We have many things to celebrate at Ngunnawal Primary School. It is great to see the Tree of Excellence filling up and the 100 Club of students who’ve been reading regularly is also growing. The return to face to face teaching for all students has been a smooth process. We are incredibly proud of how our students have transitioned back into school routines.

Continuing our Reading Improvement Journey

As we settle back into our new normal it is great to be refocusing on our reading improvement journey. Our school goal of an evidence based, whole school approach to reading and all students learning at high levels continues to be our main focus.

When analysing student growth and achievement we use a three- tier approach to meeting the needs of each student.

Tier 1 – Universal Practice

• all classes use the Reader’s Workshop model
• all teachers receive feedback on their practice to assist them in embedding the Reader’s Workshop
• the 10 Essential Literacy Practices underpin all literacy learning
• discussing students, learning programs and determining goals for all students are the core work of our teaching teams

Tier 2 – Team Response and Responding To Need (RTN)

• teachers discuss additional strategies to boost student growth
• differentiated instruction within the Reader’s Workshop
• targeted instruction by reading specialist teachers

Tier 3 –Intensive Supports

• Referral to student engagement team to determine an individualised plan to ensure continued learning growth

Remembering Eryka

Our students did a beautiful job of remembering Eryka on Friday. We are proud of the respectful and thoughtful way our students welcomed members of Eryka's family and reflected on their memories. The family will be making a video link for Eryka's funeral on Friday 12 June at 11 am available to close friends. Please email me at rebecca.turner@ed.act.edu.au if you would like to receive this link. The school will be represented by two staff members at the funeral in Nowra.

Rebecca Turner

Principal

Congratulations to the following students recieving bronze and silver awards this week. 

Respectful

Responsible Learner

Responsible Learner

Do you have any devices or chargers at home?

We have a small number of people across the school continuing to work remotely. If your child/ren have returned to school can you please send in all borrowed ipads, chromebooks and chargers. Our students are keen to be able to continue to use technology to support their learning.

Whilst the children were away from preschool doing online learning, eager teachers, educators and exec staff were busy painting and brightening up the outdoor play spaces ready to brighten the children’s return to preschool. During this time, the preschool playground was also being transformed with new learning spaces added. The preschool children and their families have positively welcomed the new additions to the outdoor learning spaces. The children now have a boat, 2 platforms, gardens and new nature paths to explore and expand their imagination through play.  We are fortunate to also have a new garden that has just been completed at the entrance from the preschool carpark. As winter approached, the preschool vegetable patch was also attended to with helpful gardeners ready to prepare the soil and plant new seedlings.

Preschool have spent the last few weeks focusing our learning around ‘Reconciliation Week’ and transitioning back into the classroom. Reconciliation week is from the 27^th May through to 3^rd June and in preschool we acknowledged this week by learning about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples, their cultures and shared history. We did this by reading various books about ‘Sorry Day’, ‘Respect’ and other Indigenous stories and creating artworks to represent our understanding of reconciliation.

At its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

“… A reconciled Australia is one where our rights as First Australians are not just respected but championed in all the places that matter …”

Kirstie Parker – Board Member, Reconciliation Australia

The Ngunnawal school community acknowledged Reconciliation Week between 27 of May and the 3 of June. Students explored the concept of reconciliation through class discussions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, sharing Indigenous stories, creating art works and learning more about Indigenous culture. We will continue this journey across the   school with all classes beginning History units which focus specially on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives from Week 7. We encourage all families to talk to their children about what reconciliation means to them.

During our time spent online learning from home, each year group was asked to join into a wellbeing class. These classes were established to help the students during this time where we needed to learn from home. 

Each week, lessons would focus on a core value. A core value is a way in which you believe that you should behave. The lessons were designed so that students could think about the way that they behave not only around other people, but also when they are by themselves. 

These core values include: 

• Being Honest
• Being Fair
• Being Responsible 
• It's OK to be different

Each lesson would talk about these topics and students were given links to books that they could read or listen to that had a connection to the core value that was being explored that week. In the slides that were presented to the students, there would also be a range of questions that we would discuss in our google meets. Students would then be asked to complete an activity that looked at the core value being explored. 

During the week, students were given a wide variety of activities that would help with their wellbeing. Activities included mindfulness, a physical activity that got the students moving, as well as some general interest activities. 

It was great to see the students engaging with the work during our time learning from home.

Due to COVID-19 Holiday Happenings will not be printing a booklet for parents, here is a link to the digital booklet:

https://www.holidayhappenings.com.au/online-booklet