Dear Families,

Jamberoo Public School – Attendance Summary for Term 3, 2025

We are happy to share the results of our attendance review for Semester 2, 2025 at Jamberoo Public School.

• The overall attendance rate for the semester was 91.1%, which means most students attended school regularly.
• This attendance rate is above our school target and higher than the average attendance rates across the state and our local network.
• Over half of our students attended school 90% or more of the time, demonstrating strong commitment to learning.
• Attendance started steady in the first two weeks, then increased to about 94% during weeks 3 and 4.
• There was a small dip to around 87% in week 5, due to illness and family travel. 
• Attendance remained high in week 10, showing that students stayed engaged even towards the end of term.
• Importantly, no Year 6 students had attendance below 70%, and no students had attendance below 20%.

We will continue to celebrate good attendance and work closely with families to support regular school attendance because every day counts.

Santa Photos

Santa Photos at the farm are happening this weekend. The P&C is still seeking some parent/family volunteers. Please use the link if you have a few hours to spare to help out. https://forms.gle/LRV5eC1imkfozaBp6

P&C Meeting

Our last P&C meeting for 2025 is on the 4th Dec at Jamberoo Bowling Club. The meeting starts at 7pm. I look forward to seeing you then. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

Student Leadership Positions 2026 

On Thursday and Friday this week, we will hold our voting for all our leadership 2026 positions. This includes: Captain and Vice-Captain speeches, Sport House Captain voting with optional speech, and Technology Team and Library Monitors submit a letter to Mrs Green or myself. Good luck to all our students applying for 2026 leadership roles. 

Combined Protestant and Catholic Scripture

This Thursday all students in religous scripture group will venture next door with teaching staff to the church for their joined end of year scripture lesson. 

Jamberoo Recreation Park

This Wednesday, our Year 6 students will head to Jamberoo Recreation Park to let off some steam and celebrate the end (nearly) of their primary school journey at JPS. It’s a well-earned day of fun to mark this special milestone.

Kind regards,

Katie Louttit

Rel. Principal

Over the past 25 school weeks, 240 students from schools spanning Helensburgh to Kiama have participated in the HPAG Extend classes. These weekly sessions were delivered across host schools throughout the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions, with a shared goal of nurturing curiosity, encouraging discovery and inspiring creativity in High Potential and Academically Gifted students.

We acknowledge the commitment and dedication of Leo and Zahli, who represented Jamberoo Public School in this program.

As the program came to an end, they took part in the end-of-year Curiosity and Creativity Exhibition, a special showcase where students shared highlights of their learning journey.

Families and staff explored a wide range of student exhibits that reflected the imagination, depth of inquiry and enthusiasm evident throughout the program. The displays celebrated students’ ability to think critically, experiment with new ideas and apply their learning in unique and meaningful ways.

Leo and Zahli engaged enthusiastically with ideas that extended well beyond the typical primary curriculum, demonstrating maturity, persistence and a love of learning.

Well done to you both!

Mr Reed

Over the past few weeks, students across the school have been writing, rehearsing and presenting their speeches for the annual Jamberoo Jabber Public Speaking Competition. Public speaking is a powerful life skill, and it was wonderful to see every student step up with confidence, courage and creativity.

This year’s competition featured the highest standard of impromptu speaking we’ve ever seen. Students responded to surprise topics with quick thinking, articulate language, personal connections and strong messages, an impressive achievement for speakers of from as young as Year 1.

Winners were selected through a combined score from both their prepared and impromptu speeches. Congratulations to our 2024 champions:

• Kindergarten: Audrey Stewart
• Year 1: Alexis Knight
• Year 2: Arwen Tonta
• Year 3: Ava Thatcher
• Year 4: Katelyn Neilson
• Year 5: Zahli Binks
• Year 6: Scarlett Newberry

• Year 1 runner-up Wes, highly commended Sid; 
• Year 2 runners-up Olivia and Abby, highly commended London, 
• Year 3 runner-up Hannah, highly commended Sadie; 
• Year 4 runner-up Tyler, highly commended Cate;
• Year 5 runner-up Maeve, highly commended Kiara and Elsie;
•  Year 6 runner-up Samara, highly commended Sienna.

Last Thursday, Lulu, Elijah, Ivy, and Tobias had a fantastic time at the Inclusive School Sport gala day held at Berkeley Sports Stadium. The event gave them a wonderful opportunity to develop and practise a variety of sports skills, including goalball, AFL, soccer, golf, hockey, netball, and boccia.

Throughout the day, each student showed outstanding listening skills, teamwork, perseverance, and a positive attitude towards learning new games. Mrs McGee, Miss Griffiths, and I were very impressed not only by their sporting achievements but also by their enthusiasm and excellent behaviour.

We congratulate all four students for their commitment and effort in embracing every activity with confidence and sportsmanship. Events like these foster inclusion, skill-building, and friendship, and we look forward to more opportunities like this in the future.

Mrs Kunkler

I am incredibly proud of all that Walabi students have achieved in the past two weeks with their Jamberoo Jabber speeches! We started writing these speeches back in Week 1 and most students had written and typed them up into palm cards by the middle of  Week 3. This gave them time to practise their speech and develop confidence and fluency with it.

I challenged students to really practise making eye contact with their audience, and I was super-impressed with their efforts! Last week and this week, Ms Louttit and I had the privilege of listening to the speeches and watching how each student engaged their audience. Ms Louttit adjudicated Year 3s' speeches and I was the adjudicator for Year 4s. Congratulations, all round. As a cohort, students were remarkably consistent at maintaining focus on the given topic in their speech and many of them gave eye contact to their audience. Many students also used voice modulation, gesture and pacing to further keep their audience engaged. I will be encouraging students to bring their speech home and present it to their family, as well. I was, as always, impressed with those who overcame their fears and did something in their speech they hadn't done last year. I'm also very impressed with our newer Walabi students for whom this was quite challenging, as they hadn't had as many experiences in the past with public speaking as students who have been at our school since Kindergarten have. They faced their fears and gave it their best shot! Thank you so much to Ms Louttit for adjudicating the Year 3s' speeches!

Another fabulous event in Walabi was for the Year 4s — we had a special guest speaker, Mr Guy Stearn (Evie's dad) who came in during our geography time to help students better understand recycling and diverting rubbish from landfill in general. Mr Stearn had a special educational message about keeping batteries out of the red bin and out of recycling as well. (They need to go to special recycling points, such as the Minnamurra Recycling Depot, so keep all your batteries together in a container and take them in periodically.) Your child can tell you about how batteries can be dangerous in the rubbish or the recycling because they can catch fire when crushed. Thank you so much, Mr Stearn, for your very interesting and interactive presentation. Year 4 students thoroughly enjoyed it!

 Mrs McCormack

It’s hard to believe we’re already at Week 6 of Term 4! Cooinda 5 have had another eventful fortnight full of learning and memorable moments. From my perspective, some highlights include the wonderful displays of teamwork and growth mindset, as students challenge themselves with extension maths problems and elaborate their ideas in writing. It’s also been a joy to hear the friendly, uplifting conversations and shared laughter that fill our classroom.

If you were to ask the students, though, their favourite moment this week was adopting our class pet—a Huntsman spider affectionately named, Sammy (following a democratic class vote!). A big thank you to Mr Chad for drilling ventilation holes in the jar lid so Sammy could stay comfortable before we release him/her/it back outside. During PE, we took the opportunity to collect some small insects from our veggie garden, creating a “delicious” invertebrate buffet for Sammy, complete with sticks and leaves to help him/her/it feel right at home.

A shout-out to Finn, who has embraced the chance to perform songs on his electric guitar.  We had a really fun rehearsal during lunchtime, which is an exciting and creative addition to our school day. Stay 'tuned' for more info!

In Maths, students have been exploring efficient mental strategies for addition and subtraction, applying them to real-life scenarios involving mass, as well as delving into balancing equations through enrichment tasks. In English, we’ve shifted our focus to poetry for the remainder of the term. Our class project involves publishing selected written works in a folder for other students to enjoy. We’ve also responded to letters from our pen pals at Kiama Public School and will be sending our replies soon — how exciting!

Finally, congratulations to Zahli and Leo for their outstanding contributions to the HPAG Expo at Kiama Public School this week, where they showcased their Spoken Word poems and presentations on Dance and Volcanoes, respectively. Well done!

— Mr Reed

In addition to preparing for next year’s transition, Cooinda 6 have also been busy co-writing a play for Jamberoo’s Christmas Concert. Mrs Behl-Shank’s lively drama lessons over the years have clearly equipped Year 6 with the skills to craft a fun and imaginative performance. Each rehearsal has been filled with laughter, creative planning, and some impressively high-quality acting. Cooinda 6 will continue to practise and polish their play as they look forward to performing at the JPS Christmas Concert in Week 10.

To help keep our library books in great condition, we ask that all students bring a library bag when borrowing books. A bag keeps books dry, clean, and protected, helping them last longer for all our readers to enjoy.

Please check that your child has a library bag each week so they can safely borrow and return books. Thank you for helping us look after our library collection!

Mrs Green

Each year, Elders Real Estate generously sponsors 2 Jamberoo Students to follow their Creative and Performing Arts dreams!

This AMAZING scholarship will pay for the lucky winners to pursue extra classes, training programs, ensembles and workshops that will help springboard them to the next level in their chosen field.

To apply, students are required to submit a short video explaining WHY they want to pursue their chosen program and HOW it will benefit them.

Students must be in years 4, 5 or 6 to apply.

Applications close Friday 13 February 2026.

For more information, please visit:

https://www.jamberoopandc.com.au/capa-scholarship

OR email Sarah at srussoniello@gmail.com

GOOD LUCK!

We can’t wait to see all the AMAZING talent in our fabulous school!

A friendly reminder that our Santa Photos event is just around the corner — one of the most loved days on the school calendar and our biggest fundraiser of the year!

We need some more volunteers, so if you are available, please follow the link to choose your time and provide your details: https://forms.gle/wLxmKn1UamnJ8yFE7

We can’t wait to see everyone at Santa Photos, click here to purchase tickets.

Regards,

Jamberoo Public School P&C

As you know, the Colour Fun Run is happening on 12 December 2025. It's going to be a fantastic afternoon. You won't want to miss out on the fun and end of year celebrations.

Last Friday, all students will be going home with a wrist band. Each wristband will have a unique code. The student with the winning code will win $500.00 worth of prize credits. WOW!

Make sure your child is registered by creating their online profile at funrun.com.au so that they have a chance of winning their target prize. There are so many amazing prizes to win (and the $500.00 worth of prize credits will go a long way!)

Many thanks,

Jamberoo Public School P&C