Thank you to those members of the P&C who joined us for dinner on Saturday night to thank Catherine Pearce for the work she has done for our school over a number of years. The P&C at North Nowra have made a significant contribution to improving the learning of students at our school.  At present the P&C are involved in providing cover in the kindergarten playground.

District Athletics Carnival

Last Friday forty of our students represented our school in the Shoalhaven District Athletics Carnival at Shoalhaven High School Athletics Track. In the overall points score North Nowra Public Finished in fourth place. This is a fantastic effort when you consider that we were able to finish in front of a number of larger schools including Nowra, Bomaderry and Callala.

Individually Adam Watson was the 11years boy champion and Yolanda Van Arkel the 12/13 years girl runner up. Congratulations to these students on excellent performances. Both of our Senior Relay teams have qualified to compete at the South Coast Area Carnival in Canberra on 9 September. At this stage the school will have up to 12 students competing at this carnival. This is a fantastic achievement.

University of New South Wales Competition Results

The school has received the results of the University of New South Wales Spelling, Science and Writing Competitions. The results in the Writing Competition are very pleasing with a number of students achieving good results. Those who achieved well are: Jordan Collins, Charlotte Lee, Breanna Macey, Cameron Musgrove and Quinn Patterson who all achieved a Credit.

In the Science Competition Charlotte Lee and Breanna Macey achieved a Credit. Quinn Paterson achieved a Distinction. This is an outstanding result and puts Quinn in the top 8% of those students who sat for this exam.

In the Spelling Competition Breanna Macey has achieved a Credit pass.

Congratulations to all of these students who have achieved great results.

Stewart House Appeal

Each student will receive an envelope fro Stewart House as part of their donation drive for 2008. Stewart House is the official charity of New South Wales Schools. Stewart house is a centre that we send students who need a holiday or a complete medical assessment. Students and families are asked to make a gold coin donation in the envelope. All those who make this donation will go into the draw for a $4000 family holiday of the winners choice. Entries close on Friday 12 September.

David Hogg

Principal

Over the last week we have been reinforcing the skills of good citizenship with our students. The main theme here is that we come to school to learn ad enjoy the friendships that we make with other students. It is our view that school should be a safe and happy place for all students. Students should not feel unhappy because other students tease and do things to upset them. The staff is currently teaching units from the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Curriculum that focus on building positive relationships with peers.

I ask that parents reinforce these concepts with their children at home. Where there are negative experiences students should report these to a teacher in the first instance and to me if they feel that the issue has not been addressed.

P & C Thank You Function

The P&C have organised an informal dinner to recognise the contribution that Catherine Pearce and Stephanie Bristoe have made to our school. Both of these parents are no longer involved in our school and the P&C would like to acknowledge their contribution over a long period.

The function will be a social dinner for past and present parents. The dinner will take place at the North Nowra Tavern this Saturday evening, 16 August with a 6:30pm for 7:00pm start.

If you are interested in coming please contact Kin Webb Wagg, 44213136 or Fiona Lewis 44230225 to book. This will be a great night to mix with other parens. Come along and enjoy yourself.

Athletics Results

 Mr Hansen has completed the school athletics carnival and we now have all the results. Our team of around 40 students will be competing at the Shoalhaven District Carnival on Friday 15 August.

North Nowra Public School Athletics Champions 2008

Junior Boy        Bryce Mason                            Junior Girl         Indiana Van Arkel

11Years Boy    Adam Watson                          11Yeaers Girl   Jessica Wiliams

Senior Boy       Luke Flint                                 Senior Girl        Yolanda Van Arkel

Congratulations to the champions on a great effort.  Well done to all those students who competed and gave of their best.

Champion House

The results of the house competition were:

1^st        Wattle

2^nd        Bluegum

3^rd        Waratah

4^th        Banksia

Preparatory High School Science Course for Year 6 Students

The Shoalhaven Campus of the University of Wollongong is holding preparatory science course for Year 6 students going to high school in 2009. The course is held on Wednesday afternoons beginning on 27 August and finishing on 24 September. Each week a different strand of science is covered. Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology and Electricity are all covered. The cost of the course is $120. If you are interested in your child participating in this course please contact Mrs Fletcher who will send home more details.

School Foyer

The school foyer is a place where we like to display students work. We have had  pottery on display for some time and this has now changed to some technology theme. In this display there are great examples of work from students across the school. Many parents often come to school to collect or bring students and don’t come into the foyer thus not seeing these great displays. Please take a moment and come in and see the great things that students are doing.

Reading Recovery Graduate

Mrs Freeman has a very important role in our school helping those students who have experienced some difficulties in learning to read. One of the programs that she works with is the very successful Reading Recovery Program. At the assembly yesterday Rheanan Booth graduated from this program. This is a great effort! She is to be congratulated on her hard work.

Lost Property

The school collects a great deal of lost property. The main reason for this is that the clothes that are left in the playground are not labelled. Please label ALL of your child’s clothes and we will make sure that those items lost find their owner.

David Hogg

Principal

Last week the school had an informal visit from our Regional Director, Mr Graeham Kennedy. Graeham makes it his goal to visit all schools in our region and talk with the principal and staff about issues that are important to them. On his visit last week he took the time to present service certificates to two of our most valued teacher, Mrs Jenkinson and Miss Graham. In presenting these certificates Mr Kennedy made the point that teaching and making a difference in the lives of students is very satisfying and rewarding. I can only agree with what he said about the rewards of teaching.

Mr Kennedy visited our kindergarten rooms where he was impressed with our students. Kindergarten were celebrating one hundred days at school. They were engaged in all sorts of activities that related to 100.

Athletics Carnival

The annual school athletics carnival was held last Friday in less than ideal conditions. It really had to proceed as the District Carnivals will be held in the next week and we need to get our team organised for this.

Mr Hansen was happy with the day given the conditions. In next week’s newsletter there will be a list of results and final placings of the houses.

Thank you to Mr Hansen for his organisation, the teachers and parent volunteers who work so hard on the day. Special thanks you to the Bomaderry High School students who assisted on the day.

P&C Meeting

The next meeting of the P&C will be held in the staffroom at 7:00pm tomorrow evening. At the meeting I will speak about our school evaluation for 2008 and give parents a perspective on what and how we will be approaching this important aspect of our work.

Professional Learning

During the next fortnight a number of our teachers will be engaged in professional learning activities. This year our Kindergarten students were fortunate to be part of the Best Start Program. This program is used to assess students when they arrive at school and thus plan for their future learning. Our Year ! and 2 teachers will be involved in the next stage of this in the next fortnight.

Mrs Jenkinson is at a Swimming Course today in preparation for the Special Swimming Scheme that will be held for Year 2 later this year.

Mrs Jenkinson and Miss Graham will be attending one of the Region’s Linkages Conferences next Tuesday. At this conference . Professor Martin Westwell, Director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21^st Centre will give the keynote address, “The Mind and Learning- what does brain research really say?”

Workshops on the day will address Literacy and Numeracy, the Quality Teaching Framework and How data can inform classroom teachers.

David Hogg

Principal

I have spoken to Mr Hansen this morning and we have decided to postpone the athletics carnival until Friday. The main reason for this is that we are unable to mark the track because of the recent rain and that the forecast for Friday is more favourable.

Last Friday all students received a permission note and medical note to allow them to attend and participate in the carnival. These must be returned to school before the carnival. Hopefully most have been returned by today. Please make sure that you have completed these notes and have your child bring them to school.

Parents have complained to me in the past about the need to complete a medical note for every excursion. This is not a school policy but rather a Department Policy and has come about because the school has not been advised of changes to student medical information and this has become an issue on the excursion.

Student Details

Could parents who have changed their address, telephone number or emergency contact numbers held at school please advise the office of these changes. We have recently had some problems trying to contact parents when there was an emergency.

Southern Stars

Our Southern Stars Choir went to Albion Park for their first rehearsal last Friday. Mrs Jenkinson and Mrs Fletcher were very pleased with the attitude and effort of our students. I am really looking forward to the production on 29 August. I am sure it will be another excellent show.

Congratulations Yolanda van Arkle

Congratulations to Yolanda van Arkel who represented the South Coast Area at the NSWPSSA State Cross Country held at Eastern Creek last Friday. Yolanda ran her very best finishing a creditable 20^th in a field of more than eighty students from all over the state.

David Hogg

Principal

I hope that you and your children have had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday and that you are all ready for a busy Semester 2. This term I hope that all students concentrate on those areas that were highlighted in the Semester 1 Report that heed attention. I am confident that with some extra attention to these areas that all students can show improvement.

Once again the term will be very busy both inside the classroom and with many extra curricula activities outside the classroom. This term we will see the school, district and area athletics carnivals. Our school carnival will be held next Wednesday, 30 July at Drexell Park. Parents will receive a separate note to be completed for this activity. From our carnival we will select a team to compete at the Shoalhaven District Carnival. This carnival will be held on Friday 15 August. Our school has previously done very well at this carnival.

Music will be a focus for quite a number of our students this term. The Southern Stars Spectacular will be held on 29 and 30 August and once again we will have a choir singing in this very prestigious event. In the period leading up to the performance the choir will be required to attend rehearsals, the first of these will be on Friday.

Also being held this term is the Shoalhaven Schools Music Festival this will be held in week 8 of term. Our choir will be performing at this very important evening when the talents of Shoalhaven Public Schools will be on display.

In the next few weeks parents of students in Years 3 and 5 will receive the results of the NAPLAN tests that were completed last term. When these results arrive the school will carry out an extensive analysis of our school’s performance. The outcome of the analysis will guide how we allocate resources to better cater for student needs.

Parent Interviews

Thank you to those parents who too advantage of the opportunity to see their child’s teacher and discuss the Student Progress Report last term. If you have not seen your child’s teacher about the report and would like to discuss this please contact the school and a convenient time for both yourself and the teacher concerned will be organised.

Problems at School

From time to time there issues that arise at school that cause some concern to parents. The issues are usually a cause of anxiety to parent who often are not sure how to approach the issue. Parents sometimes feel that the issue is trivial and will resolve itself over time. At other times parents can become very upset, especially if the issue does not get resolved and continues.

When an issue arises I ask that parents contact the school, usually myself, and discuss the problem with me and I will then make the necessary enquiries and get the other side of the issue and report back to the parent. When this happens we will discuss the action that needs to be taken.

 I request that parents do not approach teachers about such issues unless an appointment has been organised. It is very difficult for a teacher to handle a problem whilst preparing to teach a class.

At no time should parents approach another child about the issue at school. This practice is not permitted on school premises. Parents should bring the issue to the school’s attention before discussing it with other parents. It is almost impossible to resolve an issue that occurs at school and is then taken outside the school with parents approaching each other. This often causes great conflict between families!

Emailing the Newsletter

We are currently considering emailing the newsletter to parents who would prefer to receive it this way. If you would like to receive this newsletter by email please send us your email address and we will begin a distribution list. Your privacy will be maintained as the mail will be sent using BCC (blank carbon copy) on the address bar. I will advise parents when this procedure begins.

David Hogg

Principal

All parents should have received their child’s 1st Semester Report on Friday.  The staff has put a great deal of work into these reports. These reports are quite detailed and give a great deal of information about your child’s achievement in the academic, social and behavioural areas of school. The report also indicates areas that need some special attention so that further development can take place.

Parent interviews are being held this week. If you have not made an appointment to see your child’s teacher I urge you to do so. Appoints can be made by contacting the school office, ph 44227045.

NAIDOC
This week we are celebrating NAIDOC Week at School. On Friday we will be having a “Doing Things Together Day” with an Aboriginal theme. Doing things together means that the students will be divided into vertical groups (students from K – 6 in each group) and rotate through a number of activities being run by teachers. Some of the activities include: Aboriginal painting, making bookmarks sand painting and Dreamtime videos. At the end of the activities an assembly will be held where students can show what they have made.

Friday is a mufti day with students encouraged to wear red, yellow and black colours.

Science Competition Success
The school has received the results of the University of New South Wales Science Competition. It is pleasing o report that Charlotte Lee and Breanna Macey of Year 4 both attained a Credit.

Congratulations to Quinn Patterson of Year 6 who achieved a Distinction This is a fantastic achievement and places Quinn in the top 8% of those students who sat for the test. Well done, Quinn

Values Forum
Thank you to those parents who participated in the values forum held last Wednesday. The discussion was valuable and has given us some direction in which the school can head in this area. It is important that the whole school community has a shared understanding of the values that we want our students to learn. We will be doing more in this area next term.

Annual School Report
The school’s Annual Report for 2007 has arrived and I have included a copy with this newsletter.

Principal’s Morning Tea
Congratulations to the following students who have achieved a Blue Certificate this term and will be attending a special morning tea on Thursday at recess:

Lilliarna Economos, Abbey Bruton, Bethany Loader,  Karlee Symonds, Matthew Morris, Harley Shaw, Kailem Bowers, Emily Rodgers, Brielle Musgrove,  Rory Archer, Karli Flint, Kyle Batalla, Shaye Cruickshank, Paddy Hitchison, Ashleigh Peter, Toni Mudditt, Mark Nightingale, Haylen Tait, Brandan Thorpe, Sarah Roberts, Chloeann Murray, Noah Lewis, Victoria Kennedy, Tahlia Macey Rowell, Claudia Mackey, Chloe Bruton,  Alyssa Jane Kirwin, Sophie Mudditt

School Vacation
Friday is the last day of school for this term.  School will be on holiday for two weeks. Students return to school on Tuesday 22 July. Staff will return to school on Monday 21 July.

David Hogg
Principal

Thank you to Mrs Jenkinson and Ms Graham who did a great job deputising for me while I was in Darwin with the NSW Primary Boys Cricket contesting the Australian Exchange. The team had a successful trip winning the competition.

Reports go Home Friday
On Friday your child will receive their 1st Semester Report.  The report will be quite extensive and will be four pages in length.  Your child will be graded on academic achievement in all Key Learning Areas. The grading will be awarded as words to describe your child’s level of achievement. It is expected that students achieving  at the accepted level for their grade will be described as sound. The student will also be giving a ranking that indicates the effort that they have put into their achievement.

Teachers have also written comments for each Key Learning Area. These comments give parents an indication of the actual outcomes covered in Semester 1. The comments will indicate where your child has achieved well and also where your child needs to improve their achievement. The report also has a general comment that allows teachers to give an overall indication of your child’s commitment to school.

Parent Interviews Next Week
All parents should have received a not in respect to the parent interview sessions being held at school next week. These interview sessions are an important follow up to the pupil report that you will receive on Friday. At these sessions your child’s teacher will be able to answer any questions that you have in respect to the report. Also it is a great time for you and the teacher to meet and plan for the future achievement of your child.

Teachers will have sent back interview times to those parents who have returned the interview slip. Its not too late to make an appointment with your child’s teacher. Just complete the note and return it to school as soon as possible. If you are unavailable to see your child’s teacher at the times that have been indicated and would like to discuss your child’s progress with the teacher contact the school office and a mutually agreeable time will be organised.

I hope you all had a great long weekend and that you spent time catching up with family and getting around to those activities that we normally don’t have time for in our busy lives. The next four weeks at school will be quite busy with a variety of activities planned.

This week we have our students involved in the Group 7 Schoolboys Rugby League Carnival on Wednesday. This schoolboy carnival has a long tradition with a number of international footballers have played. I am sure that the bys representing our school will do their best.

Stage 3 students will be travelling to Sydney to the IMAX as part of their unit of study on the Antarctic. This excursion will be held in Week 9.

Teachers will be conducting Semester 1 parent interviews in the last week of term. You will receive a note advising you of the times that your child’s teacher is available next week. Where a parent is unavailable to see their child’s teacher at any of the allocated times a time mutually agreeable to both teacher and parent can be organised by contacting the school.

P&C News

This Friday our P&C is running the canteen at the South Coast Area Cross Country Championships at Willandra. This event involves both primary and secondary students from across our region. As such it is a great opportunity for our school to make a significant amount of money. To do this e need your help. If you are able to help for any part of the day it would be greatly appreciated. If you can give of some time on Friday please contact Tina Smart at school, 44227045 or 0427525415M

Possum Magic Trip

The P& C have purchased tickets to this fantastic children’s performance at the Merrigong Theatre on Saturday 19 July. Our kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students are studying this book in class as part of their literacy development. We still have quite a number of tickets available for purchase. If you would like to take your child to this performance contact Mrs Dilley or Tina Smart in the Canteen for more details.

Australian Primary Schools Cricket Championships

I will be absent from school from Friday 13 June until Tuesday 24 June as I will be in Darwin as manager of the New South Wales Primary Boys Cricket Team. The team will be contesting the School Sport Australia Primary Cricket Championships against the other states and territories. These championships are usually held during the January school vacation but as it is the Northern Territory’s turn to host the championships they are being held in June as it would not be possible to hold them in the top end in January.

David Hogg
Principal

It looks like the cold winter months are here. With the start of June temperatures have dropped and we have had a large number of student absences. At this time of year it is important that students who get influenza stay away from school until it clears up. Over the winter most of us will get the common cold and experience he symptoms of a headache, runny nose and feel generally unwell. When this happens it is best to have a couple of days rest rather that come to school and spread the infection to other students. Please remember that after being away from school a note of explanation should be ent with your child.

Defence Parent Afternoon Tea
The school has a large number of students whose parents work in our defence forces. As a result of this the school has a Defence Schools Transition Aide. In our case we are fortunate to have Mrs Fiona Lewis filling this role. Her job is to make sure that new students whose parents are part of the defence forces settle into school smoothly. Many of these students come from interstate where the curriculum varies from that in New South Wales. Part of the also entails making positive links between the school and these families. Last Friday Mrs Lewis organised an afternoon tea for these parents. It was well attended and it gave me a chance to meet some of these parents.

Thank you to Fiona for organising this successful event.

Aboriginal Parent Meeting
All parents of Aboriginal students should have received an invitation to attend a special meeting at the North Nowra Community Centre on Thursday at 1:00pm. The purpose of the meeting is to explain the process and purpose of personalised learning plans. These are to be implemented for all Aboriginal students during 2008. It is necessary to have input from parents and students when formulating these plans. We are hoping that the introduction of these plans will give us greater understanding of these students and as a result improve the educational outcomes for these students.

Reports
As I advised last week our staff are busy preparing the First Semester Reports fr all students. The reports will be issued to students on Friday 27 June. Teachers will be holding Parent / Teacher interviews in the following week. You will receive separate advise of the exact times these will be held with your class teacher. I would encourage all parents to plan to take advantage of these interview sessions as they usually prove to be beneficial to both parents and teachers.

Professional Learning
Our teachers are continuing to keep up to date with trends and new ideas in education. Yesterday three teachers attended a literacy session with the regional consultant held at Illaroo Road Public School after school. Next week we have more teachers attending a problem solving in mathematics professional learning session day at Bomaderry.

Sports News
Congratulations to Adam Watson(4H) who has been selected in the Shoalhaven District Touch Football Team. This is a highly competitive team to be selected in as there are up to 60 boys competing for selection.

Well done to the school cross country team that competed at Willandra last Wednesday. Yolanda van Arkel has been selected in the Shoalhaven District Team to compete at the South Coast Area Carnival on Friday June. Our team as a group did very well with the 10 years girls team winning their event and the school finishing 6th verall.

P&C Meeting
The next P&C meeting will be held in the staffroom tomorrow night beginning at 7:00pm. Please come along and participate in your school’s parent body.

David Hogg
Principal

Thank you to all of those parents who were able to come to our special Education Week Assembly. The performance by our students was just great. As I said at the assembly each fortnight we have an assembly and one of our classes puts on an item similar to that performed by 4H yesterday.

Kindergarten again performed “Green Eggs and Ham” which was so successful at the eisteddfod last week. Our band certainly gave parents and students a great idea of he range of instruments that are involved and performed a good range of pieces. North Nowra has always had a very good choir and he performance by the choir yesterday was very good indeed.

Such performances take a great deal of team work by the students and the teachers. We are fortunate to have teachers who are able to give our students such great experience.

Reporting to Parents

Our teachers are currently working very hard preparing the first semester report cards for students. The reports will be slightly different t those issued in 2007. The main difference will be that each Key Learning Area will have a written comment. The report will also contain gradings in English and Mathematics. The report will be quite extensive and be four pages in length. Social development, involvement in school activities and commitment to learning will also be a feature of the report.

Reports will be issued to students on Friday 27 June. Parents will receive advice of the arrangements for parent interviews that will be held during the week following the issue of reports.

Aboriginal Parent Meeting

All parents of Aboriginal students will receive an invitation to a special meeting to be held at the North Nowra Community Centre on Thursday 5 June. The purpose f the meeting will be to discuss the implementation of Personalised Learning Plans for all Aboriginal students at our school. This initiative is a Department of Education requirement for all Aboriginal students.

David Hogg
Principal