Welcome to the Alawa Primary School weekly newsletter.
Week 10 is finally upon us.
The term has gone so quickly and holidays are here again.
It was fantastic to see so many people attending Student led Conferences last week. I hope you enjoyed hearing from your children about the fantastic learning and progress that they have made.
SUPER ALAWA SINGERS: Our BEAT choir performed at the Darwin Entertainment Centre. Thankyou to Mr Lotherington and the students for all the time and energy that you have given to this event.
BOOKWEEK PARADE: I am really looking forward to our Book Parade on Friday to finish off our term. I am encouraging children to bring in the book or draw a picture of their character they are dressed up as. There is even a prize for the best dressed family. Our house points after muster will be for those dressed up and/or house team uniform.
CARPARK UPDATE: We continue to wait for the commencement of the carpark works. Our current carpark is definitely a source of frustration for everyone. Please be considerate and extra vigilant when accessing our carpark and drop off zone. Its important that you take extra care and remain in your car when in the drop off zone.
NAPLAN: results for States and Territories for 2021 have been publicly released and are available online. Individual Student Reports are being prepared and checked and will be distributed to parents/carers in early Term 4, 2021.
Have a wonderful break over the holidays
Kind regards
Genevieve Donohue [Acting Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]
Critical and Creative Thinking
Critical and Creative thinking is encouraged in all learning opportunities. This involves:
· exploring, identifying and organising information and ideas
· generating ideas, possibilities and actions
· reflecting on thinking and processes.
In Year 1 Bullock, students are asked to get their critical brain thinking on to answer questions like, What do you think would happen in the world if it never rained?
In Year 2 Bernardino, students participate in Wisdom Wednesday activities based on Class Dojo’s Conundrums. Students are asked to pose a possible solution/s to a tricky scenario. The conundrums are entertaining and resemble real-life situations.
In Year 2 Ward, students participated in a STEM bridge building unit of work. Students worked in small groups and were asked to imagine, plan, create, test and adjust a design solution to meet criteria, just like engineers do.
Ana Bernardino [Acting Assistant Principal]
Our 4th and final professional learning day for staff is planned for Friday 22nd October. There will be no school for students that day. Our staff will be reviewing our progress towards the goals in our Annual School Improvement Plan and developing the priorities and plans for 2022. We will also be reviewing staff and parents perception survey feedback to inform these priorities and our 2022 operations.
Bratpack will be available for care. All bookings to be made directly with the Bratpack team.
office: 8927 2546
mobile: 0423375089
Primary School Average for Week 9 Term 3: 95.17%
It is terrific having all our families back with us at school.
The classes with the highest attendance for Week 9: Preschool Blue Group, Year 1 Bullock and Year 3/4 Baines with 100%!
In the lead for Term 3 we have Year 1 White with 96.93%
Arriving late for school has a significant impact on your child’s learning and engagement in the education program.
There were 45 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 8 Term 3!
The class with the least lates for Week 9 was: Year 4/5 France with 0 lates!
In the lead for the term we have Preschool Blue Group with 5 lates!!!
Students at Alawa receive raffle tickets [house points] for their attitude and behavior in the playground and out the front of the school at the end of the day, as well as having a go at the weekly quiz. These are then counted on a Friday along with the points from the activity after recess on Friday where we count the students in full uniform, wearing house shirts etc. At the end of each term we also include the points earnt through the recycling project and water bottle checks.
In Week 9 of Term 3 Finnis is ahead of Goyder and Manton.
Finnis is in the lead for the year!
Muster is held at Alawa after each recess and lunch break - this gives us an opportunity for everyone to settle from playtime, share any celebrations and work on consistency of messages and expectation.
Each day we allocate class points during Muster time recognizing those students who were ready and waiting to go back to class calmly and quietly after break times. The winning class from each 3 weeks will receive ice-blocks from Ms Cartwright and get to choose 5 songs that will play before our bells for the following 3 weeks.
In Week 9 of Term 3, the classes with the most points were... Transition Connelly and Transition Lane with 175 points each!
The winner for weeks 7-9 is....Transition Connelly with 448 points!
Alawa Recycling is not only an important part of our fundraising activates here at Alawa with all proceeds going directly back into the farm, but also a vital step in helping us achieve the goal of creating a more sustainable farm and garden program.
Items can be deposited into the house bags in the back car park and are counted at the end of each week as each item earns a point for that house.
Thank you to all the families that came to Preschool last week for the Student Led Conferences. The pre-schooler's enjoyed being ‘bosses’ and showing their Mums and Dads all the things that they learn at preschool. Children were able to demonstrate their fine motor development and numeracy skills, share their learning about Traditional tales [our book Explorer focus] and walk their parents through their special ALLE learner book which showcases their work.
The Preschool children did some cooking last week. We made scones and then got to eat them (yum)! There is so much learning involved in the cooking process. We go through the recipe step by step, measure the ingredients, and work together as a team as we take turns to pour, mix or knead. The scones were delicious (with lots of butter and Jam) and were gobbled in one sitting.
The Preschool team hope you have a great two-week break, stay safe and we will see you back at school from Monday 11th October.
Alice, Emma and Kelly and Flor [Preschool Team]
Here are the winners from the Preschool Bikeathon earlier in the term
We would like to thanks all the parents for their generosity this year.
We raised $2906.75 for the preschool and are planning to buy new bikes and brand new books for our preschool library.
This Friday will be the last Playgroup for the term, returning again Week 1 of Term 4 Friday 15th October.
I look forward to seeing you all on Friday.
Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator]
The Library was busy over the past week with the Book Fair and we would like to Thank you for your support of both your child and the school. With it all packed up, we are looking forward to the Book Week Parade on Friday. I had the chance to read the book - The Book Week Monster by Adam and Charlotte Guillian with some of the classes as they came to the library in Week 9. We spoke about where we can get ideas for character costumes and what we can use to make our costumes. Some of the ideas that came up for finding a book we might not have read before was from a library, from a family or friends house, from an op shop or from a book which is being read online.
If your child does not have a costume yet here are some great ideas which are easy to make:
24 Book Week costume hacks that are brilliantly easy - https://www.bountyparents.com.au/expert-advice/easy-book-week-costumes/
Easy Book Week costumes you can make at home - https://beanstalkmums.com.au/easy-book-week-costumes-make-at-home/
17 genius last minute Book Week costume ideas if you... totally forgot about Book Week - https://www.mamamia.com.au/book-week-costume-ideas-2021/
Need a Book Week Costume Quickly? - https://www.penguin.com.au/activities/1711-need-a-book-week-costume-quickly
Sacha Evans [Library and ICT Manager]
Hello Alawa community,
We’re Ahnouk and Clem and on Friday night we participated in the beat choir for 2021. On Friday we spent the day rehearsing at the Darwin entertainment centre with some of the dancers, soloists, and the band.
That night we went and performed with other schools. We sang twelve songs and we enjoyed it immensely. It was great fun practising and singing in front of all those people. There was a mad scientist and a sea goddess who were facing an army of mutant toads, this was the story behind the singing. The theme for the beat was tides. We sang songs about the ocean, waves and never giving up. As well as a few songs in different languages.
At the end all the kids celebrated backstage. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down in excitement. We were all happy we made it and for most of us it was our first real Beat. In the end it was a fun and exciting experience for all of us.
From Ahnouk and Clem [Senior school choir members]
Each week the farm will have a limited number of Farm produce boxes for sale with a variety of seasonal fresh produce.
Each box is $15 and will include items available on the day. Please note items will vary from week to week depending on what is in season.
Orders are to be made through our Quickcliq system https://quickcliq.com.au/ for Fridays only and can be picked up from the front office at the end of the day.
We also have Belgium Duccle chicks for sale $15 each. Contact Ms Conder to find out more details or to arrange purchase via the front office 8997 7666.
Our Mission - is to provide the Alawa School community with delicious healthy meals and snacks and to create meaningful links to our kitchen garden program.
LUNCHTIME SPECIALS: Weeks 4 - 10
Available every day lunch only [Wednesday-Friday]:
- Mini beef burgers $3.50
- Spaghetti bolognaise small serve $3.50 or large serve $5.50 /Gluten Free Spaghetti $6.50
Wednesday- Roast chicken and gravy roll - one size only $5.50
Thursday – Beef and vegetable Chilli con carne - Large size $5.50, Small $3.50
Friday – Beef or jackfruit Taco - Large size $5.50, Small $3.50
A reminder that our school Cafe is open Wednesday to Friday ONLY. Closed on Monday and Tuesdays.
Order online at www.quickcliq.com.au
