Newsletter Week 6 Term 4 2023

Executive Address

I am delighted to introduce myself as the new Deputy Principal at Forrest Primary School.  Having recently joined the wonderful community, I have already felt the warm embrace of the school and its dedicated staff, parents, and students. With an extensive 25-year career in education across various school settings in the Australian Capital Territory, I bring wealth of experience to my role. My journey in education has fostered a deep passion for inclusive learning environments and a commitment to promoting a positive school culture. I am eager to collaborate with all members of the school community to ensure that Forrest Primary continues to be a place of growth, learning and inclusivity. Please do not hesitate to reach out or simply say hello when you see me around the school.  I am genuinely looking forward to meeting and getting to know each and every one of you. Here’s to a fantastic remainder of the school year filled with shared successes and memorable moments.

Colour Explosion Fun Run

A special thank you to all the parents who made the recent Colour Explosion Fun Run on Friday, November 10th, an overwhelming success!

We are excited to announce that, thanks to your incredible support, we raised over $13,000 to go towards Maths resources in our school. This remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work of our school community.

The vibrant and energetic atmosphere at the Fun Run was truly a testament to the collaborative spirit of our school. The kaleidoscope of colours, laughter, and positive energy that filled the air reflected the unity and strength of our school community.

 We look forward to more exciting events and collaborative efforts in the future.

Working Bee

The Working Bee is this Sunday 19 November!

If you can make it please come along to help maintain some of our valued garden spaces. Light refreshments and drinks will be provided. Please enter via the side gate near the Senior Hall. The Working Bee starts at 9am and we look forward to seeing you there.

Farewell Assembly

Musical Gala

We are holding a Musical Gala evening next Thursday 23 November in the Senior Hall. The Gala will start at 4pm and finish around 5.30pm. No tickets or RSVP necessary, just come along if you can make it. If your child is performing in the Musical Gala they should have brought home a note with details about the event. For more information please email katherine.atkins@ed.act.edu.au

If your child is performing or involved and you cannot attend the Musical Gala that's absolutely ok. We have made the performance items flexible and the show will go on with whoever can be there. 

We require all parents to stay with their children for the duration of the performance. However, if your child attends the after school care program will work with FOOSHC to make sure they can attend.

Volunteers Morning Tea

Volunteers Thank you Morning Tea, Save the Date!

When: Wednesday 29 November 8:30

Where: Forrest Primary School Library

Time: 8:30 - 9:30

Choir: 9:10 - 9:15  performance 

Please come if you have been a volunteer supporting our school activities at Deakin Preschool or Forrest Primary School. We are so fortunate to have such dedicated family members and community volunteers and especially those volunteers from the ACT School Volunteers Program. 

The list of tasks is too numerous to name all of them but we are so appreciative of the time, thoughtfulness and practical support you provide by helping with the school canteen, library volunteering, attending excursions, help with home reading in the Junior school, helping with lost property and uniforms,  in class with literacy and numeracy support, guest speaking, helping at school events, P & C events or as a School Board member. We look forward to seeing you to say thank you for your volunteer service to our school.

Culture Club News

We invite our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to the End of Year Culture Club Celebration on Wednesday 29 November from 2-3pm in the school library. It provides an opportunity to thank our students, farewell our leaving students and get an update on the Reconciliation Action Plan. We also extend a big thank you to the P&C via FOOSHC for supplying afternoon tea for our students gatherings during the year and for continuing our commitment to reconciliation and shared partnerships by providing a FOOSHC staff member to be part of the Culture Club team. Thank you FOOSHC Director Ali, Karen, Kylie, Soraya and Ruby.

Thank you, 

Ms O’Brien and Ms McMullen

Shivoo 2023

Shivoo (End of Year Concert) will be held in Week 8 on Thursday 30 November at 6pm on the basketball court. Below is a list of clothing options for each performance. From tomorrow you can order delicious antipasto and sushi platters via the Spriggy Schools app to collect on the night! Kindly organised by the Forrest P&C and Kingston Supabarn.

We look forward to seeing you at Shivoo. Please contact your class teacher if you have any questions.

Semester 2 Academic Reports

As we approach the end of another enriching semester, we're excited to share with you that the Semester 2 Academic Reports will be emailed home on Friday, December 8th. This marks a significant milestone in our journey together, and we want to take a moment to emphasise the importance of these reports in providing valuable feedback on your child's academic progress.

Our dedicated educators have invested their time and expertise to assess and document your child's achievements and growth throughout the semester. These reports serve as a comprehensive overview of their academic performance, highlighting their strengths and areas for further development.

The feedback provided by our teachers offers insights into their academic engagement, effort, and overall approach to learning. It is an opportunity to celebrate accomplishments, acknowledge improvements, and work collaboratively towards any challenges they may face.

Please take the time to review the Semester 2 Academic Reports carefully. We encourage you to reach out to your child's teachers if you have any questions or would like to discuss specific aspects of the report.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in the academic journey of your child. We look forward to celebrating their achievements and working together to enhance their educational experience.

Student-Free Days 2024

Get planning for 2024 with upcoming student-free days

From 2024, there will be 4 student-free days for ACT public schools. These are the first day of each school term:

•       Term 1, Monday 29 January 2024
•       Term 2, Monday 29 April 2024
•       Term 3, Monday 22 July 2024
•       Term 4, Monday 14 October 2024.

We use student-free days for staff development, enabling us to plan in a student-free environment. Student-free planning days have been expanded from 1 to 4 days from 2024 as part of our new Teaching Staff Enterprise Agreement which prioritises better teacher workloads for educational leadership, teaching and learning.

For all school term dates, visit the Term Dates page: https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/term_dates_and_public_holidays

Library Book Returns

Return Date: Firday December 1, Week 8

It’s the time of year, where we start asking students, parents,carers and staff to start looking for school library books and Deakin Preschool books. Students are encouraged to look at home, in their classroom and in the car for school library books. Library staff need to return and accurately shelve all books in Week 9 in order to do a stocktake of the books, weed books with outdated information, repair damaged books and get the library ready for the start of the new school year. 

Library book notices have been sent home for K-6 students last week via the classroom teacher. If your child has returned their overdue books or the books have been misplaced or lost or damaged, please make note of that on your child’s library book notice, sign and date it and give it to your child’s teacher or direct to the library. You can also send an email to your child’s teacher too.

Library News

Congratulations to former student Madeleine Watson, who moved to Geneva, Switzerland in Year 4, on publishing her first book, Nadia Nightingale, Austin McCauley Publishers, 2023. Thank you to Madeleine’s school friend Sophie, who has just finished Year 12, and her mother Jenny, our former Scholastic Book Club Coordinator, for donating the book on behalf of Madeleine for our Library. 

Madeleine notes in her introduction that after living in Geneva, for 3 years, she began writing. Madeleine now lives in Sydney and hopes to inspire younger readers to embrace challenge, and be change-makers in the world.

The book blurb: When Nadia Nightingale is snatched from her home and recruited to be a secret agent, she isn’t sure who to trust. Thrown headfirst into a murder case, it’s a game of clues and secrecy where one wrong move could lead to her downfall…but behind the chaos and betrayal, NAdia soon realises that a much bigger plot is unfolding…..

2023 Book Week Writing Challenge

We also take this opportunity to congratulate our student authors who participated in the Writing Challenge this year. Their creative and imaginative writing will be collated into a 2023. 

Student Authors book, available to enjoy in the school library. 

Year 1 Student authors: Jonty 1KB, Oscar 1KB, Felix 1B,

Year 2 Student Authors: Ridhi 2W, Jooha 2L, Abigail B 2W,

Year 3 Student Authors: Danny 3MH, Kevin 3S, Keisha 3S, Noor 3V, Li-Lian 3M, Holly 3M, Sergei 3M, Kai Yang 3MH

Year 4 Student Authors: Junsoo 4T, Saliou 4V, Charn 3S, Zio 4V, Hannah 4D, Swaroop 4D, Yasith 4T,Sofia 4D, Matija 4V, Yu-Shin 4D, Felisa 4D, Yin Tik 4V, Kaylee 4T, Louis 4V

Thank you to Ms Ryan and Ms McMullen for facilitating the Book Challenge. We are also proud of the students who submitted their writing for the Fishy Creek Writing Challenge.

Official Opening of Neo's Rainbow Bench

On Tuesday 7 November, on a beautiful, balmy morning, we hosted a small ceremony in the beautiful new Maths garden space for the Bradaric and Quartly families for the official opening of the rainbow bench, named in former student Neo Bradaric’s honour. Neo sadly passed away in 2022. 

It was lovely to have Neo and Campbell’s friends attend as well as Neo’s teachers and former teachers, including Mr Heap, Ms Cobden, Ms Burke, Ms Kowalski, Mr Brompton, Ms McMullen and Ms Durnin. Principal Ms Pilgrim spoke on behalf of the staff, former student Chloe, explained how they fundraised for the rainbow benches.  Current Year 6 Early Act students, Lily and Angus showed a recycle collection bin and explained how they hope to get permission for Forrest Primary School to become a Lids 4 Kids recycling location moving forward. Acting Principal, Ms Rodrigues thanked everyone for coming and invited them for morning tea in the school library.

Neo and his best friend Campbell, now in Year 8 at Telopea Park School, loved their sport, cars and all things STEM. As students, they were curious, eager learners, especially fascinated by the workings of robots, drones and coding, intelligent, creative, helpful, cheeky and funny. 

The STEM trophy is also named in honour of Neo and we look forward to hearing who this year’s recipient is. We thank the Bradaric family for allowing us the privilege of placing a plaque on the first rainbow bench in Neo’s honour. Current and former Year 6 students had fundraised for the first of the benches and the designer of the recycled plastic benches was so moved by Neo’s story, he donated his bench. 

Fundraising by Year 6 students has enabled, not only another rainbow bench to be placed next to Neo’s, known as Campbell’s bench in the small Forrest area beyond the demountables, a favourite student location on a warm day, but also 3 others located under the trees near the senior asphalt.

You can find out more about Lids4 Kids, the innovative, recycling and repurposing program and other products created, by visiting their website: https://www.lids4kids.org.au/australian-capital-territory 

Ms McMullen and Ms Kowalski

Christmas Fundraising Appeal

Forrest Primary School is again hosting our annual Giving Tree to support those less fortunate, disadvantaged families in our Canberra community and for one of our nearest neighbours, Papua New Guinea with 2 Christmas Appeals this year. 

The 106.3 Pack the Bus Christmas Appeal for Communities@Work is asking for donations of unwrapped Christmas gifts for children aged 5-12 and/or non perishable Christmas food and drink items.

Donation Suggestions: Gift cards, toys, toiletries, stationery, books, canned or packet food, drink, Christmas food items suitable for families.

Buk bilong Pikinini roughly translates as “books for children”. Buk bilong Pikinini was founded in 2007 with a mission, like Australia’s own Indigenous Literacy Foudnation we support during Book Week each year to help increase literacy by supplying books to children, libraries and classrooms.  Check out their website for more details: https://www.bukbilongpikinini.org/ 

We thank our Rotary partners who will arrange delivery of our donated items to Papua New Guinea.

Wanted For Papua New Guinea children

•  Books (reading, exercise), pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, new or used.
• The Rotary Club of Canberra-Weston Creek is collecting surplus school materials for distribution to needy PNG students through the Buk bilong Pikinini
• You can help Rotary by donating new and used lead and colour pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, textas, pencils cases, new or partly used exercise books and reading books.
• The need is urgent as, in extreme cases, pencils have been broken in half to meet the need for more pencils in PNG schools.
• A collection box has been placed in the front office of the school.

For further information, please contact Mal Ferguson, Rotary Club of Canberra-Weston Creek (Phone: 0405732837)

Thank you for your support. 

Ms McMullen, Ms Davis and Ms Alling and Year 4 and 5 student volunteers.

Netball Gala Day

On Tuesday the 14th of November, 3 Year 5 & 6 teams attended the South Canberra Netball Gala Day. The event took place in Tuggeranong at the Calwell netball courts. Our teams were versing  other school teams from Holy Trinity, Theodore Primary and St Jude’s. We had big courts to play on and even had grass practice areas in between games. Both the staff and the players were very friendly, making the experience so much better. We all had a fabulous time and enjoyed the day immensely.

New Forrest Primary School Answering Line

In the coming week when you phone the school you will notice a new answering service with menu prompts that is customised to go to the relevant area so the correct person can assist you.  This allows for after hours messages if you need to notify your child’s absence for instance.  

Community Notices - Parentline