Principal: Miss Vanessa Benett T: (02) 6345 3414 E: [email protected] F: (02) 6345 3458 Website: [email protected]

Friday, 23rd April, 2021.

Dear Families and Friends of our Koorawatha PS Community,

A lot has happened in our little school since our last newsletter. We’ve now had our playground unit installed and tried by our students…and staff. A few other significant events that we have participated in include: School’s Clean Up Day, STEAM Ahead Robotics workshop day, Festival of International Understanding New Zealand Tumanko Maori workshop and Japanese Garden visit, and an agricultural workshop with Cowra High. Term 1 culminated in our very first World’s Greatest Shave community event, hosted here at our school. CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

This term will no doubt exceed all of our expectations in various ways, particularly in the area of teaching and learning programs. As a team, our staff are extraordinarily committed to refining practices that will extend student’s learning and wellbeing outcomes. We are working closely with our Early Action for Success (EAfS) Instructional Leader, Amanda Miller, to hone in on literacy and numeracy assessment data to create targeted areas of focus for each and every student. This term we will continue to spend allocated time in our Outdoor Learning Hub, with Aboriginal culture being a focus this term, sustainability in Term 3, and transitions in Term 4. Thank you to all who participated in our learning ecosystem interviews and surveys – the feedback will be analysed and used to enhance our Outdoor Learning Hub.

Commencing this term, is explicit teaching of zones of emotional regulation through Cool Australia’s Bluey program. The program offers a wonderful opportunity for families to engage with the school through one-on-one delivery of lessons that can be transferred from school to home. School data suggests that this is an area that will benefit our school/home relationship and assist us strengthen the responsibility of teaching emotional regulation.

This term we will complete our 3 Way Conferences on Wednesday 5th May in Week 3, followed by open classrooms in the afternoon. Please complete the forms attached.

Our staff will complete professional learning covering zones of emotional regulation, learning ecosystems, additive strategies, and quality teaching.

Our K-6 students will attend cross country, Koorawatha’s ANZAC Day parade, athletics, the Cowra Eisteddfod, and Musica Viva & Baroquefest in Canowindra. Our Years 3-6 will participate in debating, NAPLAN, and GRIP Leadership events.

Orienteering will run for double sessions for sport over a 3 week period. On alternate weeks, we will utilise our orienteering skills by combining them with road safety education through bicycle and walking tours.

We have high expectations of ourselves, our students, our families, and our community. So buckle up, put the NavMan on, and join us for what’s already shaping up to be another epic term!

As always, be kind to yourselves and be kind to others: Kindness, Courage, Yindyamarra (Yambuwan)

Miss Vanessa Benett Maggie Magpie (who is very active at Spring time!) Hero Teaching Principal

Miss Benett’s Infant’s Corner I adore meeting up again with our adorable students and supportive families after a holiday period, and this term is no exception. It is always wonderful to hear of the children’s holiday recounts, and to see the enthusiasm that beams from within them as they excude a passion for learning. I am enjoying delivering positive messages and developing our awareness of emotional regulation through Cool Australia’s Bluey program. Did you know that we all have permission to feel all emotions, and not to be ashamed of having an off moment. It is important that we know this, so that we can develop coping strategies to manage our emotions; ones that cause ourselves and others no harm, but allow us to be expressive in all its forms. These are our easy to understand zones:

Our first week is also a reflective week, with the timing of ANZAC Day. All students shared incredibly mature and insightful comments about their thoughts on what events have led us to where we are today. We shared Phil Cummings and Owen Swan’s story ANZAC Biscuits, in the lead up to making our own cookies. Just ask us what we know about the significance of ANZAC biscuits.

Miss Benett 😉😉 Mrs Harding’s Primary Corner Welcome back to our students and families. I hope you all had an enjoyable break. I’d like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who came and made our last day of Term 1 amazing. Congratulations to our school for raising $857.50 for the Leukemia Foundation. This has been banked on our school team page which I will include a link to on Class Dojo so you can have a look. We have a very full and exciting term ahead of us. Our primary class will be participating in The Premiers Debating Challenge which will see us compete against schools from Young, , and . Our first round will take place here at Koorawatha and sees our team: Koora Courage, go up against the Young Public’s Cherry Pickers. The primary class will also be attending the GRIP Leadership conference in early June, at CSU Wagga, Wagga. Our current and future school leaders will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of workshops aimed at developing important leadership skills. More information will be sent home soon. I am looking forward to our learning journey together this term.

Mrs Harding 😊😊

Watt’s Happening

In STEAM students have been looking at designing their favourite toy. We have been challenged to look at a toy that is not electronic and we have had a good discussion about what we enjoy playing with. The students have drawn their toys and next term will make a model of that toy. In Personal Development, we have have been talking about Respect and Trust as part of our Child Protection unit. Who is in our support circle and what does respect look like? Mrs Watt 😊😊

Positive thought for the week “Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you do not know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.” – Anne Frank Term 1 Cowra Festival of Internation Understanding & Cowra High School Visit We enjoyed a day trip to Cowra on Thursday which saw us have a great time at a few different locations. We started the day with a break at the River Park, where we ate our recess and then had a lot of fun on the play equipment. We then proceeded to Cowra Public School, where we joined our other Cowra small schools and students from Cowra Public for a New Zealand cultural workshop. We were shown how to perform a Haka and had our photo taken with the performers.

Lunch was at the Japanese Gardens where we had the chance to look around, feed the fish and ducks, and enjoy playtime with students from , Greenthorpe, and Woodstock Public Schools.

Finally, we headed to Cowra High School where Mr Cole, from the agriculture department, showed us around the science and agriculture labs. He gave us a tour of the school garden plots, and introduced us to the animals. The highlight for many was meeting the alpaca and seeing the variety of chickens that were there.

We arrived back at school tired, but happy! Science - Magnetic Attractions Students have enjoyed co-learning with each other; primary have displayed great leadership and peer mentoring skills when leading small group activities. This was especially evident during science lessons; investigating the magnetic properties of various objects around our school. Well done to all of you and keep up the outstanding efforts.

Outdoor Learning Hub We have all had the chance to sample some of the fresh produce that has started to come from our Outdoor Learning Hub. Our four beautiful girls (aka hens) have started laying eggs and we were able to have a taste test. It is safe to say that all those that had a taste agreed that fresh eggs are pretty good!

ANZAC Day Parade at Koorawatha

The Koorawatha march and Memorial Service will commence at 10:45am, meeting at Street adjacent to Koorawatha Regional Rooms, the march will then proceed east on Boorowa Street, turn right onto Ripon Street then right onto Bumbaldry Street and back to Memorial Gates for the Memorial Service.

All students attending are to dress in full school uniform.

Assemblies Assemblies occur every second Thursday from 2.30pm, and on even weeks. This term, we hope that with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, that you can join us. Students work very hard at speaking and listening and would love to see you support their growth and pride in this area…and a little woohoo to their achievements!

Koora Tickets ~ Kindness, Courage, Yindyamarra (Respect)

Kindness Courage Yindyamarra (Respect) Kind words Try new things Respect for our spaces Kind actions Courage to report Respect for learning Let others join in Courage to be honest Respect for ALL property Every day students who display our school values in the playground and classroom receive Koora Tickets. These are then placed into a container. From the container, each Friday a student is randomly drawn for each stage group. These students receive a small prize to acknowledge their actions of Kindness, Courage, and Yindyamarra. Library Library recommences in Week 2, on Monday 26th April. Be sure to bring library bag for borrowing. Koorawatha Public School Term 2 Calendar Date Event/Details Venue Friday 23rd April Cowra Small Schools Cross Country Gooloogong PS Sunday 25th April @ 11am ANZAC DAY PARADE meet @ 1045am Koorawatha Wed. 5th May 3 Way Conferences & Open Classrooms Koorawatha PS Tues. 11th – Fri. 21st May Literacy & Numeracy Wk - NAPLAN Statewide Thursday 13th May Premier’s Debating Challenge Round 1: KPS vs YPS Koorawatha PS Mon. 17th – 19th May Stronger, Smarter PL – Paula Harding West Wyalong Wednesday 19th May National Simultaneous Reading Day – Give Me Space Nationwide Thursday 20th May @ 10.00am Cowra Eisteddfod – Schools Dance section Cowra Civic Centre Thursday 27th May Misca Viva & Baroquefest Canowindra Week 7 Premier’s Debating Challenge Round 2: KPS vs TBA Thursday 3rd June GRIP Leadership Conference – Primary ONLY CSU Wagga, Wagga Monday 14th June Queen’s Birthday Nationwide Week 10 Premier’s Debating Challenge Round 3: KPS vs TBA Friday 25th June Last Day Term 2 Eastern NSW

Regular Weekly Events Term 2 Koorawatha Public School Bell Times Monday – Mrs Amos (SLSO) Library Borrowing; Time Curriculum Home Learning returned 8.30am Students may arrive at the earliest 9.00am Formal commencement of learning Tuesday – Mrs Clarke; Mr Colemane Morning routine: meet & Wednesday – Mrs Clarke; Scripture; Mr Colemane; greet; school pledge; Mrs Miller (EAfS IL) fitness; story; fruit-break English Thursday – Assembly (even wks); Mrs Watt; Miss Sissons - Drama; 11.00am RECESS Kim Norton – Dance; Miss Benett’s 11.30am Mathematics Administration Day; 1.00pm LUNCH 1.45pm Other Key Learning Area e.g. Friday – Home Learning due; Mrs Clarke (odd weeks); Miss Sissons geography, history 3.00pm School day ends