Welcome to the Alawa Primary School weekly newsletter.
Well the term is winding up and we have achieved so much once again with so many members of our school community contributing their efforts, time and support in sooooo many ways. Super big thanks to all our volunteers, our School Council, our helpers for recent and upcoming events as well as to all those who take the time to email, phone, chat to provide feedback along the way.
We have 4 full days of learning and activities planned this week so students are expected to attend school every day - they will all be exploring Escape Rooms for Maths, completing writing assessments, working through reading tasks with teachers as well as the usual Farm, Kitchen, PE and Science lessons. As mentioned by Mrs Donohue the Attendance Reward is on Thursday this week as well as the netball gala day. Don't forget we also have our end of term lunch special through the School Cafe this Thursday.
Student News Bulletin
This week we will be launching the first of our Student News Bulletin - presented by our School Captains. We hope to release 2 of these per term moving forward and huge thanks to Ms Tamra and Ms Tina Sullivan for all their work co-ordinating, filming and editing. And of course well done to our confident, articulate School Captains: Chevayo Roe, Hayley Hopkinson and Ahnouk Roseth.
Junior Learning Commission
We had over 35 applications received from students in Years 3 and 4 - all wanting to have a voice and make a difference in our school. We are super proud of you all for stepping up and nominating yourselves. Unfortunately we cannot have all those in the group so on Friday Mr France and Ms Katie announced the 12 Junior Student Commissioners for 2021. They will be presented with their badges Friday this week at Assembly.
| Leo Barker | Misha Roseth | Lachie Whitmee | Hamish Rush |
| Asha Fulton | Hien Duc Ta | Rosie Cleary | Ameliah Howard |
| Chloe Lim | Ava Mansell | Aliyah Maddern | Carla Hopkinson |
These students will be meeting as a group after lunch on Wednesdays next term and also connecting when appropriate with the Senior Learning Commission. Stay tuned to hear about the work they will be doing and the impact they will be having.
Have a relaxing break and stay safe,
Sandy Cartwright [Principal of the Best School in the Multiverse]
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Week 10. I hope you had a lovely break over Easter. I enjoyed a super weekend with my family catching barramundis at the Daly.
I'm looking forward to seeing families at the Student Led Conferences this week. Please feel free to pop into my office if you'd like to meet with me.
Social and Emotional Learning
Throughout Term one I have been working with Year 5/6 Lotherington students. We have been learning about Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships. Last week the students worked in teams and discussed a list of values that they feel are important in relating to others. Each group was required to rank social and emotional learning skills in the order they felt was most important. The most common areas the class would like to learn more about include attentive listening, showing teamwork and appreciating others opinions. I have really enjoyed working with the students and I am looking forward to extending their learning next term.
Attendance Reward
Congratulations to all children (with support from their families) who have earned the attendance reward this term. With obtaining 95% and less than 5 lates, they will enjoy the waterslide on Thursday.
Have a wonderful term break with your children and I will see you all next term.
Genevieve Donohue, [Assistant Principal]
Our gates open at 8am each school day which then allows 30mins for children to come in, connect with mates, play sport, table tennis, settle in etc. A lovely way to start the day.
However lately we have up to 30 children arriving way TOO early and they then wait at the front office for 8am. This is causing congestion and disruption in the front office. We ask that families ensure children DO NOT arrive till 8am at the earliest.
In conjunction with our attendance reward day this Thursday the 8th April, the Cafe will be selling a lunch special available for all students to purchase.
$6.00 - Sausage in bread, popper juice and icy pole
Please place pre orders via QuickCliq or note 'Lunch Day special' on students lunch order bag.
This Friday the 9th April we will hold a mega bonus house points day with ALL pets, toys and accessories able to earn points for your house.
Please have any pictures through to us by midday to be included alawa.school@education.nt.gov.au or via our FB messenger
We hope you all had a nice Easter long weekend and enjoyed some quality time with your families and friends.
Preschool had a fun week leading up to Easter. The children made Easter baskets, Hot shaped buns (like hot cross buns but in different shapes) and they even had a visit from the Easter bunny. She delivered yummy Easter eggs and left behind very large, white footprints.
There has been lots of maths exploration happening in Preschool. Children have been exploring magnetic shapes and discovering how they fit together in interesting ways. On Wednesday a few excited children discovered how to make cubes with the large waffle shapes, gathering a crowd who wanted to know how they did it. So much is learnt through playing and experimenting with different materials at preschool.
We look forward to a big Term two at Preschool with lots of time spent outdoors enjoying all the beauty and wonder of the dry season.
Have great term break!
Alice, Emma, Kelly and Flor [Preschool Team]
Primary School Average for Week 9 Term 1: 92.94%
It is terrific having all our families back with us at school.
The class with the highest attendance for Week 9: Preschool Blue Group!
In the lead for Term 1 is... Year 2 Bernardino!
Arriving late for school has a significant impact on your child’s learning and engagement in the education program.
There were 32 late arrivals in Transition—Year 6 in Week 9 Term 1!
The classes with the least lates for Week 9 were: Preschool Blue Group, Year 1 McHatten and Year 3/4 Baines!
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 9 of Term 1 Goyder is ahead of Manton and Finnis.
Manton 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 9 Term 1, the class with the most points was... Year 4/5 France!
The winning class for Weeks 7-9 is... 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.
Twice a week we tally up all students water bottles and students receive a house point for each one brought in.
In Week 9 of Term 1 Manton is ahead of Goyder and Finnis with 938 points!
In the lead for Term 1 is...Goyder with 6956 points!
We are winding up the term by harvesting out wet season crops- sweet potatoes and cassava. Any leftover will be available for parents to buy from the front office.
As April has arrived so we are planting as many seeds as we can to get the vegetable garden blooming. Citrus are still producing bucket loads, but the fruit fly are often getting in before us. Rosella are starting to bud, so the kitchen will be busy making rosella a jam next term.
Thanks to the parents how have been volunteering each week. The farm is wonderful, but also massive, so your help is very much appreciated.
Have a great term break.
Linder Conder [Farm Teacher]
Wow, it is hard to believe the school holidays are upon us already and I wanted to give you a couple of ideas for activities through the break. The City of Darwin (Casuarina, Karama, Nightcliff and Darwin) and the City of Palmerston Libraries are running some great activities throughout the break. These include free movies, Family Trivia, Magic Show, Puppetry and Cultural Art workshops.
Other activities you might like to do at home include creating your own bookmark, write another chapter for your favourite book or participate in the Book Scavenger Hunt.
Darwin City Libraries - https://www.darwin.nt.gov.au/council/news-media/news/april-holiday-program-0
Palmerston City Library - https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/community/library/library-programs/school-holiday-program
Have a great holiday, I look forward to hearing about and seeing what you have created when we get back to school in Term 2.
Sacha Evans [ Library & ICT Manager]
Transition Connelly have partnered with Yr 11 Casuarina Senior college students on an exciting project!
The Yr 11 students are studying Child Studies and have an interest in a career in Early Childhood Education. The students met each other for this first time this week and had a great time playing, exploring and getting to know each other.
Next semester, The CSC students will design fun, engaging educational play experiences for the Transition children.
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 10
Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognaise *V option available or Chicken curry and rice
Thursday Super special– Sausage sandwich, popper and icy pole special - $6.00
Friday – Chicken Hamburgers
[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
The last Playgroup for Term 1 will be held this Friday the 9th April in the Preschool from 9.30am, everyone welcome.
Miss Maria [Playgroup Coordinator]
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.
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
