Thursday 27 February

Principal Report

We are thrilled to announce our new House Leaders for 2025! Congratulations to our student leaders for Bombora, Wattle, and Waratah—you are already an important part of who we are, and we look forward to the energy and spirit you will bring to our school community.

This week, excitement is building as we head into our Athletics Carnivals on Thursday and Friday. These events are a highlight of the year, providing students with the opportunity to showcase their skills, encourage their peers, and demonstrate fantastic sportsmanship. We encourage all families to come along and cheer on our students as they give their best efforts on the track and in the field!

We also warmly invite all parents and community members to attend our Annual General Meeting for the School Association on 2nd April 2025. We are seeking several new executive members, including a Community Representative, and would love to see the addition of some new members join our team to help shape the future of our school.

Illawarra Primary School encourages and values the voice of our students in shaping and enhancing our school community, and our Student Representative Council (SRC) plays an important role in this.

Our SRC is elected by our primary grade students and provides an opportunity to obtain student input and feedback about our school, as well as provide leadership opportunities in the school and broader community. 

Some of the key roles of our SRC include: 

• Providing their own and sharing other students’ suggestions and ideas to improve our school and engage our students. 

• Planning for and running whole school meetings, where we focus on social skill development. 

• Communicating with students and teachers – through class visits – important information about upcoming events. 

• Supporting whole school events including fundraising and KidsMatter days. 

• Attending offsite facilities to support planned events and fundraisers (Legacy, Tassie Mums, Anzac Day, Remembrance Day). 

• Taking responsibilities for roles around the school, including lost property and flags. 

In 2025, two students will be elected from Grade 3, two students from Grade 4, and four students each from Grades 5 & 6. Student speeches and voting will take place in year level groups. The total number of SRC members at any one time will be 12. 

Students elected from Grades 5 & 6 remain on the SRC for the entirety of the school year. Students in Grades 3 & 4 sit as members of the SRC for half of the year. To maximise leadership opportunities, students elected to SRC positions in one year are not eligible for re-election in the following year (commencing from 2025). 

SRC meetings are held at recess on Fridays and are led by Mr Cooke and Mr Hayen. 

Looking forward to seeing you all at these upcoming events.

Kristy Hay

Principal

Calendar of Events

Assembly Roster Term 1 & 2

Athletics Carnivals

Next week sees the running of our School Athletics Carnivals.  On Thursday 6 March we have Prep to Grade 2 beginning at 9:00am and running until lunchtime. 

On Friday 7 March it will be Grade 3 -Grade 6. This carnival will run for the whole day.

Programs are attached with approximate times.

Please note, as both kinder classes are not here on the Thursday the kinder's will have a special race later this term on a day that both classes will be here. Kinder teachers will provide more information on this soon. 

Students should wear colours to support their house as well as making sure they have their hat, drink bottle and maybe extra snacks to keep their energy levels up!!

Students from Grade 3-6 who perform well in the Division 1 races may be asked to attend the Huon Channel Carnival on Wednesday 26^th March

Parents are welcome to attend both days.  Fingers crossed for good weather for the two days!!

Grade 6 News

6B Class News

It’s been a busy start to the term in Grade 6B and students have been working hard in all their subjects.

We’ve been working on problem solving in maths and understanding what to do when we’re not sure how to solve the task.

We made faces out of blocks having had a single instruction: make a face out of the blocks that was worth twenty. Students used all sorts of methods, from counting sides to using colours. It took us a few tries to think about how we might solve the puzzle.

Trial and error can be an important way of solving maths puzzles and it often helps us to think about the problem in different ways.

We settled on making our own counting system based on the blocks themselves. Green triangles were the smallest shape and these fitted perfectly on top of all the other shapes, so these had a value of one. Next, were the blue diamonds worth 2 triangles, red trapeziums which were worth 3 triangles in area, and so on all the way up to hexagons which were worth 6 green triangles. In this way, we could make a face with almost any value, including twenty! 

6A Narrative Excerpts

They all like to eat the same thing as each other but Sam is allergic to dairy, so he has an EpiPen. – Tyson

I accidentally vaporised Biggie. – Seõras

“Guys, we have to get out of here.” – Toby

I started to punch at the door as my knuckles turned red. – Selby

I tried to break the tension by telling a joke. How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? – Cooper

Ducky was walking across the road and got run over by a car. – Aaric

We watch it hurl like a hurricane past the goalie. – Emerson

School, also known as six cruel hours of our lives. – Louie

Every part of my body was shaking in fear of what could be behind it. – Flynn

As loud as 15 fighter jets on their way to pick up more water for all the fires – Noah
What I find next is not a human. – Audrey

I’m still scared despite the years of training I’ve had. – Violet

My heart pounds beneath my chest. – Chelsea

Little does he know, heading to the mine was a big mistake. – Charlie

He lurched down and…. Crunch! I…. I’m alive?   I’M ALIVE! – Molly

“Did you know it’s rude to pick up the Octopus King?” - Eden 

I peered around the corner into the loungeroom, there were bite marks all over the couch. – Grace B

I opened the door to find a mysterious figure in the sink. – Grace

GBANG! I woke up shivering and scared – Emily W

I turned around sweating, and there, on a cardboard box, was The Doll – Willow

I looked at the box and shivered. I just had a feeling about it. – Belle

The salt mist hung heavily in the air. – Belle

What does this tiger look like? You wonder. What makes this tiger so special? - Kenzie

Prep D News

Prep D has had a great start to the year, settling nicely into full time school! We have been learning new routines, making new friends and having lots of fun. One of our routines is sharing, which each student does every week. Our first sharing topic was ‘all about me’ bags. Students brought in 4 things in a bag, that told their classmates something about themselves. We learnt so much about each other! 

Prep O News

Our Prep students have settled in to full time schooling. They are all loving Maths Workshop where they work in small groups.

House Leaders 2025

Congratulations to our Grade 6 students who have been elected as our House Leaders for 2025. These students have an important role in supporting students in their house at sporting events.  We had a large number of students stand for election and the field of candidates was outstanding. 

Primary Progress Report

Prep – Grade 6 students will bring home a Primary Progress report (PPR) on Tuesday of Week 6 (11 March).  

The PPR provides a snapshot of how your child has settled into the new school year, including their social skills and effort.  If you have any concerns or wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s report, please contact your child’s teacher. 

In Terms 2 and 4 you will be provided with a report that provides information about your child’s achievement in relation to the Australian Curriculum and/or their Learning Planning.  Evidence of Learning in key subject areas will also be provided in Terms 2, 3 and 4.  

Uniform Reminder

There has been an increased number of students wearing non uniform items to school. Can you please make sure your young person is in full correct uniform before leaving for school of a morning. 

The Uniform shop is open Monday & Wednesday mornings 8:30am to 9:30am. If these times do not suit you can collect a uniform order sheet from the office and these orders will be filled within a few days. 

BBQ Lunch Order

Already tired of making school lunches? 

On Friday the 7 March, Illawarra Primary School Association will be providing a BBQ Lunch Order, with both beef and vegie sausages (both sausages gluten and dairy free and gluten free bread available), drinks and icy tubes delivered to your child's classroom.

Ordering will be through the Spriggy Schools App and orders will close at 9:00pm on Thursday the 6th of March. 

When placing lunch orders, PLEASE ENSURE YOU PLACE AN ORDER FOR EACH CHILD SEPARATELY SO THAT IT IS DELIVERED TO THIER CLASSROOM NOT A SIBLINGS.

Volunteers are needed on the day to cook the sausages and prepare the class orders. If you can spare an hour, please 'SignUp' to a spot and help our IPSA Volunteers-https://signup.com/go/aPWLbVy

If you have questions, or would like to help, please email ipschoolassociation@gmail.com

School Association News

School Association AGM

It's that time of year again, when the Illawarra Primary School Association holds their AGM. We will be looking for members attending the AGM to become committee members and/or officeholders of the association during this meeting. This is optional, not a requirement. If you would like to just come and see what happens, then feel free to attend the AGM. 

The AGM will run for approx. 30min, followed by a committee meeting (1hr-1.5hrs) with the elected members. Only committee members are invited to stay for the committee meeting held after the AGM. 

Observers will be invited to join in on select committee meetings during the year, keep an eye out for invitations to observers. 

Zoom link/nomination form available for remote attendance (your nomination form must be submitted before the AGM if you intend on becoming a committee member/officeholder)

Email: ipschoolassociation@gmail.com for link/form or more information.

Regards 

Lisa Nisbett 

IPSA Chair

Chess - Term 1

Community Events