Newsletter 13 - Term 3 - Week 4 - 2022

From the Principal

Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter for week 4. We are a little bit behind schedule to push our newsletter out this week due to our comms outage on Thursday afternoon, followed by our huge day of school photos on Friday!

A big thanks to everyone who assisted on the day of photos. It was wonderful to see our students with clean faces, combed hair, school uniforms and happy smiles! The photographers have advised that they will keep the online ordering system open for another two weeks for families who would still like to purchase photo packages online. The proposed ETA, including delivery of our photos is 10-12 weeks, which means we will be expecting them to arrive to school by my mid term 4. If we have any further updates, we will ensure to keep our families informed.

I would also like to welcome some new people who have joined AAS this fortnight - Ms Kathryn is a new tutor and will be working in the 4-6 area, and we also have several new or returning students join us here at school. As always, we hope that everyone new to school feels welcomed and supported when settling in to our school.

Also in the last fortnight, we have run some emergency drills. We have been teaching our students that emergency drills are not real emergencies, but they are important to help us practice adn know what to do to keep us safe in case we do have a real emergency. Last week we practiced a lock down, where we stay inside out of sight and lock our doors, and the previous week we had a fire evacuation drill where we all evacuated to the oval. I must say how impressed I was of all our students who took the drills seriously and sensibly. We have 250 students at this school, and everyone from Preschool through to Senior students followed our procedures and worked as a team.

Speaking of impressive, how fantastic was Picnic Day Market at the last weekend!? The dancing and singing and a superb performance by our Snr Choir, plus an array of local business stalls, food, jumping castles, inflatable slides, bubbles and face paint, hair colour, bake and craft competitions and a catwalk -plus delicious food! On behalf of Alyangula Area School I would like to thank GEMCO for organizing such an amazing community event!  

We also have upcoming school events that our staff and committees have been busy organizing that will take place this term.

This week (week 5) is Science Week and Ms Wallace has been planning an exciting science gala full of activities and experiments that will be happening at school on Friday.
Also on Friday, our students in Ms Sharron and Ms Madi’s classes (TR  and T/1) will be celebrating 100 Days of School by dressing up to look like they are 100 years old and having a class party!

Next Week (week 6) is book week, where we will be holding our Annual Book Fair that will be set up in the Multi-Purpose Room for students and families to browse and purchase new books. The books will be available to purchase at the following times:
- Before school (7:45-8:00am)
- During lunch time (1:00-1:20pm)
- After school (2:30-3:00pm)
- Community Library (Saturday 9am – 1pm)  

To conclude our book week celebrations, we will be holding a Book Parade on Friday morning on the down ball courts after our special outside school assembly. The theme this year is ‘Dreaming with your eyes open’ and students are encouraged to dress up with an idea from this theme or their favourite book or character.

At our assembly, I also had the pleasure of announcing the movie that will be shown at our Father’s Day Movie Night which is being held at the ASEC Hall on Thursday 1^st September at 6:45pm. We had all our classes cast their vote for the preferred movie that we will screen. We counted all the votes and the winner is…….  BAD GUYS!

Information has also been sent home today regarding our Colour Fun Run that is taking place at the Town Oval on Friday 2^nd September. Please take the time to read through the information and set your child’s fundraising platform up so that they can be in the running for the spot prizes which will be drawn each Friday. Our spot prizes are randomly drawn, and the winner will receive a FAIRWAY 19 Voucher for an ice-cream or milkshake. We also have individual prizes and a class prize for the most funds raised throughout the fundraising period. Fundraising for this event will go towards purchasing sensory items and creating outdoor learning spaces.

This fortnight (week 4 and 5) we have explicitly focusing on our school value of Safety. We have been teaching what being safe means across all facets of schooling and what being safe looks like, feels like and sounds like. Please continue to have these conversations with your children at home.

If we have your email on file, you will note that you have received an invite to partake in the School Parent Opinion Survey.  This survey is so important for us as a school to hear our parent community voice and opinion, and provides worthwhile feedback for us to identify needs, improvements and celebrate our successes. I have also included the link below for parents/carers who do not have an email attached to their child’s contact details and would like to be involved. Our staff undertake a similar survey, and student from year 5 up will also have the opportunity for their voice to be heard and will be completing their Student Opinion Survey’s throughout the next two weeks.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support of our school as we are gearing up for a very busy few weeks ahead!

Mel Dougherty

 School Opinion Survey Link for Alyangula Area School parents and caregivers: 

Award Winners

Alyangula Area School Council

CHAIRPERSON VACANCY 

As our Chairperson has relocated, we have a vacancy for a person who is interested in joining the school council. This person will act as the spokesman for the Council, in accordance with the Constitution. Know the Council's Constitution, policies, and legal responsibilities. 

School Representative Bodies support schools and their communities to build meaningful partnerships and encourage strong community engagement. A strong School Representative Body ensures decisions are made in the best interests of all students. Councils have a responsibility to determine the educational needs, expectations and priorities of the school community and work closely with the principal, teachers, staff, parents, and students in the development action plans. School Council is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and review of the plan and keeping the community informed.

Alyangula Area School Council Needs YOU!

The Alyangula Area School currently has Parent Member positions vacant.

The School Council meet at least 8 times per year (sometimes more when needed).

Members can expect to:

• Develop the broad strategic direction and vision through the school’s strategic planning process
• Provide input into the development and implementation of policies
• Lead community conversation about key challenges in education
• Ensure the school is responsive to local community needs
• Provide strategic oversight, approve distribution and monitor annual budget performance
• Assess and advise on the physical needs of the school
• Oversee work on buildings and grounds
• Approve community use of school facilities outside of school hours
• Identify fundraising priorities, activities and spend funds accordingly
• Determine school fees and seek voluntary contributions from parents
• Employ School Rep. Body staff in accordance with relevant awards and the Fair Work Act 2009(Cth)

Each member must hold a current Working with Children Clearance (Ochre Card) or agree to apply for one.

The next school meeting is the Wednesday 31st August at 7pm in the Multipurpose Room

If you are interested, please complete the Nomination Form attached and return to the office (paper copies are also available from the office).

Alternatively, you can email completed copies to aascouncil0885@gmail.com

If you have any questions, please email aascouncil0885@gmail.com

All parents are encouraged to attend and to get involved - even if it is just an observer or wanting to get involved in a limited capacity that fits around work or childcare arrangements. 

Annual School Survey

The annual School Survey is on again from Monday 8 August 2022 to Friday 26 August 2022.

The school survey collects the opinions of staff, students and their families about school performance, culture and services.

It contains questions that aim to provide schools with key insights into student wellbeing, engagement, and learning and school experiences from the perspective of our school community.

How will taking part in this survey benefit students and my child’s school?

Your responses provide school leaders with your opinions on school services and students’ learning. Principals can use this information to help them identify what students, families and staff feel is important and what the school may need to change to improve school services.

It is an opportunity to offer direct feedback to principals and teachers, and for schools to put student, parent and staff voice at the centre of their self-assessment and decision-making processes.

Emergency Contact Details

A emergency contact information form will be sent out next week. Please ensure you complete this form and tese forms are signed and returned to the school even if there are no changes to your child/ren's details. 

Colour Fun Run - Online!

Alyangula Area School are running a colour run sponsored fundraiser to assist us in raising funds towards the enhancement of our outdoor areas, to create spaces between the outdoors and classrooms where our students can learn and explore.

We are fundraising for sensory resources and furnishings to have a variety of adaptive resources available to the school to support student engagement and learning, this includes specialised playground equipment for the yard, assistive technology and furniture for education in the classroom and a multitude of tools to assist with improved focus at school.

Our school colour run is a fun, active event for our students to celebrate our community coming together and raise money for our school.

How will this fundraiser work?

We have partnered with online fundraising company, Go Raise It.  Go Raise It specialise in working with schools to maximise their fundraising efforts.  Collecting sponsorship online makes it super easy for everyone - no more door knocking, fundraisers can collect more donations from further afield (friends and family living off Eylandt, work colleagues etc) without the need to worry about handling cash and bringing it into school.

How do I sign up to fundraise online?

Each student can sign up for their very own fundraising web page to send out to collect online sponsorship. Sponsorship can be collected from anyone, anywhere and sponsors even have the ability to choose which currency they wish to donate in.

STEP 1
Go to our Fundraising Hub page at: https://alyangulaareaschoolcolourrun.goraiseit.au/hub

STEP 2

Find the register/sign up link to set up a fundraising page

• If you need any help email help@raiseitfundraising.com for direct assistance
• All totals update in real time and your sponsors can leave you messages of encouragement

Prizes:

We have a range of fundraising prizes available including spot prizes and overall fundraising prizes for classes/individuals. Please see the Prizes page linked on the Fundraising Hub page of our fundraising website.

Colour Run Date:

Friday, 2^nd September 2022 @ Alyangula Town Oval

School Photos - Friday 12th August

Father's Day Movie Night!

National Science Week

Next week is Science Week!!

We will hold a Gala Day involving all classes to celebrate science.

Watch this space for photos!!

Community News