Principal's Report
Dear Ngunnawal families,
This week we welcome Nadean Mamic to our School Board. We thank all of our Board members for their committment to ensuring our school decision making and operations are at the highest level.
As of today, we will be blocking the grass area near preschool that is occasionally used for extra parking. We understand the car park is tight at peak times, however, it is crucial that we only park in designated parking areas to ensure the safety of our children. We thank everyone for supporting us to keep our students safe.
In week 4 you will see some new faces in the fornt office. We welcome Anthea and Lauren to our team. A big thank you to Kellie and Michelle for supporting our administration team over the past three weeks.
Photo of the week
It was great to see our kindergarten students making use of the new whiteboard tables in their classrooms. What a lot of fun!
Have your say in our school's improvement journey
The strategic plan is a long term plan that guides our improvement agenda. Over the next few weeks the leadership team will be reviewing our strategic plan to ensure our goals and targets align with the school we want to be in the next 2-3 years. I would love your input into what you think are our next most important steps. These plans belong to our whole school community and we want to ensure everyone has a chance to contribute. Please use the link below to provide your feedback.
https://forms.gle/8orf1w5sEbFUaEvj7
Next steps in our whole school approach to improving reading
This term, teachers have been busy investigating different approaches to teaching reading. To ensure every child experiences quality reading instruction regardless of the class they are in, and to ensure the journey of the learner through our school is consistent and sequential, we have decided on reader's workshop as our whole school approach. Below is a snapshot of what reader's workshop is about:
Third Party Permissions for 2020
All families received a note for third party permissions in week 1. This form is necessary to submit your child's details to create logins for reading eggs and other assessment tools. The note also includes Seesaw. Seesaw is an online portfolio platform and communication tool. It allows teachers to share real time snapshots of learning with families. Seesaw will replace paper based portfolios for 2020. One of the many benefits includes receiving frequent snapshots of learning to initiate conversations about learning with your child in an easy to access format. We will be sharing more information about this in the coming weeks. Check out the link below for more information. A copy of this note is available at the bottom of the newsletter.
Class Placements for 2020
Every year, Ngunnawal School staff work hard to create classes for the following year. We encourage students to select friends they learn well with, allow parents the opportunity to provide input and work closely with classroom teachers to create cohesive and successful classes.
This year we would like to collate all this information through one process. This Google Form will allow all families to have the opportunity to share their preferences for 2020.
We encourage you to talk with your child about who they learn best with and who they would like to be in a class with for the following year. We will work to ensure that every child is with at least one of their chosen friends if not more. In addition to this, each child will be in a class with some students from their current class. Our goal is to work with you to get the best outcomes for your child. Please use the link below to submit your preferences by Monday 11 November.
https://forms.gle/SbukQTU5jd5hKM1n8
Story Poles
This week we see one of our long term community projects come to completion. Belinda KB has been working with local artist Budda Connors on the design of our story poles you can now see at the front of the school. Three of the poles reflect our Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) expectations and mascots. The other three welcome visitors to our school in Nguunawal language "Yumalundi". We also selected "Yunggi Bengal" which means to give back and reflects our school SHARE values and PBL token system. At the top of these three poles you will notice muliyan (Ngunnawal word for eagle). Muliyan is Ngunnawal Country’s totem. It flies high to bring spiritual protection and strength over the students. We thank everyone who contributed to the design process and we hope you enjoy this addition to our school entrance.
Outstanding Staff Members Recognised
Best of luck to our staff members who have been nominated in the 2019 Public Education Awards. To be nominated is a fantastic recognition and they are all winners in our eyes. Our nominees are:
School Assistant of the Year
Riley Albrecht
Kerryn Price
New Educator of the Year
Natalie Ivanoff
Teacher of the Year
Sarah Murcutt
School Leader of the Year
William Powell
Lastly, I want to reach out and let you know that my door is always open if you have any concerns or comments about things happening in our school or school community. We are a strong community and I want to ensure that you all feel you can contact me at any time if you have concerns. You can make a time to talk with me by ringing the front office on 61421500 or you can email me directly at rebecca.turner@ed.act.edu.au.
Rebecca