Term 2 Week 4 Newsletter

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome to our Week 4 Newsletter. We have had another busy fortnight of learning and events such as assembly, combined band practice and Tuggeranong Cross Country Carnival.

We have noticed a lot of illness in the community. Last week we had many students and staff away with cold and flu symptoms. Thanks so much for keeping your kids at home if they are unwell. We really appreciate this. Teachers and support staff have also been affected which means that we occasionally have to split or combine classes to ensure we have adequate supervision for all students. We have prepared online learning days for when students are spilt into other rooms. Younger students will have access to learning booklets for these days. Our teachers and students are really resilient about having to do this. We have strong and effective processes in place.

Student Leaders

Last Friday we had a productive planning workshop with our Year 6 student leader group. We discussed items such as upcoming fundraising opportunities, school events and ways to be helping our school community link with other organisations. The student leaders are going to run a hot food Friday next week (31 May). Keep an eye out for further information about this. They also decided to run a collection drive for the RSPCA later this term. It was great to meet with them and hear all their ideas.

Inclusion Coach 

Calwell Primary School is participating in the Tuggeranong Network Inclusion Coach Pilot as an initial step in the ACT Government’s Disability Inclusion Strategy for ACT Public Schools. Ginny McWhirter has been appointed to the staff as an Inclusion Coach. This role is intended to focus on coaching and leading the school community to strengthen inclusive education practices. Ginny has a wealth of experience in teaching and leading inclusive education for students with disability across preschool to year 10 settings in the ACT. She will be sharing her time between Calwell High School (Tue/Thur) and Calwell Primary School (Mon/Fri). Ginny welcomes and is available to discuss any queries relating to inclusive education and is contactable via the front office number (02) 61421900 or email virginia.mcwhirter@ed.act.edu.au.   

  The ACT Government’s Inclusive Education - A Disability Inclusive Strategy for ACT Public Schools 2024 - 2034

• The Strategy aims to deliver greater inclusion for students with disability across all ACT public schools by making sure schools have the support they need to meet the needs of all learners.
• The ACT Government’s vision is that every child and young person is welcomed, valued, and can access quality education designed to meet their needs at their local school.
• In ACT public schools, this means that all children and young people can learn and take part in education on the same basis as their peers.

Mobile Phone Reminder

Please remind your child/children to drop their mobile phones to the front office before school and pick them up at the end of the day as required with the Directorates Mobile Phone Policy.

We have noticed that some students are forgetting to do this. We need to ensure this happens to ensure digital technologies are being used safely and productively.

Tuggeranong Cross Country Carnival

Congratulations to the following students who have headed off to Stromlo Forest Park today to represent Calwell Primary School at the zone Cross Country Carnival. Thanks Mr Susko and Mr Ryan for taking the students and for organising their attendance. Well done to all out runners. You do us all proud!

Kind Regards

Ben Roberts                    
Principal

Parent Portal

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. 

- Reconciliation Day public holiday Monday 27th May

- Kindy Health Checks  28th-29th May

- Didjeribone Incursion Thursday 30th May

- Special Hot Food Friday 31st May

- Year 5/6 Assembly Friday 7th June

Scrivener

Welcome back to Term 2!

Kindergarten students have been continuing to engage with all of the activities in InitiaLit. We have met the characters and learned the sounds /m/, /s/, /t/, /a/, /p/, /i/, and /f/. Students identify things that start with each sound and sort pictures into sound groups, like princess and pencil for /p/ and flower and frog for /f/. We practise writing the letters that go with these sounds, and make sure we have written the letters correctly. Students have even begun to read and write words with these sounds! These are words like at, am, pat, sat, and fit. 

Within InitiaLit there are Storybook lessons. As part of this students engage with quality literature and have in-depth discussions about each book that we use. We explore new words that support our vocabulary and even act out the meaning of these words. Each book requires the students to participate in high level thinking and create reflect art pieces. Kindergarten have begun using the storybooks to write sentences. With the book Thunderstorm Dancing to write sentences like 'I can see dark clouds' and 'I can hear thunder'.

In Maths we have started learning the numbers from 11 to 20. So far we have done the numbers from 11, 12 and 13. Each week we explore the different representations of numbers, such as how we can show a number through a numeral, word, ten frames, and with tally marks and through a picture. The students enjoy practising different ways to show the number such as creating and counting the quantity with unifex cubes, counters and through a variety of games. In Strand we have been gathering and representing data. Students ask each other a simple question, such as 'Do you do swimming lessons? Yes or no', and record others' responses using tallies. We read this data to see what we have more or less of. 

Enrolments

Special Hot Food Friday

Camp Australia

Parentline

Tuggeranong Repair Cafe