The Turragraph Term 3 Week 6 - 29 August 2025

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Can you believe we’re already more than halfway through Term 3? Time is flying by! After a brief break to recover from an injury, I’m so happy to be back at TNPS and reconnecting with our wonderful school community. Thank you for your caring well wishes, and a big thank you to our terrific executive and office teams for keeping everything running so smoothly in my absence.

We’ve already enjoyed many special events this term, and there are plenty more exciting activities ahead. As we welcome the first week of spring, we’re looking forward to celebrating our fathers and special others with a Gift Stall on Thursday, 4 September.

We’re also proud to support our Student Representative Council’s initiative to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation with a Jersey Mufti Day (no coins needed) this Friday, 5 September.

If you would still like to purchase your child's artwork from our recent Art Exhibition, there’s still time! For a small donation of $2–$5, you can take home their masterpiece. Simply send the donation in an envelope clearly marked with your child's name and hand it to their class teacher. Your participation in this special event and support for our young artists means so much - thank you!

Wishing everyone a happy week ahead, with special celebrations for our TNPS fathers and special others this Sunday. Enjoy the moments together!

Michelle Verhagen

Principal

Athletics Success

Even though the rain tried to slow things down, all athletes powered through with energy and determination! Despite the wet weather on Friday, 22 August, they proudly represented Turramurra North at the Hornsby Zone Athletics Carnival held at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre. Spirits were high, and it was a day filled with great effort, enthusiastic cheering and wonderful sportsmanship from all students.

A huge thank you to the parents, carers and family members who came along to cheer on our team, and to Miss Beavis for her energetic support of the athletes throughout the day. Our students achieved some terrific results, helping Turramurra North secure an impressive ninth place overall - a truly commendable effort!

Special mention to Beatrice, Georgia, Rene, Luc, Alice and Ezra who will all progress to Sydney North.

Millie's Magnificent Mufti Day

This year's trivia night was a tremendous success, and the fun continues! A big thank you to the Tanner family for their generous bid, which has resulted in a school-wide Mufti Day.

Millie has come up with a magnificent mufti day theme that’s sure to brighten everyone’s day!

Check-in Assessment

During the next few weeks of Term 3, Year 3-6 students will participate in the Check-in assessment.

The Check-in assessment is a NSW Department of Education online literacy and numeracy assessment available to support schools to assess and monitor student learning.

The assessment can supplement existing school practices to identify how students are performing in literacy and numeracy and to help teachers tailor their teaching more specifically to student needs. Students with disability may receive the same level of support during the assessment they would normally receive in the classroom.

• The assessment will be scheduled for Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students during Weeks 7 to 9. Teachers will be scheduling these tests during sessions that work around the existing class timetables. There will be an opportunity for students who are away to complete these assessments by the end of term.

• All Year 3-6 students complete a reading assessment and a numeracy assessment. Year 6 students will also complete a writing assessment.

Students can opt to bring headphones or earbuds that plug into a computer if they wish to hear audio instructions during the assessment. Earbuds used for mobile phones or other portable devices may be suitable for use during the assessment. The type of computer connection needed is for a round headphone jack.

If you have any questions about the upcoming Check-in Assessments, please contact the school.

Phonics Assessment

All Year 1 students in NSW Department of Education schools are required to complete the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.  

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a short assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonics and  how students blend sounds together to read a word. Student responses are mapped to indicators from the National Literacy Learning Progression.

Our  Year 1 students have now completed the Check. The assessment took 5–7 minutes per student and has been conducted by classroom teachers working with each student individually.

The main purpose of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is to provide your child’s teacher with information which will allow them to continue to plan your child’s learning. The Check complements existing strategies to identify students' progress in developing foundational literacy skills.

Child Protection Education

Child protection and respectful relationships education is the responsibility of the whole school community and is most effective when delivered as part of a whole-school approach.

The child protection education curriculum is part of the mandatory Personal Development, Health and Physical Education K–10 Syllabus.

Child protection education aims to assist students to:

• develop skills in recognising and responding to unsafe situations
• seek assistance effectively
• establish and maintain respectful and equal relationships
• strengthen attitudes and values related to equality, respect, and responsibility

Students will be taught ways to protect themselves from abuse. They can be enlightened without being frightened.
They will learn to connect with trusted adults and to be aware that there are people and services within the community to help them. It is important to give students enough information so that, if faced with a situation of potential abuse, they can react quickly and seek protection effectively.

Throughout this term and Term 4, our teachers will sensitively support all students as they work through the stage-based Department of Education units of work.

If you would prefer your child not to participate in the lessons, or if you have any questions or information to provide about their participation, please contact your child's teacher via email by Friday, 5 September.

Term 3 Calendar

September

• 4 - Stall for Fathers and Special Others
• 5 - SRC Initiative - Jersey Mufti Day
• 10 - School Tour 9:30am
• 10 - Maths Olympiad 4
• 12 - Year 1 and 2 Ranger Jamie incursion at TNPS 
• 12 - Turragraph published
• 12 - HZSS (Summer comp)
  
• 15 - Assembly hosted by 1/2P  (Hall 2:15pm, parents and carers welcome)
• 17 - Millie's Magnificent Mufti Day - come dressed in your favourite colour (no coins needed)
• 19 - HZSS
• 22 - Sydney North Area Athletics Carnival
• 25 - Principal's Award Assembly  for Term 3 - (Hall 10:15am, parents and carers welcome, Junior Band to perform)
• 26 - Turragraph published
• 26 - Last day of school for Term 3 

October

• 14 - Term 4 commences for students

Band Highlights

What an incredible few weeks it has been for our young musicians!

At the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (ASBOF), both of our bands represented TNPS with pride. The Junior Band received a Bronze Award for their confident performance of two Australian works, while the Performance Band earned a Silver Award for their polished playing. It was wonderful to see our talented students performing at such a high level and supporting one another through such an exciting experience.

As part of Education Week, the Performance Band also gave a joyful start to the day’s festivities with their morning concert in the Top Quad. Their music and dazzling costumes created a wonderful atmosphere and showcased just how much our students have grown this year.

We are now looking forward to another special milestone – hearing the Junior Band perform for the whole school for the very first time at the upcoming Term 3 Principal’s Award Assembly.

Well done to all of our young musicians – what a fabulous celebration of teamwork, talent and the joy of music!

Rob Di Marzo

Choir

On Friday, 22 August, our wonderful Melody Makers embarked on an exciting choir journey! We enjoyed a productive rehearsal day at the Chatswood Concourse, followed by a spectacular concert that evening. It was a full day of singing, and every moment was truly cherished. Our choir members should be incredibly proud of their hard work and unwavering dedication.

Ms Kliffen and I would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our families for their support, punctuality, and joyful presence throughout the night. Seeing so many familiar faces in the audience made the event even more special. We could not have achieved such a successful, fun-filled and memorable evening without you.

And don’t worry - just because the concert has wrapped up doesn’t mean the singing stops! Choir will continue with a fresh new repertoire of songs, and we’re all excited to share our next musical adventure with our families soon.

Miss Drown & Ms Kliffen

The Melody Makers

Kindergarten 2026

Enrol now for Kindy 2026

Team Kids

Uniform Shop Changes

Dear Parents and Carers,

Important change to how school uniforms will be purchased from December 2025 onwards.

As of December 2025, the school uniform shop will no longer be run by the TNPS P&C on-site at school. We are pleased to announce that we have partnered with an external provider, Midford, to manage all uniform sales from December onwards.

The new provider will offer a full range of our approved school uniforms and accessories, with the added benefits of in-store shopping and fittings at the Midford Turramurra store.  Online ordering will still be available through a web page set up for TNPS on the Midford website and online orders will be delivered to school and then distributed to the students classrooms free of charge in the normal manner.  However, there will also be an additional option for items to be delivered directly to home by Star Track with a charge of $15.  More details regarding the onsite store location, opening hours and the process for creating online orders will be circulated closer to the transfer date.

In the meantime, in order to reduce the current stock held in the Uniform Shop prior to the transfer to Midford, we will be offering a 10% discount on all items purchased from 4 August until the transfer to Midford at the end of November, with a 20% discount being offered on all fleece jacket purchases.  This is a great opportunity to stock up on any uniform items required for the remainder of this year at a discounted price, or even grab some larger sized items ready for next year! 

We are working closely with Midford to ensure a smooth transition in December and appreciate your continued support over the next few months.  If you have any questions regarding the changes, please feel free to contact the Uniform Shop or TNPS.

Thank you for your support.

TNPS P&C - Uniform Shop

P&C Meeting

This term's P&C meeting is rescheduled for Thursday, 11 September at 7pm.

Venue: TNPS Hub

All welcome!

What happens in Ethics?