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Swimming Carnival
Last week's swimming carnival was a tremendous success! It was great to see all students participating in races or novelty events, trying their hardest, showing great house spirit and having heaps of fun! Thank you to the many parent helpers who assisted with time keeping - your help is always appreciated :)
A special thank you to Miss Walter for organising the carnival, ensuring all preparations were in place and making sure that it was a special day for our children and families.
Parent information sessions
Recently, we hosted a very successful parent information afternoon and free BBQ for our families. Thank you to the many parents who visited classrooms and listened to the teachers present information about the classroom learning for Semester 1. It was great to have so many familes at school, eager to find out more about the new school year.
A big thank you to the teachers and P & C volunteers who helped serve the food and, drinks throughout the afternoon. It was a tremendous success and the feedback from parents and teachers was very positive. If you would like to provide feedback directly, please email me at david.macsporran@det.nsw.edu.au.
Learning time - our highest priority
As a parent, I understand that it can be difficult to make appointments for your child outside of school hours. However, maximising learning time is our school's highest priority. At Yates, every minute counts, every day.
Please make any appointments for your child outside of school hours so their learning is not disrupted.
If, for some reason, your child needs to be collected before 3pm, I ask that the following process be followed for K-6 students:
- visit the front office and inform admin staff that you need to collect your child, and the reason why
- admin staff will contact your child's classroom
- wait on the chairs inside the office for your child
- please do not visit the classroom as it can be disruptive to the lesson and the learning of other students.
Partial absences due to appointments will be marked as unjustified leave on the class roll.
NAPLAN - Years 3 and 5
Students in Years 3 and 5 will be completing NAPLAN this term, with the assessment window from Wednesday, 13th - Monday, 25th March. The online platform will be used for all tests except Year 3 writing.
For the second year, NAPLAN is in Term 1, allowing schools and parents access to results earlier in the year and providing more time for teachers to respond to the children's learning needs. Please click on the link below for more information:
2024 school leadership induction
Congratulations to the 2024 school leaders who were recently inducted at our assembly. We know they will provide strong leadership for Yates this year.
House Captains
Library Monitors
Student Representative Council (SRC)
Green team
Spelling Mastery
In Term 4, 2019 we trialled Spelling Mastery - a Direct Instruction spelling program - to address lower than expected results in spelling. In 2020, this program was expanded to Years 3-6 and since 2021, all students in Years 1-6 have been taught Spelling Mastery, including selected students in the support unit.
The teaching in Spelling Mastery is a highly structured method that blends the following approaches:
- Phonemic approach - helps beginning spellers learn the relationships between spoken sounds and written letters and then apply them to spelling
- Morphemic approach - exposes advanced spellers to prefixes, bases, and suffixes
- Whole-word approach - gives spellers at all levels the meaning and root of a word and shows how the word's spelling is influenced
Spelling Mastery combines these three approaches according to students' skill development and teaches the skills needed to become proficient readers and writers. Explicit instruction, careful selection of spelling words, and repeated and cumulative practice helps students master each concept and retain key information.
Arriving on time - every minute counts
It has been great to see the vast majority of students arriving at school by 9.00am and starting the day on time. After lining up briefly under the COLA, learning starts straight away at Yates with reading, writing and spelling activities the focus until our lunch break at 11.15am.
I understand that occasionally students are late due to heavy traffic, rain or a change in the family routine, however, lately there have been a number of students arriving late every day and this is beginning to impact on their learning. As you can see below, 20 minutes late to school a day adds up to 1 year of lost learning time by Year 12.
I encourage parents to send their child to school by 9.00am so they can start the day positively with morning play, followed by a smooth transition to the classroom and uninterrupted learning time.
We will be having a whole-school assembly three times each term from 2.00pm - 2.30pm in the library COLA, and parents are most welcome to attend. During this assembly, class awards will be given out and each class will showcase some student work.
Term 1 assembly dates:
- Friday, 8th March - Week 6
- Friday, 5th April - Week 10
Parent Concerns – Contacting the School
From time to time, you may have concerns about your child’s learning and wellbeing at school. It is important that you follow the correct process when addressing these concerns, in order for it to be resolved in a constructive and timely manner.
If you are concerned about an issue that has arisen in the classroom or playground, please follow these steps:
- First phone the school and make an appointment to see your child’s teacher, or contact them via Seesaw.
- If you are still not satisfied with the response, speak to the relevant Assistant Principal about your concerns.
- If the situation has not been resolved to your satisfaction, contact the school and make an appointment to see the Principal.
2024 staff
This year we will not be invoicing parents for school or P & C contributions.
Instead, we are only asking for payment of Term 1 gymnastics ($20) and Term 2 dance ($20) lessons, both of which have been subsided through a school grant. These programs are being delivered by the Moving Bodies fitness company.
In addition, there will be a $25 cost for a Spelling Mastery workbook for students in Years 1-6.
We would greatly appreciate your support in paying for these activities. Where possible, please pay online through our school website, using the ‘make a payment’ option. A hard-copy note will be sent home on Tuesday with all the details.
Have a great few weeks!
David MacSporran
Principal
The students in 3MS have settled into Year 3 well and have made a great start on their learning journey this year. Recently we enjoyed reading the books The Smart Cookie by Jory John and All the Ways to be Smart by Davina Bell and Alison Colpoys. We learnt that there are many ways that we can be smart. These include:
- thinking before you speak
- following instructions quickly and carefully
- knowing what to say to make a friend feel better
- keeping your promises
- asking for help when you need it
- being at school on time
- saying sorry
- celebrating the successes of others
- being resilient
- learning from your mistakes
- believing in yourself
In art we have been creating artworks inspired by sea creatures. Recently, we used newspaper, cardboard, paper and googly eyes to create shark collages. They turned out wonderfully and we love how each of them has their own unique personality. We look forward to exploring other art techniques to create more artworks over the next few weeks.
The Premier's Reading Challenge
The Premier’s Reading Challenge is on again for 2024! The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.
In order to successfully complete the challenge, students in K-2 must read a total of 30 books. At least 25 of these books must be chosen from the PRC Booklist. The remaining five are the student’s individual choice. Students in K-2 may choose to read books from the K-2, 3-4, 5-6 or 7-9 Booklists. K-2 students may read the books on their own or with someone. The books may also be read to them.
Students in Years 3 and 4 need to read 20 books. Of this number, 15 must be from the PRC Booklist and the rest can be their own personal choice. They can choose to read books from the 3-4, 5-6 or 7-9 Booklists.
Students in Years 5 and 6 also need to read 20 books. Once again, 15 must be from the PRC Booklist and the rest can be their own personal choice. They can choose to read books from the 5-6 or 7-9 Booklists.
Students in Years 3-6 must read the books on their own, however they may have someone help them choose them.
NB: In a series on the PRC booklist, students can read any two books as PRC books. They can read up to five other books from the same series as Personal Choice books.
Personal Reading Logs for the students can be downloaded using the link below.
Tips for ensuring your child’s success:
- visit the PRC support website (https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html)
- set a reminder for the closing date of the challenge in your phone (Friday, 23rd August).
- find out your child’s logon details. Keep them in a safe place. These will be the same ones that they use to access the computers and the Internet at school.
- Assist your child to borrow books from the school or local library. Listen to your child read and talk about the story / characters / information. Read to or with your child if he / she is participating in the K-2 challenge.
- Help your child to add books to his / her Student Reading Log regularly.
The Premier's Reading Challenge is a fantastic activity for students to engage in and we look forward to seeing many of the students complete it.
If you have any questions about the Premier's Reading Challenge, please see Mrs Dowell or Mrs Miller.
Book Club
Orders for Issue 2 of Book Club will be closing on Monday, 25th March. Please ensure that if you wish to place an order for your child, that you do so before then. It is anticipated that delivery will be the following week. Thank you for supporting this exciting program.
Uniform shop
New location
The unifrom shop will be moved to the library in 2024, to make way for a new classroom. The shop will be in the room directly opposite the front door.
Opening hours
Our coordinator, Amy Sapoi, will open the shop each week at the following times:
- Thursday: 8.30am - 9.00am and 2.45pm - 3.00pm
Please visit the uniform shop if your child needs a school jacket, hat, bag or other Yates uniform items - see price revised list attached.
Canteen
This term, the canteen will be open every second Wednesday for lunch, recess and snacks:
- 13th March (Week 7)
- 27th March (Week 9)
- 10th April Week 11)
There is hot food and sandwiches available for lunch orders, as well as a selection of tasty snacks, drinks and ice blocks - see updated menu below.
Freshly-made smoothies will also be on sale for $3 in strawberry, banana and mango flavours!
Lunch orders need to be in by 8.00am via the Flexischools app, or at the canteen by 9.00am.
If you would like to volunteer as a canteen helper, please email the P & C at yatesavenuepandc@gmail.com.
P & C meeting
See minutes below from our meeting last Wednesday, 28th February.