Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Week 1

Acting Principal update

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Week 1. I hope you all had a restful break and are ready for another exciting term.

It was terrific to see all the excited faces that were keen to be back, meeting friends and working in classes. Sandy Cartwright is on leave for the next two weeks and I will be in the Acting Principal role. We have one of our regular relief teachers, Donna Harding as well as Bronwyn Cleary picking up some extra hours. Please feel free to get in contact with me if required.

In the next week you will be sent home a letter from class teachers that will give more detail on what is happening this Term in the classrooms. We have some great events planned and these include our Preschool Bikeathon, Gala day's  and our Sports Carnival. As a lead up to our Sports carnival we will be having Bootcamp every Wednesday morning. This involves all students coming together on the back oval before school to run/walk around and participate in some exercise stations. You are all welcome to join us for 20 minutes from 8:15 as we get active.

STUDENT VOICE: We have confirmed our student roles and responsibilities for this term and it is fantastic to see the willingness of students to be part of the organisation of activities. The enthusiasm and commitment is wonderful to see.

SPEECH STUDENTS: For the next 6 weeks we will be having 3 Placement students at Alawa. These students are in their 4th year of studying Speech Therapy and are from the University of Queensland. We are looking forward to having them support some of our early years students.

Have a wonderful week first week back.

Gen Donohue [Acting Principal]

Have you read the newsletter this week: A quick question

I will sneak a little quiz question into the newsletter each week. If you are a student and know the answer send me an email to have the opportunity to earn 20 bonus house points.

Week 1 question: What exciting event will the Preschool participate in at the end of term?

Gen Donohue [Acting Principal]

Genevieve.donohue@education.nt.gov.au

Events calendar

Friday 22nd AprilANZAC day assembly hosted by school leaders and senior defence students8:40am
Monday 25th AprilPUBLIC HOLIDAY - ANZAC DayAll day
Wednesday 27th April

Bootcamp - whole school

Preschool Family Picnic

8:15am

TBC

Friday 29th April Assembly hosted by Year 1 Wilson8:40am
Monday 2nd MayPUBLIC HOLIDAY - May day All day 
Wednesday 4th MayBootcamp - whole school8:15am
Monday 9th-20th MayNAPLAN testingAll day
Wednesday 11th MayBootcamp - whole school8:15am
Friday 13th MayAssembly hosted by Year 2 Riley-Smith8:40am
Monday 16th MaySchool Council meeting5:30pm-7pm
Wednesday 18th MayBootcamp - whole school 8:15am
Friday 20th MaySoccer Gala dayAll day
Wednesday 25th MayBootcampAll day
Friday 27th MayAssembly hosted by Year 4/5 Griffin8:40am
Wednesday 1st JuneBootcamp - whole school8:15am
Tuesday 7th JuneMasterchef - TBCTBA
Wednesday 8th June800m races and High jump - Years 3-6 only8:45-10:30am
Friday 10th JuneSchool Sports dayAll day
Monday 13th JunePUBLIC HOLIDAY- Queens BirthdayAll day
Tuesday 14th JunePUPIL FREE DAY - Staff Professional development day - TBCAll day
Wednesday 15th JuneSchool Photo dayAll day 
Friday 17th JuneHidden Valley Super cars students on track programAll day
Monday 20th JuneSchool Council meeting5:30pm-7pm
Tuesday 21th-Friday 24th JuneYear 5/6 Camp - TBCTBA
Tuesday 21st JuneReports to go home2:50pm 
Wednesday 22nd JunePreschool Bike-a-thon8:30am-10:30am
Friday 24th June

Assembly hosted by Year 3/4 Bernardino

Last day of Term 

8:40am

All day

Honour Distinction Award winner...

Term 1:

Today was a great day doing dodge ball in PE, handing out merits and helping in the front office. I also had a special assistant helping with jobs. This was my second time being Principal of the day and I was glad I had it. I started at recess and had a blast for the rest of the day. 

Niluh Jackson [Principal for the day] 

Honour Distinction Award winner...


On the last day of school we celebrated our last Honour Distinction award winner and Principal for the day for Term 1, Miss Halle W. 

Principal Halle spent the day handing our merits to classes, going to Farm with Transition, helping clean up puzzles in Transition Hughes classroom [they gave her a special merit] and helping out around the school. 

Principal Halle's favourite part of the day was going to the farm with Transition. 


Congratulations  Principal Halle!

Introducing our Speech Therapy Students...

My name is Deb and I’m in my final year of Speech Pathology at the University of Queensland. I went into Speech because I’m passionate about helping people and I love working with kids, so I was especially excited when given the opportunity to come do placement in Alawa. I have a background in paediatrics from my previous placement in Telehealth and I’m also a therapy assistant for a private practice. With these experiences, I wanted to come to Alawa not only to apply my knowledge to a school setting, but to also have that opportunity to learn about what Speech Pathology looks like a State apart as well!

Deborah Lam

My name is Wen Xuan, and I am an international student from Singapore! My favourite thing about Speech Pathology is helping my clients achieve their goals and supporting them through their journey. I chose to come to Alawa Primary School for my placement because I wanted to work with children in their natural learning environment. Also, I thought that it will be a wonderful learning opportunity to work collaboratively with the parents, teachers, and other professionals of the school community. Plus, I get to explore Darwin during my time here!

Wen Xuan

Hello, I am Charis! I am currently in my last year studying Speech Pathology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. I became interested in Speech Pathology because of my mom. My mom worked with kindergarten children, and through her experiences, I saw the importance of communication in our everyday lives, even in young

children. I am very excited to be able to go to Darwin for my placements! I chose to come to Alawa Primary School for my placements as I would like to experience how working with school-aged children is like, together with the added bonus that I get to explore Darwin as well. Also, fun fact: I am from Singapore! 

Charis Shiu

Class 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 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 10 of Term 1 was....Year 3/4 Bernardino with 122 points!!!

House Points

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 10 of Term 1 Finnis was ahead of Manton and Goyder with 6606 points!!! 

In the lead for the year...Finnis with 27447 points!!!

Attendance

Primary School Average for Week 10 Term 1: 89.64%

It is terrific having all our families back with us at school.

The class with the highest attendance for Week 10: Year 3 Block with 95.83%!!!

In the lead for the year...Year 2 Ward with 93.00%!!! Amazing job!!!

Lates

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

There were 25 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 10 Term 1!

The classes with the least lates for Week 10 were: Preschool Red and Blue Group, Transition Henschke, Year 2 Ward, Year 4/5 Griffin and Year 5/6 Baines with 0 lates!

In the lead for the year....Preschool Red Group with 3 lates!

Recycling

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. 

A special poem...


Green is cool it will rule the lands.

Green helps us breath you wont believe oh how beautiful it is. 

Green for trees, grass and the the others you can name. 


Henry - Year 2 Ward


Preschool news

We hope you had a safe and relaxing holiday. The children were very excited to see their friends and the changes to our classroom and outdoor spaces. They have been eagerly sharing their holiday adventures and exploring our new spaces.

Term 2 will be a busy, fun filled term for our Preschoolers. Every Wednesday morning we will visit the Alawa farm. We can’t wait to meet all the animals and learn to care for them. Later in the term we will be learning about road and bike safety in preparation for our major fundraising event, the Bike-athon, in Week 10. We will be hosting Road Safety NT and Hector the Cat at Preschool and will be making safety videos with the very talented Ms Sullivan. 

Library news

Welcome to Term 2, I hope you and your family had a wonderful break and Easter. Book Club Issue 3 is heading home with Students this week. If you have missed getting one you can head online and view and order from the catalogue on the Book Club LOOP site scholastic.com.au/LOOP

Books that won’t break the budget in Issue 2, 2022 include:

  • The Story Puppy by Holly Web $3
  • King Pig by Nick Bland $3
  • Hot Dog by Anh Do $3
  • Fair Dinkum Histories – Shipwreck Sailors and 60,000 Years by Jackie French
  • Just a Dog $3 

Also in this issue is the book which has been selected for this years National Simultaneous Storytime which is in May. Family Tree for $12 is found on the back page of this issue is by Josh Pyke and Ronojoy Ghosh. 

Orders are due back by Thursday the 5th of May. You can view the catalogue and order online through the Scholastic Bookclub website at scholastic.com.au/LOOP, download the LOOP app From Google Play or from the App Store or return your order form and payment to the office. Spare catalogues will be available at the office if you miss out.

Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.  

Miss Sacha [Library and ICT Manager]

Cafe

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

Wednesday - Chicken Caesar wrap -  $5.50

Thursday – Beef Nachos - Large size $5.50, Small $3.50

 Friday – Chicken and vegetable hokkien noodles- Large size $5.50, Small $3.50

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

Order online at www.quickcliq.com.au

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