SeeSaw

Our School Board discussed the security assessment of Seesaw and have agreed the school will continue to use the paid version of the platform. The paid version allows us to request that our data is stored in Australia. In 2024, teachers will only share posts of your child and their work with you. 

If you have consented to your child's information being provided to Seesaw on our 2024 third party permissions form, this will be used to create your child's 2024 account. If you haven't provided consent or if there are any changes to your consent please complete the form below. 

5/6 Netball Gala Day

The team collectively decided to challenge themselves and be placed in the Division One competition. With two wins and four close losses the team did exceptionally well. They found their groove over the course of the day and played to each other’s strengths. Identifying as a team the defenders, attackers, and shooters for the day.

Rugby League Gala Day

Both the year 3/4 and 5/6 teams played with great sportsmanship across 4 games each. Students were able to participate in a tackle ready program before the games started. During the games there was plenty of skill and talent on show in both attack and defence. Well done to all students who participated and thankyou to the parents for their help throughout the day.

Coming soon: Parent Portal

During term 1 we are rolling out a new Parent Portal, a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.

Using the Parent Portal on your mobile phone, tablet or computer, you will be able to:

• notify us if your child is sick or explain an absence
• book parent-teacher interviews
• receive academic reports
• receive our school newsletter
• receive messages from your child’s teachers
• make payments
• access the school calendar and your child’s student timetable.

One of the many benefits of the Parent Portal is that it will be used by all ACT public schools from preschool through to year 12, so there will be no need to use a different system as children change schools during their public-school journey. If you have children at nearby schools you will not need to sign up to the system twice. You will be able to easily add a student to your account once their school has access to the Parent Portal.

Sign up now

To access the portal, you will need to create or have access to an ACT Government Digital Account. You can sign up now and complete the level 2 identity verification process to get ready for our launch this term.

To complete the identity verification process you will need one of the following:

• Australian Driver's licence
• Australian Passport
• Birth certificate
• Australian citizenship certificate
• Change of name certificate
• Marriage certificate
• ImmiCard
• Australian visa
• Medicare
• Centrelink Concession Card

Visit the ACT Digital Account website to create your account: https://www.myaccount.act.gov.au/

If you have any issues with creating your account and completing your level 2 identity verification you can get in contact with ACT Digital Account to resolve by calling 13 22 81.

You will receive an email in term 1 with an access code to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you have any questions, please contact Student Services at info@ngunnawalps.act.edu.au or on (02) 6142 1500.

For more information about Parent Portal, visit the Education Directorate website: https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/parent-portal

Reading

Reader’s Workshop is part of our daily routine. We have established expectations around what makes a good reader and what a ‘good-fit’ book is for each of us. We also looked at strategies to build our reading stamina so students can engage in 20 minutes of independent reading each day. The primary reading strategy we have focused on is inferring. Inferring helps readers to use their prior knowledge and text clues to pick apart texts and uncover meanings, themes and character motivations. We have been using our inferring skills while reading the BFG, making inferences about how the characters are feeling. Here are some drafts of our inferences. The next step will be editing. 

Writing

This term, we have been learning how to write imaginative texts. We have brainstormed our ideas and created class lists of interesting places, events and characters. We will use these ideas to create imaginative texts and incorporate our own  ideas as well. 

Maths

Our first number unit for the year is complete. This unit required students to investigate several features of whole numbers. Learning tasks engaged students in how to identify ‘odd’ and ‘even’ numbers; represent, recognise and order numbers up to five digits; partition numbers into their place value and expanded notation; and compare numbers using greater than and less than symbols. 

We are now using this knowledge to help us with addition and subtraction. 

HASS 

We commenced the year looking at rules In Civics and Citizenship. We discussed rules, and why we have them, which supported the development of our class expectations and the review of the school's Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) expectations. Our further investigations focused on democracy and voting. Each class put this theory into practice by nominating and voting for their class representatives in the Student Leadership Team.

We are considering what a community is. We have discussed the importance of communities and what communities we belong to and why. Over the next few weeks we will consider how we can participate and make a difference in our school community.

We also began our History unit, where we will examine several celebrations throughout the year. Our first celebration was to investigate the perspectives of Australia Day and identify the difference between a celebration and a commemoration.

Fortnightly Focus 

In weeks 6 and 7 our school focus is on reducing rubbish and waste around the school. Students are encouraged to use the recycling and waste to landfill bins as well as the worm farm bins in their classrooms. Teachers are looking to award students collecting rubbish with a Yunggi Bengal. 

Whole School Yunggi Bengal Count and Reward Target 

Congratulations to our whole school as we have achieved our first Yunggi Bengal target for the year. We were aiming for 10 000 and on Friday, we smashed that target reaching 12 083. In week 7 we will celebrate by having an extended recess.  

New Outdoor Learning and Play Space 

The teaching staff started the process of developing our expectations for our new outdoor learning area and play space. All staff have shared their most valued expectation for this space to ensure this play area is inline with our safe, responsible and respectful learner values.  

Meet the PBL team 

Our staff PBL team is represented by school leaders and teachers from across grade levels. This week we introduce Gina from year 5 and Andrea from year 3. 

The PBL Team

Response to Need (RTN)

Response To Need (RTN) is a process that ensures students receive responsive, high-quality instruction according to their needs, determined by regular assessment. At Ngunnawal Primary School we have a multi-tiered framework for differentiating instruction to support learning for all students.

At Tier 1, school wide prevention efforts are established to promote learning for all students, anticipating that most students will respond to these strategies and will not require additional intervention. Classroom teachers currently implement the Readers Workshop model, 10 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy, as well as ongoing conferencing, assessment, and goal setting procedures for students.

At Tier 2, students who are identified as being at-risk of experiencing problems receive supplementary or small-group interventions. Tier 3 is an additional layer of intensive supports which aim to address the needs of a smaller percentage of students (5-15%) who are experiencing difficulty and are at risk of developing more severe problems.

If your child is participating in Tier 3 supports, they may do so for a short cycle of a few weeks, or they may continue for the whole term. The focus area and goals students work on in RTN are also shared with teachers to ensure there is consistency of approaches and alignment of goals.

The RTN team currently consists of the following teachers: Stacey-Anne Cook, Monica Dray, Jen Hearne and Emma Davidson. 

The Directorate is holding an information session for families enrolling children and young people with development delay, diverse learning needs and disability who will be commencing in a new school in 2025. The session focuses on the enrolment process and supports all children to enrol in their local school. Information will also be provided about the enrolment process for families considering an enrolment in a specialist school for 2025.

This session will be held online on Monday, 8 April 2024 from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Parents/carers can RSVP or ask any questions about the session, by emailing: EDUCommunityPartner@act.gov.au. Please include the child’s school year they will be entering in 2025.

In 2024, the Triple P Positive Parenting Program is running a campaign focused on confidence. Confidence is beneficial for kids, as it helps them with enjoyment, trying new things, and doing well in school. It can also help lessen social anxiety and school refusal. Parents and carers play a key role in building confidence.

Further information on ‘supercharging self-esteem in children’ and access to free online parenting courses, can be found at Supercharging self-esteem - how to build confidence in children | Triple P Positive Parenting Program.

Contact Sally Johnson on sally.johnson@act.gov.au

School Psychology Service (SPS) Early Intervention team is offering a series of 2-hr workshops in 2024. Schools are asked to place flyers in school newsletters so parents/carers of years 4-12 students can register their interest and attendance using the QR code directly.

 The remaining ‘Responding to your child’s strong emotions’ workshop for term 1 is on Tuesday, 19 March 2024 at 9:30 am - 11:30 am at the Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning.

 Attachments:

• Strong Emotions workshop flyer (1 MB PDF)

Contact Ava Trudinger on sps_earlyintervention@ed.act.edu.au