Narrabri West Public School

2020 certainly has had its challenges, however there has been lots to celebrate!

Last Friday students received their Semester Two Academic Reports. This week, many children received their Platinum Awards.  On behalf of all the teachers, please congratulate your children on a job well done.

The end of the school year is a special time for all of us, although it is a bit difficult to believe that December has arrived so quickly. It is a time to celebrate with our students for all they have accomplished and to acknowledge our dedicated staff and school community. It is a time to review all of the ways in which we have been successful and a time to begin making plans to build on that success in new ways that will positively shape our future.

Our students have had a strong learning year and none of this could have happened without a committed and enthusiastic school community. Our teachers and staff members are willing to give freely of themselves to provide many opportunities for our students to take on different challenges and enjoy new experiences. We are also grateful to the parents who have supported the school in so many ways.

Congratulations and thank you to the many people who assist us in providing the many additional programs and opportunities that assist our students to reach their potential.

To those of you who are leaving us for new places and adventures, we wish you all the best. Congratulations to our very capable Year 6 students who are moving on to a new stage in their academic career!

On another note, we look forward to having lots of new faces at our school next year. We know everyone will make them feel very welcome.

We have had the speeches for each of the boys and girls who were standing for election to be school leaders in 2021. The speeches were fantastic and really articulated why these very good students should be chosen as our leaders. They really impressed with how far they have come as public speakers, with well organised speeches, including in some cases some humour, but all managed to keep the audience captivated. There was not a candidate that would not make a terrific captain or prefect and they can be very, very proud of their efforts. Of course, after these speeches were completed, Years 2 to 6 voted for the student leaders of their choice.

The election results were incredibly close, which is not surprising when you consider the high quality of all candidates. We are very excited to announce that the students who received the highest number of votes from the students of Years 2-6, and therefore our school leaders for 2021 are:

Captains:  Ava Smith and Edward Bennett

Prefects: Allira Tibbett, Hayley Gordon, Pip Collins, Lucas Griffiths, Liam Nott  and James Stewart

The new school leaders were presented with their badges on Presentation Day.

Last week we elected our House Leaders for 2021. Congratulations to these students:    

Their first duty will be our Swimming Carnival next year.

Presentation Day which was held at school last Thursday. We hope students enjoyed the opportunity to acknowledge the achievements and successes of the students of Narrabri West.  Thank you to the teachers for all your hard work and we know you are very proud of them.

Academic Awards- Trophies

Music Awards

School Awards

Dux – Elizabeth Silver

Academic Awards – Chelsea Dean, Alyssa Christie and Anna Stuart

Citizenship- Taryn Kirk and Ashley Morris

Leadership awards- Nate Wilkins, Chelsea Dean, Rory Holman, Paganne Ryman, Kyal Seymour, Molly Phillips, Domenic Browning, Sienna Earle, 

We held our annual music solo competition for our woodwind students on Thursday 3rd of November. We were treated to an afternoon of wonderful music. Congratulations to all students who performed on the day. It was obvious you had all put in many hours of rehearsals at home. Thank you to Rosemary Smith for all of your efforts teaching the students.

The results are as follows:

Beginner Woodwind

1st Hadleigh Astill

2nd Alexa Gordon

3rd Isabelle Gale

 Woodwind

1st Chelsea Dean and Adison Hartog-Smith

2nd Ayla Cunningham

3rd Taryn Kirk

Blake Eather was awarded the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge GOLD AWARD.

Congratulations on your fourth successful year in the Premier's Reading Challenge. Well done Blake!

The Year 6 farewell was held at the RSL Club Monday December 14th. Thank you Year 6 for your contribution to our school over 7 years, or 8 if you went to our Pre School!

Semester 2 reports are an indication of your child’s achievements during the past two terms and our teachers have been assessing students according to curriculum outcomes which generally allow two years for students to progress through each stage. The report gives you information about their academic, physical and social development at this point in their education. They included:

·         Clear, accurate information about the performance of each child;

·         Information on what the student can do well;

·         Areas still developing; and

·         Information about the student’s social skills and commitment to learning.

Learning is continuous and children learn at different rates.  However all children need encouragement and praise to be confident, happy learners. Some children try very hard and find learning difficult. They deserve your praise and encouragement. Some children find learning easy and often don’t try as hard as they could. Your encouragement here is critical as well. For those students who have no difficulty learning and put a lot of effort into their work, they need continued acknowledgement and praise to keep this level of enthusiasm and commitment. For those students whose effort is minimal, closer home and school partnerships are an important key to improvement.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of these, please arrange a suitable time with your child’s teacher.

You are reminded that any outstanding amounts can be paid up until Friday December 18th.

Thank you to everyone who has paid their school contribution and textbooks fees this year. These funds allow us to provide additional and better resources to assist your children.

… to everyone for your support of the school during 2020. We thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with your children and to enjoy their company.

Our staff would also particularly like to thank all parents who have assisted the school in any way. Your support and assistance is vital. 

With only one day left in our school year, the staff and students are busy finalising learning programs, assessments and tidying classrooms.

Over the past few weeks we have been planning classes and teachers for 2021. These classes will not be finalised until the beginning of 2021 as we will need to place any new enrolments that may arrive at the beginning of the year. Therefore students may not go into their new classes until our final enrolments are known over the first few days. Students will stay in their 2020 classes for probably the first few days.

We are currently working on our new Strategic Improvement Plan for 2021 to 2024. This working document details the steps our school will take to improve learning outcomes and the achievement and growth of all students.

 To ensure continuous improvement, the Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) reflects where our school is at and how it will further improve learning, teaching and leading.

Our new draft strategic directions are:

1.        School growth and attainment

2.      Responsive teaching and active learning

3.      Leadership for learning

When schools, families and the broader community work together to develop positive connections, students thrive.

We will be providing you with opportunities to comment on our strategic directions and look forward to your input.

We are presently organising our class structure for 2021. One part of this is the allocation of students to each of the new classes. We would like to point out a few facts about the assigning of students to class groups and ultimately, teachers to classes. This process is always a complex issue, which the school takes very seriously and parents usually understand how difficult the issue of assigning students to classes can be.

For those new to the school, it is worthwhile again to outline the school’s procedures for this very important task. Literally dozens of hours of work go into the formation of classes and looking at the students that are placed together to make a class. We ensure that all necessary factors are taken into account during this process and try to take into account the following factors:

·         The number of classes in each stage of learning (ie Early Stage 1, Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3);

·         An equal division of students as possible in each year level into the number of classes;

·         Balance of gender in the class;

·         Spread of students with additional needs;

·         The issue of siblings being in the same class;

·         Mix of independent and dependent workers; and

·         Whether students have had the teacher before.

To ensure that we develop the optimal balance in classes, we also use a range of assessments and information to base our decisions on as well.

As you can see, the allocation of students to class groups is not a simple process where students are thrown together in a haphazard manner. It is a task which we tackle with great thought and consideration.

The development of class groups precedes the actual allocation of the teacher to the class, as often final staffing is only known in the last week of term or at the beginning of the year.

If you are not going to be at Narrabri West in 2021 could you please let us know ASAP as this may impact on our class plans for next year.

We have included with this newsletter the class requirements for each grade next year. This is so you can plan ahead and take advantage of the usual January back to school sales. 

Narrabri West Public School

CLASS REQUIREMENTS FOR 2021

** NO FELT TIP PENS **

Kinder, Stage 1 and Stage 2 – please provide glue sticks in a zip lock bag with the child’s name on the bag.

For Years 3-6 - please provide the necessary items in a clearly labeled pencil case.

Thank you for providing the items listed for your child's class.

PLEASE LABEL ALL ITEMS SENT TO SCHOOL - CLOTHING AS WELL

Our 2021 swimming carnival will be held on Friday February 5th. The carnival will be for students in Years 3-6, however students entering Year 2 (in 2021) who turn 8 in 2021 and compete in Narrabri Swimming Club events may also attend at parent’s request.

Our school takes sun safety seriously and implements a range of strategies to support our school environment so that students are protected from the damaging effects of the sun.

We have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for students and staff and this includes providing adequate protection from the sun.

As we are now in the warmest time of the year, it is important that all students wear their hats when outside. It is also a great idea to pack some sunscreen into your child’s bag so that they can apply this throughout the day.

If students do not bring their hats to school, they will be asked to seek shade and play under the covered areas of the school.

Next year we will again supply all students in the school with a free blue broad brimmed hat. Caps are not permitted and only children wearing school hats will be allowed to play outside. Students representing the school in out of school events must also wear the school hat. We thank every student in the school for their continued support of this policy. 

December                2020