Tamworth West Public School

Principal's Report

As we enter a busy term, there is much to look forward to and celebrate. This week, our students will showcase their talents with the exciting CAPERS performances. Additionally, our Kindergarten to Year 2 students are enjoying Gymnastics sessions, while our Year 2 students also continue their swimming program. We are also thrilled to welcome back our 2026 Kindergarten students for their transition visits, helping them feel excited and prepared for next year.

Presentation Day

Please be reminded that our Presentation Day will take place at The Tamworth Town Hall on Friday, 12 December, commencing at 10:30 am. We warmly invite as many families as possible to join us in celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of our students on this special day.

P&C Christmas Carols

Come along and support the P&C at their annual Christmas Carols evening on Wednesday 10 December. There will be games, stalls, a BBQ, and plenty of Christmas spirit. Keep an eye on the P&C Facebook page for more details.

Upcoming

Looking ahead, information regarding nominations for the SRC, Wellbeing Team, and House Captains for 2026 will be sent to our Year  4 and 5 students in Week 6. We encourage all eligible students to consider these important leadership opportunities.

Thank you for your continued support. 

Sara Spinks

Relieving Principal

Attendance

Good attendance is crucial to student success, both academically and socially. Our priority is to investigate ongoing poor attendance, regular partial absences and any unexplained/unjustified absences. 

It is a legal requirement that absences are explained within 7 days. Parents/carers can do this in advance through School Bytes, responding to School Bytes notifications, sending an explanatory note with their child or calling the front office. Eliminating unnecessary absences will support your child to maximise their learning potential and develop positive social interactions with their peers. 

Life Without Barriers

We are raising awareness about foster care in the New England/Northwest. There is currently a shortage of foster carers and over 45,000 children in the foster care system in Australia. Many of these children are waiting for a safe and caring place to call home.

Life Without Barriers is a leading social purpose organisation working in more than 530 communities across Australia, supporting children needing out of home care, people living with mental health or disability, refugees and asylum seekers, homeless people, and young people in the justice system. LWB's foster care services deliver meaningful outcomes for children and their families, building safe, stable, and nurturing relationships.

Reading Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have completed:

75 nights of reading:

Lexi Crump, Austin Moore, Ayerah Aamir, Hunter Moore

150 nights of reading: 

Jill Kerr, Shiloh Moore, Theo Casini, Lexi Crump, Olivia McGregor, Hunter Moore, Max Staines

225 nights of reading:

Madeline Munday, Jill Kerr

Summer Uniform

At Tamworth West we are very proud of our school uniform. Below is a reminder of our summer school uniform:

Boys’ Summer

Grey shorts

Blue polo shirt – short sleeve

Short grey socks

Black school shoes

Girls’ Summer

School blue/white checked dress

Navy skort and white polo shirt

Ankle length white socks

Black school shoes

Boys’ Sport

Royal blue shorts or trackpants

Red polo shirt with royal blue collar and printed badge or plain red t-shirt

Short white socks

Joggers

Girls’ Sport

Royal blue skirt, shorts or trackpants

Red polo shirt with royal blue collar and printed badge or plain red t-shirt

Short white socks

Joggers

-Jo Sheedy

Deputy Principal

Last term, we had the pleasure of welcoming our Real School facilitator, Daniel Vella, to visit our classrooms and work with our staff to implement circles more effectively during learning time. This is a valuable tool to add to the already well-equipped TWPS teacher toolbox!

Here is Daniel to explain in greater detail what ‘Circle Architecture’ is.

P&C Trivia Night – Thank you!

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our P&C Trivia Night – what a fantastic evening it was! Your enthusiasm, laughter and support made the night such a success.

We would also like to sincerely thank the wonderful local businesses who generously donated prizes. Your contributions not only added to the fun but also helped make the night possible.

Events like these are more than just a great time - they play an important role in raising valuable funds for our school. Every dollar raised goes directly back into resources and opportunities that benefit our kids now and into the future.

Thank you again for being part of this event. We couldn’t do it without our amazing school community!

P&C Christmas Carols

The annual P&C Christmas Carols will be held on Wednesday 10th December. Please keep an eye out for more information about the event! We hope to see you all there.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be Monday 10 November at 5.30pm in the staff room. It would be great to see some more faces. There are no commitments when coming to a meeting but it is great to see new faces and gain new ideas for the P&C. If you are not able to make the meeting in person but are interested in attending, a zoom link will be posted on our P&C Facebook page leading up to the meeting.

- Laura Jahnke

P&C Vice President

Welcome to term 4!

As always it has been a busy term for events, so there may be some changes to canteen as needed. 

Such changes include Friday 7 November: There will be no orders for students attending CAPERS matinee excursion.

A reminder that if you miss the cut off time of 10.00am to order your child’s lunch, a sandwich will be made for them. No late orders will be made.

Please also note that if you need to contact me, I am available to be contacted via the office between 8.30am and 12.00pm. I will not answer Facebook messages about lunch orders, that is my personal page and I am not on my phone while I am at work.

Thank you,

-Amy Reading

Canteen Supervisor

Canteen Menu - SUMMER 2025 [Download]

Yaama Maliyaa

Last week, we were honoured to welcome Uncle Len Waters to our school, where he shared his deep knowledge of astronomy and Aboriginal culture with our students. 

It was a great opportunity, and his visit offered a unique and enriching experience, helping our students connect with the rich traditions and stories of Indigenous Australians and their understanding of the night sky. 

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

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the families who were able to join us to celebrate our very special Grandparents Day. It was truly amazing to see so many grandparents come through our gates to share their time and stories with their grandchildren.

The joy and warmth in the air were evident as everyone took part in playing our ‘olden day’ games alongside the students. Watching the generations connect through laughter, teamwork, and fun was a beautiful reminder of the unique bond between grandparents and grandchildren.

Grandparents hold a treasured place in our families and communities. They offer wisdom, love, and a sense of history that enriches our children’s lives. Celebrating this day is an honour and a wonderful opportunity to value these relationships. Sharing special moments like these helps deepen connections and create lifelong memories for families.

Thank you once again for making Grandparents Day such a meaningful and joyful occasion! We look forward to many more celebrations at Tamworth West Public School. 

English

In English, students have been exploring how pictures and symbols help tell stories in books like Banjo and Ruby Red by Libby Gleeson and Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes. They’ve been learning how the words and images work together to make the stories more interesting and fun to read. The children have also tried using creative language and colours to make their own story maps and wrote poems using alliteration (repeating sounds) to play with words in a creative way.

Maths

In Maths, students have been learning about measurement in fun and hands-on ways. They’ve practiced comparing the length of different objects, looked at how much space or area things take up, compared how heavy things are, and explored how much objects can hold by filling and packing them. These activities help build important skills for understanding the world around them.

Science

 In the 'Material World' unit, students explore different materials around them, learning about their properties and how we use them every day. Through hands-on activities, children develop curiosity and observation skills as they discover the unique qualities of materials like wood, metal, fabric, and plastic. This unit helps build a strong foundation for scientific thinking in a fun and engaging way.

-Melinda Wilson, Jordana Cooper, Alle Wirth

Kindergarten Teachers

Mathematics

In mathematics, Year 1 has been focusing on the importance of mathematical language this term. They have revised the various ways to express addition, subtraction, and equivalence. Manipulatives have been utilised to help students build a greater understanding of partitioning numbers.

English

In writing, students have been examining how authors persuade an audience through cause and effect. They are also expanding their vocabulary and considering how important language choices are for engaging the audience.

We have also received new atlases this term. Mrs Smith delivered these to the Infants and Primary classes, for which we are very grateful. The texts are full of interesting facts and details about the world we live in. 

English

Year 2 has been reading a fascinating book called The Gentle Genius of Trees. This book is informative, containing lots of information about trees and using lots of technical (Tier 3) words for us to investigate. It is also persuasive and provides reasons we must look after trees. Lastly, it is entertaining with its puns and creative illustrations that make us laugh. We are really keen to start some quality writing around this topic.

Maths

In mathematics, we have been focusing on additive strategies, learning that addition and subtraction are inverse operations, and completing activities to help us consolidate this concept. We have also focused on multiplication, using repeated addition and arrays to solve problems, and revising previously taught strategies.

Swimming

Year 2 started swimming in week 1 and will continue over the next few weeks. The feedback from students was very positive and I am sure the opportunity to cool off in this hot weather will be an additional bonus too. Soon we will begin gymnastics at school, with qualified coaches teaching a variety of skills. 

-Kirrily Milton, Sam Deaves, Kathleen Harris, Chris Lyon

Stage 1 Teachers

Stage 2 have had a very busy and wonderful start to Term 4. So many wonderful things have happened that started our term as well as a lot of fantastic events still to come.

Homework Projects

This term Stage 2 students in Stage 2 will be presenting a project on how Christmas is celebrated from around the world. Students will have received their project information in week 2 of this term. Projects are due in week 8. We look forward to reading and viewing our students’ presentations. 

Grandparents Day

What a fabulous turn out for Grandparents Day on Friday 24th October! It was so nice to see the number of visitors who visited our school and shared some time with us.

Presentation Day

Presentation Day will soon be upon us! Year 3 and 4 are deep in organisation to entertain you at the end of the year. Watch this space...

Weather

It is beginning to warm up quite a bit, it is important that students move into summer uniform to ensure they are comfortable and don’t overheat. Our school uniform consist of:

• Girls – white polo and navy skort or summer dress

• Boys – grey shorts and blue polo

• White socks (not multi-coloured or coloured socks)

• Black school shoes

It is also important that students have hats, so they are protected and safe from the sun. Our school policy is No Hat – Play in the shade. Our designated shade areas include the COLA, Hall COLA and sandpit area. Students also need their hat for sport which is on Thursdays.

As it is warming up, it is essential that students are coming to school with a water bottle to ensure they are staying hydrated and healthy. Please make sure your child has a water bottle to assist us.

Thank you to all our families and staff that support our students so well.

-Felicity Bagshaw, Jonathan Willis, Hannah Roworth, Courtney Lyon

Stage 2 Teachers

Stage 3 have had a very busy and exciting start to Term 4, with many fantastic events still to come.

In the Classroom

Students are fully immersed in new units of work this term. Year 5 are exploring imagery and symbols through the cultural narratives of Ngaawily Nop: An old story retold by Kim Scott, Joyce Cockles, and Roma Winmar, and Noorn: An old story retold by Kim Scott and Ryan Brown. Year 6 students have been analysing the mentor text Queenie in Seven Moves by Zannie Louise to deepen their understanding of narrative elements such as imagery, symbolism, and connotation.

In Mathematics, students are consolidating their understanding of multiplication and division through intentional and number talks. They are also investigating fractions and the place value system as part of their core learning activities.

5R Pre-Service Teacher

This term, Eliza Statham will be joining 5R for her 4-week teaching practicum starting in Week 4. Eliza is currently studying education at the University of Newcastle (UON).

Presentation Day

Presentation Day is approaching soon! Year 5 and 6 students have begun preparing their items for this year's event. Please keep an eye on SchoolBytes for further information.

High School Taster Lessons – Year 5

Over the coming weeks, Year 5 students will enjoy a taste of high school life as Peel High teachers visit our school to deliver music and agriculture lessons.

This term, Year 5 will also participate in a sports program run by Oxley High student leaders and high-potential athletes.

Thank You, Peel High Enrichment Program

A selected group of Year 5 and 6 students have been participating in creative writing and filmmaking lessons led by Peel High teachers and student leaders. These sessions have helped our students develop skills in storytelling, filmmaking techniques, and acting.

Thank you to Peel High for dedicating your time and resources to enrich our primary students’ learning opportunities.

Weather and Uniform

As the weather warms up, please ensure students shift to their summer uniforms to stay comfortable and avoid overheating.

• Girls: white polo shirt and navy skort or summer dress

• Boys: grey shorts and blue polo shirt

• White socks only (no coloured or multi-coloured socks)

• Black school shoes

• Year 6 shirt to be worn on Wednesdays and Fridays

Weather and Uniform

Please note that jewellery is not part of the school uniform. Earrings should be limited to sleepers or studs only. Makeup, including fake nails and eyelashes, is not permitted.

Students must bring hats for sun protection. Our “No Hat – Play in the Shade” policy applies, with designated shaded areas including the COLA, Hall COLA, and sandpit area. Hats are also mandatory for sports, which occur on Wednesdays.

Students are encouraged to use roll-on deodorant throughout the day and must bring a water bottle to stay hydrated in the warmer weather.

Events

Please regularly check School Bytes for updates about upcoming events, including the Year 6 Formal and Graduation Assembly.

Leadership Nominations and Elections

Year 5 students will participate in leadership speeches and voting for next year’s SRC and School Captains on Monday, 1st December. We look forward to seeing our students take on these exciting leadership opportunities. Further details will be shared on SchoolBytes.

Thank you to all our families and staff for your ongoing support of our students.

-Kahla May, Grace Firth-Panetta, Emily Roworth, Dee Burns

Stage 3 Teachers

Welcome back to our final term of the year. We have lots of exciting things planned as we head toward the end of 2025.

English

In English, we are diving into The Book with No Pictures. It is such a fun text that helps us explore how words can create pictures in our minds. We will be learning about imagery, symbols, and connotation, and having plenty of laughs along the way.

Maths

In Maths, we are continuing with our Number Talks, moving from dot talks to using rekenreks. These help us build strong number sense and learn to explain our thinking in different ways.

Gymnastics

We are also very excited about Gymnastics this term, as it is always a class favourite. Students are practicing balance, coordination, and strength, and we cannot wait to show off our new skills.

Kinder Transition

Over the next few weeks, we will be welcoming our 2026 Kindergarten students as they begin their transition visits. Our class is looking forward to being friendly role models and helping our new friends settle into school life.

It’s hard to believe we’re already in Term 4! 2/6P have had a wonderful start to the term, diving into new learning experiences and enjoying plenty of hands-on fun along the way.

English

In English, our focus has been on fairytales. Students have been exploring traditional and fractured fairy tales — identifying language features, comparing characters and settings, and even beginning to plan their own creative stories. It’s been fantastic to see everyone using their imagination and developing their writing skills.

Maths

In Mathematics, we’ve been doing lots of hands-on learning, exploring number concepts, problem-solving, and measurement through games and practical activities. The students have really enjoyed applying their math skills in fun, real-world ways.

Farrer Excursion

A major highlight this term was our Stage 2 excursion to Farrer. Students learned all about farm life, including the process of shearing sheep and the different types of wool. We explored the world of cows and discovered the many products made from them. The children had the chance to collect eggs, make milkshakes and butter, and even enjoyed some delicious pancakes and burgers. It was a fantastic day full of learning, laughter, and new experiences!

Welcome back to a very busy term. There are many exciting things on this term so keep an eye out on the parent app for all the school events. 

This term brings CAPERS and Blade will be performing in the Indigenous dance. We wish him all the best, and we know he will be amazing.

High School Transition

Year 6 have attended some transition sessions with Tamworth High School and have met their year advisor and some of their new classmates. It is a very exciting time for our year 6 students.

English

Students this term are looking at Grimms fairytales and exploring how they are written, what they are trying to teach us and how the ideology in the stories differ to how we think nowadays.  It is an interesting comparison with very interesting conversations. You may see Snow White (teddy bear) sleeping outside the classroom and the 25 Dwarves on the window.

Maths

We have begun looking at addition and subtraction with regrouping to the hundreds of thousands for some students or just within the hundred for others. It is a topic that requires lots of practice and thinking and we are doing a great job!

Calendar Art

We have also begun working on our artwork for our school calendar. Students have done some amazing artwork over the year and they have selected a few pictures and have begun practicing so they can create perfection for their calendars for you.

Assemblies

We look forward to seeing you at our assemblies. Thank you to everyone who turned up last Friday. We will see you again in Week 5. We have joined with 2/6P so we can create something wonderful.

North West Athletics Trials

Last Term we had the following students attend the North West Athletics Trials after their excellent results at the Tamworth Zone Carnival: 

Flynn Bishop, Hamish Blackman, Mella Carrigan, Myles Carrigan, Skyla Gardner, Cooper Hammond, Layla Hatch, Mason Mulligan, Jaxon Murray 

Our Senior Boys Relay team also qualified, consisting of - Jaxon Murray, Xavier Parkes, Sebastian Leahy, Patrick Miskle

We would like to congratulate all of our students who did themselves, our school and Tamworth Zone proud by competing to the best of their abilities. 

Patrick Miskle had a huge day competing in no less than 6 events including the senior boys relay. Patrick qualified for the State Athletics Trials in the 100m, 200m and 800m with some excellent results. 

12 Year Boys 100m – 2nd 

Senior Boys 200m – 1st 

Senior Boys 800m – 1st

Long Jump -  4th 

High Jump - 7th 

Due to these amazing times on the track and some good results in High Jump and Long Jump, Patrick received the North West Senior Boys Age Champion. 

Congratulations Patrick!

State PSSA Athletics Trials

Patrick returned from the State Athletics Championships both happy with his results but also tired after racing in very hot conditions. 

He finished 18th in the State for the Senior Boys 200m with a PB of 26.83

In the 12 Year Boys 100m he finished 36th with a time of 13.55 sec.

In the Senior Boys 800m he finished with a time of 2.39.53 which was only 8 seconds of his personal best in that event. 

Well done on an amazing achievement, Patrick! 

We look forward to many more TWPS teachers being involved in QTR in 2026 and 2027.

Gardening Club

Since returning this term, students have been excited to see how much the garden has grown over the holidays. They have spent a few breaks helping to pick onions and water our crops. We have some yummy zucchinis, strawberries, tomatoes, spinach, capsicums, and beetroots growing. Students have loved taste-testing the strawberries and spinach while watering.

From Mrs France

Garden Club students cooked and ate produce from the garden. We harvested spinach, onions, and a zucchini. Students carefully chopped the freshly picked vegetables, and together we cooked a delicious vegetarian pasta. Each child had a small bowl of pasta to taste before returning to class.

As we cooked, we calculated the cost: a vegetarian pasta dinner for five people can be made for less than $8. Most children enjoy cooking, and with a bit of help from an adult, your child might like to try making this meal at home.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion diced

• 1 zucchini chopped into small pieces

• 5 spinach leaves cut into small pieces

• 1/4 jar sun-dried tomatoes.

• 1 packet spiral pasta

• 1/2 cup grated cheese

METHOD

• Cook the pasta in the microwave.

• Fry onion and zucchini for 4 min, then add spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for further 2 minutes. Add pasta, mix and serve. Sprinkle with grated cheese and enjoy!!!