Term 2, Week 9 - Monday 23 June, 2025

Calendar

From the Principal

This week:

• Emergency drills
• NAIDOC Week Celebrations
• P&C Annual Uniform Meeting
• Congratulations
• A reminder to “freeze, don’t squeeze”
• Reporting for Semester 1, 2025 and Term 3 interviews

Emergency drills

We have emergency drills to help us practise our “staying quiet and following directions” expectations. We practise for two kinds of emergencies – ones where we evacuate buildings and go outside and ones where we go inside and stay inside.

Next week we will be practising an evacuation from class drill.

NAIDOC Week Celebrations

NAIDOC Week is important as it’s an opportunity for learning, connection and community. The theme for NAIDOC Week 2025 is "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy". This theme celebrates the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC Week and focuses on honouring the achievements of the past while looking forward to the future. It highlights the strength of Indigenous youth, the vision of communities, and the legacy of ancestors NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.

It gives First Nations people and non-Indigenous people the opportunity to celebrate and connect with community and Country. It’s a chance for everyone, not just First Nations people, to celebrate all aspects of First Nations histories and cultures.

As well as this, with its origins based in one of the first major civil rights gatherings in the world, NAIDOC Week is an important time to reflect on the challenges faced by First Nations people — to look at how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.

To understand what all that means though, we need a little bit of a history lesson. In 1955, the Day of Mourning or Aborigines Day was moved from the Sunday before January 26 to the first Sunday in July. It was shifted because people wanted to focus more on celebrating First Nations’ cultures rather than protesting. The National Aborigines Day Observance Committee was then created in 1956 to organise national events.   

In 1975, it was decided to celebrate for a whole week — rather than just one day. NAIDOC Week was born! Then in 1991, NAIDOC Week expanded to recognise Torres Strait Islander people and cultures.  And that's why it’s called NAIDOC Week.

At Kincumber PS we will begin our learning with an assembly on Monday 30 June, beginning at approximately 1.25pm with a Smoking Ceremony just outside the hall on the canteen side. Families are welcome to attend the ceremony, but we kindly ask that you stand to the sides to allow students to be safely seated.

After the ceremony, we will move into the hall for continuation of our assembly which includes a special guest speaker, a screening of our Reconciliation Week video and the presentation of student awards. Thanks to our Aboriginal Education Team, led by Mrs Follett, and Mr Webber for their organisation.

P&C Annual Uniform Meeting

School uniform requirements are discussed at the annual uniform consultation meeting held before the first Term 3 P&C meeting. It is here that recommendations for changes or additions are discussed and proposed for consideration and ratification by the P&C at the meeting immediately after.

Although the school runs the uniform shop, the P&C is the consultative body that determines the available catalogue within the scope of the Department’s policy. Our P&C will be distributing a survey to gather community opinion before the meeting. Please give your feedback.

Congratulations

I am delighted to announce the name of our school’s nominee to receive acknowledgement at the Regional North Executive Director Awards for Excellence

Miss Marilyn Laws is to receive our school’s award. Marilyn is the substantive Assistant Principal of our school’s special education unit and has given many years of committed service to students with additional needs as a teacher, a home school liaison officer and learning and wellbeing officer in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.

She is a dedicated educator, always with students and families in mind, and is a worthy recipient of this award! Congratulations Miss Laws.

This is the citation for Miss Laws' award ...

Marilyn demonstrates all the values - an expert teacher, a caring human being, and a team player in all she does!

Freeze it; Don’t squeeze it!

Former student, Jeremy Webb, passed away as the result of anaphylaxis due to a tick-bite related allergy, mammalian meat allergy (MMA) a few years ago and Jeremy’s parents wanted people to know how to manage tick-bites.

Freeze it; Don’t squeeze it! Is the advice to Australians who have an attached adult tick. Tick removal techniques that use tweezers or special hook-like tools run the risk of the tick being squeezed or agitated/disturbed, which can result in it injecting its saliva and potentially infectious contents into you, experts say. This could expose you to transmissible diseases from the tick, sensitise you to ticks or meat in the future (mammalian meat allergy), or if you suffer from tick allergy, risk that you have a severe allergic reaction.

Current advice supports the killing of adult ticks where they are by freezing them with ether-containing sprays.

Reporting for Semester 1, 2025 and Term 3 interviews

Semester 1 reports will be distributed in an online format through the Sentral Parent Portal on the last day of the term. Please download the report and save it.

We will open bookings soon for parent/teacher interviews in the first couple of weeks of Term 3 so that you can discuss your child’s learning and how you can support your child at home.

Hope you had a great week at our great school.

Trish Peters
Principal

News from Around the School

News from KS

KS shared a book in class called "Floof", who is a very cheeky cat! The class drew pictures of Floof and discussed his character using adjectives.

KS measured and compared the length of objects around our classroom using an informal unit of measurement. For this activity we used paper and blocks to compare length as longer, shorter and the same as.

Reconciliation Week – Class Video Project

As part of our Reconciliation Week celebrations, our class created a powerful and reflective video project centred around the song “Solid Rock” by The Street Warriors. This modern version of the classic song carries a strong message about the resilience, strength, and deep connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to Country.

The students learned the lyrics and meaning behind the song, then worked together to record a class performance. They also helped select images and video clips that visually express the themes of truth-telling, respect, and reconciliation. This project gave our class the opportunity to explore Aboriginal perspectives through music and storytelling, while also developing a deeper understanding of the importance of acknowledging and respecting the world’s oldest continuous culture.

The video fostered the students’ thoughtfulness, effort, and teamwork throughout this project. The class shared the final video with the school as part of our classroom visits during Reconciliation week. Great effort 1P. 

Despina Purcell

Boys and Girls PSSA Basketball Teams

The Boys and Girls PSSA Basketball teams competed in a school knockout Gala Day at Breakers Basketball Stadium.

The boys had an exciting and very close game with the score going back and forth between the teams. At full time the score was equal, so they had two minutes extra time. Unfortunately, Kincumber lost by a goal. They displayed excellent resilience, sportsmanship and teamwork.

None of the girls had played basketball before and they were learning new skills very quickly. They found their rhythm in the second half where they scored quite a number of goals quite quickly. Unfortunately they lost but gave their best.  Well done to both teams for representing their school with pride and respect.

Mrs Griffiths
Basketball Coach

News from our BOCCIA Team

We are excited to share that our Stage 3 students from the Support classes participated in the Inclusive BOCCIA competition at Niagara Park Stadium. They started strong, winning their first four games and accumulating plenty of points. Although they faced a loss in the final game, we still secured a spot in the final. 

In a thrilling bonus round, our team finished as winners! This fantastic achievement means we will be advancing to the State Finals at Sydney Olympic Park in Term 3!

A huge congratulations to all our participants! It was an amazing event and a wonderful opportunity for our students.

Star Struck News

Congratulations to India Kirk from 3B for her recent performance at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Star Struck 2025: Remixed Volume 33!   Star Struck is a NSW Department of Education annual performing arts event for Newcastle, the Hunter and Central Coast. It is a showcase of dance, drama and music performed by students from Kindergarten to Year 12 from a vast network of NSW public schools. India was selected after a lengthy audition process to be a member of the Junior Jazz Featured Dancer Team. Please enjoy her recount below: 

Last week I went to a performing arts show called Star Struck. Star Struck is a show that includes singing, acting and dance. I was a part of the dance component of Star Struck and performed the featured part four times doing the song I Want Candy. To be part of the featured jazz dance, I had to audition in Newcastle showing my dancing and technique skills. It was a difficult day and there were alot of amazing dancers trying out across the years 5 to 7. I was incredibly lucky to be selected out of approximately 150 people to be part of this team. I had so much fun at all the shows and rehearsals, met some amazing people and made some great friends. I am so thankful to all the organisers and can’t wait for 2026!  

Premier's Reading Challenge 2025

The 2025 Premier's Reading Challenge is underway. At Kincumber Public School our Teacher Librarian, Mrs Judd, will complete and validate the reading logs for our students in Kindergarten to Year 2. 

KPS Year 3 to Year 6 students who wish to complete the 2025 PRC should complete their reading log at home. Students are to complete their online Student Reading Record by Friday 19 September 2025, then Mrs Judd will check and validate student reading logs. Certificates will be issued at the end of Term 4.

View the Introduction to the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge video for more information.

Keep Reading!

Changes to the NSW Department of Education’s enrolment policy for 2025

Please see below a parent fact sheet on "Changes to the enrolment policy".

Lost Property

We have a large number of unclaimed items with no names. Some items very new.  Please come to the school office and collect if they are yours.

Please make sure that your children’s school jackets and hats are labelled with their full name, not initials, in legible writing as this makes it easier to return the item of clothing to your child if found.

Unclaimed items will be donated to charity if not claimed at the end of each term.

P&C News

NEW GAZEBO ARRIVAL!

We are so excited to share that Kincumber Public School has a brand-new school gazebo – and it looks amazing!

The KPS P&C have worked closely with our incredible sports team and members of our school community to bring this project to life. This new gazebo will be used at school events, representative sports carnivals, and everything in between – proudly flying the KPS name wherever we go!

We are thrilled that our students and staff will now have a strong, visible presence at events – showing off our school spirit and Kincumber pride loud and clear!

Entertainment Book

When you purchase an Entertainment Membership from Monday 16 June and 5pm AEST, Monday 30 June 2025 you will receive a $30 Prepaid Active Visa eGift Card (AU) via email within 30 days from the date of purchase.

Your Bonus Prepaid Active Visa Card will be valid for 3 months from the date you receive it via email.

*Terms & Conditions Apply. Please visit www.entertainment.com.au/promotions to view.

Thank You – Wet Weather Toy Drive Success

At our May P&C meeting, one of our wonderful members put forward the idea of a Wet Weather Toy Drive – and what a fantastic success it has been!

Thanks to the generosity of our KPS community, we collected a wide range of fun and engaging toys and games for our fabulous teachers to use in classrooms on rainy indoor play days.

Your support has not only helped our teachers but also brought a great deal of joy to our students. Thank you for your ongoing support and for helping us make KPS an even better place for our children to learn and grow.

Crazy Sock & Shoe Day

Get ready to show off your craziest socks and shoes for our upcoming Crazy Sock and Shoe Day fundraiser!

Date: Friday 27 June, 2025
Donation: Gold coin

In May, the P&C purchased a stand mixer for our wonderful school canteen. This fun event is raising funds to cover the cost of that purchase.

Our canteen supervisor, Melissa, makes all those delicious muffins, scrolls and biscuits from scratch. The stand mixer has provided a vital tool to support her in continuing to prepare fresh, healthy food for our students.

We thank you for your support and look forward to seeing some colourful and creative footwear on the day.

Little Leaders

Little Leaders Overnight Leadership Camp (July 8 – 10, 2025)
Little Leaders are thrilled to share a meaningful opportunity for students these July school holidays — the Little Leaders Overnight Leadership Camp, held at Broken Bay Sport & Recreation Centre from Tuesday 8 July to Thursday 10 July, 2025.

This 3-day, 2-night camp is designed for students aged 10–16 and provides a chance to step outside their comfort zones, build confidence, and develop important life skills in a safe, fun, and supportive environment.

Local School Discount
Families from local schools are eligible for a 10% discount. Use the code KINDNESS at checkout to redeem.  For more information or to register, please visit

The P&C are looking for a Secretary!

Kincumber Public School P&C is seeking a new Secretary to join their amazing team.

The role includes preparing meeting agendas and minutes, handling correspondence, and keeping accurate records — perfect for someone organised who loves supporting our school community! 

If this sounds like you (or someone you know), email us at admin@kpspc.onmicrosoft.com with your name, contact details, and preferred time to chat.

Donate Your Bottles and Cans to KPS!

Thanks to our hardworking P&C team, we're thrilled to announce that you can now support Kincumber Public School by donating your eligible bottles and cans directly from ANY Return and Earn machine using the Return and Earn app!  It's super easy and makes a huge difference for our students. Here's how:

• Download and Open the Return and Earn app
• Search for "KPS" under the "Charities" menu
• Press "Set as Payout" to make KPS your active donation method
• Scan the app and start returning your containers
• Press "TRANSFER" on the RVM screen when you're done
• 100% of your refunds will go to KPS P&C, helping us provide valuable resources ad events for our amazing students

Community News

FREE Parent Information Session for Families of Children with Disability, Developmental Delay and Autism

Skateboarding Fun this School Holidays

School Holiday Fun at the Central Coast Dance Camp - 8 to 11 July, 2025

School Holiday Cricket Programs

Holiday Bash – A fun & exciting intro to cricket! See below for further information.

School Holiday Bash – Erina High School
Tuesday 8 July - Girls and Boys welcome
$40
Rego link: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/02564c

School Holiday Bash – Lisarow High School
Thursday 17 July – Girls and Boys welcome
$40
Rego link: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/02564c

Share Our Space – Wyong Creek Public School
Wednesday 9 July - Girls and Boys welcome (you do not need to be a student at this school to register)
$ Free
Rego link: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/a98187

Sydney Sixers are proud to be a Share Our Space activity provider. Share Our Space is an initiative of the NSW Department of Education.

PCYC School Holiday Programs

Give Blood in Kincumber - 21 to 22 July, 2025

Got a bit of time next month? Time to give blood and change lives? 1 in 3 people in Kincumber will need blood, and they need people like you to give it.

We’re rolling into town on 21 to 22 July. Don’t forget to pre-book your spot at lifeblood.com.au, on our app or on 13 14 95.

Carers for School Aged Children are Urgently Needed NOW!

Bridging the Gap Between Gamers, Parents and Professionals

Headspace - Free Mental Health Services to Young People 12-25

Central Coast Junior Chess Club

Central Coast Family Support Services

Saver Plus Program

Term 2 is a great time to support families with Saver Plus—a free program that helps eligible parents save for school costs, while receiving up to $500 in matched funds.

What can families use the money for?  
Saver Plus can help cover the cost of school uniforms, excursions, camps, technology, sports fees, and more.

Who can join?  
Participants must:

• Have a child in school (or study themselves)
• Have a Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card
• Have some income (self or partner)
• Be 18+ years old

Why Saver Plus works:

• $500 matched savings to ease school expenses
• Free online money skills workshops called Money Minded
• Proven to improve financial wellbeing and savings confidence

Visit www.saverplus.org.au for more details. 1300 610 355

Quick Reference Guides for Parents

What is the School Student Broadband Initiative?

One lesson that schools and the government learned from the "learning from home" periods in 2020 and 2021 was that not all students had access to effective and reliable internet services. As a result, many students were strongly disadvantaged, impacting the continuity of their education.

Did you know that the Australian Government in conjunction with the NBN, offer the School Student Broadband Initiative to address this gap? If your school has any students that live in an area that can access the NBN, but do not currently have an NBN service at home, please let them know about the initiative.

Eligible families will be provided with home internet service at no cost until 31 December 2025, through a participating internet provider over the National Broadband Network. The link above provides all the necessary information for eligible families to take advantage of this initiative.

Canteen

• Canteen lunch and recess orders can be processed through the online ordering system Sentral StudentPayPlus or paid in cash at school on the day
• Small items are available for purchase across the counter.  Please do not send your child with more than $5
• Cut-off time for both on-line and cash orders on the day is 8.00am. You can order up to a month in advance on-line
• Canteen orders will be delivered to classrooms
• Lunch - 10.50am (eat lunch in classroom) to 11.30am
• Recess - 1.00pm to 1.25pm

Canteen and Uniform Ordering Information

We are now using Sentral StudentPayPlus for canteen and uniform orders.

Please use the links below to help set up your account if you have not already done so.

Uniform Shop

All uniform items can ONLY be ordered online via Sentral StudentPayPlus. Uniform orders will be delivered to students in their classrooms the following day.

If you require an item that is showing as out-of-stock on the Sentral StudentPayPlus, please let the office know so that we can place the order.

Parents are now able to order a Kincumber Public School logo backpack via the Harlequin online store.  They will be despatched directly to your home address.  Please see a link below to their website and the flyer for more information.

School Student Travel Information for Parents and Students

The Music Bus Classes - Term 2 Enrolments Now Open!

The Music Bus has opened their term 2 enrolments and are inviting new students to apply.

Classes offered are:
· Keyboard (Prep-y6) · Ukulele (Prep-y6) · Drums (y1-y6) · Guitar (Y2-y6)

Lessons are:

• 30 minute duration - once per week
• held in the hi tech music classroom on wheels on our site
• cost $22 per week ($24 drums) payable by the term on commencement

If you wish to take part please complete this expression of interest form.

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ee4627a5204c46158e1ab17e7c8069c6

Attendance Matters

Research highlights a clear correlation between student attendance and positive student outcomes. This research tells us that students with an attendance rate above 90% have greater academic and social success. Parents can view term attendance rates for their child/ren in the Sentral Attendance portal.

ALL student absences must be explained within 7 days, this is a Department of Education policy. Parents can lodge student absences through the Sentral Parent Portal at any time within the 7 days.

Online Enrolment System

The Online Enrolment System is designed to provide flexibility for parents to submit an Application to Enrol in a NSW Government School online at the time that best suits you. The application can be accessed on all browsers and mobile devices including iOS and Android.

The online application process is currently available to:

• Local and out of area enrolments
• Children who are Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens or permanent residents
• Children who live in NSW

We offer our support and encourage you to complete your application to enrol online. If however, you do not feel comfortable completing an application online, a paper copy will be available for collection from the front office or can be downloaded from the Department’s going to a public school site.

Parent Portal

Kincumber Public School uses the Sentral ‘Parent Portal’ for a variety of communication purposes.

We broadcast messages to the whole school, stages, individual classes and students. This might include reminders for upcoming events, excursions and may also include notes.

Parents are able to use 2-way messaging for important but not urgent communication regarding student wellbeing and learning. This should not be considered an instant messaging service as teachers DO NOT receive notifications and will only get them after logging into our system at a convenient time during the school day. We understand that many families have flexible working hours and will need to send or respond to portal information at a time convenient to them.  We also expect that families will understand that teachers will manage communications to you in the same way.

You can download the Sentral Parent Portal to your smart phone and receive notifications to help you stay up to date with what’s happening in school.

Rachel Andrew 
Assistant Principal – ES1 and School Improvement 

Before and After School Care (OOSH)

Here at Kincumber OSHC all of our fees can be subsidised by the new childcare subsidy, and we accept both permanent and casual bookings.

Please drop in, contact us on 0408 658 187 or via email at oshc.kincumber@ymcansw.org.au for more information.

Enrolments are done online. Please visit www.ymcansw.org.au/childrens-services and follow the prompts.

Road Safety – a Shared Responsibility 

When thinking about road safety, what is shared responsibility? 

It’s a way for us, individually, to ensure the safety of everyone in our community. 

Central Coast Council regularly reviews the environment around our many schools, improving areas such as the setup of parking restrictions or the upgrading of crossings. Supporting schools to educate their school community about road safety outside schools is also a role of our Council. 

Everyone in the school community - parents, grandparents, carers, teachers, students, bus drivers, crossing supervisors and motorists passing through the area – all have a responsibility for the road safety of our children. 

 Please consider the following to help keep the members of your school community safe 

• If you drop off or pick up children to or from school, please follow the Road Rules 
• There are designated areas that allow for parking but there are also areas that do not allow parking 
• Pedestrian and / or School Crossings provide the safest options for crossing the road 
• Speed limits are set at 40 km/hour to help keep people around school areas - especially children - safe. 

Road safety around schools is about shared responsibility. Addressing road safety issues are not always about needing more parking spaces. 

Children are great imitators so please set a good example and model safe behaviour. 

The Safe System Approach to Road Safety has been adopted in NSW. The following is taken from the NSW Towards Zero Road Safety Campaign: 

People are at the heart of the safe system approach to road safety. 

Road safety is a shared responsibility – everyone needs to make safe decisions on and around the road to prioritise safety. 

All road users owe it to themselves and to everyone else on the road to follow the road rules and drive to the conditions. Crashes can be prevented, and lives can be saved, by making safe choices. 

Source: NSW Centre for Road Safety  

Traffic Around School