Port Augusta West - Week 6, Term 1 2024

Principal's Report

In our committment to embrace the digital age and enhance communication, we welcome you to our first edition of an e-Newsletter. This move allows us to deliver timely updates, showcase achievements and share insighful stories with greater accessibility.

Last week you would have received some information about following the school's Facebook page. This is another platform to enhance our communication and strengthen the bond that makes our school community special. 

I would like to thank Scott Nicholls, Simone Schupelius and Narelle Davies for their amazing planning and support of our Yr 6 Aquatics Camp which was held in Port Vincent during week 4.  The students were extremely lucky with the picture perfect weather which was on display for them. I was fortunate enough to make the trip to the camp for a small part, and enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the aquatics activities and get to know the Yr 6 cohort. Well done to all of those involved. It was clear that the students certainly enjoyed the camp, and I would like to congratulate them on their positive behaviour and maturity levels which were on show. 

Smoke-free and vape-free areas – new regulations

From 1 March 2024 new regulations will extend the smoke-free and vape-free areas to within 10 metres of site boundaries.

This includes:

• school drop-off and pick-up zones that are within 10 metres of the school fence, gate or boundary
• school ovals and sporting fields and within 10 metres of the boundary of the oval or sporting field
• footpaths, roads, public nature strips and public recreation areas that are within 10 metres of a school boundary.

We thank you for your support.

Duty of Care - Before School

A friendly reminder that children are to be at school no earlier than 8:30am each morning. Any children arriving earlier than this time, will be directed to the benches outside the front office until 8:30am. This process is necessary as supervision of your children cannot be guaranteed prior to 8:30am. Thank you for your understanding.

Sarah Bury

Every Child ~ Every Classroom ~ Every Day

Deputy Principal's Report

NAPLAN is being held from the 13th – 25th March. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) takes place each year for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and has been an everyday part of the school calendar since 2008. NAPLAN helps parents, carers and educators to see if children are meeting important numeracy and literacy standards. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The questions assess content linked to the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics. Since 2022, except for Year 3 writing which remains paper-based, all other NAPLAN tests are completed nationally online through computer-based tests. Online testing brings many benefits and opportunities including providing better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information. Individual students who are absent at the time of testing can complete missed tests at another time during the school’s test schedule. 

Assistant Principal's Report

Hello All,

At Port Augusta West Primary School, we have made the decision to move to a new assessment tool for measuring reading called DIBELS. The reason for this is due to our previous reading assessment that our school had used to run called Running Records (an assessment that assigns a reading level) is now no longer a recommended assessment tool to assess the skills needed for students to become independent learners. So we have moved to a new assessment tool called DIBELS and staff are very excited for the change to this evidence based approach.

What is DIBELS?

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is an evidence based assessment which had originated at the University of Oregon and has been recommended by the South Australian Department for Education. This measuring tool is designed to be a short (one minute) fluency measure that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of reading skills for all year levels.

What does this mean for Port Augusta West Primary School?

All staff have recently gone through training in this approach with all teachers from Year 1-6 having recently conducted the Oral Reading Fluency assessment this term. Teachers have looked at the results and have organised readers from our already established collection based from the results of the assessment.  As the reading assessment has a focus on fluency, some of the readers may seem to be easy for your child to read which is okay. The purpose of these readers would be to focus on fluency skills.

Students in Junior Primary classes would also be taking home a Read Write Inc. reader based from the current group that they are in. The purpose of these readers is to consolidate the students decoding skills that they are learning and practicing in the classroom at home. These would get changed every time a Read Write Inc. group starts a new story.

Students also have a large variety of books that can be borrowed from our amazing library that the students themselves can borrow based off their own personal interests. This is a great way to have students’ engaged and interested in literature and reading.

At Port Augusta West Primary School, we strive for student growth in their fluency skills, decoding skills and just as important their passion for reading.

Happy reading everyone!

Paul Kalfas

Year 6 Aquatics Camp - Port Vincent

During week 4 of this term, 20^th – 23^rd February, our Year 6 students ventured down to Port Vincent as part of their aquatics program this year. Students were taught the importance and understanding of water safety, survival in the water and mobility in, on and around the water. Students got to experience stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, kneeboarding and sailing. The students thoroughly enjoyed their time and also enjoyed staying in the Old Bunkhouse for their accommodation. A big thanks to everyone including Parent Club, who donated and supplied items for the camp. Another big thanks to the PAWPS community who have also supported our fundraisers throughout this term.

Scott Nicholls

House Captains Announcements

Congratulations to the 2024 House Captains and Leadership Team 

I wish to inform you of the outstanding candidates for 2024 as the executive format helps to foster the respect, leadership, and teamwork skills. I am proud to announce that the leaders were selected from a panel with merit selection based on their written application.  

Bond  

Captain – Tazz Taylor 

Deputy – Kohen Cocks 

Executive Leadership members Jonas Hamilton and Audrey Ash. 

Mildred   

Captain – Maddison Corbell 

Deputy – Addison Murphy 

Assistant – Hayden Escott  

Executive Leadership - Marleigh Butler  

Sanderson 

Captain – Jack Edson 

 Deputy – Flynn Carn 

Assistant – Joe Grantham  

Executive Leadership – Piper Micklewood 

Hartley  – 

Captain – Luca Grantham,   

Deputy –  Indy Knibbs  

Assistant – Dekoda Kingham 

Executive Leadership  - Jax Welk   

SRC

Congratulations to all of our class representatives for 2024. We had our first whole school SRC meeting last week and we have been discussing a number of school initiatives and improvements for this year. 

Assembly Awards

Our assembly times allow us to acknowledge our students based on the three values of our Positive Behaviour for Learning Program. These values include Respect, Resilience and Relationships. 

Congratulations to the students who were awarded for their efforts during the week 6 assembly.

Autism Inclusion Teacher

I am continuing the Autism Inclusion Teacher (AIT) role this year. The Department for Education provides an Autism Inclusion Multidisciplinary (AIM) team to support me in this role. I will be working with the teachers and SSOs to strengthen our understanding and knowledge of the inclusion of students on the autism spectrum. I am excited to be working with you again and please say hi if you see me, everyone calls me ‘Sensei’! 

AITs and the school staff continue to learn about ‘regulation’ and ‘sensory processing’ to support our students’ learning and wellbeing. Regulation is the ability to notice and manage our emotions, attention and energy levels to match the demands of a situation. Sensory processing differences can impact on a person’s engagement in activities such as eating, sleeping, school participation and socialisation. Last week, we had an autism session, learning about strategies that help students regulate their sensory systems so they can engage in classroom activities.   

I would like to share some related online resources and webinars for families so we can support our students together! Please see the attached flyers below.  

 If you have any questions or concerns, please come and have a chat anytime.      

Kyoko Miyamoto (Autism Inclusion Teacher)  

Room 3C News

Thankyou 

A big thankyou to the Parents and Friends Committee for purchasing and donating clock timers to five classes this term. These clock timers are visual aids that are being used in whole class situations and for individuals when required. 

Science and Literacy

This term in Room 3C students have been learning about Animal Report Writing in Literacy and Animal Groups in Science. Students have identified which specific group certain animals belong to and recorded this information. For example, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians and where they can be found. This information that they have learnt in Science, has helped them during report writing to record the classification and habitat of animals along with what they eat, look like, do and any other interesting facts. 

Last week students when on a school yard hunt during Science to find animals under each animal group. The most common group found in the school yard was different types of birds which included chickens, magpies, pigeons, sparrows and cockatoo’s. 

3C News

School Ministry Group - Pastoral Care Worker

WELCOME TO VIRGINIA LOCKWOOD

Hi everyone, my name is Virginia and I have started at Port Augusta West Primary as a support Pastoral Care Worker with Cynthia.  

I currently also work at Stirling North Primary school 2 days a week as a part of the Wellbeing Team. I have some special friends called Kimochi’s that help me with my work, they love to share all of the strategies they have learned to help with challenges that happen each day at school.  

My children and grandchildren have been students at PAWPS and some of the staff remember them and me. It is lovely to see familiar faces but also to see all the changes around the school. Raising 4 children who each faced their own challenges has given me tools that enable me to see students and families from a different perspective and I love to pass on what I have learnt to those coming through their own journey.  

I was born in Minlaton South Australia but grew up in New Zealand, I love other cultures and have travelled to many other countries, especially Kenya where my parents started an orphanage.  

I worked with the overseas workers at sundrop for 8 ½ years, there are many different cultures where I learned so much and well as taught them English and Australian culture.  

I am passionate about young people and assisting them to find strategies and tools to help them navigate the tricky bits in life, there are lots at times. The kimochi’s are a great tool as the children relate to the different personalities and problems each character faces.  

I have found Dan Siegel’s Hand Model of the brain is useful particularly for boys as they like to know how things work, showing them what is happening in their brains helps them understand what is happening in their bodies – this has worked with other students and has even continued through to high school with some. There are some great video clips and books that are great resources for teaching this.  

I like dance and music, most kids also love to move and get creative to music so it would be great to maybe have a dance at lunchtime one day. Small group activities such as cooking, painting and friendship building are also good for helping children learn the life skills they need to become balanced adults. Learning to negotiate and compromise with those around them so everyone benefits, whether they are first or last. It is important to teach children that they will not always win and will not always get what they think they deserve and that anything worth having is worth working hard for.  

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Harmony Week Celebrations

PAWPS Harmony Week Plans are listed below. We are looking forward to our celebrations.

Miscellaneous Items