Curriculum & Policy Monitoring (CPM)

Last month we participated in the 2021 CPM process. This is a registration process for the Department of Education with NESA. It involves uploading evidence of compliance in relation to curriculum and policy. Our meeting was supposed to occur in August but was rescheduled due to COVID stay at home orders. We eventually met on 12 October 2021. Kirrily Milton, Sara Spink and I attended an online meeting and presented evidence to support how we meet the curriculum area of Stage 3 HSIE and the policy requirements around Child Protection and Student Welfare. I am thrilled to advise that our evidence and presentation received very positive feedback and we were affirmed in all areas with no issues, concerns or areas for development raised.

NAPLAN Results

NAPLAN letters were sent home to parents of Years 3 and 5 students on Friday 8 October 2021. With the exception of numeracy growth, we are thrilled with our academic results this year which include:

· Overall Reading – increase from 20% to 33% in top 2 bands (target 28.4%)

· Overall Numeracy – increase from 8% to 19% in top 2 bands (target 19.7%/lower bound 15.79%)

· Year 3 Reading – top 2 bands 50% (state 54.1%)

· Year 3 Numeracy – top 2 bands 28.3% (state 39.1%)

· Expected Growth Reading – target 50.2%, actual 55.77%

· Expected Growth Numeracy – target 53.99%, actual 35.14%

We are now putting explicit plans in place to maintain these outstanding results and address our short fall in numeracy growth.

Semester 2 Student Reports

As a result of Learning from Home, schools will again send home amended written reports. Our semester 2 student reports will be sent home on Friday, 10 December 2021.

Presentation Day

At this stage, we are still operating under Level 3 COVID-19 guidelines. Assemblies including end-of-year assemblies and award ceremonies remain unchanged, meaning that they are currently not permitted. A separate set of guidelines is due to be provided to schools in the coming weeks.

While we await the updated guidelines, we are again planning for a virtual end-of-year assembly and award ceremonies. More information will be sent home in our December newsletter.

Year 7 Selective High School Entry in 2023

Selective high schools cater for academically gifted students with high potential who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic standard. Selective high schools help these students to learn by grouping them with students of similar ability, and be using specialized teaching methods.

If you would like to have your child considered for year 7 selective high school entry in 2023, you need to apply on the internet using a valid email address (not the student’s email address).

The Selective high School Placement test will be held on Thursday 10 March 2022.

Detailed instructions on how to apply and the link to the online form is available at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7

Applications opened on 19 October and close on 17 November 2021. You must apply before the closing date.

Please only submit ONE application for each student.

End of year planning

Each year, schools must plan staffing for the following year based on strict ratios of teachers to student enrolments. These ratios are set by the Department. It is extremely helpful to know the expected enrolments as early as possible prior to the start of the new school year.

If you are planning a move for your child/ren to another school or you know already that your child/ren are expected to be delayed in their return to school in 2022, could you please contact Julie in the front office as soon as you can? Julie can be contacted on 6765 8316.

School Visitor Check-in

A single School Visitor Check-in system for every school across the state began on 18 October 2021.

The Department of Education has partnered with Service NSW to provide a streamlined, digital school sign-in system for visitors and contractors at every NSW government school. 

Benefits of the new system include:

· Accelerating your check-ins to as fast as 20 seconds!  

· Linked to NSW Health’s COVID-19 contact tracing ensuring every school is compliant with the NSW COVID-19 mandate.

· Giving every school greater access to streamlined NSW Government services. 

Watch our short parent video to see how it works for parents or our contractor video.

Who can use School Visitor check-in?

• Visitors such as parents and carers, contractors, service providers and volunteers.

Students or visitors under the age of 18 are not required to use School Visitor Check-in.

For more information visit School Visitor Check-in on the department website.

Aboriginal Education Committee (AEC)

Yaama,

This term students have been learning about numbers and the counting system during Aboriginal language lessons. Students in stages 2 and 3 are also learning how to incorporate this into forming sentences, with the end goal of creating a simple counting book. These books will then be shared with our infant classes.

Due to COVID restrictions the Aboriginal educational excursions that were postponed at the end of term 2 are unable to go ahead this year. We thank you for your understanding in regards to this matter.

It is hard to believe that we are now in our final term of Kindergarten. How time flies when you are having fun! This term in writing, we have been revising the skills we have learnt throughout the year with a focus on capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. This will be an ongoing focus for the rest of the year. Kinder have been reading books written by Julia Donaldson, e.g., “Room on the Broom” and “Cave Baby”. In our math session we have been learning about money and Kinder have had opportunities to play shops in our class rotations. Child Protection began this term and we are continuing with our history unit about families and celebrations, which we started in term three. Kinder have been very busy completing a range of artwork linked to other areas of our curriculum. Here are some samples of our creative work. (Paper cup dragon – Patterns; Witches Legs -Writing; Spring Flowers – Maths: Time)

Kinder 2022

In week three, we welcomed our new kindergarten students for 2022 into the school for Kinder Transition. They settled in extremely quickly, following routines and listening to staff. The 2022 Kinders participated in a range of activities including art, scissor skills, role playing, puzzles and play dough. A huge thank you to Mrs Sheedy, Mrs Stephens, Miss Welsh, Mrs Brown (Tippy) and Miss Cross for supporting our transition program over the last two weeks. Miss Massey and I have appreciated everything you have done to ensure a smooth transition was achieved. We are very hopeful to run one more session in week 5.

Super Star Stage One Students

Throughout term 4 Stage 1 is focusing on the Fundamental movement skills, throw, strike and dodge. These skills are then practiced during sporting games each week. Students have thoroughly enjoyed this and have fully participated in lessons. In these pictures you can see students practising strike techniques in sponge hockey and Tee-Ball.

Stage 1 have been learning about creative writing this term and working to write their own narratives. 1C and 1S took the opportunity to encourage creative and imaginative play with an afternoon of dress ups, shops, puppets, mask making and Lego creations. The kids had so much fun interacting with people from both classes and continuing to expand their friendship groups.

In Visual Arts 2L and 2D designed and created their own hand puppets. The used these patterns to recreate their designs on material. The puppet designed varied, with wonderful creations including rabbits, dogs, ninjas, fairies and even minions!

Return To School

Welcome back to Term 4!! Following a very busy few months, Stage 2 students have returned to school with their teachers and classmates this term. It is great to see everyone again. A HUGE thank you to parents and families for all the support last term during our learning from home time. Together, our families and staff make an amazing team and we showed this during the 5 weeks. Thank you again!!

This term 3B has been lucky enough to have Miss Deaves with us as a Prac Student. Most parents will know Miss Deaves (also known as Miss Natalie!) as she currently works at our school in a para-professional role. 3B have welcomed Miss Deaves into our classroom and consistently demonstrate our school values of Respect, Resilience and Responsibility. Miss Deaves has done an AMAZING job teaching a variety of lessons not only to students in 3B, but across Stage 2 and we love having her in our classroom. We wish Miss Deaves all the best with her future studies and can’t wait to have her back – this time in a teaching role! Thank you Miss Deaves.

Visual Literacy

In English, we have been studying a new unit on Visual Literacy and reading “The Rabbits” by John Marsden. Students have enjoyed discussing the various elements of the book and how they can use techniques such as colour, shape and perspective in their own work to show emotions, add meaning and communicate with the reader. We love listening to the student’s ideas and interpretations of the book. Great job stage 2!

We start our poetry unit in week 6 until the end of the term and can’t wait to share our ideas with you.

Maths Groups

Stage 2 have continued our Maths Groups into Term 4 and have seen very positive feedback (from both students and staff) and data from the assessments conducted at the end of Term 3. The teachers believe the focused approach to whole number has allowed more targeted learning opportunities for students in these groups and we continue to see success moving towards the end of 2021.

Attendance Rewards

Stage 2 students have been enjoying the new Attendance Rewards organised for last term. Each day of the week that a student is at school by 9.25am and remains at school the entire day, they receive a paddle pop stick with their name on it in to put into the attendance jar in their classroom. Each Monday, teachers draw out a name from the previous week. That student receives a prize of a canteen goodie bag as a reward. Students have been eagerly looking forward to the draw each Monday and these will continue through to the end of the year and into 2022. We love seeing our students every day. DID YOU KNOW that if your child misses one day a fortnight, it equals 4 weeks a year and 1 whole year over their school life!

NAIDOC Excursion

Last term, Stage 2 was booked in for an excursion to the Marsupial Park and the Observatory as part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations. Unfortunately, this was cancelled due to the wet weather that occurred on the day. We were hoping to attend the excursion this term, however, due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, this is unable to happen. We will pass along more information as we are made aware of it.

Reminder About Hats & Water Bottles

As we move into the summer months at the end of the year, we would like to remind families and students that a hat and a water are essential at school ever day. To meet the COVID-19 Restriction guidelines at TWPS, students are currently not allowed access to the water bubblers on site, and this means that students having access to a water bottle is even more crucial. Please check with your child that they have a water bottle and hat packed each day. Thank you for your support with this.

Presentation Day Dances

Presentation Day will soon be upon us! Whilst we are still unsure of how this will look with current COVID-19 restrictions, we do know that Stage 2 are getting their dance moves ready! Beginning this week, students in Stage 2 will have the opportunity to choose a dance to practice and perform, which will be filmed and shown at our Presentation Day for 2021. We will be performing some dances to some well-known music …… with a bit of a twist! All will be revealed soon…..

Calendar Art

Notes for the calendar art went home this week. Each year students create a piece of art to be used as the front cover for a calendar. Calendars are $8 each and can be ordered from the blue note that came home on Tuesday 26 October 2021. Notes can also be found on the school E-News site.

All The Best

We have a few staff changes coming up in Stage 2 this term.

Mr Wood will be on Parental Leave from 4 -18 November 2021 whilst he welcomes his first baby to the family. Congratulations Mr Wood! We look forward to hearing all about Baby Wood and seeing some photos. We will see you at the end of week 7!

Mrs Lyon will also be taking some personal leave from 11 November to 12 December 2021. We look forward to seeing you back in week 11 Mrs Lyon!

Miss Pollock and Mr Padmos will be teaching the classes and we welcome them to our Stage 2 team!

As always, thanks to our families for the fabulous support they give our staff. Thank you also to our amazing staff for the work they do each day.

-Stage 2 Staff

COVID Restrictions

The well-documented COVID restrictions regarding the need to reduce the mingling between students has resulted in new ways for students to access play areas and the toilets as well as exiting the school each afternoon. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students in the Special Education classes for their co-operation and ongoing support. Well done everyone!

English

Students in K-3M have a Spring theme for English this term. The Spring theme is being used to support students in their information and imaginative text writing.

Students in 3-6D have started working on a narrative writing unit which incorporates the use of visual literacy skills. The students have been busily creating some interesting narratives using quality visual literacy texts to support their learning.

Students in 3-6S are continuing their work on recounts. The focus this term has been the use of past and present tense when writing. Students are also working on using adjectives, proper nouns, verbs and editing skills to improve their writing.

Mathematics

Students in K-3M have been developing their skills in the areas of place value, number patterns, friends of ten, addition and subtraction.

Position, 2D shapes, 3D objects, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division have been the areas of focus so far this term for students in 3-6D. Work has also continued on word problem solving activities which has supported consistent improvement through the development of skills in this area of mathematics. 3-6D have also completed a number of STEM challenges during maths activities.

Number patterns and skip counting have been areas of focus for 3-6S students during Term 4. Students are continuing to develop their skills when work co-operatively and collaboratively during maths activities.

History and Geography:

Students are enjoying studying history in K-3M, 3-6D and 3-6S for stage 2 students. The stage 3 students in 3-6S and 3-6D are also enjoying their time studying geography.

Sport and PE

The focus this term has continued in the domains of hitting/striking, throwing, catching and kicking. Students are showing progress in their skill development. K-3M are really enjoying their T-ball games. Another key focus is the co-operative and collaborative aspect of team activities.

Gardening

K-3M have plans for a number of gardening projects this term as part of their spring theme. The students have already completed a “spring clean” garden maintenance program of the gardens at the front of the school. Some plants and potting mix are on the shopping list for future projects.

Pip Diss

Assistant Principal (Special Ed)

Athletics Champions

Last week we were finally able to recognise our Athletics Champions. Unfortunately, lockdown hit the day before our Stage 2 and 3 Assembly, so our students have had to wait patiently to discover which students scored the most individual house points in the track and field events. Congratulations to these students:

Senior Boys Champion: Jayden Goodchild

Senior Girls Champion: Shania Ruttley

11 Years Boys Champion: Cooper-Lee Shaw

11 Year Girls Champion: Jacinta Reid

Junior Boys Champion: Jace Dawson

Junior Girls Champion: Ryleigh Woolfe

Jake Cross-Felstead was also recognised for his efforts in the High Jump. Jake broke the Junior boys High Jump record which has stood for 30 years. He jumped 1.26m.

Junior Basketball Competition

Last week we were fortunate enough to see the return of community sport. On Thursday, 28 October 2021, our 5 school basketball teams were able to get back onto the court and enjoy playing in the local school competition. It was great to see our athletes smiling and out of breath. We look forward to watching them develop and having fun over the coming weeks in the shortened basketball competition.

Jonathan Willis

Sports Organiser