Talking with your child about tricky personal subjects.

Perhaps your child has been bullied online, sent or received an intimate image, or come across pornography online. Conversations about experiences like these can be difficult.  

When you talk to your child about personal subjects, you are trying to balance a number of different things: 

• respecting your child’s privacy while still making sure they are safe and happy 
• giving them space to test their own problem-solving skills online but supporting them as they make their own way 
• educating them about people’s different personalities but knowing you can’t make their choices for them 
• establishing boundaries while being understanding and open 

Fact sheet: Sharing harmful or illegal content

Principal's Photo Gallery

Senior Assembly Challenge

At the last senior assembly I challenged the students to find out why our blue storypoles have an eagle at the top. Logan, pictured below at Limelight was the first student who was able to tell me it is Muliyan, Ngunnawal word for eagle. Muliyan is Ngunnawal Country’s totem. It flies high to bring spiritual protection and strength over the students.

Little Gig and Big Gig Tickets

This year, we are using a ticket booking system through our newsletter to manage our audience capacity in the hall. We want everyone to have an enjoyable experience and be able to see their children perform. Below in the newsletter is a very simple ticket booking link. We have set a limit of 2 tickets for the family and friends of each performer at each show. Small children under 5 are able sit on the lap of an adult and do not need a ticket. Please remember there are 2 performance times available for each gig:

Tuesday 10 Dec Little Gig Matinee at 12pm

Tuesday 10 Dec Little Gig Night performance at 5.30pm

Wednesday 11 Dec Big Gig Matinee at 12pm

Wednesday 11 Dec Gig Gig Night Performance 5.30pm

Any unallocated tickets will be made available in week 7 for those families who would like additional seats.

If you are attending a night performance and have school aged children who are not performing, they will be able to sit at the front of the audience.

Go to the event below and follow the link to the simple booking system. You do not need to print tickets, just show your booking on your device as you arrive for the event.

Music in the Courtyard

This week we have started music in the courtyard. It is a great opportunity for our  musicians to share their talents with the rest of our school. Thank you to Oscar and Chloe who were our very first performers.

 

Congratulations to our very first students at Ngunnawal Primary School who have achieved the Bronze Award level for demonstrating Positive Behaviours for Learning. Students can earn a Bronze Award for receiving 20 positive acknowledgements for being:

• Safe
• Respectful
• A responsible learner

Congratulations to the following students:

Bronze Awards for being respectful:

Jonty AR

Bronze Awards for being safe:

Felix S

Riley T

Use the links below to secure your 2 tickets per performer.

On Friday 1^st November we got to attend the Student Congress in Stirling to represent the student’s voice for Ngunnawal Primary.  Primary, High School and College students meet in the main hall for an introduction. We were introduced to this year’s topic which was ‘The Environment’. A visiting scientist Dr Sophie Lewis (Scientist of the Year 2019) spoke about what we can do to help the environment. Dr Lewis discussed her journey into the area of Science and went into detail about her passion of sustainability.

We broke up into small groups and completed 5 different activities. These activities included;

• Using sticky notes to define sustainability and what it looks like.
• A discussion around what schools can do to save the trees.
• Using a map, we plotted areas where bad things have happened to the environment.
• We had a template of a tree and questions we needed to answer. We wrote in the branches of the trees. The questions looked at what we are doing at school to help the environment.
• We looked at a big question ‘What could schools do that helps the environment now and, in the future,’ we wrote our responses in speech bubbles.

Morning tea and lunch was provided it was delicious, during this time we spoke with other students from different schools.

After lunch students nominated to be part of the student congress. These students gave a speech as to why they would be good for the role. We voted and 15-20 students were elected to be in the student congress.

At the end of the day we watched a funny environmental video and listened to an inspiring speech about what we can do within our school and as a community to assist our environment so it can be enjoyed by generations to come.

We had a really great day and meet a lot of other children from different schools, we discussed what they are currently doing within their school for the environment and what things they would like to see implemented or changed.

We now have lots of exciting new things we would like to discuss and strategies to implement within the school.

Your Year 6 representatives,

Tyler and Dalila 

Thank you to everyone who supported Loud Shirt Day. A significant amount of work from Lyndal and her fantastic team of students went into two videos to help build our understanding of hearing loss and to educate us about AUSLAN. We hope you have some time to enjoy the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? with your family. The video includes some of our very clever students using AUSLAN to tell the story. 

Preschool Spotlight on Learning

We are excited to have started Bush Preschool this term. You may have seen all the preschool groups in their high viz vests walking over to Moncrief open urban space for this experience.

We are proud of all the children for the learning that they have undertaken leading up to bush preschool. For their positive attitudes whilst walking 900m (each way) to bush preschool base camp and back, carrying their bags and for their enthusiastic participation at bush preschool.

 

Prior to attending bush preschool, we engaged in safety briefings about playing in our new space. This learning included walking safely to bush preschool, snake safety, stick safety, respecting Ngunnawal land, understanding that you can’t put your fingers in holes as there may dangerous creatures living in them and returning to base camp when the drum is banged.

Some of the popular activities at bush preschool have included climbing trees, digging in the large pit, using sticks to make campfires and other structures, caring for Ngunnawal land by using tongs to collect rubbish, creating artworks with rocks, finding and observing wildlife, rock stacking and making paint from different coloured rocks. We have shared our bush preschool learning space with kangaroos, a bearded dragon lizard and several insects and creepy crawlies.  

Sustainability

This term we are learning about sustainable practices. We have been focusing on looking at the amount of rubbish we produce at preschool, ways to minimise this and ensuring that we are putting rubbish in the right bins. We now have compost bins and a worm farm that we are looking after. We are also encouraging children to minimise the amount of rubbish that they bring to preschool, so we encourage families to think about and discuss what is packed in lunch boxes.

Writing- Recounts

This term our writing focus is recounts. We have explored all the different types of a recount, the structure and language features. We are now selecting our favourite fairy tale to write up as a news paper article, but we will be telling the real story! Here are some of our headings:

Civics and Citizenship

This term we are investigating different aspects of what we can do to be actives citizenships. Year 5 students are exploring ways people can connect with others, and people with shared beliefs can work together to a achieve a civic goal. We have been having fun debating topics and writing letters. Year 6 students are investigating the different rights and responsibilities we have as Australian citizens.  There have been insightful discussions occurring as we explore this topic.

Dance

In Dance, we have been focusing on various combinations of the fundamental movement skills and technical skills. Students are developing their competence, body, control and accuracy when exploring various moves. The songs we are dancing to include: Nut Bush, Macarena, YMCA and the Grapevine.

How you can nurture your child’s participation in sport and physical activity at home?

Ngunnawal Primary School recently secured funding from Sport Australia to run a variety of Sporting Schools programs including Tennis for our Kindergarten classes, Rugby Union for our Year 1 and 2 classes and Golf for our Year 3 classes.

Students were engaged and enjoyed participating in these programs. It was a great way for them to be active and find their 30 minutes of physical activity at school, however, while adults need 30 minutes of physical activity a day, children need 60. So, as well as finding 30 minutes at school, they need to be finding 30 at home.

Sport Australia has provided us with some useful information on how parents and carers can continue to nurture a child’s participation in sport and physical activity and find their 30 minutes at home.

Physical literacy provides the foundation for a lifelong connection to sport and physical activity. It is about developing the skills, knowledge and behaviours that give us the confidence and motivation to move more and lead an active, healthy life. You can help develop your child’s physical literacy by creating good habits with daily physical activity by increasing the opportunities for play-based activities at home. Entice your child/ren away from screen-time and teach them how to climb a tree, fly a kite, kick a footy or go for a bush walk together as a family. Encourage your child/ren to, help choose and plan the activities; set goals; and talk about how they feel while engaging in the activities. As a bonus, research has shown that children who are physically active achieve greater academic success and maintain higher attention levels during class at school.

See more examples of how you can support your child to develop their physical literacy and some activities you can do together as a family visit the website below.

https://www.sportaus.gov.au/findyour30/challenge

We can all develop our physical literacy at any stage of life, so why not do it together! Find a new sport or physical activity you can try with your family this term.

As a school community we also encourage active transport to school so walking or riding to and from school are some other great ways your children can be active and as a bonus you’ll be finding your 30 minutes and getting some physical activity too.

Sean Gourlay – Physical Education Teacher

Ngunnawal Primary School is pleased to partner with Playgroups ACT to offer a playgroup for families in the area with children aged 4 and under. Playgroup is a great way for children to play with other children and for parents to meet and connect with other parents and carers. The playgroup will run on Fridays during term time from 9-10.30am in the Koori Preschool building. We ask that you bring your child in comfortable clothes, with a nut and egg free snack. For more information please contact Community Coordinator Yvonne McLauchlan on 6142 1500 or email yvonne.mclauchlan@ed.act.edu.au

Students in Kindergarten to Year 5 Classes

Now is the time we begin our initial planning for the 2020 school year.  If you have a child in Kindergarten to Year 5 who WILL NOT BE ATTENDING Ngunnawal Primary School in 2020, could you please email your child’s name, class and where they will be attending in 2020 to info@ngunnawalps.act.edu.au as soon as possible.