Term 2 Week 2 Newsletter
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Welcome to our Week 2 Newsletter.
Our term has started in a very positive way with students returning to learning with enthusiasm. We have also had a number of school events already.
Last week our student leaders led the school in our ANZAC Day commemoration assembly. They did a great job at leading our students through the ceremony.
Our Cross Country Carnival was held last Thursday too. The weather was perfect and the day ran so smoothly. Congratulations to all of our place getters and to everyone who ran. There were many happy faces at the finish line. Everyone should be very proud of the effort they made to complete the race. Thanks to Vlado Susko who organised the day for us and our parent volunteers who came to help and support.
School Board
Last week we had our first Board meeting with our new members. We nominated and voted in our new chair and deputy chair. Congratulations to Daniel Hoffman who is our new Board Chair for the next 2 years and to Tanya Goodman who is our deputy chair. We also welcomed Erin Clarke as a new parent representative and Emma Peel and Mark Glover as our new staff representatives. A big thanks to our outgoing Board Members including Megan Fox who has been Board Chair for a number of terms and our teacher representatives Tamara Player and Lauren Lutton. We appreciate your willingness to support the strategic direction of the school in a volunteer position.
The School Board meets twice a term. The function of the board includes:
- to establish strategic direction and priorities for the school;
- to monitor and review school performance and to report on it to the Director-General, parents of students at the school and staff;
- to develop, maintain and review curriculum for the school;
- to develop and review education policies at the school;
- to establish budgetary policies for the school and approve the school budget;
- to establish policies for the efficient and effective use of school assets and the management of financial risk;
- to develop relationships between the school and the community and between the school and community organisations;
- to make recommendations to the Director-General on issues affecting the school;
- to encourage parent participation in their children’s learning; and
- to exercise any other function given to the school board under the Act or any other Territory law.
Thanks to our Board volunteers for taking on this important role.
2025 Enrolments
2025 enrolments are now open! Preschool families do not need to re-enrol for kindergarten at Calwell. All Year 6 students need to enrol for high school. Enrolments are made online through the Education Directorate website https://www.education.act.gov.au. The first round of enrolment period closes on Friday 7 June with offers being made from Monday 29 July. Please talk to a member of the leadership team if you have questions about enrolments.
TRIBE Program
This week our Year 6 Boys will participate in an eight week program run by Menslink.
TRIBE stands for Trust, Resilience, Independence, Bravery and Empathy and is a program for young guys, identified as having influence as leaders within peer groups in the school community. Upon graduation, we aim for these students to be inspired and motivated to share their learnings with peers and younger year levels. Thereby building a school TRIBE that is more inclusive, supportive and accountable. We are looking forward to working with Menslink to help our Year 6 Boys become supportive school leaders. Our Year 6 girls will also have a similar opportunity later in the term.
Letter from Director General - Katy Haire
Thanks for helping our school community keep well by keeping our kids at home. Please see the letter from our Director General, Katy Haire about this.
Dear parents and carers,
Welcome back to term 2. This winter, we are again expecting to see a higher number of staff away this term due to seasonal illness. Unfortunately, these short-term absences can impact the way we run our schools.
Our focus remains on delivering quality teaching and learning and minimising disruptions. There may however be times where staff absences will mean that some schools need to temporarily adjust the delivery of programs.
This may include minor adjustments to school timetables, a reduction in extracurricular activities, camps and excursions, or periods of larger group or supervised independent learning. Teachers may use online educational resources as part of their teaching at school.
These changes support schools to ensure student learning is not impacted. Your school will keep you updated if changes are made.
Please be assured that we are continuing to prioritise recruitment and retention of highly skilled teachers across all of our schools.
How you can help
Finally, I would like to remind you that vaccination is one of the key protections against illness for our community. I encourage everyone who can, to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu and COVID-19. If your child becomes unwell, please do not send them to school until their symptoms have resolved.
You can access the latest information on our website: www.education.act.gov.au.
Yours sincerely
Katy Haire
Director General
Mothers Day
We hope all our Mums and other significant women in our students’ lives have a very happy Mothers Day weekend. We are looking forward to having Breakfast Club with any Mums who are available this Friday.
Kind Regards
Ben Roberts
Principal
CARES
Gold Awards
Notes Home/Due & Dates to Remember
A reminder for parent's to please download the SZapp to view our Newsletters and upcoming events. If you access the calendar and click on the date on an excursion/incursion permission notes are attached to re-print if needed.
- Walk Safely to School Day Friday 10th May
- Mother's Day Breakfast Club Friday 10th May
- Catch up photo day Friday 10th May
- Kindy Assembly Friday 17th May at 9:15am
- Book Club due Friday 17th May
- Year 5 Combined Band practice Monday 20th May
- Tuggeranong Region Cross Country (selected students) Tuesday 21st May
Bendora
As part of our history unit 5/6 went on an excursion. We began by visiting Old Parliament House. Before being allowed entry, we were given gloves to wear. Old Parliament House is a heritage building, the gloves were to help protect and preserve it. Once in, we were given a brief tour before being led to an interactive learning area. There we got to learn more about the history of our democracy. Next up, we visited the house of representatives. Our guide explained the history of the room, and processes. New Parliament house was next, where we were met by our local representative David Smith. David Smith led us through to the new house of representatives. We learned about his current role, what the electorates in Canberra are and what ours is (Bean). He answered many of our questions before saying goodbye. We finished the day by briefly visiting the senate and learning about their role in government. Overall, it was a fun day out, learning about how our system of government works.
Walk Safely To School Day
Camp Australia
Menslink
