Lithgow Public School Newsletter

Term 1 Week 8

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers

This will be the final newsletter for Term 1 2021. It is hard to believe that we have almost arrived at Easter. It has been a great term with the school feeling really settled, allowing staff and students to focus squarely on teaching and learning.

School Planning

Throughout this term, the school has engaged in a rigorous process to develop our Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) for the planning cycle that runs from 2021 to 2024. This planning has involved extensive collaboration between school staff and consultation with students, staff and the community throughout Term 4, 2020 and Term 1, 2021 The specifics of the plan have been tabled at P&C Meetings for discussion and feedback. The following outlines the main components of the SIP to date:   

School Vision Statement - articulates our aspiration vision for the new four year planning cycle:

At Lithgow Public School we prepare young people to be confident, resilient and engaged members of society. Teachers focus on ongoing improvement using reliable data sources, research and collaboration. This leads to quality teaching and targeted learning experiences resulting in academic growth, wellbeing and social success. We aim to work with our community to develop high expectations and a supportive environment that ensures our students reach their potential and are authentically known and valued.

Strategic Directions

Our three Strategic Directions that will lead us towards achieving our vision will be:

1. Student Growth and Attainment

In order to ensure ongoing improvement in student learning outcomes in reading and numeracy,  Lithgow Public School will develop and sustain whole school processes for collecting and analysing data to ensure the implementation of appropriate curriculum provision for every student is underpinned by evidence-informed strategies and embedded evaluative practice.

2. Excellence in Teaching and Learning

In order to ensure ongoing improvement in student learning outcomes, highly capable teachers will pursue continual improvement in excellence in practice through collaboration, inquiry and ongoing reference to the Australian standards for teachers. This will result in our students being provided with engaging, personalised and rich learning experiences that lead to individualised achievement and success.

3. Excellence in Leadership

In order to ensure our school is a self-improving and self-sustaining community, strong strategic and effective school leaders will foster a school wide culture of high expectations and a shared sense of responsibility for student engagement, learning, wellbeing and success. The leadership team will model instructional leadership to build and sustain a culture of effective, evidenced based teaching and ongoing improvement.

These strategic directions will drive the activities that teachers and administrative staff will engage in through the course of the next 4 years to achieve our vision.  

Special Award Assembly

On Friday last week, we held our first Special Award Assembly for the year. Well done to the following students who received awards at this assembly.

25 - Awards - Isla, Lydia, Preston, Braxton, Mason, Sarah and Gemma, Zach, Indy, Marlee, Cooper, Rebecca, Sophie 

50 -  Awards - Khiana, Letti, Merryn, Lara, Rebecca, Grace, Freya, Hannah, Layla, Cameron, Kyra

75 Awards -  Lara, Shelby, Mia, Hannah

We are very proud of your efforts and achievements.

3-Way Interviews

Over the last few weeks, teachers have been busy meeting with parents and caregivers to discuss student learning goals for 2021. These are a valuable opportunity for parents, carers, and students to engage with classroom teachers to discuss individual student progress and set learning goals for the rest of the year. Thank you to all of the parents and staff who have participated. It has been wonderful working closely together again after the COVID challenges in 2021. These conferences conclude this week. Please remain aware that our teaching staff are always available to meet with you and discuss the progress of your children. If you wish to speak with your child’s teacher, please make an appointment through the school’s office.

Modification to break structure

Our school will be trialling a new structure during our breaks during Weeks 9 and 10. This will involve students playing first and then eating under the supervision of their class teacher.

 

This approach has been adopted in other schools, where the following benefits have been observed:

 ·         Teachers are better able to ‘check in’ with their students after play and address any concerns that might have originated during play before returning to the classroom.

·         Students are more relaxed and focused on eating rather than hurrying to be ready to play.

·         More food eaten; increased fluid intake.

·         Students return to the classroom more quickly and are settled and ready to learn.

 The trial schedule will be as follows:

 First Break

 11:10am: Students are walked to central seating areas. Duty teachers will set expectations.

11:15am: Play begins supervised by duty teachers.

11:40am: Bell; Students move back to seating areas. Duty teachers will debrief on play session.

11:45am: Class teachers take their class to eating area (a special outdoor area for their class, or inside classrooms if poor weather).

Teachers use this time to check in with students and debrief on play session

12:00pm: Class time resumes.

 Second Break

 1:30pm: Students are walked to central seating areas. Duty teachers will set expectations.

1:35pm: Play begins supervised by duty teachers.

1:55pm: Bell; Students move back to seating areas. Duty teachers will debrief on play session.

2:00pm: Class teachers take their class to eating area (a special outdoor area for their class, or inside classrooms if poor weather).

Teachers use this time to check in with students and debrief play session.

2:10: Class time resumes.

 At the conclusion of the trial, we will survey students and classroom teachers to determine evidence of impact and whether these practices will continue into Term 2.

Bridge Street Gate

We are currently trialing the opening of the Bridge Street gate in the mornings. This gate will be opened at 8.40am and closed at 9.00am. We are monitoring how many students are using this option to enter the school to determine the viability of continuing to open the gate into Term 2.

Easter Hat Parade – Thursday 1 April – 1.00pm

The school will host an Easter Hat Parade on Thursday 1 April at 1.00pm. All students will have the opportunity to show off their Easter hat via class parades and this event will incorporate our first P&C fundraiser, the Easter Raffle. Parents and caregivers are invited to share this experience with us. Entry to the school will be through the Eskbank, Short and Bridge Street gates which will be opened at 12.40pm. Please note that entry should be through these gates and not through the school’s office. As usual, all visitors to the school will need to sign in using the Service NSW QR code and the External Visitor to School Site form. We look forward to the opportunity to share the Easter spirit with our community.

Colour Run – Wednesday 24 March

On Wednesday 24 March, the whole school will participate in our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) whole school reward day that recognises the collective great behaviour or our students throughout Term 1. The P&C have kindly donated materials for a Colour Run. As per previous Skoolbag communication, we advise that students wear a white t-shirt and alternate clothing that parents are happy to have stained in the event that this occurs.   

School holiday dates

Please note that the last day of Term will be Thursday 1 April. School will resume for students on Tuesday 20 April.

Kind regards,

Mark Davies | Principal | Lithgow Public School

 

LPS Swimming Team

Congratulations to our LPS Swim team. The Swim team consisted of Kane, Dustin, Beau, Gibson, Levi, Max, Quinn and Jayden.  The boys swam extremely well and broke several  PB's.  A special mention to the senior boys relay team who won their heat and made the finals. 

P and C Update

P & C Executive Committee

President - Ashley Brown

Vice President -  Jade Denley

Vice President - Amanda Pearce

Secretary - Kym Roach

Treasurer - Vacant

Next meeting date is the second Monday of Term 2, Monday 26 April.   All welcome.

Kindergarten News

Fun in Echidnas

This week in Kinder Echidnas we have been having lots of fun learning while playing!  We have been using our great talking and listening skills during these activities as well as our imagination.

Here we are caring for others when playing doctors and nurses, practising our writing and numbers when playing shops, building our conversation skills when having a tea party, and problem solving and building our knowledge of position while constructing with the Lego, farm animals and train sets.

Ms McGlinn

Stage One News

The Year So Far in Lilies

We have had a wonderful seven weeks in Lilies. One of our favourite activities has been reading the story ‘The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore’.  This is a story full of the magic that reading and writing can bring into our lives. After reading the story, we have been making our own books that are going to be hung in the room to look like flying books. We are also making posters that promote why reading is a fun activity.

Did you know that reading a book doesn’t mean you have to read the words? When we read picture books, we can enjoy the story by looking at the pictures as well as reading the words (if we can).

Here are some photos of Lilies with their Flying Books that they are working on.

You can share this beautiful story with your child by looking at the clip on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3CMri3hOs

Stage Two News

Cook - Fractured Fairy Tales

In 3/4 Cook this week we have been finalising our fractured fairy tales! We have been able to construct some very interesting and unique retellings of beloved and well-known tales through the use of a narrative structure and careful planning and consideration! After we have written our stories, we have been able to publish them and include them in our ‘class folklore’ folder, which is kept in a very safe and presentable location in the classroom so that we may read each other’s work whenever we please. Mr. Inzitari is most impressed and very proud and hopes his students will keep up the amazing work!"​

Story Telling

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Stage Three News

Jackson - Natural Disasters

In Stage 3, Jackson have been learning about Natural Disasters this term. Our main disasters  have been fire, drought and flood.  

We have created art work, writing and poetry such as dimontes, cinquains and haikus. We have written about different ways we think floods and fires are started, and artwork from Bruce Whatley and Jackie French books. We have used paint for the fire drawings, pencils or crayons for flood drawings and pencil and paint for drought drawings. 

Come up to the Stage 3 building and take a slow walk up the stairs to look at our amazing work.

Jackson Students

Support Unit News

Giants causeway

As part of the history unit about celebrations, we celebrated St Patrick’s Day earlier this week. We studied the legend of the Giants Causeway. We are now in the process of creating a graphic novel to recount this story. Earlier this term we studied Australia Day. As a STEM activity we designed and made some models of tall ships.

Library News

COLOUR RUN

Whole School Reward - Colour Run

Students are invited to wear a white shirt and mufti clothes for our Colour Run next Wednesday 24 March. 

As the students move around an obstacle course, teachers will fill the air with non-toxic, colourful paint. The powdered paint used is safe for skin, however if you're child may be sensitive to this they can wear goggles or sunglasses. While we are told the paint does not stain, it would be a good idea to wear something you don't mind getting dirty. Thank you to our P & C for donating the coloured paint and for making this awesome whole school reward go ahead!

Wellbeing Team

EASTER HUNT

ONE TREE - BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE

Vocational Care at Lithgow Public School

WE ARE A NUT FREE SCHOOL

At Lithgow Public School we have several students who suffer severe allergic reactions if exposed to peanuts.  We ask that you please avoid packing food products for your child that contain nuts of any type including nut spreads and any kind of chocolates spread (Nutella).  We thank you for your assistance in this matter.

School Uniform Orders

Uniform Shop

If you would like to make a uniform order for 2021, please complete the attached form and email it  to lithgow-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au.  Our school office is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am - 3.30pm  for you to drop in your orders, which will be filled and available to be picked up the following day. ​ 

Uniform Price List

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Lithgow Junior Sports Information

Calling all players from under 6 to Under 16 wishing to play in the 2021 Lithgow Competition.

Also: Expressions of interest in a Senior Mixed Seven a side Social Competition for 15 years and above.

Please contact the Clubs below.

LITHGOW THISTLE SFC - Lorraine Keay 0419 621 426

WALLERAWANG FC - Carleen Chapman 0402 205 070

BLACKHEATH FC - Daniel Roberts 0414 195 713

LITHGOW CITY RANGERS FC - Nigal Lloyd 0409 676 019

WORKIES REDBACKS FC - Karen Merry 0437 273 836

Lithgow Thistle SFC

Lithgow Thistle SFC require players in Under 6, Under 7, Under 8 & Under 9 for the 2021 season. New and past players will be made most welcome. For more information, contact Lorraine Keay on 0419621426

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