NO CANTEEN/LUNCH ORDERS – TUESDAY 20 APRIL 2021

Our canteen supervisor, Amy Reading, will be on leave on Tuesday 20 April 2021. As we currently do not have any replacement staff to work in the canteen, we unfortunately must close the canteen on this day.

This means, there will be NO LUNCH ORDERS on the first day back next term. Canteen orders will resume as normal from Wednesday 21 April 2021.

We apologise for any inconvenience this creates.

YEAR 5 OPPORTUNITY CLASS FOR 2022

Parents and carers of students in Year 4 2021 are advised that the application process for Year 5 opportunity class placement for entry in 2022 is about to begin.

Important dates in the application process are as follows:

• Tuesday 20 April 2021: Online applications opens

• Friday 7 May 2021: Online applications closes (Parents and carers must apply by the due date.)

• Wednesday 21 July 2021: Opportunity Class Placement Test

Parents and carers must apply online between Tuesday 20 April and Friday 7 May 2021 at:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5

For further information or support with this process, please contact the front office on 67658316.

SCHOOL TIMES

I am concerned that several students are arriving 5-10 minutes late every day. Please remember classes start at 9:25 am and our teachers start classes straight away. This is valuable learning time for all students and over a week our late students are losing close to an hour of learning time which would equate to more than two full days of learning a term and over a full week by the end of the year.

Please do your best to ensure that students are at school on time every day.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

What a busy term our teaching staff have had!

Each week teachers have worked together in collaborative planning sessions to plan explicit teaching and learning programs. They have used data collected throughout the term to adjust and modify their teaching to suit the needs of the students in their class.

Each stage had a ZOOM session with Dr Janelle Wills to discuss Proficiency Scales that will assist teachers and students to determine the current level of progress towards meeting the essential learning in all Key Learning Areas. On Tuesday 23 March, teachers met with Janelle again for a 90-minute ZOOM session to continue working on Proficiency Scales. Teachers will continue to write these throughout the year to match what is being explicitly taught. They are also looking at inventive and visual ways to create data walls in their classroom so students can see what they have achieved and where to next for their learning. We will continue to work with Janelle through the year.

We are trialling a new Maths platform called Maths Online in Term 2. Your child will receive a log in to use this at home and school. Teachers are able to set activities that are at all students’ levels for them to complete. We are also looking into an online platform for reading.

At the beginning of Term 2 teachers will be implementing a program called CARS and STARS. This is a comprehensive program that assists teachers to teach twelve reading and comprehension strategies. This has been an area we have identified through our collection of data that we need to improve our literacy results. It is tailored to suit the level of each student. We will begin Term 2 with Professional Learning on how to use this program.

We are very lucky to have the guru of SMART Spelling, Michelle Hutchison, dropping into our school in week 1 of term 2. Our families may remember her from our home learning where she provided videos for you to watch. Michelle will be visiting a couple of our classes to see how they are enjoying the program and then providing some professional learning for our staff.

Jody Welsh

Instructional Leader

This term classroom teachers have been busy setting up their classroom expectations and reward systems. Each class has been revising school expectations for all areas and we have had a focus on transitioning from the playground into classrooms.

INFANTS CLASS AWARDS - Weeks 4-9

Kindergarten has had a fabulous first term at school and we have all settled in beautifully to our class routines. Kindergarten staff's primary communication method with families has been through the Seesaw App. This has allowed weekly updates with families, informing them about what is happening in the classroom and school. It also enables us to send home photos of artwork and achievements throughout the week.

In Week 9, Kindergarten had a very special visitor. At lunchtime, Captain West flew into school to check that all Kindergarten students were following the playground expectations. Kindergarten were given the opportunity to have photos with Captain West if they wished, and they enjoyed following him around the playground.

Thank you to all our Kindergarten families for your support this term. We wish you a very safe and happy Easter break!

-Miss Massey, Miss Cross and Mrs. Wilson

Year 1/2 STEM

In STEM, students have been involved in a range of activities.

In 1C and 1/2R, students used their critical thinking to design and create a marble run maze using various materials. We saw a lot of different designs which included mini ramps and tunnels! Students had lots of fun creating these and trying out their friends’ designs.

In 2L students were challenged with making card towers and how many books a roll of paper could hold! As you can see, one group managed to hold up 23 books with their piece of paper!

Announcements

Miss Sutherland will be absent from weeks 1-4 in term 2. Miss Burns will be taking 1S for this time until Miss Sutherland returns to school in Week 5.

Harmony Week was celebrated in the primary classes with a whole school “Wear your House Colours to School Day’ and what an amazing way our students embraced their house colours! Each primary classroom teacher also organised an activity and students rotated in their sporting houses to complete 4 of the activities offered. Houses were given the opportunity to earn extra house points and the competition has been fierce!

I have loved the way our students across the school have taken up the challenge to earn house points for their houses! Well done and thanks to the Stage 3 students who collect the points each week to collate.

K-3M & 3-6D

K-3M and 3-6D have continued to work collaboratively on a regular basis during this month to complete activities as part of their themed integrated seasonal study of Autumn.

We wish the entire TWPS community a Happy Easter and a safe and restful holiday.