Welcome back to Term 3. I trust all families have had a safe and enjoyable break over the holiday period. Our teachers are refreshed and ready to go for a jam-packed term of teaching and learning.

Staffing

Mr Holland is on leave for the beginning of this term, and it is with much pleasure that I step into the Principal position during his absence. We hope he returns in a couple of weeks well rested and recharged, ready for the remainder of the year. Mr Semmens will also be on leave for the first two weeks of the term. We'd like to extend a huge congratulations to Mr Semmens. He is now the proud father of a baby boy who arrived safely during the holidays, and we hope he is enjoying this very special family time. We are thrilled that Mrs Cooper is returning following some leave at the end of last term and extend a warm welcome to Mrs Nikki Bates, who will join our staff as an SLSO and work with Laura Collins to support the students in K/1C.

During the first two weeks, we welcome back Mrs Kimberly Shiel, who will join Mrs Cooper in teaching 6CS and Ms Grant, who will work with the students in 1/2S.

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week officially fell during the school holidays from 3-10 July. The students and staff at Lambton celebrated NAIDOC Week at the end of Term 2 with a number of exciting events. I want to acknowledge our senior students who planned and presented information about Aboriginal Culture and those who presented an Acknowledgment of Country at our morning assemblies throughout the last week of term. Congratulations to Jye, Lillian-Storm, Gabby, Bella, Finn, Harlem and Jarne on doing a fabulous job!

We are also very appreciative of Gerald Bradshaw from the NSW Office of Sport for providing our students with the fabulous opportunity to participate in Indigenous sports and games as part of our NAIDOC Week events.

Our art competition was a huge success, and we look forward to sharing some of these artworks with you in our Newsletter next week. The quality of the artworks was excellent, and all students should be so proud of what they produced. A huge thank you goes to all teachers who supported the students in producing these amazing artworks. I am so pleased that I was not responsible for selecting our winners, as this would have been an incredibly challenging job. Congratulations to all of our finalists, and a special congratulations to our winners Arlo Draffon (Early Stage One), Emily Woodford (Stage One) Phoenix Marshall (Stage 2) and Paige Waller (Stage 3).  I can't wait to see your beautiful artwork displayed in our school office area.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the work of our Aboriginal Education Team, Mrs Cooper, Mrs Brown, Miss O'Connor, Mrs Lantz, Mr Simon and Miss Jones - thank you for the time you have all committed to organising these activities for our students. It is only through such efforts that we can provide our students with opportunities to participate in valuable extracurricular activities such as our NAIDOC Celebrations.

COVID-Smart Measures

Operational guidelines for school settings remain largely the same as in Term 2.

Please remember that staff and students cannot attend school if they are showing any symptoms of COVID-19. If symptoms occur at any time, your child should not attend school and should undertake a rapid antigen test (RAT).

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, please record the positive RAT result through the Services NSW website, notify the school, and follow NSW Health advice to isolate for 7 days.

If your child becomes a household or close contact with someone with COVID-19, you will need to notify the school before they attend and conduct a daily RAT returning a negative result each morning before school for 5 days.

For further advice regarding COVID-19 please visit  https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

Have a great week.

Kristen Saunders

Public speaking will be a significant focus across the school for the first part of this term. We will be holding our school Public Speaking Competition in Week 3, and event's winners will have the opportunity to represent Lambton Public School at the annual Hunter Inter-Schools Primary Public Speaking Competition. To select students for our school competition, all students will present a speech to their class.

Class presentations will commence from Wednesday, 20 July. Students will be learning some public speaking skills during class activities; however, we would like them to prepare their speeches at home so they can choose relevant, personal content and practise their presentations with your guidance. You will find further information regarding speech content, presentation and timing on the note Hunter Inter-Schools Primary Public Speaking Competition 2022 sent home on 24 June (copy attached). 

This Friday, our Kindergarten students will celebrate 100 days of Kindergarten' Old Style' and are invited to come to school dressed up like they are 100 years old! Fun activities have been planned for students based around the number 100.

Here are some ideas below to help parents:

Girls:  Printed shirt, eyeglasses, grey hair curlers, wig, large purse, scarf, pearl necklace, cane, shawl, knee high stockings

Boys:  Plaid shirt, eyeglasses, grey hair, sweater, bow tie, cane, robe, suspenders, beard/moustache, flannel shirt.

As detailed previously, we are inviting students and their parents to participate in the Interrelate personal development program being offered this term. There are 2 components to this program:

• Combined parent-student sessions next Tuesday evening 26 July
• Stage 3 in-school student sessions (across 3 weeks in September)

We are pleased to confirm that we have secured sufficient interest in the combined parent-student session, and it will be able to proceed. We look forward to seeing those parents and students who have returned notes and money next Tuesday evening. 

Families wishing to attend are invited to make payment and return permission note prior to Monday 25 July. 

Our combined Education and Book Week celebration will take place during Week 3 with the following events planned for Tuesday 2 August.

•  Book Character Parade
•  Book Fair
•  Open Classrooms
•  Family lunch
•  Author Visit
•  Reading exchange with buddy classes

Education Week is a time to celebrate the quality teaching and learning occurring every day in our school. As well, it is a time to acknowledge the wonderful support provided by our school administrative and support staff who work in our offices, classrooms, library and school grounds.

The 2022 theme for Education Week is "Creating Futures – Education Changes Lives"

Book Week acknowledges and pays respect to the excellent children's literature by Australian authors and illustrators and published last year. The 2022 Book Week Theme is "Dreaming With Eyes Open…."

Book Character Parade - The highly anticipated Book Character Parade will be a part of our combined Education/Book Week celebrations on Tuesday 2 August.  This year's Book Week theme is "Dreaming With Eyes Open….." and we know that students will be eager to start organising their outfits.

Students are encouraged to come to school dressed up as their favourite book character or in keeping with the Book Week theme of "Dreaming With Eyes Open…..". Please ensure that students have enclosed shoes and covered shoulders and that weapons do not come to school as part of their costume.  

Children who prefer not to dress up are required to wear their school uniform.

In Term 2, Stage 1 have been learning how to write a retell based on fables read in class. We have focused on using time connectives (first, next, then, one day), using paragraphs, structuring our sentences, and using punctuation, adjectives and adverbs to provide further detail and structure to our retells. 2O have been doing an amazing job writing these retells and creating a plan for their writing. Here are some fantastic examples written by Jack Worrad, Olivia Hunter and Alex Hayes in Miss O'Connor's class:

During the recent holidays, Thomas Benson and Archer Phillips represented Newcastle at a representative hockey tournament in Tamworth. Both boys played amazing with their team and showed great sportsmanship. Their team placed 12th overall after the 4 day event.  Well done Thomas and Archer.