Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Hello everyone and welcome to Week 2.

It was terrific to see our students out at Bootcamp this morning. Please come and join us as we walk/run around the oval on Wednesday morning in preparation for our Sports carnival.

SRC: This week I will be meeting with our SRC students to organise our first event. We are planning on running our Mother’s Day stall again. We will be busy at lunch times creating some presents to sell and deciding on rosters and the logistics of organising our stall. Our goodies will be on sale before and after school on Thursday and Friday next week. If anyone is available to assist with our stall please let me know. Please ensure you get in early so we don’t have disappointments.

Playgroup will also resume this Friday and we are very excited to welcome you all back. We encourage all families who are looking at bringing their children to Alawa next year to attend these sessions with Maria on Friday mornings.

Assessment: All children from years 3-6 will be completing their Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) in Science test this week. These will be scheduled through the week as part of their regular lesson. The test is done online. These assessments provide valuable information to teachers about your child’s current learning needs in Science and enables them to better plan learning programs as they progress through their schooling.

Over the next two weeks our students in year 3 and 5 will be completing their tests for NAPLAN. The students have completed their practice test and have become familiar with the tools and skills needed to complete this test online. Please encourage them to have a good night’s sleep and reinforce that this is a one off test and we use a lot of other information when we assess and report on their performance. They do not replace the extensive ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance. Any further questions please let me know.

Have a wonderful week

Gen Donohue [Acting Principal]

Our annual whole school sports day will take place on Friday  10th June. 

We are now seeking volunteers to help on the day with a variety of activities. If you have a spare 1/2hr or so and would like to help out please contact Miss Tamra - tamra.caruana@education.nt.gov.au or call the front office to leave your details 8997 7666. 

 The following are some of the activities you may like to help out with: 

·         Running races – place keeping 9 - 9.30

·         Upper years field rotations – 9.30 - 12.50 [any time in between these hours] 

·         Early years rotations – 9.30 – 12.30 [approx]

·         Café  - helping with lunch preparation

*Please note that NT Government requirements are that all volunteers in schools must be fully vaccinated.

Next Thursday 5th and Friday 6th May the SRC will be hosting our annual Mother's day stall. 

Students will set up under the tree near the deck before and after school both days for students to purchase a small gift for their mother/carer. 

Items will be available from as little as $1. Please ensure students are sent with cash on those days if they would like to purchase. 

Special thanks to Miss Yenni for your support of this event. 

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 1 of Term 2 was....Year 3 Block with 114 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 1 of Term 2 Finnis was ahead of Manton and Goyder with 2770 points!!! 

In the lead for the year...Finnis with 30217 points!!!

Monday saw one of the most significant days on the calendar for Australians, Anzac Day. April 25th is the day that the people of Australia and New Zealand pay honour to all of the men and women both past and present who have served this country and those who laid down the ultimate sacrifice for our peace and freedom.

Last Friday saw our School Leaders and Senior Defence Students lead a respectful and regardful Anzac Assembly. Alawa students and community had the opportunity to pay their respects and reflect on the Anzac Spirit. It was a humbling and heartwarming morning seeing the consideration and reverence the students forwarded to the service.

The service was opened with an informative and engaging recount of the landing of Gallipoli and the significance of Anzac Day. This was followed by a heartfelt poem also read by students. I must take this opportunity to congratulate and thank our Student Leaders and Senior Defence Students for the outstanding job they did and the manner in which they conducted themselves whilst hosting such a significant assembly.

Major John Ronayne of the Australian Army and Alawa parent, addressed the assembly with an extremely engaging message about what the Anzac Spirit represents, the ways in which we commemorate Anzac day and the significance of some of our Anzac traditions such as the wearing of poppies. Thank you Major Ronayne for your time and engaging speech.  

The service concluded with the assembly walking in a single line around to the front of school. The students had previously made their own poppy, at the base of the half-mast flag, they lay their poppies in a basket as a final gesture of respect and gratitude. The silence and reflection that all of the students displayed at this moment was commendable and heartening, it brought goosebumps and pride.

The landing at Gallipoli may have happened over a century ago however the courage, resilience and mateship these men and women displayed on the other side of the world has today come to be known as the Anzac Spirit a spirit that is living on in our next generation.

Lest We Forget

Katie Wedel [Defence School Mentor] 

When we go walking, we never know how long we will be, what we will hear and what we will see. We pack our bags with food and water, a billy and some matches to light a fire. We head off into the shady monsoon forest on the edge of the billabong. 

Shortlisted in the Eva Pownall category of the CBCA Book of the Year Awards - Walking in Gagudju Country: Exploring the Monsoon Forest sees the Authors Diane Lucas & Ben Tyler along with Illustrator Emma Long invite us to walk with them through one of the Top End's magnificent monsoon forests, in Kakadu National Park, learning about the plants, animals and Kundjeyhmi culture along the way.

Don’t forget - Book Club Issue 3 headed home with Students last 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

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]

Some of the approaches we use in Transition are very resource heavy, so we are always on the hunt for donations from home clean outs or collected recycled items from families across the school. We are always looking for boxes etc that can be repurposed into amazing creations! We have set up collection boxes out the front of our outdoor area, if you have any donations, we might be able to use in the classroom please pop them in the boxes. The students will then be counting the donations and give out 1 house point for every item donated in the house boxes. Thank you to Ruby from Transition, who has already donated some costumes that we have been using during Investigations. 

At the moment we are  specifically looking for:

-   Collected seashells

-   Washed ice cream sticks

-   Empty tubes from glad wraps ect

-   Old or spare buttons

-   Old CDs

-   Foil tart and pie trays

-   Corks

-   Old plates and cups (not plastic real) 

-   Dress ups 

-   Old pegs

-   Old toys

-   Old Tupperware containers with lids

-   Baskets

As always, we are excited to take any items you are happy to donate that are not listed, these are just some things we have identified we will be needing!

Thanks for your continued support,

Angela, Kate, Flor and Brent [Transition team] 

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