Welcome back to Term 4, I trust everyone had a well-deserved and restful break! We have certainly hit the ground running since returning with students focussed on learning and teachers preparing for events and reporting which happen in Term 4.

It is always busy in Term 4 with learn to swim, leavers events, class placements and the general business that happens at the end of a year.

AFPS Year 3-6 Swim Carnival

It was very impressive to witness the courage and aspiration shown by our students at our swim carnival last Tuesday! We had outstanding participation which was supported by events that catered for all swimming abilities. Our 3 houses competed against each other with enthusiasm and sportsmanship with plenty of encouragement for each other. A big thank you to Mr G who ran the carnival while Mr Bailey was on paternity leave.

COVID restrictions – End of year events

I would like to outline some of the limitations we are facing with whole school events in Term 4, due to COVID restrictions we have had to change the way we structure events to support Government and DoE guidelines

Carols event – cancelled due to high risk environment where we can’t restrict entry and exit and recording of attendee’s details. The event will return in 2021!

Awards assemblies – attendance for parents/carers will be by invitation only and linked to those students who will receive awards.

Leaver’s assembly – Each Year 6 student will be permitted to have 2 x adults attend the assembly (this will be strictly monitored).

K-2 Swim and Water Safety

Unfortunately due to the impact of COVID-19 this program was cancelled earlier in the year. The reason being that all pools were closed and only recently opened, this has had a huge impact on the compulsory state-wide Year 3-5 program. Pools state-wide have now made the 3-5 program the priority and other program dates have been cancelled. We hope the K-2 program at AFPS will continue again in 2021.

Bike track progress

I am very excited to confirm that our new bike track is under construction with a completion date in the next week or 2, weather dependant. As a school we are working on the planning in regards to student and community use plus the purchase of a fleet of bikes to be used in HPE and school programs. Our students are super excited and watching the progress of the track daily!

Term 4 Hats

A reminder to families that hats will again be compulsory for all students in Term 4. If students are not wearing a hat they will be required to sit in the shade in our courtyard.

Tim Nicholas

Principal

Dear Parents/Carers,

School Photo Days will be Monday 2 November and Tuesday 3 November.

Each student has been provided with an envelope. The envelope contains each child’s unique shoot key, payment option information and available packages.

Family photos will also be offered this year, these sessions will be between 8am and 9am on both mornings.  If you are wanting to order a family photo please collect a family order form from the office.

Please note that the order envelope must be returned to school on the day of the photos and passed on to the photography company.

Order envelopes and money will not be accepted at the office or stored in the classroom.

Correct change is required, neither the school nor the photography company have the capacity to provide change.

Review into Reporting to Families Survey

The Department of Education is undertaking a Review into Reporting to Families. This Review will provide recommendations for refinements to our reporting system so that it continues to meet the needs of learners, families and schools in the most meaningful ways.

Parents and carers can have their say by completing the Review into Reporting to Families Survey. This survey is open from 12 October to 13 November.

The survey contains multiple choice questions and will take approximately 5 minutes to complete

We encourage you to get involved and have your say.

More information

Visit the Review into Reporting to Families webpage.

Throughout term 3, Blue Pod 5/6 explored poetry. We looked at the different forms and styles of poetry and the language features and poetic devices used to create vivid and expressive poems.

Welcome to term 4 where a lot of great learning will be taking place.

During literacy we have been focussing on procedural and information text writing as well as finishing off our poetry unit from last term.

During maths this term we will be focussing on time, decimals, percentages, division and problem solving. We have had a big focus on mathematical vocabulary and have made up posters to display in our room.

HASS lessons will be focused around Sustainability using the David Attenborough movie: "A life on our planet” and also an overview of the 3 levels of government.

Science will continue to focus on electrical circuits during sessions with Mr Stewart.

The School Association committee have been busy seeking donations and sponsorship for the 2020 Christmas Raffle.  Please see details below of some of the prizes.

Raffle books (10 tickets per book @ $1.00 each) will be sent home to all families soon.  Please return the books, either sold or unsold, to the school office no later than Tuesday 8 December 2020.  The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 9 December at the Years 3-6 Awards Assembly.

A huge thank you to all the generous donors and sponsors!