Newsletter Week 8 Term 3 2024

Message from the Principal

Hats, phones, pickup-up and flowers

Just a reminder that children should now be wearing their hats for outside play and activities. Acceptable hats are bucket, broad-brimmed and Legionnaire’s hats. Hoodies and caps are not appropriate substitutions. Your assistance with this is much appreciated.

If your child brings a phone or smart watch to school, please remind them it needs to go to the front office when they arrive at school and then be collected at 3.00pm. Can you also remind them they are not allowed to use it on school grounds whilst they are waiting for a bus or you to pick them up, please?

It has come to our attention that the rear carpark is often unnecessarily banked up onto National Circuit. Can we ask you to come into the carpark pick up zones as far as possible please? If you take the first few spots you come to, it blocks the carpark to other users and, over time, slows everyone down.

The Floriade displays are looking amazing in bloom! Thanks to James and Daniel for all their work to make these displays look so beautiful. Final reminder- please chat to your child about the fragility of flowers, being mindful of all living things, and taking care of our environment for the sake of the whole community.

Order of Australia Awards and Rotary Dinner

Belle Kowalsky and I had the honour of joining Olivia N, Mimi R, Nate K and Flynn E at the Order of Australia Awards. Olivia and Mimi received the Highly Commended award and Nate and Flynn received the Certificate of Commendation. Forrest’s Earlyact Club received the Plaque Award. These are amazing accolades for the children individually and collectively, as well as to Belle and Gaby Steinhardt (pictured in the following picture next to Chris Pilgrim) who work tirelessly to support the children in the Earlyact Club. In the picture below, Nate, Flynn, Mimi, Olivia, Belle and Gaby are being recognised for their efforts by the local Rotary Society by the wonderful Chris!

Meet and Greet Session

I would like to offer a meet and greet session for parents on Wednesday 25^th September 5pm to 6pm. This will be an opportunity for me to answer any questions, hear any concerns or suggestions you have, and for me to elaborate on some recent areas of progress across the school. If you could RSVP to chris.jones@ed.act.edu.au by Monday 23rd so I can choose the most appropriate venue in the school and get enough chairs out, that would be wonderful. Once we know the numbers, we will let you know the venue.

Reading at home

In my research on vulnerable children, I’ve recently been reading research from the Centre for Community Child Health:

One thing shines through- the most common factor which makes children vulnerable is not reading to them at home. In our home, we read to our child from the day she was born right through to the end of Year Six. We had some arguments about this at times (“none of my friends do this” etc.) but we stuck to our line. She’s now studying English at university. It’s never too late to put these structures in place and the benefits are immeasurable.

Please enjoy reading a story with your child this evening!

Earlyact

The Earlyact Club has been working so hard this term and they have so much to show for their efforts! We have over fifty students who are active in our club on a regular basis, including students from years 2, 3, 5 and 6. It is so inspirational working to support all of them each week.

Order of Australia

Late last term nominations were placed with the Order of Australia Student Citizenship Award Committee for individual and groups of students who demonstrate outstanding citizenship in their local community. Forrest nominated four individuals and the Earlyact Club as a group, and all of them were privileged to receive awards at the recent presentation at the Royal Golf Club. The Earlyact Club received an Order of Australia Plaque Award for ‘its effective and considerate work to support areas of need in the community’. Nate Keeley and Flynn Elsworthy received Certificates of Commendation and Mimi Ruge and Olivia Nicol received Highly Commended Awards.

These students then presented speeches to our sponsoring Rotary Club at a recent meeting, outlining their awards and the Earlyact Club’s role in the school community.

Rotary

Earlier this term the Earlyact President, Olivia Nicol, and the Vice President, Mimi Ruge, were presented with the inaugural Rotary Earlyactor of the Year Award at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Canberra-Weston Creek. These students were nominated for their contributions to the Forrest Earlyact Club, including their organisational skills, supportiveness and their willingness to go above and beyond for their causes and the club. Earlyact students were nominated by their schools and then the nominating Rotary committee selected the deserving students. Olivia and Mimi were guests of honour at a Rotary meeting where they were presented with their plaques and certificates. It was a lovely evening with Rotarians being inspired by our fabulous students.

Big Action Week

Week 7 was a huge success in terms of raising awareness and donations for a number of worthy causes.

• A group swapped raffle tickets for stationary donations for Buk Bilong Pikinini.
• The dress in pink and jellybean guessing competition raised $571.20 for Breast Cancer Network Australia.
• Dress in PJ Day raised $276.10 for the ACT RSPCA.
• The cake stall raised $779.50 for UNICEF to help children in crisis.
• Dress Up as a Farmer Day raised $196.10 for Flanno for a Farmer/Farm Angels to support our Australian farmers.
• Crazy Hair Day raised $270.75 for new garden beds in the school playground.

The Earlyact Club thanks the school community for supporting them in their events and causes.

Donation Hub

Don’t forget that we have our Donation Hub set up in the library. We collect clothing and household donations for Roundabout Canberra, stationary items for Buk Bilong Pikinini, food and household items for St John’s Care, plus CLEAN lids to donate to Lids 4 Kids. These items can be dropped in at any time.

Belinda Kowalski and Gaby Steinhardt

Preschool News

Strong Foundations

(This is a communication that schools have been asked to share with their community.)

As part of the Strong Foundations reform program, ACT public schools will begin a phased introduction of the Year 1 Phonics Check starting with 26 schools this term. Forrest Primary School is not one of the selected schools for this term.

The Phonics Check is a quick and easy way for teachers to gauge the phonics knowledge of Year 1 students. It is designed to help teachers identify students who may need more help learning to read.

The first schools selected to participate were chosen based on demographic, location and size to provide a broad sample from across the ACT public school system. Insights from this first group of schools will inform a rollout of the Year 1 Phonics Check to our school and all ACT public schools in 2025.

This is an important milestone as part of the Strong Foundations program designed to strengthen literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students. You can read more on the Education Directorate website.

Jane Simmons,

Deputy Director-General

ACT Education Directorate

School Sport ACT Representatives

Congratulations to the following students who have represented the ACT at School Sport Australia Championships in their respective sports over the past few weeks. Our Forrest Primary School community is very proud of your achievements.

Well done to you and your families for all your efforts in training, travel and dedication to the sport. We hope each event was lots of fun and good luck for next year.

Congratulations Charlotte!

On Sunday September 1^st, Charlotte in 5FD competed in the ACT Open Levels State Championships for Gymnastics. She competed in Level 5 for Woden Valley Gymnastics Club.

She won:

• Gold for both Vault and Bars
• Silver for Beam
• Bronze for floor

And was awarded the overall state championship title. 

Well done, Charlotte!

Charnwood Alumni