Narrabri West Public School

We are up to Week 6 already and have enjoyed a tremendous start to the new school year, with a relaxed and cooperative feeling around the school as everyone works together to achieve the same result – quality learning experiences.

There is always something very special about starting a new year. Students are buzzing and teachers are working very hard to ensure a positive year ahead. Quality education and exceptional learning opportunities are well and truly underway.

Subsequently, there is a lot happening already at Narrabri West, which is as always, a very busy place. We are looking forward to the year ahead and all of the excitement, successes, achievements and challenges it will bring. The teachers are already impressed with the positive attitude, confidence and independence students are showing.

Best Start Kindergarten assessments have been completed and parents have received the parent feedback reports.

If we can offer our parents (especially our new Kindergarten parents) some advice, it would be to encourage you to make the most of your child’s primary school years. Become involved as much as possible (both Mums and Dads), because in a blink of an eye they will be in high school and as most of us know, once at high school, having Mum and Dad around at this time is not very cool! Form strong relationships with your child’s teacher, ask questions.

All in all, it has been a really enjoyable start to the year. There are a lot of smiles and it is really satisfying to see students enjoying their learning and school. 

At Narrabri West, we understand the importance of supporting the wellbeing of every student. We want them to:

·         Connect with their learning, their peers and their school;

·         Feel respected, valued and empowered to succeed; and

·         Thrive in the school environment and beyond.

This means that we take a planned, research based and evidence informed approach to our wellbeing programs and practices. We understand that children do make errors, that no one is perfect and that we are developing growth mindsets, whereby we learn by our mistakes.

We have developed specific school rules and school expectations. These expectations apply in our playground, classroom and on excursions. Our classes have similar classroom consequences, so the care of all of our students is consistent, no matter which teacher and which class they are in.

The key expectation of students, staff and parents is respect - respect for themselves, for others and for property. These expectations are made explicit to all students.

We all want the best for our children and students. The structures and processes we create, the plans we make, the strategies we adopt and the teaching, learning and student wellbeing practices we use are all designed to support our students in achieving their potential. You can assist by:

·         Supporting the teachers and the standards and classroom practices they put into place;

·         Reinforcing the value of learning and school and achieving to the best of one’s ability; and

·         Helping your child to build resilience – sometimes the tasks they are asked to complete will be challenging, but learning to deal with that and striving to do well is very much part of building self-confidence and resilience.

In our last newsletter we explained our classes and how we are setting them up this year. The following information will explain this organisation in a little more detail.

We have again employed additional classroom teachers, so that in daily English and Maths sessions, we can focus on areas of specific learning needs.

This will allow English and Maths groups to be formed according to school assessments. Students will receive support or extension, as well as providing opportunities for teachers to team teach and work together.

The additional staffing will allow all four Assistant Principals (Mrs Gett, Mrs Hatton, Mrs Keys, Mrs Parker and Mrs Norris) to be released each Friday for their own RFF, as well as to plan together to target the professional learning of staff and ensure effective teaching and learning programs are occurring across the school.

Please Note - RFF (Release from face to face teaching time): Every teacher is entitled to 2 hours per week RFF to be used for class planning, assessments etc. Teachers in their first two years of teaching are also entitled to weekly beginning teacher RFF.

Each of our Assistant Principals has direct responsibility for supporting and supervising our classes and student learning achievement. Mrs Gett is looking after Pre School and Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Mrs Hatton  Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2) Support Coordinator, Mrs Keys Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) and Mrs Parker Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6).

If you need to discuss issues concerning your child, please speak with your child’s class teacher in the first instance and then to the Assistant Principals if necessary.

Learner Led Conferences (teacher, parent and student attending, with students leading the learning conversation) will be held at the end of Term 1. This will allow teachers to meet with parents to discuss each child’s progress and achievements. Our full reporting to parents schedule is as follows:

Term 1: Learner Led Conferences (K-6)

Best Start Assessment (Kinder)

Term 2:

NAPLAN (Years 3 & 5)

School Report (K-6)

Parent Interviews (Pre School)

Term 4:

School Report (P-6)

All parents are reminded that you can make an appointment with your child’s teacher at any time during the year to discuss their progress, as they are always willing to discuss any concerns you have. Please arrange a mutually convenient time and give the teacher some idea of your concern so they can have the best information available for the interview. 

Classes have elected their representatives for the 2021 Student Council. Our student council plays an important role in our school and we are sure the students elected will once again be terrific representatives. They will represent their class for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) and new representatives will be elected at the end of Term 2 to represent their class for Semester 2 (Terms 3 and 4). Kindergarten will elect their first representatives in Term 3.

Student Councillors were presented their badges at our assembly on Friday 26th February. They will be joined on the student council by our school captains and prefects, representing Year 6. Congratulations to:

1M                         -              Andi Cunningham, Aiden Eather

1B                           -              Braxton Templeman, Allie MacBeth

2W                         -              Thomas Eather, Mia Keeler

2N                          -              Meg Seccombe, Zara Dalton

3D                           -              Justin Taylor, Pippa French                          

3P                           -              Tillie Fox, Blair Lennox

4S                           -              Isabelle Gale, Blake Eather                          

4J                            -              Fletcher Whan, Alexa Gordon    

5W                         -              Teagan Spittles, Amelia Lennox

5F                           -              Gwen Ridley, Lilly Harvey-Woods             

6T                           -              Koby Hennessey

6A                           -              Stella Laws

Our newly elected SRC representatives have commenced their duties for the year, with one of these being their weekly visits to classrooms to judge the ‘Class of the Week’ Award. These very tough judges have a keen eye for detail as they walk around the school and score each class and their classroom on a category that they determine. Weekly scores are then added and at the end of each term an overall winner is announced, with the winning class receiving a free lunch super dooper.

This week it was the turn of  Alexa and Stella to perform this task and they have carefully looked at rooms, judging them on such things as the number of students in full school uniform, how tidy class rooms or verandahs are and then add up scores!

Each fortnight our school captains and prefects present school news live on MAXFM. They do this fortnightly at 9:30am on Thursday. Our 2021 leaders are enjoying the experience and have performed exceptionally well, as we knew they would! Make sure you listen to them if you get the chance.

Each year we give every child a present on their birthday, as our way of helping them celebrate another important milestone in their life. In 2021 we have a school writing journal as the present. Cameron Parker, Phoenix Fox, Cole Taylor, Caitlyn Irwin, Aubrey Menchin and Abel Redding  were amongst the first to have a birthday this year.

Don’t forget we have a fridge to store your child’s lunches in. Each class has their own ‘fridge lunch tub’. Just make sure any items you want stored in the fridge each day are labelled with your child’s name and they will be collected from class, kept cold and returned at lunch and recess times. 

The Working With Children Check is an important part of the Department's recruitment process to prevent unsuitable people from working with children in schools.  The Department's commitment to ensuring the welfare of students is a paramount consideration when reviewing the suitability of employees. 

All employees, including volunteers, in Departmental workplaces who are performing work that primarily involves direct contact with children are required to complete a Working With Children Check Declaration and provide proof of identity that meets the 100 point check. 

This includes parents who help in the classroom, volunteer in the canteen and help at other activities, e.g. school sport, P&C events etc.  Forms are available from the school office.  If you volunteer in any capacity in our school you will need to complete one of these forms.

For safety and security reasons, all parents and volunteers who help in classrooms or other school activities are asked to sign the visitor’s book at the office when they arrive and sign out when leaving.

This year we are again using text books as part of our Mathematics program for Year 1 to Year 6 students. We will be continuing our focus on improving mathematics outcomes for students through a broad range of initiatives, including:

·         1.5 hours of Mathematics each day;

·         The use of text books, on-line and computer resources;

·         Extensive mathematics resources for students to use in each class;

·         Daily number sense sessions, mental arithmetic, times tables and problem solving activities; and

Each child will receive the book best suited to their individual learning needs. Children learn best when they have success. Mathematic groupings, similar to ‘reading group’ arrangements in classes, are considered best practice when assisting children to improve their learning and achieve the basic skills in mathematics. Consequently, most children will be working at a book level similar to their class level, although a very small number of children will be achieving at a lower level. Additionally, children who are consistently achieving at a higher level will be provided with extension or higher level activities in class.

Remember, if you have any concerns over your child’s learning in mathematics, or in any subject area, please make an appointment with your child’s teacher.

Students will receive notes and information about completing the Premiers Reading Challenge for 2021 soon.

This term, our school, like many others in the state, will again participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning outcomes and measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

More information about the survey is available at:

http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/information-for-parents

The survey is an opportunity for our students in Years 4, 5 and 6 to provide our school with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help improve how they do things at school.

The survey is confidential and school staff will not be able to identify individual students from their responses. It is conducted online and will usually take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 8th March and 30th May. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

A consent form about the survey has been sent home with students. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the consent form to school by Friday 5th March. 

They say time flies when you’re having fun and with the first five weeks of our school year over I think it must be true. Our school calendar is continuing to fill at a rapid pace. Please ensure that you keep an eye on the newsletter calendar, Facebook and Skoolbag to ensure you have all the upcoming events noted.

Thank you to the students of Narrabri West who on a daily basis make the school such a wonderful place to be a part of. We certainly enjoy helping you all to learn!

Welcome to Preschool. We are looking forward to a fun-filled and exciting learning journey with your children. Children are settling into Preschool life and becoming more familiar with the routines and expectations. All children have received a blue school hat, which will stay at Preschool for when they are here.

A lot of parents have asked “who is Bob?”. I would like to Introduce ‘Bob’, he is our 5L’s of learning role model. He shows the children how we sit on the mat using the 5L’s. the 5L’s of learning are; legs crossed, hands in lap, ears listening, eyes looking and lips closed. We refer back to Bob while we are participating in group learning on the mat and listening to stories.

Children have been exploring Preschool over the last few weeks with their new friends. Activities explored inside include; painting, collage, block building and puzzles. Outdoor activities include: bikes, exploring the sandpit, the equipment and the see-saw. 

Collage is a very popular activity for children to engage in. It encourages and develops an imagination, manipulative skills and their creativity. Each child can create a piece of work, experimenting with different textures, shapes, sizes, colours and weight. During craft time it allows students to engage in conversation discussing what each child is creating.

Healthy lunch boxes at Preschool are important; all children are required to have 2 pieces of fruit for the day as we have fruit break in the morning and again in the afternoon at snack time. Children also need a sandwich (or alternative) at lunchtime that they will eat first followed by a snack if they want. Chips, chocolate, muesli bars, tiny teddies, roll ups, lollies, flavoured milk are not healthy options for Preschool. 

The Early Stage 1 Team would like to give a round of applause to all our Kinder students for an exceptional start to the 2021 school year and their very FIRST year at school!

Miss Collier, Mrs Ward and Mrs Gett are so very proud at how quickly the children settled into our classroom routines and learning habits. We have jumped straight into learning in all subjects and the children are working very hard.

Kindergarten students have begun the SMART spelling program, with the sounds and letters in c-a-t and the sentence of the week, “The cat sat on the mat.” Our spelling program facilitates conversations about other words that contain those sounds and letters. The students are loving learning how to spell and read!

We will be teaching an integrated English and Science unit for the first few weeks of learning this year. Our focus is to incorporate our science unit content for ‘Living Things’ into our English-based teaching of concepts of print and language. We are learning to predict, retell, sequence and respond to texts. Moving forward with the term, the children will be learning about sentence structure and working towards writing their first (of very many) sentences. The science portion of this unit will be investigating our environment, sorting living and nonliving things, and identifying the key aspects of what makes something a living thing.

We begin our Maths sessions with a brief number sense activity based in numeracy. We have been ‘counting the circle’ to enhance our forward counting skills. We don’t always begin with 1, which will help counting on when we begin addition. In our maths unit, the children have been learning about time, and the language associated with it. Although we are not telling time in the traditional sense, it is important to teach other time-related vocabulary such as yesterday, today, tomorrow, morning, afternoon, evening, etc. Using this language appropriately is important for their basic awareness of time. This term we will also explore patterns, data, measurement, 2D shapes and money.

The formative assessment philosophy at NWPS has allowed for the students to display their learning to us in many different ways. We listen for communication between children in their ‘turn and talks,’ identify their willingness to participate when their name is chosen at random, and observe the students’ learning processes at all points of each lesson.

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the term has in store for us and our new little learners. 

·         Pip Collins (1st Open Girls 100 Free, 1st 12 years 50m Freestyle, 1st 12 years 50m Breaststroke, 1st 12 years 50m Backstroke, 1st Snr 50m Butterfly)

·         Liam Nott (2nd Open Boys 100 Free, 2nd 12 years 50m Freestyle, 2nd 12 years 50m Breaststroke, 2nd 12 years 50m Backstroke, 2nd Snr 50m Butterfly, 2nd Snr 200m IM)

·         Ava Smith (2nd Open Girls 100 Free, 2nd 12 years 50m Freestyle, 2nd 12 years 50m Backstroke, 2nd Snr 50m Butterfly, 1st Snr 200m IM)

·         Lexie Fernance (1st 10 years 50m Freestyle, 2nd Jnr 50m Breaststoke, 1st Jnr 50m Backstroke, 1st Jnr 50m Butterfly)

·         Ryan Warnock (1st 9 years 50m Freestyle, 2nd Jnr 50m Backstroke, 2nd Jnr 50m Butterfly)

·         Max Booby (1st Jnr 50m Backstroke, 1st Jnr 50m Butterfly

·         Lucy Booby (1st 8 years 50m Freestyle)

·         Marley Cunningham (2nd 8 years 50m Freestyle)

·         Jedd Stanford (1st 8 years 50m Freestyle)

·         Kiara Vlahopoulos (2nd 11yrs 50m Butterfly)

·         Bridie Seymour (2nd Jnr 50m Butterfly)

These relay teams were also selected:

·         1st Junior Girls: Lexie Fernance, Armani Todd, Bridie Seymour, Lucy Booby

·         1st Junior Boys: Jedd Stanford, Ryan Warnock, Ryan McConnell, Max Booby,

·         1st Senior Girls: Ava Smith, Kiara Vlahopoulos, Ruby Clayton, Pip Collins

·         2nd Senior Boys: Hunter Smith, Lennon Simmonds, Ethan Megalokonomos, Liam Nott

On Monday 1st March Lucy Booby, Max Booby, Pip Collins, Ruby Clayton, Marley Cunningham, Lexie Fernance,  Ryan McConnell, Ethan Megalokonomos, Liam Nott, Bridie Seymour, Lennon Simmonds, Ava Smith, Hunter Smith, Jedd Stanford, Armani Todd, Kiara Vlahopoulos and Ryan Warnock  competed at the North West PSSA Swimming trials in Armidale. All the students swam well and showed great sportsmanship. Congratulations to the following students who will now swimming at the NSW PSSA Swimming Championships: 

Lucy Booby: 8yrs Girls 50mtr Freestyle

Pip Collins: Girls Open 100mtr Freestyle, 12yrs Girls 50mtr Freestyle, 12-13yrs 50mtr Breaststroke

Liam Nott: Boys Open 100mtr Freestyle, 12yrs Boys 50mtr Freestyle, 12-13yrs 50mtr Backstroke

Junior Girls 4x50 Freestyle Relay Team:  Lexie Fernance, Bridie Seymour, Armani Todd and Lucy Booby

On Wednesday 17th February Xanthe Kirk, Maya Watson, Edward Bennett and Charlie Butler tried out for Narrabri Zone PSSA Tennis.

All the children played their absolute best, showed great sportsmanship and were fantastic representatives of Narrabri West.

Charlie and Edward were selected to represent the Narrabri Zone PSSA team. 

On Monday 22nd February Charlie Butler and Edward Bennett travelled to Tamworth for the North West PSSA trials.

Edward played a series of games winning one game but missed out on selection. Congratulations Charlie who played his way onto the PSSA Team, winning all 4 games. Awesome effort boys.

A great way to kick off your child's education is to understand schools and what your child is doing in the classroom. To find out more go to:

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/wellbeing/development/helping-kindy-kids-succeed-at-school

This week our P&C held their first meeting for the year. The P&C is an extremely vital component of our school. We invite all of our new parents to come along and join a group of dedicated and enthusiastic members. Meetings generally conclude by 7:00pm, so it is not a late night.

The role of the P&C is to:

·         Represent the views of parents in school decision making and policy development;

·         Support the school, the Principal and school staff in the implementation of school policy;

·         Promote the school; and

·         Support school programs through fund raising activities.

All parents and friends are welcome to attend our P & C AGM on Monday 3rd May in the staffroom, starting at 6.00pm.

To find out more, please find P&C Federation Home Page and Constitution links below:

https://www.pandc.org.au/ (P&C Federation Home Page)

https://www.pandc.org.au/forms/Federation/150217%20Constitution%20of%20the%20Federation%20of%20P%20and%20C.pdf  (Constitution)

At Narrabri West our students benefit from the fantastic support of our parents and others within our community. It is always great to have adults around, working together with the staff and students of the school. There are so many people who spend hours and hours, in various ways, for the students of the school.

Every time you help your child with their homework or home reading, every time you complete permission notes and return them on time, every time you support any fundraising opportunities or come to one of our special events – you are supporting our school and your children. Thank you for this. 

Yellow general information cards were sent home recently.  If you have not already done so, please complete the card and return to your child’s teacher as soon as possible.  These cards are kept in the front office for quick reference when parents need to be contacted.  Please ensure that all contact numbers are up to date and that we are notified of any change throughout the year.

Parents are required by law to provide an explanation to the school to say why their child was absent. A note of explanation should contain:

1.     Date that the note was written

2.     Child’s name

3.     Days/dates the child was absent from school

4.     The reason the child was absent

5.     The signature of the child’s parent or carer

If more than one child from the same family has been absent a separate note for each child should be written.

A note should be brought to school on the first day the student returns after an absence. We are required to investigate all unexplained absences (where a child has been absent and no explanation has been received) within two days.

The class roll is a legal document and teachers are required to record the reason for an absence according to guidelines from the Department of Education (DoE). Unjustified or unexplained absences are followed up to ensure students develop regular and punctual attendance habits.

You can notify us of absences through the Skoolbag app, by phone, email or note.

As you can appreciate, supervision of our students remains crucial to our planning to ensure that all students are safe at all times. Sending your children to school before 9:00am has the potential to place them in an unsafe situation. Teachers do not start duty until 9:00am in the mornings – if your child is here earlier, they will be unsupervised and potentially unsafe. We ask if they are here earlier than 9:00am – hopefully not – that they sit on the seats in the Infants shelter or outside the Kindergarten rooms, no matter what class they are in, until the bell goes. Please ensure your children get to school at 9:00am or afterwards.

Some students are being dropped at school by their parents at 8:30am. This is unsafe and makes it difficult for teachers to plan and prepare for their class before the start of the school day at 9:00am. Please make alternate arrangements for your children.

ICAS (International Competition and Assessment for Schools) competitions will continue with online testing. The dates and costs for each test are outlined below. Please note that the tests will be administered on set days and times and students who are absent will not be able to sit the test at another time or receive a refund. All payments for tests will be made online and a note will go home early in Term 2 with further details.

Please note we will be applying for alternative dates for the English competition due to the official dates being the week of the Year 6 Canberra excursion.

Mrs Jodie Keys

ICAS Coordinator​

All parents are reminded that we are NOT permitted to have canteen accounts or to ‘book things up.’ No students will be provided with items from the canteen without money. The canteen by necessity has to operate as a business and in order for it to remain viable in our school we cannot offer credit in any form. 

Throughout the day students may need to be sent to the sick bay for various reasons. Mrs Galvin is a trained First Aid Officer and she assesses their condition and then carries out the appropriate treatment. They might have a band aid applied to a cut or graze, an ice pack to a bruise or they simply lie down and rest. Each child who visits the sick bay receives a note outlining the incident, the treatment administered and the length of time spent in Sick Bay.

If Mrs Galvin is concerned about the child she will ring you or your emergency contact person. In an emergency, the school will ring the ambulance and then you. Please make sure your contact details are up to date for this reason.

It is not appropriate that students have mobile phones at school. If for emergency reasons students need to bring a mobile phone to school, it is to be left with the front office staff who will maintain its security.  Emergency calls for students should be directed through the school office.

If a student is found to have a mobile phone at school, it will be placed in the front office for security. If there is a problem with these arrangements, we will make a decision based on the immediate safety needs of the student.

The school does not accept responsibility for lost, stolen or damaged mobile phones at any time. It is a criminal offence to use a mobile phone to menace, harass or offend another person. We are required to involve the police should such an action occur.

Mobile phones must also not be used to take photos or video rcordings whilst students are travelling on school buses.

Our scripture lessons have commenced for Kindergarten to Year 6 students. Classes will have a half hour scripture lesson each week. Lessons are non-denominational, except for Catholic, with scripture teachers from a number of local churches.

If you do not want your child participating in these lessons, please put your request in writing.

Our school is committed to improving children’s health through education and by supporting the Department of Health’s Crunch&Sip initiative.

Crunch&Sip is a set break for students to eat fruit or salad vegetables and drink water in the classroom. We ask you to support your child to participate in Crunch&Sip by providing a water bottle to sit on the desk and a suitable piece of fruit or vegetable each day for Crunch&Sip.

Research has shown that drinking water and eating fruit and vegetables is essential for good health and can help concentration throughout the day.