What a smooth start to the beginning of the year! Thank you to all our students for wearing our uniform with pride, being at school ready to learn and working together across new classes and Pods. Our Values were clearly on display across every year level.

A big thank you also to those of you who came to Meet the Teacher afternoon. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for school wide events, and DoJo for specific classroom invitations. This year we are excited about inviting the community into our school more often, as COVID restrictions relax. A reminder that COVID safe behaviours are still important to make sure we all remain healthy and well.

Last week we welcomed new Kindergarten students for their first week of schooling – a big step for many parents and carers also. The Grace Crichton-Gill Early Learning Centre library is open from 8:30am – so please feel free to come in, enjoy the space and sit and read a story before class commences.

Reading is a big focus for Austins Ferry Primary School in 2023. And it doesn’t just have to be in the library. You can support your child by talking about everyday print – signs, menus, pamphlets – and noticing where letters, words and print is in the everyday environment. Reading out loud exposes young children to new words that will help their language skills.

Lots of other exciting things are happening at our school too. We’ve had our first lesson of Indonesian as our LOTE (language other than English) for 2023. New playground art was installed in the courtyard - chess, snakes and ladders, four-square and a run course. You might also notice a fresh AFPS logo and Values as you walk down the main steps. Keep an eye out for new works that are planned for the grounds and the playgrounds in the near future…

Warm Regards,

Nikki Mann

By the end of this week the following documents will have been sent home with your child:

• Student Information Validation Form 
• Major Excursion Consent and Medical Information Form 
• Consent form for multiple Aquatic Activities 
• Safe & Responsible Use of ICT Agreement

Validation of all data is compulsory to participate in school excursions. It also supports funding for our school and other important programs.

For students in Year 6, please complete and return these forms to the school office by Friday 3 March 2023 to prepare for the Year 6 Leadership Camp. 

For students in Years K-5, please complete and return these forms to the school office by Friday 10 March 2023.

Prep Luttrell have been busy getting back to school! We have been learning classroom expectations and routines whilst having lots of fun! We have started a unit of work ‘All About Me’, where students will talk and share knowledge about themselves and their families. They will share their likes, dislikes, where they live and who is in their family as we get to know each other.

In Grade 2 Riseley, we have really enjoyed the last 2 weeks getting to know our new classmates and making new friends. We have been engaging in lots of different writing, spelling, and math activities and we are really excited about all our specialist classes this year. We are currently working on building up our reading skills by taking the time each morning to read independently or with a buddy in the class. We have also begun looking at place value, measurement, and recount writing. We also started our buddy sessions this week and can’t wait to get to know them.

In other news, we have been lucky enough to have been chosen to participate in the School Lunch Project this year. This means that every Monday, we enjoy a hot meal provided by the school. Our first meal was an absolute hit, with some students requesting seconds! We are really looking forward to this year, with a lot of learning and growing to do!

The year has started brilliantly for 3/4 Pearce. We have set up classroom expectations and routines and the students have been making lots of new friends. We have started our Inquiry called ‘Submerged’, in which students will learn and discover information about aquatic animals. This Term, our focus is on freshwater animals and waterways. We have some tadpoles as class pets which we will watch grow into frogs as the Term continues. In Kitchen Garden, we looked at the Roseneath Rivulet to see if we could find any frogs or tadpoles, and the students took pictures of the habitat to identify what could be done to improve it for the frogs. It’s looking to be a very exciting year!

A reminder that orders for the first edition of the Scholastic Book Club for 2023 must be placed by tomorrow, 23 February 2023. Please return these order forms, with payment, to the school office. 

The Music Bus will commence Monday 13 February 2023 and run weekly sessions thereafter. 

Classes offered are:

• Keyboard (prep-y6)
• Ukulele  (prep -y6)
• Drums (y1-y6)
• Guitar (Y2-y6)

Lessons are:

* 30 minute duration - once per week.

* held in the hi tech music classroom on wheels on the Austins Ferry Primary School site.

* $20 per week ($22 drums) payable by the term on commencement.

If you wish to take part, please complete the digital expression of interest form (per the link below) asap:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ee4627a5204c46158e1ab17e7c8069c6