Term 2, Week 4 - Friday 23 May, 2025

Calendar

From the Principal

This week:

• Changes to reports
• National Reconciliation Week (NRW)
• Social/emotional learning and bullying prevention
• Opportunities provided by our amazing staff and community

Changes to reports

From Term 2, we’re introducing updated school reports.

The new format has been developed by the NSW Department of Education in response to feedback from parents and educators to make reports easier to read and understand.

Your child’s report will still show their progress across all subject areas.

Teacher comments will appear in English, Mathematics and the general comment section, in line with department policy.

The general comment for Kindergarten also covers all other key learning areas including, Creative Arts, HSIE, PDHPE, and Science and Technology.

A new achievement scale and descriptions are included to provide a clearer picture of your child’s progress.

For Years K-6, teachers will comment only on English, Mathematics, and provide a general comment. Kindergarten students will receive a grade for effort. In addition, Years 1 – 6 will be assessed in all Key Learning Areas and receive a grade for effort and an achievement grade on a five-point scale.

Many things, already familiar to you will remain including school activities, social and emotional development, attendance and inclusion in programs to support learning.

Parent–teacher interviews remain an important way to discuss your child’s progress and achievement in more detail. We will schedule interviews in the first two weeks of Term 3.

We welcome your feedback or questions about the new report format.

Reconciliation Week will be celebrated next week 27 May - 3 June

Reconciliation is all about improving relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the broader Australian community. Reconciliation Week is held each year between 27 May and 3 June. Launched by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation which started in 1998, it has been celebrated every year since.

The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.

This year the theme is “Bridging Now to Next”.

Our students are planning for an assembly to open Reconciliation Week, learning activities during the week, including developing a class Acknowledgement of Country. In addition, students will have the opportunity to do a walk around to classrooms to view each other’s work on Friday.

Thank you to Mrs Follett and Mr Webber for organising our celebrations.

Social and emotional learning at KPS

Each week, students at Kincumber Public School engage in our school’s social and emotional learning curriculum in their PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning).

We have a significant emphasis on the skills and mindsets needed to promote safe, respectful learning behaviour and prevent bullying.

This is an essential element of our comprehensive school-wide anti-bullying prevention program to equip all students with the mindset (attitudes and coping skills) that they can employ when faced with victimisation to regulate and respond effectively emotionally. 

We focus on our antibullying theme of “Expect Respect”. At our school we talk about making play choices, not friendship choices.

We also talk about sharing spaces effectively. This means we interpret the social situation to figure out what might be an expected behaviour for that situation based on the place and people. 

This week, chat with your child about the personal strategies they use to successfully “make play choices” and “share spaces effectively”. Take every opportunity to talk about what and how they played at school rather than focus on friendships.

Opportunities at KPS

We are the luckiest school in the universe to have so much support from staff and community members to offer opportunities beyond regular curriculum. They include:

• Our sport program led by Mr Murphy
• Our dance program led by Miss Anderson and Miss Pearson
• Our choral festival program led by Miss Anderson and Mrs Shulz
• Our debating and public speaking program led by Mrs Greenland
• Our Eco Warriors program led by Ms Stafford
• Our Inclusive Sports program led by Mrs Gbel-Cook
• Our writers’ workshops next week from the Words on the Waves Festival led by our P&C sub-committee – Kids Potential Support

Hope you have had a great week at our great school.

Trish Peters
Principal

News from Around the School

Aboriginal Education Team – National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week is just around the corner, and there’s already a strong sense of curiosity and engagement across the school. Classes have begun their learning journeys, exploring important questions about Australia’s shared history and how we can all contribute to reconciliation.

We’ll come together as a whole school on Monday for a special assembly that also marks National Sorry Day – a significant opportunity to reflect and show respect. All families are welcome to the assembly which begins at 1.45pm.

Teachers have already started rich discussions in their classrooms, creating meaningful learning moments for students in the lead-up to the week.

We’re looking forward to closing the week with our Reconciliation Gallery Walk on Friday, where students will showcase their learning. It promises to be a powerful and thoughtful week for our school community.

KPS Boys Hockey

A huge congratulations to the KPS Boys Hockey Team for their fantastic victory in the first round of the 2025 NSWPSSA competition last Friday!

Despite facing poor weather that limited their training opportunities, the boys showcased remarkable effort and determination against Avoca Beach Public School in a thrilling match, coming away with a 2-1 win.

The enthusiastic crowd that cheered them on made the experience even more special, and we are all excited for their next game in the coming weeks against Mawarra Public School.

Good luck, boys!

Merran Woodard-Knight
KPS Hockey Coordinator

KPS Debating

Today we held our first round of debates in the Premier’s Debating Challenge.

The Koalas Team and the Krocs Team both delivered strong arguments against the competing school's teams.

A huge congratulations and thank you to all students who participated. Well done to the Krocs Team for also winning your first debate! 

Mrs Greenland 

Next Volunteer Induction Friday 6 June, 2025 - 9am in the KPS Library

Assembly Roster for Early Stage 1 (Kindy) and Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) for 2025

Please see below the roster for Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 for 2025.  

Please note that assemblies are now run fortnightly starting Week 2 (Friday 9 May).  If there are any changes to the below, families will be notified by the Sentral Parent Portal.

We look forward to seeing as many families as possible. 

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

Lost property is now located in the school office.

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

P&C Update – April & May

We've had two excellent meetings over April and May, and we're pleased to share some great outcomes supported by your P&C:

• Purchase of a school representative sports tent, featuring the KPS logo
• Purchase of a new stand mixer to assist Melissa in the canteen with preparing fresh, canteen-made food for our students
• Approval of funds for four 3 x 6m shade tents – one for each sports house for general school use and during events and activities
• Approval of funds to support Run Club, a grassroots community group helping our students stay active and build healthy habits
• Approval of funds for the purchase of general sports balls for all students to enjoy during play and physical activity

Thank you to our school community for your ongoing support. These initiatives are only possible because of your involvement and contributions.

Claim Your Free $20 or $40 eGift Card Today

Want to save big while making a difference? With an Entertainment Membership, you’ll unlock amazing rewards and support our fundraiser at the same time.

Here’s what you’ll get when you purchase your Membership between 1pm AEST Tuesday 13 May and 5pm AEST Saturday 31 May, 2025:

A FREE Prepaid Activ Visa eGift Card valued at $20 or $40

• Get a $40 eGift Card with a Multi City Membership
• Get a $20 eGift Card with a Single City Membership

Plus – 20% of your purchase goes directly to support our fundraiser.

It’s a win-win – savings for you and support for us.

Order here: https://subscribe.entertainment.com.au/fundraiser/34h166

Hurry – offer ends 5pm AEST, Saturday 31 May 2025.

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 Girls Futsal Program

Free indoor soccer for girls aged 10-16. Come along, give it a go, learn new skills, improve your game, make friends and have fun!

Jessica Townsend - Thursday 29 May, 2025

Give life. Give Blood in Terrigal

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

We’re rolling into town on 27 to 31 May. Don’t forget to pre-book your spot at Lifeblood.com.au, on our app or on 13 14 95.

Family Fun Day - Sunday 1 June, 2025

Nunyara Influenza Vaccination Clinic

Clinics are run on on Thursdays from 8am to 7pm.

Available to all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community members and their families.

Call 4320 2698 to book in or walk in. Parking available on site.

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

Australian Navy Cadets - TS Hawkesbury @ Point Clare ... Back for Term 2

TS Hawkesbury will be returning to regular parades for Term 2, starting 3 May, 2025. 

We are still accepting expressions of interest from any young people; The only requirement is they must be turning 13 in 2025.  The flyer below shows programs that are offered ...

TS Hawkesbury at Point Clare
Time: Saturdays, 08:30am until 3.00pm
Where: 119 Kurrawa Ave, POINT CLARE NSW 2250 - Next to Marine Rescue

How to apply:
Please click https://www.navycadets.gov.au/find-a-unit

This will take you to 'find a unit', please select 2250 and click TS Hawkesbury.  The ANC has units located all across Australia, and each unit has their own different parade times.

Free Podiatry Consultations for Children

The University of Newcastle Podiatry Clinic at Wyong Hospital is offering children age 0-17 free lower limb assessments.

Children will be assessed by final year students, supervised by a podiatrist. Children and their families can receive advice on footwear, flat feet, and normal development, and receive treatment of foot warts, foot and leg pain, walking problems, and night-time ‘growing pains’.

When: Monday afternoons from 10 March to 26 May, 2025

To make a booking, or for more information call 4394 7280.

Australian Air League (NSW Group)

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