Narrabri West Public School

Narrabri West votes - 2022 school leaders election!

Our Year 5 students have been given the opportunity (in a secret ballot) to nominate students who they think would be suitable candidates for captain or prefects. The boys and girls who received the most nominations were invited to stand for election. This process allows those children who their peers believe are best suited to these important positions to have the opportunity to be elected.

Candidates nominated for election are -

Girls: Hadleigh Astill, Summer Charlton, Lilly Harvey-Woods, Annaleise Howe, Amelia Lennox, Abbey Manton, Gwen Ridley, Sophie Stoltenberg

Boys: Charlie Butler, Cody Harris, Layne Hollis, Jarrad Lawler, William McClymont, David Silver, Lennon Simmonds, Blake Stride

All students in Years 2-6 vote, as do all staff members. All votes are equal and the students elected are the four boys and four girls with the most votes. The two with the highest number of votes are elected captains. A simple and fair process, so good luck everyone.

Elections will be held on Wednesday 24th November following a Zoom assembly where all candidates will be able to speak about their personal qualities to the rest of the school. No matter the result, we know that Narrabri West will have outstanding school leaders yet again in 2022.

We are now entering the 6th week of Term 4 and the year is disappearing quickly with school life starting to get very hectic. There are lots of great things to look forward to as we enter the busiest time of the year. We only have 27 days of school remaining this year!

Our very keen 2022 Kindergarten students are well and truly ready for Kindergarten, following the conclusion of our ‘Ready, Set, Kinder’ transition program.

This was a successful experience that has prepared all of them for the start of their learning journey. We enjoyed their company and watching them develop. It was very reassuring to hear them all saying they want to come to school now!

They all received a folder of the work they completed during ‘Ready, Set, Kinder!’. They were extremely proud of this and were very excited as they showed their work. There is no doubt they are ready for their first day of school in 2022. We are really looking forward to welcoming these wonderful new ‘westies’ to our school next year.

Wow, hasn’t this year flown by!

Red Group children have been busy learning about magnetics and how they are attracted to different materials. Children have found different products that are magnetic using our magnetic wands inside and outside in the Preschool environment.

Blue Group children have enjoyed learning about maps and creating their own. They used premade maps and their imagination to find treasure and different animals during outdoor play.

Both Red Group and Blue Group have harvested some produce from our vegetable patch. The children have been busy watering, weeding and monitoring the growth of their carrots, spinach and snow peas. We enjoyed eating our snow peas straight from the garden as well as our carrots. We picked some spinach and shared it between some teachers to enjoy.

Miss Abbey O’Brien & Mrs Trish Lawty

In year 5 mathematics sessions, students have been conducting their own chance experiments and discussing probabilities to describe their outcomes.

During English sessions, students have been conducting research about environmental issues so they are able to write a short story to entertain and inform younger children and create their own website for older students.

This term Stage 3 have been exploring how artists use the elements of art and researching famous artists who inspire us. Now it’s their turn to create some masterpieces! 

Our accuracy focus in PE has been a great chance to play some exciting games! As well as soccer and tennis, Stage 3 are trying their hand at table tennis and Finska.

We are preparing to farewell our Year 6 students who will soon embark on the next stage of their learning journey, as they prepare for Year 7 in 2022. They are eagerly awaiting their upcoming orientation visit to Narrabri High School on a date to be confirmed.

The last day for Student Banking will be Wednesday the 8th of December.  Student Banking will not continue in the future.

For 90 years, our School Banking program has helped children learn about money, reinforced the importance of regular savings and provided structure for parents to support their children to save.

Though the program continues to have strong support from schools, parents and teachers, recent decisions by some state and territory governments because of a review by the corporate regulator mean we are unable to continue providing programs in schools, and we have had to make a difficult decision to close our School Banking program for all government and non-government schools across the country.

Our School Banking program was established in 1931 at a time when having a bank account was not commonplace, and since then we have helped more than 15 million Australians take their first financial steps. This would not have been possible without the wonderful support we have received from schools like yours, including all the parents and volunteers, and for this we are deeply grateful. Thank you.

Even though this is a sad time, School Banking has taught so many young Australians, past and present, the value of money and we believe this should be celebrated. We have created a place for you to share your stories, fondest memories and lessons learnt through the program. To share your story and access our financial education resources, please visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking 

Even though the CommBank School Banking program will not be returning to your school after this year, you can continue to make deposits into your child’s Youthsaver account through online transfers or at any CommBank branch. If you need further information please phone 132 221 or visit your local CommBank branch.

Thank you to all parents for your continuing support for our school. These next few weeks will be extremely busy, but as always will be lots of fun and certainly exciting!

The children are working hard to finish their years’ work. The teachers are finalising their assessments and are finishing writing student reports. There are exciting things happening each day. Coming up in December:

• Presentation Day (Thursday 9th).
• Platinum Badge Presentation  (Monday 13th) - 
•  … and our end of term celebration and last day of school (Thursday 16th).

We will all definitely need a well-earned rest after all of these activities!

While the school year finishes for students on Thursday 16th December, our staff will be in attendance until Friday 17th. Friday will be a very busy and highly valuable days of planning and professional learning.

We are now finalising planning for our 2022 class structure. We have some very exciting plans in place for next year and look forward to being able to work with all students in a wonderful learning environment.

One of the things we need to know is the number of students we can expect to have returning to our school next year.

Parents are asked to help in a number of ways. Firstly, if you know that you will be moving or enrolling in another school next year, it would assist us if you could advise the school as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone who completed the online ‘Tell Them From Me’ surveys. When the results from the surveys are available they will be published in our Annual School Report which will be available in early 2022.

Good luck to all of the ex-Westies who commenced their HSC at Narrabri High School. We are all thinking of you, hope that you achieve the success you deserve and know that you received a great start to your education at Narrabri West!

As usual at this time of year, we take a number of measures to ensure your children remain as cool as possible and healthy at school in the hot weather. These include:

• Sandals – children may wear covered sandals to school if they wish,    but definitely NOT thongs or slip on shoes.
• Water bottles – please ensure all children come to school with a full water bottle, (or even more than one) e.g. one could be frozen which could then be used later in the day.
• School fridge – remember we have the large school fridge available to store lunches in so they are nice and cold at lunch time.
• Sport/PE – we will closely monitor the weather and also our sport and PE plans to ensure children are not outside in the heat of the day, or we will make other arrangements if it is too hot to be outside.
• Hats – as always we will enforce our ‘no hat no play’ policy for the safety of the children.
• Afternoon activities – we find in really hot weather that the children, especially our younger ones, often struggle in the afternoon session as fatigue and the heat start to take their toll. With this in mind,  teachers will carefully select afternoon activities that take the weather conditions and how the children are coping into account.

Selective high schools cater for academically gifted students with high potential who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic standard. Selective high schools help these students to learn by grouping them with students of similar ability, and by using specialised teaching methods.

If you would like to have your child considered for Year 7 selective high school entry in 2023, you need to apply on the internet using a valid email address (not the student’s email address).

The Selective High School Placement Test will be held on Thursday 10 March 2022.

Detailed instructions on how to apply and the link to the online form will be available in early-October 2021 at https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7.

Applications open on 19 October 2021 and close on 17 November 2021. You must apply before the closing date.

November
11	Remembrance Day
24	Captain Speeches & Elections
29	Captain/Prefect Announced
December
9	Presentation Day
10	Reports going home
13	Year 6 Farewell, Platinum Badge
16	End of term celebrations
17	Staff Development Days
February	2022
4	Staff Development Days
7	Staff Development Days
8	Students first day for years 1–6, PS Red Group orientation
9	Kindergarten first day, Blue Group orientation
10	Pre School Blue Group  start
11	Swimming Carnival
14	Pre School Red Group  start

A friendly reminder to please provide a reason for your child’s absence the day of their absence or upon their return.

The easiest method for explaining absences is to use the Skoolbag app by selecting eForms then submit an absentee form.

Skoolbag replaces paper/pen and can be easily accessed at any time. If you haven’t already downloaded the app, search for the free Skoolbag app in the Apple App or Google Play Store.

Thank you to everyone who sends in Skoolbag notifications or emails informing us of your child/ren’s absences as they occur. 

If your child is sick for 3 consecutive days, you are required to provide the school with a medical certificate. 

If your child is absent due to Covid19 testing, you are required to produce a Negative result certificate upon return to school.

Parents/carers are required by law to provide an explanation to the school to say why their child was absent from school. A note of explanation should contain:

1.     Date that the note was written

2.     Child’s name

3.     Days/dates the child was absent from school

4.     The reason the child was absent

5.     The signature of the child’s parent/carer

Or complete the online absence note on our Skoolbag app.

If you notify the school of an absence on one day, we cannot assume the same reason for being absent on consecutive days.

If more than one child from the same family has been absent, a separate note for each child should be written.

A note should be brought to school or a Skoolbag notification update, on the first day the student returns to school after an absence. If not, we are required to investigate all unexplained absences (where a child has been absent and no explanation has been received) within two days.

Notifying the school of absences through the Skoolbag app, by phone, email or note are all acceptable and appreciate.

KC	Bailey Kay, Thomas Seccombe, Addison Cornall, Jamarl Mason, Daphne McDonald, Emma Keeler
KW	Ryder Drady, Simon Lee, Ashtyn Todd, Kaitin Nixon, Emmett Alexander, Madison Bron
1B	Alex Reading, Koa Mackenzie, Hayley Tucker, Meila Crosara, Bailey Oakley, Savannah Cook
1M	Perry Fox, Zara Warnock, Zaharah Skinner-Smith, Aiden Eather, Darcy Derham, Heidi Stuart
2N	Charlotte Murphy, Brayden Drumgold, Marley Cunningham, Logan Gillmore, Meg Seccommbe, Zara Dalton
2W	Hunter Drady, William Wheeler, Tippy Varcoe, Savannah Lawler, Amelia Manton, Abel Redding
3D	Kieran Chapman, Harry Varcoe, Jedd Stanford
3P	Eli O'Connell, Kiera Rood-England, Lailah Thurston, Tillie Fox, Riley New, Hannah Gale
4J	Kaiden Bruce, Fletcher Whan, Cael Browning, Cooper Kelly, Alexa Woods, Ruby Michell
4S	Blake Eather, Tyran Lawler, Lexie Fernance
5F	Joey Phillips, Hadleigh Astill, Maddison Mowle, Jacob Anderson, Brayden Williams, Jordin Tribe
5W	Cody Harris, Ethan Megalokonomos, Layne Hollis, Mia Williams, Tyson Rushby, Beau Laws
6A	Montana Murphy,Chayce Browning, Ava O'Connell, Hamish Bruce, Brayden Hanslow, Stella Laws
6T	Levi Browning, Joel Leehy, Xanthe Kirk, Cooper Drady, Kaden Hill, Pip Collins

Citizenship Awards & Stars of the Week
Linken Kelly	Issac Oakes	Hannah Silver	Lily Hennessy
Armarnie Flett	Weston Burgmann	Lily Tibbett	Zander Kneale