CELEBRATING STUDENTS

I am thrilled to highlight one of our Year 4 students, Ike Chang, who recently returned from the USA after competing in the World VEX competition. This event challenges students to build and engineer robots according to specific specifications, followed by competitions against other teams in various games.

The VEX Robotics program aims to develop STEM skills, including critical and creative thinking, teamwork, and communication, while inspiring the next generation of innovators.

Over the past year, Ike and his team have achieved remarkable success, winning at the Regional, State, and National championships to qualify for the World Championships. This is an outstanding accomplishment, and we believe Ike will undoubtedly be one of our future innovators. Congratulations, Ike! We are incredibly proud of you!

Recently, our tennis champions, Emma Cao and Talia Yang represented Sydney North at the State Championships and emerged victorious!

Congratulations to Emma Cao, who has been selected from the Sydney North Tennis team to join the NSW team at the National championships later this year.

This is a fantastic achievement for both girls, with a special mention to Emma for her selection to represent our wonderful State.

AMAZING WRITING

Thank you to 4DG for inviting me up to share their amazing writing this week. It always puts a smile on my face to see our wonderful students so proud of their effort and continuous improvement.

SRC KINDNESS PROJECT

I am excited to announce the launch of the SRC's latest initiative: Artarmon Public School's very own Podcast show.

This student-led project is powered by our exceptional student leaders. In the article below, you can read about their upcoming event, a KIND-Raiser, aimed at raising funds for their Kindness mural scheduled for later this year.

You can listen to the first two episodes of Season One of our Kindness Project Podcasts, available for download on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

• Spotify: Listen here
• Apple Podcasts: Listen here

ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING CHANGES

Teachers are currently preparing Semester One school reports, which will be available in your School Bytes Portal in Week 9, in time for parent-teacher interviews in Week 10.

I will share more details about some changes to our reports at the upcoming P&C meeting next week, but I wanted to inform you here as well.

The Department of Education has updated its Reporting to Parents policy for the Key Learning Areas of Science & Technology, HSIE, Creative Arts, and PD/H/PE. Under the new policy, teacher comments are not mandatory for these subjects. Students will still be assessed on an A-E scale (Outstanding - Limited) and on an effort level of 1-5. To support our community and parent understanding of what is happening in classrooms, our reports will include statements of learning related to the content covered and learning opportunities provided. These statements will be consistent across each grade level, rather than individualised.

This semester, our 3-6 reports will follow the same format as last year's K-2 reports, where English and Maths will include a list of assessed learning areas linked to the syllabus, along with clear checkboxes for teachers to indicate results for each area.

The comments in these sections will be more concise, highlighting students' strengths and areas for further development.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

When: 30 June - 1 July 2025

Parent Teacher Interview bookings open Friday 6th June at 12pm.

Step by step instructions on how to book an interview with your child’s teacher will be sent out soon.

Please see class schedule below to plan and save the date.

ARRIVING EARLY TO SCHOOL

We have started to notice a few students in the playground unsupervised before school supervision has started.

Please remember students are not allowed to arrive at school or be on the premises unsupervised before 8:25am. Staff are on duty in the playgrounds from 8:25am and this is put in place to manage student safety. Thank you for your understanding and support in this area.

STUDENT INVOICES

Last week, Term 2 invoices were published in your School Bytes Portal and you should have also received an email notification with a PDF outlining associated activities and costs.

On your Term 2 invoice you may have noticed the $50 P&C Voluntary Contribution. This money is going towards upgrading our technology including laptops, iPads and interactive screens in classrooms to help provide the best possible opportunity for our students to engage and transform the learning experience. We are also using this money to create a technology Maker space to support students critical and creative thinking skills. Some of this money has already been spent on some Mac Book Airs and podcast microphones to help build our student led podcast channel.  

Thank you to those who have already paid this invoice as this allows us to ensure that we can provide a wide range of experiences that enhance our students' education and personal development. 

As always, if you or your family have any difficulties meeting the costs of curriculum programs, please contact me to discuss in the strictest confidence. In previous years, some parents have arranged payments by instalments to ease the burden.  A reminder invoice email will be sent in the coming weeks.

THANK YOU AGAIN TO OUR P&C AND WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS.

I know we made a separate post last week to thank our amazing Fundraising team and tribe of volunteers for their efforts at the start of this term with the Election BBQ and the Mothers Day breakfast.

I just wanted to add more of a gallery here to show just how special the events were and the community spirit that was there and thriving.

ELECTION BBQ