School House Captains

Last week I had the pleasure of announcing our house captains for 2020. I look forward to working with our school sport leaders. Congratulations to:

Bradman: Jye W, Jordin E

Freeman: Conner H, Agatha B-M

Coombes: Kye B, Ella M

Jackson: Jacob B, Ruby C

Social Media Expectations

Our school has developed the following guide using our PBL exectations for all users of school associated social media platforms.

School Improvement Journey

Our second priority is to improve reading outcomes for students through a whole school, evidence-based approach to reading. This is reflected in high levels of ongoing reading growth and achievement across the school.

The key actions we have identified to achieve this are:

• K-6 Establish Reader’s Workshop as the whole school approach to teaching reading.
• P-6 Embed the 10 Essential Literacy Practices.
• P-6 Establish a feedback on practice model aligned to Reader’s Workshop and the 10 Essential Literacy Practices.
• P-6 Build capacity of school leaders to lead Professional Learning Teams.
• P-6 Embed the practices and philosophies of Professional Learning Communities.

We are determined to expand and strengthen our literacy improvement journey in 2020 through our involvement in the Early Years Literacy Initiative . The Early Years Literacy Initiative (EYLI) has been designed to impact early years (P-2) literacy learning through improving the implementation of early years literacy practices and developing leadership knowledge and capacity within the participating schools. The initiative has been designed to support the implementation of 10 Essential Instructional Practices in Early Years Literacy identified by current research conducted by Prof Nell Duke et al (General Education Leadership Network, Michigan). These 10 high utility instructional practices are essential to improving literacy outcomes.

Who is Christine Topfer?

Christine is a past ALEA National Vice President and is the assistant principal of Moonah Primary School in Hobart. She has worked as a school leader, literacy coach and early years teacher. Chris has published journal articles, contributed to publications, co-authored two books Supporting literacy learning in the early years, and Guiding thinking for effective spelling and led literacy action research projects. She has presented nationally and internationally in a range of literacy areas including spelling, writing, reading comprehension and leading literacy improvement. Chris was awarded ALEA Life membership in 2009 and the AITSL award for Excellence in Teaching and School Leadership in 2013.

Term 1

Tuesday week 5 - Christine Topfer and Instructional Mentors from the School Improvement team will be in our school for part of one day. Christine will demonstrate one lesson for all preschool, kindergarten, year 1 and year 2 teachers. A de-brief with Christine and staff will occur after the demonstration lesson.

Term 2

Christine and Instructional Mentors from the School Improvement team will be in our school for part of one day and will be involved in separate planning sessions with the kindergarten and year 1 and 2 teams (or 1/2 team).

Term 3

Christine and Instructional Mentors from the School Improvement team will be in our school for part of one day. A Learning Walk and Talk will occur with the School Improvement team, Christine and the school leadership team. A meeting with the leadership team will occur before and after the Learning Walk and Talk. Feedback will be written by the School Improvement team and emailed to the school on a date following the visit.

Term 4

There will be a leader session in week 5 for all phase 7 schools to support ongoing implementation.

Whole School Professional Learning

In week 0, all staff participated in professional learning to enable us to implement Reader’s Workshop as our whole school approach to reading. By the end of Term 1, all staff will have participated in Professional Learning to deepen our understanding of The 10 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy.

1. Deliberate efforts to foster motivation and engagement within and across lessons
2. Read alouds of age appropriate books and other materials, print or digital
3. Small group and individual instruction, using a variety of grouping strategies, most often with flexible groups formed and instruction targeted to children’s observed and assessed needs in specific aspects of literacy development
4. Activities that build phonological awareness (Years K and 1 and as needed thereafter)
5. Explicit instruction in letter-sound relationships
6. Research-informed and standards-aligned writing instruction
7. Intentional and ambitious efforts to build vocabulary and content knowledge
8. Abundant reading material and reading opportunities in the classroom
9. Ongoing observation and assessment of children’s language and literacy development that informs their education
10. Collaboration with families in promoting literacy

Rebecca Turner

Principal

Canteen News 

For now, we will continue on with last years menu for 2020, but unfortunately potato top pies are no longer available.

Banana Bread is a new item to the canteen menu and is available for just $1 per slice.  We have a recipe which we have adapted to meet the guidelines of Nutrition Australia.

The canteen is a great place to contribute to our school community. It's flexible, fun, and we like to have a chat so drop by and see Chantel if you'd like to help out, even just half an hour once a week, there is always something to do!

P and C AGM

Last week we held our AGM and first meeting of the year where our new office bearers were elected for 2020. We would like to welcome our new P and C committee for 2020. If you missed the frst meeting it is not to late to get involved!

Our next meeting is 6pm, Monday 23 March in the staffroom.

If you would like to get in touch with the P and C you can find us on facebook under:

Ngunnawal Primary P & C Association

Pressed for time but keen to get involved?

Our first fundraiser will be the Mother's Day Raffle. do you have products, services or contacts to sources donations for our Mother's Day Raffle? Let us know!

We are celebrating Harmony Day on Wednesday 18 March. It is a chance for us to celebrate Australian multiculturalism. We will be having a whole school assembly on this day. All students are encouraged to wear their national dress or the colour orange on this day. This is to show support for cultural diversity and inclusiveness.

Our Kindergarten students have completed an online assessment in reading and numeracy which gives us a base line of their entry point to primary school. Students then sit the assessment again at the end of the year. This assessment replaces the PIPS assessment which Kindergarten students at Ngunnawal have been completing for many years. Teachers are currently using this assessment information to inform planning and program to ensure all studnets grow.

Are you a parent or caregiver of a child aged 4 or 5 years old? You’re invited to participate in a research study about the health and nutrition of Canberra’s preschoolers.

The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete online or over the phone. By participating you can be in the running to win one of ten $50 gift vouchers.

For more information visit bit.ly/CHSpreschoolersurvey or call 5124 7603.

My name is Nat Munoz and I will be facilitating the Ngunnawal Stay and Play Playgroup for the 2020 school year. I look forward to meeting you and your children throughout the year.

Please see the attached flyer for the playgroup which provides some insight in to the aims of the playgroup, times, days and what to bring along. The playgroup is open to all members of our Ngunnawal community. Our goal is to provide a ‘link’ for children of the Ngunnawal community (in particular) and familiarity with the Preschool and School, which will hopefully extend to a smoother transition in future years.

If you have any further questions or wish to contact me, you are welcome to do so. Please note that I have been provided with limited information of families who have attended the playgroup during 2019, so please feel free to advise friends/families with this information.

I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you more throughout the year.

Kind regards,

Nat