Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to Term 3 at LIS! I hope everyone had a good break. It is great to see all our students back and eager to start the term. Please read our Term 3 Covid 19 safe practices below. Thanks to our parents and carers for all their support and encouragement during Term 2. We navigated the term well, while getting used to the changes made to keep our children safe.

On the 27th July, New Ireland Province celebrates New Ireland Day. As part of the New Ireland Day celebrations, students from the Year 4-10 classes at LIS have the opportunity to enter the Governor's Essay Competition. Students from all New Ireland schools are eligible to enter the competition. We wish all our entrants success!

I will be out of the school next week from Tuesday. In my absence, Mr. McKeiver will be acting principal.

There will be a holiday to commemorate Remembrance Day next Friday, 23rd July.

Please find Term 3 Parent Calendar attached below.

If  you have any concerns, or would like further information on any of the topics in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to make contact If you have any further queries or questions.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville

There will be a P & W Meeting next week on Wednesday, the 21st July, at 6.00pm in the year 9/10 classroom. Mask wearing and social distancing applies.

There will be a School Council Meeting for School Council members next Thursday, 29th July, commencing at 6.00pm in the year 9/10 classroom.

Thanks to the P&W for providing a Sausage Sizzle for the last day of term 2!!

We would like to make special mention to NCS for donating the sausages for today's sausage sizzle. Thank you to George and the team at NCS for your continued support of our school.

Students all agreed it was a great end-of-term treat!

It is imperative that parents and carers do not send their children to school if they are sick or showing any symptoms of a cold or flu. If your child is sick, please keep your child home and seek appropriate medical attention. Children who display any signs of sickness will be isolated under supervision in the school's sick bay and parents called to come and collect them.

1.  A comprehensive deep clean of the school will be undertaken by Nayal LTD, prior to school resumption in term 3.

2. Entrance to school for students and parents / carers will be via the Aginas Oval gate only, which will open at 7.45am. Students who arrive before this (which is discouraged) are to social distance and  wait in the carpark undercover area until 7.45am. Students should be at school by 8.05am, ready to start the day at 8.10am.

3. All students will be greeted at the gate by a teacher, where they will be temperature checked. They will then wash their hands at the wash station and then proceed to their classroom.  Parents and carers will be permitted to escort their children to classrooms, If parents need to go to the office, they will be permitted to proceed to the wash station and are then to make their way straight to the school office. 

4. Several wash stations are installed around the school and hand sanitiser is available in all classrooms. Students will be required to wash their hands in the mornings before school, before and after recess/lunch and before leaving school in the afternoons.

5. All desks, door handles, playground equipment and other high contact equipment will be sanitised twice daily or after use by cleaning staff.

6. Social distancing measure of 1.5 metres will be employed in classrooms through desk arrangements. Social distancing markings have been painted on cement areas where students line up and in the undercover area for recess/lunch eating times. The school will implement staggered recess breaks between the primary and high school to reduce the number of children using toilets etc.

7. Students will be issued with a reusable washable mask. Students will be need to wear these masks for travel to and from school and during all activities at school.

8. The school canteen will be open on Fridays in term 3. The P&W will send more info out regarding this in due course. Students will need to bring a packed recess snack and lunch each day - there is to be no dropping off of food by parents, siblings or haus meris. Students are also asked to bring a water bottle to school that they will refill.

9. Term 3 will see assemblies in the basketball court  throughout the term. Parents will be welcome to attend, adhering to social distancing protocols.

Term 3 - Monday 12 July to Wednesday 15 September

Term 4 - Tuesday 5 October to Thursday 2 December

Thank you to our term 2 Student Councillors for their work last term. Students enjoyed the frosty Fridays and the drawing competition.

Term 3 Student Councillors were presented with their badges at this morning's assembly.

Curriculum News

This term, we will return to teaching all subject areas in both primary and high school classes as per our normal schedule. Term 3 parent overviews will be sent home today (Friday), so please keep an eye out for those.

Assemblies

We look forward to welcoming parents back to our Covid-safe assemblies this term. Assemblies will be held each Friday morning in the basketball court, commencing at 8.10am. Each week there is a presentation, usually from one of the primary classes. This week is the presentation of badges to our term 3 Student Councillors. Please adhere to social distancing practices.

Swimming

For term 3 PE, students in years 3-10 will have swimming for their regular weekly PE lesson and students in Prep-year 2 will have an intensive swimming program over weeks 8 and 9. Prep-year 2 students will have a lesson each day in Week 8 and Monday-Wednesday in Week 9. On Thursday of Week 9, there will be an early years swimming carnival in the morning and a year 3-10 carnival in the later afternoon/evening.

Mr McKeiver has emailed this information to parents; however, please find a copy of the letter in the link below.

Year 8 and Year 10 Exam Prep

Thank you to the STM teachers, Mr Joseph Takundo and Ms Aisa Victor, for running exam preparation lessons over the holiday break for our year 8 and 10 students. These lessons were well attended and we appreciate the support of our year 8 and 10 parents. We are committed to having our students well-prepared for these important exams. 

Saturday morning Exam Prep sessions for all year 8 and 10 students will commence this Saturday, 17th July, from 9.00am - 12.00pm, with Ms Edwina Jason and Mr Jeffrey Tore. It is expected that all students attend. Please advise your child's teacher (Ms Yip or Mrs Laien) if your child is unable to attend.

We will continue our after school sessions for year 10 students as per last term's schedule.

Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions.

I would like to welcome everyone back to the new term.

Kind regards,

Ms Langusch

Welcome back to the new term!

Our Work Ready Program Trainees from last semester completed their training on Thursday 24 June. We wish them all the very best as they now commence to seek employment and enter the workforce.

Our FODE students are continuing to work hard and submit the required assessment.

Over the semester holiday period, the STMC welcomed lecturers from Divine Word University to come to our campus to deliver the Primary Education Bachelor Upgrade Program for local Lihirian teachers. This program was a huge success with 11 local primary teachers completing the face-to-face component of their first semester. They will now work to submit the required assessment for their first semester. Congratulations to our two LIS Assistant Teachers who are participating in this program -  Lorna Romaso-Daimol and Anastasia Tukata. This is a 2 year program and we are excited to support this inaugural cohort through their successful upgrade of their teaching qualifications. 

The Kisim Save Library remains open to all Townsite Residents and Newcrest Employees every Saturday by appointment. Please email kevin.collins@newcrest.com.au .

Regards,

Mr. Kevin Collins