Dear Parents,

What an incredible and amazing day on Saturday for our Bathurst Public School Fair. It was superb. Congratulations to the P&C – you have done an outstanding job. A very special thankyou to Sarah Tait who has been phenomenal, positive and thorough in all aspects of the planning and lead the organising team. What was presented to our school and wider community was exceptional. Thank you all for your work. Saturday was sensational.

We enjoyed our visit from the Penrith Panthers Foundational last Thursday. All classes in Years 3-6 experienced a coaching clinic in small groups. It was a wonderful morning. Thank you to Bathurst Panthers Rugby League Club and Penrith Panthers Foundation. 

Congratulations to Ellie Surawski and Lilly Turnbull who were both selected in the Girls Western Region Basketball Team last week. Ellie and Lilly will represent Western at the State PSSA Basketball Championships in May at Port Macquarie. Congratulations, girls!

NAPLAN - continues this week. The children have completed Conventions of Language and Numeracy on Monday and Tuesday. We are now concentrating on catching up children who have missed any of the assessments. We are proud of the way the children have tried their very best throughout these assessments. 

Harmony Day – This week we celebrate Harmony Week with the theme 'Everyone Belongs'. We will hold Harmony Day celebrations tomorrow, Friday 20th March. 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.

Athletics Carnival Field Event Trials

Children in Years 3-6 and Year 2 children turning 8 this year are eligible to participate in the Athletics Carnival Field Event Trials to be held on Wednesday 1st April on the oval at school. Children have been asked to nominate themselves for Discus, Long Jump and Shot Put trials. Nomination Forms will be put on the windows of the Stage 3 classrooms and students will be required to write their name on the field events they would like to trial for. Teachers will be available to assist children if they require help. 

The nomination forms will be:

• Junior (8, 9, 10yrs), 11yrs and Senior (12, 13yrs)
• Shot Put, Discus and Long Jump.

Students must have their names on the nomination sheets by Thursday the 26th of March (Thursday of Week 9)

If any parent requires further information, please contact the Athletics Convener Mr Thackray.

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.

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

                              Congratulations to Kindergarten, whose attendance rate is the highest                               in the school at 96%.

                           * We have 398 children enrolled at Bathurst Public School

                           * Our current school attendance rate is 92.2% - another great result.

                           * 74% of our children are attended school 90% or more.

                           * In Week 7, we have had 35 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.

Congratulations to K-6R for having the highest percentage of attendance in Week 7, and 

K-2R, 1/2G, 1/2M, 2/3F, 3-6J, 1/2SP and KM for having no unexplained absences!

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