Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Acquaintance Night

Thanks to all the parents who attended our Acquaintance Night held on Wednesday. The night gave all parents the chance to attend brief information sessions with their child’s teacher and gave teachers the opportunity to discuss a general overview of class systems, learning and behaviour expectations.

Year 9 Camp

Year 9 Camp will take place next week with the year 9 class, accompanied by Ms Yip, Mr Collins and myself, travelling to Port Moresby on Monday and returning on Thursday. Students will take place in a range of activities including visiting the Nature Park.

Term 1 Calendar

Term 1 will be a busy time of learning at our school and the term one calendar can be downloaded below. This calendar, along with the weekly Toksave, can also be accessed through the school website at https://lisstm.com.au.

Please note that Friday Week 4, the 24th February is a gazetted public holiday - National Remembrance Day of late Sir Michael Somare.

Other important dates will be brought to your attention as they arise.

Parents and Wantoks

The Parents and Wantoks first meeting for the election of the new executive will be on Tuesday the 21st February at 6pm. The Parents and Wantoks Committee add a great deal of value to our school and this is a fantastic opportunity for families to become involved in contributing to school events throughout the year.  

Nominations are now being received for positions of President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, Canteen coordinator, Book Club coordinator and Fundraising coordinator. Please complete nominations at the office.

All parents, community members and others who are interested to join the P&W are encouraged to attend.

Student Health Update

Please take note of the Student Health Update form that can be downloaded below. If you have any medical information such as allergies or medication needs that we are unaware of and you need to share with the school, please fill in this form and return to Lorna by Friday 17th of February. If you have already updated the school regarding your child’s medical needs, or if you have nothing to add to information supplied during the enrolment process, you do not need to return the Student Health Update form.

Parent / Carer Contacts

We would like all parents to ensure that they have current and up to date contact details for the school. Please see Lorna in the office if you need to update your details - especially email addresses.  If parents hear of other parents not receiving school communication, please direct them to contact the principal.

School Entrance

Parents and community members are reminded that the only entrance to school is from the Anginas Oval carpark. On entering the school, hands are to be washed at the wash station. Townsite residents who walk to school are also to only use this entrance. 

After School and Weekend Sport/Activities

In the past, students were involved in a variety of afternoon and weekend sports and other activities. After school sport/activities are run by teaching staff and parent volunteers and, if you would like to volunteer to run a sport this year, please let me know. If you would like to run a sport/activity, it is your decision as to what sport/activity you are running, what day and which classes you will include in this sport/activity – our school community is always grateful to those who take the time to organise after school sport/activities.

Student Photographs

There are many photo opportunities at our school and student images are often used in publications, such as the Toksave, and displayed online through the school website. The Toksave is uploaded to our school website www.lisstm.com.au every week. Student images will continue to be used in the Toksave, website and other media this year. If you do not wish photos of your child to be displayed through any form of print or digital media, please let me know so that I can ensure no images of your child appear in any school material.

School Council

The annual General Meeting of the School Council will be held on Thursday, the 23rd of February 2023. At this meeting, voting for 1 vacant position for a Parent Representative will occur, in the Yr 9/10 room from 6.00pm– 6.20pm. Nomination forms are available from the school office and must be returned to the school office by Thursday the 9th February 2023. If you would like to know more about the functions of the School Council, please make an appointment to see the principal.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville         

Soccer and Basketball sessions began on Monday afternoon for students in Primary and High school to take part in. These sessions will run for six weeks with Saturday matches commencing in Week 5 on Saturday 4th March from 8am-9am. Saturday matches will run through to Week 7. 

All students are reminded to bring along their school hat and water bottle.

Thanks to Ms Sausa, Mrs Exzil, Ms Savitas and Mrs Laien for supervising these sporting sessions.

Due to some of our P&W office bearers being off island, we have postponed our P&W AGM meeting to Week 4 for Tuesday, 21st of February 2023 at 6pm.

Nominations are open for the current roles for the P&W Committee:

President                Vice-President            Treasurer

Secretary                Canteen Coordinator            Book Club Coordinator

Fundraising Coordinator

If you would like to nominate someone for a role in the Committee, please see Lorna. Thank you for your continued support of our school.

This year, at the end of term 2, LIS will be staging a whole school dance and drama musical production titled – ‘Travel into Space on Apollo23’. This production will involve all classes, Prep to Year 10, as well as the LIS/STM staff. It is a musical drama about the Solar System that not only involves dance and drama but planning and preparation as well.  Apart from it being fun and entertaining, being part of a production is an activity that boosts students’ confidence. This will be a great experience for our LIS students.

Thanks to Ms Patricia Yip for being our production director.

Term 1 Monday 30 January to Thursday 30 March

Term 2 Monday 17 April to Thursday 22 June

Term 3 Monday 17 July to Thursday 14 September

Term 4 Monday 2 October to Thursday 7 December 

Week 3: Year 9 Camp

Wednesday, February 23rd: School Council AGM - 6.00pm

Afternoon activities:

Monday: Basketball (High school) with Mrs Laien and Ms Savitas: 3.15-4.00pm

Monday: Soccer (Primary school) with Ms Saua and Mrs Exzil: 3.15-4.00pm

Tuesday: Swimming lessons at the pool with Ms Hannah Ilave (times as per lesson schedule)

Wednesday: Homework Class: year 4 with Ms Tukata and year 5/6 with Ms Langusch from 3.15-4.00pm

Thursday: Tabloid Sports led by the Student Council from 3.15-4.00pm (from Week 3)

Acquaintance Night

Thank you to the parents who attended our Acquaintance Night on Wednesday evening. If you were unable to attend and wish to find out further information about classroom practices in your child's classroom, please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher.

School Priorities

Teachers would have spoken about the importance of reading during their parent sessions. In the Early Years and middle school classes, it is essential that students are reading every day and as required, learning their sight words. Other priorities for this year are our STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), daily writing and Maths problem-solving. 

Uniforms

Thank you to parents for ensuring students are wearing the correct uniform to school. Please remember that students are to have a hat each day. If your child has lost their hat, please see Lorna in the office. 

Kind regards,

Ms Cathy Langusch             

This week we welcomed our 14 new Work Ready Program Trainees. All trainees have made a positive start and we look forward to seeing them progress over the next 8 weeks. Please take the time to read the trainee profiles that will be included each week in the Toksave.

We have now finalised our new and continuing FODE enrolments for our Year 9 / 10 FODE Program for 2023. Next week we will welcome the 10 new Grade 10 upgrading Lihirian students from Lihir Secondary School (LSS) who will work with us to upgrade their results in selected subjects this year, with the goal of being accepted into Grade 11 next year.

STMC staff are also working closely with the Local Provincial Education Office to finalise new Lihirian Teachers' enrolment in the DWU Bachelor of Primary Education, and also working with LSS to enrol teachers into the DWU Master of Education Leadership.

We are also working with the Local Provincial Education Office to finalise arrangements for the delivery of the Trupla Elementary Tisa Program this term and teachers for the Lihir Elementary Teacher Support Program.  

NML Learning and Talent have accepted our Academic Support students who graduated from LSS last year, into the Tertiary Support Program. The contracts and paperwork for this program are being finalised for these students to be supported through their university studies.

Regards, 

Mr Kevin Collins