Welcome to Week 10, Term 3 at Lithgow Public School. This will be the final school newsletter for Term 3. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the teachers, administrative staff, students and the community for all of the hard work that has translated into effective student learning throughout the term. This hard work, dedication and teamwork from all involved has ensured that the whole school community has worked together to make sure that our students receive the best education possible, regardless of the challenges that COVID-19 has presented us with this term and throughout the year.
With regards to COVID-19, there are updated guidelines that were released yesterday. I have attached these to this newsletter for your reference. In summary they state:
Some of the activities that can now proceed for Term 4 with restrictions are:
· Kindergarten orientations
· Year 6-7 transitions
· Inter-school activities
· End of year celebrations such as graduations and dances
· Excursions and day camps
All other activities remain unchanged. Some of these activities are:
· Interstate and international excursions are still not permitted
· Staff professional development activities are not permitted
These changes to guidelines will have a potential impact on several events that are generally scheduled during Term 4. Activities that should be able to go ahead, provided there is no change to these guidelines, will include:
· Little Learners
· Year 6 to 7 transition
· Broken Bay Camp
· Year 6 Farewell
Activities still in question will include:
· Little Librarians
· Canberra Excursion – we are actively seeking alternatives if this can’t go ahead
Tell Them From Me – Survey Suite
This year, as has become normal practice, the school will participate in the Tell Them From Me survey. The Tell Them From Me survey platform provides all of the school community with the opportunity to provide feedback on what we do as a school and is part of a suite that includes student, parent and teacher responses on engagement.
Parents and carers are invited and encouraged to provide their perspectives on the school through the parent and carer version of the Tell Them From Me survey platform. This can be accessed on any device with internet access by clicking on the following link and will be open until Friday 23 October.
http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/LPS2020
It is important particularly during the development of our new School Improvement Plan, that we seek your feedback on what we do well and what we could improve on. During the last Tell Them From Me survey period, we had less than 10 parents complete the survey. It would be great if we were able to extend this beyond 50 for this year’s survey, however we can only do this with your help. When surveys are completed by only a small number of parents and caregivers there is potential that the results can be skewed by these perspectives and as such are not necessarily representative of the community perception as a whole. Therefore the more parents and caregivers who are able to complete the survey, the more the results can be interpreted as a whole of community perception of the school. I thank everyone who is able to complete this survey in advance. Your opinion has had an impact on planning at Lithgow Public School for 2021 and beyond.
I would like to wish all of our families a safe and enjoyable Spring holiday break with their children. School will resume for students on Monday 12 October.
Regards,
Mark Davies | Principal | Lithgow Public School
