Transcript
Newsletter 4, Term 4
4th December 2021
Dear Parents and Carers
The end of the school year is rapidly drawing to a close. It has been a very busy term, with so many things pushed back
during the year, and as a result everyone, staff and students, are very tired and looking forward to the holidays like no
other, I suspect.
It has also been a very successful year, and we have much to celebrate. At the start of the year, we ran some workshops
to identify the key focus areas, which were set out in the document “Castletown Keys – Key Actions 2020” (available
on our school’s website). We created five operational focus areas: Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Well-being,
Information and Communication Technologies and Sustainability. Our staff all joined one of these planning teams, and
a number of points were identified from the three-year business plan for this year.
I am very pleased to report that, despite the considerable interruptions of Covid, we have been able to achieve almost
all of these in full, or at least partially. A great deal of work and effort has gone into this achievement, and in some
cases the absence of the majority of students in April/May enabled us to carry out some professional learning and
organisation during that time.
Next year will be a year of consolidation of our Whole-School Approaches, with the aim to finish off the
implementation of those areas still in progress; and to embed the practices in our plan such as Talk For Writing,
Friendology, iMaths, the various Sustainability Education practices that have commenced, and the expansion of our
intervention and extension programs such as Mini-lit, Macqlit, Tournament of Minds and Reading extension.
This year has also seen a great deal of work done to improve the facilities in the school, much of which was initiated
by previous principal Colin Brand. Colin visited the school earlier this year and was very pleased to see these
improvements have been carried out. Well over a million dollars was spent on our school this year. This includes
improvement to drainage, new veranda roofing and surfacing, replacement of benches and bag hooks, ceiling refits,
toilet upgrades and painting. The painting of all of our brown brick has given the school a fresh look, and noticeably
lifted the spirits of us all.
Castle Points Redemption
This year we introduced the PBIS Rewards app, which we use to acknowledge
and promote desired behaviour in our school. This has been very successful, as
it enables us to clearly articulate and teach our behaviour expectations, and
recognise those children who do the right thing, on a random basis. Our
students are now having fun redeeming their “Castle Points”, as we call them,
for reward activities and privileges.
One event coming up next week is a Cinema Excursion, in which 80 lucky
students have won a free trip to the movies at Fenwick Cinema. This will
include bus transport, movie ticket, popcorn and drink. Some kids had over 100
points, and purchased multiple tickets. I am very much looking forward to leading this excursion!
End of Year Events
Next Friday December 11th at 11.30am, we are holding our Presentation Assembly. This will be in the old assembly
area, as we can accommodate more people in the open space. We will celebrate the year’s achievements, and
acknowledge those students who have performed exceptionally well.
In the last week, the Year 6 students will be acknowledged with their Graduation Ceremony at 11.30am on Monday
14th, and their dinner on Tuesday evening. I know they are very excited about this.
Following that, we will have a nice quiet cruise through to the end of the year on Thursday (we hope). Friday 18th is a
school development day, with our staff finishing at midday as we have traded off half of this day through additional
after hours professional learning.
Student Reports
These are in the pipeline now and will be ready for distribution in the final week. This time, students will receive grades,
unlike semester 1 when we were unable to grade due to the disruption of coronavirus. In some cases where students
have missed a lot of school through absenteeism, teachers may not be able to provide a fair and valid assessment. In
cases where students have missed most or all of a subject due to attending other programs (eg PEAC, Instrumental
Music, Macqlit or Minilit) they may receive a “Not Assessed” comment, as it has not been possible to give a fair and
valid assessment and grade.
Volunteers Morning Tea
On Wednesday we will hold a morning tea to thank the army of parents, grandparents and community members who
have assisted in our school over the year. One of the special features I have noticed about this school is the wonderful
support we enjoy from volunteers – it does make a big difference to the quality of learning experiences we can offer
our students. If you can’t make it to the event, please accept a sincere thank you from me on behalf of the school, for
your invaluable contribution.
P&C and School Board
Perhaps the greatest contribution parents can make to their children’s school is to serve on the P&C or School Board.
These roles involve time and energy, and are essential to the successful operation of a school.
This evening we will host a reception to thank the board members and P&C executive.
Board members:
Staff Reps: Ashley Weckert, Madi Wickstein, Michelle Holthouse, David McLaren.
Parent Reps: Tania Wright (Chair), Marnie Fels, Ian Richardson, Michael Drake-Brockman, Anna Bonney, Janet Durrant,
Clara Graham.
Tim Baker (Principal), Tania Barnes (Exec Officer)
Special thanks to Marnie Fels who steps down after six years on our School Council/Board and 11 years of association
with our school: and to Clara Graham who will step down next year due to her term expiring.
P&C: Sandra Prosser (President), Fiona Ryan (VP), Jen Sage (Secretary), Emma Green (Treasurer), and Executive
Members Addie Timms, Larissa Bower, Janet Durrant, Hazel Burgess, Kristy Roper, Terri Coates, Kylee Gould, Katie
Witt.
Best Wishes
Tim Baker
Principal
Deputy’s Desk - Curriculum
2021 Student Leaders
On Wednesday, our 16 shortlisted student leaders
presented a short 2 minute speech to the students
in Years 4-6 about themselves and why they would
be a good student leader.
The 16 students were:
James Butcher Emelia Ashman
Lachlan Davies Ruby Heather
Riley Davies Everlee Major
Ryan Gilmore Kianna Manu
Benji Lear Lucy Pechar
Anaya Ramalepa Isla Powell
Nick Terrell Olivia Stephen
Jarryd Timms Ellie-Rose Weckert
The students and staff then voted and the
successful students will be announced at next
Friday’s Presentation Assembly. Parents of
successful students will be informed prior to the
assembly.
Reports
Just a reminder that the school requires your current email address for the school reports. We anticipate sending
them out in Week 10. We will send a text message once the reports have been sent out to remind parents to check
their inbox. One common issue parents have is that the reports sometimes end up in the Junk email folder, due to
the emails being sent out in bulk, so we recommend parents check there first, prior to contacting the school. We
also would like to remind parents to download the report from the link, as the link expires after 4 weeks.
Julie Fetherston Deputy Principal
Deputy’s Desk – Student Services
Congratulations to our Movie excursion winners. These lucky kids will be attending an excursion to the movies with
popcorn and a drink. What a treat!!
There were over 1000 raffle entries which equates to 20 000 Castle Points. That means there were 20 000 times that
our Castletown kids have been caught being great kids and following our expectations!
Great work kids!!
David McLaren Deputy Principal
Junior Movie Excursion Raffle Winners
Senior Movie Excursion Raffle Winners
Amelia Hooper Charlie Wood Seth Patton
Nathan Forrester
Charlie Tabinor Izzabella Scott Jai Wood Ashlee Smith
Spencer Bower
Harlow Weckert Zane Maloney
Annabelle Drummond Lilly Blacker Marcus Miller
Emelia Ashman
Savhannah Lewis-Hoey
Eva Richardson Peter Burgess Luca Abram
Thomas Balsdon Holly Young Doreen Evans
Charlie Wooldridge Jai Desmond
Bentley Lawrence Polly Gilchrist
Olivia Beardsmore Braxton Miller
Cooper McMullen Aaron Prosser Jack Witt Jake Powell
Mary Pugh Amaya Nankivell
Kristian Wright
William Wright Rhys Muir
Savanah Durrant Quinn Libo-on Kianna Manu
Isla Peterson Cody Henderson Oskar Graham Kash Edmonds Tayah Woort
Daniel Chitarra Chloe Sinagra
Rory Giorgiante
Brock Coates Carter Manu Rose Harrison Isabelle Stratton Remy Schmidt Van Haberley
Lucas Nankivell
Isabelle Crawley
Dakota Lay Kai Coleman Theo Nelson Chelsea Richardson
Bronte Hennessy
Cooper Weckert
Charlotte Beardsmore
Graciella Burgess
Charnique Owen James Boast
Braxton Gilbert
Mitchell Whiting Arlie Cox Lara Smallman Jayden Arnold Ainn Permito
Harrison Arnold Khloe Charles
Imogen Hindley
Adelayde Humphrys Katie Bourne
Jack MacKenzie Hamish Linden
Sheridan Spencer
Room 1 and 3 Assembly
Today’s Christmas themed assembly was led by the wonderful students in Rooms 1 and 3. The students spoke
clearly and confidently over the microphone impressing everyone.
Their first item
was the song “I
still call Australia
Home” with the
students
surrounding the
undercover area
and singing very
well to their
audience.
They also sang
“Aussie Jingle
Bells” and “Santa
Bring me a
Dinosaur” with
lively enthusiasm,
cute little dance
moves and a few
students bopping
along to the song.
Well done Rooms
1 and 3 on such a
polished and
entertaining
assembly.
Mr Baker also provided some entertainment with his “nit kit” where he suggested his treatment of eradicating nits.
Mrs Fetherston was very relieved that he didn’t carry out his demonstration at the assembly! Students, were of
course, reminded that this was definitely a joke and to not try out at home!!!
Certificates of Outstanding Achievement
Congratulations to these students for receiving the Certificate of Outstanding Achievement at today’s
assembly.
Class Year Students
EC 3 PP Lexi Weckert, Emmalee Barrett
EC 5 PP Sarah Macalpine, Lincoln Brenssell
EC 6 PP Luca Watchorn, Levi Pratt
Room 1 1/2 Heidi Hurrell, Miley Lear
Room 2 1 Lacey Browning, Flynn Sylva
Room 3 1 Emily Riggs, Jack Kenny
Room 4 2 Maxwell Macalpine, William Yexley
Room 5 2 Phoenix McMullen, Leah Robbins
Room 6 2/3 Kyle Durrant, Mikaylah Stephen
Room 7 3 Amelia Hooper, Beau Sylva
Room 8 3 Thomas Scullin, Seth Patton
Room 21 3 Micheal Nguyen, Addison Drake-Brockman
Room 13 4 Quinn Libo-on, Bronte Hennessy
Room 14 4 Lola-Rose Ridgway, Alyssia Bain
Room 9 5 Olivia Stephen, Nick Terrell
Room 10 5 Zaidee Maloney, Jazmin Humphrys
Room 11 6 Demi Hunter, Aaron Prosser
Room 12 6 Jessie Hennessy, Allira Bratten
Specialist LOTE Ted Graham, Amaya Nankivell, Sadie Witt, Ellie-Rose Weckert
Phys Ed Chelsea Richardson, Druce Blythman
Art Emily Riggs, Lola-Rose Ridgway, Ellie-Rose Weckert
Music Remy Schmidt, Jayden Arnold, Isabelle Crawley, Kasey Walsh
Ribit - 100, 200 and 300 Night Readers
Congratulations to the following RIBIT readers:
Rooms 100 Nights 200 Nights 300 Nights
EC 3 Ted Graham, Jaxon Freeman Saoirse Loffler, Ila Meredith, Oscar Tabinor
Rm1 Carter Watt, Asha Vermey
Rm2 Emily Riggs, Matthew Gellatly Polly Gilchrist, Theo Nelson, Zavier Oliver
Rm 4 Ruby Riggs
Rm 6 Harlow Weckert Coby Guest, Sadie Witt
Rm 8 Kaylee Vermey, Macy McLaren
Rm 9 Savannah Durrant, Izzabella Scott, Rory Giorgiante
Scarlett Hawke, Charlotte Beardsmore
Rm 14 Savhannah Lewis- Hoey
Dates to Remember
Monday 7th December Week 2 Swimming Lessons for PP, Yr 2 and Room 3
Tuesday 8th December Cinema Trip for Raffle Winners at 1.00pm – PP, Yr1, Yr2 & Yr3
Wednesday 9th December Cinema Trip for Raffle Winners at 1.00pm – Yr4, Yr5 & Yr6
Thursday 10th December Junior and Senior Choir Movie night at 5.30pm
Friday 11th December Presentation Assembly at 11.30am
Monday 14th December Graduation Assembly for Yr 6 at 11.30am
Tuesday 15th December Yr 6 Graduation Dinner
Thursday 17th December Last Day of Term 4
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