Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Week 5 already and the gorgeous dry season is with us! 

The mornings are a tad cooler and we are all enjoying the opportunity to be out and about more I am sure. Fitness Boot camp Wednesday mornings continues to go well, with House Teams now including a chant as they gear up for the big day on June 11th.

Out students continue to engage in full on learning across the school as well as in ongoing formative and summative assessment - helping teachers review their achievement levels and progress to date this year. So many children are standing up proudly at Muster and sharing that they have achieved their learning goals - I am hoping they also come home and share their successes with you as well. Once assessments are completed they will all reflect again and establish new learning goals moving forward.

Super excitement at the Preschool last Wednesday with the hatching of new baby chickens....I was lucky to spend some time with them as one was coming out of their shell - the excitement on the children's faces was contagious and an absolute highlight of my week. 

Cybersafety Awareness Expo

Huge thanks to the 56 people who responded to our Cybersafety survey - certainly some serious concerns expressed by families. Please take the time to RSVP if you are coming along to our Expo Monday 24th at 5:30pm [See flyer with details later in this newsletter].

New ICT devices

Last week we took delivery of our 50 new Chrome books - laptops using / accessing cloud services and web based applications. These are based in the primary classrooms but accessible to all early years students as well. Special thanks to Mr Henderson, Ms Hammond and Ms Sacha for their work in setting these up and getting them out to classes so quickly upon arrival at the school.

Reports

As per previous communication our end of semester reports will come home via email to the majority of families. If for any reason you do no receive emails from the school or do not have email access PLEASE advise the front office ASAP so we can ensure a paper copy gets sent home. For families with students in Years 3-6 the reports will also be sent to their emails and they will be provided time in class to review, discuss, reflect the day AFTER they are sent home to parents / carers. If for any reason you DO NOT wish your child to be emailed their report again just advise through the front office.

Have a great week,

 Sandy Cartwright [Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]

Last Friday Mrs Karen Weston [Chief Executive Department of Education] and Mrs Susan Bowden [Deputy Chief Executive Department of education] came to visit us at Alawa. The ladies toured the Farm, visited Preschool and saw our Years 3-6 all engaged in their Friday sport activities. They joined the staff for morning tea and then Mrs Bowden addressed the school at Muster after recess and presented us with 2 new books for our library. Following this they enjoyed touring our Early Years classrooms, including seeing 1 McHatten cherubs with their Rain Sticks in the STEM Room. Our School Captains and Vice Captains did an admirable job of hosting the visit and sharing their pride in our school. Mrs Weston and Mrs Bowden were super impressed with the quality education programs they saw at Alawa and our clear focus on an improvement agenda.

Sandy Cartwright [Principal]

On 2 afternoons last week the creative cherubs in Transition Connelly prepared and delivered to my office a very special afternoon tea. They took the time to write me a letter to come along with the treats and explained to me what they had prepared. The treats ranged from love heart cookies, to jelly beans to fruit. All made from bright orange playdough. I must have been so convincing in my praise they did query with Ms Connelly if I actually realised it was playdough and I could not really eat it. They then snuck back up when I was out in other classes to collect it all back. A super opportunity for the young ones to further develop their oral language, their maths skills as well as their foundation literacy skills - all through play!
Sandy Cartwright

Dear Ms Cartwright

Surely you will agree to put the parrot cheer back on the wheel after these three arguments. You should put the parrot back on the wheel because a variety of students love it so much, it’s funny and very cool. The arguments are endless, but here are some that really stand out.

 Firstly, our first argument is that you should put the parrot back on the wheel because a variety of students love it. Everyone that loves it is very angry/sad because you took the parrot of the wheel. 

Further into the arguments, our second argument is that it’s very funny and everyone is amazed that you took that parrot off the wheel. Lots of people want it to be back on the wheel because they like to laugh at muster. Both the  little kids and even some older kids laugh at it.

Furthermore the moves for the parrot are cool! They are cool because they make everyone smile.

 In conclusion, we have shown that you should put the parrot back on the wheel. Therefore even though some people might agree to keep the parrot off the wheel we strongly believe that it should be back for good. Such a variety of students love it so so much, and we want everyone to be happy ?.

By Georgie Jenner & Paige Hughes [3/4 Baines]

So......what do others think?

If you have any strong views about whether or not the Parrot Cheer should be back on the Applause wheel send Ms Cartwright an email with your opinion. A final decision will be made at the end of Week 6.

Friday last week we recognized the super efforts of Ms Cleo Rayson who has received 100 merits and was recognised with an Honour Distinction Award. Cleo was joined by her Mum and Dad at Assembly as well as her brother Darcy.

Cleo spent the day touring the school, speaking at Muster, helping in the front office and handing out Merits through the school.

"It was so much fun, I got to help Ms Cartwright walk around with our special guests and show them the Best School in the Multiverse"

Miss Cleo [Principal for the day] 

Hello everyone,

Teachers are now heading into our report writing period where they are gathering data and preparing information to give you a clear picture of where your children are at and their next steps for learning. Please ensure your emails are all up to date so you receive the reports. If you would like a hard copy please let the front office know.

We have several new faces around the school who we welcome to Alawa. Miss Charlotte [Williams-Greywolf] is a placement Student from CDU who will be with us over the next two weeks in Year 5/6 Lotherington. Ms Lena Hu is our new class assistant in Transition Connelly who is replacing Ms Beatrice. We also have Education Student Volunteers from CDU who have been assisting us on the Farm and in Kitchen on Thursday and Fridays. Thankyou to our teachers for their commitment to support others in gaining knowledge around the education of children.

NAPLAN     Well done to all our students who have almost completed their assessments. All students were confident with the process and everything ran very smoothly.

Have a lovely week

Genevieve Donohue, [Assistant Principal]

Over the last week Preschool has been in a buzz of excitement with the arrival of new baby chickens. We had been incubating fertilised eggs for three weeks and on day 21 of the life cycle our first chicken hatched! The first chick had just hatched when staff arrived on Wednesday morning and we invited parents and pre-schoolers to have a peek as they got ready to start their preschool session.

As the day unfolded we were lucky enough to witness the hatching of a second baby chick. The children gathered around the incubator patiently absorbed in the magical experience taking place. When the word got out that chickens had (and were still hatching) in the preschool lots of Alawa classes came to have a look at the new life.

For the next four weeks the chickens will stay with us at the preschool for the children to interact with, learn from and take care of. When they are big enough they will move to the Alawa farm where we will see them weekly and continue to watch them grow.  

We hope you have an amazing week

Alice, Emma, Kelly and Flor  [Preschool Team]

Defence Families know all too well that a non-negotiable aspect of Defence Life is the regular absence of the serving member and we are heading into that time of year again when these absences become a little more frequent. If the serving member in your household is going to be absent and you feel your child may need a little extra support through this time please let me know.

 Over the next few weeks at Kids Club we will be making Sports House posters for the annual school sports carnival that is being held in the coming weeks. This will be a great opportunity for students to build some team spirit between the age groups and excitement in anticipation for sports day. So on a Thursday morning please remind your kids to get along to Defence Kids club at lunch time and show their team spirit. 

Katie Wedel [Defence School Mentor] 

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 4 of Term 2 Goyder is ahead of Finnis and Manton. 

Goyder 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 4 Term 2, the class with the most points was... Year 2 Ward!

Twice a week we tally up all students water bottles and students receive a house point for each one brought in. 

In Week 4 of Term 2 Finnis is ahead of Goyder and Manton!

In the lead for Term 2 we have Goyder with 946 points!!

Simultaneous Storytime

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned Simultaneous Storytime. The school will be participating in this tomorrow after muster, Thursday 20th May, listening to the story Give me some Space by Philip Bunting read by NASA astronaut Shannon Walker from the International Space Station. There will be a range of space themed activities running throughout the week in the library including a colouring competition. 

Some fun activities you can do from home which link in to the story include:

·         You can see Una’s home from your very own home. See how you can spot the International Space Station from your very own window without a telescope. Ever wondered what Earth looks like from space - in real-time?

·         Check out Earth Live Webcam. Live streaming views from the NASA High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) cameras on the International Space Station (ISS).  What about the moon? Ever wondered what Neil Armstrong saw when he stepped onto the Moon surface in 1969?

·         Check out Moon Webcam. Live Moon Webcam brought to you by the Japanese SELENE Lunar Orbiter spacecraft also known as Kaguya. This video stream allows you to see the contrast between the bright and dark areas of the lunar surface, full of impact craters, hills and depressions, as well as the Earth rising above the horizon of the Moon. 

·         10 years of the Sun. Watch a 10-Year Time Lapse of the Sun From NASA's SDO.  

·         Ever wanted to see what you would look like as an Astronaut? Why not take a NASA Selfie? ​

Sacha Evans [ Library & ICT Manager]

In Week 3 The Tek Interns showed 10 Year 1 Jeffery students  how to log into typing.com.

 In Week 4 the confident students who learnt how to log into typing.com  helped their classmates log in during their Technology lesson.

The students enjoyed learning not only how to use the program but then how to pass that knowledge onto their fellow students. 

Time is running out for parents or carers to apply for the Semester 1 Urban Sport Vouchers for their children.

Applications for Semester 1 Urban Sport Vouchers close on Monday 24 May 2021.

Parents and carers can apply online at www.sportvoucher.nt.gov.au/apply.

Please note that vouchers issued in Semester 1, 2021 will expire on 31 May 2021. 

More information is available by contacting the Sport Voucher team by calling 1800 817 860 or emailing sport.voucher@nt.gov.au.

In conjunction with our Rainbow Run on Friday the 28th May, the Cafe will be selling a lunch special available for all students to purchase. 

$6.00 - Sausage in bread, popper juice and icy pole

Orders can be made via QuickCliq or please note 'Lunch Day special' on students lunch order bag. 

www.quickcliq.com.au  

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 4-6

Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Chicken wings and fried rice

Thursday– Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Homemade Beef Burgers

Friday –Homemade Pizza. Roasted vegetable or Hawaiian 

[Serve $3.00 or large serve $5.50 Spaghetti, Gluten Free Spaghetti $6.50]

A reminder that our school Cafe is open Wednesday to Friday ONLY. Closed on Monday and Tuesdays. 

Order online at www.quickcliq.com.au  

What a busy and fun Friday morning we shared at Playgroup. We enjoyed our activities indoors as always; we played with the fire station and helicopter pad, read books, and enjoyed making coloured patterns with the magnets. We also really enjoyed the dinosaurs and farm figurines!

We also visited the Farm which is one of our favourite things to do. It was chickens first today, so we fed them our kitchen scraps and wandered amongst the hens. The quails and goats are our favourite though. We watched the quails quietly and fed the goats some grass. We also investigated all the other animals and vegie patch. We just love the Farm.

Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator]

Huge thanks to all the families who supported the school swimming program recently for Preschool - Year 2. As always we do an internal review to inform our future program and we are also seeking any feedback from you as parents / carers.

If you have any thoughts regarding the program please send them through via email alawa.school@education.nt.gov.au

We will be holding a Professional Development Day for staff on Tuesday June 15th.  Professional development days are used by schools to improve the skills of our teachers, school leaders and school administrative support staff. They also allow us the time to continue working on our School Improvement agenda. Students are not to attend school on this day and we have once again arranged Brat Pack to be available for child minding [at your own cost] for those in need.

Please contact Brat Pack direct to secure your child’s place.—8927 2546 or thebratpack@bigpond.com

* Please note that Jingili OSCH will not be operating that day.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the office on 8997 7666 during school hours.