Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back!

It was great to see many of our Lihir International School students return to school this week for the beginning of the 2024 school year. I would like to extend a special welcome to the new families whose children join us in 2024. A special welcome to our fifth group of year 9 scholarship students. The scholarship students are the top performing Lihirian students from Lihir schools in the Year 8 National Exams. I know that all of us will make our new students feel part of the LIS family.

I was pleased to see most students arrive on time this week – please remember school begins at 8:10am and children are able to start arriving at school from 7:45am onwards. However, children from Prep to year 2 are required to sit quietly in the covered area with their bags until 8am at which time teachers will escort them to their classroom. This is to ensure that children are supervised properly in one area, and do not disrupt the teacher’s morning preparation time.

Children in years 3 – 10 can go to their classroom from 7.45am, at the discretion of the teacher, where they will be supervised while quietly reading or studying. Alternatively, they will wait in the undercover area until 8am. Children are not allowed to play in the school grounds or classrooms in the morning before school. Please do not send your child to school before 7:45am as teachers will be busy preparing for the school day and supervision of children will not be available.

Kindy children are to arrive after 8am, with Kindy starting at 8.15am. Parents and caregivers are to arrive at 12.10pm to collect Kindy children at 12.15pm. 

Parents are reminded that children are not allowed to play in classrooms or in the school grounds after school, unless it is organised afternoon sport. Children are to sit quietly and wait for their parents or vehicle in the designated areas.

It was fantastic to see all students arrive in school uniform and please remember that a clean uniform, in good condition, is expected to be worn every day. Please ensure your child has a navy school hat to wear for protection from the sun during playtime and other outdoor activities. More hats will arrive at the school soon. The school’s No Hat No Play policy will continue this year and please make sure hats are clearly named.  If you require any item of school uniform, please see Lorna in the front office.

Parent Overviews

Teachers will send home Term Overviews on Friday to give you an idea of the learning your child will be involved in this term.

Acquaintance Night

Acquaintance Night will be held on Wednesday the 7th February, from 6pm, to give all parents the chance to attend brief information sessions with their child’s teacher. Acquaintance Night will give teachers the opportunity to discuss a general overview of class systems, learning and behaviour expectations. Ms Langusch has explained further details about Acquaintance Night in her segment.

Term 1 Calendar

Term 1 will be a busy time of learning at our school and the term one calendar can be downloaded below. Other important dates will be brought to your attention as they arise.

Parents and Wantoks

The Parents and Wantoks first meeting for the year will be held in Week 3 of the term, with a time still to be decided. The Parents and Wantoks Committee add a great deal of value to our school and this is a fantastic opportunity for families to become involved in contributing to school events throughout the year.  All parents, community members, and others who are interested to join the P&W are encouraged to attend.

Student Health Update

Please take note of the Student Health Update form that can be downloaded below. If you have any medical information, such as allergies or medication needs, that we are unaware of and you need to share with the school please fill in this form and return to Lorna by Friday 9th of February. If you have already updated the school regarding your child’s medical needs, or if you have nothing to add to information supplied during the enrolment process, you do not need to return the Student Health Update form.

Parent / Carer Contacts

We would like all parents to ensure that they have current and up to date contact details for the school. Please see Lorna in the office if you need to update your details - especially email addresses.  If parents hear of other parents not receiving school communication, please direct them to contact the principal.

School Entrance

Parents and community members are reminded that the only entrance to school is from the Anginas Oval carpark. On entering the school, hands are to be washed at the wash station. Townsite residents who walk to school are also to only use this entrance. 

After School and Weekend Sport/Activities

In the past, students were involved in a variety of afternoon and weekend sports and other activities. After school sport/activities are run by teaching staff and parent volunteers and, if you would like to volunteer to run a sport this year, please let me know. If you would like to run a sport/activity, it is your decision as to what sport/activity you are running, what day and which classes you will include in this sport/activity – our school community is always grateful to those who take the time to organise after school sport/activities.

Student Photographs

There are many photo opportunities at our school and student images are often used in publications, such as the Toksave, and displayed online through the school website. The Toksave is uploaded to our school website www.lisstm.com.au every week. Student images will continue to be used in the Toksave, website and other media this year. If you do not wish photos of your child to be displayed through any form of print or digital media, please let me know so that I can ensure no images of your child appear in any school material.

School Council

The annual General Meeting of the School Council will be held on Thursday, the 29th of February 2024. At this meeting, voting for vacant positions for a Parent Representative will occur, in the Yr 9/10 room from 6.00pm– 6.20pm. Nomination forms are available from the school office and must be returned to the school office by Thursday the 8th February 2024. If you would like to know more about the functions of the School Council, please make an appointment to see the principal.

Regards,

Mr Greg Neville 

School Hours K - 6 (LIS)                                                               

Official school times are:

8.10                 Bell rings

8.10 – 8.15      Home room (Assembly on Monday and Friday mornings)

8.15 – 10.35    First session

10.35 – 11.05 Recess (15 minutes eating followed by 15 minutes play)

11.05 – 12.35 Second session

12.35 – 1.20    Lunch (15 minutes eating followed by 30 minutes play)

1:20 – 3.00      Third Session 

3.00                 End of school day  

School Hours 7 - 10                                                                                  

Official school times are:

8.10                 Bell rings

8.10 – 8.15      Home room (Assembly on Monday and Friday mornings)

8.15 – 10.05    Two periods

10.05 – 10.35 Recess (10 minutes eating followed by 20 minutes play)

10.35 – 1.20    Three periods

1.20 – 2.00      Lunch (10 minutes eating followed by 30 minutes play)

2.00 – 2.55      One period

2.55 – 3.00      Home room

3.00                 End of school day

Term 1 Monday 29 January to Thursday 28 March

Term 2 Monday 15 April to Thursday 20 June

Term 3 Monday 15 July to Thursday 12 September

Term 4 Monday 30 September to Thursday 5 December

Both the LIS and STM libraries will be open for borrowing next week and we encourage all students to regularly borrow. Primary students do need to have a library bag. This will be provided to new students. Students can also return and borrow books at lunchtime.

Library days are as follows:

Tuesday - Kindy and year 3/4

Wednesday - year 5/6; year 7

Thursday - year 1/2; year 8

Friday - Prep

Year 9/10 students do not have a set borrowing time; however, are encouraged to borrow at lunchtime.

Kind regards,

Ms Grace Savitas (Librarian).

This term, all classes from Prep to year 10 will have swimming for PE. Students will need to bring their bathers, towel, thongs/slippers and if they wish, a pair of goggles. If your child is unable to swim, please send a note or email your child's teacher.

PE swimming days are as follows:

Monday - year 9/10

Tuesday - year 7/8

Wednesday - year 1/2 and 3/4

Thursday - Prep and year 5/6

Extra swimming lessons will be held after school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Please remember to return your child's permission note on Monday if you have not already returned it. A copy of the note can be downloaded below. Parents will be advised on Monday afternoon as to groups and lesson times etc. Please note - these times may have changed since the previous note due to the number of students participating in the program.

Monday sport also commences next week with the prep - year 2 students doing rotating games and sports activities, year 3-6 boys doing Touch Football and year 3-6 girls doing Netball. Prep- year 2 students will need to return a permission slip which was sent home today. If needed, please download a copy below. Year 3-6 students do not need to return a note.

If you have any questions about sport or swimming, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Ms Judith Meauri (Sport Coordinator)

Wednesday, February 7th: Acquaintance Night - 6.00pm

Week 2 (Thursday): Year 10 Leadership Day

Week 3: Year 9 Camp

Week 3: Year 8 and year 10 Mock Exams

Week 5: School Council AGM (Thursday 29th February - 6.00pm)

Week 7: NAPLAN testing for year 3, 5 and 7 students

Week 9: Parent / Teacher Interviews

Afternoon activities:

Monday Sport: 3.10-4.00pm Prep – year 2 Rotating games; year 3 – 6 boys Touch football; Year 3 – 6 girls Netball

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: Swimming lessons at the pool with Ms Meauri (times as per lesson schedule)

Wednesday: Homework Class: year 4 with Ms Tukata and year 5/6 with Ms Langusch from 3.15-4.00pm; High School Supervised Study

It was fantastic to see the excitement on children's faces at the start of the day as we began our new year of learning! It was also pleasing to see our 'old' students welcoming the new students to LIS. Great to see our V I P (Value, Include, Participate) ethos in action!

This year, we look forward to working with parents and students to consolidate the excellent teaching and learning practices in place at Lihir International School. In English Literacy, we will be continuing our focus on reading/comprehension and daily writing activities and in Mathematics, we will consolidate our SEE, PLAN, DO, CHECK problem-solving strategies from Year 2 onwards.

In Weeks 4 and 5 of this term, I will again present parent workshops on Soundwaves (Spelling) and Maths Problem-solving, which would be beneficial to new parents to our school or to any parents who may have missed last year's workshops. Primary class teachers will also hold sessions with parents to support our homework reading program.

Acquaintance Night

I am looking forward to seeing parents at Acquaintance Night next week on Wednesday, 7th February. This is an opportunity for parents and carers to meet class teachers and understand key processes and practices that will take place in classrooms, with focus on curriculum, student wellbeing, attendance, behaviour expectations, homework and class learning.

At Acquaintance Night, parents (and any students) are to gather in the undercover area by 6.00pm for a short welcome by Mr Neville. 

At 6.10 pm, Parent Session 1 will begin with the High school having a joint session on the basketball court and the primary class sessions to be in the relevant classrooms. This session will finish by 6.30pm and will be followed by a second session, starting at 6.35pm. During these sessions, any students will be supervised in the undercover area. There are two sessions to enable parents who have more than one child at the school to attend more than one session.

Assemblies

Whole school assemblies are held each Friday morning at 8.10am in the basketball court and parents are most welcome to attend. At next Friday's assembly, the school leaders and student council will be presented with their badges.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday evening.

Kind regards,

Ms Cathy Langusch             

Welcome back to a new year. The School to Mine Campus is now an integral part of LIS/STM and as such, I will be updating our community on the STMC programs throughout the year in the Toksave. 

The STMC is currently preparing for our 10 Programs of the School to Mine. In Week 2, a new Work Ready Program will commence and at this stage we have 19 trainees currently being onboarded in preparation for this program. 

We are also shortlisting students for our Year 9 / 10 FODE Program for 2024. We were very pleased with our 4 FODE students who completed their Grade 10 studies last year and look forward to working with our 4 students who are moving into Grade 10 and our 5 continuing Grade 10 Upgraders.  

STMC staff are also working closely with Divine Word University to prepare for the next semester of the DWU Bachelor of Primary Education, and the DWU Master of Education Leadership for teachers across Lihir. We are also working with the Local Provincial Education Office to finalise arrangements for the delivery of the Trupla Tisa Program this term. 

Congratulations to our 9 Academic Support students, 5 from OLSH who went through our Scholarship Program and 4 from LSS who were supported through our Academic Support Program.  All 9 students were all accepted into university and have been accepted into Learning and Talent's Tertiary Support Assistance Scheme. We look forward to tracking their success through university.  

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best for 2024.

Regards, 

Mr Kevin Collins