Principal's Message

Dear Parents,

Staffing Update for 2023: 

Last Thursday we had our new principal, Mr Tim Tarrant come out to the school to introduce himself, have a look around our fabulous school and village and also discuss with me staffing for 2023. In light of this conversation, we have been informed that Mr Tarrant is going to be taking the K/1/2 class with Mrs Street supporting him during his Principal Office time. I will be continuing on the 3/4/5/6 class. This unfortunately means that Miss Georgia Patterson will be moving on from Kentucky Public School for now and has been offered other teaching opportunities at another school. This is by far the hardest thing about this job. We consider our school to be a family, so losing one of our own is never easy. I don’t know how to begin to thank Miss Patterson for all the support, knowledge and laughs that students, parents and staff have all had with her and we are all going to really miss her being around!

Furthermore, Mrs Anne-Marie Ward will be returning in 2023 as our Office Manager which means that our current Office Manager, Ms Anne Ceapa will be finishing up at our school and return to her permanent Position at Armidale Secondary College at the beginning of next year.  Anne has been an invaluable member of our staff this year and I would not have been able to manage without her knowledge and expertise. Thank you, Anne. We are all going to miss you! I will let you know of any further staffing updates as they come to hand.

Presentation Day:

This years’ end of year presentation event will be held Tuesday 13th December starting at 12noon. We invite all families and community members to our school to celebrate the achievements our kids have made this year and farewell our year 6 students. A barbeque lunch will be provided to all attending.  We hope to see you all there!

P and C Raffle – Donations: 

Leading up to the presentation day, our hard working P&C will be running a raffle. We are asking our school community for item donations to help make this possible. These can be dropped into the school in the lead up to the presentation. Raffle tickets will be available and will be sent home in the coming weeks to distribute amongst your families.

Edward The Emu:

Last Friday, November 4, all students went Tamworth to watch the stage performance, Edward The Emu and also have a look at some real emus at the Marsupial Park. What a fabulous day had by all. The performance was amazing as were the afternoon adventures at the park. I want to thank all the students for being on their best behaviour and making our day out so pleasant for Miss Patterson and myself also.

NECOM Visit:

On Tuesday, we had two lovely performance groups come to our school, the Armidale Youth String & Wind Ensembles from NECOM. They arrived in the morning in a huge bus and filed in with all their instruments. The two groups then played a number of music pieces including Mozart, a piece about frogs, Star Trek and finally some music depicting how dinosaurs might have sounded when walking. Some of our students then got to conduct the wind ensemble group. They then all  then had morning tea with us before heading off to their next performance. What an amazing experience for our kids!

Fun Run Postponed

Due to unforeseen circumstances (a gross tummy bug). Mrs Chaffey is unable to be at school on Friday, therefore the FUN Run and Mini Markets will be postponed to next Tuesday 15th November. Same deal, just a different day! If you can volunteer some time to help out please let us know.

Mini Markets:

After the Fun Run and our lunch break on Tuesday15 November, we will be holding our annual mini markets. This involves students getting into groups and creating a market stall. All students have been busy at school organising themselves into groups and making stall signs in preparation. All money raised will go towards our year 6 fundraising efforts. We usually open the stalls at 1:30pm for an hour. Students will need a small amount of money to purchase items and any goods/items that they are selling at their stall. This is a really fun event that all students and teachers really look forward to. Please remember that all families are welcome to attend too!

Swimming Lessons:

Notes will be sent home for permission to attend this years’ Swimming Lesson Program at Uralla pool. The program runs for two weeks from Monday 28th November to Friday 9th December between 12 to 1pm. To help with the smooth running of the financial side of this program, we are asking that all students have their swimming lessons paid up front for the two weeks. This will amount to $20 per student or the upfront amount of pre-purchased pool entry vouchers. If your child happens to be away for one or more of the lessons, then you will be reimbursed for those days after all lessons are finished.

 Kentucky school has paid for all excursions and events for the whole year, including heavily subsidising the Sport and Rec Camp, so I feel that one small ask is more than acceptable. Money is due to the school by 21/11/2022. If you are having trouble making full payments by the due date, please contact the office. If payments have not been finalised by this date and we have not been contacted, we will assume your child/ren is a non-swimmer and will miss out on this program. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

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.

This is a reminder that all student absences must be explained within 7 days of the first day of them being away from school. Please contact the school 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.

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

Days missed equals years lost. There’s approximately 200 days in a school year. When a child misses one day a week over a year, that’s 40 days of school, 8 weeks of lessons and 2.5 years over their school life lost. As your child’s education has already been interrupted through periods of learning from home due to COVID-19 over the last 2 and a half years, now is the time to prioritise face-to-face learning and making the most of every school day.

If you have any questions or if you need support with your child’s attendance, please contact me at school.

Kahla