Dear Parents,

We have lots to celebrate this week. Our 27 strong swimming team that attended the District Carnival last Friday were announced the 2026 District Swimming Champions at the conclusion of the carnival. A tremendous effort. The school pride was definitely on display when Addison Jones and Lawson Glasgow were announced District Swimming Champions for their respective age groups. Congratulations to all of our children who attended the carnival and for the manner in which they represented our school. A special congratulations to Addison and Lawson on their outstanding efforts. Thank you to Mrs Francis, Ms Nathan and Mrs Mooney for their work and support of our children last week at the carnival.

The following children have qualified to attend the Western Swimming Trials on Thursday 26th March in Dubbo. Congratulations to Ashwin Buttsworth, Adeline Hunter, Addison Jones, Lawson Glasgow, Ethan Jones, Ellie Surawski, Jasmyn Ferrier, Patrick Muldoon, Evie Allbut, Margot Heiner, Lachlan Kelly, Natalia Heiner, Jemimah Lyle, James Hollier, Logan Davis, Zara O'Connor, Frankie Shoemark and Kaelan Wheeler. We are super proud of you all.

Thank you to all of our parents for attending face to face Parent Teacher Interviews or contacting us via phone to have invaluable conversations with your child's classroom teacher this week. These are such important conversations, and we appreciate the time you make to meet with your child’s teacher. It definitely takes a village to raise a child and we are so proud to be a part of the team that supports you and your child at Bathurst Public School. At any time if you have any queries about your child’s learning or school life in general, please contact your child’s teacher.

Attendance   * Our current Attendance Target for 2026 is 91%.

                           * We have 397 children enrolled at Bathurst Public School

                           * Our current school attendance rate is 91.7% - well done, everyone.

                           * 73.6% of our children have attended school 90% or more of the time in the                               past week.

                           * In Weeks 5/6, we have had over 40 unexplained absences across the

                             school. Please help us bring this down to 0 by contacting the school if your

                             child is away.

                           * If you are going away on a family holiday or you need to go away for a                                        period of time during the school term, please contact the school so we                                      can assist you to make an application for approved leave.

School Library - Some exciting news from our Library. Following the extremely successful Grandparents Day in Term 4 2025, all books donated to the school have been placed on display shelves last week and are available for borrowing. WOW! The choice is incredible. Thank you to all our families who have made our Library and even better place to visit.

The February borrowing statistics from the Library are below. This is super exciting to see our Library being used so well by our children. Congratulations, everyone.

NAPLAN - commences in Week 7 for all of our children in Years 3 and 5.  

Why do students do NAPLAN? The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. As students progress through their school years, it is important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

Your child will do the NAPLAN tests online - Online NAPLAN tests are designed to provide precise results and be engaging for students. The tests are tailored (or adaptive), which means that each test presents questions that may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. This helps students remain engaged with the assessment. Tailored testing allows a wide range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway. All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper.

What does NAPLAN assess? NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. 

NAPLAN 2026

BPS Years 3 and 5 Test Schedule -

Harmony Day – will be held on Friday 20th March, in Week 8. Students and staff are invited to wear orange or their national dress to school on this day. The colour orange represents harmony and social communication.

The outline of our celebrations is;

12:30pm - 1:20pm - Open classrooms – families are invited to attend and visit their child’s classroom. Families may like to share something about their culture with their child’s class.

1:20pm - 2:00pm - Whole school picnic - parents are invited to sit with children to have lunch or join for play time during Break 2.

We hope it is going to be a very fun day and a lovely opportunity for families in our community to come together.

Aboriginal Parent Meetings - On Tuesday 24th March we will hold Aboriginal Parent Meetings from 3pm-4pm to write Personalised Learning Plans (PLP's). We invite all Aboriginal Parents and their children to join us for afternoon tea and to talk to classroom teachers about goals for the 2026 school year.

NDIS - We would like to inform you that Bathurst Public School is currently unable to facilitate NDIS external provider telehealth sessions on-site. This decision is not made lightly but is due to the challenges in providing adequate supervision, appropriate space, and sufficient time for students to access these services effectively. Please be assured that we will continue to support and accommodate all in-person sessions as we have been doing. Thank you for your understanding and ongoing support.

BATHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL FAIR - Ourfair will be held on Saturday 14th March on the Bathurst Public School grounds. Come young and all, this is bound to be a sensational event. Unlimited ride bands are available. Please see the School Fair page of this Newsletter to purchase one at the early bird rate. Tickets for the sensational raffle are also available. Once again, please see the School Fair page in the Newsletter and use the QR code the secure your tickets in the enormous raffle. 

Tickets for the rides are available through the website below ot by using the QR code in the picture below.

https://www.trybooking.com/DIISU

General Reminders:-

• Food Allergies - We do have several children at our school who have peanut allergies and have severe reactions if exposed to this food. Parents are asked to be mindful of this when packing recess and lunch and are encouraged not to send products which contain nuts in them to school. 
• All items of clothing and personal belongings should be clearly marked with your child’s name.
• All children require a broad brimmed hat each day as our school has a “No Hat, No Play” policy.
• All gates around our school are kept closed during the day. This is a to ensure our children and staff are able to learn and play in a safe and happy environment. When parents and friends come to the school during the day, please come to the gate in George street and press the buzzer. The office staff will then open the gate. Please ensure you QR code in (QR code on the gate area). All parents and visitors should present to the front office on arrival.  This is a Legal and Workplace Safety requirement and is followed for the safety and security of all children and staff.

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

Kate White

Principal