Tamworth West Public School

Principal's Report

Welcome to the July edition of our school newsletter. 

It has been another very busy term, and I cannot believe it is school holidays at the end of this week!. The last day of school for this term is Friday 5 July. Students return to school in term 3 on Tuesday 23 July. We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and look forward to another fantastic term when we return. 

NAIDOC WEEK

The theme this year honours the enduring strength and vitality of First Nations culture – with fire a symbol of connection to Country, to each other, and to the rich tapestry of traditions that define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As we honour this flame, we kindle the sparks of pride and unity, igniting a renewed commitment to acknowledging, preserving, and sharing the cultural heritage that enriches our nation.

This week we have many exciting opportunities and celebrations for NAIDOC Week. Our Aboriginal Education Team has been busy organising the cultural excursions to Trelawney Station for each stage, and our annual NAIDOC Week assembly. We hope that many of our families can attend both of these events. If you are in the school this week, take the time to have a look at our new signage and murals. The murals have been created by local Aboriginal artist Jodie Herden and are a stunning reflection of local culture. You will also notice new welcome signs at all of the gates and our buildings now have Gamilaroi animal names. The Yarning Circle finally has it's artist acknowledgement up for all to see. These initiatives have been led by the Aboriginal Education Team to enhance our First Nation Peoples' sense of belonging and to serve as connection to Country and each other. 

• Monday 1 July - Trelawney Station Cultural Excursion Stage 3

• Tuesday 2 July - Trelawney Station Cultural Excursion Stage 1 and Kindergarten

• Wednesday 3 July - NAIDOC Assembly commencing at 10:30 am

• Thursday 4 July - Whole school Athletics Carnival

• Friday 5 July - Trelawney Station Cultural Excursion Stage 2

Please ensure you have given permission through School Bytes for the Trelawney Station excursion and have paid for and given permission for the athletics carnival.  

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Student reports will be sent home on Wednesday 3 July. Thank you to those of you who have taken the opportunity to attend a meeting with your child’s teacher. These sessions are a valuable link between school and home and an opportunity to ensure we are working as a team to provide the best educational outcomes for each student. 

Staff Development Day Term 3

During the Staff Development Day on Monday 22 July, staff will be engaged in professional learning around effective teaching practices in mathematics and multiplicative thinking. These aspects both align with our 2024-2027 School Improvement Plan. 

Gates and Late Arrivals

At 9.25am the school gates will be locked. Any students that arrives after 9.25am will need to enter through the front gates of the school via Bridge Street with their parent carer. An explanation of why they are late needs to be conveyed to the office staff. This is a departmental requirement and is recorded as part of our attendance processes.

If you are on the school grounds after 9.25am you may exit through any of our electronic gates, you will need to ring the gate bell and wait for office staff to open them.

Please do not hold the gates open for any students that are entering the school after 9.25am, as they are required to enter through the front school gate via Bridge Street.

Term 3 Dates

Below is a list of important events coming up in our Term 3 calendar.

Week 2

29 July Stage 3 excursion to Milson Island

31 July Stage 2 excursion to Dubbo

1 August Opportunity Class Placement Test

2 August Stage 2 & 3 excursions return

Week 3

8 August Gala Touch Day

Peel Network Education Week Awards

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

Week 8

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

11 September Kindergarten 2025 Transition

Week 9

18 September Kindergarten 2025 Transition

Week 10

25 September Kindergarten 2025 Transition

Thank you once again for your continued support of our school. We look forward to celebrating NAIDOC Week and the Athletics Carnival with you this week and wish you all a safe holiday. 

Sara Spinks

Relieving Principal

Learning for Life Program (Smith Family)

The Smith Family’s Learning for Life Program provides families with opportunities to increase their children’s success at school. The Learning for Life Program helps each child to reach their potential by supporting their education from primary through to post school studies.

There are vacancies for the Learning for Life Program. Referral forms can be obtained from Jo Sheedy.

ICAS

The Parent Payment Portal closes Monday 29 July.

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Firstly, thank you to everyone that ordered cookie dough. It’s a great fundraiser for our school and every bit helps towards the bus shelter. A further thank you to everyone who helped us sorting the delivery on the Friday. Your help is very much appreciated. 

Fathers Day Stall

Our next event will be the Fathers Day Stall on Thursday 29 August. If anyone can help (approximately 11.30am-2pm) please let one of the Executive Committee know (Rachel Mountain, Renae Mumford, Catherine Te Au & Emily Crompton). 

We will put a post on the Parents & Carers Facebook Page closer to the date. 

Tamworth High School

At our June meeting we had a visit from the Principal of Tamworth High School, Mr Paul Davis. He gave us an overview of the high school and their plans for the future. Mr Davis welcomes any parents in Years 5 or 6 who are considering enrolling their child at Tamworth High School and may have questions, to contact the school and he will be more than happy to chat  with you.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Monday 12 August due to the July school holidays. It would be great to see more faces. 

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday. 

Catherine Te Au

P&C Vice President

Yaama Maliyaa

Trelawney Station Excursions

Week 10 will see Tamworth West Public School celebrate NAIDOC Week. Throughout the week staff, students and families will be attending excursions to Trelawney Station to learn about and experience First Nations culture. 

Excursion Dates:

Monday 1 July: Years 5 and 6 

Tuesday 2 July: Kindergarten, years 1 and 2 

Friday 5 July: Years 3 and 4

NAIDOC Assembly

The school will be having a formal assembly on Wednesday 3 July to celebrate and showcase the achievements of our amazing students. Our school community are welcome to attend this special event which commences at 10:30 am. Please enter via the Church Steet gates, where the Student Wellbeing Team will be to assist with signing in. Families are most welcome to stay afterwards to enjoy lunch with their children. 

Signage

To further embed Gamilaraay language in the school, new signage has been erected throughout the school. 

Artwork

Tamworth West has been working with local First Nations artist Jodie Herden to add some more colour to our school through some amazing murals. You will see these beautiful creations on our walls this week.    

We hope you enjoy the holiday break and look forward to hitting the ground running in term 3.

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

As another term comes to an end, it is hard to believe that our little learners have made it to the halfway point of their kindergarten learning journey! We have had a fantastic Semester at Tamworth West and look forward to embarking on the second half of this incredible learning journey!

Athletics Carnival

In Week 10, Tamworth West will hold our annual whole-school athletics carnival. Parents and carers would have received notification of this event through School Bytes. This is a whole school event and it is advised that all students are in attendance, as no staff will be remaining at school for supervision. 

During sports on a Tuesday afternoon, Kindergarten has been getting ready for the big day, learning how to participate in a range of athletics activities such as ball games and running races. We look forward to seeing students dress up in their house colours and cheer on their peers to earn points for their houses! Kindergarteners are not participating in any competitive events on the day, however, a range of friendly races, and novelty events will be set up on the oval for their participation. A friendly reminder that parents are not permitted to enter the oval in the centre of the track due to WHS guidelines but are more than welcome to cheer on their children from the spectator's hill. 

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC week is being held in week 10. To celebrate, Kindergarten will be attending a cultural excursion out to Trelawney Station on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Tamworth West will is holding a whole school NAIDOC assembly in the hall, with all families welcome to attend. Please note that no K-2 assembly will take place on the Friday of Week 10.

In The Classroom

This term, Kindergarten has been diving into a range of books, exploring the themes of characters, symbolism, setting, imagery and perspective. Our little learners have been eagerly creating drawings and artworks, and have been learning about how authors use illustrations to tell a story without words. Alongside this, students have been transferring their phonics knowledge into their writing books, exploring how written texts help us to communicate ideas with others through simple sentences. 

In Mathematics, students have been participating in a range of games and activities to help consolidate their counting skills and are starting to investigate addition and subtraction through the concept of ‘one more and one less’. Students are continuing to explore these concepts using hands-on materials and have enjoyed working collaboratively with their peers during problem-solving activities.

Friendly Reminders

Uniform

As we are now into the colder months, please ensure that your child is wearing the correct WINTER uniform to school. Mornings have been quite cold, and some students are turning up to school without jumpers and jackets. Please ensure that hats, jackets, jumpers, and other loose items come to school labelled with your child’s first and last name and class to reduce the number of belongings that are lost.

Drop Off and Pick Up

When dropping your child off in the morning please ensure that if it is before 8:55 they are heading straight to the COLA to wait for teacher supervision. During morning play, a lot of students are playing outside of classrooms on verandas. Just a friendly reminder that during the mornimg this area is not supervised by an adult on duty and students are to play on the concrete near the volleyball courts or down underneath the COLA. 

Any students that arrives after 9.25am will need to enter through the front gates of the school via Bridge Street with their parent carer. An explanation of why they are late needs to be conveyed to the office staff. This is a departmental requirement and is recorded as part of our attendance processes.

If you are on the school grounds after 9.25am you may exit through any of our electronic gates, you will need to ring the gate bell and wait for office staff to open them. Please do not hold the gates open for any students that are entering the school after 9.25am, as they are required to enter through the front school gate via Bridge Street.

In the afternoons, it is required that students waiting for parents to pick them up are seated along the veranda. As this is not a teacher's duty, this ensures the safety of students during this time. If you are picking up your child, we ask that they do not play on the top grass area during this time. We thank you for your cooperation in this matter. 

We wish everyone safe and happy holidays and look forward to seeing you all again for another exciting Term!

Wow!!! As another newsletter rolls around, we are sliding quickly into the end of Term 2! Halfway through another year. 

Athletics Carnival

The whole school athletics carnival is on in Week 10. Notes have been sent out on School Bytes. This is a whole school event and everyone is expected to attend. There will be no staff at school for supervision. Any competitive 8-year-olds are invited to go to the athletics track at 8.30am, to run in the 200m and 800m races. 

All 8-year-olds in Year 2 are having a blast practising newly learnt skills of discuss, high jump and shot put. Look-out as they try their hardest to get in the finals on the big day. 

Kindergarten, Year 1 and Stage 2’s 7-year-olds have been learning how to run straight in their lanes, participate in drills as practise for the upcoming years of competitive athletics. At the carnival there will be a range of novelty events organised to participate in on the day to receive house points. A friendly reminder, families will not be allowed onto the oval in the centre of the track during the carnival. These are the WHS guidelines for use of the fields.

NAIDOC Week

This week is our NAIDOC celebrations. Stage 1 is going to Trelawney Station on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the NAIDOC Week assembly will be held in the school hall. All families are invited to attend. However, please note that no Infants assembly will take place on Friday of Week 10. We look forward to the many fun activities planned. It will be a great week to celebrate!

Maths

2A have been playing a lot of hands-on maths games. You will have seen students come home with left or right written on their hands. They have been trying really hard to remember their left and rights and give detailed instructions to find objects in and around our room. 

Ask your child about the game Garbage! They are really enjoying playing this card game as a math warm-up. I can’t wait to hear all about how they went at home too. 

We are very lucky to have Mrs Spicer in our room 3 mornings a week to do literacy and numeracy activities. 2A are working hard to develop their reading of phonics and transfer this to their writing. 

If I can think it,  I can say it.  If I can say it, I can write it.  If I can write it, I can read it and so can others!

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

Stage 1 Teachers

Welcome to the July Newsletter

It's hard to believe we are already at the half way point of 2024!

Sport

In Sport this term, we have been focusing on learning and improving our athletics carnival events. These include high jump, discus, shotput, ball games and running. All the students are doing an excellent job and learning new skills to put into practice. 

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

Have a safe and happy holidays. We look forward to checking back in with you next term and sharing lots of photos from the upcoming excursion in our next newsletter.

-Stage 2 Teachers

Athletics Trials 

Students have been completing athletic trials over the past two weeks, in preparation for the Athletics Carnival on Thursday. Students receive participation points for their house by entering the trials, while also trying their personal best to execute the skills they have been practicing this term in Sport. 

Milson Island Excursion

Thank you to all of the parents/carers who attended the Major Excursion Information Night, it was great seeing so many parents/carers attend the session. The staff and students are very excited for the experiences to come, and the memories to be made.

With the Stage 3 major excursion fast approaching, please make sure you and your child have read the final information note that went home with students in Week 8. This note has all the information required to ensure your child is prepared for the excursion in Term 3, Week 2. 

Uniform

Please ensure your child is now wearing the correct WINTER uniform to school, as the mornings especially are quite cold. There are lots of students turning up to school without jackets and jumpers, or items of clothing without names on them. 

We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday where you can recharge and be refreshed for more exciting events coming up in Term 3.

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

Stage 3 Teachers

We are nearly at the end of Term 2. This term has gone quickly, and we are nearly halfway through the year. We have been busy meeting for parent teacher interviews, and you will receive the Semester 1 report on Wednesday.  

Athletics Carnival 

The whole school athletics carnival is on in Week 10. Notes have been sent out on School Bytes. This is a whole school event, and everyone is expected to attend. There will be no staff at school for supervision. We are looking forward to competing in the events and cheering on our friends.  

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC week is held this week. Notes have been sent out on School Bytes. All students and their families are invited to our excursion to Trelawney Station. The day is packed with lots of fun activities. Stage 3 is going Monday, K3N is going Tuesday and Stage 2 is going Friday. We will have our NAIDOC assembly on Wednesday morning. 

Another massive term is about to bite the dust. With an extremely busy term behind us it is vitally important for the wonderful students of 36L to rest recharge and come back safe from the holidays. Next term our class will grow with 3 new students, and it will be exciting for everyone. If you missed having an interview, please remember to reach out and I can organise a time to chat with you.

Holidays are an awesome opportunity for children to move their knowledge from the classroom into their lives outside school. Math and English skills can be consolidated through helping with cooking dinner, baking cakes, (who doesn't love cake!!) building pillow forts and reading their favourite books. As a father of three, I also understand the challenges of the holidays. So to the adults, I can only say ‘embrace the change’. They will not be this age ever again.

I have included for you some of my favourite photos of the children this term, I hope you like the photos as much as I loved the memories that we made together.

-Mr Lyon

3-6R have been extremely busy this month. We have started our new poetry unit, focusing on the text ‘It’s the Sound of the Thing’ by Maxine Beneba Clarke. Students have embraced all things poetry such as figurative language and poem types introduced throughout our text. Mathematics has seen further learning of addition, subtraction and multiplicative thinking, chance and probability and we will now dive deep into the world of measurement for the remainder of the term. 

During PDHPE, we have been in rotating groups within our respective stages, learning the athletic skills of high jump, shot put, discuss, relays, and ball games. This will continue to be our focus in the lead up to the athletics carnival in Week 10. 

With the weather being cooler, students are encouraged to wear school jumpers and jackets, especially in the mornings. Students are expected to be in their winter uniforms by now and please ensure names are clearly labelled on all items of clothing. 

We are nearing the end of term 2, time flies when you’re having fun! As always, if there are any concerns, please contact me to have a chat.

-Miss Roworth

K3N have been very busy this month. We have been working hard on our fine motor program and this has been helping us with our everyday activities. During math, our focus has been improving our whole number knowledge and working on representing numbers in different ways. Our kindy has made great progress with their name writing activities. They are becoming more independent with this task. Our other students have been working hard on learning new high-frequency words and we use them in our writing. 

-Ms Neilson

Have a wonderful term break and we will see everyone in Term 3!

Alexis Neilson   Chris Lyon Hannah Roworth

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

Netball After School Clinic

16 students from Tamworth West participated in the Netball NSW after school clinic over the past five weeks, wrapping up on Tuesday just gone. They had so much fun working with Tina, the amazing development officer, learning new skills and playing plenty of exciting learning games. The girls and boys walked away with a wealth of knowledge and skills and a mini netball and ball pump at the program's end. A huge thank you to all the families that participated, and we hope to offer the program again next year! For now, though, check out the holiday netball program being offered by Tamworth Netball Association. Get along and use those skills and take friends for a fun day out!

Tamworth School Holiday Gala Day (5 – 10 year olds!)

Netball NSW in conjunction with Tamworth Netball Association are holding a School Holiday Gala Day these school holidays! To register follow the link; https://www.playhq.com/netball-australia/register/087152

Participants will be put through a variety of games and drills, followed by round robin matches to put their new skills into practise. This is a great opportunity to come and try netball for a day – we encourage both boys and girls of all netball abilities to join us.

When and Where

Participants will be put through a variety of games and drills, followed by round robin matches to put their new skills into practise. This is a great opportunity to come and try netball for a day – we encourage both boys and girls of all netball abilities to join us.

Cost

The cost of this event is $15 per participant.

What to bring

·      Water bottle

·      Snacks and Lunch

·      Sunscreen

For More Questions

Please email Lauren at LSmart@netballnsw.com or see Tamworth Netball Association on Facebook.

To address the current state-wide focus in phonics across the early years, our school has put plans in place to support the differentiated teaching of phonics across Stage One.

Our LaST teachers have worked in collaboration with Stage One classroom teachers three mornings a week, to differentiate the teaching and learning. One of the areas this has taken place is in phonics. Base-line data obtained in early Term 2, assisted in developing action plans to address student need. 

So…what is phonics? 

Phonics is the understanding the relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters that represent them in written language).

What does teaching phonics look like?

Phonics instruction can be with an individual, small groups or whole class. It involves short, sharp, explicit lessons where teachers check for understanding throughout. 

• Review of previous sounds (phoneme/s).

• Explicit teaching of new sound – articulate it, explain how it is made, provide opportunities for students to repeat it, show how it is written, make words using that phoneme/grapheme.

• Guided practice – This student practises what has been taught by showing thumbs up/down depending on whether a stated word contains the target phoneme, brainstorming words containing the phoneme in initial/medial/final position (where possible) and segmenting words into phonemes.

• Independent practice – This may include reading decodable texts, using magnetic letters to construct words, recording words using whiteboards and markers and blending to read words. 

How do decodable texts link with phonics?

They support students to practice the phonic knowledge and skills they have learnt because the decodables are primarily made up of words that contain learnt sounds/phonemes, as well as some sight words. At TWPS, we have a range of decodable texts available to support student phonic knowledge development, including home readers and access to Decodable Readers Australia's extensive online library.