Welcome to our school newsletter - "your local school....our local community" 

Dear Parent and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4!

This term will be another busy one for staff and students alike. 

Granny Smith Festival-Dance Group Performances

Congratulations to our Snr and Jnr Dance groups who performed last weekend at the popular Granny Smith Festival. Our dancers were once again energetic and a crowd favourite. Thank you to our supervising teachers Miss Scarcella and Ms Foster for organising the troupe on a Saturday and our parents for supporting the performance and transporting their children to the event. Congratulations to our expert dance teacher Ms Dani Camage for arranging wonderful dances once again for our students to perform.

I look forward to the Snr Dance group performing at the Sydney Opera House on Monday November 3rd at the Ryde Schools Performing Arts Festival.

Press Gang Day

Congratulations to the following students who have been invited to attend the annual Press Gang Day as Putney delegates on Thursday 30th October- Yash J, Laura Q, Kiana H and Caellum G.

This year, Press Gang Day falls during Media Literacy Week. The theme is ‘Let’s Bust Fake News’ - student reporters will collaborate to create an informative video targeted at primary school students. They’ll take advantage of Western Sydney Uni’s TV studio, interview experts such as journalist and TV presenter, Jan Fran, and create their own fake news-busting checklist. 

I look forward to hearing reports from our delegates.

The Stingray students will have the opportunity to be the Putney Press Gang this term.

Kindergarten 2026

Staff have been visiting preschools and observing some of our students who will be joining our school next year. We have run school tours and will be holding school interviews and orientation days as in the past. We are always excited to meet our new Kindergarten cohort.  I have enjoyed visiting pre schools and meeting many friends and acquaintances who I have worked with during my time at Putney. Our continued connection with our local pre schools continues to be vital to ensure a smooth transition to school. Please ensure that if your child is in area and due to start Kindergarten 2026, then it is vital that an online enrolment is completed asap.

Staff Development Day SDD

Staff worked collaboratively during our SDD examining the Gradual Release Model and "You do" and catering for differentiation when required in our lessons.

The Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) model is an instructional framework designed to shift the cognitive load from the teacher to the student progressively. It's often summarised as "I do, We do, You do."

Here’s a breakdown of its typical stages:

1. Focused Instruction ("I do"): The teacher models the task or skill explicitly, demonstrating how to approach and complete it. This stage involves clear explanations, think-alouds, and demonstrations.

2. Guided Instruction ("We do"): The teacher and students work together on the task. The teacher provides support, prompts, and feedback as students begin to apply the new skill or strategy.

3. Collaborative Practice ("You do it together"): Students work with peers to practise the skill or strategy, allowing them to develop understanding through social interaction and shared problem-solving.

4. Independent Practice ("You do alone"): Students apply the skill independently, demonstrating their learning and mastery.

This model supports scaffolding learning by gradually transferring responsibility from teacher to student, fostering independence and confidence. It is widely used in literacy, numeracy, and many other learning areas.

Life Skills Go

Life Skills Go is a tool created with input from educators to help schools collect information about students' emotions and wellbeing. It measures how ready students are to learn by gathering data on their emotional state and wellbeing.

The tool also offers a large collection of resources that are based on research and aligned with the school curriculum. These resources help teachers support students' emotional and social development, promoting better learning outcomes and overall wellbeing.

 Life Skills GO helps schools understand how students are feeling and provides practical materials to help students succeed both emotionally and academically. Two classes trialled Life Skills Go in classrooms last term and this term all classes will be involved. We have committed to using the tool in classrooms for three years to support the wellbeing of our students.

High Performance and Gifted Education HPGE

Last term, we trailed HPGE groups a mathematics enrichment program for Stage 2 students through targeted small group withdrawal sessions. The program designed and taught by Mrs Hedge aimed to challenge and extend students who demonstrate advanced ability or strong potential in mathematical reasoning, logical thinking, and problem solving.

This term, Mrs Ignazzi will be teaching an enrichment Stage 2 Mathematics group, Stage 2 and 3 Writing group, Stage 3 Reading group and working with the drama ensemble. These groups will continue to be delivered on a Thursday in the learning hub. Mr Robb will teach Albatross on Thursdays.

Symphonia Jubilate Orchestra and Ensembles

Congratulations to one of our Year 6 students Lexie C who is a member of the Symphonia Jubilate Orchestra and will be playing the saxophone in the performance on Saturday 15 November at Marie Bashir Public School.

Spring Fling

Our annual Year 6 fundraiser the “Spring Fling” has been organised.

This year, our senior students have planned a variety of activities for students in Kindergarten to Year 5 to enjoy. The "Spring Fling" event will allow the Year 6 students to raise funds to purchase a farewell gift for the school. Working collaboratively, the Year 6 students have designed a range of fun and creative activities, such as soccer and basketball games and skills, face painting, hair spraying, photo booths, planting and gardening projects, crafts, relays, sock wrestling, and more. Prizes will be awarded at each activity stall.

The cost of the event is $15 which includes a sausage sizzle lunch and ice block as part of the deal. There will also be a few food stalls where children can buy treats if they wish, with prices ranging from 50 cents to $5. These include the Dalgona cookie challenge, cupcake decorating, and a cake stall.

Students are welcome to wear casual clothes (mufti) on the day. I’d like to thank you for your anticipated support for this event. Information has been sent out via School Bytes.

P and C Meeting

Please join us for the AGM and P&C meeting on Thursday, 30th October at 7:30pm in the Orcas Classroom in J Block. The current P&C Executive members, President - Skye Kemp, Vice President - Chantel Calderwood, Treasurer - Catherine White, and Secretary - Rony Anwar  have finished a two-year term. They have worked very hard coordinating the canteen, raising money for extra-curricular activities, and getting families involved in school events. The staff and I would like to thank them for all their wonderful work and everything they have done to help bring our school community closer.

We hope you will consider putting your name forward for an Executive role so the P&C can keep working with teachers and parents to support our school.

I will be taking extended leave from October 24th to October 31st. Ms Emily Sullivan will be relieving Principal during that time.

Mrs Brooks

Principal

Life Skills GO

Jump Rope for Heart

 The Parent Hub

Focus on Empathy

Empathy is all about understanding how someone else feels — seeing things through another person’s eyes. When we show empathy at home, children learn that it’s okay to have big feelings and that others care about how they feel. Taking time to listen, share stories from your own day, or talk about how others might be feeling helps children build stronger, kinder relationships. Little moments of connection can make a big difference in helping kids feel seen, heard, and supported.

How you can help at home

On The Resilience Project Parent Hub, there’s a helpful interview about navigating big feelings. It offers simple strategies for supporting children when emotions feel overwhelming, and ways to help them build calm, resilience, and confidence. You can watch the interview on the Parent Hub website here: https://vimeo.com/1044206587/72f212ced7?fl=pl&fe=ti 

Mrs Martin & Ms Sullivan

Dearest Gentle Readers,

For the past 2 years I have spent every second Wednesday night hunched over my keyboard, fuelled by half price blue V and questionable snack choices. I have made pretty posters and tried to resist using ChatGPT, all in the name of growing the number of readers who not only open the newsletter but actually make it down to the P&C section (and hello to all 10 of you).

This is the final newsletter before my position as President becomes vacant and therefore the final time I get to sit down and write to you all. Sadly I'm without my trusty editor Chantel who is gallivanting around America instead of receiving this at 2am for an urgent review :)

Being part of the P&C has been such a rewarding experience - the laughs, the teamwork, raising money to make a difference and best of all ... the joy on the kids' faces at events and the canteen.

I want to send a huge thank you to my committee of Chantel, Catherine, Rony and Talitha for all the hard work, support and good humour even when my "brilliant" ideas seemed ridiculous, crazy and oh-so difficult. We have made friends for life and I am so grateful.

Thank you also to everyone who’s read along, volunteered, or simply cheered us on - it's a beautiful little school and I feel proud to think we have made a difference.

I wish the new committee every success. They are still looking for a President and Secretary. I know it seems daunting taking on these roles but trust me you get more out of it than what you have to put in.

Skye

Canteen News

As always, any questions or feedback concerning the canteen can be emailed to canteen@putneypc.org.au.

Term 4 (Summer) Menu

The summer canteen menu is here! Check out all the delicious options available for Term 4 - there’s something for everyone.

Halloween

The canteen is getting into the Halloween spirit with a special spooky menu next Friday! Expect some frightfully fun treats and ghoulishly good snacks - perfect for hungry little monsters.

All the spooky specials will be available to order on School24 this Sunday, so don’t miss out - these creepy creations are only available until sold out.

Term 4 Special Days

Term 4 will see some delicious special days at the canteen! Keep an eye out for themed menus, fun treats, and limited-time lunch options throughout the term.

Please note that we are changing up Tizzy's traditional end of term sausage sizzle as the kids will get their sausage fix at the Spring Fling on the 25th November. We are instead doing a nuggets day which we hope will be a hectic but awesome way to finish the year at the Bamboo Snack Shack!

We currently do not have nominations for the President nor Secretary positions. It would be amazing to be able to fill these positions on the night, otherwise the new committee will have to run at a reduced capacity which means the kids miss out on events they love.

Being on the committee is a fun way to meet people, be part of school life, and have a say in how we support our kids. It may look scary but it's actually very rewarding.

If you’ve been thinking about getting involved, now’s the moment - we really need you. Please reach out at info@putneypc.org.au or come along to our next meeting. Whether you’ve got a little time or a lot, every bit helps! The P&C can’t run itself… we’ve tried!

Kindy 2026

It's time to start thinking about the next wave of kids joining our community. I for one can't believe my baby is starting school next year.

Mel Ibrahim has kindly volunteered to be the Parent Liaison for Kindy 2026. She has created a Whatsapp group to help new families settle in, share important updates, and keep everyone connected with fun playdates.

Use the QR code in the poster below to join in!

Second Hand Uniform

We need you!

We’re collecting donations to help support our upcoming events and canteen and we’d love your help! If you’re able to contribute any of the items listed below, it would make a huge difference. Every little bit adds up and helps us raise funds for our kids and school community.

Thank you for your generosity and support!

CLICK HERE TO ENROL FOR SPANISH CLASSES