opportunities and challenges for our children … · our olympics were then officially opened by...

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR OUR CHILDREN 1

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 Week 6 Term 3

Let the games begin!

We had a great afternoon at our Olympic Games, with excited competitors and many Mums, Dads and visitors joining us for lunch and the activities. Even Westy Bear popped in to share the Olympic spirit with everyone.

After the raising of the Olympic Flag by school leaders Emma, Addison, Leo and Jeremy, the Olympic Torch arrived after its long journey from Rio. Audrey and Riley had the honour of carrying it on its last leg to our assembly. Our Olympics were then officially opened by Mrs Phillips who declared “Let the games begin!” in her native language of Spanish and Portuguese, which is also the language of Brazil.

An afternoon of games then commenced, with children competing in some fun variations of swimming, equestrian, cycling, relays, and other Olympic sport activities. Everybody seemed to have an enjoyable time and it was especially pleasing to see how much the older children assisted the younger ones, including our preschoolers. The day concluded with a presentation to the winning teams.

There is a collection of photos from the Narrabri West Olympics on our website.

Narrabri West

Public School

Newsletter

Main photo: Our mini-Olympics were obviously a lot of fun – if this photo is anything to go by!

Dates to Remember August 23 Little Athletics presentation –

2:10pm 24 ‘Ready, Set, Kinder!’ – 2:10pm 26 K-6 Assembly 1:00pm 29 Fete Meeting 6:00pm 31 ‘Ready, Set, Kinder!’ – 2:10pm

September 2 K-6 Assembly 1:00pm;

North West PSSA Athletics – Tamworth

7 ‘Ready, Set, Kinder!’ – 2:10pm 9 K-6 Assembly 1:00pm 12 Fete Meeting 6:00pm;

P&C Meeting 6:30pm 14 ‘Ready, Set, Kinder!’ – 2:10pm

P.O Box 3121 (6 Cooma Road) NARRABRI 2390 T 0267922377 E [email protected] W www.narrabriw-p.schools.det.nsw.edu.au

2

Olympics (continued) The Rio Olympics are also a wonderful learning experience and classes have been leaning about the history of the Olympics and also following the efforts of the Australian competitors. Thanks to the ingenuity of Aidan and Imogen McKenzie’s mum, 1/2B and 1K enjoyed some Olympic biscuits on our mini-Olympics day. A round biscuit and five different coloured ‘Smarties’ - we’ll leave you to figure it out. The photo below and the Olympic rings on Page 1 of our newsletter may give you a clue!

NAPLAN 2016 Parents of students in Years 3 and Year 5 have received their child’s NAPLAN assessment results indicating their child’s level of achievement in the tests held earlier this year.

These results provide information for us about what each student can do and will be used to support our teaching. We will look closely at our results and analyse areas of success and areas we need to continue to develop in our learning programs. Results vary considerably from year to year, reflecting the differences in each group of students as they undertake these tests.

Here at Narrabri West, we believe that NAPLAN contains valuable information to guide future learning directions. We look at the growth our students have made between their year three and five results and the value added between year five and year seven results. This data is used in conjunction with other data to assist us to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and guide future directions.

NAPLAN does not test knowledge, only information and competencies. Results should be looked at in conjunction with the assessment evidence provided to you by your child’s teacher and seen as an opportunity to identify areas for your child to continue to work on.

The tests are a snapshot of performance on one day in one assessment and individual results of course do vary. Some students results accurately reflected the understandings of concepts that they display on a daily basis in their school work, whilst the results of other

students did not reflect the level of understanding they demonstrate to us and we know that they have. This can sometimes happen in a one-off test.

If you wish to discuss your child’s reports with their class teacher, please contact them at school for an appointment.

Thank you to everyone who supported this important cause. Over $300 was raised for the Children’s Medical Research Institute by students and teachers who happily joined in the spirit of the day.

The Tell Them From Me student survey This term our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning outcomes and measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

You may remember that our students also participated in a Tell Them From Me student survey in Term 1 this year. Asking students to complete the survey twice in one year allows us to identify trends in student responses as well as track engagement and motivation across the school year.

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help improve how they do things at school.

The survey is confidential, conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.


3

A consent form for parents about the survey has been sent home with students in Years 4 to 6. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school if you have not already done so.

The Partners in Learning parent survey 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 22 August and 21 October. 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.

Victory in the Pacific and Vietnam Veterans Day Our school captains Audrey and Riley have represented the school at this memorial service held at the Narrabri RSL. They joined the other local school captains and also presented a speech recognising the sacrifices made in the Vietnam War by Australian servicemen. As you would expect, they performed their speeches extremely well.

‘Ready, Set Kinder!’ Transition Program Our Kindergarten Transition program commences tomorrow, Wednesday 24th August. This will be an excellent opportunity for all 2017 Kindergarten students to prepare themselves for the beginning of their school life. It is not too late to register your interest in this

program or for Kindergarten in 2017. Please fill in the form attached to this newsletter, or contact the school (67922377) if you require further details.

Class News - Stage 2 We have had a busy start to Term 3 and have been working very hard over the past 5 weeks.

In English we have been learning about informative text and texts that explain and the children are enjoying learning about how things work and are reading a variety of texts which inform and explain.

Our science unit for the term is ‘Heating Up’ and students have enjoyed sharing their knowledge of heat. The unit will involve many experiments to learn about the transfer of heat, objects that produce their own heat and those that are heated by something else, as well as learning about conductors and insulators. As part of our science unit we will also be constructing a lapbook to show all that we have learnt about heat.

As part of CAPA students have enjoyed learning a variety of new dances and have shown off their own moves to create their own dances as well. Students have also enjoyed learning how to sketch and draw a variety of objects.

All have enjoyed their first 100 days of school and everyone in Stage 2 would also like to thank all the visitors who came for our 100 days of school celebration. Some of the things we have enjoyed most include:

4K • The thing I enjoyed most about the first 100 days of

school was that all the parents came. Jackie • The most interesting thing I learnt in the first 100 days

of school was doing art for the first time. George • The most interesting thing I learnt in the first 100 days

of school was doing maths and learning about decimals. Max

• The thing I enjoyed most about the first 100 days of school was when all the parents came in for 100 days of school. Brock

P.O Box 3121 (6 Cooma Road) NARRABRI 2390 T 0267922377 E [email protected] W [email protected]

4

• The thing I enjoyed most about the first 100 days of school was that we got to do fun stuff with our parents. Mikayla

• The things I enjoyed most about first 100 days of school was art, especially using water paint to create the Fantastic Mr Fox and creating funny faces like Picasso’s.

3T • I liked the 100 days at school because we had a lot

of parents come and I enjoyed them helping us with the Art we did. Daniel

• I enjoyed the book fair because there were lots of posters and some really good books. Imogen C

• I enjoyed the 100 days of school because we did lots of fun things and I got my SRC badge. Chelsie

• I enjoyed the 100 days of school because there were lots of people coming to watch the assembly and the 100 days tabloids. Blake

• I enjoyed seeing everybody’s parents, uncles and auntie’s and watching everybody having fun at the 100 days of school. Nate

• I liked the 100 days of school because we had lots of parents coming and I enjoyed the tabloids. Most of all I enjoyed the book fair where I got to spent all my mums money! Millie

3/4F • Showing my parents around my room was fun and

looking at Seesaw on the Smart Board. Claire • The best thing was making stuff with my Dad.

Timothy • I like making the balloons because I set my goals for

the rest of the year. Kaitlyn

• I loved Mum coming in and helping me make goal balloons. Lachlon

• I really liked drawing the monkey in the trolley. I was proud of my work. Ashley

• I enjoyed singing and performing Purple People Eater. It was fun. Liam

2/3C • I really enjoyed the first 100 days of school because

we got to participate in the swimming carnival. Riley • What I’ve enjoyed in my first 100 days of school is

hanging out with my Mum and Dad and relaxing with my friends. Layla

• I really enjoyed the first 100 days of school because we were able to spend time with family and friends. Alyssa

• I enjoyed the first 100 days of school because we got to do Olympics and it was really fun. I also liked book fair because we got to buy some books. Jasmine

Sports News Gold Medal efforts by our athletes! Our athletics team has obviously been inspired by the Australian athletes at the Olympic Games and performed very well at the Narrabri PSSA Athletics Carnival held at Wee Waa. Our team competed with enthusiasm, commitment and great sportsmanship. A large number of our athletes have now won selection in the Narrabri Zone PSSA team to compete at the North West Area PSSA Athletics Championships to be held in Tamworth on Friday 2nd September. Congratulations to:

Bree Charlton (100m), Amalie Gosper (100m, 200m, Relay, Long Jump), Holly Ford (10 years 100m, Relay), Damiann Jeffries (12 years 100m), Tayla Nott (Relay), Meika Foley (Relay), Chelsea Wallace (Long Jump), Grace Hardy (Shot Put, Discus), Brock Gordon (100m, Relay, High Jump), Don Watkins (100m, 200m, Relay), Rileigh Kelly (100m, 800m, Relay), Jack Anderson (Relay), Cohen Tout (Relay), Noah Dickinson (Relay), Riley Longworth (Relay, Long Jump), Leo Hall (Relay), Tim Shields (Long Jump, Shot Put), Noah Ghassan (Discus), Ryan Thomas (Discus), Jim Dent (Discus)


5

Feature Article Student Self-Assessment Teachers in our school include student self-assessment in their learning activities. Student self-assessment is regarded as vital to success at school.

Renowned English educator Dylan Wiliam says that self-assessment by students …

… far from being a luxury, is in fact an essential component of formative assessment ...

The implementation of student self-assessment in the classroom does not ignore the role of the teacher. The very important role of the teacher involves:

• sharing with students the success criteria for each assessment activity;

• ensuring that students understand the success criteria;

• explicitly teaching students how to apply the criteria to their own work;

• providing students with feedback to help them improve; and

• helping students to set learning goals to achieve that improvement.

Students who use self-assessment:

• recognise that learning is associated with a very positive kind of difficulty, which increases motivation rather than destroying it;

• experience an increase in self-esteem; and • experience an improvement in their learning

because they come to know how they learn, rather than just what they learn.

Teachers who encourage students to self-assess:

• see the responsibility for learning shifting from them to their students;

• recognise an increase in student motivation and enthusiasm for learning and a corresponding decrease in behavioural problems; and

• are able to use feedback from their students about how they learn to shape lessons to individual and group needs, rather than teaching to the class as whole.

Some sample reflective questions that teachers are using in our classrooms are:

• What have you learned? • What did you find easy about learning to …? • How would you do things differently next time? • What did you find difficult while you were

learning to …? • What helped you when something got tricky …? • How would you change this activity for another

group or class who were learning to …?

Some reflective sentence starters that help students learn how to learn are:

• The most interesting thing about … was … • I prefer to work by myself on activities that … • I like working with others when … • I find it easiest to understand when … • When I don't understand something, I … • I'm getting much better at … • One good question I asked (or thought of) today

was … • One of the things I do best is … • I'm still not sure how to … • I need to get help with … • The part I found the most difficult was …

Teachers also use self-assessment strategies such as these (below) as one of a number of strategies to assist students in assessing their own work and determining their levels of understanding.


6

School News & Reminders

Fete Update Our latest fete newsletter and helper roster will go home next week. Our next fete meeting is on Monday August 29th, commencing at 6:00pm in the staffroom.

We are also collecting bottles for the bottle stall and classes are building their collections. There is a special prize for the class that has the most bottles for the bottle stall.

The fete is our major fundraiser and the money it raises makes a huge difference to your child’s education. Please encourage your friends and family to come along.

Once again heaps of entertainment, food and a great night is assured.

RAFFLE TICKETS Please return any raffle ticket books that you do not intend to sell as we desperately need these books back as we have lots of people wanting to buy tickets and also wanting to sell more books.

P&C Meetings Our next P&C meeting will be held on Monday 12th September at 6:30pm in the staffroom. Please note the change of date from the originally advertised date of Monday 5th September. All parents are welcome. Our final fete meeting will be held before this, commencing at 6:00pm.

Narrabri West Pre School 2017

We are now taking Expressions of Interest for

Pre School placements in 2017.

Application forms may be collected from the front office or our website.

Initial offers of placement for 2017 will be made in September.

Ready, Set, Kinder! Transition to Kindergarten program

STARTS TOMORROW

Term 3 Wednesday 24th, 31st August & 7th, 14th, 21st

September 2:10pm – 3:25pm

Term 4 Wednesday 12th, 19th, 26th October & 2nd

November 9:25am – 3:25pm

Parent Information Session Wednesday 2nd November 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Student Graduation Ceremony Wednesday 2nd November 2:15pm

Narrabri High School Back to School Night

Tuesday 23rd August 6:00pm - TONIGHT

Meet in the Library

Year 7, 2017 Parents and Caregivers are invited to come and experience lessons at Narrabri High School.

This will be followed by supper and a chat.

RSVP 18th August 2016 Phone 67921633

Rod Jones Principal


7

Canteen Roster

Important Information - Student Health Impetigo (School Sores)

A few case of Impetigo have occurred at the school. The following information to assist parents is from NSW Health.

Students who have Impetigo should remain at home until antibiotic treatment starts. Sores should be covered with watertight dressings.

What is impetigo? Impetigo, sometimes called "school sores" is a bacterial infection of the skin. The main causes are strains of staphylococcus aureus (known as ‘staph’).

What does it look like? Impetigo occurs in two forms, blistering and crusted.

In blistering impetigo the blisters arise on previously normal skin and grow quickly in size and number. The blisters quickly burst and leave slightly moist or glazed areas with a brown crust at the edge. The spots expand quickly even after they break open and can be many centimetres wide. They are sometimes clear in the centre to produce ring shaped patterns. They are not usually painful but can be itchy.

Crusted impetigo has a thick soft yellow crust. Beneath this crust is a moist red area. Crusted impetigo spots grow slowly and are always smaller than the fully developed spots of blistering impetigo. They are not usually painful but can be itchy.

Impetigo can occur on top of other skin conditions, particularly itchy ones. When the skin is ‘scratched’ the infection can enter through the broken skin. Some of these conditions are atopic dermatitis (eczema), scabies, insect bites and head lice.

How is it treated? Impetigo is very easy to catch from other people. If possible, your child should be isolated until the blisters have dried out. Bathing the blisters with salty (saline) water will help to dry them out. Encourage your child and family to wash their hands frequently, and especially after touching an infected area. To prevent spread don’t share clothes, towels, bed linen, nail scissors, tweezers, razors or toothbrushes.

It can be treated with antibiotics. Your doctor should take a swab from the spots to check which antibiotic to use.

The result of the swab takes several days. Depending on how bad the infection is your doctor will start either an antibiotic cream or a medicine. If your child starts on antibiotic medicine it is important to finish the whole course of treatment (usually 5 days) and not stop when the impetigo starts to clear. If other family members have skin lesions they should also be treated.

Remember: • Impetigo is very easy to catch from other people

• If prescribed antibiotics it is important to finish the whole course to make sure the impetigo will not recur.

Headlice

Please remember to check your children’s head and hair on a regular basis for headlice.

Several cases of headlice have been reported to the school recently, so it is very important to make regular inspections.

Children found to have headlice at school will be sent home for treatment. Children are able to return to school after a suitable treatment has been applied.

Wed 24th J Geal

Thurs 25th G Westman

Fri 26th N McCauley, J Michell, K Butler

Mon 29th K Holman

Tues 30th T Todd

Wed 31st K Mason

Thurs 1st Sept F Kerr

Fri 2nd M Cameron, H Hill, E Lennox

Mon 5th A Fitzgerald

Tues 6th B Gordon

Wed 7th A Kneale

Thurs 8th S Dodd

Fri 9th J Michell, C Browning, S McKenzie


8

Award Winners - Weeks 4 & 5 KG Sophie Stoltenberg, Emily Simpson, Mia Williams, Sally Whitburn & Zaiden Kelly

KL Mavrick Croaker, Reece Kelly, Jordin Tribe, Hadleigh Astill, Beau Laws & Jacob Anderson

KC Cody Harris, Isla Holman, Layne Hollis, Teagan Spittles, Kiara Sheehan & Imogen Lubke-Wood

1K Lilly Hennessy, Destani Vernon, Cindy Jones, Hunter Smith, Allira Tibbett & Ava Smith

1S Ava O’Connell, Kaleb Bremner, Cameron Winter, Kaden Hill, Lilly Thompson & Levi Browning

1/2B Aiden McKenzie, Lucas Duff, Ryan Williams, Sienna Earle, Stella Laws & Riley Firth

2D Ella Adams, Cody Lane, Elizabeth Silver, Rory Holman, Taliyah Earle & Adriann Phillips

2/3C Jack Anderson, Layla Boehm, Yasmin Finnigan, Laura Vary, Elijah Ghassan & Bailey Cooke

3T Charlie Bennett, Millie Collins, Lilly Burford, Samantha Westman, Callum Wales & Blake Christian

3/4F Shayla Williams, Kaitlyn Cahill, Timmy Stoltenberg, Mason Kebby, Cohen Tout & Mitch Dafter

4K Jacqueline Collett, Chloe Mason, Noah Dickinson, Duke Farr, Mya Dansey & Ethan Hall

5/6C Rileigh Kelly, Montana Olding, Hope Westman, Ryan Thomas, Will Bennett & Holly Ford

5/6P Tyleah McQuilty, Riley Dickinson, Millie Dansey, Mackenzie Knox, Jake Farr & Charlee Croaker

5/6S Amalie Gosper, James Balmforth, Owen Balmforth, Miah Burns, Riley Longworth & Addison Russell

Citizenship Awards & Stars of the Week

Hope Stoltenberg Lucas Griffiths Daniel Smith Larnie Durkin

Abbey Manton Holly Olding Lillie-Mae Carter Jordyna Hucker

K-2 Super Westy Charlie Butler, Allira Tibbett 3-6 Super Westy Grace Gaynor

Community News


opportunities and challenges for our children … · our olympics were then officially opened by...

Documents