Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Week 5 - we are nearing the halfway through the term mark and days are going by so very quickly

Last week I attended the annual Department of Education Leaders Summit. A few highlights from the 2 days for me I thought I would share:

• Yemi Penn - describes herself as a fearless thought leader and curious rebel who discusses typically taboo subjects using life experiences,  excellent storytelling and humour.  She presented a keynote to NTG leaders promoting Transformation - a shift in perspective and encouraged us all to 'challenge the status quo'.
• Sean Choolburra -  recognised as one of Australia’s funniest and most enduring Aboriginal comedians. Born in Townsville, QLD, and one of twelve, his comedy is created from a wide variety of life time experiences, stories, and observations.  Sean impressed with his wit, energetic delivery, improvisations and non-stop dance moves. 
• Nathan Wallis - a neuroscience educator. Nathan is a regular on Radio and Television shows in New Zealand, sharing his expertise on child development. His presentation to us last week reflected the latest neuroscience discoveries and their practical implications for everyday practice in schools.

Annual Perception Survey: Snapshot 3

This week I am sharing a snapshot of the responses with regards to Teaching & Learning - core business at Alawa. The responses clearly reflect the continued focus we have own developing 21st Century Learners - capable of taking ownership of their learning, reviewing their progress and establishing their learning goals.

2023 Class Structurers and placements

As per our usual process at Alawa around this time of year we are currently finalising our class structures for 2023— it currently looks like we will have as follows:

• 2 x Preschool groups [Both 2.5 days per week]
• 2 x Transition groups
• 2 x Year 1 classes
• 2 x Year 2 class
• 1 x Year 3 class
• 1 x Year 3/4 class
• 2 x Year 4/5 classes
• 2 x Year 5/6 classes.

 Students will be allocated a class which will be proposed and not finalised until the week prior to school starting in 2023. Draft class lists will be shared Tuesday December 13th at the end of the school day.

Just so all are aware, the process is:

1. The number of classes and composition of year levels across the school is determined based on numbers of students expected at each year level as well as our staffing budget.

2. Teachers are then assigned to classes based upon teacher requests, the best match to skill sets & knowledge and of the needs of our students.

Children are allocated to classes based upon their friendship requests as well as teacher recommendations with the optimum aim to balance classes for maximising engagement and learning.

If any parents have a specific request you are welcome to make an appointment to discuss these with Mrs Donohue or myself - but please keep in mind these requests cannot always be accommodated.

Have a fantastic week,

Sandy Cartwright [Principal]

I can’t believe we are already half way through Term 4.

PRESCHOOL ORIENTATION SESSIONS:  Beginning next week, we will be holding two information sessions for Preschool.

Wednesday 16th November - Preschool Information Session 1.30pm – 2.30pm

Wednesday 23rd November - Preschool Open Session 5pm – 6pm

We also have our Transition Information Night on Wednesday 16th November at 5pm.

These sessions will be an excellent opportunity to find out more about what to expect at this stage of schooling and how you can assist in preparing your children for this important stage of their life. We are looking forward to seeing our new families for 2023, as well current families who have children starting Transition.

TRANSITIONING TO 2023 CLASSES: Towards the end of the year our students will be visiting the learning areas where they will be moving to for the following year. This is a time where they can meet some of the teachers that may teach them next year and explore the new learning spaces. We believe it is really important to help prepare students for the changes to come and to give them the opportunity to consider how the following year may look and what will be different from their current year level.

Please begin speaking with them about the wonderful new opportunities they will be having next year in their new class. There will also be other opportunities for students who require that extra support to allay further concerns/worries that they may have. Please let us know if you think your child may need further support in transitioning into their new class.

Gen Donohue [Assistant Principal] 

The Alawa School Council invites all interested parents and carers to an

Alawa Primary After School Care Parent Meeting: follow up.

5:30pm- 630:pm, Monday, November 21st 2022

Alawa School Library

The Council invites you to a meeting to discuss the findings of the Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) working group and the decision around this issue.

At the start of 2022, Alawa Primary School families could access 4 services

• Little Flyers
• Brat Pack
• Jingili After School Care service
• School of Languages

At the end of Term 1 2022, Alawa School received notification of closure of Jingili After School Care service to Alawa students and the closing of their second campus at Millner.

The events and investigation into OSHC for Alawa Primary School have included the following:

• Alawa School Principal negotiated access to Wulagi After School Care services for Alawa families.
• Invested parents and the School Council met in March to discuss this issue and consider solutions. A summary of this meeting was published in the school newsletter (Term 1 Week 8).
• A parent working group was formed at the March meeting:
• The working group developed a school community survey to quantify the need for OSHC
• The working group contacted 3 Darwin based commercial after school care providers seeking proposals to provide Alawa School specific OSHC.
• 3 proposals were received, and reviewed by the School Council.
• Based on the survey responses and the proposals received, the Council decided that it was not currently feasible to establish an OSHC facility at Alawa Primary School.
• The School Principal has been having ongoing conversation with families, carers and Ministers.

Please RSVP to stephanie.cockfield@education.nt.gov.au

Childcare is available. Please indicate in your RSVP if you will need it.

Hi! 

My name is Sharon Jennings and I am the new Business Manager at Alawa Primary School.

I have worked in a number of roles in the Education system over the years, more recently as the Business Manager of Warruwi School and Jabiru Area School in the Top End Education Bureau.

I even worked with Ms Cartwright when she was at Clyde Fenton Primary in Katherine many years ago.

I enjoy all things sport, either coaching or as a player.  I especially enjoy playing Netball, Volleyball and Rugby. 

I am excited about being in a busy school environment again and seeing the growth and development of all the students at the school.

I can’t wait to eventually meet you all, if you’re ever in the front office don’t be afraid to pop your head in and say hello.

Cheers

Sharon Jennings [Business Manager]

What a year 2022 has been and where has it gone?!

 So much has been happening in 3 BLOCK over the past 4 terms and we are super excited to share some of these events with you in the school newsletter.

 We have 27 students in our class and 5 of these people are new to Alawa Primary this year! We feel incredibly lucky to have them join us and how lucky are they to be here!

 Earlier this semester we spoke with Ms. Cartwright about our outdoor area. She allowed us a portion of her budget to purchase some new furniture. 3 Block students worked in small groups and used digital technology to research furniture online and compare costs! Students were then required to report back to the class, Mrs Block and Ms. Cartwright. We aren’t sure if you’ve seen our outdoor space yet, but it’s pretty cool. We’ve taken ‘flexible learning’ to the next level. We have a hammock outside, an outdoor couch, portable white board, chalk board and 2 brand new couches for our indoor space! (If you’re coming into Year 3 next year, this could be yours!)

 In HASS this term we are working with Mrs. Baines and Mrs. Block and we are using an Inquiry approach! This means we get to conduct our own investigation about a topic! Together, we have decided to research Landmarks around Australia and we have SO MANY questions about them. It will be interesting to see what we find out!

 We hope you have enjoyed our article and have a wonderful week ahead!

From 3 BLOCK 

School Start Time: Gates NOT open till 8am

Just a reminder to all families our school start time is 8:30am

Children can arrive, connect with friends and play sport when we open the gates at 8am. This is 30mins prior to the start of the day bell and staff are on duty to ensure safety and wellbeing of all from that time.

We ask that children DO NOT get dropped off / arrive prior to 8am unless a prior arrangement is made with Gen Donohue or myself.  We continue to have a small number sitting in the front office from 7:45am onwards - simply too early and way too congested for the office. I have emailed parents of children this includes and would appreciate your dropping them off 8am onwards.

Thanks

Sandy Cartwright

This term, Preschool is very lucky to have Music and Movement sessions with the extremely talented Ms Anne (Eleanor’s mum).

Children are learning important skills such as listening, taking turns, valuing ideas, identifying emotions and sharing – all through play and music!

Each week children are exposed to different songs, movements and instruments. Last week we learned about pitch (high and low notes), body percussion and practiced our special song for Graduation. We can’t wait to showcase our skills at our Preschool Graduation Ceremony on Wednesday 7th December 5pm-6pm. 

Emma Connelly, Emma Churchman, Ms Flor & Ms Kelly [Preschool Team] 

This Friday Year 1 Bullock will be holding a special Remembrance day assembly. Students will share with us the importance of the day and why we pause to pay our respects. 

Defence students will then host a minute silence for all students and staff to attend at 11am [recess muster] to pay their respects. 

Lest we forget

We have had some more kitchen fun traveling on our food tour of the world. We experimented with Spanish Omelettes which had slices of potato, herbs and diced veg and filled with lots of farm eggs. We had to make sure we checked all the eggs individually because every now and then we get an egg that isn’t so good!!! The omelettes were delicious.

Last week our tour took us to Turkey where we made Turkish Pide.  Ms Elsa made the dough with yeast and we shaped it into the traditional boat shaped style. We filled them with yummy ingredients like chicken, spinach, onion and lots of cheese.

Our tour continues to France this week where we will be making tarte tatin.

Tina Sullivan [Kitchen Teacher]

Full payment for the Early Years Swimming program is now overdue.

Please contact the front office to arrange payment on 8997 7666.

Cost: $84 for 8 lessons for Transition- Year 2              

          $45 for 4 lessons for Preschoolers                                

Venue:  Nightcliff Swimming Pool

Dates: Term 4 Week 7 and 8 – Monday 21st of November until Thursday 1st of December

We are currently seeking a Maintenance Officer for our school. 🧰

Mr Dean and his family are continuing with their round Australia trip and heading off again in a few weeks - we will be sad to see them leave our community!

If you want to learn more or know of someone who might be interested, please contact Sharon at the office on 8997 7666 or email sharon.jennings2@education.nt.gov.au

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 4 Manton was ahead of Goyder and Manton with 2154 points!

In the lead for the year we still have Finnis with 89221 points!!!

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 expectations.

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 4 was....Transition Henschke with 153 points!!!

Primary School Average for Week 4 Term 4: 91.52%

The class with the highest attendance for Week 4: Year 5/6 Baines with 97.20%!!! Amazing job!!!

In the lead this term...Year 3 Block with 95.46%

Arriving late for school has a significant impact on your child’s learning and engagement in the education program.

There were 42 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 3 Term 4!

For Week 4 the class with the least lates was:Year 2 Riley-Smith & Transition Henschke with 0 lates!!!

In the lead this term...Year 2 Riley-Smith with 2 late arrivals!!!

Alawa Recycling is not only an important part of our fundraising activities here at Alawa with all proceeds going directly back into the farm, but also a vital step in helping us achieve the goal of creating a more sustainable farm and garden program.

Items can be deposited into the house bags in the back car park and  each item earns a point for each house. 

We had a wonderful Friday morning at Playgroup. It was filled with arts and craft, wonderful teal-coloured play dough, and lots of pretend play in the pet grooming station! We are meeting new 2023 Preschoolers every week now which is a lot of fun. They already love their preschool. 

We also made scones this week which we all enjoyed. We really love to contribute a helping hand. It was so much fun to mix and stir, knead and cut out the scones. And of course it was wonderful to eat them too.

Next week we’ll visit the Farm. 

See you Friday,

Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator] 

If you have plans to leave our school for 2023 we would really appreciate early notification as this can assist with our class planning and structure and budgeting.

Please just email or phone the front office to advise.