Toongabbie West Public School

2024

Wednesday 22 May - National Simultaneous Storytime, in the school hall

Thursday 23 May - P&C Meeting at 9am in the hall

Monday 10 June - King's Birthday public holiday

Tuesday 18 June - P&C meeting 7pm in the library

Wednesday 26 June - Whole school excursion, Mary Poppins Jnr. More information to come

Friday 5 July - NAIDOC celebrations

Friday 5 July - Last day of Term 2

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that we are continuing our COVID-smart measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses such as the flu in our school community.

Our community continues to live with COVID-19, so our school will use baseline COVID-smart measures to minimise transmission while prioritising student and staff wellbeing. These layered safety measures include:

• Staying home if unwell.

• Students and staff should stay home until they are well and have no symptoms, even if they have a negative COVID-19 test result.

• Regularly washing and/or sanitising your hands.

• Maintaining natural ventilation in classrooms with windows and doors open whenever possible, including when cooling/heating systems are in use.

School Fencing

After a long and sustained process combined with our parents/carers voicing their concerns, we now have our new security fencing installed.

The safety of all our students and staff is my number one priority. Students who feel secure in their learning environment are able to focus more on their learning, same goes for our staff.

Many parents/carers have expressed their gratitude for this increased level of safety for all the students, enhancing their level of confidence when their child/ren are at school.

Parent/Carer Information Session

From the 2024 Parent/Carer survey, many of you asked for information sessions around the new curriculum and how mathematics is taught at TWPS.

On Wednesday 22 May at 2:30pm in the library, Mrs Banning will be presenting a workshop for parents/carers about how Curriculum Reform impacts your child’s learning and how we deliver ‘Number Talks’ in all our mathematics lessons.

P&C Meeting

I would love to see more parents/carers at our next P&C meeting on Thursday 23 May at 9am, in the School Hall. At this meeting, I will be discussing our new Strategic Improvement Plan for 2024-2027.

SMS ALERTS FOR ATTENDANCE AND LATE ARRIVALS

When your child is absent from school, parents/carers have a responsibility to provide the school with an explanation within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence.

Our school will be sending SMS alerts for those students who are absent or have arrived late to school. A simple reply to this SMS with an explanation will replace the written letter, phone call or email that has previously been required.

If your child is absent due to an illness, it is recommended that you provide a medical certificate. Medical certificates to be either sent in with your child or emailed to the school.

It is essential that students are at school before 8:55am.

At Toongabbie West PS, we value effective partnerships with parents/carers as we are both responsible for encouraging regular attendance and punctuality for all our students.

As parents/carers, we all want the best for our children and you can help your child to succeed at school by supporting the school to:

• Ensure your child regularly attends school. Parents/carers of children of compulsory school age are responsible for ensuring their child attends school every day. It is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes.
• Ensure your child arrives at school on time. Every class at TWPS starts the day with the morning routine, to provide a strong foundation for the day’s learning. We need every student to be part of the morning routine as it sets them up for success.

Time away from learning adds up quickly.

Wonderful Work By The Students

It is my absolute pleasure to see students achieving their learning goals.

I love having them visit me in my office.

Look at the amazing work that the students have shared with me this fortnight.

Wendy Kayello

Principal

I am thrilled to share with you the incredible experiences our students had at the recent Zone Cross Country Running event. It was a day filled with determination, camaraderie, and remarkable achievements that all attending staff and parents were proud to be a part of.

As the races commenced, Mrs Liu-Chan, Mrs Hayward and myself were in awe of our students' performance. Each one of them put forth their best effort, showcasing not only their physical endurance but also their unwavering determination. Watching them push through the challenging terrain, I felt an immense sense of pride. All students demonstrated resilience and sportsmanship, qualities that are just as important as their athletic skills.

Beyond the races, the sense of team spirit was incredible. Our students cheered each other on, offering words of encouragement and high-fives at every turn. This supportive environment was heartwarming to witness and speaks volumes about the positive culture we cultivate within our school.

I want to extend my gratitude to all the parents and guardians for your unwavering support. Your encouragement and involvement play a crucial role in our students' success and well-being.

Together, we are helping to shape not only great athletes but also outstanding individuals.

Miss Kalintas

Thank you to all the awesome students who attended our SRC Movie Night Fundraiser. So much fun was had. Thank you to all the teachers who volunteered their time to make the night successful. I am so happy to tell you that we raised $887.00. This fund will be put towards indoor games for library use.

Thank you for participating.

As part of last years SRC fundraising, we purchased activities for students to use during lunch time. This initiative is run by our House Captains on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We began this initiative last Wednesday. Students borrowed and returned equipment to enjoy out on the grass area.

Thank you to all the families who supported our fundraising.

In the Week 2 assembly, we congratulated these students for receiving a Bronze award. These students are on their way to receiving their first, second or possibly third silver award. Well done to all of these students on their hard work!

Over the last fortnight, (Term 2 Weeks 2 and 3) our PBL focus was to be resilient, by trying our best and being persistent. This fortnight’s PBL focus is to be respectful by treating others the way we want to be treated.

Additionally, at the Week 3 Monday morning assembly, we congratulated these students in our school who have consistently demonstrated the PBL expectations. A huge congratulations to the students below!

We as the PBL team have created a visual to assist the students, parents and carers the progression of the Tassie Stamp awards. Please see this below.