Narrabri West Public School

The last few weeks of this term are going to be extremely busy at Narrabri West. But as well as being busy, they are going to be very exciting, with lots of fun activities planned. This term has once again seemed to have just disappeared and it is amazing that we are already talking about end of term activities.

It is also quite obvious that there is a lot happening in our school that we should all be really proud of. Our Kindergarten students are developing impressively, making wonderful progress and maturing quickly. They are committing themselves to their learning and their learning goals, are working extremely hard and doing the best they possibly can.

Teachers in all classrooms are working very hard to enrich student learning through high expectations and explicit, effective teaching.

All in all, Narrabri West is an exciting place to be at the moment. I hope that you take a moment to reflect on the year so far, appreciate the wonderful opportunities that students have each day and celebrate how hard they have worked to obtain the most out of their schooling.

As always, we have been impressed with the excitement and enthusiasm shown by our students during the special occasions we have had already this term. We look forward to even more exciting opportunities and challenges in the weeks ahead, and as we move into Term 4.

We are nearly at the end of another term – Week 10 of Term 3 already – wow! This term we have continued working on developing active learning skills amongst our students. We seek to embed skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, team work and communication, as well as a focus on English and Maths, in all of our learning activities. Teachers continue to reflect on how to improve their teaching and provide regular feedback to their students.

Our goal is that all students will emerge from their primary school education as curious learners with skills to function and contribute successfully and confidently in our society. Our aim is to make each child’s learning journey a joyous and motivating one. We hope you can continue to join us and assist us in this journey.

This week is yet another busy week. On Friday our Gold Badge assembly will be held in classrooms at 12:30pm via Zoom. Gold Badges will be presented to students whose behaviour has been terrific all year. We hope all Mums and Dads will acknowledge these wonderful achievements. Photos will be posted on our SeeSaw app for parents.

The canteen will be offering students a meal deal and all classes will have a movie and games afternoon. The movie is a relaxing and fun way for students and teachers to celebrate together the end of another busy and successful term of learning at Narrabri West.

We will also be participating in the Bone Marrow Institute’s Footy Colours Charity Day on Friday. Students can wear their favourite team’s footy colours, or just brightly coloured clothes if they wish.  The cost for the day is a gold coin donation, with all proceeds going to the Bone Marrow Institute to benefit cancer programs for children. This will no doubt help everyone get into the spirit of the upcoming NRL and AFL grand finals.

This term has as always, come and gone very quickly. Hopefully the holidays will give all children a chance to rest and recharge. They will certainly need it as Term 4 will as always, be very, very, very busy! Term 4 commences for both teachers and students on MONDAY 12th OCTOBER.

We wish you and your family a happy and safe holiday.

Our school will also be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents and staff, activities and practices at home and parent views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. 

The survey is conducted entirely online and will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between August 26 and October 23. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, however, your responses are very much appreciated. 

We will distribute shortly information to all parents on how to access and complete the survey.  http://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/nwps2020

We realise it is often difficult to decide whether or not to send your children to school. However, if they are obviously unwell in the morning it would be wise to keep them at home. If you send them to school sick, it will take longer for them to get over it, it could become worse and in the process they may pass it on to someone else as well. Please give this some close consideration.

We have soap available in all our toilets for the children to use and encourage good personal hygiene at all times.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

Thank you to everyone who sends in Skoolbag notifications or emails informing us of your child/ren’s absences as they occur. 

If your child is sick for 3 consecutive days, you are required to provide the school with a medical certificate. 

If your child is absent due to Covid19 testing, you are required to produce a Negative result certificate upon return to school.

Parents/carers are required by law to provide an explanation to the school to say why their child was absent from school. A note of explanation should contain:

1.     Date that the note was written

2.     Child’s name

3.     Days/dates the child was absent from school

4.     The reason the child was absent

5.     The signature of the child’s parent/carer

Or complete the online absence note on our Skoolbag app.

If you notify the school of an absence on one day, we cannot assume the same reason for being absent on consecutive days.

If more than one child from the same family has been absent, a separate note for each child should be written.

A note should be brought to school or a Skoolbag notification update, on the first day the student returns to school after an absence. If not, we are required to investigate all unexplained absences (where a child has been absent and no explanation has been received) within two days.

Notifying the school of absences through the Skoolbag app, by phone, email or note are all acceptable and appreciate.

Students who are being picked up at the end of the school day are supervised on the back oval near the hall and we ask that all parents collect their children from this area.

Due to health guidelines and restrictions parents are not permitted on the school ground without the permission of the Principal. Please call the office before entering the school grounds.

Please notify your child’s teacher if your child has permission to walk home. 

 School Banking program will remain on hold. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed with any updates including how we will be managing Dollarmite tokens for students. In the meantime, here are some handy online resources for parents who wish to maintain momentum with their child’s financial education: 

SMART MONEY:

Slippery Slope of spending: https://youtu.be/uR49MVcWE8c

Online spending influence: https://youtu.be/GaBQ5X5elBA 

Years 5 & 6

Marketing for a small business: https://youtu.be/hIfHsNRMzqY

CommBank Youth app

Manage Real Money Digitally: https://youtu.be/DhcQbvaT-ws