Narrabri West Public School

It is Week 3 already in a term which is always exciting and busy. It’s also the term when before you know it you realise you are coming into December. It is also the last term for our Year Six students who are naturally excited and a little anxious about moving to the next phase of their lives.

Our teachers have commenced preparing Semester 2 reports and are working hard to provide you with an authentic snapshot of your child’s learning. These reports are the culmination of class work and assessment tasks from Term 3 and Term 4. As you can imagine, it is a process which requires thorough knowledge of student strengths, areas for improvement and also of their interests.

It is hard to believe how fast the year has gone. It feels like such a short time ago that we were welcoming Kindergarten to their first day of school. They have launched into their learning and are well on their way to being independent readers. Now they are in their final term getting ready for Year 1. Our Preschoolers are also preparing themselves for their exciting step into Kindergarten, whilst Year 6 is transitioning into Year 7. These are important times in all of their lives.

This term will be just as busy as our previous three terms at Narrabri West. Term 4 is a very important time for our students as it is a term in which they will consolidate much of the learning which has occurred in the year so far. It is a term where they will really need to be focused on completing the year to their full potential. Achievements across all aspects of school life. Innovation, excellence and success are very much embedded into each and every one of our classrooms and we work hard to ensure that this is a continuing and evolving process

For our teachers it will be the term they will be endevouring to ensure that the full curriculum has been delivered to their classes and that areas which require further strengthening are given the priority and the time they require. With the time ticking away until the end of year reports, it is vital that we maintain our focus on learning.

Term 4 is also the time for planning for the new school year, to ensure that everything is in place for a successful start. So it’s busy times with budgets, staffing and all those tasks that keep Narrabri West such an interesting place to be.

2024 is not that far way in terms of weeks at school, so already we are working on planning and organisation for next year. One of the things we need to know is the number of students we can expect to have returning to our school next year.

Parents are asked to help in a number of ways. Firstly, if you know that you will be moving or enrolling in another school next year, it would assist us if you could advise the school as soon as possible.

Similarly, if you plan to have an extended holiday and will be returning to school later than 8th February, it is very important for you to write advising of your return date, as we are not allowed to include students in our numbers for 2024 unless we have written notification from parents indicating that they will be returning and when this will be.

A note will be sent home soon that can be used to provide this information to us.

• 2 Staff Development Days at the beginning of Term 1
• 1 Staff Development Day at the beginning of Terms 2 and 3
• 1 Staff  Development Day at the end of Term 4

PLEASE NOTE: School starting dates for 2024 are as follows.

Tuesday 6th February: School Development Day (no students)

Wednesday 7th February: School Development Day (no students)

Thursday 8th February : Years K-6 return

Monday 12th February: Pre School Red Group start 

Wednesday 14th February: Pre School Blue Group start 

We look forward to your cooperation and assistance in our continued efforts in Term 4 to ensure that Narrabri West provides the highest possible quality education for all children. We hope to see you at all of our many school events this term.

Tell them from me survey

The Partners in Learning parent survey.

Our school will be participating in the Partners in Learning parent survey, another part of the Tell Them From Me suite of surveys (student, teacher and parent surveys) on student engagement. The survey asks parents questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.

Running this survey will help our school understand parents’ perspectives on their child’s experience at school. These include: communication between parents and staff, activities and practices at home and parent views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements.

The survey is conducted entirely online and will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be open until Friday 3rd November 2023. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, however, your responses are very much appreciated.

Please click the link below to complete the short survey.

https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/bvcw2

On Wednesday the 11th October we held the first of four full day sessions for children entering Kindergarten next year. A full day at school can make children very tired, although this is true, in past everyone has a great time and enjoys themselves. Attending these days certainly makes starting school next year a smooth transition and will ensure that the children can get straight into the important business of learning as soon as they arrive in 2024.

Our teachers are always impressed with student attitude, skills and behaviour and there is no doubt that they will preparing well for Kindergarten. The skills being developed in these sessions will allow them to settle quickly into school and ensure that their introduction to school life is an easy and happy one (for parents too!).

Week 4, November 1 will see the conclusion of the program. We still have plenty of room at Narrabri West! What a great start these new ‘Westies’ will have to their school life!

We encourage all of our parents with friends who have children entering Kindergarten in 2024 and who are as yet undecided about their choice of school, to tell them about the wonderful learning opportunities available at Narrabri West. Encourage them to visit and have a look and talk to staff members. We have unsurpassed facilities, resources, educational programs and by far the best school spirit that you could wish for.

Enrolments for 2024 are progressing very well and thank you to all those people who have already indicated their children will be attending Narrabri West next year.

Please encourage anyone you know who has children commencing school in 2024 to advise the school so that we can accurately commence planning. Students attending local preschools should have received packages promoting our school, highlighting our achievements and inviting them to consider Narrabri West. If your child attends another preschool and you have not received an information pack, please ask them for it, as we have supplied these to all preschools in Narrabri for distribution.

Wow, hasn’t this year flown by!

Red Group children have been busy learning about the human body and our skeletons. We worked together as a group to create and build our own skeleton using cut out bones we have in our bodies. Children have also been learning about volcanos and used creative arts materials to create their own paper plate volcano. Red Group are looking forward to learning more about volcanoes and working as a team to create a paper mache volcano.   

Blue Group have been expressing their ideas through creative arts. They have also been learning about different zoo animals. We have been creating different animals using creative arts and craft materials. Children have also enjoyed creating ‘homes’ for the zoo animals using blocks and duplo.

Preschool children are enjoying participating in Ready Set Kinder every Wednesday in the Kindergarten rooms. The children are becoming very excited for big school!

We are excited to have Miss Jade with us for four week while she completes her University Placement. The children are enjoying learning and playing with Jade through learning experiences and group times.

 😊

Miss Abbey O’Brien & Mrs Linda Watson  

As we enter the last term of Kindergarten and look back on where the children started, it is very rewarding to observe their learning. Congratulations to all children for their effort and attitude!

Like every term, Term 4 is going to be busy, with lots of learning and also fun activities and celebrations for a successful year.

During English lessons, the children will be reading and studying the features of informative texts. This will lead them to write and publish an information report of their own...…..keep posted for these publications!!

Maths lessons continue to be very hands on and enable the children to challenge themselves to achieve their individual goals.

We are all unique and the children are learning about their similarities and differences and what makes them unique and special during PD/Health lessons.

Mr Bailey will be joining KG and KW on Friday mornings for a very practical and fun music lesson. The children are already counting down to his next visit. They will also be discovering ways of expressing themselves during Drama.

The weather will be our focus in science, mapping in Geography and coding during technology lesson. PE/Sport lessons will be developing fundamental movement skills and applying these and teamwork skills to play different games.

Please continue to encourage your child to read every day.

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who have been coming in to assist with reading groups, your help is greatly appreciated.

We are looking forward to sharing this final term with the children and working with them to achieve their learning goals.

Rebecca Wade and Angela Gett

At the end of Term 3, we enjoyed a family picnic. The students got to share some of the quality work they have been doing in the classroom.

Congratulations to everyone who received an award at our Award Assembly.

Students were excited to once again participate in footy colours day. We supported this worthy cause by coming to school dressed in our favourite footy team’s colours. All proceeds went towards the Bone Marrow Donor Institute's efforts in fighting cancer and saving lives, raising $220.00

Each year in Term 4 the students elect their school leaders for the following year. We elect two captains and up to six prefects. Our student leader elections this year will be held on Thursday 30th November and the elected student’s badges will be presented at our Presentation Night.

Our 2023 Presentation Night will be held on Thursday 7th December. We look forward to celebrating the achievements and successes of the Narrabri West students in 2023. 

What a fantastic adventure it was for our Year 2 and 3 students as they embarked on an educational journey to the University of Sydney, Narrabri Campus! Today, our Year 2 and 3 students had a morning filled with exciting experiences, learning all about the crops grown at the research facility, native grains and sustainable agriculture.

Our students had the unique opportunity to explore the university's crop fields, where they witnessed firsthand the variety of crops that can be found at the campus and some of the machines used to harvest these crops. It was an enriching experience that opened their eyes to the vital role agriculture plays in our lives.

Next the students headed to the threshing shed, where we enjoyed an informative discussion about native grains. The university experts explained that these grains have been a part of Australia's history for thousands of years. They showed us how the grains can be carefully collected, cleaned and sorted before it can be turned into a special bread.

One of the highlights of the excursion was the hands-on activity of building seed bombs. Under the guidance of university staff, our Year 2 and 3 students got their hands dirty by mixing soil, seeds, and clay to create their very own native grain bomb.

Finally, we enjoyed a sausage sizzle, some more small activities and some games before returning to school.

This excursion was not just about learning facts, it was about cultivating a love for nature and instilling a sense of responsibility for our environment. Our students left the University of Sydney with an appreciation for the importance of native grains and sustainable agriculture. They now understand the role they can play in preserving our planet for future generations.

We would like to extend our thanks to the University of Sydney for hosting this incredible excursion and to the dedicated university staff for guiding our students through this enriching experience. Their hard work was instrumental in making this day a memorable and educational experience for our students.

A great time was had by everyone at our disco at the end of Term 3. There were lots of fancy dance moves on the dance floor as well as some clumsy attempts at ‘Nutbush’ and other well-known favourites. The children however danced brilliantly; it was just the teachers that struggled!

Those families with outstanding school contributions (and compulsory Pre School fees) received an invoice at the start of the term. We hope you take the opportunity to forward this payment to the school as soon as possible.

Our school contributions are only:

·       $30 for the 1st child

·       $25 for the 2nd child; and

·       $20 for every other child in the family.

At Narrabri West we use these contributions solely for the purpose of purchasing items that will directly benefit your children. This year ALL school fees are being used to purchase laptop computers. Please assist your child’s education by forwarding payment as soon as possible. 

Entry to Year 7 in 2025. 

Key dates

Application website opens 9 October 2023

Application website closes 20 November 2023

Test centre and test authority advice released 25 April 2024

Selective High School Placement Test 9 May 2024

Illness/misadventure requests submitted 16 May 2024

Placement outcome expected to be released Late-August 2024

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes

Thank you to everyone who sends in Audiri notifications or emails informing us of your child/ren’s absences as they occur. 

If your child is sick for 3 consecutive days, you are required to provide the school with a medical certificate. 

Parents/carers are required by law to provide an explanation to the school to say why their child was absent from school. A note of explanation should contain:

1.     Date that the note was written

2.     Child’s name

3.     Days/dates the child was absent from school

4.     The reason the child was absent

5.     The signature of the child’s parent/carer

Or complete the online absence note on our Audiri app.

If you notify the school of an absence on one day, we cannot assume the same reason for being absent on consecutive days.

If more than one child from the same family has been absent, a separate note for each child should be written.

A note should be brought to school or a Audiri notification update, on the first day the student returns to school after an absence. If not, we are required to investigate all unexplained absences (where a child has been absent and no explanation has been received) within two days.

Notifying the school of absences through the Audiri app, by phone, email or note are all acceptable and appreciate.