Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Week 6 is rolling by as the weather has warmed up!

Thanks to all our community for continuing to work with us as we manage the COVID situation. We appreciate your flexibility and support and regular communication. As advised in the daily email bulletins we currently have NO active student cases and as of today no staff positive cases. We do still strongly encourage adults to wear masks when indoors.

It was terrific to see so many families come along to our Explore, Eat & Engage last Wednesday. Huge thanks to:

• Ms Tamra and Mrs Henschke for co-ordinating this event
• The team who prepared the displays and activities [Ms Hughes, Ms Flor, Mrs Baines, Mrs Ward and Ms Connelly
• To Mr Michael and all the parents and family members who cooked the BBQ, served the food etc etc

Last week I enjoyed spending time with the cherubs from Year 2 Ward as they shared their achievements and challenges from their three weeks in the Alawa STEM Centre. Their bridges were creative and the majority met the design criteria and they spoke confidently about the engineering cycle.

Farewell Mr Michael

This Friday Michael Siriotis leaves us after 15months at Alawa to take up a higher level role at another nearby school. We thank Michael for his contributions and efforts whilst at Alawa - all around the school and down in the Farm. 

Our new Maintenance Officer David Dunstall will start with us tomorrow and is having a handover with Michael for a few days.

Annual Report

Last week at the School Council AGM I presented and tabled the Annual Report. It is now available on our school website.

2021 Annual School Report

Have a great week,

Sandy Cartwright [Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]

As with last year 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 6 question: Which class is hosting the Assembly this week on Friday 11th March?

Sandy Cartwright [Principal]

Hello everyone,

Over the last week I have been able to spend more time in the Preschool. Both of our Preschool groups have settled in well and the joy of being with their friends in such a positive learning environment is wonderful to see. Already they are learning school behaviours such as sharing and helping others and following routines. Alawa preschool is very fortunate to have such a wonderful learning environment and our educators do a fantastic job.

Our SRC Student Representatives will be meeting this week to determine a suitable day and time that we can meet to determine our focus for improvement and fundraising for this year. I am looking forward to listening to their ideas and thoughts on school improvement.

Special Education: Our Educational Adjustment Plan [EAP] meetings have begun this week for our students who require extra support. Extra time has been given to teachers and support staff to meet with families to set goals and determine strategies to support students learning. Thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. We are also looking out for a new class support worker [SESA], so if you know of anyone who may be interested please let them know to make contact with me.

Gen Donohue [Assistant Principal]

Last week we celebrated our latest Honour Distinction award winner and Principal for the day Miss Elyssia Nicholas. 

Principal Nicholas spent the day handing out merits and going to kitchen lesson with Year 4/5 Griffin. "I spent most of the day in kitchen as I wanted to spend time with friends that are not in my class and make a recipe. Kitchen is one of my favorite lessons.

This is my second time as Principal but I still wouldn't mind doing it again before graduation." 

As we continue to move forward living with COVID in our community we respectfully ask that families continue to refrain from bringing in cakes or sweet treats for students to share with their classmates.

If you would still like the chance to celebrate your childs birthday with their classmates at school we suggest instead perhaps a pre packaged icy pole or ice cream for them to enjoy. 

Thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding. 

Primary School Average for Week 5 Term 1: 92.33%

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

The class with the highest attendance for Week 5: Year 2 Ward with 98.50%!!!

In the lead for the year...Year 2 Ward with 94.30%

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

There were 28 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 5 Term 1!

The class with the least lates for Week 5 was: Year 5/6 Henderson with 0 lates.

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. 

Hello Alawa Families,

It has been very hot over the last week and the pre-schoolers have been enjoying play experiences with water. We have been adding water to a trough in the sandpit. Some children have been filling up buckets to add to their cooking in the sandpit kitchen, while others add it to the dry sand and make sandcastles. Children have really enjoyed the sensory experience of the wet sand on their feet. Sandpit volcanos have become a real interest too, with water taking the place of hot larva (and scaring the dinosaurs away). Another water trough was filled with eye droppers and containers of different shapes and sizes. Children have investigated how much things can hold and experimented with moving water from one place to another.  Play investigations with water are so rich in learning and are so much fun!

Emma, Emma and Kelly and Flor  [Preschool team]