Forrest Primary School eNewsletter

Working Bee

We extend our sincere thanks to the parents, carers, students, and teachers who joined us to make the recent Working Bee a tremendous success.

Despite the heat, your dedication and hard work did not waver. It was truly heartening to witness the spirit of our community coming together to improve our Indigenous garden and vegetable garden.

Your commitment to creating a vibrant and welcoming environment for our students speaks volumes about the strength of our school community.

A special thank you to the Parents and Citizens (P&C) Association for their support. Providing refreshing drinks and snacks played a crucial role in sustaining everyone's energy throughout the day.

Once again, thank you to each and every one of you for your hard work, dedication, and positive energy. We look forward to witnessing the continued growth and flourishing of our school.

Farewell Assembly

The recent Farewell Assembly held in honour of Chris Pilgrim, Louise McMullen, Chris Pobke, Warren Brompton, and Chris Thambipillai was a moving and heartfelt event that reflected the deep impact these individuals have had on our school.

The assembly was a poignant moment, filled with both gratitude for the years of dedicated service and the inevitable tinge of sadness that comes with saying goodbye to cherished colleagues. Each of these remarkable individuals has left a lasting mark on our school, contributing their unique talents and unwavering commitment to the benefit of our community.

As we celebrated their contributions, the atmosphere was one of genuine appreciation and respect. The heartfelt speeches, anecdotes, and expressions of gratitude highlighted the profound impact each departing staff member has had on students, colleagues, and the broader school community.

The Farewell Assembly concluded with a joyous celebration. Every member of the school community came together to share a moment of connection and indulgence as we enjoyed a delicious piece of cake.

Chris Pilgrim, Louise McMullen, Chris Pobke, Warren Brompton, and Chris Thambipillai, we express our deepest gratitude for your tireless efforts, unwavering dedication, and the positive impact you have had on the lives of so many.

As you embark on new journeys, please know that you take with you the warmest wishes of a grateful school community. May your future endeavours be filled with success, joy, and the same passion that you brought to Forrest Primary School.

Musical Gala

Congratulations to Ms. Katherine Atkins, the creative force behind our spectacular Musical Gala held on Thursday, November 23. Ms. Atkins's dedication, passion, and tireless efforts were instrumental in bringing to life an evening that will be etched in our memories for years to come.

The excitement in the air was palpable as our talented students took to the stage, showcasing their creative expertise in front of an admiring audience. Ms. Atkins' visionary approach to creating, directing, and producing the Gala provided our students with a unique opportunity to shine, and shine they did!

We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the parents and carers who supported this event. Your presence in the audience and enthusiastic encouragement played a vital role in making the Musical Gala a true community celebration. Your commitment to the arts and to our students' creative endeavours is truly appreciated.

2024 Classes

We will have a ‘meet the teacher’ afternoon on Tuesday 12 December for students to meet their new teacher for 2024. We hope that there are no changes over January, however schools are dynamic places with lots of moving parts so we must always share this information with the caveat that it could change. Parents will be informed between 22-29 January 2024 if there are any changes to classes or teachers.

Parent Representatives 2024

Whatsapp - Kindergarten to Year 6

The following Whatsapp groups are also ready for parents to join. Please scan the QR code for your child's 2024 year level.

School Sport Australian Track & Field Championships

Congratulations to Olivia in 5L who represented the ACT at the School Sport Australia Track and Field Championships held in Tasmania over the weekend. She competed in the 800m, 1500m and the 4x100m event where her team placed third. Olivia showed great determination, courage and perseverance to give it her all despite feeling unwell. The Forrest Primary School community is so proud of you. Well done, Olivia!

Ride and Walk Safely to School Extravaganze - Congratulations Madison

Congratulations to Madison in 2L who spent her voucher from 99 Bikes Phillip to buy a new scooter over the weekend. This voucher was awarded to her for her very creative helmet and scooter decoration during the Ride and Walk Safely to School Extravaganza earlier this term. We hope you enjoy your new scooter, Madison.

State Gymnast of the Year - Congratulations Lennox

Remembrance Day

We recently held our annual Remembrance Day service with our Year 6 Forrest Squad students doing an excellent job of presenting.

Well done to Walt, Ruby, Dede and Layla, Ms McMullen and Ms Cintha for your work on this important occasion to remember our fallen soldiers and current serving Defence personnel, a number of whom are parents and carers in our school community.

Year 3 Chess Tournament

Meccano & Volunteers Morning Tea

It was so lovely to see so many parents, carers and community volunteers attend our thank you breakfast on Wednesday morning. We know how busy you already are, but our students and staff are so grateful to those who have helped out with one off events such as helping with class excursions or at our carnivals or P&C evenings, or those who have been regular volunteers such as our wonderful home reader, library and canteen helpers and Rotary Meccano volunteers and of course our fabulous P& C and School Board members.

Our gathering was entertained by our senior choir with a beautiful rendition of a song from the musical, Matilda. Our KPL Kindergarten class joined in too.

We are indeed so fortunate to have such dedicated family members and community volunteers and especially those volunteers from the ACT School Volunteers Program.

Our thanks to Ms Ward, Ms Cintha, Ms Bergamini, Ms Hayres and Ms McMullen for organising and Ms Vickers and Ms O’Brien for promoting this popular annual event. Thank you for your words of thanks to our volunteers Ms Rodgrigues, our Acting Principal too. Our community got to meet our Acting Deputy too, Ms Liz Bujaroski.

Library News

Library Book Return Date for student and parent books has been extended till Monday 4 December, 2nd last week of term.

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.

Culture Club

We invited our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to the End of Year Culture Club Celebration this week in the school library. It provided an opportunity to thank our students, farewell our leaving students and celebrate a wonderful year of learning, connection to country and student leadership in action at our assemblies and activities during the year.

It was lovely to have former Indigenous Liaison Support Assistant, Corey Grafen join Sally Ruchardson and Dylan from the Education Directorate to present certificates and books to our students. Our students led the gathering with the school Acknowledgement of Country and entertained with an old favourite song, Inany by the Tiddas.

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 Cintha, Ms McMullen and Ms O'Brien for your support for this event.

Christmas Fundraising Appeal Extended

Many thanks to our generous students, parents,carers and staff and FOOSHC staff for your donations to our Christmas Appeal charities so far. We have filled 3 large boxes and our goal is to make up 10 big boxes. We need donations unwrapped and placed under the Christmas tree in the school foyer please, ready for the 106.3 Pack the Bus collection and for the Rotary collection in Week 10. See below for the details.

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 two 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. ghttps://www.bukbilongpikinini.org/

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

Suggested donations: New books,stationery items, unwanted good condition pencil cases, maths equipment, library bags, exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, texts etc.

Thank you for your support.

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