Weekly
news
Term 4, Week 3
Coming up this week
Calendar
Upcoming Events
MISSION STATEMENT
To work under God in partnership with parents to provide an inclusive, nurturing and high quality education for every student.
VIsion
Flourishing through faith, belonging and the pursuit of excellence.
From The Acting Principal
Mrs Lynda Koren – New Business Manager
This week we welcomed Mrs Lynda Koren to the school as our new Business Manager. Lynda brings with her a wealth of financial experience working in a school setting. We welcome Lynda to the school and look forward to the contribution she will make.
School Captaincy process for 2024
This week the Year 5 students voted for their top six girl and boy students for the school captaincy roles in 2024. Congratulations to the following students.
They will deliver their speeches to the students on Wednesday 8 November at 9:15am in the Chapel. Parents are most welcome to attend.
2024 Planning
As we start to make plans for 2024, we would be grateful if you plan on leaving the school at the end of the year if you could let the office know as soon as possible. This will help us in our planning, especially in regard to availability of places for enrolments in each grade.
Dylan Evans
Acting Principal
From The ACTING DEPUTY Principal
Term 4 is always busy, but is an important time to enjoy and reflect on all the great opportunities and experiences that have happened and are still to come as the year comes to a close.
School Uniform
Students are now required to be in full summer school uniform. Jackets/jumpers can of course be worn if the weather is cool in the mornings.
A reminder that this term, sports uniform is worn:
– on each students PE/Sport day (K-6)
– every Monday for gymnastics (Years 3-5 only)
– on Friday of Weeks 5 & 6 for Clubs (K-6)
Social Media Concerns
Over the last few weeks we have had parents reach out requesting support and clarification around highly publicised threats about the release of disturbing content on social media platforms. The eSafety Commissioner website provides excellent information about how to prevent your child being exposed to disturbing content online and what to do if your child does come across disturbing content.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/illegal-restricted-content/distressing-content
We encourage parents to learn about how to support their children by visiting the website. As a school we also explicitly teach our students about what to do if they come across any content that is inappropriate, upsetting or makes them feel uncomfortable, including immediately reporting to a teacher.
Disco
Last week’s K-2 and 3-6 discos were well attended and lots of great fun. Some students took the extra step of dressing up in matching costumes. There was plenty of good music, games led by our teaching staff and some impressive dance moves on display. We look forward to locking in a disco as a ‘must do’ event in 2024.
Student Leadership
We are soon to begin the exciting process of nominating for and selecting our Team 6 student leadership team for 2024. This year this process is starting a little earlier so we can have in place our Captains, Vice Captains and Sport Captains by the beginning of 2024. We look forward to having all of our current Year 5 students as leaders next year whether that be in formal positions or showing leadership with other opportunities for all students such as being a Buddy for a Kindergarten 2024 student.
World Teacher’s Day
World Teachers’ Day is held internationally on Tuesday 5 October. As it usually falls during the school holidays in many parts of Australia. In NSW, we celebrate World Teachers’ Day on 27 October 2023. This is an important opportunity to formally recognise and celebrate the teachers who are making, or have made, an impact in our lives. Here at LSWW we acknowledge the significant and ongoing expertise, professionalism, relationships and love that our teachers bring each day in making our school such a special place.
CMRI Christmas Fair
This Friday a group of our Team 6 students will be participating in a service task, volunteering at the Children Medical research Institutes’s Christmas Fair. We thank these students in advance for their time and support for such a worthy and special event.
Kindergarten 2024 Transition
Welcome to our Kindergarten 2024 families. We have started Kindergarten 2024 transition in style, spending time with students for a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, meeting parents and cares for an information session and beginning our classroom sessions on Monday. We have so enjoyed getting to know our new families and students and look forward to more visits, including Kindergarten 2024 students meeting their Team 6 2024 Buddy in the coming weeks.
Lauren Forsyth
Acting Deputy Principal
Values Focus
Over the course of term 4 we are hearing some of the ancestral stories of Jesus. We’ve already heard the story of creation, Abraham, Sarah and Rahab, in the coming weeks we’ll be hearing the stories of Ruth, Hannah and Samuel, David, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and then finishing with the birth of Jesus.
One thing that strikes me is that many of the stories are of people who are broken, outsiders, foreigners, too old or too young, it’s a genealogy filled with skeletons in the closet.
Perhaps, when you look in the mirror you are worried that the person looking back at you isn’t perfect, perhaps you’re weighed down by perceived failures or faults.
If that’s the case, can I encourage you to check out the stories of the people of faith who have come before you, people like Abraham, Moses, Rahab and David. None of these people were perfect, all fall short, yet all are in the stories that fill the Hebrew Scriptures, stories that remind us of the God who creates and loves.
It’s almost like the stories are trying to tell us something… that God’s story, that Jesus’ story is full of people who are not perfect, who are outsiders, who may have been looked down upon, who were migrants and foreigners, slaves and oppressors…
Perhaps these stories are important because they remind us that as fragile and as imperfect as we might think we are God’s story continues with us. Like the people of old we are asked to follow, to live out a life of faith and trust God will use us to heal the people around us and the world in which we live.
Shalom
Darren Wright
Chaplain
Curriculum Matters
Mastermind Competition
We are now 2 rounds into our annual Mastermind competition with students across 2-6 competing for the grand prize. There are still 2 initial rounds to go before we move into the Semi-Final and finish with our Grand Final. Dates for the next rounds are listed below.
Round 3 – Wednesday 1st November
Round 4 – Wednesday 8th November
Semi Final – Oral Round – Wednesday 15th November
Grand Final – Friday 24th November – Parents Welcome!
The Importance of Reading to Children
Language is central to human development and is especially important for reading development with long-term consequences for later social and academic functioning.
Reading regularly with children from a young age stimulates patterns of brain development and strengthens parent-child relationships. This, in turn, builds language, literacy, and social-emotional skills. A review reading to children found there were increases in the child’s:
• oral language
• vocabulary
• understanding of the conventions of print
• phonological awareness
• alphabet knowledge
While the effects of shared reading on early literacy are well researched, other activities can also help develop emergent literary skills, including:
• singing
• nursery rhymes
• conversations
• oral storytelling
• environmental print (for example, written printed materials in the general environment such as street signs, food labels, billboards)
Reading stories with your children has benefits for you too. The special time you spend reading together promotes bonding and builds your relationships with your children.
Happy reading!
Jane Antrim
Learning Innovation Coordinator
Blank Section
From The Sports Desk
Todd Woodbridge Cup Regional Final
On Friday 20 October our Stage 2 Tennis Team participated at the Todd Woodbridge Cup Regional Final.
Boys – Charlie Forsyth, Eddie Benecke, Tom Bull, Harry MacGregor and Erik Stone
Girls – Isabelle Rodney, Laia Donaldson, Quinnzaarra Sankar, Matilda Mercer and Ella Labens.
Our team performed very well in their preliminary games defeating all schools in their pool. As a result, we finished top of our pool and qualified for the first semi-final against Wagga Christian College.
Our team displayed impressive teamwork against Wagga Christian College, winning 5 sets to 3. This win qualified our team for the final against Griffith East Public School. The final was hotly contested, with both teams displaying wonderful skill, sportsmanship and school spirit. Griffith East Public School claimed victory, 5 sets to 3.
A big thank you to our parents for their support and Zac Burhop and Paul New for coordinating this event.
Caroline Stewart
PE Teacher/Sports Coordinator
Other Information
Families leaving the school
Please note that one full term’s written notice is required if you are withdrawing your child from Lutheran School. We purchase learning materials based on projected enrolment numbers at least one term in advance. Hence, the enrolment contract you signed specifies that failure to provide a term’s notice will result in you being charged for the subsequent term.
Uniform Shop Orders
If you would like to purchase uniforms from the Uniform Shop, please email [email protected]
We will email you once the order is ready to be picked up from the office. Thank you.
