Frequently asked questions

The Aboriginal Education Team oversees the implementation of Aboriginal perspectives through the curriculum. The team also coordinates meetings with Aboriginal community and monitors the performance data of all Aboriginal students within the school.

The major event for the Aboriginal Education Team is the organisation and facilitation of the annual NAIDOC week celebrations which in 2018 is held between 4th July and 7th July.

Meetings occur

Team members

• Andrew Pryce
• Lindy McCallum
• Lisa Maurer
• Travis Hawke

There are two school bands, a junior band for Years 1-6 and suitable for those children with limited experience. The Junior Band rehearses Wednesday at 8am.

There is also a senior band for Years 1-6 for those children with more ability and experience.

Senior band rehearses Monday and Tuesday at 8am.

The Band Director is Mrs Gina Caban.

The school offers tuition in a variety of instruments at an additional cost of $20 per lesson and these lessons are available for students during break times and outside of school’s core curriculum hours.

A number of instruments are available for hire, in particular concert band instruments. At this time, there are no guitars, keyboards or drum kits available for hire.

Parents can register their child’s interest at the office.

The school holds two barbeques per year for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Dates

Our school participates in basketball competitions across the school year. The school participates in an after school (Friday night) competition in Term 4 and gala days and knockouts. Students also have the opportunity to be selected for representative teams.

Coordinator

Mr Travis Hawke

Students from Years 4-6 participate in overnight camps. We have found that over the years, students in these grades cope the best with being away from home. Students in year 3 attend part of the Stage 2 camp as a day trip. They do not stay overnight.

Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) attend a two night camp to The Great Aussie Bush Camp and participate in a variety of outdoor educational activities. The camp links to numerous syllabus outcomes as well as strengthening social bonds, resilience and building relationships with teachers.

Year 4 dates are: Wednesday 5 September to Friday 7 September 2018.

Year 3 will attend on Thursday 6 September 2018.

Stage 3 students have the opportunity to attend the major excursion to Canberra for 2 nights.

Dates: Wednesday 5 September to Friday 7 September 2018.

Every year our school holds a cross country event. Students in K-2 run 2km in a predetermined course both inside and outside the school grounds which includes Alder Park.

Students in Years 3-6 run the same course for a distance of 3km on the same track.

Students who qualify at this the school event will then go on to represent the school at the zone cross country.

High performing students will then have the chance to compete at a regional and state level.

Students in Years 1-6 are invited to participate in school choir with weekly practices that encourage a love of music and singing, exercise the brain and forge social bonds. At this stage, school choir is held every Thursday at second half in Mrs Garis’ room (demountable next to the garden). Throughout the year, students will have the opportunity to perform songs learnt at school assemblies and other events.

The frequency of the rehearsal will depend on upcoming performances and this is communicated to the students.

Years 3-6 students will also have the opportunity to participate in Star Struck. This is an opportunity to learn about vocal techniques and develop confidence in both day and night performances at the Entertainment Centre. Star Struck students will represent the school as part of a mass choir which is held the weekend after the long weekend in June. Star Struck consists of out of school rehearsals, evening and weekend performances.

Our school will participate in Star Struck bi-annually – every even year.

The coordinating teachers for Star Struck are Mrs Aylin Garis, Mrs Lisa Maurer and Mrs Emily Leto.

Coding teaches children the basics of computer programming. Most classes will run variations of coding throughout the curriculum.

Coding Club will not run in 2018.

Coordinator

Mrs V Tweedale.

Dance Ensemble is a dance group open to students who are required to commit to rehearsals at school, practise at home and attend in and out of school performances. It is open to Stage 1 and 2.

If successful, our Dance Ensemble will perform at the Hunter Dance Festival.

There will be no debating team in 2018.

This event will usually fall on the Thursday before Good Friday.

From 9:30am Grandparents are welcomed into their grandchildren’s classroom and the Easter Hat Parade will commence at 10:30am. All welcome.

After the parade, family members are invited to bring a picnic lunch to share with their children.

Classes are held every Friday when scripture classes are held. At this stage, we only have one ethics teacher and therefore are only running one class open to Stage 2. This class is limited to 20 places and is full for 2018.

The school would love to hear from any parent interested in becoming a voluntary ethics teacher at the school.

Education week occurs in the 3rd week of Term 3 each year. The school always invites parents and the wider community into the school during this week to witness our classroom teaching practice and to participate in extracurricular activities with the children.

Excursions are designed to complement learning programs that occur in the classroom. They are also a good opportunity for students to build independences, problem-solving skills, and resilience. Students in Kindergarten through to Year 6 participate in a range of excursions and these are communicated at the commencement of each year. Students in Years 4-6 also participate in overnight camps. (See camps)

Assistant Principals are responsible for the coordination and communication of excursions to parents.

Our school houses a regional Opportunity Class (OC). Students must apply to the Selective Schools Unit to participate in an external test which provides them with an opportunity to be placed into this class. The test is open to all Year 4 students.

The school also provides gifted and talented identification and modification of teaching programs which caters for students who are not yet eligible to be placed in the OC.

The teacher responsible for the coordination of gifted and talented education is Mrs Vicki Tweedale.

The school is continually looking to improve its playgrounds and gardens. Mr David Williams is our General Assistant (GA). If you would like to assist in the improvement of the school grounds, please contact the office.

Incursions occur throughout the school year. An incursion is an event provided by an external provider who comes to the school such as Life Education or the Mobile Observatory. Incursions are coordinated by Assistant Principals and are communicated to parents at the beginning of the school year.

New Lambton South Public School has a strong learning support team (LST). The LST identifies and coordinates wrap around support for all students who may be experiencing difficulties at school. The LST oversees the implementation of Individualised Learning Plans (ILPs) and manages external providers such as speech therapists who may wish to access the school to provide therapy.

The LST consists of Mr Andrew Pryce (Principal), Mrs Lindy McCallum (Assistant Principal), and Mrs Mary-Jane Britten (School Counsellor).

Any student requiring medication, whether long term or short term, parents are asked to speak to the office staff.  Students are not to carry medications on their person or in their school bag and their medication should be administered under the supervision of office staff where the dosage and time taken will be logged. There may be exceptions to carrying medications in the case of puffers and Epi-pens and these are discussed and resolved case by case with the Principal’s approval only.

These sessions are held early in Term 1 and are a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher and be advised of general information for the year in a group setting. While this is a valuable general information session, any queries relating to your child specifically are best addressed in the parent/teacher interview opportunity later in the term.

Each year in the final week of Term 2, the school celebrates NAIDOC week. NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week is an Australian observance which celebrates the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

All members of the community are invited to attend NAIDOC celebrations.

Organising teachers are Mrs Lindy McCallum and Mrs Lisa Maurer.

This is an opportunity for parents to meet with their child’s teacher on a one to one basis to discuss each student’s progress and any issues. Interviews are scheduled for 15 minutes each.

Meetings are held every 3rd Tuesday of the month during term at 7pm. Parents are encouraged to attend.

A presentation night is held at the end of the year. In 2018 this will be the 12 December.

Kindergarten to Year 2: 9:30am – 10:30am

Years 3 - 6: 2pm – 3:25pm

Children are presented with various awards; class and stage, citizenship, sporting achievements, and academic success.

School captains for the following year are also announced at this assembly.

Organising teachers are Mrs Emily Floyd and Assistant Principals.

All students K-6 participate in public speaking. Students participate in class with Stage winners invited to participate at the Zone Public Speaking Competition representing their school. These are often held outside of our school. Winners at this level will have the opportunity to advance further into Regional and State competitions.

Coordinators are Mrs Linda Gunness and Mrs Vicki Tweedale.

All students receive a written report on their progress twice per year, at the end of Terms 2 and 4.

All teachers are responsible for writing their student’s reports.

All students will have the opportunity to participate in robotics in class activities. The school will compete annually in the Robo-Cup. Robo-cup is a problem-solving competition where students must code a robot to complete a particular task or play a game of soccer.

Coordinators are Mrs Vicki Tweedale, Mr Sam Roffey and Mrs Travis Hawke.

Notes will go out to new students, Kindergarten students and new OC students at orientation.  Parents can elect to have their child placed into either non-denominational scripture, Catholic scripture, or none. Alternatively, when an ethics teacher becomes available, parents can request their child participate in ethics classes.

Scripture runs for 30 minutes on a Friday morning.

For those children who do not participate in scripture, they will do class-based activities with their teacher in class.

Both boys and girls have the opportunity to play in teams for the school in various teams such as:

Rugby League

Mr Robert Low

League Tag

Mr Robert Low

Cricket

Mr Adam Griffin

OzTag

Mr Robert Low

Netball

Mrs Michelle Tonks

Touch Football

Mr Robert Low

There are both knockout and gala day events for students and these are communicated as they arise throughout the year.

Students in Year 3-6 have the opportunity to represent their school in the inter-school competition. Due to the considerable number of children wishing to compete in PSSA, our school has developed an inter-school competition that includes Belair Public, Adamstown Public, Merewether Heights Public, and Kotara South Public. Our school will include two senior soccer teams, three junior soccer teams, one senior netball team, and one junior netball team.

This competition will run from Weeks 1-10 Term 2. All soccer games will be held at Upper Reserve Wallsend and netball games will be held at National Park Netball Courts.

Children will be selected for teams early in the school year.

PSSA comprises two arms: 

Firstly a weekly competition amongst local schools for students in Years 3-6 in netball and soccer, held each Friday. This is held at the same time as the inter-school sports competition and is the more competitive of the two. There will be a junior and senior side for each sport from Weeks 2-10 Term 2. All PSSA soccer matches will be held at Adamstown Oval/Myer Oval and netball will be held at National Park Netball Courts.

Secondly, state wide knockout competitions in a range of sports in which school teams have the opportunity to play against other schools in order to become state champions.

Finally PSSA provides an opportunity for gifted and talented athletes to pursue their sport to State and National level competitions in all areas.

Two carnivals are held each year, swimming and athletics.

Athletics Carnival

The Athletics Carnival is held annually at Newcastle Athletics track Newcastle.  Students who turn eight in the calendar year are invited to attend the carnival. Some field events do not take place on the day due to time constraints. These events will occur during school sports time. Some events such as javelin are not run as part of the primary school program as per Department of Education guidelines.

Competing students who meet the required qualifying time will then have the opportunity to represent the school at the Zone Carnival. High performing students who qualify have the opportunity to go on to regional and state competitions.

Swimming Carnival

Our swimming carnival is generally held in the first week back at school on the Friday and takes place at Charlestown Swimming Centre.

Only children who turn eight in the calendar year are able to participate in swimming carnivals as per Department of Education guidelines.

Students who beat the qualifying times for each event will be eligible for participation in the Zone swimming carnival. Depending on their swim on the day, they may proceed to Regional level which is followed by State level.

Our school participates in football competitions across the school year. Football is a highly competitive sport at our school and trials are held for students for those wishing to play in the Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Senior (Years 5 and 6) teams. Trials are held during Term 1 and students are notified of the outcome late in Term 1.

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The school has four sporting houses; Barrington, Blackbutt, Sugar Loaf, and Watagan (colours)

Students compete for their houses at a variety of sporting events. Each sporting house has two captains and these are elected at the end of the school year and announced at presentation day.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) is an increasing area of learning for students. Students participate in STEAM during class time and there are a number of competitive engineering challenge days held throughout the year for interested students.

Our school will hold a bi-annual STEAM week which will involve all students demonstrating their learning in a variety of areas. This will be held in odd years.

Coordinating teachers are Ms Emily Floyd, Mrs Leone Osland, Mrs Aylin Garis, Mr Sam Roffey and Mrs Vicki Tweedale.

Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) traditionally perform in a talent quest in the final weeks of school. Students are encouraged to participate and this is a non-competitive celebration of the diversity of student’s skills and talents.

Year 6 parents are invited in Term 1 to form a farewell committee. The committee is responsible for the coordination of the Year 6 farewell celebration.

The school liaison for the Year 6 farewell organising committee is Mrs Linda Gunness.