Reminder: Final assembly at 12.30pm on Wednesday 20th December.

Students dismissed at 1.30pm.

OFFICE CLOSES AT 1.45 SHARP for staff celebrations

2024 first day for students (Year 1-6)– Tuesday 30th January.

First day for Foundation students 2024 – Thursday 1st February

Principal Report

The Staff at Albany Rise Primary School wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas!

See you all in 2024

***Last Day of Term - 1.30 PM FINISH****

Reminder: Please note arrangements for the last day of term, Wednesday 20th December. Students will be DISMISSED AT 1.30 pm - OFFICE CLOSES AT 1.45PM following a final whole-school assembly that commences at 12.30pm. Parents are invited to attend the assembly on this day. Students are asked to bring just their lunch due to the 1.30 finish, and please note there are no lunch orders on this day. Students may not need to bring school bags on the last day as almost everything will have been sent home by Tuesday 19th December.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHILD/REN ARE COLLECTED AT 1.30pm ON THIS DAY

Graduation Celebration

Our Year 6 students took part in their Primary School Graduation ceremony on Wednesday night, with staff, parents and community members taking part in the proceedings. As per our Albany Rise custom, our guest speakers included past school captains, who talked about their experiences moving into secondary school and on from Albany Rise. Our current captains and vice-captains spoke eloquently about their experiences throughout their time with us and their gratitude for all the support our school community has offered them during their time here.

It was a lovely evening of celebration, a few tears, and a hige amount of pride in the achievements and efforts of our students, their families and all of the staff who have helped our graduates along the way.

The year 6 students will be enjoying one final ‘day out’ on Tuesday 19th December when they have a day of fun and celebration at Gumbuya World. A particular thanks is extended to the staff and parents who planned and facilitated the night and upcoming final activities. The ideas, efforts and time spent by this team of helpers ensured the Year 6 graduation was a lovely evening to complete the students’ official final days of primary school.

On Wednesday 20th December, we will hold a final assembly to farewell our graduates, as well as announce our 2024 school leaders. Parents are encouraged to attend this assembly. As per ARPS tradition, the year will end with a ‘guard of honour’ after assembly on Wednesday, on the oval to farewell our leaving year 6 students.

Student Semester 2 Reports and Transition

On Tuesday this week, students had an opportunity to spend time with teachers in cohort groups for their year level in 2024. Whilst the students were not yet visiting their new class groupings, they did have the opportunity to talk to all the teachers in their year level and ask questions about ‘next year’. Students also had the chance to spend time in the rooms they will be using for their classes for next year.

On Friday 15th December students will receive a notice regarding their 2024 teacher/s and class. The students will also receive some information about attendance and a reminder that student end of year reports will be available on Compass from tomorrow afternoon.

On Tuesday 19th December, we are holding our 2nd Transition day (whilst year 6 students are having their ‘Fun Day’ excursion), our year 1-5 students will spend time with new classes and ‘new’ teacher/s for next year (for 1 session during the day). We are very pleased to have the opportunity to have our ‘new’ 2024 teacher, Penny Price (Year 1/2) at the school to take part in this activity and meet the students.

I wish to thank all the families who took time to ensure any requests for student class placements based on educational needs, were provided before the final date to do so (13th October). Staff have spent many hours ensuring all requests were considered, as well as a range of other important factors, such as; dynamics, friendships, siblings, gender balance, special needs, etc. Our class sizes and structure (as noted in previous newsletters) is very stable for 2024.

Swimming

Our students have enjoyed a highly valuable and enjoyable swimming program over the past 2 weeks, with staff and pool instructors ensuring students obtain the best possible learning from the program. Plans for 2024 swimming program are already underway and (as per this year) information about the swimming program will be available for parents early next year.

Congratulations and Many thanks to everyone!

This year has been another positive and highly productive year at Albany Rise Primary School. We have seen the ongoing positive engagement of all our families, through a range of school activities and special events, such as our Musical, Working Bees, Carols, daily classroom support, Breakfast club and so much more.

After another busy year, I would like to thank the large number of people who continue to contribute so positively to our wonderful, caring school community. Thank you to the Parents’ Association and families across the school who have organised and supported many outstanding school events for students and the community, whilst also raising valuable funds for the school. Thank you to all our School Councillors who actively contribute to the governance of the school and support our drive for ongoing high standards of education and student performance.

A sincere thank you is extended to the dedicated and hardworking staff who have contributed to the success of Albany Rise Primary School in 2023. Your professionalism, diligence and the high level of care shown to all of our students is hugely valued and regularly recognised.

To all those who support our school, the school community wish to thank you for all your contributions throughout this year. With your support, our school continues to be an extremely busy, positive and dynamic learning environment.

SOME HOLDIAY TIPS:

It is very easy to see the holiday break as a time for relaxation and fun, and so it should be - children deserve a break. However students often return to school having lost some of the learning that they had previously mastered. So if you want your child to start the 2024 school year ready for learning, please set some time aside over the holidays to:

Read! Make sure that students are continuing to read, every day if possible. Books make great Christmas presents, and they can be read and reread many times. Newspapers and magazines are popular, even comics to entice the more reluctant. Older children can read to younger siblings. Set up some routines to make sure there is time for reading: each night before bed, in the morning, or while dinner is being prepared. Parents read with or to your child, children can read to you or retell the book or chapter they read. Discussing the content of the book is also crucial.

Count! We don’t expect you to teach the mathematics curriculum, but making sure that your child has automatic recall (less than 2 seconds) of maths facts is crucial. Driving in the car is a good time to practise, encourage students to improve becoming faster and more accurate (with all students having different competence – ranging from counting forwards and backwards, and knowing numbers before and after in Prep to confidence with addition and subtraction facts, multiplication and division facts in the senior school).

Talk! Building a strong relationships and positive social skills requires regular conversations and an understanding of the etiquette of conversation. The greater a student’s vocabulary and communication skills, the more confident they are at communicating with peers and adults when needed, and knowing they will be really listened to. Put the devices away for some time each day, and just spend some time talking – this is the most valuable time you can give children.

Families leaving the school & Enrolments- Reminder

We are continuing to receive a number of ‘late’ enrolments to various year levels for 2024. Any families who are aware of new children in the area considering enrolling at ARPS, are asked to encourage them to enrol as soon as possible to allow us to confirm class numbers.

Please assist our planning for 2024 by providing written notification if, due to moving out of the area or changed family circumstances, your child will not be attending our school next year.

2024 Parent Payments: Reminder

Information regarding the 2023 Parent Payments was distributed 3 weeks ago. If you would like to choose a payment plan option, please remember to contact the office directly as soon as possible.

To avoid a ‘late’ fee from Ross Office supplies, parent purchase of stationary should be completed by 18th December. Books can be collected from the office (for parents to name/ cover etc) for year 1 to 6 students on Thursday 25th January. Foundation families for 2024 can leave their books at the school, as the Foundation teachers will name and label these books.

Student of the Week