Dear Ngunnawal families,

This week we welcome Nadean Mamic to our School Board. We thank all of our Board members for their committment to ensuring our school decision making and operations are at the highest level.

As of today, we will be blocking the grass area near preschool that is occasionally used for extra parking. We understand the car park is tight at peak times, however, it is crucial that we only park in designated parking areas to ensure the safety of our children. We thank everyone for supporting us to keep our students safe.

In week 4 you will see some new faces in the fornt office.  We welcome Anthea and Lauren to our team. A big thank you to Kellie and Michelle for supporting our administration team over the past three weeks. 

Photo of the week

It was great to see our kindergarten students making use of the new whiteboard tables in their classrooms. What a lot of fun!

Have your say in our school's improvement journey

The strategic plan is a long term plan that guides our improvement agenda. Over the next few weeks the leadership team will be reviewing our strategic plan to ensure our goals and targets align with the school we want to be in the next 2-3 years. I would love your input into what you think are our next most important steps. These plans belong to our whole school community and we want to ensure everyone has a chance to contribute. Please use the link below to provide your feedback.

https://forms.gle/8orf1w5sEbFUaEvj7

Next steps in our whole school approach to improving reading

This term, teachers have been busy investigating different approaches to teaching reading. To ensure every child experiences quality reading instruction regardless of the class they are in, and to ensure the journey of the learner through our school is consistent and sequential, we have decided on reader's workshop as our whole school approach. Below is a snapshot of what reader's workshop is about: 

Third Party Permissions for 2020

All families received a note for third party permissions in week 1. This form is necessary to submit your child's details to create logins for reading eggs and other assessment tools. The note also includes Seesaw. Seesaw is an online portfolio platform and communication tool. It allows teachers to share real time snapshots of learning with families. Seesaw will replace paper based portfolios for 2020. One of the many benefits includes receiving frequent snapshots of learning to initiate conversations about learning with your child in an easy to access format. We will be sharing more information about this in the coming weeks. Check out the link below for more information. A copy of this note is available at the bottom of the newsletter.

https://web.seesaw.me/

Class Placements for 2020

Every year, Ngunnawal School staff work hard to create classes for the following year. We encourage students to select friends they learn well with, allow parents the opportunity to provide input and work closely with classroom teachers to create cohesive and successful classes.

This year we would like to collate all this information through one process. This Google Form will allow all families to have the opportunity to share their preferences for 2020.

We encourage you to talk with your child about who they learn best with and who they would like to be in a class with for the following year. We will work to ensure that every child is with at least one of their chosen friends if not more. In addition to this, each child will be in a class with some students from their current class. Our goal is to work with you to get the best outcomes for your child. Please use the link below to submit your preferences by Monday 11 November.

https://forms.gle/SbukQTU5jd5hKM1n8

Story Poles

This week we see one of our long term community projects come to completion. Belinda KB has been working with local artist Budda Connors on the design of our story poles you can now see at the front of the school. Three of the poles reflect our Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) expectations and mascots. The other three welcome visitors to our school in Nguunawal language "Yumalundi". We also selected "Yunggi Bengal" which means to give back and reflects our school SHARE values and PBL token system. At the top of these three poles you will notice muliyan (Ngunnawal word for eagle). Muliyan is Ngunnawal Country’s totem. It flies high to bring spiritual protection and strength over the students. We thank everyone who contributed to the design process and we hope you enjoy this addition to our school entrance.

                    

Outstanding Staff Members Recognised

Best of luck to our staff members who have been nominated in the 2019 Public Education Awards. To be nominated is a fantastic recognition and they are all winners in our eyes. Our nominees are:

School Assistant of the Year

Riley Albrecht

Kerryn Price

New Educator of the Year

Natalie Ivanoff

Teacher of the Year

Sarah Murcutt

School Leader of the Year

William Powell

Lastly, I want to reach out and let you know that my door is always open if you have any concerns or comments about things happening in our school or school community. We are a strong community and I want to ensure that you all feel you can contact me at any time if you have concerns.  You can make a time to talk with me by ringing the front office on 61421500 or you can email me directly at rebecca.turner@ed.act.edu.au.

Rebecca

Last week Ngunnawal Primary School held it's very first Bush Preschool Program. Congratulations to Nina and the team for their exceptional organisation. We marched to the grasslands on the outskirts of Ngunnawal and walked up to the top of the hill. On the way we saw kangaroos and rabbits. On Monday, David led the preschoolers to acknowledge country before we explored, dug, built and played in our local environment. 

Maths

This term in Year 3 maths groups, students have been learning about multiplication and division as inverse operations and the students have used arrays to work out the four associated calculations. In class, we have been learning about probability, as the chance of an event occurring.

Science

In Science we have learning about “Living and Non-Living things”. Students are learning how scientists classify different plants and animals. Students are using this knowledge to create a pop-up booklet which shows the weird and wonderful world of living things.

On Monday 16^th September, Year 3 went on an excursion to Tidbinbilla as part of our inquiry and science units. The children were able to see koalas, red belly black snakes and platypus, which allowed them to put their classification skills to the test. The rangers showed the students some artefacts used by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for tools, trade and hunting.

Writing

During English, students have learnt about the features of information texts and are using their knowledge to research and write their own information texts. Students have participated in activities to help build their understanding of fact and opinion, using sub titles to structure writing into paragraphs.

Technology

In Technology, students have been learning how to use algorithms, events and blocks to code. James from www.xero.org has been working with classes to develop a treasure hunt game using code.

What’s happening?

By the end of 2019 all ACT K-10 students will be reported against achievement standards, using a common reporting platform (Sentral). All families will receive an emailed copy of your child’s report on Friday 13^th December 2019.

Why?

To support a consistent approach to assessment across the A.C.T.

A nationally recognised set of standards provides a common, system wide reference point against which schools, parents, and teachers can assess student learning. The standards have been broken down into reportable statements to support teachers and parents to see what skills, knowledge and understandings a student has reached in their learning journey.

To ensure a consistent approach to reporting across the A.C.T.

This supports families and staff who move between our schools to have a common clear and consistent understanding of how a young person is achieving regardless of their setting.

What does it look like?

Below is an example of what you will see on your child's report. There will be written comments for English, mathematics and a general comment covering all other learning areas and learner behaviours.

During writing this term year 1 have been exploring the parts of a narrative. We have focused on the characters, setting and complication in a story. Students have also been learning about the parts of a sentence and bumping up their writing to include more detail.

Brumbies

Last term at the Brumbies Clinic we played tail tag and Brumby Jack Come back. We also played ‘superman Pass’ and we learnt to catch with a ‘W’ sign.

“My favourite game was bulldozers and builders where the builders had to flip the cones up the right way and the bulldozers had to flip them the wrong way.“

Kaycee and Charlotte

Science

During term 3, Year 1 were learning about living things and their habitats. The students discovered the elements of what an animal needs in order to survive. The year 1 students also planted seeds and observed how the seedling grew into a plant over the course of a few weeks. The students were excited to see the seedling change into a plant and how important it is for a plant to have soil, sunlight and water.

Length

We have continued our measurement unit this term. Students have been exploring how to use informal measurement and estimation to deepen their understanding of length and capacity. We used different sized containers and water to explore language such as ‘more’ and ‘less’ when comparing empty, nearly empty, half full, nearly full and full containers.

A Preschool for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from 3 – 5 years

At Koori Pre children enjoy participating in a wide range of activities like craft, stories, play and we love learning about our Indigenous past, present and future. Excursions are also organised to places of interest in our local area.

What is different for 2020?

• The program hours will increase from 9 hours to 15 hours
• Students will wear the same uniform as the rest of Ngunnawal Primary School making it easier for our families with 4 year olds also in mainstream preschool
• 4 year olds may also attend mainstream preschool with the hope that they access a full week of preschool dependent on the structure of the mainstream preschool they attend
• At Ngunnawal Primary School, we can guarantee 5 days of preschool for those students who are 4 years old and meet criteria to enrol in both preschool programs.

Program Timetable for 2020

Odd Weeks

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9:00am – 3:00pm

Even Weeks

Mondays and Tuesdays 9:00am – 3:00pm

Want to know more?

Enquiries can be made in person at Ngunnawal Primary School Office or by phoning 6142 1500. Alternatively, families are most welcome to contact the principal, Rebecca Turner at rebecca.turner@ed.act.edu.au for further information on how to engage with the program.

Enrolment Procedures

Children seeking to enter school at the preschool entry point should be four years of age on or before April 30 in that year.

For our three year olds, you can complete an online enrolment on the day they turn three. Families are most welcome to contact the school prior to this for assistance with the process. 

http://www.det.act.gov.au/school_education/enrolling_in_an_act_public_school

To be eligible to enrol, you will need to provide your child's birth certificate, immunisation details and proof of residence, i.e. utilities bill, mortgage document, lease or tenancy agreement.

Early Entry to Preschool for children turning 4 after April

If you child is turning 4 after April 30, you can apply for early entry to Preschool if your child meets any of the criteria below. Please contact the school and we are more than happy to assist with this process.

1. Early Entry for Identified Groups (English as an Additional Language or Dialect, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and Vision or Hearing Impaired requiring early intervention).
2. Early Entry for Mobility.
3. Accelerated Entry – Gifted and Talented.

What a great afternoon of fun was had by all! Thank you to all of our friends who visited NPS last Monday.

On Tuesday 5^th November, Community Coordinator Yvonne McLauchlan and School Psychologist Karen Oakley will run a 2 hour parent workshop on understanding and responding to your child’s big emotions. Topics will include understanding the impact the brain has on our emotions; recognising low level emotions before they become unmanageable; and strategies to help you and your child regulate emotion.

The workshop will be held in the school library from 5pm – 7pm. Please RSVP expressing interest to Yvonne.mclauchlan@ed.act.edu.au

Ngunnawal students have been working hard to move up the levels on our Ninja Bump it up wall. We all enjoyed talking about Tanabata (The Star Festival) and writing たんざくtanzaku (paper strips with wishes) to hang from our tree. In Japan club on Thursday at recess students have enjoyed looking at the Awa Odori festival and having a turn of the dance and some festival games. Japan club also love to do origami!

Kindergarten: It has been great to get to know KNI and KKM. They are becoming experts on greetings and  colours and numbers 1-10 in Japanese and are now working word to talk about their favourite fruit.

Year 1 and Year 2: Year 1 and ２have become experts on greetings, colours and numbers to help them read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in Japanese. They are currently creating their own versions of the story where they choose what the Caterpillar eats. 1NE, 1MO and 2MA have done a great job learning about 大きいかぶ ookii kabu (The enormous Turnip), drawing their own comic versions and reading and presenting the story independently.

Year 3 and Year 4: Year 3 and Year 4 are becoming experts in talking about their family and pets through playing lots of games. Our favourite is called “hachipachi”. Over the next few weeks they are writing and presenting their self introductions.

Year 5 and Year 6: Year 5 and Year 6 students have been using look-cover-write-check to help them remember hiragana and write it with the correct stroke order. They have added to their self-introductions and talked about their pets. Now to line up with market day coming up they are working on mini skits involving shopping in Japan.

がんばってください ganbatte kudasai (Do your best)

フィオナ 先生 (Fiona Sensei)