We are off to a flying start!

I want to congratulate all students on a brilliant start to the year. Everyone is looking impressive in full school uniform. One thing I always notice about students in our school is how welcoming they are towards visitors and new members of our community. Ngunnawal is a wonderful community to be apart of and I am loving being back. At the beginning of the year all classes spend time establishing class expectations and revisiting our PBL expectations in all areas around the school.

Our vision and mission remain central to all that we do and strive for. Our staff come together each week as a teaching team and then again as a whole staff to drive continuous improvement. 

School Board Parent Representative

Ngunnawal Primry School is seeking a parent representative for our School Board. We meet 1-2 times a term after work hours and appointments are usually for 2 years. 

The School Board provides a formal mechanism for our community members to have their views considered when decisions are made.

To nominate for the School Board, email Trina Clyde trina.clyde@ed.act.edu.au or collect a nomination form from the front office. Nominations close Monday 19 February.

Playground Update

The opening of our new playground is days away! We have been eagerly watching the final touches being added. We can't wait to see the new slide in action!

Introducing Will!

We welcome to the Ngunnawal family Will, our new Building Services Officer. Our BSOs are vital in ensuring our school facilities are well maintained and wear many hats as they complete a huge range of tasks each day. Please welcome Will if you see him in the playground. 

IMP Band Representatives

Congratulations to Will and Kaycee in Year 6 whose auditions for the Junior Concert Band were a success! We can't wait to see you representing our school. 

Read, Read, Read! 

Developing confident, capable readers continues to be our highest priority. One way we encourage students to develop regular reading habits is through our take home reading program in the early years.

Reading Logs P-2

The most important thing you can do at home is read a range of texts with your child or listen to them read each day. We love celebrating with students when they reach milestones, but it is ok if the reading log doesn't work for you, the main thing is to read every day.

What's new in 2024?

Our emerging and developing readers will have access to an online library called Decodable Readers Australia. Students will have the opportunity to practice skills regularly taught in the classroom such as phonics knowledge, sight words, decoding and fluency. 

Look out for your child's login card.

The password will be their class code eg, KKL or 2KD.

What about students in Years 3-6?

We encourage our older students to independently manage regular reading and offer a great range of texts to borrow in our library. We also love to hear what our students are enjoying at home so we can make these available to everyone! Students who may benefit from the Decodable Readers program will also be given access. 

Getting to Know You Chats

Meetings with teachers are well under way this week. If you didn't make a booking but would like to speak with your child's teacher you can always contact them directly. Teachers would love to hear about:

• your child's strengths
• your child's interests
• What motivates them to learn or captues their interest?
• How does your child feel about school? 

School Leaders 2024

Below is an outline and our school wide responsiblities. While the faces have stayed the same there are some adjustments to the roles of our school leaders.

Calendar

Rebecca Turner

Principal

Positive Behaviour for Learning, known as PBL is an evidence based whole school, multi-tiered systems approach. At Ngunnawal Primary this looks like:

Consistent behaviour expectations.

• Consistent language and approaches to support positive behaviour choices
• Explicit lessons used to teach behaviour expectations with opportunities to practise appropriate behaviours in classroom and on the playground
  

At Ngunnawal Primary School our whole school expectations are:

We are Safe

We are Respectful

We are Responsible Learners

As we start the new year, classes are busy developing their class set of expectations. These help students know what it looks like to be safe, respectful and responsible learners in the classroom and are referred to and reviewed frequently throughout the year.

As you walk around our school, you will notice our ‘All Setting Expectations’ are displayed prominently. These expectations apply to all areas of the school as well as when students venture beyond our gates on excursions, at carnivals and camps.

Classes have also been visiting various locations around the school to learn about the expected behaviours in each of these settings. As they complete each setting classes add stickers to our PBL wall and will receive a reward for learning about all the different settings in our school.

Please ask your child about the expectations in the classrooms and around the school.

Our Yunggi Bengals are back in 2024, with some new targets for bronze, silver and gold awards and a whole new level to achieve. Students will now have the opportunity to earn a Yunggi Bengal Badge if they have achieved a Rainbow award and 250 points across the year. Look out for more information on our new badges throughout the year.

PBL awards (Bronze, Silver and Gold) will be celebrated in cohort or class gatherings with Merit awards, Rainbow awards, Yunggi Bengal badges and other speciality awards presented in Assemblies.

As you are aware, we have been upgrading an area of our playground currently known as West Park. This is due to open in the coming weeks and will be a draw card for students with the slides, water play, and stage areas. As this is a new space, the PBL team, staff and students will work to develop a new set of Expectations for this playground zone. This process will lead into a full review of our matrix of expected behaviours. Look out for your opportunity to be involved in this process as the year goes along.  

ESafety 

As a part of our 2024 classroom expectations set up, the students were guided through modules from the eSafety Commissioner website around using digital technologies. The learning modules showed students how to protect their personal information and conduct themselves safely online. At the conclusion of the program each class developed an eSafety Classroom Agreement.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

PBL has taken us on a journey around the school as we revisit the expectations in all of our school settings. Each class will receive a reward from the PBL team once they have completed the challenge of visiting all destinations. In the classroom we have been creating expectations that are tailored to our class needs and dynamics. We have talked about the ‘Steps to Get Back on Track’ and how they can be used to promote positive choices and behaviours.

Beginning of Year Art Pieces 

As a part of our ‘Getting to know you’ and identity activities, Year 5 created a range of superhero themed self portraits.

Our buddy classes this year are from Years 1 and 2. This cross-grade pairing is intended to provide opportunities to connect beyond the grade level and build community. Some of the things we do with buddies include:

• Read together
• Share recent learning
• Play group games
• Give assistance to complete a task
• Share library time
• Create a project

This week 5GH went to the library to read with their buddies from 1IS.

Establishing Reader’s & Writer’s Workshop Routines

As part of our daily literacy block students will participate in Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop. Students have spent the last week establishing class expectations and routines for each workshop.

Reader’s Workshop - Students have discussed what Reader’s Workshop looks, sounds and feels like, as well as the routine for what the students and teachers will be doing during the workshop.

Writer’s Workshop - Students have explored the writing process and discussed the behaviours of a good writer.

The Writing Process

Welcome to your P&C update. To get in touch with us on any of the announcements below, please send us a message on Facebook or email us at ngunnawalpandc@gmail.com

Bingo Night Fundraiser

We will be holding a bingo night fundraiser for our school P&C at Grill’d Gungahlin on Tuesday 27 February! $25 will get you a burger, chips and includes a $10 donation to the P&C. Come along and have a burger and some bingo fun with other school families. Event starts at 6pm. Please contact us via email to prebook so we have an idea of the numbers.

Book Club orders

A reminder that book club orders are due by 19 February. If you haven’t received a catalogue at the time of reading this, please contact us and let us know.

Annual General Meeting

The Ngunnawal P&C will be holding our Annual General Meeting on Monday 19 February. Meeting starts at 6pm in the school staff room. We encourage any interested parents and community members to come along and get involved.

Matchbox Cars

Do you have any spare matchbox cars? We are collecting matchbox cars to donate to the school for an outdoor activity. Please reach out to us via email or Facebook if you are able to help. 

iPad

Do you have a working iPad you no longer need? The P&C are on the hunt for an iPad to assist with streamlining electronic payments at our events. 

As it will be used as a hotpot, it will need to have sim card capability. 

If you are able to assist, please give us a shout. Thanks! 

Secondhand School Uniform Shop

The Secondhand Uniform shop is open every Wednesday from 9am - 10am. Pop by the canteen and ask for Kat. Items are $1 - $5 and card or cash payments are accepted. Follow us on Facebook for regular updates. 

We happily accept donations of secondhand uniforms in good condition. We cannot accept clothing that is marked, discoloured, broken buttons/zips, or items that are not Ngunnawal colours. 

Please contact Kat directly if you have any questions - 0417 393 887

Remember, we also have sustainable, comfortable hemp school uniform options for you to check out. Available to try on in sizes 3 - 16, all with Ngunnawal logo. We have limited stock on hand to sell for $32.95. 

School Canteen

Use the app to check the menu and order your lunch orders.

Remember: Canteen orders need to be in by 9:30am each day. 

Get involved

We are always looking for willing volunteers to assist us with our activities throughout the year. If you’d like to express your interest in being involved please reach out and let us know!

Contact Us

You can contact us by email: ngunnawalpandc@gmail.com

And stay up to date by following us on Facebook or Instagram.

Ngunnawal Primary School is an anaphylaxis aware school due to the inclusion of students with life threatening anaphylactic allergic conditions.We provide protection for children who have severe allergic reactions to certain foods. Parents are asked to provide nut free food for their child’s recess and lunch. This includes Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches.

To view the ACT Education Directorate policies, visit: http://www.det.act.gov.au/

“What’s this coming along the road? It’s a bus it’s a bus… it’s a school bus!” This week is Bus Safety Week 2024, and we are going back in time to 1989 with the original Bus Safe Rap because safety never goes out of style. Bus Safety Week is an opportunity to remind students of the importance of safe behaviours when on and around buses, bus stops and interchanges.

Brush up on your safety skills and see if you can do the Bus Safe Rap:

· Signal the driver: Always signal the driver a safe distance from the curb by raising your arm – and giving the driver plenty of notice.

· Wait safely: Wait until the bus has left before you cross. Never walk in front of a bus, as other road users may not see you.

· Respect bus stops: Bus stops and interchanges aren’t playgrounds. Avoid running or playing ball games while waiting for a bus.

· Stay alert: Put your phone away and turn the music down when moving around bus interchanges and crossing roads.

Let's showcase our commitment to safety as a community, from the bus stop to crossing the road, make safety your daily jam.

Visit Transport Canberra’s travel safely to school webpage for resources and information to make sure all students have a safe journey to and from school.

The February 2024 Rights in ACTion edition is about children and young people’s right to education. This month’s newsletter looks at what the right to education means and which laws protect it. It shares the story about Malala’s fight for girls to go to school and how to celebrate your own progress by creating a learning time capsule.

Share the newsletter with children and young people you know and encourage them to contribute to future editions. Children and young people can send contributions in any format they like about anything they want. They can also send messages to the ACT Children and Young People Commissioner on Instagram @actkids_CYPC, call on 02 6205 2222, send an email to actkids@act.gov.au or go to Young Thinker Forum to upload files.

National Capital Rollerskating Club hold Learn to Skate classes on Wednesdays, during school terms, at Queanbeyan High School.

Our 5:15-6pm class for Term 1 2024 runs from 7 February to 10 April. This class is open aged and skate hire is available (though stock is limited). Fees are: $155 P/term ($16 drop-in fee) Skate hire is $30 P/term ($4 P/drop-in).

Enrolment is a two-step process:
1) Become a member or renew for 2024: 2024 Membership
2) Register for the class: Term 1 2024 SkateStars Registration