Tamworth West Public School

Principal's Report

Welcome to our first newsletter for term 3. We hope you all enjoyed some family time during the school holidays and the students were able to recharge the batteries for another busy term. There are a number of special events happening across the term, please keep an eye on our School Bytes calendar for all the important dates. 

Excursions

Stage 3 departed for Milson Island on Monday, it was a frosty 5 am start for parents, staff and students. I am sure they will have a fantastic week at the sport and recreation camp and will be thoroughly exhausted by the time they return on Friday. 

Stage 2 departed on Wednesday, a not so early start for this group! Dubbo is a fantastic opportunity for our year 3 and 4 students and is their first overnight excursion away from family. There are so many interesting and fun things to do on this excursion, I am sure they won’t have time to get too homesick. 

There is an enormous amount of work that goes into preparing for overnight events and part of this is the work done by our fabulous administration team. They ensure that all documentation is submitted, risk assessments are completed, and individual student needs are met. This all happens in the background and ensures our excursions run smoothly. They liaise with the assistant principals, in this case Miss May and Miss Bagshaw, who organised all the finer details like locations, activities, accommodation, and transport. Our assistant principals do a wonderful job of ensuring all student needs are met, locations and events are organised, and communication with families about the excursion is timely and comprehensive. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank the teaching staff who are attending the excursions. These staff are giving up their own personal time to attend and are on duty 24/7. Supervising up to 85 students is a big responsibility and our staff always do it willingly and enthusiastically. Without these staff giving their time, these opportunities would not be available to our students.  

Staffing Changes

Terrie Kay has been asked to continue relieving in the Director Educational Leadership role for the remainder of 2024. Terrie is currently enjoying some leave to watch her son play basketball at the Olympics. What an incredible opportunity this is! Terrie misses Tamworth West very much and looks forward to returning in 2025. Until then, I will continue to relieve as principal, and Jo Sheedy as deputy principal. 

Kindergarten 2025

Our parent information session for kindergarten 2025 is fast approaching. On Wednesday 14 August, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, parents are invited to meet with our assistant principal, Samantha Deaves, in the hall for an introduction to Tamworth West.  If you haven’t yet enrolled your kindergarten student, or know of someone who is intending on enrolling, please complete an online application urgently so we can provide the relevant information about the dates for kinder transition which is happening later this term. 

Education Week and Book Week

The theme for this years Public Education Week is “Proud to Belong”. We will be celebrating by sharing our pride in being part of NSW public education and the achievements of our students and staff. The official week for this is August 5-9, however, as is always done here at Tamworth West, we are celebrating both Book Week and Public Education Week combined in week 5 of this term, 19-23 August. 

Book Week this year is “Reading is Magic”. We are looking for to our annual Book Week parade, so start organising those costumes! Mrs Ward will also be running the Book Fair, times and dates can be found in Mrs Ward's Library report in this newsletter.

Wellbeing Week

At Tamworth West we have a Wellbeing Team run by staff from across all stages and areas of the school. This team oversees and implements things such as PBL, The Resilience Project, Real Schools and Rainbow Day. This year, we were fortunate to receive additional funding from the Federal government to support student wellbeing. Part of this funding is being used to provide the students with a ‘Wellbeing Week’.  During week 8, the 9-13 September, Tamworth West will be a hive of activity with students having the opportunity to participate in all things wellbeing! 

Good For Kids Good for Life are bringing their Smoothie Bikes to school. Students add ingredients to a jug which is attached to the bike and when they pedal the bikes, they become the blender to make their own smoothie.  There will be an obstacle course on Move it Monday, team building games on Teamwork Tuesday, and healthy eating and mindfulness in crazy socks and crazy hair on Wellness Wednesday. We will practice gratitude on Thoughtful Thursday and finish the week with a mulfti day for Family Friday, where our families can join us for activities and information about Real Schools, The Resilience Project and PBL, as well as a picnic.  

William Street Pick Up

On Monday we talked with students who exit the William Street gate of an afternoon to explain that while they wait for parents to collect them at 3:25 pm they must sit on the verandah of the kindergarten building and wait. Students must not play on the grass or anywhere else in that area while they wait for their parents. There is no supervision by staff at this time and we are increasingly concerned that students are playing unsafely in this area. 

We appreciate your assistance in collecting your child/ren promptly and reinforcing with them that if you are running late, they must sit and wait on the verandah. 

Upcoming Dates

Week 3

8 August - Touch Football Gala Day

Week 4

12 August - P&C meeting in the staffroom 5:30 pm

13 August - Wavell State High School Band Performance

14 August - Kindergarten 2025 Parent Information Session

Week 5 - Book Week and Education Week celebrations

Week 6 

29 August - Fathers Day Stall 

Week 7

4 September - School Photos & Regional Athletics

5 September - School Photos

6 September - Stage 3 CPR training

Week 8

8-13 September  - Wellbeing Week at TWPS

9 September - P&C meeting in the staffroom 5:30 pm

11 September - Kindergarten 2025 Transition

Week 9

18 September - Kindergarten 2025 Transition

20 September - Year 5 Forum 6 Movies excursion

Week 10

25 September - Kindergarten 2025 Transition

Sara Spinks

Relieving Principal

The Resilience Project focus for this month is Empathy. Empathy is understanding and sharing the feelings of other people. Follow this link to watch a clip about how we can be kind to each other https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/kids-2023/. 

ICAS

For those parents who purchased ICAS assessments, your child will be sitting the assessments during weeks 3-6 this term (5 August- 30 August). You will find the calendar below. You will also find a link to the FAQs page for parents if you require further information. We wish our students all the best and know they will do the best they can. https://www.icasassessments.com/icas-faqs-for-parents/

Father’s Day Stall

We will be holding our annual Father’s Day Stall on Thursday 29th August. Keep an eye out for a reminder closer to the day.

If you are available between 11:30am and 2pm and would like to assist with selling the gifts please reach out to our P&C by emailing tamworthwestpspc@gmail.com

Any help would be appreciated.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Monday 12 August at 5:30 in the staff room. New members are always welcome.

-Renae Mumford

Trelawney Excursion

What another great year we have had doing our Trelawney Station excursions for our students during week 10 of term 2. Stage 3 attended on Monday, Early Stage One and Stage One on Tuesday, and Stage 2 on Friday. The students were involved in Indigenous stories with school-grown sweet potato soup, TIG games, painting boomerangs, making clay animals, and scavenger hunts using knowledge students have gained in their Aboriginal Education classes. All students and staff enjoyed a sausage sizzle for lunch. It was lovely to see some of our parents join us on these wonderful days even if we did have a few bumps along the way.

Both students and staff have completed a survey about the excursion, and we will be asking parents who attended to also complete a survey, so please keep an eye on your emails.

-Ruth France

Wellbeing Officer

Tamworth West Public School is a Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) school. PBL is a whole school program that encourages positive behaviour and allows students to become responsible for their own actions. Students and teachers work together to create a positive learning environment within our school using consistent procedures, language and expectations.

We have three expectations that underpin teaching and learning at Tamworth West Public School.

These are:

RESPECT

RESILIENCE

RESPONSIBILITY

We encourage students to uphold these expectations to a high standard. Our PBL motto is:

EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, EVERY TIME

Positive Rewards

We have a school wide behaviour system that recognises and encourages positive behaviour. Students receive raffle tickets for displaying the correct behaviour. 

Weekly Lessons

Students participate in weekly school wide lessons that focus on a specific behaviour which is determined by data. There is a fortnightly focus area taught after each PBL assembly, for example, sportsmanship in games.

RESPECT

• We keep our areas tidy

• We use our manners

• We speak nicely to others

• We keep our hands and feet to ourselves

RESILIENCE

• We accept our consequences

• We use also inclusive

• We seek help when needed

• We solve problems peacefully

RESPONSIBILITY

• We look after our things

• We wear our school uniform

• We are honest

• We stay in the right areas

Welcome back to Semester 2. We  hope you all had a wonderful break and our big Kindergarteners are ready for an exciting and productive term ahead.  This semester promises to bring new and exciting learning opportunities, creating growth and engagement for students. We thank you and look forward to your continued support, working collaboratively to ensure success and wellbeing for Kindergarten.

Homework and Home Readers

This term, homework has already begun to come home. Homework is to consolidate and share with you some of things we are learning in class. We encourage you to support your child in completing their homework, but please know, it is meant to be a helpful resource, and not one to cause any stress at home as we know families are extremely busy. 

Maths

Number Talks and Intentional Talks Focus

Number talks and intentional talks are special discussions students have amongst themselves and with the teacher to help them think deeply about maths. During these talks, students share their problem solving  strategies and learn from each other in a supportive and safe environment. This helps students build confidence, develop an understanding of concepts, and improve their communication skills. This gets us thinking in a different way, making maths fun and meaningful. 

In maths, we are using our skills and knowledge of counting and number sense to demonstrate our learning in combining, separating and forming groups. Kindergarten are also learning about location and position using simple directions and positional language. 

Reading

During Phonics lessons, we are developing our knowledge of digraphs – these are when 2 letters go together to make 1 sound. It is exciting listening to students read with their growing skills in blending sounds together, with automaticity, which is a major focus for us this term. Students are excited to be bringing home readers to share with you. Please return Home Reading diaries, along with home readers, each Monday to receive a new reader. There is 1 book each week as the focus is on fluency, which is the smoothness of blending sounds together, then fluently reading words together when reading. 

Writing

Our writing has been focusing on narratives and characters. Students have been discussing what a narrative is and using great descriptions for characters. We have had fun sharing our favourite stories. 

Time certainly does fly! As we prepare for the semester ahead, we continue to work tirelessly with the additional staff we have in classes to improve the educational outcomes of all students in Stage 1. 

Mrs Spicer, Mrs Wirth, Miss Chudleigh, Miss Cunneen and Miss Firth-Panetta have been planning and implementing literacy and numeracy programs with Mrs Harris, Mrs Hammond, Miss Pollock, Mrs Deaves and Mrs Milton.

Intentional Talks

Intentional talks uncover and reveal student understanding and perspective, communicate and refine their ideas, and make connections to their own experiences. Intentional talks also provide teachers with a treasure trove of information that will help inform teaching. Stage 1 classes have been completing intentional talks three times a week. Intentional talks are quick 10-15 minute math lessons and children explore and revisit strategies to become improved mathematicians.

Reading

It is fabulous to see students developing their confidence and competency in reading. Year 1 and Year 2 students have accessed the Decodable Readers Australia texts. Year 2 classes are fortunate to have been using the Little Learner Series as well. 

2A & 5B Collaboration

2A had a fabulous time in week 1 collaborating with 5B to complete an Education Week Artwork to hang in the Hall. Make sure you check it out when you visit. 

Persuasive Texts

2A and 2H are learning about persuasive texts and how to write their perspective as a newspaper article. They are enjoying seeing fairy tales through a different perspective and learning to compose a paragraph with a topic sentence, examples or elaborations and a concluding statement.

Maths

In maths, Year 2 have been investigating 10’s and 100’s. They have been using PolyPad to make numbers in different ways. It has been lovely hearing the Ah Ha moments as they continue to show different representations.

-Kirrily Milton, Sam Deaves, Kathleen Harris, Jordan Pollock and Alex Hammond

Stage 1 Teachers

Welcome to the August newsletter. Term 3 has started very quickly and we have much more coming up.

In The Classroom

We are starting our term with a unit on characterisation. Students will explore how authors use different vocabulary and topic-specific words to convey what characters do, say and think. This helps us connect to the character and decide what we like or dislike about characters within the text. 

Dubbo Excursion

Our stage 2 students left for Dubbo this week for a 3 day/2 night excursion. 85 students and 4 staff headed off excitedly on Wednesday to visit Wellington Caves, Dubbo Zoo, Dubbo Gaol, The Royal Flying Doctor’s visitors centre and the Western Plains Cultural Centre. We can’t wait to share our stories and experiences with you upon our return. Thank you to parents and staff that are supporting our students in being able to attend this excursion. 

Check out some highlights so far! Keep an eye in our next newsletter and on our Facebook page for more.

Homework

Homework will be handed out across the stage later this term. As part of our Science unit this semester, students will be completing a project on a planet. The information will be given to students in a paper copy AND will also be available on Google Classroom. Students will be given time at school for researching facts. It will be up to the student how they wish to display the information. It is expected that all students complete their homework project and teachers will be checking in with student progress across the term. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions. The project will run from weeks 5 to 9. 

Cold Weather

Our weather has been chilly the past week! Please  make sure your child’s name is on their jumper, jackets and hats so they can be returned to you quickly. We also ask that parents check their child’s belongings to make sure they are bringing home their own clothing and not that of others.

Crunch & Sip

Thank you also to parents for packing fresh fruit for our morning crunch and sip. Food doesn’t have to be whole piece (even an apple cut into slices is good) and it makes eating their food while doing our morning routines nice and easy.

The stage 2 teachers look forward to continuing to work with you this term. Thank you to our parents and staff for everything you do to support our students at school. 

-Felicity Bagshaw

Stage 2 Assistant Principal

Welcome back to Term 3, we hope everyone had a nice holiday break and stayed warm during the chilly weather. 

In The Classroom

This semester, we will see a change in our Key Learning Areas (KLAs). After completing our Geography unit last term, students will be studying History through the unit ‘The Australian Colonies’.  In Science, students will explore Earth and Space across the next two terms. Sport will be class-based, addressing the skills of kicking, throwing, catching, and dodging through a range of different team sports, such as soccer, basketball, and AFL. 

Year 5 will be studying the text August and Jones, where they will be looking at characterisation in narratives. Year 6’s unit is called ‘Fake News’, where students will explore perspective and context when it comes to argument and authority in informative texts. 

Over the coming weeks, students will be preparing for our annual Check-in assessments across the primary grades. These assessments will be taking place in Weeks 6-9. Year 5 will have two assessments; reading and numeracy, while Year 6 will complete 3 assessments; reading, writing, and numeracy.

Upcoming Events

Week 2 – Stage 3 Major Excursion - Milson Island

Week 4 – National Science Week  

Week 5 – Book Week/Education Week  

Week 6 – Thursday – Father’s Day Stall  

-Kahla May, Cody Edstein-Boyes, Emily Roworth, Dee Burns

Stage 3 Teachers

Welcome to Semester 2!

Term 2 was a busy time, and our students have all worked hard on their learning and we are looking forward to another productive term.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents for coming in for the parent teacher interviews. This term we will be conducting our support class review meetings for all our support classes and more information on this will come in coming weeks. 

Maths

We’re starting a new unit focusing on visualising and grouping numbers up to 100. Students will engage in hands-on activities to better understand the base-10 system and practice representing their ideas and thinking. We're excited for a fun and engaging journey through mathematics! This term we are concentrating on number talks and this focus will help students see how numbers work. 

English

Our first English unit focuses on perspective and argument, explored through the narratives of "Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean-up" by Sally Morgan and "The Little Corroboree Frog" by Tracey Holton-Ramirez. Our Stage 1 & 2 students are learning to use language, structure, and images to present opinions and persuade an audience, and will compose texts about taking care of the environment. Our Early Stage 1 students are learning to express likes and dislikes and understand that texts. 

Last term, I sent all students home with a digital QR code to access Decodable Readers Australia, which is part of the K3N homework. Depending on your child’s current reading level, reading to them also is very beneficial to their learning for exposer to texts. If you would like any hard copies of the readers, please come see me, and I will arrange to send them home.

Have a look through the photos for this month’s newsletter of all the incredible learning occurring in K3N.

-Ms Neilson

English

We have started our new English unit with a focus on characterisation. This is explored through the texts ‘Deltora Quest – The Forests of Silence’ by Emily Rodda and ‘Quest’ by Aaron Becker. These books have captured the students' interest very quickly as we dive in and learn about the land of Deltora and the magic that comes with it! 

Maths

Math's has seen us learning about shapes, angles and time. We will also focus on number talks within our math lessons the term to further allow students to understand how numbers work.

Science

In science, the wonderful world of earth and space is being explored through engaging, investigating and experimenting with planets and the solar system.

We are in for a busy and exciting term! Any questions, please call or book a time to see me through the front office or the class phone 0448285044.

-Miss Roworth

Welcome back to everyone for an exciting new term. 

English

We are continuing our English unit around the text ‘Wandi’. The class will be working towards writing persuasive posters around conservation of animals. They are enjoying the text and if you haven’t read it yourself it is worth the time.

Science

We are continuing our English unit around the text ‘Wandi’. The class will be working towards writing persuasive posters around conservation of animals. They are enjoying the text and if you haven’t read it yourself it is worth the time.

Mr Liddell

We are lucky to have Mr Liddell joining us in the class for the first six weeks of the term. Mr Liddell and I will both be teaching the class. I (Mr Lyon) am your normal point of contact. If you see Mr Liddell when you're in school please say hi, he would love to meet you. He will be joining K-3N for the last four weeks of the term before taking on his own class.

As always, if you need to get in touch, contact the office or text the class phone on 0448291575 

I would like to extend a personal Thank You for the birthday wishes. It was unexpected and very humbling. 

-Mr Lyon

Alexis Neilson   Chris Lyon Hannah Roworth

K-3N                                       3-6L                                 3-6R

Athletics Carnival

In the last week of Term 2, Tamworth West held our annual Athletics Carnival at the Tamworth Regional Athletics Track. It was great to see many students turn up to the athletics track early in the morning to compete in the 200m and 800m events. We were then joined by the rest of the school who competed in the other track and field events. 

Prior to the carnival, our students had been working hard at school practising their High Jump, Discus and Shot Put skills. Those students who got through the elimination stages at school were able to compete in the finals of these events at the Athletics Carnival.  

The day ran smoothly, and the weather was kind despite being quite cold. It was pleasing to see our students having fun, whether they were participating in an event or joining in the novelties. There were many great results on the day. We had two records broken in the High Jump which is a magnificent achievement.  

In the 11 Year Boys High Jump, Patrick Miskle jumped 1.37m to beat the previous record of 1.37m held B Lovell of 1.35m in 1996. 

In the Junior Boys, Flynn Bishop cleared 1.28m to also beat the record of 1.26m held by J Cross-Felsted in 2021 

Well done to the students who were the Age Champions of the Carnival:

Junior Girls - Brooklyn Unger 

Junior Boys - Myles Carrigan 

11 Year Girls - Charlotte McLachlan 

11 year Boys - Patrick Miskle 

Senior Girls - Eva Wrigley 

Senior Boys - Jace Dawson 

Congratulations to Wentworth who were the winning house of the Athletics Carnival. 

Point Score:

Wentworth 935

Macarthur 720

Parkes 692

Farrer 696 

Be sure to check out some photos from the day in the stage sections of this newsletter.

Boys and Girls Softball Knockout

Late last term, both our senior boys and girls Softball teams took part in the PSSA Softball Knockout Gala Day.  

After a first round loss, the girls saw some success in their later games. Finishing with 2 wins from 3 games. Some of the stand outs for the girls were Kahlan Shepherd, Eva Wrigley and Emily Vessey who all made it through to the North West Selection trial.  

For the boys, success game early with a thumping of Tamworth South. All the boys contributed well, resulting in a really good team win. In game 2, our senior boys went down in a nail bitter, losing in the last innings by a mere 2 runs. The boys went on to win their 3rd game to finish with 2 wins for the day. Some stand out performers for the boys were Jace Dawson and Cam Mumford. Both Cam and Jace should be congratulated on their selection into the North West PSSA Softball team, who will compete later this term at the NSW PSSA Softball Carnival.  

Congratulations and well done to all our senior boys and girls who took part. You represented the school with pride and fought for every last inch! 

Zone Representatives 

Last term we had several students trial for Tamworth Zone and if successful North West Regional teams.  

Tamworth West have been fortunate to have a few students picked into North West teams.  

Layla Nash was selected into the Girls Football Invitational team, Jace Dawson and Cameron Mumford were again selected into the North West Boys Softball Team whilst Emily Vesey was named as a reserve for the Girls North West Softball Team.  

Congratulations to these students!