Welcome to the Alawa Primary School weekly newsletter.
Well as the gorgeous dry season appears to have arrived we have all settled back in at school and students are engaged in some assessments whilst also having a blast with the Early Years swimming program, the start of our track and field program with Years 3-6 as well as all the regular extra curricula activities and opportunities. These include the Choirs, the Learning Commission, Tek Ninja's and Tek Interns as well as various clubs and daily sport. We regularly remind children of the options they have for their break times and how they can spend their time.
As you will have seen through last weeks newsletter and again further in this newsletter we have an action packed term coming up. Please keep an eye on our communications through the newsletter, and Skoolbag for details about the Rainbow Run [Colour Run], the Trivia Night [adults only] and Sportsday.
Class teachers will have sent out [or will early next week] their class letters advising you all of their timetables, focus areas for learning and upcoming events. Well worth keeping this handy for reference.
Heads up: Our School Council last week approved our 2nd Professional Learning day for 2021 [we have 4 through the year]. This is scheduled for Tuesday 15th June - tacked onto the long weekend. We thought this may suit many families if they have plans for the long weekend. So no school for children Tuesday 15th June.
Sandy Cartwright [Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]
I came across this excellent resource recently - thought it well worth sharing.
Dayna Abraham, Founder of Calm the Chaos and best-selling author of Sensory Processing 101 created posters that show you:
These are available for a free download
Sandy Cartwright
Through Term 1 we noted 360 late arrivals - that means 360 times a students arrived more than 10mins after the 8:30am bell. This is again of concern and impacts on the whole class settling for the day, your own child's ability to ease into the day as well as results in missed learning time. Please do your best to work together to ensure a timely arrival at school between 8am and 8:25am daily.
During the start of term Pep talks we will be providing each student in Years 2-6 with a data report showing their attendance and arrival times for their Data folders and asking them to discuss this with Parents / Carers.
Continued / frequent late arrivals will have an impact on older students engagement with Gala Days, Camps and other excursions including learning Commission, Maths Symposiums and Class events.
Sandy Cartwright
In our 2020 Parent Perception survey quite a few parents / carers expressed concern about their child's engagement with, use of and access to social media, the internet and all things in the 'Cyber' world.
We have a big focus on this in classes this year and as we committed to in our Annual Improvement Plan we are offering a parent information session. This will be held on Monday 24th May 5:30pm in the school library.
To inform the content of this session in addition to how we as a school can continue to support you and your child navigating the 'online world' we are seeking your views through a brief survey. Results will be shared as well as used to plan our parent session and further sessions with students.
We would really appreciate as many people responding to by Friday 7th May.
Simply click this link to access:
Hello everyone and welcome to Week 2.
This week I will be meeting with our SRC students to organise our first event. We are planning on running our Mother’s Day stall again and have ordered some fantastic gifts. We will be busy at lunch times creating some additional presents to sell and deciding on rosters and the logistics of organising our stall. Our goodies will be on sale before and after school from Wednesday to Friday next week. Please ensure you get in early so we don’t have disappointments.
Playing our part to build a national picture of child healthIn early 2021, our school, along with thousands of others across the country will begin preparations for the fifth Australian Early Development Census [AEDC].
The AEDC gives us a national picture of the development, health and wellbeing of children in their first year of full-time school. Since 2009, the census results have helped communities, schools and governments plan services and develop better policies to target support for children and families.
Children don’t miss any class time, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information for the census. The AEDC gives us data at a school and community level - it isn’t an assessment of individual children.
Teachers have also noticed that completing the assessments made them more aware of the needs of individual children and the class as a whole and that the census results are useful in planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing class programs.
Participation in the AEDC is voluntary. Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census.
To find out more about the census and how communities are using the data to help children and families visit the AEDC website: www.aedc.gov.au.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Genevieve Donohue, [Assistant Principal]
A big shout out to our fantastic parent helpers who took on bus driving duties for our early years swimming program which started last week.
Will [Leo and Loti’s dad], Rebecca [Hamish, Harper and Jude’s mum] and Ian [Luke V’s dad] - we appreciate all of your support to our school - superstars!
If you are interested in volunteering there are numerous ways you can help out both in and out of school hours. For more information or to discuss further please contact Ms Tamra tamra.caruana@education.nt.gov.au
'Volunteers are not paid, not because they are worthless but because they are priceless' - Anonymous
Preschool have had a busy and exciting start to Term two. Both Preschool groups have started their weekly visits to the Alawa School Farm and have also had a great time taking part in swimming lessons at the Casuarina Pool.
Visiting the Alawa Farm for the first time was a very special event for the littlest members of our school. Children fed the chickens and had a look at all the different animals at the farm. There were lots of new experiences that children wanted to share but the highlight of the first visit, for most, was feeding the goats. We look forward to learning more about the farm with each visit and connecting learning from the farm to the preschool program.
Our swimming lessons have been going ‘swimmingly’. Traveling to and from the pool by bus has been such a fun experience for the children and they have all done a great job of following instructions and listening to their teachers, both in and out of the pool. Seeing children gain confidence in the water after just a few lessons really highlights the importance of swimming programs such as these within schools.
Have a fantastic week
Alice, Emma, Kelly and Flor [Preschool Team]
The Sport in Schools Program [funded through the Federal Government] will once again go ahead this term with sports to be held both during school lunch times and after hours.
The first sport to start up will be Volleyball. This will be running after school for 4 weeks starting next Wednesday the 5th May.
Numbers are limited to 30 students [15 from Transition - Year 2 and 15 from Year 3-6] and forms can be collected from the front office.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting the front office - alawa.school@education.nt.gov.au
Miss Nellie [Sport in Schools Coordinator]
Primary School Average for Week 1 Term 2: 92.70%
It is terrific having all our families back with us at school.
The class with the highest attendance for Week 1: Preschool Red Group!
Arriving late for school has a significant impact on your child’s learning and engagement in the education program.
There were 23 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 1 Term 2!
The classes with the least lates for Week 1 were: Year 1 McHatten, Year 3/4 Baines and Year 5/6 Lotherington!
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 1 of Term 2 Finnis is ahead of Manton and Goyder.
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 1 Term 2, the class with the most points was... Year 4/5 France!
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.
Book Club went home last week If you have not received one 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. Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions. Any orders are due back next week by Wednesday the 5th of May.
This year’s National Simultaneous Storytime book is Give me some Space by Philip Bunting which we are looking forward to the astronaut Dr Shannon Walker reading from the International Space Station on the 19th of May. You can get a copy of the book through the current Bookclub catalogue.
You can access some fantastic resources around Space and science at the following website: https://www.alia.org.au/nss (Scroll to the bottom of the page to find videos on Astronauts, live webcam vision of the Earth and Moon, a timelapse of the Sun and much more…
Sacha Evans [ Library & ICT Manager]
This year I’m looking forward to sports day, because there are lots of fun and a bit of friendly competitive games and sports to play – Taylah
This year I am looking forward to 3/4 camp. Camp is normally very fun and this year it is going to be awesome! – Misha
Every week we have a classroom meeting where we have someone in the class running the meeting and someone taking notes. We check in on our weekly goals and take a paddle pop stick with someone’s name on it and write them a merit. We also have a question box where we write questions we are curious about or things going on around the school – Zara
I am really really looking forward to being a part of the Junior Learning Commission and helping the school. I am really looking forward to going to school camp too! – Carla
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 1-3
Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Tuna Mornay with rice
Thursday Super special– Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Beef Nachos
Friday –Sweet Chill Chicken Tender rolls with lettuce, cheese and mayo
[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
Our first playgroup for Term 2 was such fun. We went outside early this week since Preschool was swimming. We loved building in the cubby, painting and digging in the sand pit. Inside we enjoyed puzzles, playing with dinosaurs and a lovely soft blue playdough. We are enjoying the different table activities on offer like drawing, sorting, counting and creating pictures and scenes. We shared a biscuit and had our morning tea inside this week which was fun.
Next week we plan to visit the Farm so remember scraps for the chickens, your hat, shoes and water bottle!
Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator]
Year 4/5 students are revamping the signs for our bush tucker calendar before we display them on our learning shed fence as a reference to when we need to harvest the bush fruit. They are also learning how to make compost using the compost lasagne method. Year 5/6 students are either working on the aquaponics system or market stall. Produce will now be on sale at the front of the school on a Friday after school and the aquaponics is finally up and running smoothly after a few hiccups. We just need a few more fish to restock the tank.
Year 3 are maintaining the banana beds and constructing guards to protect our vegetables from the dreaded scrub fowl. The year 2 classes have finished the beautiful wheel decorations and are now making mozaics on pavers for our paths around the farm. All Year 1 and 2 classes have been learning about shadows and making animal shadow puppets with Ibu Lasmi in their Indonesian farm group. They have also been helping harvest, count and weigh the produce for the kitchen. Transition students are continuing learning about pollination and how bees communicate with each other.
We are having a working bee on Saturday the 8th of May from 8:30-10:30am. We would really appreciate your help in the garden especially tackling the weeds and spreading mulch.
Linda Conder [Farm Teacher]
Please watch out for any new and important updates required to be sent out via email from Ms Cartwright and in our Covid updates section in the newsletter each week. Please note that birthday cakes etc can still not be brought in to school to share amongst students.
Update for families as of 27 April 2021
The Chief Health Officer has revoked Metropolitan Perth and the Peel Region in Western Australia as hotspots for the purposes of travel to the Northern Territory.
People arriving into the Northern Territory from Metropolitan Perth and the Peel Region will no longer have to undertake mandatory supervised quarantine in the NT. Anyone currently in mandatory supervised quarantine from Metropolitan Perth and the Peel Region will be able to exit.
Further to this, two Chief Health Officer testing directions have been updated and must be followed:
A list of Western Australia COVID-19 public exposure sites can be found at https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Coronavirus/Locations-visited-by-confirmed-cases
To arrange a test, please contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 1800 490 484 or book online at https://covid19appointment.nt.gov.au/vaccinate#/appointment
You do not need to have a COVID-19 test if you only transited to the airport unless you were at the airport during the specified date and time as identified by the Western Australian authorities.
The risk of COVID-19 in our communities cannot be eliminated which is why it is important for everyone to follow all health directions.
To stay up to date with the latest information visit www.coronavirus.nt.gov.au
