Communication Systems

Thank you to the many families that have now created School Bytes accounts and are familiarising themselves with the functionality of this platform. One of the challenges of modern life is keeping up with which app, website or platform to use for each task. Great though it is, the addition of School Bytes obviously adds to the number of platforms now used by our school to communicate with families. The school uses Skoolbag and School Bytes. The P&C are using MySchool Connect and I understand that OOSH have their own unique platform now. Therefore our families are potentially using either 3 or 4 platforms for various things to do with school.

I was asked at P&C last Tuesday night whether there was a way to consolidate this to one platform and the short answer is no. Each of them have unique capabilities and features and thus far, there is no one app or platform that I am aware of that allows us to do each of the things we need.

The School Bytes team are working to create an app that might fill this void, but it may be some months away from being ready. However, the school will have no influence over what OOSH use. For now, please allow me to attempt to clarify what each of the school-based platforms are used for:

Skoolbag

• Distributing the newsletter
• Sending push notifications and reminders
• Contains the school calendar
• Allows parents to notify the school of a student absence or request contact from a teacher.

School Bytes

• The platform for receiving and responding to all information to do with payment and permission.

My School Connect

• The ordering platform for canteen

• A place to purchase or order items related to P&C fundraising
  

Thank you for your patience with keeping up to date with school activities, despite the few challenges faced with having multiple platforms.

NAPLAN Online

This coming week, the students in Years 3 and 5 begin their 2023 NAPLAN assessments. These will be conducted online over a number of days. There is a schedule further on in today’s newsletter outlining which classes are completing assessments each day. Please take a few minutes to review this and be aware of when your child/ren is scheduled to participate. Although it is important for every school day, please ensure that the students get a good sleep and a healthy breakfast to set them up for success with NAPLAN.  I wish our students all the very best as they demonstrate their learning via NAPLAN over the next 2 weeks.

Have a great week.

David Holland

Congratulations to the ‘students of the week’  for Week 7, Term 1:

Students in Year 3 and Year 5 will participate in the NAPLAN Online tests commencing Wednesday 15th March 2023 through to Monday 27th March 2023.

NAPLAN test days should be treated as just another routine event on the school calendar. The best way you can help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to reassure them that NAPLAN tests are just one part of their school program, and to advise them to simply do their best. To assist students to perform at their best, please ensure they have a good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast and arrive at school on time. Excessive preparation is not useful and can lead to unnecessary anxiety.  The school will ensure that students are familiar with the test formats and will provide appropriate support and guidance. Parents will receive a hard copy of their child's results later in the year.

Department of Education policy requires that parents explain the absences of their children from school promptly. An explanation for absence must be provided to the school within 7 days of the first day of any period of absence.

At LPS, SMS messages are sent each morning alerting parents that their child is absent from school. Parents and carers can provide an explanation for their child's absence by simply replying to the SMS message. Please do not think that receiving this SMS message is in any way a reproach from the school, it is a simple and convenient tool to alert you to the absence and remind you to explain the absence to the school.

This is our preferred method of explaining student absences, rather than calling, emailing the school or using Skoolbag notifications (which need to be manually entered). All responses received using SMS reply method, feed directly into our attendance register, this increases accuracy, security and greatly reduces administration workload. It also means teachers immediately receive the update, instead of waiting for the school email account to be cleared each morning and entries updated. 

When responding to the SMS please give a brief reason for the absence such as sick, specialist medical appointment, general medical appointment or travelling away so that the absences can be recorded accurately on your child's attendance records. We also send an SMS each morning for any partial absence, even if it is only a few minutes past 9am, if you could please give a reason for this absence so that it can be recorded on the roll accurately.

If responding to the SMS is not convenient, completing an E form on Skoolbag, emailing or calling the school is still perfectly acceptable.

Our next school assembly will be held on March 23 and will be led by 3L. Parents and friends are invited to join us in the hall at 2:00pm for this assembly. 

The Zone Swimming Carnival was held at The Forum Sports and Aquatic Centre on Friday 24 February. The Lambton Public School team represented the school with pride and are commended for their behaviour and participation on the day.

We have now been advised that Eva and Alexa T have both qualified for the Hunter PSSA Swimming Carnival that will take place on Tuesday 4th March. Eva will compete in the Junior Individual Medley, Junior Girls Butterfly, Junior Girls Backstroke, Junior Girls Breaststroke, and 10 Years Girls 50m Freestyle. Alex will be competing in the 11 Year Girls Backstroke and Butterfly. This is an outstanding achievement, and we wish both the girl’s luck in their individual events.

Some overall results from the zone carnival include:

Olivia H – 11th in the 9 Year Girls 50m Freestyle

Amelia P – 15th in the 9 Year Girls 50m Freestyle

Chiara T – 12th Junior Girls Butterfly & 16th Junior Girls Backstroke

Eva T – 1st Junior Girls Individual Medley, 1st 10 Years Girls 50m Freestyle, 1st Junior Girls Breaststroke, 1st Junior Girls Backstroke & 2nd Junior Girls Butterfly

Estelle B – 16th 10 Years Girls 50m Freestyle

Eleanor C – 12th Junior Girls Backstroke

Quinlan B – 4th 10 Years Boys 50m Freestyle, 3rd Junior Boys Breaststroke & 5th Junior Boys Backstroke

Kobi B – 7th 10 Years Boys 50m Freestyle, 8th Junior Boys Breaststroke & 4th Junior Boys Butterfly

Archie P – 7th 11 Years Boys 50m Freestyle & 12th 11 Years Boys Backstroke

Riley F – 11th in the 11 Years Boys 50m Freestyle, 8th 11 Years Boys Breaststroke & 8th 11 Years Boys Backstroke

Alexa T – 3rd 11 Years Girls Breaststroke, 3rd 11 Years Girls Backstroke & 3rd 11 Years Girls Butterfly

Olivia B – 11th 11 Year Girls Backstroke

Sophia H – 4th in the 12 Years Girls 50m Freestyle

Henry M – 15th in the 12 Years Boys 50m Freestyle

Hamish O – 7th Senior Boys Breaststroke & 12th Senior Boys Backstroke

I would like to recognise Quinlan, Sophia & Kobi who all swam Hunter regional qualifying times but just missed out on being selected in the Newcastle City PSSA team.

Mrs Felicity Webb - Sport Coordinator 

Over the past few weeks Lambton Public School has had many students’ trial for selection into various Newcastle City PSSA representative sporting teams. On the 22nd February Henry M, Lilli W, Georgia K and Grace R attended trials for basketball. From these trials Lilli was successful in being selected to represent Newcastle City at the Hunter regional trials that took place this week. At the time of writing this, we were still waiting to see how Lilli went. This week on Wednesday, the Newcastle City PSSA netball trials were held. Lambton Public School had Violet B, Olivia B, Lilli W and Grace R attend. From these trials I am happy to announce that Grace was selected in the Newcastle City team and will attend the Hunter trials on the 11th May. The Hunter PSSA diving trials were also held this week on Monday. Eva attended and has been selected to represent the Hunter at the state championships. Finally, you may recall in a previous newsletter we acknowledged the students who attended the touch football trials. From this we had two students attend the regional trials, Sophia H and Tyler J. Tyler has been selected in the Hunter PSSA team and will attend the state championships in May. Last week Tyler also attended the Newcastle City PSSA Rugby League trials. He was selected in the Newcastle City team and this week was also successful in being selected in the Hunter team. This means Tyler will also compete at the state championships for rugby league! What an incredible achievement. We still have hockey and football (soccer) trials to come later in the term. 

Parents will need to complete an expression of interest for Year 6 to 7 transition if they would like their child to attend a government high school in 2024,  The expression of interest lets you indicate which school(s) you would like your child to attend in Year 7.

Most NSW Government schools have local enrolment areas with geographical boundaries. Your child's permanent residential address determines which high school's boundary they fall within. After you submit this expression of interest and it has been assessed, your child will be offered a place at a government high school. 

Please note: The last day for submission of EOI's is 31 March 2023.

The SRC consists of the Student Executive (our four school leaders) and a representative from each class in years 2 - 6, elected by their class for the school year. All SRC representatives are expected to uphold the school values and follow our school pledge.

During this upcoming week in class, students will have the opportunity to elect themselves to run for the SRC member of their class. Then their peers will vote via a secret ballot for their preferred candidate. Teachers will explain the process and distribute a form to students who wish to run for SRC. This election form is due back to class teachers by Friday 17th March. Then students are asked to be prepared to give a 1 to 2-minute speech in class on Monday 27th March. Voting will take place on this same day and SRC members will be announced that same week. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask your child's class teacher.

Thank you

Mrs  Gillard - SRC Coordinator  

2N have really enjoyed participating in Visual Arts lessons this term! They have been learning new techniques when painting, such as using brush strokes to paint the texture of water. Last week, 2N used these techniques to complete an amazing artwork of Sydney Harbour.

Here are some examples we would like to share. We hope you enjoy them!