Dundurrabin Public School Newsletter Term 4, Week 2, 2025

Principal's Message

Dear Dundurrabin Public School Community,

Welcome Back to Term 4!

We are excited to welcome everyone back to school for Term 4, the final leg of 2025! This term promises to be full of exciting activities and important milestones for our students.

On the recent school development day, our teachers engaged in professional learning focused on the new curriculum documents for Science and Technology, Creative Arts, History and Geography, and Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. This preparation will support the successful implementation of these key learning areas commencing next year.

This term, we have more transition visits planned for our 2026 Kindergarten students as they prepare to join us next year. Our Year 6 students will also be heading to Dorrigo High for transition visits, helping them get ready for the next step in their education.

We wish Henry, Hunter, Bailey, and Jaxon all the best as they head to Sydney this week for a week-long excursion. They are joining their peers from Dorrigo and Hernani PS and meeting up with Chandler PS for an exciting week of exploring the city’s iconic sites. We look forward to hearing all about their adventures!

Swimming lessons are scheduled for Week 7, so please keep an eye out for further information and permission notes coming home soon.

Finally, a huge thank you to Chris, Glen, and Laz for having our school tidy and ready for our return last week. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Here’s to a fantastic Term 4 full of learning, growth, and memorable experiences!

Principal

Leah Keough

Every Day Matters

Please remember to explain all days your child is away from school. You can do this in person, by phoning the school, or by sending a text to the school mobile at 0411 939 188. Thank you for your cooperation!

What's on for Term 4

Week 2

• Monday 20 October to Friday 24 October - Stage 3 (Year 6) Sydney Excursion
• Wednesday 22 October - Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12 noon     

Week 3

• Monday 27 October - Life Ed at Ebor PS  &  P&C Meeting - 4pm
• Wednesday 29 October - Kindergarten Transition - 9.00am to 3.15pm
• Friday 31 October - Year 6  DHS Transition - 12noon to 3.15pm

Week 4

•  Wednesday 5 November - Year 6 UNE Far Out Science Day at Armidale University                                                                                                                & Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12 noon   

Week 5

• Tuesday 11 November - Rememberance Day  &   Kindergarten Transition - 9.00am to 3.15pm

Week 6

• Monday 17 November - Year 6  DHS Transition - Whole Day
• Tuesday 18 November - Crazy Hair Day
• Wednesday 19 November - Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12 noon 

Week 7 

• Monday 24 November to Friday 28 November - Swimming - Dorrigo Swimming Pool - 110am to 12noon

Week 8 

• Monday 1 December - P&C Meeting - 4pm
• Tuesday 2 December - Year 6  DHS Transition - Whole Day
• Wednesday 3 December - Gubi Gabun Playgroup - 10am to 12 noon 
• Friday 5 December - Kindergarten Transition - 9.00am to 3.15pm

Week 9

• Friday 12 December - Presentation Assembly - 11am

Week 10

• Wednesday 17 December - Fun Day at School
• Thursday 18 December - Big Day Out Excursion - Coffs Harbour
• Friday 19 December - Year 6 Farewell Lunch  &  Last Day of Term 4

Fortnightly Awards

Term 4 - Week 2

K-2 Class

Beth Green for accurate skills when multiplying and dividing numbers.

3-6 Class

Charlie McGuire for his outstanding knowledge in multiplication and division.

Welcome Back to Term 4

Welcome back to our final term for 2025.  Term 4 is certainly shaping up to be busy, yet exciting. We look forward to spending it with you all.

Life Education- Next Monday 27 October

Our students will join Ebor, Hernani and Chandler Public Schools next Monday 27 October at Ebor Public School to participate in a fun and educational day with Healthy Harold.

We will be travelling by Wykes bus. We will leave Tyringham Store at 8.00am sharp and will return to school by 3.15pm for normal pick up and afternoon bus run.

The cost is $12 per student to attend Life Ed lessons. The school is paying for the cost of the bus.

Students must wear full school uniform. Extra water is recommended as Ebor PS has limited drinking water available.  

Year 6 - Dorrigo High School Transition Dates

Term 4 Year 6 DHS Transition Dates will be:

• Friday 31 October - 12noon to 3.15pm
• Monday 17 November - Whole day
• Tuesday 2 December - Whole day

For Friday 31 October, Year 6 students will need private transport from Dundurrabin Public School to Dorrigo High School, but may wish to catch the town bus home in the afternoon, if need be. 

Year 6 - Far Out Science - UNE Armidale

Years 6 students will be travelling to Armidale on Wednesday 5 November to participate in Far Out Science at the University of New England.

The day will kick off at 9:30am in Lazenby Hall at the University of New England campus in Armidale, and finish at 2.45pm. There is no cost for this excursion.

Mr Williamson will be accompanying the students on the day. Travel will be by parental transport. More information later soon. 

Term 3 Assembly Highlights

To celebrate the end of Term 3, our school held a lively assembly where students displayed their skipping extravaganza. Students also proudly showcased some of their recent written work and safety tips for interacting with angry dogs. 

Congratulations to all our award winners and our Year 6 Captains; Henry and Hunter who did a great job hosting the assembly. 

Following the assembly, the fun continued with the highly anticipated Parents vs Students T-Ball game. The match saw enthusiastic participation from both sides, with parents and students eagerly competing in a friendly but spirited game. The event was filled with laughter, cheers, and impressive teamwork, highlighting the strong bond between families and the school.

This special day provided a fantastic opportunity for students, parents, and staff to connect outside the classroom, fostering community spirit and creating lasting memories. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported the event — your energy and sportsmanship made it a huge success. Congratulations to the parents on their win.

Award Winners for Term 3

• Jaxon Bennett, for his rendition of 'Sleeping Beauty'- under the golden arches
• Carter Freeman for being a safe, respectful learner

Attendance Awards

• Tyson Talbot, greater than 95% attendance
• Bailey Freeman, greater than 95% attendance
• Amber Baff, greater than 95% attendance
• Jack Duckett, improved attendance
• Carter Freeman, improved attendance
• Beth Green, improved attendance

Congratulations!

World Teachers Day

It's Hats Off to Teachers on Friday 31 October!

Hats off to Australia's teachers this World Teachers' Day! Australia is coming together to celebrate you for your skilled work in educating, inspiring and supporting students. Let's celebrate our teachers and thank them for all the work they do to inspire and empower learners across Australia. It's a chance to celebrate teaching and for communities and students to thank teachers.

World Teachers' Day celebrates quality teaching and inspirational teachers. There are over 170,000 primary, secondary and early childhood teachers working in NSW. The wisdom and expertise of teachers shines brightly in our NSW schools, communities, homes, and vibrant workforce. This day is an opportunity to recognise all teachers.

We are lucky to have wonderful teachers here at Dundurrabin PS who go above and beyond for our students. So from all of us here at school and the community, thank you Mrs Keough, Mrs Sangster, Mr Williamson, Mrs Bingle, Ms Cunningham and all our casual teachers. School would not have such a happy and positive place without your hard work and dedication. Hats off to teachers this World Teachers' day!

Thank Your Cleaners Day

Thank Your Cleaners Day was last Wednesday 15 October.

Thank Your Cleaners Day recognises the hard work cleaners do and lets them know how valued and appreciated they are. We are lucky to have our wonderful hard working cleaner here at school.

Laz keeps the school clean and sparkling. So if you see him around at any stage, don’t forget to say thank you!.

Year 6 Sydney Excursion

Our Year 6 students are away this week on an exciting excursion in Sydney, travelling with Dorrigo, Hernani, and Chandler Public Schools. They are sure to have a fantastic time. We can’t wait for the photos to start coming through—please keep an eye on our Facebook page for their daily adventures.

Enjoy your week in Sydney, everyone! Stay tuned for exciting updates from the big smoke.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden News

Term 3 - Week 10

This week in the kitchen we had an end of term celebration, where everybody came up to the kitchen to cook together. We made a 'Brunch for Lunch' theme, and enjoyed a spanish omlette with potato, broccoli and asparagus, served with a herby feta and sour cream sauce, banana and cinnamon pikelets, toasted honey muesli served with vanilla yogurt, stewed apple and rhubarb, egg and lettuce sandwiches, with a caesar style salad, and a lemon icy pole for a treat afterwards. What a wonderful way to mark the end of another fabulous term.

This week's cooking award goes to Carter Freeman for his 'egg-citing egg peeling!' Well done. 

Term 4 - Week 1

Our Kindergarten transition children joined in with their first gardening session, picking and tasting herbs, feeding the chooks and harvesting a variety of produce.  Everyone else was busy weeding, feeding and watering rhubarb plants, preparing beds and planting tomatoes, and securing the netting over our vegie patch to keep birds out. We harvested parsley, chives, garlic chives, kale, silverbeet, asparagus, eggs, broccoli tops and cauliflower.

In the kitchen we cooked a pasta with herb sauce, fresh asparagus, cheese and broccoli balls, cheesy garlic bread in all shapes and sizes and some very yummy chewy chocolate cookies.

2026 Kindergarten Transition Term 4 Dates

Our Kindergarten students have been busy having lots of fun during their transition activities! They created beautiful Hungry Caterpillar artwork, which sparked their creativity and storytelling skills around a kitchen garden theme.

The children also enjoyed their first experience with our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) program, engaging in hands-on gardening and cooking activities. These enriching experiences have been both exciting and educational, fostering new skills and a love for healthy food.

We look forward to continuing these wonderful activities with our Kindergarten students throughout Term 4.

Gubi Gabun Playgroup - Term 4

School Bytes Parent Portal

What is the School Bytes Parent Portal?

The School Bytes Parent Portal offers convenience and flexibility, allowing you to: 

• Make online school payments, including payments for multiple siblings, simultaneously.
• Use a family credit to pay for an activity or school contributions.
• Download payment receipts.
• View all historical payments in one place.
• Complete and submit digital permission notes.
• View the status of all permission notes.
• Request a refund if necessary.

This service can be accessible at your convenience at any time, day or night.

Through the Parent Portal, you can easily download a receipt once a payment has been made and have access to view all historical payments when needed. Online payments are processed in real time and can be viewed by school staff immediately.

While our preference is for payments to be made via the portal, we will still accept payment via cash and cheque.

School Bytes – If you haven’t already done so, please see the Parent Portal information below  to connect to these new features. An email was sent home on Thursday 5 June with the link.

Attendance – The simplest way to explain your child’s absence from school will be through the Parent Portal of School Bytes. Once our SMS has been sent, please respond using either option provided so we can make sure all records are up to date. As always, if you’d like any support with attendance, we’re only a phone call, email or visit away.

An email was sent home previously. Please check your emails and follow the links so that we can get this up and running at Dundurrabin.

2025 Learning Contributions - SAKG Fees

Student invoices / Statement of Accounts will be sent home again shortly with your child/ren.  Thank you to our families that have already paid theirs. Fees are now overdue and need to be paid by 21 November - thank you. 

Bookclub Issue 7

Book Club Issue#7 brochure will be sent home tomorrow. If you wish to place an order from this issue, please have your loop online order completed or your order forms and money (cash) back at school by Friday 31 October.

P&C News and Community News

P&C Meeting - Monday 27 October

Our next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 27 October at 4pm. It would be wonderful if we could have as many people as possible attend. This is a great opportunity to find out about and get involved with what is happening within the school. Please come along, share a cuppa and enjoy a relaxed and friendly gathering. We’d love to see more faces for new ideas and support.

Healthy Hub Connect

Spring Into Mental Wellness: Your Journey Starts Here

With Mental Health Month just around the corner and the warmer longer days emerging across the North Coast, we are reminded that spring is the perfect time to nurture our mental wellbeing alongside nature's renewal.

Whether you're feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated beyond the usual or more, there’s support available.

Free Support When You Need It

Healthy Hub Connect is here to help if you are looking for professional mental health supports. This free service, funded by the North Coast Primary Health Network, offers a range of mental health support across our region – from Byron Bay to Port Macquarie and everywhere in between.

Services Available Include:

· Men's Wellbeing Matters – for men to find connection and support

· Low Intensity Mental Health Service – for guided coaching

· Youth Enhanced Service – Specialised care for young people

· Choice of Mind – comprehensive care with Mental Health Nurses

· Healthy Minds – Professional counselling services

Getting Connected is Easy Simply email healthyhubconnect@each.com.au for more information or contact Medicare Mental Health on 1800 595 212 to start the journey and connect with care that suits you best.

IN DORRIGO - Locals supporting locals

If you are keen to engage with mental health supports with an in-person chat, come and see us at the Dorrigo Library. We are there on the first and third Monday of each month, from 10am to 4pm. Access via the main entrance/meeting room.