Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 3, it’s hard to believe that we are already halfway through the year! I hope you had a chance to recharge, even if it only meant you didn’t have to get lunches ready each day.

Many of you may have noticed that work has begun on the PFAS remediation with soil being cleared ready for the footings for the building and fresh soil for the playground. Once the earthworks are complete in the ELC area, we will start to see the main oval areas being addressed and take shape.

Yesterday, staff participated in a professional learning day focused on High Impact Teaching Practices and on our new Student Data Management platform, COMPASS. This term, we will begin to use the events component of the platform to plan excursions. Staff also started to look at our school’s vision and mission statement, starting by looking at what they most loved about the school and where they would like to see school in five years from now. Over the coming months we will be also asking our students and families to contribute to our school’s vision and mission through targeted focus groups.

Thank you to all of the parents who responded to the parent survey last term. We have now had a chance to look through the results and comments. The survey clearly indicated  that parents (along with students and staff) would like to see the school oval remediated and returned to full use by students. We were very pleased to see that parents were overwhelmingly happy with the new literacy programs we have in place, particularly Initialit and our literacy intervention programs including Minilit, Macqlit and Reading Tutor. Like many of you, the staff have seen enormous growth in student learning as a result of these programs. As a school we are very much committed to delivering a strong phonics-based literacy program to all students.

I hope everyone had a chance to read the email sent out at the end of last week regarding the COVID restrictions. We are very lucky in the ACT to have had an easement in restrictions just as we came back to school. Our NSW schools sadly have had to inform parents that they are not permitted onto school grounds and that any child over 13 must wear a mask, so we are all feeling very lucky to be in the ACT.

Once again we have another full term of events and I am looking forward to catching up with many of you over the coming months.

God Bless

 
Leah Taylor
Principal

Kindergarten National Zoo and Aquarium Excursion Friday 23 July 2021

Kindergarten 100 Days Celebration Thursday 29 July 2021

In this current climate, no child is to attend school if they are showing any cold or
flu-like symptoms. They must remain at home, and stay away from school, until they are no longer showing symptoms or have attended a GP who has instructed that they are fit and safe to return.  If you child has vomiting or diarrhoea, please do not send them to school for at least 24 hours after the symptoms have ceased. 

As a school community we all understand the difficulties of having a sick child, but please do not send your child to school if they are ill or if they have not fully recovered from an illness.  Keeping a child at home, when they are not well, not only helps them recover more quickly with rest, but it also prevents the spread of illnesses in the school community.

Also, if contacted by the school, please pick up your child up as quickly as possible in order to reduce stress for your child.

• Single-use plastics banned in the ACT
  Changes to single-use plastics in the ACT are officially on the way. From 1 July 2021, the ACT will become the second Australian jurisdiction to commence a ban on the sale and supply of selected single-use plastic items including: 

  • Single-use plastic cutlery 
  • Single-use plastic drink stirrers 
  • Expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers.

  Please ensure your child/ren have drink bottles and utensils for eating yoghurt, soups etc.

Community News is located on our website.

JULY 2021
Congratulations to the following students who will be celebrating their birthday this month:

Amelia S;  Isla McG;  Abel W;  Sophie C;  Ruhaab J;  Leo W;  Milenna P;  Grace C;  Marlenna K;  Alexis J;  Oliver F;  Abigail S;  Marko CC;  Lukas M;  Natalia O;  Daniel A;  Athena Wh;  Romeo CC;  Hannah M;  Ruby T;  Ajah A;  Aiden C;  Levi T;  Addyson W;  Chloe B;  Mila M;  Sebastian M;  Tazmyn L;  Samuel S;  Thomas B;  Stefford R;  Layla L;  Eathan C