Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 2 for this year.

I trust that everyone enjoyed the break away from the regular routine of school.

It has been interesting hearing about just some of the adventures that were had during the holiday period. As ever, it is terrific to see that everyone has returned safely to school.

This is an exciting time as, we have a wide variety of different events happening this term, with the athletics, cross country, national reading time and the Henry Lawson festival in addition to our usual units of learning for this term.

Festival of Small Halls – congratulations to our hard working P & F, the event held at the end of last term, it was a terrific night for our Grenfell community.

Thank you to everyone who worked behind the scenes to ensure a successful night.

ANZAC Day – thank you to everyone who came along to the ANZAC commemorations during the holidays. This was a terrific effort given that the day fell during the school holidays.

Special congratulations to Skye and Sebastian who represented us at both the 5:30am service and at the 11am event – this was a terrific effort - thank you.

WR Cross country carnival – please be aware that due to the expected cold/wet weather over the next few days, the decision has been made to postpone the Western Region cross country, the event will be held in Murrumburrah as previously planned.

The new date for the carnival is Friday May 17.

School Athletics Carnival - our Athletics Carnival is set down for Thursday May 10 weather permitting. The day will be held at the Henry Lawson High School. If you are available to help on the day, please let Mrs Best know. Please be aware that our children will not be using the High School’s canteen and the children are required to bring a hat, sunscreen, morning tea, lunch and a drink for the day.

A note was sent home earlier this week calling for children to nominate which events they want to participate in at this year’s carnival. This nomination form should be returned to school by Monday May 6.

Registration renewal process - This term staff have also been preparing for our Registration Review Process. This review process takes place every five years and allows us to review processes and procedures to ensure that we are compliant with current regulations and practices. The review team comprising staff from our head office and principals/assistant principals/RECs will be visiting us in May (20-22). We are looking forward to working with the team during their visit.

NAPLAN—all children in Years 3 and 5 will participate in the National Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Program in a few weeks. This year we will be using the online format for this process for all of the assessments except for the Yr. 3 Writing assessment, which will be completed using the traditional format.

Using the online format allows us some extra time to complete “make up” assessment sessions for those who are absent or sick across the course of the assessment period.

Good luck to all year 3 and 5 students! I am sure that you will do a fantastic job!

The dates are listed below:

May 14/15 - Writing

May 14/24 -    Reading Language

Conventions/

Numeracy

The following website contains information that parents may find useful www.nap.edu.au

Nits are a sensitive topic – we understand that the incidence of nits is a sensitive one, however, I encourage all families to monitor and take action as necessary.

Be aware that there have been several cases of nits reported. Please check your children’s heads and take the appropriate actions. Remember that shampoos only work if they are used at the right strength. Good ways to prevent nits include:

• Brush hair thoroughly every day
• Tie back long hair
• Check regularly for lice or eggs (nits) – take action as needed

People often say that regular use of conditioner is a very effective way to remove both eggs and lice.

All families are reminded that children whose hair is shoulder length or longer, should be wearing their hair tied back so as to keep the incidence of nits to a minimum.

Asthma Plans –There are a number of children who are making regular use of blue asthma puffers during the school day. Please be aware that if your child needs to have an asthma puffer at school then you need to provide the school with an up to date asthma plan.

Changes to routine - Thank you to those families who are keeping us informed when children are absent from school, or there are changes to the regular routine. Please be aware that we are required to keep the rolls up to date and that thorough explanations for absences enable us to do so.

Interruptions to the school day – everyone is reminded that during all visits to our school everyone must report to the office when entering the school grounds. Please do not go to your child’s classroom, even during break times. We ask that you observe this practice so as to minimise disruptions to classes during learning times. What may seem like a “quick one minute” thing to you, can actually be the cause of significant disruption to the flow of a lesson, as often there can be several “quick one minute” visits by different people.

I ask for your cooperation, if you have messages for the children, please let us know in the office rather than interrupting classes. We appreciate your understanding – thank you.

Scholastic Book Club – the book club order forms have been distributed.  All purchased now need to be made online using Scholastic’s LOOP ordering system.  Instructions are on the order forms.  If you need assistance setting up an online account, please ask.  Book Club orders need to be completed by Monday, 13 May 2019.

Next week, I will be attending the Term 2 principal’s meeting in Young. I have been asked to take along some examples of what is happening in our classrooms. On top of my list will be the conversation that I had with K/1 in the Library yesterday about the word absurd, which we found in the book Lots more animals should definitely not wear clothing we decided that it would be very absurd if Miss Clancy drove a truck to school…

Sincerely,

REC News

Sacramental News

This year, St Joseph’s Parish will be celebrating the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation. There will be a meeting for the parents of the children who are eligible to receive these sacraments. The date is to be determined but will happen this term.

The children in Years 5 and 6 who have received the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion will be eligible to join the sacrament of Confirmation preparation group.

Year 4 students (or older) are eligible to join the Reconciliation and First Holy Communion preparation group. As I need to order books for this group, could you please call the school and leave the name of your child. The number is 6343 1514.

May the peace of Christ find a special place in your heart during the Easter season.

NUMERACY

Students in all grades have been working hard to complete their Statistics and Probability unit this week.

Kindergarten and year 1 students have been learning how to gather data and have created some great graphs. It is very exciting when they remember some of the mathematical language used. These students are very quick to tell you they are “gathering data”.

Students in year2/3/4 have been brushing up on quick addition facts as well as completing Statistics and Probability work. They have also learned we are able to learn and use mathematics in a variety of subjects such as Science.

Students in 5/6 drawing up a table to organise their data before graphing. We have some time for revision of topics taught this term. We have also explored the use of Excel or Google Sheets as a way of entering data to produce graphs.