The Evatt Eagle - Issue 12

We have dived head first into Term 3 with so many great things happening at Evatt Primary School. See below about some of the happenings across the school!

Athletics Carnival

Last Thursday we were lucky enough to find a short break in the wet weather which enabled us to have our fantastic Athletics Carnival. Even though the grounds were wet, the sun was shining and smiles were seen from students, staff and parents/carers throughout the day. We had great participation from students who had the opportunity to take part in a variety of Athletic Activities including running, shot put, discus, long jump + much more. A massive thank you to Mr Sterland for organising the day, which could not have been so successful without our parent/carer volunteers and helpers.

The results of each event will be republished here in this newsletter early in Week 4.

Aquasafe

Next week we kick off our Aquasafe program for students in Years 2 and 3. Aquasafe is a unique water safety and awareness program designed specifically for Year 2 students in the ACT. Due to the disruptions of COVID-19 in 2020, our year 2 students were unable to attend therefore the program has been extended to include those students in 2021. Participation for the program is partially funded by the ACT Government. This funding increases accessibility and affordability of the program for all students.

Community Rewards Program

Evatt Primary School is now part of The Community Rewards Program, an initiative of the Canberra Southern Cross Club. When you nominate a Community Group participating in the program and link it to your membership, the club will calculate the equivalent of 7.5 cents for every dollar you spend on food and beverages at Woden, Tuggeranong, Jamison and Yacht Club. This is then donated directly to Evatt Primary School to support the purchase of educational resources.

For this to happen please link your membership number using this link below:

https://csccmarketing.wufoo.com/forms/m11918uh1t3s10q/

Book Week

Each year since 1945 the Children's Book Council of Australia has brought children and books together across Australia through Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators. Book week will be running throughout Week 7 of this term with a variety of engaging activities and opportunities for our students. Last year Evatt Primary School worked hard to overcome COVID-19 restrictions with our pop-up photo booth for Book Week. We are excited this year to be able to get back to hosting our traditional community Book Week parade. This will be occurring first on Thursday 26 August as part of our morning meeting. Following this students will then move into book week rotations where they will be vertically grouped (put into groups of students from years K-6) and move around the school taking part in a variety of learning experiences facilitated by our teachers and linked to quality literature.

While students are encouraged to dress up as book characters for the day, we understand there are challenges associated with this. Libraries ACT staff and ACT No Waste have joined forces to discuss ideas to make your child's favourite book character costume. In support of this, they will be running a panel to help families find easy, cheap and sustainable ways to make your child's book character come to life! More information can be found at https://librariesact.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/EVSESENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=762236

Giggle & Wiggle + Loose Parts Play

As you might have seen, Evatt has been hosting regular opportunities for our families to engage in early years programs that build childrens' language and social skills. We are now expanding our offerings to include all members of the community. You do not need to have a child enrolled at Evatt in order to attend. If you have any family members, friends or colleagues who you think would benefit from attending the programs with their child, please share the great things happening at Evatt.

Giggle & Wiggle is run each Thursday from 9:00am - 10:00am. Facilitated by Libraries ACT, Giggle & Wiggle is the enormously popular program for babies and toddlers, 0-3 years of age, and their parents/carers. At Giggle & Wiggle, we sing songs, dance, and share rhymes, and aim to boost children's language development – all while having a great time!

Loose Parts Play is run each Tuesday from 9:00am - 10:00am. Facilitated by the University of Canberra, the program is aimed at non-school-age children (2-4) and their parents/carers. Children have the opportunity to engage in creative explorative play and will be supported by speech pathology staff and students from the University of Canberra.

Adults Coming Into School

Just a reminder, we ask all adult visitors to our public schools to use the Check In CBR app to ensure quick and efficient tracing in case of a COVID outbreak. This means if you leave your car when dropping off the kids, or you walk them into the playground, please locate a QR code and check in.

For more details visit: https://bit.ly/3AP9hlg

Rostrum 2021

Last term saw the welcomed return of the Rostrum Speaking contest to Evatt Primary School. Rostrum is a competition for school aged children that aims to encourage oral language skill development, and is held annually across the ACT and most other states in Australia.

At Evatt, students in Years 3 - 6 were tasked with writing and delivering a short speech based on a selection of predetermined topics. Finalists were selected from each class, who then went on to present their speeches to our senior school students with a final judgement being made on the overall winner. It was a very difficult decision for our judges with so many fantastic speeches being made. Darcy from Year 4 came out on top with his speech on Cars of the Future. Darcy went on to present his speech this term at the Quarter Finals held at Kingsford Smith School, being the youngest representative on the night. Well done Darcy on all your hard work!

P&C News

Evatt School Trivia NightGather your friends and book your table of 8-10 people and join us for a child free night of trivia, games and laughs. There will also be a raffle and some great prizes to win! Theme: Choose your own - create a team name, BYO your own table decorations or dress up. Tickets are $20 per person (sold as a table price) - Each table will receive a platter of warm finger foods. All money raised goes towards engaging programs for our children at Evatt School. (adults only)

Canteen open two days a week from week 3

From week 3 onwards, the canteen will be open on Thursdays and Fridays at B1 and B2 for lunch orders and counter sales.

Online orders through school24 will close at 8am each canteen day.

STUDENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TEAM

The SSIT met this week to discuss the value of fundraising and the impact our school can have on our community. They brainstormed ideas for fundraisers the school can hold and where to direct funds that have been raised.

They decided to hold a Pyjama day, and a spider stall on 3 August (Tuesday W4).

Students may wear appropriate pyjamas to school and give a gold coin donation.
Spiders will be for sale at B1:
- $1 for a small spider
- $2 for a large spider
Funds will be donated to the eagle sanctuary where Spirit and Aquila our adopted eagles live.

Can't wait to see you all in your pyjamas!

SSIT.