Dear Parents

We had the most wonderful day last Friday when hundreds of Grandparents, parents and friends came to our Grandparents Day. Classrooms were open, a huge morning tea and cake stall were held and it was capped off by our Stage 3 Dance Troupe performing under the COLA (as they were at camp when the other Dance groups competed at the Bathurst Eisteddfod). Thank you to everyone who came along and supported our school on Friday. The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone.

The cake stall held on Grandparents Day raised $1275.65. A big thank you to the many families who donated goods for the cake stalls. The money raised will be put towards the costs associated with the children going to Schools Spectacular in November.

Congratulations to the children who attended the NSW PSSA Athletics Carnival in Sydney last week. It was an amazing opportunity for our children to compete at a world-class facility against the best athletes in NSW. We are super proud of Archer Kolkman, MD Alhan Sanjid Ebsan, Lara Glasgow, Ruby Cole, Nusayba Yashfa, Cruz Fischbeck, Jonty Rue, Max Naylor and Zadjarlirra Sullivan.

Our School Leadership Team nomination process is well underway, and Year 5 have now voted on their 8 girls and 8 boys who will deliver speeches to the school on Tuesday, 14th November, commencing at 9.30 am. The children who have been elected by their Year 5 peers are;

Girls - Romena Baniya, Sarah O'Brien, Hannah Skein, Nikki Allan, Tearani Cowell, Tilley Cole, Adelaide Fulthorpe and Scarlett Ryder.

Boys - Max Naylor, Brody Miller, Lachlan Abbott, Beau Francis, Cooper Jones, Thor Sutton, Theo Lyle, Isaac Gafa.

Our School Swimming Program is now closed, and Mrs Mitchell is finalising groups and times for lessons. Swimming commences on Monday 27th November. Parents will receive information and times for lessons before this date. If you need any additional information or assistance, please contact the school office.

The staff have commenced conversations about class structures for 2024 and will commence working on staffing and designing classes throughout the remainder of the school term. Many hours of work go into creating structures, staffing and designing every class. The school recognises the importance of fostering and maintaining friendship groups. We also understand that it is equally important for students to mix and learn with peers who have different interests. Some details to assist parents with the process we are going through and how they can be involved in preparation for 2024 are outlined below;

• Children are asked by their teacher in the next few weeks to nominate 3 children they would like to be in a class with; a minimum of 1 of the nominations is to be a child who is currently in another class. The school endeavours to ensure each child receives at least 1 of their nominated friends.
• Parents are invited to make requests based on the academic and emotional needs of their child. Requests for class placements must be in writing, outlining who you are requesting your child to be placed with and why. Requests must be addressed to the Principal, Mrs White. All requests need to be received by Friday, 10th November 2023. As you can understand, we are not always able to accommodate class placement requests but will endeavour to take wishes into consideration where possible.
• All teachers at Bathurst Public School are caring and committed educators. Bathurst Public strives to ensure that all children are provided with a high-quality education so they can 'Believe, Belong and Succeed'. Whilst we appreciate that you may wish that your child would benefit from being placed in a class with a particular teacher, we are unable to accommodate teacher requests. Our school's Leadership Team (Principal, Deputy Principal, Assistant Principals and Learning and Support Team) have an in-depth understanding of each teacher's strengths and will always endeavour to place our students with teachers who are best placed to suit their needs.

Attendance

We are committed to working with you to offer support and remove any barriers that may be preventing your child from regularly attending school.

Please remember that the NSW Education Act requires that all student absences must be explained within 7 days of the first day of their being away from school. Please contact us promptly whenever your child is absent and let us know the reason for them being away. This allows us to provide the right support and make sure your child's absences are recorded correctly.

In the event your child has repeated or ongoing unexplained absences, we will continue to try to contact you about each absence to provide appropriate support for you and your family.

We know that for our students, every day of school matters.

Missing a day here or there may not seem like much, but absences add up and can negatively impact your child's learning and well-being. When your child misses one day a week, that's 40 days of school and 8 weeks of learning in one year. Over an entire school journey, this adds up to 2.5 years of lost learning.

Current Attendance

Congratulations to the following classes for having 0 unexplained absences in the last week: 1/2M, KP, 1G, 1CW, 3/4L, 3/4S, 3/4M, 3-6R and 3-6J

Fruit Break Reminder

Students need to bring a piece of fruit or vegetables to eat each morning. During the morning session, students have a ‘Fruit Break’ to eat a snack of vegetables or fruit. This helps students refuel during the gap between breakfast and morning tea. 

Fruit Break Suggestions

Vegetables - carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber sticks, baby tomatoes 

Fruit - seasonal fruit, either cut up or whole, dried fruit, preserved or canned fruit in natural juice.

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

Kate White 

Principal