Dear Parents and Carers

This fortnight’s newsletter is a bumper edition. Read on for all the warm and fuzzies!

Principal’s Afternoon Tea
Congratulations to the very special guests invited to this term’s afternoon tea. You should be proud of your efforts and achievements which were recognised by your teachers. A big thanks to the full house of parents and carers able to join us in encouraging and celebrating these outstanding students.

External Validation
External validation is a required process for all NSW public schools that happens once every four years. During this process, schools review their own progress using the School Excellence Framework (SEF) and share evidence with an independent panel. The panel checks the school’s self-assessment to make sure it’s accurate and gives feedback. This helps schools improve their plans and strategies for the future. Overall, external validation supports schools in continuously improving and achieving better results for students.

I am pleased to report that the independent panel reviewed our school’s self-assessment against the School Excellence Framework and confirmed the quality of our practices and strategic direction. This positive result reflects the hard work and dedication of our staff, and asserts that our learning community is on the right path towards continuous improvement. We will use the panel’s feedback to further enhance our school plans and continue providing the best learning environment for your children.

I want to thank Mr Searle, Ms Grimes, Ms Askin, Ms Aitkin, Ms Murray, Ms Aiello, Ms Talati, Ms Sevenoaks and Ms Silva for their exceptional leadership, team work and the 300+ hour collective commitment to complete the submission. The panel sang the school’s praises and we all have a lot to be proud of.

Kindergarten 2026 Enrolment Interviews
Interviews for Kindergarten 2026 students and their parents commence this Friday. Interviews are an important component of our school’s comprehensive orientation program. Information sharing ensures every child is supported according to their individual strengths and needs so they experience a positive and successful transition to primary school. We look forward to meeting our newest Cantabrians. 

Public Speaking Finals
Inika and Millie are representing the school today in the Strathfield-Canterbury Network Public Speaking Finals. We wish these talented orators the very best of luck and congratulate them on their winning prepared and impromptu speeches.

Congratulations
Ms Lee and Ms Koursaris’ dedication and hard work played a significant role in our school achieving third place at the 19th Korean Performance Contest last week. This result is a wonderful reflection of the teachers’ passion and commitment, and the effort of all the students involved. Read on to hear more about the success of the Korean Dancers and their talented teachers.

Swim Scheme
Students who participated in Swim Scheme will shortly receive a certificate of achievement and progress report. The data below shows tremendous progress over 10 x 45 minute lessons. We also received lovely feedback from the swimming teachers. “Thank you for a wonderful program. The School Swimming team had a wonderful time working with the students and staff. Congratulations to all the students on their achievements. We look forward to seeing your school next year.”

Students were assessed at the beginning of the program to allocate instructional groups.
Pre-instruction (i.e. freestyle benchmark achieved on day one):
0m: 23
5m: 24
10m: 4
25m+:0

Students were assessed at the conclusion of the program to measure growth:
0m: 7
5m: 17
10m: 18
25m: 5
50m: 4

Students had an opportunity to attempt a longest distance swim using a survival stroke:
0m: 4
5m: 7
10m: 6
25m: 0
50m: 34

School Security over the Holidays
If you hear or see suspicious activity in or around the school over the holidays, please contact 1300 880 021. The hotline is a 24 hour service.

Thank you
As we come to the end of the term, I would like to sincerely thank each and every member of our Canterbury learning community. Our students’ hard work, engagement and positive attitude have been truly inspiring and led to outstanding progress and achievement this term. Our parents and carers’ ongoing support and active participation continue to make a real difference to the lives of students and the school’s relentless efforts in continuous improvement.
To our teachers, administration and support staff, your dedication and commitment to providing quality education are greatly appreciated. Together, we have achieved so much, and I look forward to continuing this great work next term. 

Wishing you all a safe and restful break from the daily school routine. Students return on Tuesday 14th October after School Development Day (staff only).

Best Part of my Day

Tracy Considine
Principal

Last week, support classes were learning how to be a learner by trying, listening, not touching others and knowing it is okay to make mistakes. At home, ask your child what helps them to learn at school.

Students in mainstream classes were learning how to minimise disruptions during learning time to allow others to learn. It is important to be a learner so we can learn new skills and knowledge to prepare us for the future, for enjoyment and to develop our brains. To demonstrate that we are a learner we must show the speaker we are listening and maximise learning time for ourselves and others.

Ask your child:

• What disrupts their learning?
• What helps them to learn?
• Why is minimising disruptions important during learning time?

Being a learner also helps us to build positive relationships. The purpose of being at school is to learn. Students must be active participants in their education. Reducing distractions and wasted time ensures we can minimise disruptions and maximise learning time.

This week, the PBL focus for students in support classes is about sharing. Students have been reminded that often they like to play with toys that other students like to play with. If they don’t share, others will be angry and sad.Having situations to practice sharing at home will help students do so at school. 

Kindergarten students are learning that we all experience every zone and that is okay. Students are reminded that there are a range of emotions that they and others can feel, and this is all normal. They are reflecting on times when they have experienced feelings in each of the zones. By identifying these situations they learn to recognise what triggers send us into various zones and what it looks like in them. When children demonstrate various feelings at home, ask your child what they are feeling and what zone do they think they are in. Adults talking about their own feelings and zones will normalise this process.

Mainstream classes 1-6 are learning when to use Yellow Zone tools. Students are learning that the Yellow Zone is the warning zone and there are early signs that tell us it is time to use our tools. When we use yellow zone tools we can calm down and stay in control. 

At home, you can ask your child:

• What is the yellow zone?
• Can you name some yellow zone feelings?
• What are some signs that you are in the yellow zone? 

Meghan Ryan
PBL Committee Member

Thanks to families and friends who attended our September working bee. We managed to get the rest of a native seedlings that were donated by the council into the Welcome Garden. Fingers crossed that they grow strong, help beautify our school and provide valuable food sources for native birds and insects. 

There are two more working bees this year:

• Saturday 1 November 2:00-4:00pm
• Saturday 6 December 2:00-4:00pm

All families are welcome. It is lots of fun and a great way to meet and connect with members of your community. 

Our parent coordinator, Alicia, will be vacating the role at the end of this year when her son moves onto high school. We are looking for a new parent coordinator to support the garden in 2026. This role has traditionally been filled by one person but could be shared between two people to divide up the working bees. If you would like to ask Alicia any questions, please come to a working bee or send Ms Murray an email to pass on anna.murray2@det.nsw.edu.au

Anna Murray
Green Thumbs Coordinator

Thanks again to Ms Williams for the incredible art show two weeks ago. The accolades continue to roll in, appreciating the thought and dedication that goes into organising this event. 

Being able to swim is an important life skill. Big thanks to Ms Askin for organising an inclusive swim scheme for students 2-6. Thanks to Ms Louise and Ms Midori, both experienced swimming instructors, for hopping in the pool to help teach groups of students.

Congratulations to both the Junior and Senior Netball teams who were overall champions in the PSSA winter competition. Both teams remained undefeated and won by substantial margins over their opponents. Although many players have competed in previous years, I am especially proud of the dedication given to training, upskilling new players to the sport and overall fairness during games.

A huge effort by all players to improve and a well deserved win!

Rana Matar
PSSA Netball coach

It finally happened! The book character parade went off with an absolute bang last week. Thank you to all the students, parents, carers and extended family members who banded together to produce some of the most impressive costumes we’ve seen at Canterbury yet! We had a fantastic parade, filled with music, cheering, high fives and laughter. It was a celebration of literacy and community - two things that Canterbury does so well. 

The book character parade helps us remember that reading should always be fun and engaging. Please don’t leave your children to read alone. Get in there and read with them! Read recipes and cook together, read menus and order food, read bus and train timetables before you head out somewhere fun, read directions in Google maps, take a trip to your local library over the weekend or school holidays to join up. There are a million fun ways to incorporate reading into our everyday lives that extend beyond sharing a story.

Have a wonderful break everyone and remember to take some time each day to curl up with a good book!

Jenny Parkes
Teacher librarian

Congratulations to all the students who won prizes in our latest ‘Kids Who Read, Succeed!’ draw. The boxes were positively overflowing with tokens. A few students have even made it to the 200+ nights box!

Make sure you are filling out your reading log. Let your class teacher know when you reach each milestone so that they can ensure you have a chance to win a prize too! A big congratulations to 1/2B this term - there were so many winners in the class. Keep up the great work!

Jenny Parkes
Teacher Librarian

Twelve talented students from Canterbury Public School proudly won 3rd place at the 19th Korean Language Performance Contest, hosted by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Sydney.

The event brought together students from 14 schools across the Sydney region who are currently studying Korean. Representing Canterbury with pride, our Korean Dance Team wowed the audience with a stunning traditional fan dance - a graceful, elegant performance that earned loud applause and glowing feedback from both judges and attendees.

In the lead-up to the competition, the team dedicated weeks of lunchtime and recess rehearsals, demonstrating outstanding commitment, teamwork and passion. Their hard work truly paid off, and their achievement is a wonderful celebration of both their talent and their appreciation for Korean language and culture.

We are incredibly proud of what these students have accomplished. Their performance is a reflection of their dedication and the vibrant multicultural spirit of our school. We look forward to seeing our school continue to explore Korean culture and grow as confident, curious learners with a global outlook!

Sang hee Lee & Dora Koursaris
Korean Dance Club Coordinators

The downpour on Thursday, 11th September, couldn’t dampen Stage 3’s excitement for the camp of a lifetime! In Week 8, our Stage 3 students embarked on a thrilling 2-day adventure at the Sydney Academy of Sport in Narrabeen. The days were jam-packed with awesome outdoor and indoor activities including archery tag, teamwork challenges, fencing, and even damper making where they gathered their own wood and sparked mini bonfires!

Every moment was filled with fun and learning, and the feedback from all the instructors was glowing. Our students earned constant praise for their maturity, attentive listening, and respectful behaviour throughout the entire camp.

A huge shoutout to our amazing teachers—Ms Blumer, Mr Wallin, Ms Carrigan, and Ms Midori—who gave up their own family time to support and guide our students. And a big thank you to our wonderful parent helper, Linda, who helped make sure everyone had an incredible time. What a fantastic adventure for Stage 3!

Carmel Aiello
Assistant Principal, Stage 3

A huge thank you to all the families who got involved and supported our Year 6 fundraising by bidding in the online auction over the past few weeks! Our students truly appreciate your kindness and generosity. We raised $410! Thank you to Ms Blumer and Ms Akiki for organising the auction, as well as the local businesses, Canterbury Leagues Club, Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL and Sydney Indoor Climbing, for donating amazing prizes. Congratulations to all the lucky winners! 

Carmel Aiello
Assistant Principal, Stage 3

Our lovely group in the Japanese class had a fantastic end-of-term celebration by making sushi! The students were very excited, having spent the term learning all about Japanese food and culture. They even practised saying the names of the ingredients they used to create their own sushi rolls.

Some beautiful handmade rolls were made, and they tasted delicious! A huge thank you to Ms Midori for her organisation, time, and contributions in making this special experience possible. The kids had a great time and finished the term on a high note!

Maki Blumer
Japanese Club Coordinator 

This term, Stage 3 have been busy learning the art of sewing. They started with the basics - threading needles, tying knots, and practising straight stitches - before moving on to design their own soft toys. Each student chose a simple shape and transformed it into something unique and full of personality. Here are just some of their wonderful creations…

Felicity Williams
Visual Arts Teacher

Gaby Aitkin
Public Speaking Coordinator