Welcome back to all our Artarmon community and a special welcome to our new Kindergarten families and new enrolments. Artarmon is a wonderful school with an amazing staff and we are all looking forward to an exciting 2022.

We know this has not been the start to the school year we were all hoping for, however, I would like to thank everyone in our school community for their support and understanding.

I would like to especially thank our teaching and administration staff for everything they have done and continue to do. With every measure we have put in place to minimise the risk of COVID transmission and keep our community safe, they have gone above and beyond to support you and your children.

Introducing the 2022 Leadership Team

Principal (Relieving): Jono Cooombes

Deputy Principal: Nick Sherley

Deputy Principal (Relieving): Crista Wolski

Assistant Principal (Off Class): Kelly Singh

Executive Staff Supervising Grades:

Kindergarten: Mr Hand

Year 1: Mrs Stokes & Ms Danias

Year 2: Ms Wolski

Year 3: Mrs Tully

Year 4: Mr Wallace

Year 5: M Ragg

Year 6: Mr Sherley

OC Programs: Ms Miller

Parent Teacher Interviews for 2022 Classes

Permanent classes will be formed on Monday 14th February. On this day, you will receive information on how to book a parent / teacher interview.

Parent teacher interviews will be held on:

Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd February. 

When you book your interview you will have an option of either Zoom or Phone.

Friends in classes

At the beginning of every year when we change classes, children can come home upset or emotional because they didn't get a particular friend in their class and they feel they do not know anyone. This is ok and a perfectly normal emotional response, however, an experience in life that provides an opportunity for children to develop their social skills and resilience. 

If your child has come home upset and feeling emotional like this, talk to your child. Spend some time with them to help them understand, it will be ok. Talk with them about actions they could take to build new friendships, remind them that they will still see their friends in the playground and be able to connect with them at other times in the day or weekends. Coping with change, developing friends and building social skills is a life long skill. Helping our children to understand learn from this will provide them with skills they will transfer into daily interactions in their life. Contacting the school on their behalf and asking to swap classes to be with their friends does not help them build life skills.

Updating your contact details

It is extremely important that we have correct family contact details, including emergency contacts on file. If any of your details have changed, ie phone, email, address, please contact the office through the SZapp 'contact us' and we Will update  our system.

I would like to thank our entire school community, for your understanding, compliance and support with the current COOVID smart guidelines put in place to minimise the risk or transmission in our community.

Please see below current guidelines and contextual information for our school.

Current measures in place to minimise risk of transmission:

• Rapid antigen test (RAT) kits, for surveillance testing provided to all students and staff.  - Information regarding the distribution of the next fortnight supply will be communicated through SZapp.
• Wearing of surgical masks indoors is required for all staff.
• No parents, carers or visitors will be allowed on school site.
• Only fully vaccinated visitors essential to delivering and supporting learning or wellbeing can come on a school site.
• Students will be kept in their Stage groups on school grounds, with staggered break times, playground and canteen access.
• We will continue to use good hygiene, enhanced cleaning, good air flow and ventilation in learning spaces, as well as physical distancing practices.

Rapid antigen testing

The use of RAT kits is an important step to support the health and wellbeing of our students and staff. They are a quick and easy screening tool to help detect COVID-19.  Use of RAT kits is highly recommended but not mandatory. We recommend testing Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Additional information on RAT Kits

• School staff will not be administering the rapid antigen tests to students.
• If a student or staff member receives a positive RAT result, they need to:
• record the positive RAT result through the Service NSW website or Service NSW app
• notify the school of the positive RAT or PCR result as soon as possible
• follow NSW Health advice to isolate for 7 days.
• It is recommended that staff and students that return to school after recovering from COVID-19 do not participate in rapid antigen test surveillance for 28 days (four weeks after recovery) following release from self-isolation. This is due to NSW Health advice that people who have recovered from COVID-19 have a low risk of contracting it again in the following 28 days. After 28 days (from week five after recovery) staff and students may resume participation in RAT surveillance.

Negative results do not need to be reported to Service NSW or to the school.

Unwell at school

Any student or staff member who is unwell and/or displays symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to go home and stay until they can complete a RAT or PCR test.

• If symptoms continue, they should stay at home and take another RAT in 24 hours or have a PCR test.
• If the second RAT or initial PCR test result is negative and they are displaying no symptoms OR they are diagnosed as another condition such as hayfever, the student or staff member can return to school.
• In NSW, positive COVID-19 cases are provided a Medical Clearance Notice after 7 days and allowed to leave self-isolation as long as they do not have COVID-19 symptoms.

What happens when a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19?

Under the new close contact rules, schools are no longer included in contact tracing. I will inform the school community when there is a positive case in our school and advise families on public health advice, including monitoring for symptoms.

If positive, students and teachers will need to follow current health advice and rules regarding isolation. This includes family members who may be classified as a close contact.

If isolating at home and feeling well, students will have access to the Department's home learning materials.

Student Cohorting

To minimise contact of students in the school we will be using the same cohorting strategy we were using in Term 4 2021.

Students will be kept in their Stage Cohort, ie: Kindergarten, Stage 1 (Yr 1&2), Stage 2 (Yr 3&4) and Stage 3 (Yr 5&6)

School start and finish times will be 8:55am until 2:55pm for all students.

To minimise contact in the morning, when your child gets to school, please drop them at the gate and they can make their allocated playground.

Playground supervision from 8:25am. Students cannot be dropped off at school before this time.

Kindergarten: COLA - More information coming home to you this week.

Stage 1 (Year 1&2): Outside hall and Canteen

Stage 2 (Year 3&4): McMillan Playground (Arbor/Library side)

Stage 3 (Year 5&6): McMilllan Playground (Music Room side)

There are cones clearly identifying the two areas in the McMillan Rd playground.

Contacting the office

To minimise contact and exposure in the office, if possible, please contact the school via phone, SZapp or school email.

Translated COVID-smart measures for schools fact sheet

Arabic, Assyrian, Chinese - Simplified, Chinese - Traditional, English, Greek, Italian, Korean, Nepali, Spanish, Vietnamese

Videos on managing COVID-19 at home

ArabicExternal link, 

CantoneseExternal link, 

ChaldeanExternal link, 

MandarinExternal link, 

Vietnamese

Our Twilight Swimming Carnival will go ahead as planned.

Date: Monday 14th Feb

Time: 4pm-7:30pm

Location: Lane Cove Swimming Centre

More information about the running of the carnival will be distributed next week. The carnival is open to all students who are turning 8 years old this year, through to 13. The carnival is organised for students who can confidently swim 50m and are competitive swimmers.

Student Book Packs:

Please see link for ordering instructions for 2022 student book packs.

Artarmon_P.S_2022_Online_Ordering_Instruction_k_6.pdf

Grade Equipment Lists

Please see link to grade equipment lists for 2022.

Kindergarten_Class_Requirements_2022_.pdf

Year_1_Equipment_List_2022.pdf

Year_2_Class_stationery_Requirements 2022.pdf

Year_3_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.docx.pdf

Year_4_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.pdf

Year_5_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.pdf

Year_5OC_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.pdf

Year_6_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.pdf

Year_6OC_Equipment_List_Class_Requirements_2022.pdf

Dear parents and families,

Welcome back to the 2022 school year. I hope that everybody has had a restful and safe break. I know that for my family it has certainly been a very different type of summer break and we are all really excited and of course in the current climate, a little apprehensive to be going back to school this week.

Together with the school we will be hosting a special meeting on Wednesday 2 February via ZOOM. The purpose of this meeting is to welcome all our families back to school, to welcome to our new families and to give everyone the opportunity to have any questions they may have answered. 

Our Principal (Rel) Mr Coombes will run through the back-to-school plan and what term 1 will look like and then he will answer any questions that you may have. The executive team will be in attendance and for new families it’s a great opportunity to put a face behind the name. 

If you have any questions that you would like answered you can ask them anonymously here before 7pm Tuesday 1 February.

Meeting date: 2 February 2022

Time: 7pm

Location: Online via Zoom

The P&C meeting will be held remotely via Zoom. 

Topic: Artarmon Public School P&C Association's Zoom Meeting

Time: Feb 2, 2022 07:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting

https://au01web.zoom.us/j/8285840946?pwd=TkF0YU93Z3hpaDR6QWd0R2hET2hMUT09

Meeting ID: 828 584 0946

Passcode: aps

Malvina Crastin – President

Artarmon Public School Parents and Citizens' Association
president.artarmonpandc@gmail.com

Welcome (Back!) to Band 2022

Key Dates:

Please note the week starting 31^st of January is week 2.

Band Information Evening

Parents of Training Band and students new to the Artarmon band program are invited to attend our Band Information Evening on 3rd of February 2022 at 7pm. This will be held via Zoom. 

Please see Zoom login and password below:

Topic: Artarmon Band InfoMeeting
Time: Feb 3, 2022 07:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86149725742

Meeting ID: 861 4972 5742
Passcode: 729464

There will be an information session with our Band Director Mr Walmsley, and we will explain instrument collection, tutorials, and rehearsals. Mr Walmsley will provide an overview of the Band Program which should answer most of your questions.

At the end of the information session, if you have any further questions that have not been answered you can email your enquiry to band@artarmonpandc.org.au 

Please note that students are NOT required to attend the information evening, it is aimed at parents. 

Regular band rehearsal times

In addition to the band rehearsal starting time listed in Key Dates, regular rehearsal time for each band is listed below:

Training Band:                         Fridays    8.00 am – 8.50 am

                  Junior Concert Band:            Mondays 12.50 pm-1.40 pm and Thursdays 8.00 am – 8.50am

                  Concert Band:                         Mondays 8.00 am - 8.50 am and Thursdays 12.50 pm – 1.40 pm

                  Senior Concert Band:           Tuesdays 8.00 am – 8.50 am and Thursdays 2.00 pm – 2.55 pm

                  Jazz Band:                                 Thursdays 3.00 pm – 4.00 pm

                  Orchestra:                                 Wednesdays 8.00 am – 8.50 am

* All rehearsals will be at the Music Room.

Additional Training Band and new students Try-out

Students who were in year 2 in 2021 and have missed out on the Band Try-Out in Term 4 last year or are new to the school can still try out in Term 1. Try-outs will take place between 8:50-9:00 in the mornings  of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in week 2.

If you haven’t registered your child for Try-out, please follow the link below and register your child via “New Student Register” if you are new to the portal or login and choose “Add a child” if you already have an account. Once your child is registered, we will contact you with an allocated try-out date and time.

https://portal.msmusic.com.au/artarmonmusic

Orchestra and Jazz Band audition

Students who are interested in joining Jazz Band or Orchestra are welcome to audition.

There is no preparation required. The audition will involve a sight-reading exercise only.

Please see audition dates and times listed in Key Dates.

Parents of children auditioning for Jazz Band can pick up their children outside the school gate at 4pm.

To ensure we allocate enough time for auditioning, if your child is interested in auditioning please sign up using the Google Form below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0-uup1FoInuNhoxSB6o4EvHKJNdqbKxW2I5YddJTiLBiRuA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Got a question?

Have you looked in the 2022 band information pack? A copy is available in the MSM parent portal.

Band program contacts:

We are still looking for a Concert Band Coordinator. If you are interested in helping, please contact band@artarmonpandc.org.au.

Welcome back to school and welcome to those families who have just started. It is wonderful to see so many new students come into the Music Program.

Key dates to put in the diary.

Correspondence

If you are not receiving emails from the Strings Committee, you need to log into your parent portal and update your contact details immediately. A lot of information goes out via email that is not included in Newsflash.

If you have trouble logging into the parent portal, email your group coordinator or the strings convenor. Please update your child’s class details on the parent portal. https://portal.msmusic.com.au/artarmonmusic

Please let your strings coordinator know if you have not received an email link to attend ensemble rehearsals for Training Strings, Junior Strings, Concert Strings, Senior Strings via Zoom run by Mr Mansukhani. Please check that these invites are not in your spam/junk/promotions folder.

If your child is sick and/or unable to attend a rehearsal, please notify your corresponding Strings Coordinator.

Strings info session and Instrument collection

Monday 7th Feb 2022 630pm - 715pm in the Music Room,

Instruments will be able to be picked up on the time and day above. Please check in using the QR code at the entry of the Music Room. We ask that only one parent attend per student, observe social distancing and wear a mask if attending with your child. If you are unwell, please do not attend and email the Strings Convenor to arrange another time to pick up your instrument.

Please ensure you have confirmed your acceptance email as instruments will only be allocated once this been done. An invoice will be sent out this once the instrument is collected and this will require payment to guarantee your spot.

There will be an opportunity to purchase music bags for $20. Please ensure you have this available if you’d like to purchase one.

Ensembles 

All ensembles will commence in Week 3. Details will follow next week.

Instrument tuition lessons and group lessons

This is currently being organised and tutors will make contact soon in regard to the 30-minute lesson time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Got a question?

If it is about your hired instrument or instrumental tutorial, please contact your tutor at first instance.

Alternatively contact our instrument coordinator or strings coordinator if required. For anything else please contact your Strings Convenor.

THANK YOU!

2022 Strings Committee

Enrolments for Guitar for 2022 now open for Year 3 to Year 6

APS has along established Guitar Tuition program.

Guitar lessons are available at school during school hours. Lessons are catered to all levels. The program focuses on reading music for guitar, guitar basics & enjoying a wide range of music. 

Junior & Senior Guitar Performance Groups play music from a wide range of music genres. Students are able to join groups when they attain an appropriate level of competence on the instrument.

For further information please contact :

Mrs Lan Zhong or Mr Andre Laus

Mobile 0431 603 305 / 0422 286 807

Email : lanzhongster@gmail.com /  dreyrollan@gmail.com