Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome back to the Lithgow Public School Newsletter. It has been heartening to continue to take small steps towards things returning to ‘the new normal’. It has been great during the last 2 weeks to hear the sound of children back in their classrooms and on the playground enjoying each other’s company and re-establishing relationships with teachers and other staff. The majority of our students have settled back into school routine very easily and have shown remarkable resilience in the face of the events of the last 2 months. All staff have been mindful of the challenges that students have potentially faced and the impacts of these challenges on their emotional state of mind. We have a number of measures in place to support any of our students who might require this support. If you feel that your child sits in this space, I would ask that you make contact with the school so that we can work with you to co-design a plan so that every student has the best opportunity to connect, succeed and thrive.
Even though all of our students have now returned to school, there are still a number of measures and restrictions in place to make sure that schools are as safe as they can be in the current environment. These include restrictions on parents and caregivers entering the school, the continued restriction of school assemblies and inter-school sporting events, the indefinite postponement of all planned inter-school extracurricular activities and the cancellation of planned excursions. I am aware that many of you will have questions regarding the Stage 3 Broken Bay and Canberra excursions. I have endeavoured to seek clarification regarding these major events. At this stage the answer appears to be that these are in doubt, however, the situation is still being assessed as the COVID-19 pandemic is monitored by health officials. With regards to these excursions the school is still accepting payment in the event that they do go ahead and will provide refunds in the event that they don’t. I will continue to seek clarification on the excursions and other restrictions and will advise the community of any changes as they are communicated to me. Our main concern is always the safety of our students and community members and we greatly appreciate your ongoing support during these unusual times.
For the foreseeable future the school will continue to implement the enhanced hygiene practices that have been in place for the last few months. We will continue to promote these practices to our students on a daily basis.
I understand that it has been very unusual for parents and caregivers to not enter the school and teachers are missing those opportunities to have parents work in their classrooms and have those informal discussions regarding individual student progress. Please don’t hesitate to call the school and make an appointment to speak to your child’s teacher via phone if you feel this would be beneficial.
I would like to thank everyone for your support with drop off and pick-up at our designated gates. I remind the community that students should depart a vehicle from the door on the kerb side. Teachers have noticed an increase in students departing vehicles from the traffic side. In the interest of our students’ and your children’s safety, particularly with increased traffic flows around the school, we ask that you be mindful of the risks associated with this practice.
Next week we will move to a 2.55pm dismissal of our K-2 students. 3-6 students will continue to be dismissed at 3.00pm. Thank you also for your support in observing social distancing measures while waiting outside for your children.
Semester 1 Reports
As mentioned in previous correspondence, the Semester 1 reporting period will culminate with a modified student report. If you would like more information about the interim policy standards for curriculum, assessment and reporting please visit this link:
It is anticipated that student reports will be distributed on Friday 3 July as normal. Given that we were unable to conduct 3-Way Interviews in Term 1, we are planning to conduct these early in Term 3. This will provide parents and caregivers with the opportunity to discuss their child’s Semester 1 Report and overall progress in their learning. The format and mode for the 3-way interviews will be determined by advice from the Departments of Education and Health at that time. Again, I will continue to keep the community up to date with respect to when and how these interviews will proceed.
Opportunity Class Placement
The 2021 Year 5 Opportunity Class placement process was put on hold in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation.
We now have a revised and simplified timeline for the OC placement process to ensure that students and families can have certainty about their placement as soon as possible.
The changes include:
· A new date for online applications. Parents must apply between 9 June 2020 and 26 June 2020. Late applications cannot be accepted.
· A new test date – Wednesday 16 September 2020.
To ensure fair and consistent assessment of students across New South Wales, students will be offered places based only on their test results this year – there will be no school assessment scores.
There will also be no opportunity for appeals given the tight time frames.
An ‘Intention to Apply’ note has been sent home with all Year 4 students today. I ask that all parents of Year 4 students return this note regardless of whether there is an intention to apply or not. This allows us to ensure that no student misses out this wonderful opportunity due to confusion around the application process. If your child didn’t receive this note, I would ask that you call the school and we will ensure they receive one.
For further detailed information on Opportunity Class Placement information, I encourage you to visit:
https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5
Fact sheets are attached to this newsletter.
Finally, I hope that all of our families are able to enjoy a safe and happy long weekend and look forward to our students returning safely to school on Tuesday 9 June refreshed and eager to learn.
Mark Davies | Principal
