Harmony Day

Last Thursday we had a wonderful day of celebrating the diversity of our community. It was great to see some family members joining the Harmony Walk and sharing their experiences with classes.

Courtyard Mural

Have you seen the work of our wonderful teacher Gene in the courtyard? Gene has refreshed the big white wall with a new spray paint landscape. Thank you Gene!

2024 School Improvement 

We continue to focus on Priority 1 in our current 5 year plan.

In term 1 we are doing this by:

Planning Day Monday 29 April

A reminder Monday 29 April is a student free day. There will be no student supervision provided at ACT Public Schools. 

Seesaw Digital Learning Portfolio

The Seesaw platform is back up and running. Teachers will begin to share student learning with families who have approved access. Please note the messaging function is no longer available.

Contacting the School

Communication by email is the preferred method. Teachers want to respond to parent queries at the earliest opportunity and will do their best to do so, however, the majority of teachers' time is taken up teaching and preparing for lessons. Teachers' responsibilities extend beyond the classroom, and they may be unable to respond to you on the day a query is made. We have also agreed with staff that there is no expectation to respond to queries during their personal/family time.

Telephone

Please use the main reception number to leave a message for a teacher to contact you:

• Reception staff will relay messages to teachers as soon as possible.
• If a call is urgent, please inform the receptionist who will attempt to find a member of the leadership team to speak to you.
• We will try to respond to you within three working days, if not sooner.
• Please note, lessons will not be interrupted for teachers to take calls.

Email

Please use staff email addresses if you need to contact staff directly:

• Teachers are not in a position to check emails consistently throughout the day and the school does not expect work email to be checked during a teacher's personal time.
• We aim to respond to you as soon as possible and within three working days. Part-time staff may take longer to reply.

Meetings

The day-to-day care, welfare and safety of your child is managed by the person who is placed closest to them. In the first instance, please approach the following members of staff who are responsible for your child in the following order:

1. Classroom Teacher
2. Executive Teacher 
3. Deputy Principal
4. Principal

Meetings should always be prearranged with members of staff. If you urgently need to see someone, for instance if there is a serious family emergency or a child protection issue, please phone ahead and the reception staff will do their best to find a senior member of staff to see you.

For non-urgent meetings we will aim to meet with you within five working days. The school will determine the level of urgency at its discretion, to enable it to manage multiple demands.

Contacting You

Our preferred method of contacting you is via email. The school also provides a range of opportunities to share information about students' learning and progress throughout the year, including newsletters, semester reports, parent-teacher interviews and learning journeys.

If our teachers identify any concerns about a student's learning or behaviour, or have other matters that need to be discussed, they will contact you as soon as possible.

Contact Details

If your contact details have changed over the holiday period please email the info line with your up-dated details. info@ngunnawalps.act.edu.au. Please ensure that you include your child's name, the year they will be in in 2024, your name and up-dated details.

Parent Portal  FAQs

What is the Parent Portal?

The Parent Portal is a new, secure online platform for sharing key student information between schools and parents and carers.

The Parent Portal will help streamline the everyday school administrative tasks parents and carers need to do for their children by offering a one-stop-shop tool and minimising printed documents in its second phase.

What services will be available in the Parent Portal?

Using the Parent Portal 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.

How do I register to use the Parent Portal?

To access the Parent Portal, you will need to create or have access to an ACT Government Digital Account which you can do using the link in the email sent to you from your school.

Why do I need an ACT Government Digital Account to access the Parent Portal?

The ACT Digital Account offers community members secure identity verification to access ACT Government digital services using a single account. Digital Account users only need to provide their identification documents once to access an ever-increasing range of ACT Government digital services. Using the Digital Account to access Parent Portal, you can be sure your identity information is secure and safe.

Identification documents needed for Parent Portal

To access the portal, you will need to create or have access to an ACT Government Digital Account. The mobile number, first and last names for your Digital Account must be an exact match for those the school uses to contact you. If you already have a Digital Account in which any of these are different from what’s on the school’s records, you can:

• contact the school to have your mobile number in the school records changed, so you can use your existing Digital Account (recommended), or
• make a new Digital Account just for use with Parent Portal.

You can sign up now and complete the Identity Verification process at any time to get ready for your school’s launch if you have not already done so.

To complete Identity Verification with your Digital Account, you must provide the details of one primary AND one secondary Australian identity document (e.g. Drivers Licence number, Medicare Number). These identity document details will be verified against your account name and Date of Birth, using the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS).

Primary identification document

• Australian Birth Certificate
• Australian Citizenship Certificate
• Record of Australian Immigration Status (ImmiCard)
• Australian Visa
• Australian Driver Licence
• Australian Change of Name Certificate
• Australian Marriage Certificate
• Australian Passport (current or expired up to 2 years)

Secondary identification document

• Current Australian Medicare Card
• Australian Passport (if it is not used as the primary document)
• Centrelink Concession Card
• Australian Driver Licence (if it is not used as the primary document)

Both primary and secondary identity documents must be in the same name. Details of these identity documents will be verified, using the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS) to confirm your first name, last name and date of birth.

If any of the documents have a different name or an incorrect date of birth, you will need to contact the issuing authority for the document (e.g., Medicare, Australian Passport Office, etc) to have it reissued with corrected details.

Is signing up to the Parent Portal mandatory?

No, signing up to the Parent Portal is not mandatory. There are many benefits to signing up and it will simplify your communications and administration processes with your child’s school. If you choose not to register, you will continue to receive these communications and requests via the existing channels.

Will I still receive communications/reports/absences if I don’t have an account?

If you choose not to register for the Parent Portal, you will continue to receive these communications and requests via the existing channels.

Can I message my child’s teacher using the Parent Portal?

You are not able to use the Parent Portal to start conversations with your child’s teachers. You may receive messages from teachers about specific issues and you will be able to respond to them directly. If you need to speak with your child’s teacher, please contact them directly via phone or email.

What devices can I use to access the Parent Portal?

You can access the Parent Portal via a browser on your mobile phone, tablet or computer.

Is the Parent Portal available via a mobile app?

No, there isn’t a Parent Portal mobile app for ACT schools to use at the moment. You will need to use an internet browser such as Microsoft Edge, Safari or Google Chrome on your device to access the Parent Portal.

I forgot my email address, username or password, what can I do?

Visit https://www.myaccount.act.gov.au/s/trouble-logging-in.

Do I need multiple ACT Digital Accounts if I have more than one child at the school?

No, you will only need one ACT Digital Account regardless of how many children you have attending ACT public schools. You will receive a separate access for each child at the school which will link their student information with your existing ACT Digital Account.

Do I need multiple ACT Digital Accounts if my children are in different ACT public schools?

No, you will only ever need one ACT Digital Account. We are among some of the first ACT public schools to launch Parent Portal, with other schools to follow shortly. If you have children at nearby schools you will not need to sign up to the ACT Digital Account twice. You will be able to easily add a student to your account once their school has access to the Parent Portal.

I am having trouble doing level 2 identification with my ACT Digital Account

For a list of primary and secondary documents that are required for level 2 identification visit  https://www.myaccount.act.gov.au/s/support

The contact number for the ACT Digital Account is 13 22 81.

Is my data safe?

To provide confidence that the ACT Digital Account complies with the Information Privacy Act 2014 (IPA) an independent Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) was undertaken. The PIA reviewed compliance with the Territory Privacy Principals within the IPA including risks to individual privacy and community expectations.

The PIA confirmed that management of personal information in the ACT Digital Account exceeds the requirements of the IPA, and strategies have been implemented to enhance the protection of your privacy.

Will all parents and carers listed as primary contacts on a student’s records receive a separate access code?

Parents and carers listed as primary contacts 1 and 2 will receive a separate access code as the account for Parent Portal is for an individual and not a household.

Rebecca Turner

Principal

Fortnightly Focus

This fortnight’s PBL focus is Bag Areas. The PBL team are looking for the cohort with the most consistently clean bag area to choose some end of day music for week 10. At this stage a shout out to Year 2 who are leading the way at the top with Years 5, 4 and Kindy close behind.

At the end of breaks and pack and stack time, students are reminded to collect the rubbish around the area and hang up hats, jumpers or bags on hooks.

We can’t wait to see who comes out on top at the end of the fortnight and what songs they pick for week 10.

The PBL team have worked to put together our expectations for our new outdoor learning space. We will begin teaching these to the students and encourage you to discuss them at home too.

Before and After School Expectations

Just a reminder to all students and families, the play equipment areas are closed before 9am and after 3pm. Students are asked to wait in the courtyard area or basketball courts before the 9am bell. Due to limited supervision of the junior, senior and new playground, these areas are closed before 9am and after 3pm.

Whole School Yunggi Bengal Count and Reward Target

Students were rewarded with an extended recess on Wednesday week 7 as they were successful in reaching 10,000 Yunggi Bengals. Students are now working towards their next goal of 40,000. We expect to reach that around the middle of term 2. Stay tuned to see what reward will be on offer.  

Meet the PBL team

Our staff PBL team is represented by school leaders and teachers from across grade levels.

This week we introduce Sharon from SGSG and Morven from year 6.

The PBL team

Spotlight On Learning Year 2 Term 1

English

What a great time to be learning about Narrative writing with so much happening in our community and imaginations. Students have been exploring how to create an engaging story to entertain the readers by creating various “sizzling starts” through the use of Dialog, showing not telling and Otamatipeos.  They have incorporated these features when writing their own imaginative text pieces . We have explored sequencing problems and solutions, compound sentences and the use of past-tense verbs. The students have written a range of imaginative text with topics including creatures, writing partners and significant people. 

In addition to our rich variety of writing activities, students have been working on their Creating images  skills in reader’s workshop. Students have been using their rereading skills and noting information they understand and find interesting or identify as important. This has been supported by our lessons on finding good-fit texts and the characteristics of a successful reader. Students are encouraged to use their good-fit books to continually add to their vocabulary in reading. 

In spelling we have been learning about consonant blends and syllables. We have been engaging in weekly spelling activities such as adding suffixes to base words (for example ‘ing’ to ‘jump’) and noticing sounds in the words of books we read aloud. To consolidate our knowledge of the meaning of words and their sounds, we have been engaging in rotations where we are involved in a mini lesson based on a sound we are learning. We’ve also been practising our high frequency words in the morning by writing sentences including the words and making the words with objects such as lego. 

Maths

In Mathematics this term our students have been engaging in a range of number lessons. During our number unit, children have been exploring two and three-digit numbers using manipulatives such as multi-attribute blocks and place value charts. Students have partitioned, regrouped and represented numbers in a variety of ways. We have also explored and created number lines and have used them to skip count by 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s. 

Strand 

In our Mathematics Strand unit this term, students are going on a learning journey working collaboratively to trade and make equivalent values of money. They have been learning to make a variety of amounts using a combination of different coins and notes. . This has been taught through the use of play money to ensure students understand the monetary value in a hands-on way. 

HASS

We live in an incredible world. Our families are influenced and shaped by where they originate. Investigating connections we each have to these places and others were timed perfectly with the Harmony Day celebration this week. Students have been very enthusiastic about participating in Our Wonderful World Presentations. They have been sharing their unique cultural heritage through presenting artefacts and other resources from their homes. 

We have also investigated and discovered that the streets in Ngunnawal are named after Ngunnawal words or significant Australian individuals.

We have looked at the world and how it is divided into continents and oceans. We have also looked at maps to find countries that we know. Exploring photographs and artefacts from the olden days has been fascinating! Many of the appliances we use today have changed over time as new technology develops, and we have found new, more interesting ways to do things. The highlight of our HASS unit will be our excursion to The National Museum of Australia this week where we will participate in an educational programme: Then and Now, exploring the artefacts from the past. 

Digital Technology

Speaking of how things have changed... We have also been following Hector's World, an eSafety Commissioner's program, to think about how to be safe online. Some of the biggest take-homes we have come across are the importance of not sharing our personal information online and making sure we check with a trusted adult if we are feeling unsure or unsafe online. The eSafety Commissioner has a great collection of resources for kids and teachers, but for parents too. Follow the link for more information: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents.

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.

Familiarity ≠ Learning

Your child has played football (soccer) for a whole season and you question whether they have  actually improved?

With FunCo, you will see their improvement as they learn to play football like the greats from only 1hour per week.

In a game, the chances are your child is touching the ball on average 8 - 10 times in a 20 minute game, whereas, at FunCo, we advocate for your child to touch the ball at least 10 times in a 1 minute time span.

In the first scenario, your child has a FAMILIARITY with the ball and the game. In the second scenario, your child is LEARNING to experiment and practise skills, make mistakes, receive immediate feedback, correct their mistakes, try again and refine their techniques.

All this through carefully planned sessions by a highly-skilled and qualified coach, who as an additional BONUS, is also a qualified teacher. FunCo can build confidence, skill and competence through gradual release of responsibility, before they get on the field.

Let's advocate for active learning - DON'T leave it to familiarity.

BOOK A FREE TRIAL 

Wednesdays - Weeks 9 - 11 

https://rb.gy/xepzi8

Hercules + Kids’ Easter Egg Hunt | 1.45pm, Sun 31 Mar **selling fast**

With an epic storyline, heroic characters, plenty of laughs, and an inspiring soundtrack, Hercules is great fun for the whole family. A pre-screening chocolate egg hunt for kids will take place in the NFSA Courtyard at 1.45pm. All children will also receive a complimentary activity sheet to spot the ‘Easter eggs’ (hidden clues) during the film.

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial | 1pm, Thu 18 Apr

Young Elliott discovers and befriends a stranded alien, hiding ‘E.T.’ in his suburban California house with the help of his siblings. One of the most enduring and beloved family films of the 20th century, E.T. has captured hearts for decades.

Space Jam | 1pm, Fri 19 Apr

Michael Jordan plays himself in this iconic ‘90s sports comedy, leading a team of Looney Tunes characters in a basketball game against alien invaders. The green screen mash-up of live action and animation is sure to bring joy.

The Sound of Music (35mm) | 1pm, Sun 28 Apr

This cherished family classic stars Julie Andrews as Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the Von Trapp children. Maria brings joy and music to the household, winning over the children – and audiences throughout the decades.

Matilda (35mm) | 1pm, Sat 25 May

Neglected by her parents, the quick-witted and inquisitive Matilda discovers she has psychic powers. Can she use her gifts to escape the cruelty of ornery principal Trunchbull and save her fellow students and the kind-hearted Miss Honey?