Newsletter Week 8B Term 4 2023

week 8B, Term 4

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

newsletter

Ariah Park Central School

key dates

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 8

INTENSIVE SWIMMING

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 1

YEAR 10 WORK SKILLS WEEK

DECEMBER 7

Year 6 graduation

DECEMBER 11 - 13

SECONDARY SURF EXCURSION

DECEMBER 14

presentation day

11:30 am & BBQ lunch

Principal's Report

Dear Parents, Caregivers, Community Members and Students,

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks and continues to be so. Please keep up to date through the variety communication streams we have- Facebook, School Bytes and our newsletter. Mrs Drumore will be relieving for me for the rest of this week as I am at a variety of meetings. I am always reachable by email.

Last week we had an incredible day on Wednesday as a part of our annual roll-up day. We had most of our 2024 teachers at the school. The vibe was fantastic during the day, and it was great to visit all classrooms to see what the students were learning in their new classes.

week 8B, Term 4

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Principal's Report cont.

2024 Primary Classes

Kinder- Miss Tracey Keith

Year 1/2- Miss Laura Greenlees (Miss April Frater Monday-Thursday Period 1-3 working with Year 2)

Year 3- Miss Meg Reinhold

Year 4- Mrs Jennifer Suwabe

Year 5/6- Mrs Kate Anderson (Mrs Caroline O’Brien Tuesday/Wednesday supporting Year 5/6 for English and Mathematics)

RFF- Mrs Caroline O’Brien Tuesday & Wednesday Term 1 (Mrs Rebecca Green Term 2-4)

Please note that staffing changes can occur throughout the holidays, and this will be confirmed as soon as we return.

On Friday we held our inaugural Academic Olympics coordinated by Mr Greg Davey. Firstly, congratulations and thank you to Mr Davey for an amazing event. It was great to see the three houses against each other in a different arena. There certainly was a great buzz! Congratulations Green House on winning the event.

Over the next couple of days, we will be sending out another survey around questions in the Tell Them From Me Survey. We only got about 20% of parents respond. I have tried to make the questions more specific so we can use this data to further improve towards excellence in our school. The feedback is required before next Tuesday so we can act on this feedback this side of the School Holidays. Please look out for an email today or tomorrow.

I look forward to all the great extra-curricular activities and learning opportunities that is occurring across the school over the next two weeks. We will have a final newsletter in Week 10.

Yours in Education,

Allan Johnston

Principal

Every student matters every day.

Every student can succeed.

attendance spotlight

Target: Above 92%

Current Attendance (Term 3 Week 6-7): 86.52%

Previous Fortnight: 88.04%

Attendance Shoutout: Year 1 for best attendance with 93.57%

RAP Careers News

by Mr Lamb

SBAT’s BRING VOCATIONAL TRAINING TO LIFE!

Many parents don’t know just what a ‘jump-start’ to their careers SBAT’s give students in years 10, 11 and 12. SBAT stands for ‘School Based Apprenticehsip & Traineeships’. Through an SBAT, students set themselves up for the career they want whilst they are completing their HSC. SBAT’s combine paid work, training and school. Not only will your student get an industry recognised national qualification, but they also gain credit towards their NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC). They can start an SBAT in Year 10 or Year 11 and some training arrangements can contribute towards their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). No matter if they are on a pathway to higher Vocational Education and Training, or University post-school, there is an SBAT for them. Most parents are not aware that SBAT’s can provide other benefits to their students in senior high school years too - better student engagement at school, money in their pockets, better school attendance, and a real improvement in their self-esteem. Doing an SBAT does not necessarily mean being disadvantaged in their HSC result either. Many Apprenticeships and Traineeships these days lead to well-paying careers - often higher paid than University graduates. With a critical shortage in certain trades, your son/daughter (with Trade Qualifications), are in the front seat to secure employment, especially in these challenging economic times. To find out more information about SBAT’s, search the Department of Education website, speak to your Career Adviser, or contact myself at phillip.lamb@det.nsw.edu.au

week 8B, Term 4

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Secondary Girls Program

by Mrs Tidd

Over the past 3 weeks, Stage 4 and Stage 5 students have been conducting a series of practicals with primary students. On Monday of Week 5, Stage 4 girls ran 3 different Science experiments with Kindergarten. These sessions are aimed at fostering poster relationships across primary and secondary and are designed to allow our secondary students to gain confidence and learn leadership skills as well as spark primary students’ interest in Science.

On Monday of Week 6, it was Stage 5 girls turn to run Science experiments with Year 1 and Year 2.

For the first practical, students got to make a lava lamp. They learnt that when an Alka-Seltzer Tablet is dropped into water and oil, carbon dioxide gas is produced. The tablet sinks to the bottom and reacts with the water because the tablet is more dense than the oil.

During the second experiment, students learnt how solutions move from a high concentration to a low concentration. This was illustrated by adding warm water to skittles and watching a beautiful rainbow form.

For the third practical, students explored density. Students learnt that water is more dense than oil. Students also used syrup and discovered that it was the most dense liquid as it sunk to the bottom of the glass beaker.

For the fourth experiment, students demonstrated a rain cloud using shaving cream, water and food dye. Primary students learnt that when the drops of food colouring became too heavy, they passed through the shaving cream to represent rain coming out of the clouds. Secondary students explained that gravity pulls the food colouring drops (representing rain) from the cloud (represented by shaving cream).

I would like to take this opportunity to say how proud I am of the way Stage 4 and Stage 5 girls conducted themselves and how they engaged with our primary students. It was wonderful to watch students interacting and connecting with each other.

We look forward to continuing to run this program.