2 July 2025
Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we reach the end of Term 2 and the halfway point of the school year, it's hard to believe how quickly the time has flown. This final newsletter for the term is a celebration of an enriching and rewarding semester filled with growth, connection and achievement.
Our students have once again embraced a wide range of opportunities, from sports carnivals and dance performances to debating, garden club, music, and real world problem solving. A particular highlight has been the launch of our new mentoring program, where high potential and gifted students are being supported by Barrenjoey High School mentors. This exciting partnership encourages deeper learning, collaboration and inspiration across schools. These rich experiences, alongside academic achievement, reflect the well rounded education we are proud to offer.
A heartfelt thank you to our incredible staff, dedicated P&C and generous community volunteers for the energy and care you continue to pour into our school. Together, you make Avalon such a special place to learn and grow.
We hope you enjoy reading about all the highlights in this edition!
Semester 1 Student Reports
Teachers have spent considerable time thoughtfully preparing Semester 1 reports, which were uploaded to the Parent Portal on SchoolBytes on Monday morning. As outlined in an email sent to all parents, you can access your child’s report in the Resources tab on the Parent Portal.
If you would like to discuss the report with your child’s teacher, please make an appointment via the school office.
We encourage all parents and carers to sit down with their child, read through the report together, and celebrate the effort, progress and growth they have made throughout the semester.
Nura Djaroba Refurbishment Begins!
As Mr Rankin expressed in a recent email, we are thrilled to share that work on the long awaited refurbishment of our much loved bush playground, Nura Djaroba, will officially begin in the first week of the school holidays.
This exciting project has been a true community effort. Our students played a vital role in shaping the vision by contributing hundreds of creative design ideas. Thank you to our wonderful parent community for your thoughtful feedback and support throughout the process. Most importantly, we extend our deepest thanks to our dedicated P&C, who have co sponsored and championed this project over several years. We truly could not have done it without you.
A special acknowledgement goes to Hendrik van Senden for his tireless work behind the scenes and for attending many planning meetings, to Conrad Grayson for his early design advice, and to Jamie King, whose generous contribution of time and talent over a year ago helped shape the overall vision for the playground.
We look forward to welcoming students back to a revitalised Nura Djaroba, a unique and treasured part of our school that will once again be a place of adventure, connection and joy.
Purple Ribbon Day
On Thursday, our school was filled with purple, a colour that has come to represent something deeply meaningful to the Avalon community. Each ribbon worn by our students honoured the life of Jessica Goozee, a young girl who once sat in our classrooms, laughed in our playground, and left an unforgettable mark on our hearts.
Jessica faced a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer with extraordinary bravery. Though her time with us was tragically short, her legacy lives on through Purple Ribbon Day, a tradition that not only remembers her but also brings our school together to support cancer research and promote kindness and empathy.
Every student was given a purple ribbon, not just as a symbol of remembrance, but as a quiet reminder to value their health, support one another, and show gratitude for the everyday moments we often take for granted. These small acts echo the values of The Resilience Project, which teaches our students the strength of empathy, thankfulness and human connection.
To all the wonderful children, parents, canteen and the community who donated to Purple Ribbon Day, we raised $2520.00 and this has been donated to the Children's Cancer Institute.
We thank our Kindergarten team, Ms Summers, Mrs Reid, Mrs Wood and Ms Poynting, for leading this special day with such care. Jessica’s story continues to unite and inspire us, and we are proud to keep her memory alive through this meaningful tradition.
Dance Festival 2025
Our talented dance students lit up the stage as they performed in the Sydney North Public Schools Dance Festival 2025. Their enthusiasm, dedication and stage presence were nothing short of inspiring, and they represented Avalon with pride.
A huge thank you to Mrs Garrard for her expert guidance, creativity and the many hours she devoted to preparing our students for this moment. It was a joy to see our students shine so brightly. Thank you to Mrs Lovett and Ms Christie for supporting the students on the day. Well done to all involved!
Senior Choir
Excitement is building among our Senior Choir students as they prepare for the upcoming NSW Public Schools Choral Concert at the Sydney Opera House. In preparation for this prestigious event, selected students took part in a full-day rehearsal on Monday, 30 June 2025 at the Salvation Army Congress Hall in Sydney.
This all-day rehearsal was an important step in getting ready for the big night at the Opera House on Monday, 4 August 2025 at 6:30pm. With just a few weeks to go, excitement is growing, and the students are working hard with Ms Ginty during their regular Friday morning rehearsals.
The final rehearsal will take place on the day of the concert at the Opera House and we can’t wait to see our students shine on stage in one of the most iconic venues in the world.
Stay tuned for more updates as we count down to this unforgettable performance!
Year 6 Camp
Our Year 6 students recently returned from an unforgettable adventure in Canberra. Students explored Australia's capital city, deepening their understanding of our government, history, and culture - all while having a lot of fun along the way.
From visiting Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial to experiencing hands-on activities at Questacon and marvelling at the displays in the National Museum, the camp was filled with opportunities to learn, reflect, and grow.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the dedicated teachers who made this experience possible: Mrs Shlager, Miss Fayle, Miss Curtis and Mr Whittaker. Their tireless effort, planning and care ensured that every student had a safe, enriching and truly memorable time. We appreciate all that you do for our students, thank you.
This camp will be a lasting memory for our Year 6 students who represented our school proudly. Well done, Year 6!
ABLE Program a Huge Success – With More to Come
The ABLE (Avalon Barrenjoey Links Enrichment) program for our talented mathematicians has continued to grow from strength to strength. We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback from both our students and their Barrenjoey High School mentors.
On Tuesday, our students had the exciting opportunity to visit Barrenjoey High School and take part in a dynamic mathematics lesson led by the Head Teacher of Mathematics, Ms Ring. With their mentors by their side, students explored challenging concepts, collaborated on problem solving tasks and enjoyed a real taste of high school learning. The experience was not only educational but also incredibly motivating for our students, who returned buzzing with enthusiasm.
A heartfelt thank you to Ms Stewart, Barrenjoey Deputy Principal Mrs James, Maths Head Teacher Ms Ring and Learning Support teacher Mrs McKay for their incredible support and coordination. Their efforts have been key in making this enrichment experience such a success.
While this marks the conclusion of the mathematics program, we are excited to share that ABLE will continue next term with a focus on English with some new students and mentors. We can’t wait to see what’s in store!
NAIDOC Week
This year marks 50 years of NAIDOC Week—a national celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, resilience and achievement. The 2025 theme, ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy,’ honours the past while looking boldly to the future, celebrating the young leaders who will carry this legacy forward.
A huge thank you to our Aboriginal Education Team for developing such meaningful resources and supporting our students to connect with this important week in a respectful and powerful way.
School Readiness Information Evening
Our School Readiness Information Night is fast approaching and will be held on Wednesday 30 July, from 6:00–7:00pm in the school library. This night is for our new 2026 Kindy parents to find out about how you can set your child up for a successful start to school.
If you haven’t already registered, please do so via the link below:
Whole School Musical
As mentioned in our last newsletter, next term the whole school will be involved in a brand-new production: Avalon in Wonderland! This exciting original musical will bring together every class in a colourful, creative reimagining of classic tales, with a local twist!
Save the dates! There will be two casts performing across two weeks in September:
🌟 Cast 1 – KAS/KSW, Years 2, 4 & 6
📅 Performances: Wednesday 17th & Thursday 18th September 2025
🕜 Showtimes: 1:30 PM & 5:30 PM
🌟 Cast 2 – KJP/KKR, Years 1, 3 & 5
📅 Performances: Wednesday 24th & Thursday 25th September 2025
🕜 Showtimes: 1:30 PM & 5:30 PM
Stay tuned for more details on dates, costumes and how you can get involved!
Term Dates
School finishes for all students this Friday 4 July. School will resume for all classes on Tuesday 22 July.
Term 3 will conclude on Friday 26 September.
Term 4 commences on Tuesday 14 October and concludes on Friday 19 December.
Staff Development Day
Our next Staff Development Day will take place on Monday 21 July, just before students return for Term 3. On this day, our teaching staff will be focusing on important professional learning and planning sessions.
Staff will spend the day:
- Programming units of work aligned with the new Mathematics syllabus
- Continuing our strong focus on High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE)
- Beginning to engage with the four new syllabi: Science and Technology, HSIE (History and Geography), PDHPE and Creative Arts. At this stage, teachers are becoming familiar with the syllabi, in preparation to teach them in 2027.
As we head into the break, on behalf of all the staff at Avalon Public School, we’d like to wish all our students and families a safe and happy school holiday.
A quick reminder: if you notice any suspicious activity or damage on school grounds during the holidays, please contact School Security on 1300 880 021.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back for a great start to Term 3!
Bianca Howarth
Relieving Principal
PBL Focus of the Week: Respecting Our Differences
At Avalon Public School, we are proud to teach and promote Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) across all settings. Each week, we focus on a key value that supports a safe, respectful, and supportive learning environment.
🧠 This Week’s Focus:
Respecting Our Differences
This week, students are learning about the importance of respect, empathy, and gratitude — and that it’s okay to be different and like different things.
Our Learning Intention is:
“We are learning to be respectful, show gratitude and empathy, and understand that it’s okay to be different and like different things.”
Students are also exploring what gratitude looks like, sounds like, and feels like. This helps them build stronger social and emotional awareness and encourages positive interactions with others.
These important lessons are woven into classroom discussions, activities, and playground interactions to help children develop lifelong skills in kindness, inclusion, and emotional intelligence.
Library
Book Week – Book an Adventure
In Week 5 (Monday 18 August – Friday 22 Aug)ust students and staff at APS will celebrate Book Week. The theme for CBCA Book Week 2025 is Book an Adventure. Throughout the week students will be taking part in a variety of reading, viewing, listening and writing activities in class and throughout the school.
Tuesday 19 August is Book Character Costume Day: an opportunity for the staff and students to dress in costume as a favourite, adventurous or interesting book character. Costume ideas, dress-up suggestions, and details to help students enjoy this fun event will be discussed in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for further details. Students and staff are asked to bring a gold coin to donate to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
Wednesday 20 August illustrator Tom Jellett will present to Year 3 and 4 students
Thursday 21 August: Open Day will provide opportunities for students and their families to visit the library to Buy 2 Donate a Book. A variety of amazing books will be available for sale to donate to our library collection. More details to come next term.
E Christie
Teacher-librarian
Year 6 Canberra Excursion
Our Year 6 students recently went on an excursion to Canberra for an educational tour of the national capital. They had the opportunity to participate in a range of programs focused on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in covering the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government provides funding of $30 per student through the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate (PACER) program. This rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.
Avalon OOSH news
We are excited to let you know that we have created the new role of Avalon Centre Director for Sarah Le Hanie which will encompass her previous role as Educational Leader as well as becoming the manager of OOSH following Karen McGill's retirement. Sarah has a long history with Avalon OOSH having first worked there in 2000 before running her own business until returning to OOSH in 2015 and becoming Educational Leader in 2021.
Please join us in congratulating Sarah on her new role, or as my son said, behaving well around her now she is the boss. We have no doubt Sarah will lead the OOSH team in a positive manner and continue to create a creative, caring environment for our children along with Don and the rest of the wonderful OOSH team. Please contact them on info@oosh.com.au with any queries and look out for their fun and educational vacation care programme which is soon to be released.
Congratulations Sarah!
Victoria & the Avalon P&C Exec team
Strings
Avalon Strings have been very productive this term in the community playing for Pittwater Palms residents and Palm Beach kindy (see pics below). Both experiences were absolutely wonderful with our strings musicians performing beautifully new repertoire they learnt this term. Both venues have invited us to visit again as they were immensely impressed with Avalon strings.Our advanced strings had a preliminary rehearsal at Meadowbank with several other Sydney Public schools in preparation for the Festival of instrumental music held at the Sydney Opera House September 9 (see pics below). All students enjoyed the experience and are eagerly anticipating their special moment at the big house!
Community
Join us in celebrating NAIDOC Week from 6 - 13 July 2025, as we honour the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year's theme is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy.
- Singing up Country on Sunday 6 July, and all-ages Northern Beaches Unique Festival showcasing Aboriginal musicians, their culture, music and community spirit.
- A NAIDOC Week Talk with the Aboriginal Heritage Office on Thursday 10 July exploring local history.
- A captivating NAIDOC Performance with Majeda Beatty on Sunday 13 July showcasing interactive dance, song and stories for children 5-12 years.
EDM flyer attached for distribution to your networks. Discover the full program here: Northern Beaches Council NAIDOC Week
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