2025 Term 1 Week 10

Important Dates

Principal's Report

As Term 1 draws to a close at Eastwood Public School, it’s hard to believe how quickly the weeks have flown by! So much has happened across the term, and as I reflect on the busy days behind us, I am incredibly proud of what our school community has achieved together.

I want to take a moment to recognise and thank our amazing staff. Whether it’s coaching our PSSA teams on Friday mornings, giving up their time to support students during lunchtime clubs, or going the extra mile every day in classrooms, their commitment and care never go unnoticed. It’s this dedication that helps shape a positive and supportive learning environment for our students.

I’d also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our wonderful school community. Your ongoing support—whether through the P&C, helping out in the canteen, volunteering at events, or simply staying engaged with school life—plays an important part in everything we do. Eastwood Public School is the vibrant and welcoming place it is because of the partnership between home and school.

A special thank you to our Learning Support Team and our hardworking School Learning Support Officers (SLSOs). Their efforts in classrooms, working alongside teachers and supporting students every day, make an enormous difference. Their patience, care and dedication to our students’ learning and wellbeing is deeply appreciated.

Of course, a huge thank you also goes to our incredible front office team. They are the friendly faces and calm problem-solvers behind the scenes, keeping the school running smoothly and always ready to support students, families and staff.

And at the heart of it all—our students. Their energy, curiosity, and love of learning make Eastwood Public School the special place that it is. Watching them grow, achieve and challenge themselves over the term has been a privilege.

As we head into the school holidays, I hope everyone in our school community has the chance to rest, recharge and spend time with family and friends. I look forward to welcoming you all back, refreshed and ready for another great term of learning and opportunity in Term 2.

🚶‍♂️🎉 Each Can Step – Eastwood Public School Walk-a-thon 🎉🚶‍♀️

Lace up those sneakers and get ready to hit the track - the Eastwood Public School Walk-a-thon is back! Our Each Can Step Walk-a-thon will be held on Tuesday, 1 July, and it promises to be a day full of fun, fresh air and community spirit. 🌞👟

This year, we’re walking with a purpose! The funds raised will go directly towards installing brand new fixed play equipment for our students — something that will provide hours of fun, physical activity and social connection during break times. Think climbing, swinging, balancing and sliding — all the things kids love, while building strength, coordination and confidence. 🛝✨

And that's not all… if we reach our fundraising goal (or even exceed it!) we’re also aiming to create a Sensory Room — a calm, welcoming space designed to support the wellbeing of students who may need a quiet place to self-regulate and recharge during the busy school day. 🌈🧩

We’ll have a sponsorship website up and running at the start of Term 2 to make it super easy for family, friends and neighbours to get behind our students and support this wonderful cause. 💻📱

Let’s get ready to step out, have some fun and make a real difference together! 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️❤️

If you would like to donate to our prize pool, please read the letter below.

Fixed Equipment

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news with our Eastwood Public School community — we are planning to install brand new fixed play equipment in Term 3. 🎊

If we can reach our fundraising target through this year’s Each Can Step Walk-a-thon, our students will soon be enjoying a fantastic new play space located right in front of our brand-new E Block building. This will be a wonderful addition to our playground, providing a safe and engaging space for students to climb, swing, balance and play with their friends.

Play is such an important part of every child’s school day. Not only is it fun (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good climb or slide?! 😄), but it also helps develop strength, coordination, social skills and creativity. This new equipment will give our students even more opportunities to stay active, connect with others and enjoy their break times.

We’re incredibly excited about this project and can’t wait to see our students enjoying this new space. Of course, we can only make this happen with the support of our amazing school community. Every step taken in the Walk-a-thon and every dollar raised will help us bring this play area to life.

Together, we can make a lasting difference for our students — and we can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces when the new equipment is ready to use.

Parent - Teacher Interviews

A heartfelt thank you to all the parents and carers who made time to attend our recent Parent-Teacher Interviews. These conversations are such an important part of the learning journey, providing an opportunity to celebrate your child’s progress, discuss their goals, and strengthen the connection between home and school. Your ongoing support, involvement, and partnership play a vital role in helping every student thrive. We are grateful for the positive relationships we share with our families and appreciate the time you invested in these valuable discussions.

Staff Development Days

Term 2 will begin with two Staff Development Days (SDD) on Monday 28 April and Tuesday 29 April. These days provide our teachers with dedicated time to engage in professional learning and preparation to ensure a successful and productive term ahead.

On Day 1, our staff will participate in professional learning focused on High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE). This professional learning is part of our ongoing commitment to fostering a culture of high expectations and supporting every student to achieve their personal best. Teachers will deepen their understanding of how to identify and cater for students’ high potential across the intellectual, creative, social-emotional, and physical domains. This learning is aligned with the Department of Education’s HPGE Policy and will further strengthen our school’s approach to differentiated teaching, enrichment opportunities, and evidence-informed practice.

On Day 2, our teachers will be provided with valuable time to plan and program for another busy and exciting term of learning. This dedicated planning time is essential to ensure that learning programs are well-structured, targeted, and engaging, setting our students up for success.

Students will return to school on Wednesday 30 April, ready to launch into Term 2. We are looking forward to another term filled with rich learning, growth, and achievement.

Facebook

Eastwood Public School has a lot to be proud of and celebrate, so to showcase all the great talents of our students we post many photos and descriptions on the Eastwood Public School Facebook page. This is a celebration site where we highlight different aspects of the school, be it classroom work, sporting events or special occasions. It will not be a vehicle to communicate the day-to-day happenings of the school or to disseminate notes etc but designed to display the achievements of students at Eastwood Public School.

Please have a look:

 Eastwood Public School Facebook Page

Easter Hat Parade

We’re excited to invite our school community to join us for the Eastwood Public School Easter Hat Parade on Thursday 10 April, starting at 9:30am. This much-loved tradition is a highlight of Term 1, bringing plenty of colour, creativity, and fun to our school. Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 have been busy crafting and decorating their wonderful Easter hats and posters and are looking forward to parading them in front of their families and friends.

It’s always a joyful way to finish the term, and we encourage parents, carers and extended family members to come along and share in the festive atmosphere. We can’t wait to see the sea of smiling faces and imaginative hats on display.

ANZAC Day Ceremony

On Friday 11 April, Eastwood Public School will hold our annual ANZAC Day Ceremony. This important event provides our school community with the opportunity to pause, reflect and honour the service and sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women, past and present. It is a time for our students and staff to come together in remembrance and gratitude, acknowledging the enduring impact of the ANZAC legacy on our nation.

The ceremony is a valued tradition at Eastwood Public School and plays an important role in helping our students develop an understanding of the significance of ANZAC Day and the values of courage, resilience, and mateship. 

Through this act of remembrance, we encourage students to reflect on the importance of peace and the sacrifices made by others in the pursuit of a better future.

You Can Do It

The 5 Keys that Unlock Children’s Potential

Confidence

Confidence requires that young people not be overly concerned with what others think if they make a mistake. Confidence is revealed when young people are not afraid to fail and are happy to meet someone new. Confidence involves young people having trust in themselves and believing that they will probably be successful in the end. Confident young people stand up straight, look people in the eye, and speak clearly and with a firm tone of voice.

Persistence

Persistence is revealed when young people try hard when doing schoolwork, they find frustrating and do not feel like doing and finish their work on time. Young people who keep trying to complete an assignment rather than becoming distracted, and those who elect to play after they’ve done their work, demonstrate motivation and can be described as being persistent.

Organisation

Organisation is revealed when young people keep track of their assignments, schedule their time effectively, and set goals for how well they want to do in specific areas of their schoolwork and in other endeavours. Organisation also means having all your supplies ready to do schoolwork and having all your supplies ready a system for storing previously learned material.

Getting Along

Getting Along is revealed when young people work cooperatively with each other, resolve conflicts by discussion rather than fights, manage their anger, show tolerance, and follow class rules, including making responsible choices so that everyone’s rights are protected. Getting Along also involves young people making positive contributions to helping others and to making the school, home, and community safer, healthier, and good places to live and learn.

Resilience

Resilience is shown when young people are able to stop themselves from getting frustrated, down, or worried when faced with challenging events and difficult situations and people. Resilience means being able to control your behaviour when very upset without fighting or withdrawing for too long. It also means being able to calm down after having been upset and bouncing back to work and being with other people.

If you would like to know more about You Can Do It, please follow the link below.

You Can Do It

Thank you

Michael Kammerer, Principal 

Deputy Principal's Report

Kindergarten Happenings - KE

Kindergarten students have been working hard over the past few weeks, practicing their sounds and developing their writing skills. It’s been exciting to see many of them beginning to use their sounds to write two- and even three-letter words!

KE has also been exploring measurement through hands-on learning. In the playground, they investigated length, and during a special lesson in the staffroom, they measured and compared the capacity of different containers.

It’s been wonderful to see how much they have grown, settled into classroom routines, and formed great friendships with their peers. We can’t wait to hear all about their holiday adventures when they return and to see all the amazing learning ahead in the coming weeks!

Stage 1 Happenings - 1H

This week in 1H, we expanded our mathematician brains by exploring measurement with arm-balance scales and discovering different addition combinations using dominoes! We also strengthened our teamwork skills to create unique, collaborative and imaginative projects.

Stage 2 Happenings - 3B

3B students have enjoyed learning about abstract art in Visual Arts lessons. They have used chalk pastels to draw cubist still lifes, inspired by the artworks of Ben Nicholson, and used line, colours and shapes to create artworks inspired by Wassily Kandinsky. 3B is excited to attend the excursion to the Art Gallery of NSW next week to see well-known artworks in person.

Stage 3 Happenings - 5DB

This term 5DB read The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. We explored the concept of ‘narrative’ through a deep analysis of characterisation. The students challenged themselves to write an additional scene between two of the characters. It was great to see the students use the marking criteria as a checklist when composing their texts. We also used skills of directed drawing and tonal shading to create a camouflaged robot.

SRC Update

On Tuesday 8th of April (Week 11), the SRC will be holding a fundraiser for two separate charities; The Smith Family and the Starlight Foundation.

We ask that students bring as many gold coins as they can to school where they can donate those coins to the charities as they see fit. There will be a collection jar in each classroom.

The class in each stage with the most value of gold coins will receive an Eastwood Key and an ice-block. The overall winning class will have a pizza lunch provided!

We thank you for your support!

Ms Saito & Mrs Lau (SRC Coordinators)

K-6 Easter Hat Parade

Parenting Program Update

Online Safety

We would like to remind you of the importance of ensuring that children under the required age do not access the platform Discord. Discord has an age restriction of 13 years and above in accordance with its Terms of Service and Australian privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988 and the Online Safety Act 2021.

Allowing children under this age to access Discord is not only against the platform’s rules but may also pose significant online safety risks, including:

* Exposure to inappropriate content – Many Discord servers are unmoderated and may contain unsuitable discussions, images, or videos.

* Interaction with strangers – Discord allows direct messaging and voice communication, which can put young users at risk of contact with unknown individuals.

* Data privacy concerns – The platform collects user data, and underage children are not legally permitted to provide consent.

In Australia, it is illegal for children under 13 to create an account on Discord. The eSafety Commissioner strongly advises that young users only engage with age-appropriate online spaces.

We encourage parents to actively monitor their child’s online activity and discuss the importance of safe internet use. If you have any concerns or need advice on supporting your child’s digital safety, please do not hesitate to reach out. Please refer to the link below:

Online Safety

Lost Property

Please collect lost items from the Lost Property tubs in A Building.

All items that are not part of the school uniform will be donated to charity or thrown away on Thursday 10 April.

Sport

PSSA

Our Summer PSSA competition has finished up for this semester and will reconvene at the beginning of Term 4.

We have had some amazing results so far from all our teams. Special mention to our Senior Newcombe ball team who are currently in first position!

Ryde Zone Swimming

Clara K (year 6) and Logan K (year 2) represented the Ryde Zone for swimming events on the 2^nd of April at the Sydney North Primary Swimming Competition.

We are extremely proud of both our students.

Clara

200m - IM - 2nd place

50m freestyle - 3rd place

50m breaststroke - 2nd place

50m butterfly - 2nd place

Logan

50m freestyle - 2nd place

Due to their amazing performances, both Clara and Logan have now qualified for the PSSA STATE Championship, which will be held on April 10th and 11th. Congratulations Clara and Logan and all the best at this next carnival!

Student Travel

Languages - Mandarin

Our Kindy Mandarin students have been settling into their lessons with enthusiasm, impressing teachers with their rapid progress. They have been learning greetings in Mandarin and practicing basic Chinese strokes and characters through songs, rhymes, and games.

Our Year 1 students kicked off Term 1 by immersing themselves in the Chinese New Year story and participating in hands-on activities, before transitioning to the topic of "My Family." They’ve been eagerly engaging in learning words and expressions through a variety of methods, including singing, speaking, reading, role-playing, and games. Attached is a photo of students enjoying the "Swat a Fly" game, which helps them practise reading Chinese characters within sentences.

Our Year 2 Mandarin Students have been enthusiastically exploring the topic of weather, enhancing their vocabulary related to family members, and delving into the rich culture of Chinese New Year. They have engaged in these subjects through songs, rhymes, stories and hands-on activities, fostering a dynamic and immersive learning environment.

Our Year 4 Mandarin students are thoroughly enjoying their new unit, "Family Trip to China." They are approaching the intermediate-level Mandarin skills by learning travel-related vocabulary, grammar, and writing techniques. Additionally, students are exploring Chinese lanterns, gaining insight into traditional craft art.

Students from grades 3-6 have been actively auditioning for the Chinese Waist Drum and Fan Dance groups, demonstrating both enthusiasm and dedication in performing traditional Chinese cultural items.

Our Year 5 and 6 students have been confidently challenging themselves to practise unfamiliar words and expressions within the topic 'Welcome to My Home.' They actively shared their ideas during group and class discussions and enthusiastically participated in various learning activities to achieve their personal learning goals. Attached is a photo of students playing levelled card games, competing in groups to read Chinese words related to the topic.

Music

🎶 Junior Piano – 2 Spots Left!
We have two remaining spots for Junior Piano next term.

🎶 Concert Band – We need members who can play saxophone, clarinet and flute.

👉 If you are interested, please complete the form below, and we will reach out with further details:

Expression of Interest Form

🎼 2025 Performance Schedule

📅 Term 1:

• Wednesday, 21 March (9:00 AM) – SSP Workshop (Malcolm - piano, Minchan- Trumpet, Chamber Orchestra)
• Sunday, 13 April (2:30 PM) – The Vegetable Plot Performance (Chamber Orchestra)

📅 Term 2:

• Monday, 16 June (9:00 AM) – Sydney Eisteddfod (String Orchestra)
• Tuesday, 17 June – Mid-Year Concert (All Ensembles)
• Thursday, 26 June (9:30 AM - 1:30 PM) – FOIM Rehearsal (Chamber Orchestra)

📅 Term 3:

• Monday, 28 July (TBC) – Ryde Eisteddfod (Junior Piano)
• Tuesday, 28 July (TBC) – Ryde Eisteddfod (Senior Piano)
• Tuesday, 12 August (TBC) – Ryde Eisteddfod (String Orchestra)
• Tuesday, 26 August (All Day) – FOIM – Banksia Concert (Chamber Orchestra)

📅 Term 4:

• October (TBC) – Granny Smith Festival (Chamber Orchestra)
• 3-4 November – Music Camp (2 Days & 1 Night) (All Ensembles)
• Tuesday, 25 November – End-of-Year Concert (All Ensembles)
• December (TBC) – KU Performance (String Orchestra)

🎻 2025 Ensemble Groups & Rehearsal Schedule

• Senior Piano: Monday, 7:45 - 8:45 AM
• Concert Band: Tuesday, 7:50 - 8:50 AM
• String Orchestra: Thursday, 8:00 - 9:00 AM
• Chamber Orchestra: Thursday, 8:00 - 9:00 AM
• Junior Piano: Friday, 7:45 - 8:45 AM

🤝 Get Involved with Us!

To keep fees low, we rely on parent volunteers to help coordinate and support our music program. If you're interested in assisting, please reach out at music.eastwoodps@gmail.com.

📌 Note: All parent volunteers must have a valid Working with Children Check, which can be obtained via the Service NSW website. Thank you for your support!

Any other information: 🔗 EPS Instrumental Music Program Website

Thank you for supporting our young musicians! 🎶✨

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