in Term 1 and we could not hold major school events during the two week NAPLAN period.
Our school cerebration and parade will be held next Term.
Notes have been sent home for students who wish to be part of the parade.
End of Term 1 and Term 2 Dates
Friday 12th April: Last day of Term 1 for students and teachers.
Saturday 13th April to Sunday 28th April: School Holidays
Monday 29th April: Staff Development Day- Staff only attend.
Tuesday 30th April: Students return to school.
This is the last newsletter prior to the beginning of the school holidays in one weeks’ time. I wish all families a very safe and restful school holidays. I look forward to seeing you all next term.
Andrew Bowmer- Principal
Cultural Calendar for April
Dear Parents, I endeavour to include as many cultural events as possible, unfortunately I do accidently miss some. If I have missed an important cultural event for your culture or religion please inform me so I can correct it in the coming newsletter. Thanks for your help.
April 6th – Laylat al Qadr/ Night of Destiny (Muslim) is a day that observes the night when the Prophet Mohammad received the first versus of the Koran.
April 7th – Daylight saving time ends.
April 8th - Hana Matsuri (Buddhist- Japan) is a celebration of the Buddha's birthday, observed in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, where it is known as Kambutsue.
April 10th Eid Al Fitr (Muslim) also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast", is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
April 13th – 15th April: Songkran New Year. In Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand the new year is celebrated by cleansing images of Buddha in homes and temples, young people sprinkling water on older people, tying strings around the wrists of others and expressing good wishes for the new year. In Thailand this festival is known as Songkran.
April 14th – Hindu New Year: The Hindu New Year is based on Panchang, the lunar calendar and therefore the date changes annually. 2021 is 2078 in the lunar calendar. Different communities celebrate on different dates around the beginning of spring. Celebrations vary across India but usually people go to the temple to pay their respect and seek blessings, and gifts and sweets will be exchanged between friends and family members. The Goddess Lakshmi and the elephant-headed God Ganesha are especially venerated on this day.
April 14th - Silk New Year –Vaisahki (1 Vaisakh 551). (Sikh) This date is significant as it marks the founding of the Khalsa Panth and commencement of the Sikh Baptism (referred to as taking ‘Amrit’). It so happens that this date also coincides with a culturally significant ancient harvest festival which marks the beginning of a new solar year and harvest season.
April 17th – Independence Day – Syrian Arab Republic
April 17th –Rama Navami* (Hindu) is a Hindu spring festival that celebrates the birthday of Shree Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Rama is particularly important in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism.
April 18th – Independence Day – Zimbabwe
April 21st – First day of Ridvan (Baha’i) is a twelve-day festival in the Bahá'í Faith, commemorating Bahá'u'lláh's declaration that he was a Manifestation of God.
April 23rd – First day of Passover (Jewish) also called Pesach is a major, biblically derived Jewish holiday. Jews celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses.
April 25th – ANZAC Day
April 25th – National Day - Israel
April 26th – Union Day – United Republic of Tanzania
April 27th – Independence Day – Serra Leone
April 27th – Freedom Day – South Africa
April 27th – National Day – Togo
April 28th – Orthodox Palm Sunday (Christian) It is the first day of the Holy Week — known as the last week of Lent and commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Important Australian Milestones
April 25th – The ANZACs landed at Gallipoli 1915
April 29th – Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay 1770
Attendance Matters
As we head into the end of term, it remains important that your child attends school every single day. Being at school is the best place for students to learn as well as to keep social connections and build life-long skills.
We understand that families are eager to see and reconnect with loved ones and take a well-deserved break, but please remember that planned travel should only be taken during scheduled school holidays.
Students should be at school every day during school terms, including until the end of term, unless they are sick or are absent for a justified reason.
Missing a day here or there may not seem like much, but absences add up and can negatively impact your child's learning and wellbeing. When your child misses one day per fortnight, that's 4 weeks of missed learning in one year. Over an entire school journey this adds up to 1 year of lost learning. We all need to work together to ensure every child is given the best possible chance to learn and succeed.
Remember #Attendance Matters.
Kathy Price – Deputy Principal
Grade Article Year 3
Stage 2 thoroughly enjoyed the Slimy States of Matter incursion. They explored the three states of matter and how heat causes a change of state. The show was full of engaging live experiments. The students were mesmerised from the first minute. Some of the experiments were loud, others were sticky and all of them were fascinating. The students were particularly intrigued when liquid nitrogen was used to rapidly cool the air inside of a bucket and blow up a balloon (Until it popped!).
This show aligns with our Stage 2 Science Unit- Material World. In this unit we are exploring matter and its three states (solids, liquids and gases). We are investigating how matter can change from one state to the other through heating or cooling.
We hope you enjoy the photos from the Year 3 and Year 4 sessions.
PBL Article
Welcome readers to Week 10 and our last PBL article for Term 1.
This fortnight, students have been learning what it means to be prepared for school each day. Successful preparation is reliant on two main levels, physical preparation, but more importantly, mental preparedness.
Physical Preparation for school involves the following important activities:
- Bringing pencil cases, rulers and other equipment ready for learning.
- Keeping personal items safe and secure.
- Taking responsibility for your recess, lunch, water bottle, note folder and hat and making sure they are in your bag.
- Taking responsibility for your library bag and for returning books on time.
- Returning notes and money on time and supplying absent notes promptly.
- Completing homework tasks to revise learning.
- Using the playground bells at recess and lunch time as bathroom reminders so your learning isn’t disrupted.
- Take pride in your uniform and grooming.
- Get a good night’s sleep so you can function at your maximum potential.
- Fuel up for learning with a good, healthy breakfast.
‘Bringing notes and money back on time is very important.’ Jasvin 3/4L
‘Wear the appropriate uniform through the year.’ Tanush 3/4L
Being physically prepared for school is how we learn to be responsible for ourselves, and by extension, our level of achievement. It is a valuable life skill.
Mental Preparation for school involves the following activities:
- Having a positive attitude to learning and to others around us.
- Being motivated and dedicated to reaching your full potential.
- Be a curious learner and a good listener.
- Concentrate on your learning and ask questions.
‘We should always have a positive, champion attitude’ Veer 3/4L
Being mentally prepared for school helps you develop a strong growth mindset and gives you self-confidence.
Being ready for school each day sets you up for success and is fundamental to helping you strive to achieve. Additionally, it helps you develop time management and organisational skills, essential for further education or employment.
Be a Safe, Respectful Learner
Have a wonderful fortnight and a relaxing, enjoyable break.
Looking forward to all the exciting learning next term.
P&C Committee / Fund Raiser
Parents & Citizens Committee NEWS:
Our P&C is run by a handful of parent volunteers, our goal is to connect with our school community and raise funds to help our school do things for our children.
Our current fundraising project is to raise funds to put weather shelters around the school. And we are happy to advise we will be contributing $50,000 towards Stage 2 Walkways. Thankyou to the whole BSPS community as this money has been raised from fundraisers we have held.
Some P & C events coming up include the following:
- Welcome GLOW Disco: Thu 11th April
- Mothers’ Day Stall; Tue 7th May
- Mothers’ Day Stall: backup: Wed 8th May
- Loose Change drive: June
- Crazy sock day: Term 2
Welcome Disco
April 11th – Get ready to dance! Wrist bands are being issued as you purchase. Please keep them safe to wear on the night.
Crazy Socks Pre-order
From February 12th – Secure the funkiest crazy socks early for maximum craziness for our SRC Crazy Sock day in term 2.
The Easter raffle had some great prizes, including Easter show tickets, raging water passes, Sweet Indulgence vouchers, Gotcha Tea vouchers, Timezone/bowling vouchers, Flipout vouchers, Hoyts vouchers, Event vouchers, plush toys, Easter bags, candles, chocolates, crafted soaps, dinner vouchers etc. Congratulations to our winners.
We will also have our Mothers’ Day stall in May. We have worked hard to source gifts that will allow us to keep the gifts at $5 each and there will be a large variety of gifts to choose from for all Mums’, Grandmother’s, Auntie’s and all other Mother figures. Vouchers will be available for purchase from our P & C website also.
We would like to thank the following businesses for their donations:
- Woolworths; Blacktown, Prospect and Seven Hills
- Royal Easter Show
- Raging Waters
- Flipout Blacktown
- Time Zone Blacktown
- Gotcha Tea
- Sweet Indulgence
- Hoyts cinemas
- Event cinemas
- Circus Illusion
Thank you to those who have been purchasing the entertainment book from our website, our P&C gets $14 for every membership.
Business donations are very much welcome. Please share this link with any businesses that may help.
Please like our P&C/Uniform shop Facebook page for updates.
On our P&C website we have added the option "P&C contribution",(link below)this is optional but it would be a great help if each family of our school could help with a donation. Thank you.
Digital Entertainment book
This fundraiser is available to be purchased all year.
Membership starts from the day of purchase and every family member can use it as long as they have the app with the same login details.
It's an app full of savings on entertainment, dining, travel, activities and much more.
If you purchase through our link the P&C get a percentage.
Purchase through the link below:
If you too would like to join our volunteer team please contact us at
pc.bsps@outlook.com.au or Renee 0415859158
Kind Regards
Your P&C
Uniform Store
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Uniform Shop operating hours:
TUESDAYS and FRIDAYS from 09:15am-10:00am
Or you may purchase from the P&C website at any time and the uniforms will be delivered to the student’s class.
Greetings to our wonderful school community!
We're thrilled to introduce our new P&C committee for 2024
- Renee Tsingolis: President
- Mandi Ashraf and Breamini Maniraj: Vice President
- Karishma Agarwal: Treasurer
- Hayley Hutchison: Secretary
- Position Vacant: Assistant Treasurer
- Danielle Flissinger: Assistant Secretary
- Melissa Wilson: Fundraiser Coordinator
Their dedication will surely enhance our P&C Community. Speaking of which, mark your calendars for the upcoming events:
Please like our P&C/Uniform shop facebook page for updates.
Welcome New Volunteers: If you to would like to join our volunteer team please contact us at
pc.bsps@outlook.com.au or Renee 0415859158
Stock Update: 2024 is off to a great start! All items are currently in stock, but please note, we are running low on our winter fleece and tunic line. Expect replenishments just in time for winter around May.
Second-Hand Uniform Rack: Back in action from Friday, February 9th, with items priced at $2 & $5. Have old uniforms to spare? We gladly accept donations – drop them off at the uniform shop door or the office.
Bagless Uniform Shop: We're eco-friendly! If you have unwanted bags, we'd love to have them.
Payment Options: Exciting news – Afterpay is now available in-store! Note: PayPal doesn't work online yet, but we're working on it.
FREE Hijabs and Swimming Caps: Limited stock of sky blue Hijabs available – one per student.
School swimming caps are also available for purchase at the uniform shop. $10
Art Smocks: Get your royal blue school colour art smocks at the uniform shop for only $15
Waterproof rain jackets in royal blue school colour is also available for purchase at the uniform shop $25
Uniform Shop Hours: Tuesdays and Fridays from 09:15 to 10:15. Please remember, all gates, apart from the main gate, close by 09:50 am.
Extended Sizes: We've got you covered! The uniform shop stocks the majority of our range up to 4XL. If you need larger sizes, come and see us.
Thank you to everyone who attended the P & C meeting on Friday, it was especially good to see some new faces. We also welcomed our new Assistant Secretary, Danielle Flissinger, who was voted in at the meeting. We still have an Assistant Treasurer role vacant, please reach out to one of the Executive members if you are interested.
Please like our P&C/Uniform shop facebook page for updates.
If you to would like to join our volunteer team please contact us at
pc.bsps@outlook.com.au or Renee 0415859158
Thank you
Renee Tsingolis
P&C President
Notes
Please click below for any notes that have gone home in the past that you might have missed:
Community News
At Blacktown South Public School, we support our local community. Click on the links for further information.
School Contacts
Blacktown South Public School
183 Flushcombe Road
Blacktown NSW 2148
Ph: 9622 6034, 9622 2449
Fax: 9831 2379
Email: blacktowns-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Principal: Mr Andrew Bowmer
Deputy Principals: Mrs Kathy Price, Mrs Renee Radecki (Monday to Wednesday) and Mrs Sathiya Segaram (Thursday to Friday)
Assistant Principals - APCI: Miss Raelene Rillera, Ms Amanda Sheaves and Mrs Sathiya Segaram.
Assistant Principals: Kindergarten Mrs Sarah Hayes
Year 1 Ms Matilda Lee
Year 2 Mrs Fiona Pearce
Year 3 Mr Patrick Lee Eyles
Year 4 Mrs Charlesworth
Year 5 Mrs Jami Edwards
Year 6 Miss Alyce Rogers
Enrichment/OC Mr Matthew van Trier
Specialist Teachers Mrs Panayiota Zouriakas
Senior Administration Manager: Mrs Claire Dobbie
School Administration Officers: Mrs Robyn Taylor, Ms Doris Mifsud, Miss Daphne Manivong, and Mrs Melissa Gregoriou.
School Counsellor: Ms Lisa Harvey, Ms Ronda Maxwell and Ms Olivia Parrott
P&C Association
President: Renee Tsingolis
Vice President: Mandi Ashraf and Breamini Maniraj
Treasurer: Karishma Agarwal
Secretary: Hayley Hutchison
Assistant Secretary: Danielle Flissinger
Assistant Treasurer: Position Vacant
Canteen Team
Clothing Uniform: Mrs Tsingolis, Mrs Maniraj, Mrs Ashraf