Alawa Primary School Newsletter

Week 4 has come and I am not sure about many of you BUT the heat is not pleasant! My home air conditioner is out of action at the moment and I am missing that cool air in the evenings. Again I stress the importance of all children bringing along a water bottle to school daily to stay hydrated. You may have also noticed our VERY dry grass in the quadrangle- I can assure families we are doing our best to address this. The area gets so much traffic and we do water regularly and fertilise, treat etc. Bring on the rain!

Huge congrats to Mrs Amanda Lane for being named as the Darwin Region Early Years Educator of the Year last Friday on World Teachers Day - fantastic recognition for all her efforts with our young cherubs at the school.

2021 Perception Survey

You will see below a summary of the feedback provided by parents / carers late last term. We thank all those who took the time to respond and share their views on our performance as a learning organization. It is of interest to note the only areas we appear to be receiving feedback lower than the average across NT schools are same 2 areas as 2020 :

• children knowing how to manage their emotions
• children knowing how to interact / engage safely on line.

I know we have had a significant focus on both these through 2021. If you have ideas / suggestions how we can support families more in these areas please make contact with myself or Gen Donohue through the front office.

Have a great week,

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

Dear Parents

Re: Chief Health Officer Directions – Mandatory vaccinations across the NT Public Sector

I’d like to start by reassuring families that the safety and wellbeing of all students, our staff and visitors is our highest priority at Alawa Primary School.

Like many Northern Territory Government departments, the Department of Education has decided that the mandatory vaccination direction will apply for all Department of Education staff. This is about supporting students, young children and others who are unable to be vaccinated for health reasons, to be safe in our community and to best continue to deliver education. It is also about complying with legislation under the Public Health and Environment Act 2011.

Visitors to the schools, including parents and carers is something we are still working on, however at this stage, there is no change to the way you drop off or pick up your children at school. Further advice on this will be provided in a timely manner once it is finalised.

For further information on mandatory vaccines and COVID-19 please refer to the information available at  https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me through the front office.

Sandy Cartwright [Principal]

Currently our students in Year 5 are working with myself, Mr France, Mrs Baines and Ms Katie beginning to develop an understanding of type and preferences.  The MMTIC® experience will help children and families learn about their personality type preferences and understand the normal ways people process information, make decisions, and form relationships. Young people can then use those insights to accept and embrace differences in others, especially with their family, their teachers, and their peers.

What will my child get (and not get) out of this experience?

Type awareness can help children learn to appreciate their strengths and understand when they must use more energy in order to be successful. As with adults, students and young adults who have been taught the concepts of type can use this knowledge to:

• Improve relationships with parents and teachers
• Improve relationships with siblings and friends
• Improve study habits
• Improve team work on group projects
• Manage their time and energies more effectively
• Become more self-directed in solving problems

Understanding type differences allows the child to interpret the behaviors of parents with different perspectives using a framework that recognizes the positive value of differences. One parent does not have to be good or right at the expense of the other parent.

Understanding type differences gives the child opportunities to review additional options beyond the ones that first seem reasonable. By following the problem-solving model of asking questions from each of the functions (Sensing, Intuition, Feeling, Thinking), the child learns to gather the necessary information for making good decisions.

Understanding type differences does not guarantee a child success. Type awareness helps them determine whether their approach to a given project is in line with their natural preferences and thus easier for them to do, or if they may need advice and assistance from others in order to be successful. Either way, if the child does not do the necessary work there will be no success.

Type is a tool for self-mastery. It is not a tool for managing others. Type awareness will not help the child change their siblings, parents, friends, or educators.

Type awareness does not address relationship and learning needs that are based on other neurological differences. It can help the child distinguish what is natural for the child and what is a result of other learning differences or needs.

The website for further information:

https://www.peoplestripes.org/take-mmtic-assessment/home.htm

 I am fully accredited in the use of this instrument with young people and also MBTI for adults. If anyone would like to discuss / unpack or clarify any of this feel free to make contact.

Sandy Cartwright

This term we have been lucky enough to secure 2 sporting grants. This has allowed us to provide more sporting opportunities to our students outside of school hours at no cost to our families. 

Sporting Schools Club Connect (Club Connect) - a grant provided by Sporting Australia aims to enable primary schools to build on their involvement in the Sporting Schools program by establishing and building on relationships with local sporting clubs.

These funds have allowed us to have an AFL and Netball coach. 

Sporting School grant - also a grant provided by Sports Australia aims to provide programs  free to children and their families to help students build the confidence and capability to be active for life.

This term we have secured a Gymnastics coach for lunchtime sessions at school and 2 swimming coaches for an after school swimming program for students in early years. 

Grants such as these are a fantastic additional benefit to the students and school and we appreciate the time and effort put in by our team to get these programs up and running. 

A full list of our programs available can be seen below:

• Mondays [1st November- 29th November] - Afterschool Swimming program - FULL
• Tuesdays [19th October-16th November] Afterschool AFL program - Places available Years 3-6 only 
• Wednesdays [26th Oct- 24th November] Lunchtime sessions 
• Thursdays [14th October -25th November] Afterschool netball training sessions - coaching 3 x Alawa school teams. 

The Tek Ninjas have been busy preparing to compete in the First Lego League Challenge Regional Tournament which is happening this Saturday. They are undertaking missions with the EV3 Robots and putting together a presentation on their innovation project looking at a solution to an issue surrounding the delivery of Cargo. The challenge engages students in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO® robot. The work they do on the challenge is centred around Gracious Professionalism with students. As part of their presentation to the judges the students will speak on how they have demonstrated the core values of Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.

Students at Alawa receive raffle tickets [house points] for their attitude and behaviour in the playground and out the front of the school at the end of the day. These are then counted on a Friday along with the points for 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 3 of Term 4 Goyder was ahead of Manton and Finnis. 

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 recognising 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 3 of Term 4, the class with the most points was... Year 2 Bernardino with 151 points!

The winning class for Weeks 1-3 is... Year 2 Bernardino with 501 points!!! 

Want to get a jump on Christmas and school holiday shopping? Reading is an exercise for the mind. It helps kids calm down and relax, opening doors of new knowledge to enlighten their minds. Kids who read grow up to have better cognitive skills. Visit the Young Readers Foundation to see how reading impacts learning success. Importance of reading | Young Readers Foundation

As our Book Club Catalogues have been delayed we are extending the closing date for orders to Thursday November the 11th.

Christmas Gift Orders: When you order online you can choose the Gift function so that when your order is delivered to the school it will be marked as a gift and be set aside for you to collect separately. If you are ordering through the school please let us know when you order if you would like your order set aside when it arrives and we will contact you.

Orders are due back by the 11th of November. You can view the catalogue and order online through the Scholastic Bookclub website at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the LOOP app From Google Play or from the App Store or by returning your order form and payment to the office. Spare catalogues will be available at the office if you have missed out.

Please feel free to give me a call if you are having any issues accessing the Loop site or if you have any other questions.  

Miss Sacha [Library and ICT Manager]

What a wonderful time we had at Play Group last Friday. It is lovely meeting new families and new 2022 Pre-schoolers. Play Group is such fabulous preparation for Preschool! It was nice to be able to relax and play in the air-conditioning this week as it was very warm outdoors. We enjoyed pink play dough, reading, and creating pictures with coloured foam shapes. We love our puzzles on the mat and this week we also set up a café and served out cakes and cups of tea to our parents.

Outside, we enjoyed threading this week with beads, constructing with the extra-large building blocks and tiles, and as always playing on the play equipment and in the cubby house. 

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator] 

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 1-4

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- Butter chicken with rice - Large size $5.50, Small $3.50

Thursday – Sausage roll with corn on the cob - one size only $5.50

 Friday – Chicken chow mein - 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