Dear Parents,

Thank you to the many parents who have attended or been involved in phone interviews during the past 2 weeks. It is so valuable for teachers to have these important conversations with you about your child. We appreciate the information you give us about your child as you know them the best. The information you give assists us to ensure the learning environment and programs we develop meet the needs of every child. Thank you again. Please feel free to contact your child's teacher at any time to share information about their progress.

Our Band program is operating and the children are enjoying their weekly lessons with teachers from the Mitchell Conservatorium. We currently have children learning flute, trumpet, keyboard, drums, violin and guitar. We can also provide saxophone lessons as well. We still have places available, so if you would like your child to join the band program, please contact the office at school.

Congratulations to Tom Hamer who is currently representing Bathurst Public School and Western Region at the NSW PSSA Cricket Championships in Ballina/Lismore. We know Tom would be having a great time and playing some excellent Cricket.

Congratulations to the 21 children who will represent Bathurst Public School at the Regional Swimming Trials this Friday 10th March in Dubbo. We wish the following children the very best of luck - Tom Hamer, Cooper Jones, Jasmyn Ferrier, Will Skein, Addison Jones, Coco Barclay, Max Naylor, Elena Noonan, Charlotte Falconer, Chyna Robrahn, Adelaide Fulthorpe, Lara Glasgow, Beau Francis, Darcy Hair, Harvey Glasgow, Isla Barnes, Charlotte Morris, Jack Hair, Theo Lyle, Xavier Pawsey and Frankie Shoemark.

Thank you to all of our parents, friends and staff whilst the upgrade to our front gates in George Street is occurring. In the very near future, the gate system will be completely electronic and operated from the front office. We have safety risks and concerns for several children at our school. Having the gates secured is one strategy we use to keep our children safe so they do not run out onto the street and endanger themselves or others. Once again, thank you for your patience and support.

NAPLAN commences next week. NAPLAN is an assessment all children in Year 3 and Year 5 complete every year. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. As students progress through their school years, it’s 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/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

The timetable Bathurst Public School will follow for NAPLAN in 2023 is below. If any parent has any queries regarding NAPLAN, please contact your child's teacher.

Term 1 2023	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 8			15th March Y3 and Y5 Writing (paper test)	16th March Y3 and Y5 Reading	17th March Y3 and Y5 Conventions of Language
Week 9	20th March Y3 and Y5 Numeracy Final Day for Year 3 catch-up writing tests				Final Day for all catch-up tests
Week 10	27th March Final Day for all tests to be finalised

An important target for Bathurst Public School in 2023 is Attendance. Our school

staff pride themselves on knowing, valuing and caring for every child at our school. For optimal learning, cultural, social and sporting opportunities to be obtained, children need to be at school every day. Some current attendance facts for Bathurst Public School are below. Please ensure if your child is absent from school that you supply a letter, phone the school or send an SMS explaining the absence.

The current attendance rate for our school is 93.4%.
76.9% of our children are attending more than 90% of the time.
23.1% (105 children) are attending below 90% which is putting them educationally at risk.

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

Kate White

Principal