Tamworth West Public School

Staff Update

This term we welcome some returning and new staff to Tamworth West Public School.

Firstly, we welcome the return of Mrs Sally Nuske. Mrs Nuske is returning from parental leave and is one of our substantive Assistant Principals. Mrs Nuske is returning to work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will be working in a support role with stage 3 staff and students. Mrs Milton will continue to relieve as the Assistant Principal for stage 3 on Thursdays and Fridays.

We also welcome the return of Mrs Alle Wirth. Mrs Wirth has been working for the past four years in Victoria, teaching in a K-12 specialist school in Mildura and stage 3 students in Point Cook. She will be working in the support role with stage 3 staff and students on Thursday and Friday mornings and teaching 5/6M in the afternoons.

Miss Ashleigh Horniman is just beginning her teaching career and we are fortunate to have her at Tamworth West Public School. Miss Horniman will be working Mondays-Thursdays in a support role with stage 2 staff and students in the mornings and teaching 4B most afternoons.

With Miss Horniman’s arrival, we have been able to move Mrs Alex Hammond into a support role for our new and beginning teachers. Mrs Hammond will be working one-to-one with some of our staff and their classes.

We have amazing students, families and staff, and we are very grateful that these wonderful people have returned or joined us.

Classroom Changes

Unfortunately, one of our wonderful students was involved in a nasty accident at the end of last term. To support her immediate and ongoing needs, 3-6L and 2P have today switched classrooms. 

This change will ensure that our student can access a classroom with her peers and also have access to disabled toilet facilities. 

2P is now in room 10 and 3-6L is now in room 12. This will remain in effect for the rest of 2023.

Supervision Before School

In our last school newsletter, I addressed before and after school supervision. Unfortunately, I am in a position where I must do so again. Last week, some students were dropped at school before teaching staff were even here. 

Supervision of students at school is the responsibility of teaching staff, and they are not officially on duty until 8:55 am each day. Most teaching staff arrive between 8:00 – 8:40 am and use this time to organise lessons and resources.

Our grounds assistant and our cleaners are always at school early, but it is not their responsibility to supervise students, nor is it appropriate that they are left in a situation where they are in the school grounds with students on their own. As a result, I have advised our grounds assistant not to open the gates to the school until at least one member of our executive staff is on site.

Some of our buses have also started arriving early. I will be contacting the bus companies to discuss the impact of this. 

If students are onsite prior to 8:55 am, they are to sit under the COLA (years 1-6) or at the tables near the kindergarten rooms (kindergarten).

Playground supervision at Tamworth West Public School does not commence until 8:55 am. Before this time, duty of care remains the responsibility of parents and carers. 

Applications For Year 5 Opportunity Class Placement For 2024

Applications for placement in a Year 5 opportunity class in 2024 opened on Thursday 30 March and close on Monday 15 May 2023.

Parents and carers of Year 4 students are hereby advised of the opportunity to apply online. Application information can be downloaded from Opportunity classes – Year 5.

Parents and carers without internet access or who cannot use a computer can apply at a public library or contact the school so we can assist you. Parents and carers with disability that preclude the use of a computer can contact the Selective Education Unit for assistance.

Selective High Schools Test

The Selective High Schools test will be held on Thursday 4 May 2023 at Peel High School.

Parents and carers who have applied have been sent a message telling them to access their Test authority letter through their application dashboard on 20 April. 

Parents and carers are reminded that they must log into their application dashboard, download and print the Test authority letter (and reasonable adjustments letter if applicable) and give it to their child to take to the test. 

Report Format & Timeline

We are currently updating our report format to fall in line with our new Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 syllabuses. 

Semester 1 reports will be sent home on Friday 23 June 2023.

CARS & STARS 

CARS & STARS is a program we have been using to build the comprehension skills of our students across the school. This year we will be embedding this program as a whole school initiative across the school.  

Last week students completed pre-assessment tasks and STARS sessions commenced this afternoon. All students have been placed in a STARS group based on their assessment results and their current reading/comprehension level, with the exception of kindergarten who will remain in their class group. Because all teachers will be involved in this program, group numbers vary considerably in size.

STARS sessions will be held on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons every second week. Sessions will run from 2:05 – 2:30 pm.

• Students on Level P (predominantly kindergarten students) learn 6 comprehension strategies.

• Students on Level AA (predominantly Year 1) learn 8 comprehension strategies.

• All other levels, A-F, learn twelve comprehension strategies.

To start the program, all groups will be focusing on the same strategies at the same time. Later in the year, assessment will drive the focus for levels P and AA.

In the off week, all classroom teachers will be embedding the comprehension strategies that we have focused on into our regular classroom lessons.

The first comprehension strategy we are focusing on is Finding the Main Idea and this will be followed by Recalling Facts and Details.

Term 2 Professional Learning

This year we are working with the Department’s Strategic Support team to build staff and students’ capacity in numeracy. This term and next, we will be completing four extended Professional Learning sessions in relation to numeracy. This term the extended Professional Learning sessions will be in weeks 3 and 9. These sessions will be in lieu of the school development days at the end of term 4. Students and staff will finish term 4 on Friday 15 December 2023.

Upcoming Events

• Selective High School test is on Thursday 4 May 2023

• PSSA Netball Gala Day is on Friday 5 May 2023 

• Our May P&C meeting will be held from 5:30 pm on Monday 8 May 2023 in the staff room

• We are hosting an Aboriginal Dance workshop in our school hall on Thursday 11 May 2023

• The P&C will run a Mothers’ Day stall under the COLA on Thursday 11 May 2023

• The P&C will be holding a Bunnings BBQ on Saturday 20 May 2023. I am sure they will be very appreciative of anyone who can spare an hour or two to assist with the BBQ.

• National Sorry Day is on Friday 26 May 2023

Terrie Kay

Principal

Welcome back to another exciting term at Tamworth West Public School

It was lovely to see so many students, and their families at the ANZAC Day March. I thoroughly enjoy these opportunities to catch up with parents and carers, and to see our students so proudly represent their school. It is also lovely to have so many parents coming into the school grounds at the beginning and the end of the day to wait for their children. This is a great time for our staff to be able to connect with our families. 

Next Meeting

Our next general meeting will be held on Monday 8 May, 5:30pm in the staffroom. New members are always welcome.

Canteen Menu [Download]

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 Term Two

This term will be another full ten weeks with lots happening across the school. Kindergarten began the term by sending home our new home readers with homework. Students will receive one book for homework and we are encouraging families to access the online program, Decodable Australian Reader, to read further books at their child’s levels. This can be accessed through the QR Code card sent home. Please don’t forget to record each night of reading in your child’s reading diary. Student who read regularly for a set number of nights are recognised with a certificate at the K-2 assembly. 

Math

This term in Mathematics, we continue to develop our number knowledge to twenty. We are learning to confidently count to thirty and backwards from 20. We continue to develop skills in data, mass, subtraction, addition and early multiplication skills. This term, students are introduced to time, where we will be learning to tell the time using a digital and analog clock to the hour.

English

In English, we have started the term reading the well-known story, “The Hungry Caterpillar”, by Eric Carle. Kindergarten students will be introduced to pronouns, prepositions and proper nouns, and they will continue to develop their knowledge and usage of nouns, adjectives and verbs. Students are encouraged to write simple sentences using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces between words. We will increase Kinder’s sound knowledge by introducing further graphemes and digraphs and encourage them to use this knowledge in their reading and spelling. This term, we also begin our CARS & STARS program, which is implemented across the school in all grades. This initiative is to support the development of comprehension skills, which are needed across all key learning areas. 

Finally, the month of April has been a busy one, with the Cross Country, ANZAC assembly at school, ANZAC parade during the holidays, the Easter Hat Parade and kinder’s very special visit from the Easter Bunny. Thank you to all the families who supported these events, especially the families who marched on ANZAC Day as representatives for our school. Here are some photos from the last month and our Easter Bunny video, which was placed on Facebook.

English

Year 2 studied Sophie Scott Goes South by Alison Lester. Although it is a narrative, the author actually spent six months in Antarctica, so there are lots of facts contained in the text that have been of great interest. We have been fascinated to learn about the Aurora Australis, an icebreaker that travels to deliver people, equipment and supplies to Antarctica. Our writing activities have included locating tier 2 and 3 words, predicting events and using verb and noun groups.

We have been busy reading our decodable texts and really enjoy our daily phonics PowerPoints too. 

Mathematics

Mathematics -Year 2 has continued to focus on place value, shapes, patterns and measurement this month. The new maths units involve lots of hands on learning with students making estimations and then comparing the results. The last unit required students to think and act like pirates, working out distances, volumes and weights.

-Stage 1 Teachers

Welcome back to Term 2 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Easter and enjoyed some special time with their families. Everyone looks refreshed and ready to learn and we are all looking forward to another term of fun and learning. 

We welcome Miss Ashleigh Horniman to Stage 2 this term. Miss Horniman will be spending time in our classrooms getting to know our students before working with students in a Learning and Support role. Welcome Miss Horniman!

ANZAC March

It was great to see some of our students at the ANZAC Day march last Tuesday where they represented themselves and the school with pride! Well done Eddie, Kasch, Ava and Susie.

English

This term in English, we will be focusing on writing narrative texts. Students will examine the structure of a narrative and learn to write interesting and engaging stories. Maybe we will have the next Graeme Base or Mem Fox among us!

Cross Country

Cross Country was last term and the weather was beautiful. Our students did an AMAZING job with their resilience and persistence, and did not give up, even when they were running out of steam. Well done Stage 2!

Easter Hat Parade

Our Easter hat parade was also very popular at the end of last term. Beautiful weather, decorative hats and A LOT of melted chocolate ensured we had a great day. Thanks to all the family members who made hats at home and came in to watch us march!  

Sport

In sport this term, we will be focusing on learning and improving our athletics carnival events. These include high jump, discus, shot put, ball games and running. We look forward to getting back into some of these fun events! 

Coming Up

Other things coming up this term including NAP Science testing, Check in assessments, P&C Mother's Day stall, numerous sporting gala days and trials for winter sports, plus the NAIDOC week activities at the end of the term.

Stage 2 Excursion

My apologies that an excursion deposit note did not go out as expected last term. We had a fabulous response to our expression of interest. Over 80 students have returned the EOI and we are able to go ahead with the organisation of the excursion from 16-18 October. We are still awaiting a final costing; however, the excursion will not cost more than $450. The cost will include all accommodation, food (except for lunch on day one) and venue entry fees. The charge for additional staff members to attend, to ensure supervision guidelines are adhered to, is also included in the $450 student payment. The note with the final costing will go out in Week 3. If you wish to pay the $75 deposit before then, payments can be made via our website, EFTPOS at the front office or cash.

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

Coming Up

Events occurring include; Selective high school and NAP Science testing, P&C Mother's Day Stall, GRIP leadership conference, numerous sporting gala days and trials for winter sports plus the NAIDOC week activities at the end of the term. I do apologise to those families who did not receive the Canberra Excursion note in Week 11, explaining that families can begin payments. Please refer to Sentral, the note is now posted there for your information.

Staffing

We have had Mrs Nuske return from maternity leave this term. She will be working on Stage 3 in a support teacher role on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. As the substantive Assistant Principal, Mrs Nuske will assume her usual supervision duties and I shall continue part-time in the Assistant Principal role on Thursdays and Fridays. However, please feel free to contact either Mrs Nuske or myself if you have any concerns or queries, on any day.

Mrs Lothian has been successful in selling her home, so she is excited to finally be joining her family in Victoria. She will be greatly missed, and her expertise will leave a significant hole in our teaching team. All staff and students wish her the very best on her new journey interstate.

Mrs Wirth will be replacing Mrs Lothian. Mrs Wirth has ironically, been teaching in the Victorian system for several years and we are excited to have her join the Stage 3 team.

In the Classroom

This term we shall continue to develop writing skills using the texts Fox and A is for Australia. Both texts will be used as stimulus to enhance narrative writing in stage 3. We will begin a cross-school initiative in reading to improve comprehension using the CARS and STARS program. Finally in mathematics, we will continue to deliver quality engaging lessons that increase student participation and improved results.

Interviews

We do ask that you also take advantage of the opportunity to see your child/rens teacher during the Student/Teacher interviews that shall be posted this term. These times are invaluable for communicating students' needs, concerns, strengths and planning for high school.

I would like to say thank you to the staff and families that have supported me while I have been relieving for Mrs Nuske. It has been a brilliant experience personally and professionally.

Kind regards

Kirrily Milton

Assistant Principal (Relieving)

In English, K-4 are starting the term learning about narratives and we have two great books we will use throughout the unit – The Bird and the Bag and The Great Rabbit Chase. I’m sure the students will enjoy both the learning activities and listening to these texts. 

In Mathematics, K-4M are starting off with developing our measurement skills so we will be doing lots of practical activities including a little bit of cooking!!

In 3-6L it has been great to catch up with so many happy students, back from their adventures over the holidays. We have dived straight back into the work and are currently attacking narrative writing. We will also be looking at poetry as the term progresses.

There will be a rather significant change for the class this term. This will be the relocation of our classroom. We are not changing anything but our physical location within the school. Due to internal needs, we will be moving to the two-story block near Church St. This will be done during week 2 and will be for the remainder of the year. This should have minimal impact on our students learning. It will be an exciting time for our students. 

Sport days and library days are unchanged, as is the three teacher day on Wednesday. Year 6 students have received their year 6 shirts ordered earlier in the year and are now able to wear these on Friday and other times as indicated by staff during the year. We are looking forward to an exciting and productive term 2.

3-6T is eager to be back for Term 2 after such an enjoyable end of Term 1 which included Cross Country, the Easter Hat parade, the Anzac Day ceremony, and a Glo Stick Disco with our young buddies in KV. Miss Ash and I are very grateful that everyone has had a safe and happy holiday and looking forward to commencing Term 2. We are excited to demonstrate our athletic prowess at the Athletics Carnival later on in the term. This term we will be studying narrative writing in English and in Math we will begin looking at position. Take care, Google Maps, 3-6T will have far superior navigation skills very soon. 

Chris Lyon                           Kylie Taber                     Linda McEnerny

3-6L                                     3-6T                                     K-4M

Kindergarten

This term, students in Kindergarten will learn and perform a variety of dances, exploring how they can move their body in a space to a music. Students will reflect on how dances can express ideas, feelings and moods.

Stage 1

Stage One students will perform dances with some understanding of body movement and expression. They will begin to explore how movement conveys ideas, feelings, and moods. They will begin to combine dance moves to create a new dance in pairs or small groups.

Stage 2

Students in Stage Two will begin to demonstrate a range of dance performance qualities. They will select and combine dance moves to create a new dance. Students will discuss the meaning of their constructed dance and song choice.

Stage 3

Stage Three students will perform, explore, refine, and organise movement in dance. They will participate in various artistic and cultural dances. Students will combine dance move to create their own dance with the peers.

I look forward to a wonderful term dancing our worries away.

Rugby League Trials

Last term, Naite Syron and Harris Avdic trialled for the Zone Open Rugby League team. Jace Dawson, Kahlan Shepherd and Ashar Shepherd trialled for the Zone 11 Years Rugby League team. Both Jace and Ashar were successful in making the zone team. 

The boys attended the North West selections on Wednesday 26 April at the Gipp St playing fields and played very well. Whilst they were not selected in the North West team this year, it has not deterred them from trialling for the Opens side next year. 

Congratulations to all the students who trialled. 

Up Coming Zone Trials: 

Friday 5 May – Zone Netball Trials (Gala Day) 

Friday 12 May – Zone Cross Country Trials

Jonathan Willis

Sports Coordinator

Welcome back!

All the staff enjoyed seeing our TWPS students return with their bright smiles ready to jump into another term of learning and striving to do their best.

In all key learning areas, teachers frequently collect and analyse data. During the process of data analysis, areas of strength and areas of focus are identified. Once focus areas have been identified, modifications and adjustments are made to teaching and learning programs to cater for the diverse needs of our students.

As you read with your children at home, you might like to ask some questions to prompt discussion about the areas of focus above.