Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you to the high school parents / carers from years 8 and 10 who attended our meeting last Thursday. It was good to have almost every parent in attendance. If parents would like further information on the topics discussed, please contact your child's teacher.

Parents / carers are reminded that the morning bell goes at 8.10am. All students should be at school ready to start the day by 8.00am. Recently we have had instances of lateness from students residing in both Townsite and outside. Lateness disrupts learning and should only occur in exceptional circumstances.

Screen Time

Many parents are concerned about the amount of screen time their children have on various devices. Recent studies have outlined several detrimental effects that too much screen time can have on children and adolescents. The Australian Institute for Family Studies screen time guidelines recommend:

• no screen time for children younger than two years
• no more than one hour per day for children aged 2–5 years
• no more than two hours of sedentary recreational screen time per day for children and young people aged 5–17 years (not including schoolwork).

The links below in the Toksave have more information on the guidelines and the effects of too much screen time.

If  you have any concerns, or would like further information on any of the topics in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to make contact with any questions.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville.

The school's Independence Day celebrations will be held on Thursday, 15th September. Dance practices have commenced this week and the children are very excited learning songs and dances.

A kind reminder to parents that Bilas Parade consent forms are due this week.

There is just one more week until our Netball Carnival which will be held over the weekend of 6th and 7th August! Students have made a lot of progress with their skills over the past weeks. We encourage our LIS community to come and watch some games next weekend and support our students and the LIS women's team.

Training times for students:

Junior: Wednesday afternoon, 3.15 - 4.15pm

Senior: Thursday afternoon, 3.15 - 4.15pm

All: Saturday morning, 8.30 - 10.00 am (year 8 students have exam preparation) 

Thank you to Ms Langusch and Ms Savitas for coaching our student teams.

Book Week will be celebrated this term during week 4. This year's theme is "Choose your destiny - read". There will be a range of activities held during Book Week, organised by our Librarian, Mrs Daimol, including a Book Week Parade for Kindy - year 4 students where students can dress up as a character from a book. The parade will be held on Wednesday, 3rd August, at 9.00am. Parents are welcome to attend. We ask parents of students in Senior Kindy to year 4 to please assist their child/children with organising a costume for their 'book character' ready for the parade on Wednesday of week 4.

Junior Choir for this term commenced this Monday 18th and will continue each week in Term 3. It was great to see everyone after the holiday break! Please bring an afternoon snack and your water bottle. We are busy practising for our assembly performance in week 8 so it is important that once you have committed to the choir, you continue to come along each week. Choir is held Monday afternoons from 3.15pm to 4pm.

Term 1: 31st  January – 31st March 

Term 2: 19th April – 16th June 

Term 3: 11th July – 15th September 

Term 4: 3rd October – 1st December 

OLSH Netballers

We look forward to welcoming students and staff from OLSH next Friday afternoon when they arrive for the Netball Carnival. They will stay at the school over the weekend and return to Kavieng on Tuesday 9th August. Thanks to the P&W for providing support for our carnival by supplying food for our visitors over the weekend.

Year 8 / 10 National Exams 

In week 5 of this term, students will sit their third round of Mock Exams. It is important that students arrive on time as per Ms Yip's instructions during that week.

Year 5/6 Camp

A camp to Kavieng is currently being organised for week 6 of this term. It is great that we are once again able to have these activities. Students will be accompanied by Mr Neville, Mrs Daimol, Ms Andar and myself. Year 5/6 students need to return their permission forms by Wednesday 3rd August.

Kind regards,

Ms Catherine Langusch. 

We are in the process of onboarding our next Work Ready Program Intake and look forward to welcoming this cohort on 8 August.

National Exam Remedial Classes will continue each weekend at STMC throughout this term to ensure the very best opportunity for our students to succeed in these very important exams. Student attendance, along with their learning materials is paramount.  

We are in the process of preparing for their final semester of the DWU Bachelor of Primary Education, with face-to-face lectures taking place at the end of this term. We look forward to sharing the success of these teachers when they graduate later this year.

Our FODE students and Elementary Teachers from across Lihir continue to work on their distance education with the support of our STMC Staff.

Please note the Kisim Save Library is open for use by all Newcrest Employees and Townsite Residents. Please email SchoolToMineCampus@newcrest.com.au to book a time to come. 

Regards, 

Mr Kevin Collins.