Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Welcome to Week 5 - as the term rolls by so quickly!

I have now concluded by Pep Talks in Years 3-6 and once again I have been super impressed with how our students are able to articulate what makes  a difference to their learning, how they can set their onw goals and their journey in becoming data literate! I look forward to them sharing all about this with you during Student Led Conferences in Week 9 [13th and 14th September].

Learning Commission Mid-Way Pitch

This Thursday our Student Commissioners will be sharing their journey for 2022 and their findings to date with Commissioners from 3 others schools. We will share their reflections next week.

We are One

Rehearsals are coming along well for our Community Dance night planned for 1st September. We have also been planning behind the scenes for an Art Expo and arts activity expo - stay tuned for more details in coming weeks.

NAPLAN Results

We have now received the results for students in Years 3 and 5 from the National Assessment program back in May. We are still awaiting the individual reports but anticipate these being available for sharing at Student Led Conferences mid September.

Industrial Action

As advised via email Monday some of our staff will be taking part in the industrial action on Friday 19 August 2022, between 9am and 1pm. This will mean students will be grouped together and accessing alternate programs for this period of time.

If you have any questions please contact the front office – 89977666.

Have a fab week

Sandy Cartwright [Principal]

Alawa Primary School values the feedback from our students and families. We welcome and encourage you to share your opinions about school performance, culture and services by participating in the NT School Survey.

The survey opens from Monday of Week 4 to Friday of Week 6 and is an opportunity for us to hear from you about your school experience for you and your child. The School Survey is simple and easy to access, taking less than 20 minutes to complete. It can be conducted online or you can request a printed version from your school. The results of the survey will help inform your school about your experiences and provide valuable information about what it is doing well and where it can improve. For further information or to request assistance in completing the survey, please contact the front office during school hours 8997 7666. 

https://www.schoolsurvey.edu.au/s/AlawaPrimarySchoolParentSurvey2022/LogIn

Welcome to Week 6

Our café continue to serve up some tasty meals and snacks. Our links with the farm produce allows us to make some delicious curries and sliders, just to name a few. It is a simple process to order online using Quikcliq so please view our café menu and enjoy our café service with Yenni in the canteen.

We held our Transition information session this morning for families who are looking to enrol their children in Transition next year. We had a Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist from the Allied Health team who presented some very valuable information about preparing their children for school. There are many changes that occur when children begin school and each child and family copes with these changes differently. These include, the physical environment, rules and procedures, establishing new relationships and many different learning experiences. Our therapists provided many great tips to help us assist in making this change a smoother experience for all. Thankyou to all those families who attended the session. Please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us for any further information. Don’t forget we will be having another Information Evening in Term 4. This will provide more detailed information about our Transition Program at Alawa.

Have a wonderful week

Gen Donohue [Assistant Principal] 

Last Friday we celebrated our latest Honour Distinction award winner and Principal for the day Miss Chloe Carlsund.

"I spent her day visiting preschool and then a transition which was lots of fun and I played Goldilocks and the 3 bears. I did work in the office like an office lady.

Principal Chloe

Love cooking with kids. Today’s workshop was making pizzas, we made our own dough then topped them with lots of tasty toppings. A fun afternoon in the Summit Kitchen.

The program has one more session planned for this Term - Tuesday 23rd August.

4 further sessions will be offered early Term 4.

Ms Tina Sullivan

Our class has started our inquiry into the big idea of celebrations. We started by defining what ‘celebrations’ means and discussing and collecting our ideas on what we know about celebrations. We will compare this to our learning at the end of the unit to see how our understandings have changed. We watched a couple of snippets of celebrations to incite our curiosity such as La Tomatina (tomato festival), Holi (colour festival) and Coopers Hill (cheese rolling). We then shared our wonderings about celebrations’ that will explore during this inquiry.  

Angela Henschke [Transition Teacher] 

Our initial letters and information have gone home about our exciting camp for our students in Years 3 and 4 to The Territory Wildlife Park on September 8th and 9th.

Permission notes will be sent home in the next fortnight. The payment of $150 and permission notes will need to be received no later than 26th August.  Payment secures our booking and is needed to purchase food supplies.  If payment is difficult by these dates, please come and speak to us directly or contact the Principal, Sandy Cartwright.

There will be 3 payment instalment dates throughout the lead up time to camp. Please take note of these suggested instalment dates below.

Muster is held at Alawa after each recess and lunch break - this gives us an opportunity for everyone to settle from playtime, share any celebrations and work on consistency of messages and expectation.

Each week we allocate class points during Muster time recognising those students who were ready and waiting to go back to class calmly and quietly after break times. The winning class from each 3 weeks will receive ice-blocks from Ms Cartwright and get to choose 5 songs that will play before our bells for the following 3 weeks.

The class with the most points in Week 4 of Term 3 was....Year 3 Hughes with 130 points each!!!

Students at Alawa receive raffle tickets [house points] for their attitude and behaviour in the playground and out the front of the school at the end of the day. These are then counted on a Friday along with the points for students in full uniform, wearing house shirts etc.  At the end of each term we also include the points earnt through the recycling project and water bottle checks.

In Week 4 of Term 3 Finnis was ahead of Manton and Goyder with 1895 points!!! 

In the lead for the year we still have Finnis with 69338 points!!!

I have over the last couple of terms been highlighting some of the books which have been shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and this weeks will be the last before the Awards are announced this Friday the 19th of August. The books I have highlighted are just some of the shortlisted books we have in our library. I will continue to highlight other shortlisted and winning books over the coming weeks and encourage you to check out these and those I have not yet looked at. You can check out the winners of the Awards this Friday from 12:00 pm (midday) AEDT at https://cbca.org.au/winners-2022

Have you read – When the Waterhole Dries Up Written by Kaye Baillie and Illustrated by Max Hamilton This book has been shortlisted in the CBCA Book of the Year Early Childhood category.

Blurb - It’s bath time in the outback, and a dusty boy is waiting, but so are some very dusty and very cheeky animals. Will this boy ever get clean?

This book reminds me a little of Big Red Bath by Julia Jarman & Adrian Reynolds with a bath accumulating a number of animals before an unexpected twist at the end. We have been having fun reading this in the Library with the students eagerly looking for the visual cues, spotting the different native Australian animals and reptiles, and guessing what will happen next.

The CBCA Judges say:

Boisterous fun, chaotic bush animals and waterplay feature in this cumulative tale about a very dusty boy who needs a bath. The setting of the dry, red Aussie outback is clearly established, and the bath time routine will be familiar to young readers and the adults too! Watercolour double-page spreads in landscape format fill each page, inviting the reader in. There is a wonderful escalation of pace throughout the book firstly as the boy begins to undress, then the drama as each animal arrives, until bath time erupts into delightful chaos. The bath emptying of water in the ruckus, the arrival of rain and the ensuing dip in the newly filled dam combine for a satisfying conclusion. Interesting endpapers suit the theme of the book. Font styling is excellent. Young readers will fully engage with this form of nursery rhyme which encourages participation.

Miss Sacha [Library and ICT Manager]

What a fun Friday morning we had at Playgroup. We had so much fun building marble runs, they challenged kids and adults alike! We also really enjoyed playing in the shop, packing groceries into our bags, and paying at the cash register. Puzzles are always a favourite as are the dinosaurs and play dough table. This week we also visited the farm and met the goats, chickens, ducks, and Hay Hay. We love exploring at the Farm, peering into cages and underneath trees and bushes. We love to look for eggs and find insects too. Back at Preschool we ate our morning tea together and of course played outside in the yard too.

See you this coming Friday for some more cooking, fun, exploration and play together.

Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator] 

Our Mission is to provide the Alawa School community with delicious healthy meals and snacks and to create meaningful links to our kitchen garden program. We will do our best to ensure we order the same products as advertised but occasionally have to change due to stock availability.

Cafe Specials Weeks 1-5

LUNCHTIME SPECIALS:

Available every day lunch only:

- mini beef burgers  $3.50

- spaghetti bolognaise small serve $3.50 or large serve $5.50 /Gluten Free Spaghetti $6.50 [Wed and Thu only]

Wednesday – Homemade Pork dumplings -  $5.50

Thursday – Chicken and Jackfruit Curry - Large size $5.50, Small $3.50

Friday – Homemade Roast Pork rolls - One size $5.50

A reminder that our school Cafe is open Wednesday to Friday ONLY. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. 

Order online at www.quickcliq.com.au