Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to school for term two!

Students have made a great start to the new term and it was pleasing to see so many arrive on time and in correct school uniform. Please remember school begins at 8:15am and children can start arriving at school from 7:45am onwards. Please do not send your child to school before 7:45am as teachers will be busy preparing for the school day and supervision of children will not be available.

All children are expected to be collected from school no later than 3.15pm unless they are involved in a pre-arranged after school activity. Siblings are not allowed to wait out the front of the school for brothers or sisters attending an after-school activity.

Parent / Teacher Interviews

Thanks to all parents and carers who attended the Parent / Teacher interviews for all classes from Kindy to Year 10 at the end of last term and this past week. It was great to see parents so enthusiastic about their children’s learning. Parents are free to approach teachers at any time during the term to make an appointment to discuss their children’s learning.

LIS PNG Independence Celebrations 2023

Thanks to those parents who attended the initial meeting last term. The next meeting will be advised by the committee once a date has been confirmed.

A Good Night’s Sleep

It is important for children to have a good night’s sleep. There is no magic number for exactly how much sleep we need, but the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep (ACES) suggests the following as a guide:

Primary school: 10-12 hours per day

High school adolescents: 8-10 hours per day

Adults: 7-9 hours per day

Long Run and Ballgames Carnival

Congratulations to all students on their efforts and spirit during the Long Run and Ballgames events in the last week of term one. We look forward to the Athletics Carnival, which is to be held Wednesday of Week 10 of this term. 

School Council

There will be a School Council meeting at 6pm on Thursday, 27th April in the year 9/10 room. All our Councilors are encouraged to attend. If you are interested in finding out more about the School Council, please give me a call or make a time to come in for a chat. The 2023/24 School Council membership is listed below:

·        Fiona Karaut    NML rep    Chairperson

·        Nicholas Walsh    NML rep

·        Kolish Robin    NML rep

·       Aplena Waho    NML rep                      

·        Robert Gordon    NML rep                      

·        Rebecca Daimol    Parent rep 23-24

·        Melanie Silambe    Parent rep 22-23

·        Jacinta Bamin    Parent rep 22-23

·        Anesia Wai    P&W rep 23                          

·        Catherine Langusch    Deputy

·        Kevin Collins    Deputy                        

·        Greg Neville    Principal

Term 2 Parent Calendar

Please download the term 2 calendar below. .

Staffing

Recruitment is underway for a suitable replacement Maths / Science  teacher for the high school. The new teacher is expected on the island next week.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville         

This term, our lower primary will have an opportunity to play Hockey, middle primary Netball and Golf for the high school. Students who wish to participate in Hockey must return the permission slip next week. Mrs Collins and Mr Neville will be taking the Hockey sessions. Students who wish to participate in Golf or Netball do not need a permission slip. Mr Collins (Golf) and Ms Langusch (Netball) will coordinate these sessions. After-school sport will commence Monday, week 3 from 3.10 - 4.00pm. Later in the term, there will be some games for both Hockey and Netball and Highschool will have a Golf afternoon at the golf course. 

Swimming will also recommence on a Wednesday afternoon and lessons will be supervised by LIS staff. We ask that parents return a new permission slip, even if they had submitted one to Hannah previously. Thank you to the teachers who will be supervising and running the swimming program. Swimming will start next Wednesday.

On Monday afternoons, 3.00-4.00pm selected students will have Band practice in preparation for our production. These students have already received a permission slip. Band practice will be supervised by Mr Sarufa and will begin next Monday (week 2).

This year, at the end of term 2, LIS will be staging a whole school dance and drama musical production titled – ‘Travel into Space on Apollo23’. This production will involve all classes, Prep to Year 10, as well as the LIS/STM staff. It is a musical drama about the Solar System that not only involves dance and drama but planning and preparation as well.  Apart from it being fun and entertaining, being part of a production is an activity that boosts students’ confidence. This will be a great experience for our LIS students.

Thanks to Ms Patricia Yip for being our production director.

Term 1 Monday 30 January to Thursday 30 March

Term 2 Monday 17 April to Thursday 22 June

Term 3 Monday 17 July to Thursday 14 September

Term 4 Monday 2 October to Thursday 7 December 

Key dates:

School Council Meeting:  Thursday 27th April - 6,00pm (Week 2)

High School Parent Meeting: Thursday afternoon (Week 3); Time to be advised.

Student-led Conferences (Primary); Wednesday, 24th May (Week 6)

LIS Production: Friday, 9th June (Week 8)

Afternoon activities:

Band practice: Monday afternoon 3.00-4.00 (from week 2)

Swimming: Wednesday afternoon (from week 2)

Afternoon Sport: Will commence Monday afternoon in week 3.

Homework Club: Thursday afternoon 3.10-4.00pm (from week 2)

Year 10 WEX Mock Exams and Exam Preparation

Our year 10s are busily preparing for their Written Expression exams later this term. Next week, they will do a Mock Exam in readiness for this important examination. Thank you to Ms Yip for her effort with preparing our year 10s.

Thank you also to our STM staff for their after-school remedial sessions for selected year 8 and 10 students as well as our Saturday preparation sessions for all year 8 and 10 students. Saturday remedial sessions commence again this Saturday. A reminder to parents to contact Ms Yip if their child is unable to attend. 

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons will recommence next week on a Wednesday afternoon. Permission forms / enrolment forms have been sent home with the eldest in the family and we ask that parents return forms by Tuesday. Please note that Beginner and Intermediate students must have an adult at the pool and that Beginner Swimmers need to have an adult in the water with them. The pool is closed to any free-swimming time when lessons are being held. Thank you for your support with this.

High School Sewing Program

We are also looking for volunteers to assist with our high school sewing classes. This would involve helping over a two-hour period up at our STM Campus, once a week. Please contact Mr Collins or Mr Neville for any further information.

Uniform

It has been pleasing to note students being well-groomed and wearing their uniform with pride this week on their return to school. Students have made a great start to the term!

Kind regards,

Ms Cathy Langusch             

Welcome back to a new term.

Over the Easter break, 11 teachers from different schools around Lihir commenced their first semester of face-to-face lectures for their Bachelor in Primary School Education Upgrade. Thank you to the Divine Word Lecturers, Mr Peter Kelaki and Mr Pulip Lyokao who came to deliver these subjects. These teachers will now work to compete all of the required assessment with the support of our School to Mine teachers in the STMC Computer Lab over weekends and after school.

Semester 2 of this program will commence September this year.

Our last Work Ready Program Trainees, who completed at the end of term one, are busy applying for positions and we look forward to hearing some success stories from the trainees in the coming months.

Our FODE students continued their studies over the Easter break and continue to progress well.  

Regards, 

Mr Kevin Collins