Dear Parents,

Our teachers have been busy planning the learning experiences for the children for the next 6 weeks to ensure our teaching is reflective of the current need of the children and what the data collected through our assessments and learning is telling us. Next week we look forward to meeting all parents during parent teacher interviews. Parent Teacher interviews can be booked on the Sentral Parent Portal. Alternatively, you can contact the school and the office staff will assist you in making a booking. Interviews can be face to face or via phone. We are looking forward to speaking to every parent during the next week.

Our School Photo Catch-up Day will be held this Friday 1st March. Any child that missed the photo day in February, should come in dressed in the school uniform so the photos can be taken.

Last week saw our school swimming team compete at the Bathurst District Swimming Carnival. 31 swimmers represented our school, with many in multiple events across the day. Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed, and especially to those 22 swimmers who secured 1st, 2nd or 3rd place and will now represent Bathurst at the Western Carnival in Dubbo in a few weeks time. Among those are our four relay teams, who all managed to finish 1st in their races! They were very exciting races to watch, with the whole BPS team cheering loudly from the sideline and ends of the pool! A big congratulations and super effort from Addison Jones and Cooper Jones, who were named as Junior Girl and Senior Boy age champions on the day. Bathurst Public School finished the day being named District Champions for the carnival – an AMAZING achievement. Well done to all our swimmers.

At the conclusion of the District Swimming Carnival , many of our children qualified to attend the Regional Swimming Trials in Dubbo on Tuesday 12th March. Congratulations and well done to the following children; Ashwin Buttsworth, Lawson Glasgow, Ethan Jones, Will Skein, Ava Batholomew, Jasmyn Ferrier, Aria Hegvold, Addison Jones, Lilian Klootwijk, Frankie Shoemark, Jack Hair, Archer Kolkman, Ewan Long, Sidney Shoemark, Aurora Davis, Charlotte Falconer, Beau Francis, Cooper Jones, Theo Lyle, Elena Noonan, Will Simeonidis, Max Naylor and Hannah Skein.

Safety and Security - We thank all parents for continuing to support our school in maintaining a safe and secure school environment for all of our children. A reminder that the gates around our school are kept shut and locked throughout the school day for the safety and security of all children and staff. We have a number of children that are deemed as flight risks, and keeping the gates closed can ensure all of our children are safe. We also have many court orders that are in place to protect our children. Having gates closed and locked throughout the day supports us in maintaining the safety and security all children are entitled to whilst at school. Gates are opened at the end of the school day by the Assistant Principals on duty. Access throughout the school day can be obtained by coming to the front gate and pressing the buzzer.

Extra Curricular Activities - an update of current extra curricular activities;

*The Term 1 class SRC have been elected and received their badges.

*The Stage 3 School Spec audition dance group have had their initial meeting with Mrs McClements

*The school cricket team has trialed and selection has occurred with Mr Thackray

*The school band has commenced lessons (Mrs Ivory is the contact teacher)

*The Basketball team trials (boys and girls) for the BPS school team will be held in Week 6 on Wednesday at school.

As a staff, we continue to modify our Assessment and Reporting practices so we can ensure parents obtain feedback each term on their child’s progress from their child’s classroom teacher. At any time, if parents have any concerns or issues about your child’s learning, you are encouraged to contact the school to make an appointment to speak with your child’s classroom teacher. The Assessment and Reporting schedule for 2024 is:

Term 1 Week 5 – Thursday 29th February – Support Unit Parent/Teacher Interviews
Term 1 Week 6 - Tuesday 5th March- Friday 8th March – Parent/Teacher Interviews
Term 2 – Semester 1 Reports home
Term 3 – Parent/Teacher Interviews
Term 4 - Semester 2 Reports home

Parent/Teacher Interviews have been organised for Thursday 29th February for the Support Unit classes and Tuesday 5th March - Monday 8th March for all other classes. 5/6T will occur on Wednesday 13th March. These meetings will allow parents to: meet teachers, talk about what is to be taught this year and how your child has settled into the 2024 school year, plans for the school year, class expectations, and parent expectations. The parent portal has been set up and will open at 3.30pm this afternoon. Interviews can be booked until the day before the scheduled interview date. If parents cannot attend a face to face interview, teachers will contact parents by phone.

Interview Dates for the calendar;

Tuesday 5th March - Stage 2 Parent Teacher Interviews (4/5D, 3/4W, 3/4S, 3/4B and 2/3F)
Wednesday 6th March - Stage 1 Parent Teacher Interviews (1C, 1G, 2I and 2S)
Thursday 7th March - Stage 3 Parent Teacher Interviews (5/6A, 5/6L and 5/6B)
Friday 8th March - Kindergarten Parent Teacher Interviews (KM, KD and K/1K)
Wednesday 13th March - Stage 3 Parent Teacher Interview (5/6T)

Week 4 Attendance Update

Congratulations to KD and KM for 100% attendance last week, and to K-3H, 2/3F and 3-6B for no unexplained absences.

Although we are currently tracking above State, both our attendance rate and the percentage of students attending above 90% have fallen slightly since last week.

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

Kate White

Principal