Dear Parents,

The end of the term has come quickly. We have had an extremely busy term. Congratulations to all our children and staff on a wonderful term of work. The highlight for me….. the School Concert. It showcases the amazing work and opportunities we provide at Bathurst Public School every day. Well done to all our children on their terrific work this term, and thank you to the staff for their ongoing commitment and dedication to the children and their families at Bathurst Public School.

Congratulations to the 24 children who attended the Western Athletics Carnival in Dubbo last Friday. We had some children that made the finals of their events and ran, threw and jumped personal bests. Congratulations to Lilly Turnbull who has qualified for the Junior girls 200m and Enaya Ibtida Ifsah who has qualified for the 13 years girls 100m and will attend the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships in Term 4. Well done, Lilly and Enaya.

This week we have celebrated our class Green Award winners with our Green Award lunch on Wednesday. Congratulations to all the children that attended on a fantastic term of work. The Term 3 green award winners are;

KD: Ava Bennett, Dorothy O’Toole

KM: Noah Dawson, Andie Iverach

1/2G: Tully Markwort, Ashreeya Gahatraj, Safa Fahim

1/2I: Christina Addo, Ajeesh Mahendran

1/2M: Willow Saul, Archie Gredka, Phoenix Daniels

1/2S: Poppy Holman, Indiana Stokes

1/2W: Tilly Barnes-Roberts, Bjorn Mills-James, Nico Merkel

3/4F: Pearl Saini, Ashwin Buttsworth

3/4GW: Ivan Kumar, Evie Hunter

3/4T: Skylah Peel, Asha Melo

4/5W: Lila Kolkman, Archie Lovegrove

5/6B: Jordyn Gleeson, Zara O’Connor, Sophie McPhee

5/6C: Joseph O’Brien, Isla Barnes

5/6D: Destiny Sutton, Christian Mena, Enaya Ifsah Ibtida

5/6L: Jacob Waugh, Peyton McIntosh

K-6R: Xavier Dargan, Braylen Eade

3-6B: Oliver Baldwin Liam Roberts

3-6J: Tadhg Hart,

K/3H: Atlas Osborne, Neil Hooper

3/6N: Patrick Taylor

After the school holidays, we have requested that children leave their soccer balls, footballs, netballs, tennis balls etc at home. We have a huge supply of all of these at school which children can borrow throughout the day. Classrooms also have a bag of sporting equipment which children can borrow from each day. This will alleviate the issues occurring during balls games and equipment going missing.

The excitement is growing with our Stage 3 children involved in Year 6 Mini Fete planning and Year 5 understanding the process for elections for the 2026 Leadership Team this week. The children were involved in Information sessions for both of these activities on Tuesday. We look forward to working with the children in Term 4.

Recently the P&C have purchased resources for the school. One of the resources were books for our LST team that deliver specialised learning programs to children across the school. These books will support some of our older children on the LST program. Thank you to the P&C for the generous donation and ongoing support.

We are currently having a watering system installed on the Nature strip area of the school. Bathurst High Campus General Assistant JJ assisted our General Assistant Mark Davis with rotary hoeing the ground with the tractor and then the earth works were completed last weekend by Civil Earthworks. The watering system will be installed by Thinkwater in the first week of the holidays. During the second week of the holidays, sprigs of turf will be planted by Greenacres Turf Farm. We can’t wait to see this area once the grass has grown. It will be a wonderful area to play. Thank you to our General Assistant Mark Davis who has managed this work for our school.

On Thursday 16th October, we will celebrate Trixie's birthday. On this day, we will all get to not only thank Trixie for the ongoing work she does at BPS, but wish her a Happy Birthday. We are asking all children to bring a gold coin to school to donate to "Trixie" so we can get her something super special to celebrate her 6th birthday.

SCHOOL SWIMMING UPDATE

Recently we have secured funding for our School Swimming Program. This funding has been allocated by the School Sport Unit Student Support and Specialist Programs. This funding supports 288 children attend the swimming program at a reduced rate. That means that each child will pay $40 less, making the total amount payable for the Swimming Program in 2025, $100 for the 10 day program. If we get more than 288 children, we are able to access more funding to ensure each child attends swimming at the reduced rate. Please enrol now so we ensure as many children as possible learn this valuable life skill and access this lower fee rate.

Information for those parents who have already paid the full $140.00 fee; If you have paid the $140 in full for the Swimming Program, this has been refunded to you as per the DoE and Sentral refunds policy. This refund was actioned on Tuesday 23/09/25. You will now need to pay the $100.00 fee for the School Swimming Program for your child to attend. Please contact Denise Noble at school if you have any queries regarding your payment.

Our 10 Day Term 4 Intensive Swimming Program will occur from Monday 24th November - Friday 5th December at the Manning Aquatic Centre. This program will be open to all children from Kindergarten to Year 6. The children will be taught by qualified Swimming Instructors employed by the Manning Aquatic Centre. Sessions will be 45 minutes long and will run for 10 days between 9.15am. and 2.00pm. Children will be accompanied to and from the pool by school staff. The cost will be $100.00 (Please note this is the reduced cost) for the 10-day program, including bus travel, facility entry, and professional instruction. This can be paid through our Sentral Parent Portal or at the front office via cash or EFTPOS. Active Kids and First Lap vouchers are not accepted this year. If you would like your child to attend, please answer the questions through the Sentral Parent Portal. Medical information is not provided or updated through the Portal. Please contact the front office with any medical updates. A deposit of $50 must be paid to secure your child's position in the program by Friday, 26th September. The final balance must be paid by Friday, 7th November. After this date, there will be no refunds. Parents will be informed of the details of their child's classes before the program commences. Parents are asked to contact the school and update their child's medical information closer to the start of the program if necessary. If parents have any further questions regarding this Intensive Swimming Program, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Mitchell, Miss Reedy or Mrs White.

I hope everyone has a wonderful break. All children K-6 return to school on Tuesday 14th October at 9am. We look forward to seeing everyone then.

If any parent has any concerns regarding any aspect of school life, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kate White

Principal