Welcome to the Alawa Primary School weekly newsletter.
Wow Week 5 already!
We are looking forward to seeing so many of our families at the annual Meet n Greet this Wednesday. This is your chance to tour the school, have a chat to your child's teacher and connect with other families and staff. Food and drink will be available as well as second hand uniforms.
At the Council AGM the Student leaders for 2021 will be presented and the annual report shared as we celebrate the successes of 2020 and look forward to 2021.
Car Park Safety & Concerns
As we still await our car park re design and work to be done I have to say I am very concerned by the current behaviours and attitudes towards safety around our school. It is simply NOT ok for people to drive up over kerbs and gutters, through areas where people are walking and students are leaving the school. PLEASE be vigilant, take care and respect the plans in place to reduce congestion and ensure safety of all. We have asked the local police to do extra patrols and we [as always] have staff on duty in all areas.
The overflow car park was established to provide extra spaces for parking. IT is NOT a play place, a place for parents to gather and chat or for children to play and run around - this is simply NOT safe.
PLEASE take care and help us keep everyone SAFE!
Sandy Cartwright [Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]
Last Friday Tegan Green was recognized for her awesome efforts in being awarded 100m merits and received her Honour Distinction Award. She then spent the day as Principal and toured the school handing our Merits, joining her class for sport, assisting Ms Sacha in the library and working in the front office.
Tegan is now taking on additional leadership roles as Tek Ninja as well as a Library Monitor.
Hello everyone,
Welcome to week 5.
PLAY GROUP
Our playgroup on a Friday is up and running again. Thankyou to our lovely Maria Vandergeest who leads these sessions on a Friday. A big welcome to families, new and old that are enjoying our wonderful space in the Preschool area.
Attendance
As we are all aware regular attendance at school is crucial in enabling each child to be successful. Please ensure you contact the school if your child is going to be away. At the end of this term we would like to acknowledge great attendance. Every child who has 90% attendance for the term will be invited to enjoy some time on a water slide that we will set up at school.
Student Leadership
Tonight, at our AGM it is with pleasure that we will announce our student representatives. Our leaders have now returned their code of conduct agreements and will be receiving their badges at this time.
Have a wonderful week.
Genevieve Donohue, Assistant Principal
Hello Alawa Families,
Both preschool groups have been enjoying sharing outdoor investigation time on Wednesday Mornings. The Red and Blue groups group times separately and then all come together in the outside area until morning tea. A few children know each other from outside of school but most have only met during these Wednesday sessions and lots of lovely friendships are forming. It is wonderful to observe children getting to know each other while playing in the sandpit, constructing on the veranda or just starting up a conversation while painting or navigating the obstacle course. There is so much rich learning that takes place as children navigate these new interactions and negotiate shared rules in their play.
Just a reminder that tonight, Wednesday 3rd March is our Meet n Greet evening from
5- 6:30pm.This is a chance for students to show their families around the school and meet teachers and staff. There will be lots of yummy, healthy food available to purchase too. We look forward to seeing you.
Have a great week!
Alice, Emma and Kelly and Flor.
The Alawa Primary School Council AGM will take place directly following our annual Meet, Greet n Eat night at 6.30pm-7.30pm in the library.
We will also be presenting our 2021 student leaders and we welcome all new and existing parents to join us.
We meet once per month, usually from 5:30pm and we are looking to meet Mondays this year [3rd Monday each month]. The meetings are a chance for you to get involved, have a say and guide the school improvement agenda in conjunction with the school leadership team.
*Child minding will be available.
Please be advised that directly prior to the AGM beginning on Wednesday 3rd March at 6.30pm, we will be holding a Special General Meeting to ratify amendments made to our current constitution.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the school on 8997 7666
Primary School Average for Week 4 Term 1: 94.37%
It is terrific having all our families back with us at school.
The class with the highest attendance for Week 4: Transition Connelly!
Arriving late for school has a significant impact on your child’s learning and engagement in the education program.
There were 36 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 4 Term 1!
The class with the least lates for Week 4 is: Year 3 Hughes!
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. 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—we hope to start this again soon.
Goyder is ahead of Finnis and Manton for Week 4 Term 1.
Goyder is still 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 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 1, the class with the most points was... Year 5/6 Lotherington!
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.
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 1 Finnis is ahead of Manton and Goyder with 570 points - that's 57 water bottles!
We have had a great couple of weeks in the kitchen with our wraps and noodles topic. The groups made some brilliant beef noodle stir fries. Stir fries are a quick and easy cooking method and a good way to add more vegetables into a meal. We used some carrots, Choy sum, wombok, spring onions and herbs. We experimented with marinated tofu which some people really enjoyed.
Last week we were making noodle soups and made some delicious recipes. We had basic noodle soup, miso udon soup and chicken and corn noodle soup. Ms Elsa made up some fresh chicken stock which made the soup extra tasty.
This week we will be making crepes with interesting fillings.
Tina Sullivan, Kitchen Teacher
Call out for Colouring in Books and Magazines
Do you have any coloring in books that you want to get rid of? If so please drop into the Front office or the Library as the students love to color in at lunch time.
I am also looking for any magazines you may have laying around (they do not have to be current) that I can put out in the library and be used in the classrooms for reading. Topics can include things like Nature, 4WD, Camping, Fishing, Recipes, Food, Home/House, Garden and Cars.
Tek Ninjas Week 5
On Monday the Tek Ninja team met and the students nominated for a project they want to do over the remainder of the term. These projects include learning to create webpages including digital cards, posters, joke and recipe pages using HTML/CSS, understanding the EV3 program for the robot we will be using later in the year for Lego League and using Scratch to make a game that can be used in maths, literacy or HASS.
Sacha Evans, Library & ICT Manager
At assembly on Friday our School Leaders were presented with their badges. It is great to see so many of our Defence students taking on leadership roles in the areas of Learning Commission and House Captains.
Today I attended the quarterly Defence School Mentor workshop. It is always a great opportunity to connect with other DSM’s from the Darwin area and hear from organisations that are here to support the Defence Community.
At our annual school Meet and Greet this evening I will have a stall with second hand uniforms available for purchase for $5 each (cash only). I am looking forward to seeing you all there.
Miss Katie, Defence School Mentor
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: Week 5
Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Chicken and noodle.
Thursday – Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Whole baked potatoes with savoury mince, coleslaw, cheese and sour cream.
Friday – Bacon and egg pie
[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
It was the week of twins at Playgroup last week with four sets of twins joining us. We had a blast playing with the fire station, at the playdough table, and as always with puzzles and books.
This week some of us tried our hands at baking scones. It was such fun counting out the cups of flour, feeling the butter and flour squish between our fingers and stirring the dough with the spoons. Our favourite part is when we get to squash the dough and use a cookie cutter to press out our scones! Such a great activity to strengthen our hands and improve our fine motor skills. The eating part is pretty fun too!
Outside we especially enjoyed our time in the sand pit, in the cubby and in the ‘kitchen’ baking and feeding our baby dolls.
Next week we plan to visit the Farm so be sure to remember a hat, your shoes and water bottle. See you then, Miss Maria
Miss Maria, Playgroup Coordinator
A gentle reminder for those that have not yet used their back to school voucher - these vouchers need to be used before the end of this term and are available through the front office.
Please contact the school direct with any questions or concerns on 8997 7666
For more information about the scheme visit here https://nt.gov.au/learning/student-financial-help-and-scholarships/back-to-school-payment-scheme
All children in the Northern Territory, aged 0-18 years, with a current Medicare card and still at school, are eligible for free dental services through Top End Oral Health Service.
Your children can visit any of our 12 school-based dental clinics in the Darwin region from age 0 until they finish primary school (year six). Once your child starts year seven they must be seen at one of the community dental clinics (Darwin, Palmerston).
Please contact us on 08 8922 6466 to make an appointment.
LIMITED TIME offer from Entertainment!
Support the Alawa Primary School Farm by purchasing your Entertainment membership.....and for a short time only, you receive a bonus JB HI-FI or Woolworths eGift Card.
Entertainment Memberships are instantly available, valid for a year and gladly accepted at numerous local venues and online.
Check out Entertainment online: https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/91168Z2
The Alawa school farm receives 20% of the purchase price.
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.
Our bubblers are open and available for students to use so please ensure they have a water bottle to fill up each day.
LATEST COVID-19 ADVICE
As a result of recent community transmission in Auckland, the Commonwealth has declared Auckland to be a Commonwealth Hotspot. This means that any person who has been in Auckland in the last 14 days is not permitted to board a green zone flight to Australia.
The Northern Territory Chief Health Officer has also declared Auckland, New Zealand, to be a Northern Territory COVID-19 Hotspot effective from 6:00pm, 25 February 2021.
The CHO requires any person who has arrived in the Northern Territory from New Zealand to be tested for COVID-19 if:
a) they arrived between 19 February 2021 and 5:59pm on 25 February 2021; AND
b) They were in any of the locations of interest declared by the NZ Ministry of Health listed below on or about the relevant times and dates listed below:
| LOCATION | ADDRESS | DATE | TIME |
| Li’l Abners Takeaway | 320 Great South Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland | 19 February | 1.00am – 2.00am |
| Choice Food Bar | 336 Great South Road Papatoetoe, Auckland | 19 February | 1.15am – 1.20am
|
| Dark Vapes East Tamaki | 30 Springs Road, East Tamaki, Auckland | 19 February | 2.30pm – 4.00pm |
| Kmart Botany | 500 Ti Rakau Drive, Northpark Auckland | 19 February | 3.30pm – 10.00pm |
| Dark Vapes East Tamaki | 30 Springs Road, East Tamaki, Auckland | 20 February | 7.00pm – 8.30pm |
| Kmart Botany | 500 Ti Rakau Drive, Northpark Auckland | 20 February | 3.30pm – 10.30pm |
A person who is required to be tested must travel directly to a suitable place of self-quarantine and remain in that place, except to submit to testing for COVID-19 (or in an emergency). Once tested, the person must remain isolated in the suitable place of quarantine until notified of the results of the test.
If you have travelled to New Zealand recently, you are encouraged to monitor the health updates that are being issued by the NZ Ministry of Health: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/contact-tracing-covid-19/covid-19-contact-tracing-locations-interest
Refer to Northern Territory Government Coronavirus website for the latest COVID-19 Hotspots issued in the NT: https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au/travel/quarantine/hotspots-covid-19
