ZIG ZAG Public School

What a busy and successful few weeks we have had at school! A big thank you to our families for your tremendous support of Education Week. It was wonderful to see so many of you joining us in celebrating learning across our school. Your enthusiasm continued through Book Week, where despite the cold and wet weather, there was an impressive turnout and plenty of books purchased to foster a love of reading at home.

Last week, our Year 3–6 students completed the Check-in Assessment. This assessment provides valuable mid-year information to help teachers identify areas of strength and need, ensuring we can best support every student’s learning progress.

Looking ahead, the Department of Education has shared its Plan for 2026, with a strong focus on explicit teaching, improving attendance, and implementing the HPGE (High Potential and Gifted Education) policy. As a school, we are committed to these priorities and continue to provide meaningful opportunities for all our students. Already this term:

• Our dance group performed their routine at our Education Day.
• Our Spelling Bee champions competed in the regional competition.
• Our Game Changer Challenge team submitted their project proposal.
• Two of our Minecraft groups have been selected to compete in the state challenge.

These achievements reflect the creativity, effort, and resilience of our students, and we are so proud of them.

I have provided a further update on our work with the HPGE policy later in this newsletter.

We have many exciting activities planned for the rest of the term, starting with a safety talk for Electricity week and a Live stream from the Sydney Opera House for Indigenous Literacy Week, culminating our daily focus for Literacy and Numeracy. 

Vicki Gillmore

Principal

This year students in the years shown above will be involved in the mandatory subject Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) . 

Part of our school’s PDHPE program includes mandatory child protection education. Some of the content taught in child protection education deals with sensitive issues. The school will teach this content in an age appropriate way.

For more information about child protection education go to the Child protection and respectful relationships education section on the Department of Education’s PDHPE website. 

The specific content which will be covered in child protection education is as follows:

1/2 - Strength and strategies for safety

3/4 - My Right to be Safe4/5 - My Right to be Safe

5/6 - Power to Protect

🌟 Supporting Every Child to Shine

High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) Policy

At our school, we are committed to helping every child reach their full potential. The Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) Policy guides us in providing opportunities for students who demonstrate high potential in one or more areas.

The policy ensures that schools:

✨ Recognise and nurture high potential in students across intellectual, creative, social-emotional, and physical domains

✨ Provide challenging and engaging learning opportunities

✨ Support equity so that all students, regardless of background, have the chance to excel

• Teachers use differentiated and explicit teaching to extend learning.
• Students are encouraged to set goals and take on challenges.
• We provide opportunities in both the classroom and through extra programs (academic, sporting, leadership, creative and critical thinking).
• High Potential  is communicated to Families in Individual Learning Plans as Student Strengths.
• Families are partners in supporting student growth and success.

When students are challenged and supported, they are more likely to:

💡 Build confidence

💡 Develop a love of learning

💡 Achieve at their personal best

✨ Why Attendance Matters ✨

Every school day counts! Regular attendance helps students stay on track with their learning and connected with their friends. Missing days during the school week can create gaps that are hard to catch up on.

🤒 When children are sick, the best place for them is at home so they can rest, recover and return ready to learn.

Let’s work together to support every child to attend every day they are well. 💙📘

 We would like to say THANK YOU and celebrate our amazing Principal, Mrs Gillmore!

Every day, Mrs Gillmore brings her heart into Zig Zag Public School. She leads with vision, kindness and unwavering dedication – always putting students first and supporting families and staff so our whole community can thrive.

Mrs Gillmore, thank you for the countless ways you make our school a warm and wonderful place to learn and grow – from all the quiet, unseen moments to the big achievements.

Happy Australian Primary Principals Day, Mrs Gillmore – we appreciate you more than words can say!

We had a celebration of learning, connection and community spirit at Zig Zag Public School!

Our students were so proud to share their learning journeys with their special visitors, confidently showcasing the skills and knowledge they’ve been developing. It was also a privilege for our teachers to open their classrooms and share the explicit teaching practices that spark curiosity and help every child thrive.

Thank you families, carers and friends for being our partners in education and for helping us ignite every child’s love of learning.

From spelling to leadership … creative arts to culture … technology to problem solving; students proudly shared how their potential has been ignited through the rich and varied experiences on offer at Zig Zag.

Our talented dance group brought everyone joy with their outstanding performance of ‘Good Time’ – what a moment of pride for them to share their hard work with our entire community.

We ended the day on a sweet note with a very popular Year 6 cake stall – thank you to everyone who supported their fundraising efforts through baking and snapping them up!

Thank you for being part of this vibrant day of connection and celebration.

What a wonderful day of colour, creativity and stories brought to life! Our students (and teachers!) looked fantastic in their costumes — from classic book characters to new favourites, our school was full of imagination.

A huge thank you to our families for the effort and love you put into the costumes — it made the day extra special.

Our students have been busy bringing the magic of stories to life through their Book Week projects.

From colourful artwork and inventive dioramas to thoughtful writing pieces, each creation captures the spirit of adventure this year’s theme celebrates.

Thank you to our wonderful families for supporting students with their projects — your encouragement helped make Book Week extra special.

We are excited to share with you our new Featured Artists Wall, located outside Mrs. Gillmore's office. Every two weeks or so, we select five talented artists who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and imagination.

This initiative celebrates the artistic achievements of our students and encourages a vibrant, inspiring environment within our school community.

We invite you to take a moment to visit the wall when you are next at school and enjoy the wonderful artwork on display.

The wall will also be presented in our newsletter.

It’s a great way to support and acknowledge the creative efforts of our students.

Our infants students were lucky to take part in the Littlescribe Writing Festival.

Author Lesley Gibbes shared tips on how to make stories come alive. Using her ideas, students imagined and described their own scary story settings. It was wonderful to see their creativity shine as they enjoyed writing with a real author!

Such an inspiring day for our young authors in the making!

#LittlescribeFestival #IgnitingYoungWriters #AuthorVisit #PipHarry #AmeliaMellor

Our K/1 students also explored sensory stamping using fruits and vegetables from their seed activities — creating shapes, pictures, and even a little symmetry along the way.

Our 1/2 students became nature detectives today — for Science Week!

They were searching for nature’s visual patterns. Exploring the fascinating designs found on animals and plants — and discovered how these patterns help them grow or keep them safe.

After collecting leaves to study their patterns, students painted butterflies to showcase symmetrical designs.

After learning about Fibonacci's number sequence, we investigated how patterns are everywhere in nature. We took a close look at the patterns in some flowers.

Have you ever seen the centre of a chrysanthemum with a magnifying glass? It's beautiful!

Year 5/6 were lucky enough to have Mr Lewis and Mr Kulinga from LHS, visit during Science week.

Our students learnt about how animal adaptations influence animal and plant survival. We got to look at different types of plants under the stereoscope and investigated lots of creepy crawlies.

We also investigated what camouflage is and did an experiment to show the importance of camouflage for the survival of plants and animals.

Our Puffing Billies arrived for their second week with more smiles, more fun and a special visit to our beautiful library!

Our Puffing Billies had a tasty treat , visiting the canteen and becoming little chefs for the morning!

Wearing aprons and hair nets, they created their own healthy fruit skewers, then enjoyed the sunshine while exploring our beautiful playground.

Puffing Billies runs every Thursday, 9:15–11:00am, during Terms 3 & 4.

If your child is starting school in 2026, come and join the fun – we can’t wait to welcome you!

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The next P & C Meeting is on Thursday 4th September

All Welcome

Fathers Day Stall Thursday 4th September

Fathers Day Raffle - Drawn Thursday 4th September

Father Day Breakfast Friday 5th September 8 - 9am

We now have our Legacy fundraising in the office. If you would like to support this fundraiser the items range in price from $2 - $5.

Our leaders will be selling these items at second break each day.

To view more photos from our activities at Zig Zag please visit our facebook page on the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/zzpublicschool/