Dear Parents and Caregivers,

School Photos

School photos will be on Friday 12th May (week 4) for all classes. Please ensure Prep - year 10 students are in formal uniform. Kindy students do not wear a uniform. If you would like your child to have an individual photo, please message/email Mrs Romaso-Daimol or come into the office - Lorna.Romaso@newcrest.com.au.

High School Parent Meeting

Thank you to the high school parents / carers from years 8 and 10 who attended our meeting. It was good to have almost every parent in attendance. If parents would like further information on the topics discussed, please contact your child's teacher.

Parents / carers are reminded that the morning bell goes at 8.10am. All students should be at school ready to start the day by 8.00am. Recently we have had instances of lateness from students residing in both Townsite and outside. Lateness disrupts learning and should only occur in exceptional circumstances.

Screen Time

Many parents are concerned about the amount of screen time their children have on various devices. Recent studies have outlined several detrimental effects that too much screen time can have on children and adolescents. The Australian Institute for Family Studies screen time guidelines recommend:

• no screen time for children younger than two years
• no more than one hour per day for children aged 2–5 years
• no more than two hours of sedentary recreational screen time per day for children and young people aged 5–17 years (not including schoolwork).

The links below in the Toksave have more information on the guidelines and the effects of too much screen time.

LIS PNG Independence Celebrations 2023

Thanks to those parents who attended the initial meeting last term. The next meeting will be advised by the committee once a date has been confirmed.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville         

Afternoon Sport

Afterschool sport will continue next Monday from 3.10pm - 4.00pm for prep - year 2 Minkey and year 3/4 Netball. Due to the large number of students interested in playing Netball, the year 5/6 class will practise at Thursday lunchtime.

Golf for interested high school students will be on a Thursday afternoon.

Later in the term, there will be some games for both Hockey and Netball and Highschool will have a Golf afternoon at the golf course. 

Swimming

Swimming lessons continue next week.

Beginners - 3.15-3.35pm (Must have a parent/carer in the water)

Intermediate 1 - 3.40-4.05pm (Must have a parent/carer supervisor)

Intermediate 2 - 4.05-4.30pm (Must have a parent/carer supervisor)

Advanced 4.30-5.00pm

Please ensure students are ready 5 minutes before their lesson begins and are sitting down waiting until it is their lesson time. If students are late, they will miss their swimming lesson.

The small pool is closed to all swimmers during lesson times.

Band

Band practice continues on Monday afternoons, 3.00-4.00pm with Mr Sarufa.

This year, at the end of term 2, LIS will be staging a whole school dance and drama musical production titled – ‘Travel into Space on Apollo23’. This production will involve all classes, Prep to Year 10, as well as the LIS/STM staff. It is a musical drama about the Solar System that not only involves dance and drama but planning and preparation as well.  Apart from it being fun and entertaining, being part of a production is an activity that boosts students’ confidence. This will be a great experience for our LIS students.

Thanks to Ms Patricia Yip for being our production director.

Term 1 Monday 30 January to Thursday 30 March

Term 2 Monday 17 April to Thursday 22 June

Term 3 Monday 17 July to Thursday 14 September

Term 4 Monday 2 October to Thursday 7 December 

Key dates:

School Photos: Friday 12th May

Kindy Mother's Day Morning: 12th May

Mother's Day: Sunday, 14th May

Student-led Conferences (Primary); Wednesday, 24th May (Week 6)

LIS Production: Friday, 9th June (Week 8)

Afternoon activities:

Band practice: Monday afternoon: 3.00-4.00 

Swimming: Wednesday afternoon (times as per schedule)

Afternoon Sport: Monday afternoon: 3.10-4.00pm (Minkey and 3/4 Netball); High school Golf Thursday afternoon 3.10-4.00pm

Netball: Saturday morning for years 5-9 girls: 8.00-9.30am with Ms Langusch and Ms Dovaston (Will commence Saturday 13th May)

STEM Club: Thursday afternoon Yr 5/6: 3.10-4.00pm

Homework Club: Wednesday afternoon for year 5/6 and high school; Thursday afternoon for year 4; 3.10-4.00pm 

Student attendance - every day counts!

Although we don’t want children to attend school if unwell, we want to remind parents of the importance of students attending school. Every day does count in regard to your child’s learning! If your child is away, please contact your child’s teacher by email/note or phone/text Mrs Romaso-Daimol in the office to explain why they are away. Similarly, a lot of students are late to school. The school day starts at 8.10am and students should be at school around 8.00am to get organised to start their day. When students are late to school, they miss the start of the day instructions and overview of the day.

Friday assemblies

A reminder to parents (especially our new parents) that you are very welcome to attend our school assembly each Friday morning, commencing at 8.10am at the basketball court. Each Friday there is a short class presentation. This week it was the Prep assembly and next week will be the year 1/2 class.

Updated Australian Curriculum

Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum has now been released with a new website - https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ . Although this site is primarily for teachers, parents are welcome to view the curriculum. Additionally, there is a parent section - https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/parent-information/. In the primary school, implementation of the new curriculum will be staggered over three years, with English and Maths being implemented in 2024. During 2023, staff will engage in professional development activities to audit current planning documents and make adjustments where needed. Much of the curriculum is the same, with some refinement and clarity of language plus removal of some content to ‘declutter’ the curriculum.

Please see a link below to a parent information sheet giving more information about Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum.

PNG Standards Based Curriculum

PNG have also updated their curriculum, moving from Outcomes Based to Standards Based Curriculum. This new curriculum, along with the Australian Curriculum, will underpin teaching and learning programs in the high school (years 7 – 10). High school staff will also engage in professional development activities to audit our high school planning documents for alignment with the new standards. Further information about Standards Based Curriculum can be found at https://edu.pngfacts.com/curriculum.html.

Kind regards,

Ms Cathy Langusch             

The staff at STMC are continuing to support our BEd teachers to compete all of the required assessment in our STMC Computer Lab over weekends and after school. They are also assisting Work Ready Program trainees to apply for a range of positions both with Newcrest and other stakeholders.

Our FODE students are continuing their studies and making good progress.    

We have begun working with Callan Services to confirm our Certificate Delivery for teachers across Lihir and look forward to presenting these details with the Local Education Office in the near future.

We are also finalising details with IT staff in Australia to get our School to Mine Student Database up and running.  

Regards, 

Mr Kevin Collins