Dear Parents and Carers
Classes 2021
As the 2020 school year is drawing to a close, our staff have been very busy developing our plans for 2021. This includes preparing our staffing and class plans across the school for the 2021 year. It can be challenging to develop a final version of how the classes will be structured in 2021, as our staffing and financial allocation is determined on several variables which are announced in March in the new year.
At this stage, our anticipated class structure for 2021 is as follows:
· Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten): 3 classes
· Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2): 5 classes
· Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4): 4 classes
· 1 Year 4/5 class
· Stage 3 (Years 5/6): 4 classes including the Opportunity Class
· Support: 5 Classes
We held our whole school transition day on Tuesday, where students had the opportunity to experience the learning environment of their new stages. The day was highly successful in preparing students for the upcoming year and assisting them to feel less anxious about their new class in 2021.
As previously mentioned, if you would like to make a request regarding 2021 class placement for your child(ren), these should be provided in writing to the school either by letter or email. All requests are considered on a case by case basis amongst the need to consider all students and cohorts across the school.
We have recently conducted an evaluation of the Chaplain role that was introduced this year. This involved consulting with community and staff through surveys. Thank you to all who responded with their feedback, this assisted us in evaluating our 2021 directions. After examination of the feedback, it has been determined that the Chaplain role will not continue into 2021. Unfortunately as this position is enabled through federal funding specific to this role, we are unable to use these funds to support other school initiatives, and all remaining funds will be returned at the conclusion of 2020.
I would like to thank Marlicia Travis for all of her efforts in supporting student wellbeing in the role of Chaplain in 2020. This has included supporting students through the SPARC and steel bin bands initiatives. Thank you Marlicia.
In 2020 the school introduced a staffing initiative where additional classes were established in Term 1, with the aim to reduce class sizes and allow for students to attend a home class in the event that their teacher was away. This initiative has aimed to support greater levels of student wellbeing and reduce anxiety and impact on learning at these times. We have reviewed and evaluated this initiative in Term 4, and will incorporate this evaluation into our 2021 planning.
We will be holding our annual Presentation Day on Monday 14 December. Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions, we will be unable to hold the event in the traditional format with parent and community attendance, and will instead hold four assemblies throughout the day:
· Kindergarten to Year 2
· Years 3 and 4
· Years 5 and 6
· Leadership assembly - a limited number per student of family members will be invited to attend.
We will take photos throughout the ceremonies and share these through our school Facebook page.
Again we thank our parents and community for your support and understanding with these changes.
Broken Bay Camp
Our Year 5 students returned from their Broken Bay Camp today. Mr Davies reports that all students had a wonderful time and represented Lithgow Public School beautifully. Thank you to Mrs Picman for all of her organisation to ensure a successful camp for our students and to Mr Ashworth and Mr Davies for attending with Mrs Picman to support our Year 5 students. The camp provides our Year 5 students with the opportunity to develop strong, respectful relationships that will serve them well as the senior students in the school in 2021. I would encourage you to have a look at the photographs published on our school’s Facebook Page to get a sense of the value our students get from attending Broken Bay when they are Year 5 at Lithgow Public School.
Kind regards,
Duncan Peard
Deputy Principal | Lithgow Public School
