FOREST LODGE FLYER
Week 6 Term 2 Monday 28th May 2012
No animals were harmed in the making of this newsletter.
CALENDAR
May
28 – Reconciliation Week
30 – K-2 Assembly (KC) 11.30am Hall
June
1 – SRC Crazy Hair Day for RSPCA
6- UNSW Science Test 8.00 am; Years 3-6 Assembly
(5F) 11.30am Hall
7 – Bikewise Program for Year 4
8 - Opera Hansel and Gretel for Years K – 4, 9.45am
11 – Queen’s Birthday
13 – Choir Rehearsal at Burwood Girls High;
Kindergarten Information Evening 6.30pm Hall
15 – Pupils’ half yearly reports sent home
16 – 1/2F and 5F Cake Stall
18 – Parent/Teacher interview week; UNSW Writing
test 8.00 am; P&C Meeting 7.00 pm Art room;
Last day for Ice Age raffle tickets to be returned
19 – UNSW Spelling test 8.00 am
20 – Engadine Band Festival; K-2 Assembly (1/2F)
11.30am Hall
25 – Author talk – Terry Denton
27 – Years 3-6 Assembly (5/6R) 11.30am Hall
29 – Last day of Term 2
July
16 – First day of Term 3 for staff
17 – First day of Term 3 for pupils
[K-2 Tennis on Tuesdays – commencing on date TBA]
25 – OC test
27 – National Tree Day for School
28 – KP, 1K and 3/4D Cake Stall
30 – Education Week
31 – UNSW English test 8. 00 am
August
1 - School’s Open Day for Education Week
2 - Australian Maths Competition 8.00 am
13 – Science Week
14 – UNSW Maths test 8.00 am
16 & 17 – District Athletics carnivals; Theatre Sports Gala Day for Stage
3 students; Last day for Stewart House clothing bags
18 – 1L and 6M Cake Stall
20 – Book Week
27 - Literacy and Numeracy Week
Reconciliation Week
To help celebrate this event we have commenced
selling wrist bands. These cost $2.00 and are being
sold in the playground by the student leaders. All
monies raised are returned to support Indigenous
causes.
Thank you to all the parents who sent their children to
school dressed in red, black and yellow last Friday.
This week we are making a temporary display of hands
in the COLA. Every child will contribute to this
mural.
Use of the Playground After 3.00 pm
FLASCA has the use of the Primary playground after
school. This means that the basketball court and fixed
play equipment is not to be used by other pupils, even
if their parents are present.
Thank you to the parents who are keeping their
children out of this area. It is difficult for FLASCA
staff to supervise children in their care when other
pupils wearing the same uniform are using the same
areas.
Band News
Engadene Bandfest
Engadine Bandfest is coming up in week 9
(Wednesday 20th June), so in preparation it would be
great if band members could be encouraged to practice
the following at home and with their tutors:
Senior Band
Hogan’s Heroes March
Jus Plain Blues
Pirates of the Caribbean
Laredo
Mission Impossible
Intermediate Band
The Spook
Star Wars
Bunyip Blues
Mickey Mouse March
Rockasaurus Rex
Training Band
Mozart Melody
Au Claire de la Lune
London Bridge
Jingle Bells
Hard Rock Blues
Permission notes for the Bandfest will be handed out at
band rehearsals this week with full details for
Engadine. Travel by bus has been arranged for the
children, the cost of which as well as of other Bandfest
expenses is covered by band fees. There are a limited
number of places on the buses for parents who wish to
assist with supervision and marshalling and you can
indicate your interest through the permission note.
Possible Change to senior band rehearsal date to
Thursdays
Due to other employment commitments Glad Reed, the
conductor of the Intermediate and Senior Bands, will
not be available to conduct the Senior Band on Friday
mornings from week 8. We are currently liaising with
the school to see whether Senior Band rehearsals can
be moved to Thursday mornings in order that Glad can
continue to work with the senior group. If there are any
senior band members who would not be able to make it
to rehearsals on Thursday mornings, can you please
advise the music committee by emailing
band@flpsmusic.net. Further advice will be provided
in the next newsletter and through email.
Trumpet players
The band has purchased a tool to remove jammed
mouth pieces for trumpets. Previously when trumpet
mouth pieces became jammed they needed to be taken
to Sax and Wood wind to be repaired. Now this can be
done at the school. The tool is kept in the band storage
room so you can bring the instrument in on rehearsal
day (best to arrive early) if you need assistance with
your trumpet.
Early Birds
It’s wonderful that pupils want to be here bright and early.
However parents are reminded that there is no teacher
supervision of pupils until 8.30 am. If children have an
accident or some other problem there is no-one on duty to
assist them before this time.
Tissues
As the weather becomes colder and the sniffles increase we
do use a lot of tissues. Donations would be very much
appreciated.
Newsletters and Notes
Is your newsletter not appearing at the bottom of your
child’s schoolbag, possibly amongst the leftovers of
the lunch you packed? Parents can download the
newsletter from the school's website but it will not
include student names for privacy reasons.
Does your child say that he/she didn’t get at note about
a school event? The website also contains a calendar
of events and consent notes on for school excursions
and other events listed in the calendar that can be
downloaded and printed. We don’t allow children to
attend excursions without permission and do send
home reminder notes, but when all else fails (or before
it does) why not download the note from our website?
Financial Literacy
Stage 3 teachers arranged for students across the School to
participate in financial literacy sessions. This has been a
very good experience enjoyed by all students.
I thought that in this week’s newsletter, I would develop
this theme and provide some material to assist parents in
this fundamental responsibility we have; and that is to
educate kids about money.
Children and Money
Teaching children the skills to use money properly
1. Pocket money is a means to teach responsibility with
money. If your child wastes their pocket money or uses it
unwisely, this presents an opportunity for you to talk with
your child so that they can learn from the experience,
possibly a degree of fiscal control is required for a time.
2. Teach your children restraint and moderation, ‘Do I
really need this?’ Teach them to take time to consider a
purchase, not just to rush in.
3. Discourage your children from thinking that money will
always be available for any desired purchase. Teach them
that money is limited and saving for a need is important.
4. Reinforce the concept of waste with your children. 5.
Bank accounts can help in educating our children in the
world of interest rates, investments, filling in forms, etc.
Teaching values through the use of money
1. Self-Control or self-discipline can be taught through the
use of money. Parents can explain the purpose of money
and motivate your child to use the money available wisely;
through example parents can encourage their children to
have longer term goals; teach them self-control by planning
ahead and not spending on a whim; don't let your children
have too much money in their pockets.
2. Sound judgement: saving money for a future purchase
helps children realise the value of money. Providing
children with what they want when they want it is
unsustainable and poor learning.
3. Responsibility and generosity: encourage your children,
without making a big issue out of it, to give money for a
specific purpose e.g. on the church plate; plan to give
money to a certain charity hence educating your children in
the use of money to do good for others.
How parents can be strong role models
1. Let your children assist with grocery shopping so that
they see you obtain value for money rather than selecting
the most popular brands.
2. Let your children see that joy can be derived from simple
rather than expensive things.
3. Have your children do without things until their birthday
or Christmas. Then the gift is more appreciated.
4. Look after things so that they last rather than have to be
replaced.
5. ‘The best is not always the shiny item.’
6. Teach good times don’t equal expensive times. Have
creative initiatives in your family life that are not money
dependent
7. Explain the truth to your children: "We can't afford it."
8. Sometimes buy second-hand in order to make a point
with your children.
Coping with the teenage sub-culture
1. Young teens do not have to have the latest gadgets and
mobile devices because ‘everyone else does’
2. Give reasons why you have certain values and
expectations when it comes to want, before it becomes an
issue.
3. Be prepared to say no to your children’s wants if you
don’t see it as necessary, or you consider it is excessive or
over-indulgent. It is a complete myth ‘that everyone else
has one’
4. Expect that later, teens pay their own mobile phone bills
5. Expect that later, teens work for what they want
On teaching children to be responsible with money they
earn themselves
1. The saving habit needs to be instilled long before
children are earning money themselves. 2. Teach your
children that responsibility with money is not just in saving
it, but also in spending it wisely.
3. Consider having children contribute a proportion of what
they earn to the family..
As parents we can give our children many gifts, one special
gift that will have a lifelong pay back is to place a high
value on money, prioritise saving over spending, saving for
a future event or ‘rainy’ day, the lesson of restraint and
limitation. This is not to suggest that money is more
important than family, friends, values, or health and
learning, simply to say that there are important lifelong
lessons that can be taught to a child at a young age which
hold them in good stead for when they are wage earners.
Tax Time
About this time of the year we ask for donations to the
FLPS Library Fund. Please keep an eye out for the
flyer to make a tax deductible donation.
These donations make a considerable difference to the
library’s funding and the resources for your child so if
anyone would like to take the family out for a some
exercise please contact Katrina.
Principal’s Message
The school’s Three Year Plan is on the website. It is a
clearly articulated and consistent view of what the
school will achieve over time. I do not subscribe to the
Christmas Tree School – the one that tries to do lots of
decorative short-term projects. This exhausts staff,
causes resources to be thinly spread and produces
fuzzy strategies and outcomes.
At FLPS we have clearly defined core business which
consists of striving for excellence in literacy, numeracy
and the creative, performing and visual Arts. We
achieve outstanding results measured by external
factors such as the NAPLAN test, the number of pupils
who are awarded places in OC classes and at various
Selective High Schools. Students obtain commendable
results on UNSW tests and are successful at auditions
and in competitions in areas such as the arts. We do
this without narrowing the curriculum by jumping on
every bandwagon that comes along.
Every year we set targets. These include a numeracy
and a literacy area we seek to improve (sometimes
over more than one year) and a curriculum focus
where we believe there is room for improvement in
both teaching and learning outcomes.
When we introduced Restorative Justice and
Children’s Philosophy they were not implemented
concurrently, had time to become embedded and did
not require us to water down the curriculum.
Restorative Justice underpinned the school’s Student
Welfare and Good Discipline Policy and Philosophy
was integrated into the Talking and Listening section
of the English syllabus.
Similarly when we introduced the new PE program last
year, we were able to concentrate on doing that well,
without conflicting demands from some short lived
flavour of the month initiative.
We also plan and educate for the future. The children
who are currently in Kindergarten will probably work
in occupations that do not currently exist. We could be
educating potential digital life planners, lawyers
specialising in virtual property and makers of synthetic
sausages.
So what are we doing this year? Improving pupils’
skills in Spelling, Working Mathematically, Science,
use of technology, social competencies (such as
resilience), and training staff in teaching the new NSW
curriculum documents which are based on the National
Curriculum.
The implementation dates for the new K-6 curriculum
are:
 2014 English and Maths
 2015 Science and Technology
 2016 History
This will be followed by Geography, which when
combined with History, will be the Human Society and
Its Environment curriculum for K-6 pupils.
Features of the new curricula include:
English
 An improved continuum especially for students
moving from Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) to Stage 4
(Years 6 & 7
 A stronger focus on literacy including visual
and multimodal texts
Maths
 Some topics/skills currently in Stage 4 moved
to Stage 3 eg, order of operations
 New components eg, Fluency included in
Working Mathematically
Science and Technology
 Foundations of chemistry and properties and
uses of materials

Emphasis on Working Scientifically (not a new
area) and Working Technologically
History
 Inquiry skills introduced
Support for the introduction of these includes Teacher
Professional Learning courses on line for use by
individual teachers, groups of teachers or in our School
Learning Communities. Curriculum policy advice will
be available for schools in areas such as Planning and
Programming and Assessment and Reporting. In
regard to the latter, it is anticipated that the current
format of student reports will not change.
We are also implementing the new Department of
Education and Communities’ policies in the areas of
Local Schools, Local Decisions and Every Student,
Every School and information about these is available
on the DEC website so I won’t elaborate on them here
except to say, in brief, that high support needs pupils
are still fully funded, our teacher entitlement increases
from one to three days per week to assist all pupils
with support needs and our aide time decreases by
about $12,000 per year so children will be involved in
more group work and less 1:1 assistance.
There is a wide range of abilities in our school and we
cater for this continuum by differentiating the
curriculum. I believe a rising tide raises all ships so
high expectations of all children is important. But we
still need to assist those pupils who require additional
support as well as challenge the gifted and talented
pupils.
Bill O’Connor
Principal