News

Principal's Message

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 15:20:33 AEDT

Whats Happening at LAPS

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 15:30:40 AEDT

Principal's Message

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:25:34 AEDT

Coronavirus - Department of Education statement

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 18:51:55 AEDT

The department is working with the Ministry of Health to monitor and respond to the unfolding international novel coronavirus situation.

Get up-to-date information about the department's response to novel coronavirus.

#Ready2020 – a great year starts here

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 12:58:38 AEDT

Starting school is a big moment in a child’s life. Here’s how to make the most of it.

We can’t wait for you to join us for a great year – the first step towards a lifelong love of learning.

Visit the department’s primary school resources for hints, tips and checklists to make a great start to the new school year, whether your child is starting Kindergarten or Year 6.

You’ll find:

Getting ready for primary school booklet – everything you need to be #Ready2020
Daisy’s First Day – the story of Daisy the koala’s first adventure at Kindergarten
advice from teachers – they’ve been through this before.

Video – #Ready2020: First day of Kindy

Duration – 1:00

Staying healthy into the new school year

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 16:12:29 AEDT

Immunisation is a simple, safe and effective way to protect your family from harmful diseases this holiday season and into 2020. Visit your doctor for general health and vaccination advice.

Immunisation not only protects you and your family but also others in your community, by reducing the spread of preventable diseases.

Children starting school in 2020 must have up-to-date immunisations to enrol.

These vaccinations help protect children from highly infectious and severe diseases including whooping cough and measles.

Travel health

If you’re travelling overseas during the school holidays, you may need vaccinations or medication – both for general health protection and for region-specific diseases.

If you’re travelling to the Northern Hemisphere, you may even need a flu shot.

Find out more about staying healthy while travelling.

NSW schools respond to bushfires

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:40:33 AEDT

Many schools are responding to the catastrophic fire rating that is affecting communities across the state this week.

We are continuously updating the School safety page with a list of government and non-government schools, as well as TAFE NSW campuses that are currently non-operational.

While some schools are temporarily non-operational due to localised fires, many others in high-risk areas are non-operational as a precautionary measure.

Schools in some areas are being used as emergency evacuation centres at the direction of the Rural Fire Service.

For schools that are currently operational, school pickups and dropoffs will continue as usual. If your school is currently non-operational, it will likely remain so tomorrow.

Large scale distressing events affect our school communities in many ways. Headspace’s mental health support resource (PDF 100.52KB) is available to help students, teachers and school staff respond to the bushfires.

Visit the School safety page for updates. The department’s Facebook and Twitter accounts will also provide updates during this period.

Grab a ticket to Schools Spectacular 2019

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 11:07:36 AEDT

Will you be joining us at Schools Spectacular 2019? Tickets are on sale now. Experience our live show featuring a cast of thousands of public school students from across metropolitan, rural and remote regions of NSW.

Students from different ages, cultures and backgrounds will share the spotlight as they dance, play and sing for you. Choose from one of our four massive performances at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday 22 November and Saturday 23 November.

This year's events will feature:

more than 380 schools
5,500 performers
a 3000-strong choir
2,300 dancers
an 80-piece symphony orchestra
a world-class stage band.

Group bookings

Need to make a group booking for over 10 people? Complete the Schools Preview Order Form 2019 (PDF 110KB) to attend the discounted 11am Friday matinee. The Friday matinee is discounted for school students and accompanying teachers.

If you’d like to grab a spot at one of the other three remaining shows complete the Group Booking Form 2019 (PDF 110KB).

Tickets for you and your family and friends

Save you and your family a spot online or by phone on 132 849.

Video – Schools Spectacular 2019

Duration: 0:26

Happening at LAPS!

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 15:15:41 AEST

Principal's Message

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 14:59:00 AEST

E-Safety - Screen time tips!

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 11:03:40 AEST

Have your say on before and after school care

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 13:33:15 AEST

We want to better understand your needs for before and after school care in NSW.

Have your say today on before and after school care.

Fill out the survey by Service NSW to share your specific care needs and to register interest to stay informed of new developments.

Your input will provide insights into where there are gaps in service availability and help us to deliver extra places where they are needed.

You can also contact the team responsible for rolling out the before and after school care commitment at BASCreform@det.nsw.edu.au.

Book yourself in for Reading Hour

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:19:58 AEST

This Australian Reading Hour, encourage your child to discover or rekindle their love of a good book. Take the time to learn, escape and relax on Thursday 19 September and read for one hour.

Get involved at home

Join in at home and read your child a bedtime story. Studies show that reading a bedtime story six days a week can give kids almost a year’s head start when they begin school. Reading has also been shown to develop empathy, promote critical thinking and help children find a sense of self.

Join in from the classroom

Bestselling children’s author and illustrator Matt Stanton will broadcast live to primary school children across the country from the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday 17 September. We invite schools to register for the livestream of this free event.

Stanton’s author talk is among more than 140 events happening across the country involving more than 50 authors.

Take the Book Swap Challenge

We all have favourite books that we come back to again and again.

To help celebrate Reading Hour take our Book Swap Challenge. We want students, teachers, staff and parents to try reading something new on the day. To get involved, simply pair up with someone and swap your favourite books.

Take a photo and tag it with #ReadingHour so we can see how you got involved.

Video – #ReadingHour authors talk about their favourite place to read

Duration: 0:38

Looking for a good spot to open a book? We asked authors Benjamin Law, Morris Gleitzman, Jacqueline Harvey and Mick Elliott about their favourite place to read.

Kindergarten Transition 2020

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 15:01:44 AEST

LAPS Showcase

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 11:26:46 AEST

What's Happening at LAPS!

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 11:07:36 AEST

Principal's Message

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:44:44 AEST

How to be smart and safe on social media

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:38:05 AEST

Use our new Digital Citizenship toolkit to empower your child to understand how their online behaviour affects themselves and others.

You and your child can find information on:

how to ‘be positive’ by understanding online behaviour and its effect
'be smart’ by thinking critically and being digitally aware
'be safe’ by protecting your security, privacy and wellbeing.

A toolkit to empower you and your child

You can find articles and videos to equip and empower your child to minimise the risks and maximise the opportunities in our digital future.

We’ve partnered with leading researchers to produce a curated toolkit – aligned to the curriculum – which teachers and you can share with the young people in your lives.

Guide your child through important concepts such as:

managing privacy settings in social media
collaborating online
avoiding scams and hoaxes
understanding the law when it comes to online speech
Internet banking, shopping online and much more.

Keep your child safe and happy online

Visit and bookmark the Digital Citizenship website. We’ll continue to add articles and resources to ensure the best possible tools are available to help you guide your child to be positive, smart and safe online.

Book Week Highlights

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:19:53 AEST

Principal's Message

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:08:49 AEST

This week at LAPS

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:20:57 AEST

Sport's News

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:17:32 AEST

Principal's Message

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:15:00 AEST

NSW Public Education Week

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 12:00:16 AEST

Education Week – Every student, every voice

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 14:00:18 AEST

We are celebrating our students and their powerful voices this Education Week Monday 5 August to Friday 9 August. Every year Education Week celebrates the achievements of public schools, our students and the value of public education.

This year, the theme is Every student, every voice.

Join us for #EdWeek19 as we celebrate our students and their power to shape the world.

Video – #EdWeek19 – Every student, every voice

Duration: 0:34

Education Week at LAPS

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 12:20:42 AEST

What's happening at LAPS!

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:01:55 AEST

Principal's Message

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 11:57:04 AEST

Stage 3 Netball Knockout Competition

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:11:00 AEST

Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 12:08:07 AEST

Principal's Message

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 15:12:55 AEST

PSSA Softball

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 12:17:03 AEST

PSSA Soccer Teams

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 12:13:39 AEST

Creative and Active Kids vouchers now available

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 11:33:01 AEST

Creative kids can now put a $100 voucher towards extra-curricular creative activities outside of school.

Together with Active Kids, this program aims to encourage more NSW children to participate in a range of extra-curricular activities such as coding, languages, circus, performing arts and visual arts.

Parents can apply for one $100 voucher for each child enrolled in school on the Creative Kids website and use it towards the cost of registration, participation or tuition. You just redeem the voucher with a registered provider in your area when making your payment.

This is a great opportunity for your child to become involved in a range of activities that will build on their education, growth and development.

Service NSW is working with industry bodies to deliver the program.

For more information, contact Service NSW on 137 788 or creativekids@service.nsw.gov.au.

Principal's Message

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 14:07:39 AEST

Sport's News

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 15:12:51 AEST

Principal's Message

Fri, 31 May 2019 14:17:38 AEST

The Game Changer Challenge is back

Fri, 31 May 2019 12:19:51 AEST

It’s not too late to become a Game Changer with applications for the Education Week challenge due by 7 June.

The Game Changer Challenge brings 16 teams from public schools across NSW – eight from primary and eight from secondary – to Sydney during Education Week in August for a three-day, intensive design-thinking workshop.

The Game Changer workshops, which start on Tuesday 6 August, includes teacher training in the use of design thinking as a teaching methodology and its application for school planning.

It also includes a team competition where schools will work under the guidance of experts from industry and academia to develop a solution to this year’s critical question: How might we humanise technology?

Department of Education Secretary Mark Scott has encouraged students and teachers to get behind the event as it highlights the critical thinking students will need to develop to succeed in the future.

“The Game Changer Challenge is an exciting initiative that helps educate and inform our students and teachers on how to integrate the problem-solving methodology of design thinking into the classroom,” Mr Scott says.

“It embraces the 21^st century skills our students will need to thrive in a globalised world such as collaboration, creative thinking and communication.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students at all levels to be involved in discussing and addressing a real-world issue that will affect their future lives. I encourage every school to get involved.”

The challenge is designed to make strong learning and teaching connections to the NSW syllabus specifically in the area of developing general capabilities such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication and problem-solving.

The challenge also provides teachers with an opportunity to gain exposure to the design thinking process and includes teacher resources to introduce this creative problem-solving methodology into the classroom.

Finalists will be selected based on a 60-second video that showcases your team’s vision around the question of humanising technology.

For more information email edweek@det.nsw.edu.au or visit the Game Changer Challenge page.

What's Happening At LAPS

Mon, 27 May 2019 14:10:05 AEST

Sport News

Mon, 20 May 2019 13:15:15 AEST

Principal's Message Week 3

Mon, 20 May 2019 12:58:53 AEST

Your NAPLAN questions answered

Thu, 09 May 2019 15:04:03 AEST

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The tests assess the foundational skills in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy that are essential for every child to progress through school and life.

This year NAPLAN takes place between 14 and 16 May for paper tests and between 14 and 24 May for schools participating in NAPLAN Online.

NAPLAN data is used to help monitor student progress over time against a national measure and to identify areas of strength and improvement. It is used in combination with other school assessments to guide and support student learning.

Watch students ask an expert the tough questions about NAPLAN.

Video – Kids ask the hard questions

Duration – 3:45

Whats happening at LAPS

Wed, 08 May 2019 11:58:08 AEST

Principal's Message

Mon, 06 May 2019 12:14:33 AEST

Apply now for My Community Project funding

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 15:06:39 AEST

Do you have a great idea to improve your area?

My Community Project is a new NSW Government funding program that is all about local ideas, local projects and local decisions.

You can apply now for grants from $20,000 - $200,000 for projects that will make a difference to your community. Projects could include new playground equipment, sports facilities, paths or ramps to improve access, public art or a community service.

The local community can vote for their favourite projects in July and successful projects will be announced in September.

Project applications close 15 May 2019.

Apply for My Community Project funding

Bring back memories, not measles

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 14:15:08 AEST

With school holidays just around the corner, it’s time to visit your doctor to check that you and your family are fully protected against measles, before you travel overseas.

Measles is a serious, highly contagious, viral illness that is easily spread through the air when an infectious person coughs, sneezes or breathes. If you and your family are not fully vaccinated, or have never been vaccinated, you are at risk of contracting measles.

Not sure if you’re fully protected?

In Australia, the measles vaccine (MMR) consists of 2 doses. If you’re not sure whether you’ve had 2 doses of the measles vaccine, visit your doctor. It’s safe to receive another dose.

Children born in Australia

If your children were born in Australia, they may have received the measles vaccine at 12 months old and the second dose at 18 months, in accordance with the National Immunisation Program.
If you have a baby under 12 months old, consult your doctor about getting their measles vaccination.

Adults born in Australia

Born before 1966 – you were most likely exposed to measles as a child and are generally considered to be immune. If in doubt, ask your GP.
Born between 1966 and 1994 – you may not have received 2 doses. Talk to your doctor about the free vaccine if you’re unsure.
Born after 1994 – the National Immunisation Program offers 2 doses, and you can check your vaccination status using the Australian Immunisation Register.

For more information about the measles vaccination, visit NSW Health or consult your local doctor.

Principal's Message

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:06:56 AEST

Principal's Message

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 10:18:27 AEDT

Principal's Message

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 11:57:45 AEDT

5 road safety tips for parents and carers

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 13:14:20 AEDT

Now that students are back to school after a break it’s a good time to chat with your child about safe behaviours when you walk or commute to school.

Here are our top tips to help our students make a safe trip:

1. Be alert and aware

Take note of the dangers you come across on your walk and bring them to your child’s attention. Point out dangers, such as vehicles coming out of driveways. Talk to your child about being alert in a road environment.

2. Hold hands

When on the footpath, at a crossing or in a car park always hold your child's hand. It is advised to do this up to the age of at least 8 years old and closely supervise until at least the age of 10.

3. Choose a safe crossing

Lead by example and choose a safe place to cross the road. Explain why it is the safest place to cross.

4. Set a good example

Your child watches everything you do, so if you cross at the crossing they will too. It is also important to share these messages with other carers who may walk with your child to school.

5. Stop, Look, Listen, Think every time you cross the road

Discuss this important road safety message. STOP! one step back from the kerb. LOOK! continuously both ways. LISTEN! for the sounds of approaching traffic. THINK! whether it is safe to cross.

Practise makes perfect

The more supervised practice your child can get the better, so why not make Term 1 the start of a new routine to walk with your child to school more often.

Older children may be ready to make the journey to school independently. Before they take this step, observe if they are road safe and reinforce the road safety messages.

For more information, check out the department’s pedestrian safety advice for students, parents and carers.

Welcome Back

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:08:34 AEDT

Back to school

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 14:52:06 AEDT

The first day of Kindergarten and the return to school in the new year are busy times for your child – and for the entire family. To help you make the most of this time and enjoy the experience, we’ve compiled some useful tips and checklists. We want every student to be known, valued and cared for in our schools.

Our film #FirstDay2019 captures the excitement – and the nerves – of the rite of passage that is the first day of Kindergarten.

Video – Back to School 2019: First Day at Kindy

Duration – 1:00

Merry Christmas

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 08:40:37 AEDT

Sports News

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 09:16:30 AEDT

Principal's Message Week 9

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 09:05:56 AEDT

Yr 6 Mini Fete Day

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 09:13:22 AEDT

Sports News

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 11:02:42 AEDT

Principal's Message Week 5

Tue, 27 Nov 2018 10:52:49 AEDT

2019 school budget allocations

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 12:22:34 AEDT

Like all NSW public schools, this week we will receive a School Budget Allocation Report with our funding for 2019. The report will help us manage our total budget delivered through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM).

The RAM supports schools through needs-based funding to ensure a fair, efficient and transparent allocation of funds. Our school has the flexibility to make local decisions based on the specific needs of our students.

We will use our 2019 funding to support students and improve educational outcomes. The school executive will continue to work with the school community as we implement the school plan using this needs-based funding.

Learn more about the 2019 RAM funding.

Principal's Message Week 9

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 12:40:19 AEST

Well done dancers!

What an amazing performance our Stage 3 dance group put on at last Friday’s eisteddfod! They gave a flawless performance and certainly brought a tear to my eye watching them. Congratulations girls on your first place achievement and a huge thank you to Mrs Livio for all of your efforts in training our girls.

Young Communicators

It has been a great privilege to have listened to all of the finalists over the past week. This program is a credit to our school and showcases the wealth of confident and entertaining young speakers being developed at Lake Albert. My thanks to Mr McGowan and Mr Pitchford for all of their organisation; and to all of the teachers who have continued to hone the skills of our students. Today I, along with Kooringal High English teacher and Year 9 advisor, Mr Zack Cohalan, had the extremely difficult job of adjudicating the finals. What a hard job! Congratulations to all of the finalists.

A special congratulations to the following students on their success today: Kinder: Zac Snowden (1st) Summer Trevaskis (R.up) Stage 1: Declan Wade (1st) Lilly Trevaskis-Charlton(R.up) Stage 2: Chloe McMahon (1st) Hayden Kennedy (R.Up) Stage 3: Liam Crittenden (1st) Mia Graham (R.Up)

NAPLAN

We have received individual NAPLAN reports for our Year 3 and 5 students. This year our school was part of the on-line trial (except for the writing component). By 2020 all schools in NSW will be completing the NAPLAN on-line. It has meant a very different experience for our students with the on-line tests being individually tailored to each student. As this is the first year of the on-line trial, schools (and parents) are being advised to view these reports with some caution. The nature and differing mode of this year’s tests means that very little comparison can be made from Year 3 to Year 5. The reports simply provide a snapshot of how students performed on that day. NAPLAN reports will be sent home to our families tomorrow. Any parents requiring clarification regarding their child’s report are welcome to contact classroom teachers or myself. I will provide more detail around these reports at our next P&C meeting.

Kay

Principal's Message week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Education Week Wrap-up

What a wonderful performance our Lake Albert students put on at the Marketplace last week! We had beautiful singing, wonderful band playing and amazing glockenspieling! The students performed to a captivated (and very large!) audience. Well done boys and girls and thank you to the many family members and friends who supported them.

Our Open Day on Friday was another great success. Lots of beautiful sunshine, lots and lots of visitors and wonderful learning activities on show. Well done to our captains and prefects who greeted our visitors so respectfully. A huge thank you to our amazing Tanya and her team of parent helpers on serving up a delicious lunch to everyone.

Canberra Excursions

The Stage 3 students have been experiencing an amazing time as their groups visit Canberra. I had the absolute pleasure of accompanying 5/6C and 5/6L this week. The students enjoyed visiting a vast array of places ranging from the National Museum to the War Memorial, Questacon, Old and New Parliament House, as well as the Canberra Zoo to name a few! At each location the children learned lots of fascinating facts and demonstrated superb behaviour and respect. A major highlight was to see all of the House of Representatives sitting – including the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition!

Book Week Parade

I hope all of our students have been thinking about what special costumes they might like to wear at next week's parade! The theme of this year's Book Week is Find Your Treasure! Our parade is for K-6 students and will take place under the COLA at approximately 9:30 am.

Principal's Message week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Stage 3's Canberra News

5/6S and 5/6P are currently enjoying visiting the sites of Canberra (and keeping well rugged-up!). Earlier this week they were featured on the Deputy Prime Minister's (Michael McCormack's) Facebook page showing great respect. Next week we have the other Stage 3 classes off for their excursions.

Changes to school zones

A heads up for our families:

Some changes to legislation around school zones. In short, there are seven new school zone offences. The NSW government have recently updated school zone offences by increasing fines and demerit points. These changes will help to create and enforce a safer road environment in school zones. Please take some time to read over these to ensure you are assisting us to keep your children as safe as possible

SEVEN NEW SCHOOL ZONE OFFENCES

Driving and parking safely near your school

The beginning and end of the school day are busy times for pedestrians and drivers outside schools. You can help keep children safe by remembering the following:

get out of the car and walk in to collect your child!

Where you can, drop your child off and pick them up on the school side of the road (if you can't, get out of the car and walk with them)

never call out to them from across the road - it is very dangerous

always take extra care in 40km school zones

follow all parking signs - these help keep your child as safe as possible

park responsibly even if it means you have to walk further to the school gate

never double park - it is illegal and puts children at risk

never do a U-turn or a three point turn outside the school as it puts children at risk of harm

model safe and considerate pedestrian and driver behaviours to your child

always give way to pedestrians particularly when entering and leaving driveways.

To help schools keep the school zone safer for all pedestrians and drivers there are seven new traffic offences with new fines.

None of the seven offences attract demerit points when committed elsewhere on the road but now in a school zone they each come with two points.

The changes are:

1. Stopping in intersection - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a penalty of $439 and 2 demerit points.

2. Stop within 20m of intersection (traffic lights) - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a penalty of $439 and 2 demerit points.

3. Stop within 10m of intersection (no traffic lights) - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a penalty of $439 and 2 demerit points.

4. Stop near bicycle crossing lights - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a penalty of $439 and 2 demerit points.

5. Obstruct access to ramp/path/passageway - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a penalty of $330 and 2 demerit points.

6. Not parallel park in the direction of travel - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a $330 fine and 2 demerit points.

7. Parallel park close to dividing line - Under the changes if a driver commits this offence in a school zone they will receive a $330 fine and 2 demerit points.

Kay

Principal's Message week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

It was a very special day for all of our current Kindergarten children last week. Can you believe they have been learning at Lake Albert for 100 days! The time has gone by so quickly! Thank you to our Kindergarten teachers for providing lots of fun activities for our kindy kids to mark this special day.

A reminder that next week is Education Week. The theme for this year is Today's Schools Creating Tomorrow's World. Our teachers are very much aware of the need to ensure we are creating students who are well prepared for an ever - changing world. Our Education Week celebrations will incorporate our static and performance displays at the Wagga Marketplace next Thursday (notes for students involved will be sent home this week). Don't forget to come along to our Open classrooms from 12:15 – 1:30 next Friday. This will be followed by a family picnic lunch from 1:30 – 2:15. Our wonderful P&C canteen will be cooking up a yummy sausage sizzle and chicken burgers.

Please remember there will be no lunch orders available,

Principal's Message week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

OUR BAND GETS A TREAT

Last week the students from our school band had the opportunity to hear the Kapooka Army Band in concert. They were treated to music from some of the finest musicians around. This was a wonderful way not only for our band students to see and hear such quality playing, but also as a way for our school to continue to inspire them to continue with their instruments and as a thank you for their efforts.

REPORTS

Our teachers are tirelessly getting student reports finalised and to me for a final proof-read and signing. It has been wonderful for me to read about the fantastic academic growth of our students and the effort and application they have been putting into their learning. As a reminder to our families, our report formats are mandated by the Department of Education. Except for Kindergarten, all grades use an A – E grading system with the following descriptors:

Parents and carers are reminded that they are most welcome to contact class teachers for further information or explanation regarding their child's progress or student reports.

FORTNIGHTLY NEWSLETTERS?

Next term our families will see a change in the formatting of our newsletter. We are finding the current format is limiting the amount of news we can send out – particularly being able to showcase the amazing things happening in our classrooms and the achievements of our students. We are considering a fortnightly newsletter (which will have a comprehensive calendar for parents) as the amount of time to produce a weekly newsletter places considerable pressure on our staff to get news items and photos in and ready for publication. I will be seeking parental input around this next term.

Kay

Sports News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Principals Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

P&C DISCO

We had a fantastic time at last Friday's discos! Lots of children attended with many of the K-2 children telling me it was the best night of their lives! My sincere thanks to the parents and staff who gave up their Friday evening to not only provide a fun night for our students, but to raise much needed funds for our school. At our next P&C meeting I will be taking along our ‘wish list' for P&C to consider using funds towards.

SCHOOL BAND

Yesterday we were treated to a lovely morning concert by our school band. It was a pleasure hearing them and providing an opportunity for them to showcase their talent. These students put in an incredible amount of time and effort into learning their instruments. Thank you also to everyone for supporting the band by wearing their crazy socks and donating gold coins. The funds raised will be assisting with payment of new shirts for our band members to wear when performing and representing our school.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

On Monday I had the pleasure, along with Mrs Roberts, of adjudicating at the Stage 3 Multi-Cultural Persepectives Public Speaking finals. Wow!! What an amazing group of speakers! I was simply blown away by the high standard of the Lake Albert students. Delivering a polished speech in front of a large audience is never easy. The students involved are to be commended for the well-researched, well articulated, confident and engaging speeches they delivered. Congratulations to Kealey Bettens and Mia Graham who will now represent our school at the Wagga finals next week.

AWARD AND BEHAVIOUR SYSTEM

Our new award and behaviour system is provided along with today's newsletter. The P&C were presented with an overview at last Tuesday's meeting and it was very favourably received. The new system will commence next term. We will be seeking feedback from our families as the year progresses as to how the system is working.

Kay

KINDERGARTEN

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

OUR CHOIR IS SPECTACULAR!

Last week I had a very excited Mrs Livio informing me that our Stage 3 choir has been accepted into the 2018 Schools Spectacular, being held in Sydney in November! Our school has been offered 24 places to perform as part of this amazing event. This Wednesday final auditions were held with the successful 24 students being offered a place. This will be an incredible experience for our students that they will remember forever. Congratulations!

BEHAVIOUR AND AWARDS SYSTEM

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, commencing in Term 3 we will be trialling a new system for our awards and a clear consistent behaviour system. Our 3 behaviour expectations remain:

Respectful

Responsible &

Resilient

I will be presenting the 2 systems at next Tuesday's P&C meeting. Following this, all families will receive a copy of the procedures we will be putting into place.

THANK YOU STAFF

We are extremely fortunate to have an amazing group of teachers who put their hand up to coordinate a vast array of activities for our students. Many hours during lunch breaks are given over to sporting practice, choir and dance rehearsals. We have our chess teams playing after school hours on Fridays, as well as teachers coordinating excursions, Yearbook, band and sporting carnivals. All of these things are done over and above their daily teaching role which in itself is an ever-increasing load. In the five weeks I have been here I am amazed but also extremely grateful to be working alongside such a dedicated team. Your children are very lucky!

TEACHERS ARE LEARNING TOO

As part of our professional accreditation and continued improvement and growth, all staff are expected to attend professional learning. Over the past few weeks we have had staff attending a wide variety of learning experiences – all of which will benefit our students. Some staff have been learning about the new Literacy and Numeracy learning progressions which will come into effect in 2019. Other staff have attended sessions on Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM), PD/H/PE and its integration with other curriculum areas, Tournament of the Minds training and Aboriginal Education. Later this term, teachers will be attending sessions on the new Science and Technology syllabus, using Coding in the classroom and Music ideas for classrooms. Some of our Learning Support Officers have completed sessions in assisting students with Autism, other swill be attending a session on dealing with students with trauma. Whilst this may mean that a different teacher, or school learning support officer is placed on a class for a day or 2, the school-wide benefits of this training are enormous. We do try as much as possible to ensure that the same casual teacher is used on the same class, but this is not always possible.

Kay

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

CROSS COUNTRY

Congratulations to all of our students for their wonderful participation in last Friday's cross country What a beautiful sunny day we had! Huge thanks to Suzanne Heffer, David McGowan & Paul Oakman for all of their organisation. Thank you also to our fabulous parents who assisted on checkpoints and came along to cheer on our students. Well done everyone!

ASSESSMENT & REPORTING TIME

It is that time of years when students are busy completing assessment tasks and teachers are busy evaluating lots of work samples and preparing end-of-semester reports. Lots of learning takes places every day in every classroom. Our reports enable our families to share in their child's progress and achievements, as well as setting goals for future learning. Reports will be sent home in Week 10 of this term.

LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Our student leaders had the opportunity to be involved in the GRIP Leadership conference this week. They enjoyed lots of fun skill building activities and had discussions around ways to enhance their leadership here at school. I will be meeting with our leadership team to plan further ways for them to be involved in and lead school events.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

A reminder to our families that correct school uniform is expected to be worn at all times. With the onset of the colder weather I have started to notice a variety of jackets and hoodies. These are not part of our uniform. Any families requiring assistance with uniform need only to contact me. Our wonderful second hand uniform shop has a large supply of clothing available for a very small price.

PARENT FORUMS

At this stage I have only had 4 responses to my offer of parent forums. Thank you to parents who replied. I will be contacting those parents directly to set up a meeting with them. Due to the lack of numbers at this stage, I will run some information sessions as part of our regular P&C meetings. The first topic I will be discussing at the next meeting will be our new Behaviour & Award System.

AFTER SCHOOL PLAY

Please note that our playground equipment is not to be used after school hours. Lately we have had many children playing unsupervised on the equipment. During school hours a staff member is required to be on vigilant duty around the equipment – this is not the case at the end of the school day.

Kay

Principal's Message

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

PARENT MEETINGS

It was my great pleasure to attend my first Band & P&C meetings last week. Our small band is steadily growing & I commend the students who are putting in a tremendous effort into improving their skills. We are very excited that we will soon be commencing piano lessons to enhance the instrumental opportunities available. My thanks to Mrs Sykes for the wonderful job she is doing coordinating all of the musical events for band students. A large crowd attended our P&C meeting. I do hope this will continue as it is a wonderful way to hear about & contribute to the happenings in our school. A reminder to return the parent forum surveys if you would like to meet & chat with me on any topics. Please note these are not meant to be to discuss individual students. Parents with any concerns regarding their child are encouraged to firstly contact classroom teachers, then of course me should you require further assistance or information.

NAPLAN

Our online NAPLAN tests went off relatively smoothly with a few catch-ups still being done today. My thanks to Mrs Downing & Mrs Heffer for their wonderful organisation around these and to the rest of the LAPS staff for being so flexible and accommodating to enable this mammoth organisational feat to take place. We hope that the information provided from these assessments will provide useful, individualised information to assist the learning growth of our students.

ROAD SAFETY

I have been reminding our students that we have a very safe crossing area with our wonderful crossing assistants - Kath & Warwick- to guide them safely across the road. I have had reports from several parents regarding some children crossing further down the road near the corner shop. Please reinforce safe road crossing with your children.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SYSTEM

In coming weeks an outline of the new explicit behaviour & award system we will be introducing next term will be distributed to families. I will be outlining this in more detail at the next P&C meeting. The staff are very keen to commence implementation of a clear & consistent system based upon our 3 expectations:

Be respectful Be responsible Be resilient

Classroom lessons on these expectations will also commence next term. I look forward to feedback from our families as we trial this system.

CONDOLENCES

Our sincere condolences to Mr Andrew Chapman and his family on the loss of their mother this week. Mr Chapman will be taking leave for the remainder of this term and 2C will be well cared for by Mr Tom Hain.

Kay

National Simultaneous Storytime

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Today our K-2 students participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime day in our library.

This is an annual national event where schools from all over Australia listen to the same story, on the same day and at the same time.

The story this year was Hickory Dickory Dash written by Tony Wilson and illustrated by Laura Wood.

The children all listened to the story played on the whiteboard in the library together and then did a fun activity .

What a great way to get more young children reading!

If you would like to read more information about this great program please visit the link below.

https://www.alia.org.au/nss

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

AWARDS

It was my pleasure last week to attend the first primary assembly for the term. The focus at this assembly was on presenting swimming and athletic carnival awards to the worthy recipients. My congratulations to them and indeed to all of the students who participated in these events. The staff and I are currently reviewing our school behaviour and awards system to ensure a continued focus on positive behaviour and consistency in procedures for both positive and negative behaviours. As we consolidate our planning around this, more information will be provided to the students and our families.

DROP-OFF & COLLECTION OF STUDENTS

A gentle reminder to our families that supervision of students commences in the morning at 8:45 am. Children arriving earlier than this time should be attending the Out of School Hours care. Our school day finishes at 3:15 with supervision provided only for our bus travellers. Recently we have had a growing number of students waiting until after 3:40 to be collected. We understand that at times unavoidable circumstances prevent parents and carers form being on time. If this is the case, please advise our office.

THANK YOU PARENTS!

In last week's newsletter I mentioned the great many events that have been occurring for our students. We have had the help of many wonderful parents and carers who have assisted in providing transport. Without you, our students would not be able to continue to attend these sporting, cultural and other educational activities. A huge thank you!

PARENT FORUMS

As I settle in to my new role at this wonderful school, I have been taking a lot of time to get to know all of the staff and hearing about their educational journeys, aspirations and suggestions for ways to continue to improve this amazing school. To this extent I am now keen to meet with (or phone) as many parents and carers as I can to listen to any suggestions, compliments or concerns they may wish to share. I have attached a short survey that I would appreciate parents completing as a guide to the possible topics for these forums.

Kay

Principal's Message Week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Opportunities Galore!

What a busy start to our term it has been! Already we have had students visiting the Riverina Environmental Education Centre(REEC); students participating in the University of NSW Digital Technology competition; students participating in the Paul Kelly AFL Cup; several students representing Lake Albert Public in the PSSA Tennis knockout and the students of K6S attending a wonderful sports day! On top of these activities, we have students heading off this Thursday to the Premier's Debating workshop, several Year 6 students involved in Enrichment Mathematics sessions and several Year 5 students attending the ALPHA (Robotics and STEM) sessions at Kooringal High School! How very fortunate our students are to be provided these wonderful opportunities. My thanks to the staff members involved in coordinating these events for our students.

NAPLAN on-line

Over the next two weeks our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be involved in the on-line version of the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. Lake Albert is one of only a few schools trialing the on-line version. Whilst these assessments give us a snapshot of how your child performs on the day, and provide us with data regarding the growth of our students from Year 3 to 5 and into Year 7, there are many other aspects of a child's learning that they do not tell us. Please share the following letter with your child if they are feeling a little anxious about these assessments.

A Letter to Year 3 & 5 students Dear Year 3 & 5 students:

Next week you will sit the NAPLAN on-line tests. Before you get your results back there is something very important that you should know. These tests do not assess all of what makes each of you exceptional and unique. The people who score these tests don't know that some of you love to sing, are good at drawing or can teach others how to use a computer program. They have not seen the way that some of you can dance with grace or speak confidently to a group. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them when they are sad. They do not know how enthusiastically you participate in sports, how you help your mum and dad or look after your brothers or sisters. They do not know that you are caring, thoughtful and that every day you do your best. They don't know this because these things can't be tested. The scores you get from this test will tell you how you did on that day, but they will not tell you everything. They can't tell you that you have improved on something you once found difficult. They can't tell that you brighten up your teacher's day or just how special you are. So don't worry about your results; continue to enjoy learning as we know that you will give them your very best effort and remember there is no one way to test all of the things that make you YOU!

From Mrs Thurston & your teachers

Financial assistance

We understand that providing your child with school opportunities can at times be costly. Our families are reminded that our school has some funds to assist with the cost of things such as uniforms, supplies and excursions. Our wonderful administration ladies have developed a form for parents and carers to complete if you need a hand. Just contact us to collect one of these forms, fill it in and I will contact you to advise of possible assistance.

Kay

Principal's Message Week 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Greetings!

Hello lovely Lake Albert families! I am extremely excited and privileged to have been given the opportunity to lead this wonderful school. Firstly a huge thank you to Anna Roberts and the rest of the LAPS staff for doing a wonderful job in leading and managing the school. It has certainly made my transition seamless knowing that processes are in place and a team of highly capable and skilled staff are on hand. I have been Principal of Junee North for the past six years, prior to this Principal of Kapooka Public for five years and prior to this, spent seven years as Asssistant Principal at Kooringal Public School. In all, I have spent 27 years as a teacher and school leader. Being a Wagga girl, I have long known what a wonderful school Lake Albert Public is; indeed one of my first practicum experiences prior to becoming a teacher was a two week block at LAPS! I am very much looking forward to getting to know every student and all of our families as the year progresses. I am determined to ensure that every student at Lake Albert Public is known, valued and cared for and that we continue to set high expectations for all. Our school motto of Strive and Succeed will continue to be at the forefront of our educational journey forward. This week I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting each classroom and being out and about on the playground seeing the wonderful learning, engagement and enthusiasm of our students. Thank you everyone for your warm welcome.

ANZAC march

Congratulations to our school captains, vice captains and prefects for the wonderful manner in which they conducted themselves at last week's ANZAC march and wreath laying. It was indeed a very proud introduction for me to see what a great team of student leaders and role models we have.

Communication

Term 2 is set to be another extremely busy one. A key goal for us is to continue to ensure clear communication channels for our families. As well as our newsletter, our P&C Facebook page, the school website and our SchoolEnews app are the key methods for our families to utilise to keep updated of the latest events. I have also included with this week's newsletter a Term 2 calendar which highlights just some of the upcoming events. When notes are sent home, it is vitally important that our families retain the information sections of these before returning the permission slips. There will always be occasions where there are circumstances beyond our control when events, dates, times change or crop up unexpectedly. We will do our best to ensure these are relayed via the above-mentioned channels. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns regarding our communication to you.

Looking forward to a wonderful Term 2!

Kay Thurston

Principal

Principal's Message Week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

I hope you all had a lovely, family oriented four day break over the Easter long weekend. The weather was beautiful and I am sure there were lots of Easter eggs eaten. As you can see with the newsletter, we are using a new format which is tidy, streamlined and much easier for me to work in! We have looked at a few different ways for our newsletter to look and this one is the one we are trialling currrently.

Thank you to all the parents, carers and friends who managed to make it out to our Easter Hat parade last week. The hats were all beautifully made and managed to hold together long enough to make it around the parade lap. A big thank you to the teachers who organised the event and our very (marginally) funny MC, Mr Baker. I also noticed some Easter Bunny prints in the hallway after our parade!!! What a special visitor!

We are currently in the process of updating our absence data and you may receive a letter requiring you to explain a child's absence from school if it hasn't already been explained. It is a Department of Education requirement to justify all absences so if your child is away, please contact the school office or write a note to explain the absence so we can log it into our system. Thank you!

Next Thursday we will have our LAPS ANZAC Day ceremony. Between the services Tea/Coffee will be available for parents and guests, in ANZAC cove (end of hallway near the library). Hope to see you there.

Lastly, as we coast into the last 8 days of school, please encourage your children to go through the lost property box, their classrooms and the COLA area to take home the myriad of lost items that are currently floating around. They are mostly unnamed which makes it very hard to return them. Thanks.

Have a great week,

Anna Roberts Principal (relieving)

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Good afternoon Parents and Carers

I hope everyone is starting to get prepared for Easter and looking forward to our Easter Hat Parade this Thursday. This is one of the fun, community celebrations that we love here and we always see many of our Lake Albert friends and family attending. We will have the K-2 students parading with their hats and the 3-6 children supporting as our audience. Please feel free to bring a chair, a takeaway coffee and an Easter bun and come and watch.

Once again, thank you to the parents and teachers who are working their way through interviews regarding student learning. These interviews are a very important part of the quality education practices that we are committed to implementing at Lake Albert PS. Staff are in the process of developing our 2018-2020 School Plan and this will be put out to the community for discussion and thoughts in the near future.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

School E-News App

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

If you have the facilities to subscribe to the school app or email updates it is important that you do so. Reminders, electronic notes, class requirements, and school newsletters will all be uploaded for your convenience. Also school notifications such as emergency procedure actions or event cancellations, will be communicated to parents using this communication avenue. Please see the instructions below.

Get school news via an app
Download the app called "School Enews". Open the app and search for "Lake Albert".
iPhone and iPod Touch app: http://iphone.schoolenews.com.au
iPad app: http://ipad.schoolenews.com
Android app: http://android.schoolenews.
All other phones: School Enews

Subscribe for email updates
Visit our website at School Website
Click the "Newsletters and Notes" heading (top menu)
Click on "Subscribe to receive newsletters and notes."
Under the "Subscribe" heading, tick on the "Newsletters List" and the appropriate "Year Lists" that your children are in.
Enter in your name and email address.
Click Subscribe

IMPORTANT: An email will be sent to your email address, you MUST click the "Activate Now" inside this email that is sent to you.

If you are having trouble accessing our Newsletter in this way please don't hesitate to contact Michelle in the school office on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Good afternoon Parents and Carers

Here we are in Week 8 of Term 1 and it is as busy as ever. Thank you to the parents and carers who have committed to coming in to school to discuss their child's learning and goals with our classroom teachers. This is a very important part of our assessment and reporting cycle and most teachers still have appointments available for those of you who haven't been able to come in yet. It is gratifying to see how well teachers know the students and know what they want for them this early in the year.

The biggest news to come out of this week was the announcement of the appointment of Ms Kay Thurston to the Lake Albert PS principal position starting Term 2, 2018. Ms Thurston is currently principal at Junee North PS and I am sure she will be missed from there. While I have (mostly) enjoyed my time as relieving principal at Lake Albert PS and have certainly learned a lot, I will be glad to start my role as deputy principal and work with an experienced principal again. I am sure Ms Thurston will also be on a steep learning curve with a school as large as this and we will all make ourselves available to support her.

Much more exciting news to the students this week was the visit by the 400in4 charity bike ride team who are riding from Wagga Wagga to Westmead in Sydney to raise funds for the Westmead Children's Hospital burns unit. The Firefighters riding in the team hope to raise money for the Burns Unit but also to raise the fire prevention awareness to make our

children safer.

Scott and Brett (Firefighters who are part of the team) set up a kitchen with a pan on the stove with oil in it. They spoke to the students while the oil got hotter and hotter to demonstrate how easy it is to forget the pan on the stove and how quickly it can catch fire. Scott (dressed in his fireman's kit) then showed the students what happens if you put water on the fire…a massive fireball! Very scary!! To put out the fire Scott used a fire blanket and then taught the students about what to do if there is a fire in the house….get down low and go, go, go…and if there is fire on you…stop, drop, cover (your mouth) and roll. This was a very informative afternoon for our students. LAPS also donated to the charity ride on behalf of all of our students and teachers.

The last thing I would like to mention is to remind parents and carers to please return money and notes before or by the due date. It is difficult for our office to process late payments as we need to have numbers and orders organised before the event/activity. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good afternoon parents, carers and friends

At the P&C meeting last night, I presented a report updating P&C on the changes and happenings at LAPS. I am including some of that text here. New Principal position - The successful and unsuccessful applicants for the Lake Albert principal position have been informed. There will be no release of any information until 9am Tuesday 20/3. The panel convenor has been advised to wait until the 10-day appeal period is over before any candidate or director can say anything. There will be a statement sent to me on Tuesday morning to read to the staff and send out to parents from the panel convenor. This person will start Day 1 Term 2. Term 2 Director of Schools - Jenene McGrath was the successful applicant for the Wagga director of schools position. She will be the new director for Lake Albert PS Staffing at LAPS Term 2 – For Term 2 we will have a slight readjustment of roles once our new principal starts.

Principal – New person
Deputy Principal – Anna Roberts
Assistant Principals
ES1 - Kathy Crawford (relieving)
Stage 1 – Marg Tinnock
Stage 2 – Melisa Downing
Stage 3 – Suzanne Heffer (relieving)

In Term 2 we will advertise one AP position to cover the position I was formerly in.

LAPS will be doing online NAPLAN this year in Years 3 and 5. Year 3 will still be handwriting on the writing assessment but Year 5 will be typing into the NAPLAN software. In May, Kindergarten teachers will be involved in the AEDC (Australian Early Development Census) – This is an Australian wide census of early child development that measures the progress of children as they start their first year of full-time school. This data is collected every 5 years and is used by EC educators, health services, local councils, community groups, schools and governments to help plan and allocate the right type of services, resources and support for communities. No children miss class time. Teachers are allocated time off class to use enrolment forms and Best Start analysis to input data for each child. School Photos – school photos are currently going to plan. There are lots of fabulous faces and neat and tidy outfits. MSP Photography do an excellent job with our classes and the photos always come out very well. Please remember that the LAPS movie night is on Friday 23/3 and I look forward to watching Paddington Bear 2 with as many of you as can get here! Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good afternoon parents, carers and friends

What an amazingly busy term it has been so far at school and it only promises to keep going. We have a number of school events that have taken place and I noticed that there were several more listed in our coming events so please keep reading regularly to keep up to date.

Yesterday I attended a Principal's Forum where the leaders of education policy in NSW came to Wagga and spoke to Principals from across this bottom corner of NSW. Mark Scott is the

Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Georgina Harrison is the Deputy Secretary

Educational Services and Murat Dizdar is the Deputy Secretary School Operations and

Performance. You would have assumed it was going to be very dry and political but these three people are at the forefront of school improvement and operations and were very

interesting and heartening to hear. Great things will be happening for the

students and staff at NSW public schools. It is a wonderful time to be a part of leading, teaching and supporting children and young people. The premise of

children and young people being the centre of everything we do is exactly how it should be. I feel proud that we are a part of this great public education system.

I had reason to check our enrolment figures this week and we now have 530 students at Lake Albert PS. This means we are full and can only enrol students who are in zone or have

siblings already at LAPS. As a result we are investigating the possibility of getting more toilets and bubblers to support this many students and finding ways of creating more space and equipment to play.

By 8:45am, we have 100 or so children at school and by 9:00am there are about 450 so we are trying to use a part of the grassed area near the sandpits so there is more space to play in the morning. This will work while our grass is still dew-free and we will reassess as the weather changes. While we are discussing morning duty, there are a significant number of students here before 8:45am. There is no teacher on duty so we ask that where

possible, parents wait until 8:45am to drop students off. Principals are currently in discussions with Busabout and other private bus companies regarding students being left at schools before there are teachers on duty. I will inform the P&C regarding any changes that might occur. If students are at school before a teacher is on duty, they must sit down and wait for playbell to go. There are children who are running, climbing and playing around before belltime and I have reminded them of the rule regarding staying safe and sitting to wait until playbell.

Lastly, I would like to thank the parent community for their continued support of the staff and students at Lake Albert PS. There are a number of exciting opportunities starting to become available for our students and

different teachers are sending home different notes about these opportunities over the next couple of weeks so your continued support is valued.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good afternoon

I wanted to start this newsletter report by thanking the staff of Lake Albert PS. Over the weeks we have been working, there have been constant examples of teachers, SLSOs, canteen staff, admin staff, cleaning staff and grounds staff going just that little bit further to make sure our students are safe, supported and cared about. The wellbeing of students and their families is a priority for us and I see demonstrations of that every day. Thank you.

Last Friday I attended an extremely well run assembly with a large number of parents to see the students who had achieved places in the swimming carnival. It was a pleasure to see such a large number of students repre-sented and the way in which the audience clapped and supported them. Congratulations to all swimmers and award winners and it was a pleasure to be a part of that school spirit.

On our enews application this week a note was put up about the UNSW exams that are offered across the state to students in all schools. I strongly encourage as many students as possible to have a go. The exams are not su-per scary or impossibly hard and all students who enter get a certificate. We have a small number of students who regularly participate and we would like to increase this. Please consider letting your child try this experi-ence.

Save the date – Due to a number of factors, the Lake Albert 150 committee has had to change the date of our 150th anniversary celebrations to Term 4 2018. The advantage of this is that we now have plenty of time to vol-unteer our support to the committee and contribute to the day. If there is anyone who has an idea, a stall or would like to contribute in any way, please email the school and we will pass it on to the committee members.

Yesterday at LAPS the WIN news cameras came to film an initiative that has been developed by our canteen coordinator, Tanya Croston and the staff/owners of Foodworks in Lake Albert. Many, many plates of cut up, fresh vegetables were put together by our fantastic canteen volunteers yesterday and were distributed to class-rooms for students to eat at second break. The vegetables were delicious and disappeared into hungry mouths quickly. Thank you to Lake Albert Foodworks for donating the vegetables. There were a large number of stu-dents who tried coloured capsicum and raw green beans for the first time!

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good afternoon parents, friends and carers

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be part of the LAPS swimming carnival. What a well organised, well run and well supported event. I would like to thank and commend every staff member, student, parent and friend who contributed. We received a congratulations and a thank you from the life saving and admin staff at the Oasis for our entire process and the behaviour of our students. Well done. Thank you for continuing to make this a school we can be proud of.

CORRECTION!! Last week I mentioned our LAPS 150th celebrations and said the date was March 7...It is April 7. We have a little bit more time than we thought to get organised...and on that, if there is anyone in our

community who wishes to be involved in the parade, ie, ex-staff or students etc, or anyone interested in

holding a market-stall on the day, please email the school and let us know. We welcome any support and/or participation.

Dob in a doer— This week I have heard about two people who have helped to show people how wonderful our LAPS community is. Our first star is Kewa Kahuroa (Year 3) who travelled to the Regional Athletics Carnival in Wollongong and achieved a 1st in Discus with a PB of 13.40 m and 2nd in Shotput with a throw of 5.01m .

Congratulations Kewa and good luck at the next level of competition! A bouquet of thanks for Melissa Smith (mother of Alex and Sarah) who covered 7 chairs and 2 stools for the library. Thank you so much. They were not easy to cover and you have done a fabulous job. They look great. Please keep letting us know about people who are helping make LAPS such a great place to be involved in.

At the end of last week I received a visit from the Wagga Council traffic officer ,Tim Cahill, letting me know that the parking around LAPS has been identified as a significant area of concern for the Roads and Maritime

Service (RMS). I understand parking is difficult at school pick up and drop off times and we need to be aware of some of the rules around parking. Part of Tim's role is bringing about awareness for our community so we don't end up with fines and lost license points! He wants to reinforce that it is illegal to park within 10m of an

intersection and no stopping zones are exactly that. No pick ups or drop offs...no stopping at all. Fines are more and points are involved when the offence occurs in an active school zone . Please be mindful of where you park so our students stay safe. Thank you.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Welcome to Week 3

We have had a busy start to the week with many parents and carers attending our class/stage information

evenings and a large group attending the P&C meeting. Thank you very much for your continued support of the community opportunities we endeavour to provide.

There are a couple of things I need to flag with the readers of this newsletter. The first one is that as a result of an incident involving a car and a classroom in a metropolitan school, the Department of Education has had to carefully consider the traffic going in and out of school car parking areas. This morning a car drove into the dirt carpark area near the sheds to drop a student off at school. Please drop students off outside the gates and walk them in or watch them safely walk into the grounds. Between 8:40am and 9:15am we have a large

number of students coming in the gates and we want to keep car movement to a minimum.

Secondly...VERY exciting news!! Lake Albert PS has achieved the milestone of 150 years in operation!! To

celebrate, a hard working 150 committee are in the process of organising a special day to be held from 10am on Saturday March 7, 2018. We will be re-enacting some of the celebrations from our past milestones,

welcoming past students, parents, teachers and principals as well as having other events to remind us of our path in education over 150 years. Put the date in your diaries! There is also a facebook page with more

information. Lake Albert Public School - 150 Years Anniversary

Lastly, we have an enthusiastic orchestral band at Lake Albert PS. We have two fabulous teachers and a

committed conductor who are working hard to get these children performance ready. What we don't have

currently, is a complete committee to ensure the band keeps going. If there is no band committee we will have to fold the band. I am sure there are some wonderful parents, carers and friends of our band members who would be willing to put some of their time into planning and supporting this group. Please contact me if you are interested and I will provide you with more details.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Dear parents and carers

We all survived Week 1 of Term 1, 2018 and we have all students in their classrooms now. I'd like to thank parents, carers and teachers for their patience while we sorted out classes, rolls and placements.

Currently I think we are up to 537 students at Lake Albert in 22 classes. This is the largest school in Wagga currently. We have plenty of playground space to fit but not much classroom space for any new people!!

I have been doing morning duties for the past two weeks and I would just like to remind carers and students that the duty teachers are not out in the playground until 8:45am. For safety and supervision reasons, arrivals earlier than that need to sit under the COLA and wait for the duty to start. As there are only two teachers on morning duty and in the efforts to keep students clean and dry before we go into classrooms, we don't use the fixed equipment or the sandpit in the morning before school.

Klaus (our fabulous GA) has got our school grounds looking wonderful. We have flowers, pruned trees, green grass and the space near the K-2 equipment is looking spot on! We are doing a great job of picking up

discarded sports equipment and dropped rubbish so that our environment looks spectacular. I took a photo of it after first break today to show how wonderful it looks and how well the students look after our space.

Please keep an eye out for notes coming home this week about parent information sessions next week. These are Monday 12/2 for Stages 2 and 3 and Tuesday 13/2 for Early Stage 1 and Stage 1. These sessions are a chance to hear an overview of the year and class and as always, if you need to see the teacher for a longer

period of time, there is a chance to make an appointment.

Have a great week!

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

What's Happening at LAPS!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Here are just some of the things happening at our school in the coming months.

_________________________________________

Principal's Message Week 1 Term 1 2018

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Hi all

Welcome back to Lake Albert PS to our returning families and a big welcome to the new families who have

enrolled their children here. There are a few changes to our student numbers with some of our families leaving and we wish them well in their new schools. This was balanced out with all of our new enrolments.

A HUGE welcome to our 2018 Kindergarten cohort. Mrs Crawford, Mrs Penfold, Mrs Bowen and Miss Guttler have been working to ensure that all our new people in Yellow Cluster have a smooth start to school.

We also welcome three new staff members. Mrs Susan Armstrong and Miss Jessica Chapman have been

appointed to Lake Albert PS as permanent teaching staff and Mrs Denice Trethowan will be working in the

office two days a week as our Admin Manager. They have already settled in and joined this great educational community. We have had to say farewell to Mr Aiden Ridley and Miss Melissa Murray who have picked up

full-time roles in other schools for this year. So many changes!

I will be continuing as Relieving Principal for one more term and at the beginning of Term 2 Lake

Albert PS will have a new principal.

As your children will have informed you, we moved into our new class structures on Day 1 of the student school year. Starting straight away allows teachers and students to get settled in quickly and begin learning and assessment. Our classes are as follows:

KP Leah Penfold

KB Jo Bowen

KC Kathryn Crawford

K/1G Rachel Guttler

K-6S Amanda Shepherd

1M Jen Moloney

1B Glenn Baker

1/2LW Deanne Lucas/Terry Williams

2C Amdrew Chapman

2A Susan Armstrong

3/4W Briony Whyte

3/4C Jess Chapman

3/4O Paul Oakman

3/4D Melisa Downing

3/4M Dave McGowan

3/4S Kellie Strong

5/6L Alexa Livio

5/6P Craig Pitchford

5/6C Mark Crittenden

5/6S Lauren Sykes

5/6U John Urbanavicius

5/6H Suzanne Heffer

There are a large number of other teachers, cleaning staff, canteen officer, OOHSC staff, Learning Support

Officers, Office staff and our General Assistant (GA)...so we are a big workplace and are all back for

another year.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Welcome Back to 2018

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

On behalf of the staff I would like to welcome back all new and existing students and parents to our new school year.

I would also like to welcome our new staff members that have joined us.

We are certainly looking forward to another amazing year here at LAPS.

Principal's Message week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Good afternoon

As I write this it is 35' outside and we are doing our best to make sure everyone at LAPS stays as cool and heat-stress-free as possible. We are very conscious that water is a priority for our students and we have opened the hall in the breaks to try and get the (struggling) air conditioner to give us some respite.

Yearbook

The yearbook USB should arrive by tomorrow and hard copies of the yearbook will be available from the first day of term 2018 next year. For students in Year 6 without siblings, Dea Lucas will phone residences to arrange pick up/delivery early next year. Mrs Lucas has also filmed the K-2 Christmas Concert. If anyone would like a copy of the performance, please bring a USB with your name on it in to the office and she will arrange a copy for you. Dea Lucas and her group of snap bookers have worked tirelessly to put together a fabulous document and I know she clocked up over 100 hours while doing it. Thank you also goes to all the sponsors and contributors. Without you, there would not have been a publication at all. Thank you.

Community Contributions

It has been a week of noteworthy student contributions to our community by students at our school. Congratulations to Susannah Priest who was the winner of Essential Energy's 2017 ‘Be a Safety Star' Poster Competition. Out of 800+ entries, Suzannah was first in NSW for the Year 5/6 classification. Latisha Peverell has been instrumental in helping organise Wagga's Walk ‘n' Talk. The walk on this Sunday at Lake Albert starting at the boat ramp. The walkers are setting off at 9:30 so come on down while it is cool. Do your part in helping support the talk around suicide prevention and mental health support. Lei Lei Gannon-Taylor also had special project at LAPS. Lei Lei worked with 3/4D and 5/6 D making Boxes of Kindness to be taken to the Wagga Women's Refuge. The boxes have messages of inspiration written on them to provide support. It's great to see our young people helping the community. Well done.

Last newletter

It has been a crazy busy week since the last newsletter. Presentation night was fantastic, Year 6 Dinner Dance was awesome, the Awards Assembly and Christmas Concert were special too. Thank you to all the staff and students who participated and organised and thank you to the community who came and watched. This is a great place to go to every week. Please stay safe over the holiday period..

Merry Christmas!!!!

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Good afternoon

As we are in the middle of the second week in December, I appreciate how busy our school families and our staff are at this time of year. We endeavour to keep our information regarding events clear and correct but if there is anything you want clarified, please ring our office. Presentation Night Our annual Presentation Night is on tonight, Wednesday 6/12 at Joyes Hall at CSU. Parents and friends are invited to celebrate the achievements of students over the year and be entertained by our talented students. Students need to be dressed in full school uniform. Please be seated by 6.15pm to listen to the band and proceedings will commence at 6.30pm.

Volunteers Morning Tea School community members who have volunteered their time to support the school are invited to a special ‘Thank You!' morning tea on Friday 8 /12 at 11.30am in the school library. We truly value any time a parent, friend, carer or grandparent gives to our school whether it is on one of our parent committees, supporting our fete, volunteering in the canteen or classroom helpers, please come along.

K-2 Christmas Concert The K-2 classes in our school have a wonderful tradition each year in the form of a concert. If you are able to, please come and watch on Friday 8/12 at 12:30pm in the hall. I have heard their wonderful singing and chanting and I know it will be pretty special!

LAPS Awards Assembly As we have over 530 students at LAPS, we need two ceremonies to give out all the awards our students deserve. The Awards Assembly will be held on Monday 11/12 from 2pm in the school hall. Please come along and watch more of our fabulous students being rewarded for their endeavours at our school.

Reward Days Every term our students are rewarded for excellent behaviour and role modelling for others. This term our Big Days Out for each stage are with movies at The Forum 6 Cinemas or Junee Pool for Stage 3. Please take note of the deadlines for monies to be paid. We are unable to take late payments. Kinder – money to be paid by Wednesday 6/12 Years 1&2 - money to be paid by Friday 8/12 Years 3&4 - money to be paid by Thursday 7/12 Years 5&6 - money to be paid by Monday 11/12

Year 6 Final Assembly It is fitting that on the last day of the term, Friday 15/12, Year 6 get to stand in front of the school for one last time and then disappear down the arch to celebrate the end of their primary school years. There will be a powerpoint running in the hall from 2:30 to start the assembly and then we move on to our goodbyes. It will be a happy/sad day for us all. Well done!!

I received an email today which informed me of some outside of school achievements that need to be recognised for one of our Year 5 boys. Bryce Falepau has been recognised for his talent in football in the following ways: Wagga City Wanderers U12's boys soccer team rep side, Football Riverina U12's Rep soccer team, Wagga Futsal U12's Rep team and NSW State Country Rep U12's team, to compete at the Nationals in Canberra in January. Well done, Bryce! If you know of any other outstanding achievements by LAPS community members in and out of our school, please let us know.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good afternoon

Last night, along with a dedicated group of parents and carers from our school, I attended the AGM of our P&C Association. I would like to thank the hard working 2017 executive and team members for their support for LAPS in terms of spirit, people power and dollars. This group of people have been instrumental in supplementing our department funding to enable us to purchase resources directly supporting student learning. The most recent donation of $19 000 was used to purchase another set of class laptops and charging trolley. An amazing achievement considering the amount of money P&C have already contributed to LAPS. All P&C executive positions were declared vacant last night and thankfully, another group of fabulous and inspiring people put their hands up. Thank you; Prue Adams—president, (sorry, I had to name you) Nicole Dunn and Erin Frauenfelder—vice-presidents and EJ Miles—secretary, Aimee Elliott—treasurer for putting yourselves forward for these roles for 2018. I know it will be another great partnership.

While I am writing about school support, as a staff, we would like to invite all of our valuable school helpers/volunteers/contributors to a 'Thank You' morning tea on December the 8th in our Library from 11:40am. While invites will be coming home with students, please feel free to contact the school and let us know that you are available to attend.

One last post! The Raffle award winners for Week 7 were Bruce Fleming 2C, Connor Olsen 2M, Finn O'Neill KR, Indy Loseby 1E, Scarlett Lee 2M and Chloe McCorquodale KR. Congratulations to these students!!

Have a great week

Anna Roberts Relieving

Principal

Principal's Message Week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good afternoon

Every week I seem to be able to find more examples of students, staff and our community members doing great things to make us all proud to be a part of this wonderful school. I am sure most of you know, or have seen our GA, Klaus Dombrovski. He is able to repair, patch up, clean up, snake wrangle, pantry moth de-bug, dead animal remove, clean up storm damage, unblock, fix, change, carry, mow, garden…… like an expert. One of Klaus's latest projects is the garden near the K-2 playground equipment. It is slowly being transformed from a prickly, wasted space into an attractive and welcoming garden space in our school. Please take time to notice the changes in the garden over the rest of the term and into next year. THANKS KLAUS!!!

The photo at the bottom of this page shows a group of LAPS students who have travelled to Sydney to be a part of the NSW Schools Spectacular. Mischa Case, Liam Crittenden, Damien Dawson, Ella Dehaan, Alexanna Gould-Towns, Chloe Miles, Amalee Muir, Cassie Penfold, Maci Trevaskis and Jaidyn Waugh-Smith are representing LAPS in the Riverina Central Choir. These students will rehearse today and tomorrow with hundreds of other students and perform on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. While we congratulate these students, I'd also like to acknowledge the effort and support from staff and carers in getting students to this level of representation. It's a great effort.

If the Lake Albert School Community members are aware of any other examples of people making our school proud, please email the school to let us know. There a large number of contributors to our school's reputation within the fence and outside it who deserve a little recognition. Please...dob in a ‘doer'.

Lastly, thank you to the staff who are busily writing reports and ensuring they know exactly where their students are in terms of learning, social aspects and extra curricula activities. Late nights and agonising over wording is proof that you care about reporting to parents. Thanks. Have a great week,

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good afternoon

In this first part of our newsletter I would like to acknowledge the high achievement of one of our Lake Albert PS students. Andre Wrenford in Year 4 (3/4S) travelled to Sydney to compete in the NSW final of the Australian Spelling Bee. Andre was one of only 45 students to achieve this level in NSW and had to face up to ten rounds of words. Andre got as far as Round 3 when he came up against a word he didn't know the meaning of but had a great attempt at. He received a medallion for achieving such a high level and had a photo with the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian. Well done Andre. You are a great ambassador for our school.

In this second part of the newsletter I have copied in a letter Russell Graham requested be made available for our school community to read. Have a great week.

Anna Roberts Relieving Principal

Dear Lake Albert Public School Community,

This is a very difficult letter to write. It was announced on Friday 10 November that I have been successful in being appointed to a position of Director, Educational Leadership for the NSW Department of Education. This new position starts in Term 2, 2018. I do however anticipate that my current position of Acting Director, Public Schools NSW for the Wagga Wagga network will be extended until I begin the new role. As part of accepting this position I relinquish my position of Principal at Lake Albert Public School. It is with very mixed emotions that I do so. LAPS is an amazing place and one that I take great pride in being part of. A part of me feels disappointed that I have only stayed a short time. This was never my intention. This school is a special place and it is your children, the staff and the parents that make it so. I would hope that during my time as principal I have demonstrated the commitment I had to the school and to the staff, students and community.

I am however, very excited and feel very privileged to have been offered this position and I look forward to making an impact with the schools and Principals I work with. I have asked for the school to make time in the coming weeks to discuss the process of filling the position of Principal and some indication of the timeframe involved. This process is not yet clear, however it is being finalised and I will make time to discuss this with the P&C and with the staff. Thankfully, I will remain a parent of LAPS students and will be fortunate enough to send my kids off each day to our great school.

Sincerely Russell Graham

A/ Director Public Schools | Wagga Wagga

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good Afternoon

As I sit here and type this, I have just realised it is smack bang in the middle of Week 5 Term 4. In only 5 more weeks we will have to assess students, write and read reports, have farewells and assemblies, watch presentations and performances and consulted the staff, students and school community on directions for 2018 and beyond for Lake Albert PS. This is a large ‘to do' list in a short time so please bear with us as we attempt to get all this done in the smoothest possible way. Please contact the school if you are looking for information about school events, have questions about how we are organising things and please provide us with advice if you are intending on moving away from LAPS next year.

This week I would like to acknowledge another couple of community members who are supporting LAPS. Simone O'Mara from Snap Fitness has donated a lot of her time to take each of our classes through a 30 minute fitness circuit over the week. Whenever I have seen the groups in action, all students have been engaged and seem to really enjoy the exercises. Thank you for coming in and giving us a little taste. It is important to incorporate a little exercise into a child's school day and this has made it easy for us to learn more about it. Thanks Simone and Snap Fitness.

I would also like to acknowledge Michael Maw from the Institute of Education and Training who has organised the donation of two vouchers for two days training in First Aid for us to give to two members of our community. There are a number of parents who attend excursions as support for the children and staff and we will find two worthy recipients. Thank you for your kind donations.

At this time of year it is easy to forget about or get complacent about staff and student wellbeing at LAPS. We need to remember over the next five weeks that we need to support each other, give each other the respect and care we all deserve and be kind to ourselves too. There are many adults and children here who quietly go about their business without asking for acknowledgement but still should receive it. Please take time over the next 5 weeks to check in on each other; the students, the staff and members of our community. Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good Afternoon

I hope all our Lake Albert PS families are enjoying the last of the cool mornings before the weather starts heating up. We have almost every child and staff member in the school wearing their hats in the playground now which is a great thing. You all have such lovely skin and need to protect it with a brimmed hat now the sun is increasing in intensity.

Every week there are examples of how fabulous and supportive our school community is and this week, I would like to share another couple. In Week 2 we had a special visit from Rob Boyland from The Good Guys Wagga and Robert who is a representative from Bosch. Rob and his wife Amy have a son, Noah, in Year 5 in the IO support class at LAPS. Rob Boyland won an upright vacuum cleaner from Bosch which he wanted to give to K-6S . While he was there, Rob also donated two drones from the Good Guys. Previously Rob had already donated 2 other drones, a virtual headset, digital photo frame and some Good Guys gift cards for K-6S to equip themselves with what they need to set up a technologically up-to-date classroom. I would like to thank Rob, Amy and Robert for coming to Lake Albert and donating these items to K-6S. It's the cleanest and best spy classroom in the school.

Another lovely thing that happened came from our school community from within. Four students came to the Principal's office as representatives from 2B. They showed me the certificates they had received because they came 1st in the State and 3rd Internationally in a typing contest. Classes nominated themselves to take part in a contest which counted the number of words typed in a set period of time. 2B received a certificate for every child and a trophy. Well done 2B!!! Have a great week,

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Good afternoon

Last week we had a super-proud moment with our performers at CHORDS, this week the super-proud moment is as a result of the Colour the Lake colour run which was held last Sunday. It was a fun and fabulous day held in magnificent conditions in a gorgeous environment. I would like to thank the P&C members and their families, the staff and their friends and families and our community for turning up and making the event a success. Over $8000 was raised and this comes directly back to support the students at LAPS. I would particularly like to thank EJ Miles (and her family) and Lisa Trevaskis (and her family) for doing all the hard work and organisation. Also Jess Higginson (and family) and Sara Sutton (and her family) for their high level involvement and ‘guideline-following' skills. Such a great day!!

Continuing with the running theme, Mrs Moloney and Mr Ridley have been holding the Running Club each Wednesday morning. While numbers are not high, they are creeping up so if you and/or your child are interested in a jog around Lake Albert of a Wednesday morning, turn up at school at 8am on a Wednesday and join in.

Tuesday evening I was able to attend our LAPS Band meeting and there were some exciting developments with our LAPS Band program. We will be looking at performing at several school functions and bringing our 11 newest members on board to begin performing. Notes will go home regarding this so parents and students will know what is going to occur. As it happens, our Band Committee executive all have students who are leaving LAPS in 2018 so all executive positions were declared vacant at the AGM last night. The position of secretary was filled but there is an opportunity for parents of current and new band members or other interested people to become involved. Feel free to contact me at LAPS if you would like some more information about the positions. I would like to thank Tamara Edmunds, Megan Spalding and Ken Taylor for their outstanding support of our band. Without them we would not be in the position we are in now with a potential 16 members in 2018.

As we are getting to the business end of this term, we are looking at enrolments and staffing for 2018. If you are aware that your child/children will not be at LAPS in 2018 (other than our lovely Year 6 cohort), could you please contact the office and let us know or fill in the slip included in this newsletter and return it. Thank you.

Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Good afternoon

I can not tell you how proud I am of this fabulous school and the effort that goes into getting students ready to perform, play and present. There are constant examples of this throughout the year and there was another last night at the Civic Theatre. The LAPS staff and students involved in the Riverina CHORDS festival. Our singers and dancers were well rehearsed and extremely professional. Thank you so much to the dancers, singers, choreographers, supervisors, supporters, helpers, parents and friends. I was lucky enough to be able to help backstage and I was very proud that LAPS students performed so professionally and had such fun doing it. I have put some photos on this page from side stage.

Kindergarten 2018

Transition to School We were lucky enough to host approximately 65 of our Kindergarten 2018 students on Friday last week. This is the first of four transition to school sessions and it was highly successful. Such a lovely, grown up collection of 4 and 5 year olds and a fabulous group of parents and carers.

Selective school 2019

If you have a student in Year 5 in 2017, she or he may be eligible for or interested in a Year 7 selective high school placement for 2019. I have a small number of information booklets available to interested parents and the website for application and information is open. Applications must be done online and they close on November 13, 2017. The Selective High School Placement Test will be held on Thursday March 15, 2017. Please contact the school if you have any questions.

School Banking

Unfortunately, this week the banking isn't able to be completed as our lovely banker, Julie, isn't available. We are keeping the bank books in the office and they'll be processed next week as usual. Safety Walking to School It has been brought to my attention that the heavy machinery at work on the Crooked Creek development is currently working close to the side of the road where students walk or ride to school. While I have spoken to the site manager about the safety of our students, could parents and carers please ask your child/children to be very careful near that development?

Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Welcome back to Term 4.

Once again it finds us with me remaining at Relieving Principal until the end of this year (and the LAPS changes this has brought about) and Russell Graham remaining in his role as Acting Director at Wagga Education Office. We are conscious of the changes to classes and routines when there are staff members on leave and in other roles and we ensure that we allocate resources to support teachers and students in accessing and sharing information so there is continued achievement of learning outcomes.

We have a very busy start to the term with Orientation starting for the 2018 Kindergarten students this Friday. While we are hosting the future K students, the current K students will be enjoying technology and sporting activities while their classrooms are out of action. We have 4 Stage 2 classes who have already attended the Yarrangobilly Caves excursion with two more going tomorrow. So far most children made it to the bus on time and the reports back have been very positive! We are in the final stages of organising the Cockatoo Island excursion. Please finalise payments this week to ensure your child gets the opportunity to experience these exciting ventures. Please contact the school if there is any need to discuss payment plans or options.

As we are a hat-all-year school, we are being consistent with our efforts to make sure no students or staff are in the playground sun without a brimmed hat. We have a large covered space for students who have forgotten or lost their hats and we are constantly reminding students to find/look after their hats. Thank you for your help with this.

Communication and contact from our school community has been high recently and our office is staffed with at least one person from 8:30am until 3:30pm. If parents ring the school or come to the office before or after these times, it is sometimes difficult to leave a message or complete a task. Please feel free to email our school on lakealbert-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au if you wish to leave a message for a staff member and we will pass it on to the person. There are staff members on site, it's just a time when we get the most work done so we aren't always in the office area! The weather has been warming up and students are obviously happy and well rested after the holidays. It's been a great week and I hope this is how our term will continue.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Film Pond

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Lake Albert Public School is trialing Filmpond to create movies to capture some of the fantastic things that go on here at school.

Please take a look at the link below.

http://bit.ly/2vbuXd4?src=e

Welcome Back to Term 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

On behalf of all the staff here at LAPS I'd like to welcome you all back to an exciting Term 4.

Jam-packed with excursions and fun times for all. We are all looking forward to what this term will bring and also to some sunshine to brighten our days. We hope you all had a relaxing and safe holiday.

Principal's Message Week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Good Afternoon

As I write this I am looking out the window at the amazing set-up we have in the playground for our Stage 3 mini-fete today. There are lots of fun activities and food stalls and a fantastic hall-full of treasures that I have my eye on!! The weather is lovely and warm so I am anticipating a large turn out of parents and friends coming to picnic with LAPS students. It is all very exciting and looks like being a major success!! As this term draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Lake Albert community for its constant support of school events. Our staff get behind the opportunities we put forward, driving the organisation of things or adding to the support. Our students participate at an extremely high level in the activities and events offered and are always enthusiastic and engaged. Lastly, the parent/relatives/friends part of our school community are unwavering in their support physically and financially. All time, money and goods donated raise important funds that go straight back in to classrooms as resources to support LAPS students. We could not do what we do as educators if our community did not do what they do. Thank you.

On the topic of support, the Lake Albert PS community is also generous in supporting outside of school ideas, courses and activities that our students and families are passionate about. In the newsletter this week is an advertisement for Light the Night which is a fundraiser for the Leukaemia Foundation. This is a foundation very close to the heart of several families at LAPS and I would urge our community to see if they can make it to the Victory Memorial Gardens on Saturday October 7 5:30-8:30pm, to help support the blood cancer fundraiser.

Finally, It has been an action-packed Term 3 and I am grateful that teachers, students and their families have made it through the cold months and are cheerfully looking at a recovery break and some warmer weather. Stay safe these holidays and enjoy not having to make school lunches for a little while. School starts on Monday October 9 with no SDD; straight into learning.

See you at the mini-fete!

Anna Roberts Relieving

Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Good Afternoon

Today I was fortunate enough to be involved as an adjudicator for the LAPS Young Communicator's Award (YCA). I hadn't heard any of the speakers this year and I was absolutely amazed at the improvement in the skill and level of maturity of all the finalists today as compared to last year...and they were fantastic last year!!! I would like to thank Mandy Crocker, Principal of NWPS for coming to LAPS to help adjudicate the finals. I would also like to mention the work that Craig Pitchford, David McGowan and Suzanne Heffer have put in to make this a successful program, along without LAPS teachers and parents who have facilitated this. Congratulations to Darcy Crittenden, Alexis Murphy and Rhys Schneider as finalists in the K Up and Coming Award and Oliver Duffy, Elyse Morgan, Lillian Knight, Olivia Oakman, Cameron Miles and Connor Olsen as finalists in the Beginner section of the YCA. The Junior and Senior Awards finalists were all of an extremely high standard and the future for these young communicators is very bright. Congratulations to William Cooper, Imogen Carey, Lachlan Miles and Ned Woodhouse for their speeches in the Junior section and to Liam Crittenden, Emily McMahon, Chloe Miles and Sophie Thorley in the Senior section. An inspiring morning.

At the end of last week Russell Graham informed our school that he will remain as Director of Public Schools, Wagga Wagga for the rest of the year. As a result, I will be continuing in the role of Relieving Principal, Mark Crittenden will continue as Relieving AP and Leanne Garraway will remain with 5C. Thank you for your continued support of our school and with these changes.

At the end of this week the LAPS enrolment committee will be meeting to discuss Kindergarten enrolments for 2018. If you, or someone you know has a child who is looking at enrolment at LAPS, they need to do so as soon as possible. We have high total enrolment numbers as a school, so as per the DoE Enrolment Policy, priority will be given to in-zone enrolments and then siblings of current enrolments.

Next week, our Year 4, 5 and 6 students will be doing the second part of the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) student survey. This survey provides school principals and school leaders with insight into student engagement, wellbeing and effective teaching practices at their school, from the perspective of students. The survey is confidential and can be used either as a oneoff survey or to identify trends within schools over time and better inform school priorities. The survey is offered once a year, with the option of completing a second snapshot within the year which we have elected to do.

As we go into the last couple of weeks of school I am hoping we all get through with happy faces and warmish weather. Have a great rest-of-the-week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good Afternoon

We have had such a varied and busy week during the last 10 days with extra activities. We have had students out practising with the CHORDS choir, stage finals of the Young Communicator's Public Speaking Award and students participating in the Riverina Spelling Bee to name a few! Well done to Andre Wrenford, Liam Crittenden and Jenna Oakman for reaching the finals of the Riverina Spelling Bee and congratulations to Andre Wrenford on winning the Year 3/4 section. Andre will travel to Sydney to compete against other students from all over the state. A very exciting and special opportunity for Andre and we wish him luck and good spelling!!

This week we are in the process of hearing young communicators from across the school speak at a year level against their peers with the aim of being one of two selected from that year to speak at the Young Communicators Award Final .There are some confident and interesting speakers in this competition and I am really looking forward to seeing the final next week on Wednesday. The standard has been very high this year and it is obvious that this opportunity has been successful in it's public speaking aims for all students across the two years it has been offered.

This week is School Administration and Support Staff (SASS) Recognition Week and the teaching staff at LAPS would like to acknowledge the fabulous work our SASS staff do!! Robyn Coulton, Robyn Bruce, Michelle Trevaskis, Mel Tom, Deb Castle, Angela Deece, Luci Achilles, Roz Perritt, Suzanne Murphy, Karen Morgan, Jemima Hosie, Lorraine Carnie, Cathy Rudd, Naomi Shaw, Prue Adams and Klaus Dombrovski take a bow. We couldn't do what we do without you all. THANK YOU!!!!

As the weather has turned quite wintery over the last week, we are noticing that some of the jumpers and jackets coming to school are not school jumpers. We understand that sometimes we can't find a school jumper, they're in the wash or the weather needs more than one jumper but could we please try and wear school coloured jumpers. We have an excellent second hand clothes store and there is a giant pile of lost property in the hallway box if families are looking for school clothes. As in our local high schools, PSSA jumpers should only be worn on sports days.

Lastly, I would like to thank Bailee Porter from Food Works Lake Albert for coming to LAPS and providing fruit and vegetables for our students to munch on last Thursday. Keep a look out for more fruit and veg each Thursday until end of term!! It's been a busy but productive term for the staff and students at LAPS so far. Let's hope the next two and a half weeks are the same… just a fraction warmer though.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

LAPS Annual Yr6 Mini Fete

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

The annual Year 6 Mini-Fete is being held on

Wednesday September 20th,2017

We are starting to collect the items we need for the bucket raffle!!!
This week we are collecting packets. Packets of biscuits, chips, gravy, soup, cake mix, jelly, lollies– anything in a packet! Please check the use by date to make sure it is still ok to eat!

WEEK 7 - Packets
WEEK 8 - Jars
WEEK 9 - Bottles

Every item that is donated gains a raffle ticket!!
Each class has the chance to win an ice-block voucher from the canteen.

Principal's Message week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good Afternoon

As we head into the last week of winter and are staring at spring, it's time to start thinking about the animals we might come across in our school. We had a lovely, protective mother magpie swoop near our front pedestrian gate last week and a baby snake slither into our playground today. It is a timely reminder that we are in a semi bush setting and we need to stay alert and let an adult know if there is an unwanted animal in our school.

Trivia Quiz

A very big thank you to the parents, friends and staff who came and supported the LAPS Trivia Night. It was great fun and a highly competitive night. Thank you to the organisers, question writers, sponsors and those who chased prizes and sponsorship. The money raised from nights like this go directly back into our school as resources to support your children. Congratulations to the Before and After School Care table who managed to hold onto the crown for another year!!

Kindergarten 2018

We are currently collating Kindergarten enrolment applications for 2018. If you have a child coming to Kindergarten at LAPS next year, it is time to fill in the enrolment forms. At the end of Week 8 we will be processing enrolments and in Week 9 we will be offering placements so we can begin transition to school procedures in Weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Term 4. If you know of any other children in our local area who are looking at enrolling at LAPS, can you please remind them to do so as soon as they can.

Book Week Parade

Last Thursday some brave princesses, Wonder Women, pirates, nerds and Mary Poppins's (among others) paraded around our playground showing their fabulous costumes. We also had a visit from Community Kids Lake Albert who also dressed up for the occasion. It was a great day and thank you to the organising teachers and to parents and friends for turning up to watch.

Visiting Performance

A note will be coming home with LAPS students about a performance in our hall next Wednesday. Snake Tails is a snake (appropriate given today's visitor) and reptile show which informs students about the animals with the presenter and about how we can look after them and stay safe around them. We are directing this performance at Years 1-6 as Kindergarten have a Big Day Out excursion that requires payment and we don't want to overload families. It is OK if you want to send your Kindergarten child to both events but the Grug excursion is our main focus for Kinder this term. Thank you so much for your constant support for excursions and events at LAPS. We do have a lot of opportunities available for our students and we are lucky enough that most of our students attend each of them.

Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Good Afternoon

What a lovely sunny, sunny week we have had so far in Week 6. You can feel that spring is around the corner. (8 days Kodi informed me today.) Today I was lucky enough to be able to go down to the Oasis for Swim School with 2M and 2C boys. I am currently writing this while I watch groups of children demonstrating their swimming skills! Their water skills are excellent and the behaviour and respect for instructors is outstanding.

University of NSW Exams

Over the last month, we have had a number of students who have sat the UNSW exams for Science, Maths, English, Spelling, Writing and Digital Technologies. These students have done a great job and are to be congratulated for going out of their way to extend their learning and demonstrate their knowledge. Certificates for Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies will be presented to Stage 2 and 3 students at this Friday's assembly. Certificates for Stage 1 students will be presented at the K-2 assembly on Friday next week. (Week 7.) Well done to all those students who participated.

LAPS Colour the Lake Run Save the date!

Sunday October 22 is the running of our Colour the Lake fun run. Tickets are $15 per person and children under 4years old are free. It will be a fabulous day with lots of colour and music. Please see the ad on page 4 to find out how to purchase tickets.

Trivia Quiz

Our LAPS Trivia Quiz night is almost here!! If you know who sang the original version of Hallelujah or you can name 4 drummers who are also lead singers or can list the last 4 winners of the Melbourne Cup then you need to get a table organised. There will be many more questions and lots of little competitions so come along and have a bit of fun!!

Hats Back to more mundane topics…

LAPS is a school that enforces the wearing of hats all year. Please ask your children to find their hats and have them on during all breaks - even before school. We have plenty of room under the COLA for students who haven't managed to find their hat yet, or have lost it already! Please label all hats and jumpers so we can get them back to their owners…. and on that note; please get students to check their classroom and the lost property box for jumpers, hats, lunch box items and swim gear.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good Afternoon

Here it is, Week 5 already!

This term is going quickly and the students and staff have been working hard to make sure we get as much learning time in as we can with the interruptions we have happening…and we have a few this term. Update re Relieving Positions Mr Graham has informed the school that his higher duties role has been extended until the end of Term 3. This means that I will continue as Relieving Principal until the end of Week 10 and Mr Crittenden and Mrs Garraway will remain in their positions also.

Swim School

Swim School has been going well and staff are doing their utmost to ensure students remember to wear their warm clothes to the pool and back. We have also kept students indoors as much as possible when they are dressed in their swim gear. When we are down at the Oasis we expect LAPS students to display cooperative and mature behaviours and be respectful to the instructors. It has been fabulous to see the number of students living up to this expectation!

Sporting Events

Unfortunately the wet weather has meant a number of sporting events have had to be postponed until a later date and students involved will be supplied with updated information as we receive it. As of 10:30am today (16/8), all sporting ovals have been closed so we are unable to use Apex Oval until it is reopened.

Performance Events

Luckily our dancers and singers have been able to continue with their rehearsals for The Riverina Chords Festival and they all look and sound fantastic already. Tickets will be available to purchase at a later date and we will provide that information as soon as we get it.

Book Week

Students and staff need to be thinking about their Book Week costumes!!! The theme for this year is Escape to Everywhere, because that's exactly what books can help you to do. Our parade is Thursday in Week 6 (24/8) at approximately 9:30am. It is a K-6 event and we expect some amazing costumes, related to fantastic texts, to be parading around.

Have a great week!

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Good Afternoon

It has been a cold wet start to the week and we are trying our best to keep students warm, dry and clean. Some days stu-dents have had to play on hard surfaces only as the grass is wet and slippery. There are still a significant number of students without a jumper or coat in the mornings so could you please remind students to rug up against the cold.

As Wagga Wagga City Council has closed all sporting grounds until a check is done on Thursday afternoon, LAPS stu-dents are unable to play on Apex Oval. This means more students inside the fence with no room to kick footballs so we are being very mindful of the safety of others by playing games such as touch football instead of kicking games.

Coming events

Book Week is coming in Week 6 (August 21- August 25) with the Book Character Parade being held on the Thursday morning (August 24). This will be an exciting event with lots of children and staff in costumes and we will have visitors from our local Early Learning Centres coming to watch.

Our LAPS Trivia Quiz will be held at the end of Week 6 (Saturday August 26). Tables are filling up fast so if you wish to book a table, please contact the school or the LAPS P&C. It has been a well-attended, fun event in the past and has raised important funds for our school.

Another fund raiser for LAPS is The LAPS Colour Run. Save the date now!! – Saturday October 22. It was a fabulously messy and exciting day last year and we are aiming to have just as much fun this year. Tickets are available to purchase now at www.stickytickets.com.au/56609/laps_colour_the_lake_2017.aspx

Thank you

Last Thursday, 238 students and 14 staff members headed to the Marketplace to sing and play chess during Education Week. Everything went wonderfully well and our school, students and staff have received so many positive messages and comments about the performances. Thank you to those that were able to pop into the Marketplace for a look. We really ap-preciate having such a large audience. The singing performances are on the P&C Facebook page if anyone wants to have a look.

It wouldn't have been possible to do anything like this if it weren't for the whole staff of LAPS supporting each other to make sure we had rehearsals, classes were looked after back at school and medical packs were packed just to name a few things! We have a great staff working for our students in a great school. Thank you.

Have a great week

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Good afternoon

What a fabulous day we had yesterday for our Education Week Open Day. After the fog cleared, it was sunny and almost warm. Thank you to all the visitors who came to have a look at the exciting activities happening at Lake Albert PS and to support the Book Fair and the P&C sausage sizzle event. Special thanks need to go to the BBQ chefs, the canteen staff and volunteers and the Book Fair staff and volunteers for spending their time to make this event so successful.

Thank you to the staff of LAPS. Without your commitment to Public Education and your care for students none of this would be as valuable and celebration-worthy. Impressive effort. I have included some photos below and there will be more available on our website.

One last wonderful thing to report. I am copying in a P&C post which deserves to be re-posted in this forum:

Did you know?! Through our fundraising efforts last year, LAPS P&C donated over $30 000 back into our school and community! When you volunteer your time at a disco, order lunch for your child at the canteen, buy a ticket to the Colour Run or place an order at a Pie Drive, you are contributing to the P&C fundraising efforts. We love the support we receive from the Lake Albert community!

LAPS P&C donations for 2016 were:

GRIPP Leadership Program $720. S1 and ES1 reading resources $4005.36. Chicken shed $776.88. S2 reading resources $2000. Laptops 20 000. DJ for Year 6 Graduation $300. Presentation night awards $100. Lights4Lake $1200. Life Ed van

$2445.

That is an amazing effort! Thank you. The support continues in 2017 and our staff and students are very grateful for the fundraising efforts by the P&C and everything we receive as part of this.

Have a great week.

Relieving Principal

Anna Roberts

Principal's Message Week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Education Week

Lake Albert PS students and teachers have been busily preparing Education Week items, pieces of work for our Education Week Board at the Marketplace and our classrooms in preparation for the celebration of Public Education in NSW. We are so wonderfully lucky at this school that there are a wide variety of opportunities for students to participate in academic, cultural, sporting, performance, and community activities and events. Next week there are a number of things happening involving LAPS, that parents, carers, relatives and friends can attend.

On Tuesday August 1, our CHORDS Choir will be performing under the COLA at 12:15pm. Following that, classrooms and the Book Fair will be open for visits until 1:30pm. This is a great opportunity to see what our students have been doing in classrooms and to let them show off the activities and work samples they have produced already this year.

We are hoping it will be a sunny and warm day as we will have a sausage sizzle in operation from approx. 1:15pm onwards. The P&C and Canteen will be cooking over 1500 sausages for the day for us to enjoy as a picnic lunch together. More information regarding the cost of the items are in the newsletter. While we understand it's not possible for everyone to come in on a work day, we hope to see many family and friends here to help us celebrate. There won't be any lunch orders available on the day but all students have access to the sausage sizzle, drink and lolly bag stations.

On Thursday August 3 we have 200 students (!!!!) going to the Marketplace to perform on stage and to compete in the team chess competition. Our chess teams play at 12pm around near Valley Girl and Sketches and our performances go from approx. 10:45-11:30am in front of Big W. If you get a chance, come and have a look.

Student Safety

When we send our children to school we do so knowing that they are safe at school and they are being cared for. Just recently there have been a number of times where students haven't gone straight to the designated after school meeting place their parents have arranged for them (oval gates, bus lines, heritage courtyard). I am asking if we could take some time at home this week to ensure the children in our care know where they need to be to be picked up for the trip home and they know to go there as soon as the bell goes and wait. Thank you.

Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Library News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

LIBRARY NEWS

Our annual Book Fair will be held on Tuesday 1st August. This is also Open Day for Education Week. This year, I have decided to go with Carnival Books and I am hoping this may mean a slightly different selection of books. Purchases can be made before school (8.30 - 9.10 am), during Open Classrooms (12.20 - 1.20 pm), and after school (3.00 - 4.00 pm). Our Book Week Book Character Parade will be held on Thursday 24th August, commencing at approximately 9.30 am. Congratulations to the many students who have completed the 2017 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge. A reminder to participating students that your reading log is due to Mrs Muir by 25th August.

Megan Muir (Teacher Librarian)

Principal's Message Term 3 Week 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back to school for Term 3. It's going to be a busy term so I hope everyone is well rested and ready to get engaged in some great learning opportunities. Staff changes This term has brought with it a number of staff changes. Russell Graham has accepted a position as Relieving Director Public Schools, Wagga Wagga for the next 5 weeks and I have accepted the position of Relieving Principal in his absence. As Barry McColl is on leave until his retirement, Suzanne Heffer is Acting Assistant Principal for Stage 2 for the rest of the year. We also welcome back Mrs Hensley from maternity leave. She will be at LAPS part-time and working with a few different classes.

We have a number of teachers working for the next two terms supporting our staff in their professional learning around quality teaching. Jill Watt, Jo McIntosh and Lisa Harrison will be taking classes to enable teachers to work together to develop their skills. Rachel Guttler is now covering Mr McColl's release from face to face teaching position for the remainder of the year.

Term 3 events

This term will be very busy for students and teachers so keep an eye on the calendar in the newsletter! We have a number of sporting gala days across the term, chess each Friday, NAIDOC week activities (Week 1), visits to the Riverina Environmental Education Centre (REEC), UNSW Maths and English tests, K-2 swimming program (Weeks 5,6&7), Book Week (Week 6), a visiting reptile performance (Week 8), KHS taster day, Young Communicators process, Jump Rope For Heart opportunities, Healthy Canteens' Fruit and Veg Month, dance eisteddfod. More information will come out for all of these opportunities as they get closer.

Education Week Education

Week 2017 will run from Monday July 31—Friday August 4 (T3 Week 3). The theme is ‘I Learn, We Learn' and underpins a week long display showcasing public education from schools in Wagga Wagga and surrounding areas. LAPS will have a Book Fair and an Open Day for classrooms on Tuesday August 1. Times to be confirmed for open classrooms but will be in the middle session (approximately 12:30pm). We also have several performances and Chess teams at the Marketplace on Thursday August 3. A draft timetable has us performing at approximately 10:45-11:45am and Chess competition from 10am. This is also to be confirmed. It's an exciting week for public schools, so if you make it in to school, to the Marketplace performances or even into the Marketplace to see all the school boards, it will be worth the visit.

It has been a cold start to Term 3 and our lost property box has many lost jumpers in it. Please check the box if you have a jumper that is missing. Someone owns them! Have a great week.

Anna Roberts

Relieving Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Beanie for Brain Cancer

What an amazing response from our amazing school. Beanies for Brain Cancer has been organised by our SRC. Our SRC leaders continue to grow in their capacity to determine what causes we will support and then organise the event. Today the SRC has coordinated the Beanie for Brain Cancer day to raise a school donation for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation. Our students and staff showed their support by arriving to school in a wide range of beanies and gifting a donation of $566. Your support for this extremely important cause is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Traffic Concerns

Due to a number of concerns reported, I need to raise safety issues that we currently face on Main Street at peak school times. Dropping off and picking up of children before and after school is an ongoing challenge and one that all drivers must be aware of and prepared for. The majority of safety issues are caused by drivers performing U-turns on Main Street. While the school has no ability to stop this occurring, we can raise the issue with the community and in doing so request that all drivers follow the road rules and act with the safety of our students and community in mind.

Student Reports

Next Wednesday all students will receive Semester 1 reports. Over the past weeks teachers and supervisors have been completing assessments and student reports for performance and achievement over the past two school terms. During this time I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to read how well our students have performed and grown and often learned about what the future goals are for their learning. Parents are asked to make contact with the class teacher once reports have been received if they wish to discuss any aspect of their child's report.

Final Bell for Mr McColl

As many of you will know Mr Barry McColl has decided to draw the curtain on his amazing career in public education, school sport and here at Lake Albert Public School. Next week our final newsletter will mark this occasion and a retirement function will be held. However, I would like to ask all our community – parents, ex-students, ex-staff and anyone else who has been associated with Mr McColl to be at school on Friday, 30th June at 2:45. At this time Mr McColl will address the school for the final time and we will form our traditional tunnel of farewell. I hope to see you there.

Russel Graham

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Multicultural Public Speaking
Congratulations to our finalists who have represented LAPS at the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition. Jessica McGowan, Ned Woodhouse, Mia Graham and Sophie Thorley delivered their pre-pared speech and an impromptu speech at Kooringal Public School yesterday. Well done to Ned Woodhouse who was awarded Highly Commended in the Stage 2 competition.
I had the absolute pleasure of sitting through the thirteen Lake Albert Stage 2 and 3 finalists on over the past week. The quality of content and delivery of all the LAPS finalists was extremely high. More importantly though was the support our speakers received from other finalists and the audience. We value the opportunity to develop public speaking skills of all students and creating a positive and supportive environment that allows all students to be confident enough to participate. This environment is evident in our classroom and assemblies and is a credit to our teachers, students, families and school culture.

Positive Behaviour for Learning – PBL
Our temporary signage has been put up in identified areas of our school. You will notice that each sign clearly identify positive behaviours and actions that are required. The core values of Respectful Responsible Resilient are used to provide our focus. If you are in and around our school please take the time to have a look at each sign. Also take the time to consider any suggestions for alterations or additions to these signs. Your feedback is most welcome.

Attendance
I would like to thank all parents for the joint effort in ensuring the explanation of all absences. The Department of Education policy requires an explanation for any student absence from school. This explanation may be verbal or written and needs to be provided to the school within 7 days of the absence. While our school is generally good at following this procedure it was highlighted as an area we could target. As a result of parent response and support we now have an extremely high return of explained absences.

POP (Parent Online Payment)
We are now live in the new LMBR system. This means that payment methods to the school by parents has changed. Permission notes for excursions that require payment can be made online by the Online Payment method. Once this payment has been made please ensure the correct information is recorded in the return permission note section. This will include a receipt number and the name of the person making the payment.
This method is available through the school website http://www.lakealbert-p.schools.nsw.edu.au
Russell Graham

Principal's Message Week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Multicultural Public Speaking

I cannot really put into words how proud I am with of Stage 2 and 3 students. Over the past weeks, students from Years 3 to 6 have prepared and delivered a speech as part of the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition. Our school has fostered and developed public speaking opportunities and experiences for all students and the development of our students' skills and confidence has been on display in all our primary classes. While some students will be successful and selected to represent our school in competition, all students who have prepared and delivered a speech can be congratulated. Thank you to all our students who are involved in this public speaking event and for your support of each other.

Positive Behaviour for Learning – PBL

Over the past couple of weeks I have been including some information about the move to align our school with the Positive Behaviour for Learning strategy. The THREE PBL core values we will be focusing on at Lake Albert Public are:

Be Respectful - have regard for the feelings, wishes, and/or rights of others.
Be Responsible - be accountable and able to be trusted to do what is right and expected.
Be Resilient - withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions and situations.

These values allow for our students to be active, interested and involved members of our community, who take control of their own learning and share in the success of others.

Winter Illness

As the winter months close in and we are experiencing cold weather and shorter days, many of us will suffer illnesses such as a cold or flu. In classes, we remind children of the need to ensure they wash their hands regularly and if sneezing or coughing, to cover their mouth/nose to ensure the health of others. It is also very noticeable that there are still students arriving at school on frosty mornings without a jumper. Please rug up!

Early Arrivals and Late Leavers

As all families are aware, our school day begins with the 8:45am morning bell that signals the time duty teachers are in place. This is 30 minutes before the bell which signals the beginning of classes. At the end of the school day, the school bell sounds at 3:15pm to signal the end of classes. A duty teacher is then in place to supervise students catching buses. It is understood and accepted that there are times and circumstances that require students to arrive early or be picked up later. During these times however, it is vital that parents assist the school in reinforcing the following expectations of being at school at these times.

Students are expected to sit under the COLA, in their class line upon early arrival.
After school, students are expected to sit on the silver seating at the front of the school (heritage courtyard) when waiting for collection.
During this time students may read and chat to others. This is a time to sit still; it is not a time for playing.
All students will be reminded of the expectations regularly.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Have a good week,

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Positive Behaviour for Learning – PBL

Last week I provided some information about what the Positive Behaviour for Learning strategy is. This week I would like to let you know a little about how it becomes part of our school practice, behaviour and language. At a school level we have discussed the core values we want to see in our students, staff and community and the locations within our school that we want to see these in action. The core values which will become our focus on are:

Respect
Responsibility
Resilience

These values give us a focus for behaviours we need to teach, learn and master to ensure that we become the best member of our school we can be and to ensure that we make the most of every opportunity. Our staff have identified areas and events around the school that we can use as a starting point to explicitly teach and highlight positive behaviours. These include areas such as bus lines, the COLA, sandpit, playground, canteen, hallways, assembly, toilets, computer lab, indoor games and play equipment. The focus is on highlighting the behaviour and actions that are positive in these areas and ensuring that students are taught these and know what is expected of them. In the coming weeks signage will be begin to appear in these areas with the types of positive behaviours and actions required.

School Sports and Representative Uniforms

Our school is in the process of updating some of our sporting uniforms for our students. As is always the case uniforms wear or are lost and need to be replaced to ensure that our students look good and are proud to represent Lake Albert Public School. As we complete a stocktake of our uniforms we ask all parents and students to return any outstanding representative LAPS uniforms, shirts, jumpers etc that they may still have at home. Our P&C have offered to supply a number of new uniforms.

National Disability Insurance Scheme - NDIS

I have been asked to pass on an invitation to the NDIS Information Sessions Free Community Event The Department of Education and the National Disability Coordination Officer Program will be holding an interactive, social and all-inclusive event for families with children with disabilities. These sessions are designed to learn more about the NDIS from an NDIA representative, meet Department of Education staff and will give an opportunity to ask questions. Date: Wednesday 7th June 2017 Venue: Willans Hill School Lord Baden Powell Drive, Wagga Wagga Time: 1:30pm to 3:00pm or 5:30pm to 7:00pm

School Times

Thank you to all our families and students for such a positive response to last week's reminder of starting times for the school day and the request to arrive at school at or after 8:45am. There has been a very noticeable reduction in the number of students at school before this time and those that are here have demonstrated a greater responsibility of sitting and waiting for the duty teachers to arrive at 8:45am. Student safety and supervision is the priority during this part of the day and parents and students need to work with the school to ensure its success.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Positive Behaviour for Learning – PBL

As identified in our School Plan - Strategic Direction 2: Enhancing the quality of student learning and wellbeing, we are focused on refining our Student Wellbeing policy. The Positive Behaviour for Learning, known as PBL is an evidence-based whole school systems approach that we will use to assist in refining our approach to Student Wellbeing. I would like to provide some information about this approach. PBL: addresses the diverse academic and social needs of every student to support them to be successful supports students in early childhood settings through to senior years of schooling enables schools to establish a continuum of supports that are intensified to meet the needs of every student is team driven, using a problem solving approach (data, systems and practices) that engages students, parents and all school staff establishes positive social expectations for all in the school community provides a framework for the school and its community to collectively support the wellbeing of every student. When implemented well: students respond positively as they have been taught what is expected of them staff deliver consistent responses to student learning and behaviour students feel safe and cared for at school. Their parents, family and community are more involved in their school unproductive and challenging behaviour can be significantly reduced for most students.

School Activities

One of the strengths of our school is the vast range of activities, opportunities and experiences our students are offered. At Lake Albert Public days are very busy and our students are heavily involved in school life both in and out of the classroom. One unavoidable result though can be disruption to normal routine. Where possible the aim is to minimise disruption to learning, however on most instances disruption is unavoidable. When class disruption occurs, our teachers are very aware of the impact on learning and plan alternative learning activities and strategies to accommodate learning. Our students are very responsible and use this time to focus on their set tasks or join in the learning of their new class for the day. Student learning in literacy and numeracy is our core business, and is our highest priority. However providing our students with valuable, positive and enriching experiences to support this is also a vital part of the development of the child.

LMBR has gone LIVE

After the many weeks of training and learning our new school finance and student administration system is now active. Our office staff continue to do their work in setting up the new systems and establishing new practices for how our school finance and administration is done. The pay on line button is accessible again on our website for your convenience. As with any new systems there will be some issues and challenges that arise and during this transition period we will continue to work towards developing a more capable and efficient administration system. Change is always challenging and I would like to acknowledge the work of the two Robyns, Michelle and Mel in moving to this new way of doing things.

School Times

All parents are reminded that our school day starts at 8:45am. The bell signals the start of the day and this is when duty teachers are on the playground. Due to our location some students arrive early by bus however all other students are requested to arrive at or after 8:45am. Before and after school care is available for all students if this is required. This request is done for the safety and supervision of students.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Cross Country

Well, It's finally here. This Friday, May 19, we will be running the Lake Albert Cross Country. Students ages 8 years to 13 years will be running from 9:30am and students from 5 years to 7 years will be running from 12:20pm. All students need to have brought back permission notes to run the course and these need to be back by Thursday the 18th. The senior students run either the 2000m or the 3000m track and junior students run 1000m. That's a lot of running! I'll make sure I wear my runners on Friday.

Movie Night

Thank you to the parents, students and staff who braved the cool (cold) night to watch Zootopia at our fundraiser movie night. There were chairs, bean bags and lots of snuggly blankets everywhere. It was a great night which raised lots of money to put towards resources for our school. Thank you also to all the people who helped clean up the grounds after the event.

AFL

Yesterday approximately 40 boys and girls from Lake Albert PS joined students from other primary schools, to participate in the Paul Kelly Cup. Our 3 teams played with spirit and great sportsmanship. Thank you to all the parents who turned up and supported our school in a positive and encouraging way and helped make the day run smoothly. Thanks also go to Mr Crittenden for training the students during break times.

Sporting Schools

We are fortunate to be able to host the Sporting Schools Program at LAPS. This term we have League Tag, which started this Tuesday afternoon, and Rugby League starting this Thursday afternoon. There were limited spaces in these popular activities and both activities are full. It's wonderful seeing students learning the sporting skills and strategies needed for these sports.

Interschool Chess Competition

This term, each Friday after school, LAPS has a number of devoted chess players who play in an interschool chess competition. This involves schools hosting visiting chess teams at various Wagga schools and playing in teams of four, based on ages. Thank you to Mr Oakman for his organisation and supervision and thank you to parents for assisting it to run smoothly. I look forward to following their progress throughout the term.

We are very lucky at LAPS to have such a wide variety of cultural, sporting and performance opportunities. Thank you to staff, students and parents for supporting them.

Enjoy your week.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Movie Night

All families are reminded to join us on Friday 12th May for our annual P&C Movie Night - Zootopia. This is a very unique way to watch a movie with your family – so bring a chair, a blanket and enjoy a great evening with our school community. Food and refreshments are available throughout the night.

Attendance

Student attendance is regularly monitored both at a school and departmental level. While we all aim for 100% attendance, there are times and circumstances that mean a child is absent from school. All parents are asked to inform the school if their child is absent. This method of communication can be verbal or written and is recorded as an "explained absence". All that is required is a phone call to the office, an email to the school or a letter to the teacher to explain why the child was away from school. School attendance is a vital component of a successful education.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 5 students who are participating in the 2017 NAPLAN assessments this week. These tests provide valuable information to the school and to parents regarding student achievement and growth. I have been very impressed to observe and talk to our Year 3 and 5 students about their participation and engagement in this testing. Well done.

Year 5 Opportunity Class

This is the final reminder for Year 5 parents regarding information about Year 5 placement in the Opportunity Class for 2018. All applications are via the internet. Parents will be able to access the online application at https:// education.nsw.gov.au/selective-high-schools-and-opportunityclasses/year-5 Applications close Friday 12 May. No late applications will be accepted. If you have any questions regarding this please contact Mr McColl.

Morning Routine

The most important routine at school is the morning routine. This sets the tone for the day and encourages positive engagement and successful learning. Our students demonstrate a high ability to settle into routine and ensure that they are capitalising on every learning opportunity. To assist in creating a positive and strong routine for your child, please consider the following requests: ¿ All students to arrive at school before the 9:15 am bell. The morning assembly is held at 9:15 and delivers important school messages and positive reminders to the whole school. ¿ Teachers will be available to talk to parents between 8:45 and 9:15 am daily. ¿ Once the 9:15 am bell has gone the daily school routine begins. At this time class teachers are expected to be engaged with students and are not able to talk to parents. Parents are asked to contact the office to request a meeting/ phone call or deliver a message to the class teacher. ¿ Late arrivals need to attend the office to sign in and collect a slip.

LMBR and Office Finance

As the office is rolling over onto a new administration system (LMBR) there are many changes taking place. No payments will be accepted, in the office or via POP on the website, from 17th May until the system goes live from 23 May. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause and are looking forward to our new system being up and running.

Enjoy your week.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

New Class

Congratulations to our new class 3/4S. I am extremely proud to say that this Stage 2 restructure has been highly successful and our wonderful students made the transition into a new class with ease. This success is a direct reflection on the maturity, confidence and resilience of our students and the wonderful support and trust we have from our parents. I would like to thank all of our students and parents for turning a challenging event into a very positive outcome.

Student Success

This week we continue to celebrate our students who achieve success particularly on the sporting fields or in the creative arts. Our students enjoy the support of the school and staff to ensure that they are given every opportunity to practise, rehearse, develop and try out in their pursuit of higher performance. Our teaching and support staff continue to go above and beyond to provide our students with these opportunities. A special mention to our very own Kai Gurtner. Kai has been nominated as the Round 6 2017 NAB AFL Auskicker of the Year. Congratulations Kai on this achievement and best of luck. Year 5 Opportunity Class placement reminder Information about Year 5 placement in the Opportunity Class for 2018 is on page 5 of this newsletter, with the placement test being held on Wednesday 26 July 2017. All applications are via the internet. Parents will be able to access the online application at https://education.nsw.gov.au/selective-high-schools-and-opportunityclasses/year-5 Applications close Friday 12 May. No late applications will be accepted.

Winter Uniform

As we start Term 2, the cooling weather signals a changing of school uniforms. A reminder that blue school windcheaters and jackets are part of the uniform – other colours are not. Our school uniform is an important part of our school culture and identifies us as a part of Lake Albert Public School. All parents are reminded to take the time to put each child's name inside their jumper. If your child has lost their jumper it is very possible that it will end up in lost property. Well done to all our students as they continue to wear our school colours and uniform with pride.

NAPLAN

Next week Years 3 and 5 students will be participating in the 2017 NAPLAN assessments. It is very important your child is present on these dates so both you as parents/carers and the school, can receive information about your child to assist them with their learning. If you have any questions regarding NAPLAN please contact the office. NAPLAN dates are: - Tuesday 9 May-Language Conventions and Writing - Wednesday 10 May-Reading - Thursday 11 May-Numeracy

Canteen

Our canteen is up and running for Term 2 thanks to our new Canteen Manager Mrs Tanya Croston and our wonderful volunteers. With an exciting menu and large array of healthy food options our students and staff are spoilt for choice.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Term 2 Week 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Welcome Back

Welcome back to LAPS for what promises to be an exciting and busy term 2. This term we welcome back Mrs Melisa Downing to 5/6D. Mrs Downing has returned to us after a time as Acting Principal at Yerong Creek Public School.

Student Numbers

Due to continued student number increase, we will be forming a new class in Stage 2, being an additional 3/4 class in the coming week. Miss Kellie Strong will be teaching this class. Forming an additional class is not ideal at this stage of the year, however, student numbers require this change and all planning is done with the best interest of each individual student in mind. We are very fortunate to have a highly capable and very familiar teacher in Miss Strong to lead this class. Students and parents will be informed of changes that may affect them in due course.

Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to all athletes for their efforts at last term's Athletics Carnival. We were blessed with perfect weather and the facility of the Jubilee Park complex was in excellent condition. I would like to thank Mr Mark Crittenden and Mr Paul Oakman for coordinating and running this day. It is a very complex and demanding role convening a carnival of this magnitude and to ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate in events throughout the day. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our staff and the students from Kooringal High School who worked tirelessly throughout the day marshalling, recording, judging and measuring. Also, a thank you to the large family contingent who joined us throughout the day and celebrated the efforts of their children. Well done to our event winners and age champions and to our winning house.

Year 5 Opportunity Class

Information about Year 5 placement in the Opportunity Class for 2018 will go home to Year 4 students this week, with the placement test being held on Wednesday 26 July 2017. All applications are via the internet. Parents will be able to access the online application at https://education.nsw.gov.au/selective-high-schools-and-opportunityclasses/year-5 Applications close Friday 12 May. No late applications will be accepted.

ANZAC Day and Services

Yesterday our Student Leaders represented our School Community at the Wagga Wagga ANZAC March and service. Our Captains and Vice Captains marched in the parade and our Captains laid a wreath at the memorial. Today our students and School Community have attended an ANZAC service to commemorate ANZAC Day. We have been joined by Mr Dave Gill and Mr Jason Frost from the Wagga RSL and Musician David Willis and Major Scott Penfold from the Australian Army for these services. These services were presented by our amazing student leaders, who continue to lead with great maturity and responsibility. Thank you to Mrs Penfold and Mrs Tinnock for coordinating our ANZAC services. Our ANZAC Cove wall, the PowerPoint presentation of the service personnel connected to our school are all very special.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message week 11

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Athletics Carnival

This Thursday we hold our 2017 Athletics Carnival at Jubilee Park. Our coordinators Mr Crittenden and Mr Oakman have worked extremely hard to ensure that all students K – 6 are able to take part in this day. As you could imagine the logistics of getting our entire school to the one venue and running numerous events is a great challenge. Mr Ridley has made sure that our K-2 students are able to take part and experience the venue and running track. While the School Carnival provides an opportunity for students to compete and be recognised with ribbons it is also an opportunity for students to participate and challenge themselves. It is very pleasing to see all our students excited to take part. Good luck to all our athletes.

ARCO (Anti-Racism Contact Officer)

All schools are required to have a trained Anti-Racism Contact Officer [ARCO] on their staff. This officer assists parents, staff and students who have complaints regarding racism and facilitates the complaints handling process. Lake Albert Public School has two (2) trained ARCO's – Mrs Suzanne Heffer and Mr Andrew Chapman. If you required any information regarding this position or the procedures involved please contact Suzanne or Andrew on 6922 6400 to discuss.

Easter Hat Parade

Today our Infants have treated us to the annual Easter Hat Parade. This is a great opportunity to share in the excitement of Easter and enjoy celebrating this time of year with friends and family. As part of this parade we have drawn 68 winners for the hugely popular LAPS P&C Easter Raffle. Thank you to all our community for their generosity in donations and purchasing of tickets.

Julie Tyrell

The end of this term marks the retirement of Julie Tyrell. Julie has been an important part of our school working with staff and students to keep our school in the best shape it can be in. Thank you for your commitment to our school Julie, and all the best in the next phase of your life.

ANZAC Service

As ANZAC Day falls in the first week of Term 2 we have planned to hold ANZAC Services for our students on Wednesday, 26th April. There will be two services – Infants at 10:30am and Primary at 12:30pm. Parents and community members are welcome to attend.

End of Term

What a great term we have had at LAPS! As always we have enjoyed a vast range of educational opportunities and experiences that exist at our great school. Every student continues to demonstrate a love of learning and willingness to make the most out of every day. I am sure the holidays offer them a time to rest and recharge ready for the challenges of Term 2. I would like to wish our community a safe and relaxing break over the Easter. Students start back at school on Wednesday, 26th April.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Parent Teacher interviews

This term parents are invited to meet with Class Teachers. The goal of this meeting is to provide a time, if needed, for the teacher, parent and student to discuss current levels of performance and understanding, individual goals, identified areas of focus, to share any information that may be valuable and to celebrate successes. Many parents take this opportunity to formally meet with the Class Teacher, however due to the strong lines of communication between parents and school, many are happy to discuss the child informally. Parents are encouraged to make time to talk to the Class Teacher at any time to discuss the progress and learning of their child.

LAPS P&C Disco

Friday night was awash with glow sticks, music and dance moves. Our P&C Infant and Primary Discos were a great success and our students enjoyed the time together and dancing themselves into the weekend. Our P&C were overwhelmed by student support and raised $2200 which will directly benefit our students. Thank you to all our staff who attended and a very special mention to Clare Roberts and her mum Anna who controlled the roles of DJ and MC. Brumbies Our students have enjoyed a visit from the Canberra Brumbies this week, we were joined by three world class players who are spending their bye week visiting schools to talk about all things Rugby. Thank you to Miss Strong and Mr Crittenden for making this possible.

Scripture and Ethics

Defib for Life

This week we have had the very exciting presentation of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to our School Community. The Rotary Club of Wollundry in partnership with Beyond Bank Australia have enabled our school to purchase this potentially lifesaving machine and make it available for our school and community. Mr Travis Downie (parent) leads this initiative across the Wagga area and has worked with the P&C to make this possible. Yesterday we had a large amount of interest from the media around this device and in the coming weeks, staff and students will be informed on how the AED works and how to use it.

Miss Dawson

A big congratulations to the lovely Miss Dawson from 3/4D. Miss Dawson was married last week and has re-joined us as Mrs Sykes. Welcome Mrs Sykes!!!!!

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Running Club

A big turnout this morning. Braving the humidity and beating the rain for a run. A very special mention to Dylan White who pushed himself to the limit today. Well done to all our runners.

Tell Them from Me 2017

http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au

This term Our School, like many other Public Schools in the State, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices. The survey is designed for Year 4 to Year 6 students. The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help improve how they do things at school. I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 13 March and 7 April. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. A consent form and FAQs for parents/carers about the survey is being sent home with Year 4 to Year 6 students. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by Friday 31st March. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/ information-for-parents.

LAPS Canteen

In Term 2 we will welcome Mrs. Tanya Croston into our canteen. Tanya has already been planning for Term 2 and will be sending out a survey to families to provide responses for future planning. Please take the time to do this as the canteen is a valuable service for our school. Your responses will help guide its direction.

Carpark, Parking and Child Safety

This week I need to raise the use of the School Carpark. The School Carpark is for the use of STAFF ONLY during the hours of 7:00am – 6:00pm. During this time all other users are required to use parking available in the surrounding area and enter the school via the Main Street entrance. The reason this is in place is to limit the number of cars entering and leaving school grounds while children are on site. Due to the access points of the school and the location of internal parking, minimal vehicle movement reduces safety concerns. All parents are asked to respect this arrangement and ensure that all vehicle access is restricted to staff cars and delivery vehicles. Thank you in advance.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Lights 4 Lake

I hope our community has had the opportunity to enjoy the newly installed lights that now surround Lake Albert. As you walk around take note of Pole Number 3 as it is ours. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks to the P&C and LAPS!!

Athletes Foot

Thank you to all families who supported Lake Albert Public School with purchasing shoes from Athlete's Foot Wagga. While our school has no formal arrangement with Athlete's Foot Wagga and we do not promote our families to use their store, this local business has delivered on their "Back to School" initiative to give back to the schools that purchase shoes from them. This week our school received a $600 cheque which will go directly towards providing playground equipment for all students.

LMBR Training

Our office staff are 3 days into formal training as our school prepares to move into the new system of LMBR. LMBR stands for Learning Management and Business Reform. The entire Department of Education is in the process of implementing a modern, integrated IT system in human resources, payroll, finance and student administration to provide better service and value to staff, students, parents and the community. Tomorrow I will attending the first of my many mandatory training days that will ensure all Principals are well informed of the new system and procedures and continue to manage school resources in a highly efficient manner.

Swimming

Congratulations to all our swimmers who headed to Albury on Monday to compete for the Wagga Wagga PSSA District. As always our students gave their best and enjoyed the experience. I would like to acknowledge our families who continue to provide their support and ensure that their child has every opportunity possible (even if it is only for a 45 second race). Well done to Millie McKenzie who has continued her strong performances in the pool. Millie will be part of the Riverina squad competing at the NSWPPSA Swimming Carnival later in this term.

School Photos

A great day today with all our students and families making a huge effort to ensure we all looked our absolute best for the 2017 School Photos. MSP photography do a brilliant job getting every student and staff member through and capturing family photos and official photos for school records. All ordering, payment and photo follow up is done directly with MSP Riverina. http://www.msp.com.au/generic-page/riverina

Scripture and Ethics

Special Religious Education (SRE) is education in the beliefs and practices of an approved religious persuasion. Special Education in Ethics (SEE) is a program in ethical decision making, action and reflection within a secular framework, based on a branch of philosophy. Parents and caregivers in Public Schools have the right to have their children receive instruction in their preferred religious persuasion, where authorised teachers of that persuasion are available. Parents and caregivers may at any time notify the school in writing that they wish to withdraw their child from SRE. If a student is withdrawn from SRE there is an option for the student to be involved in SEE. A special education in ethics (SEE) program is available at our school and will be run by authorised volunteers of Primary Ethics, an approved provider of SEE. Additional details of this program can be found at https://primaryethics.com.au or by contacting Mrs Dea Lucas (School Coordinator). At any time, you have the right to change your SRE or SEE nomination or to withdraw your child from the nominated lessons. A note to the Principal will affect this change. If you wish to withdraw your student from SRE or if you wish to withdraw you child from SRE and participate in SEE please complete the form on page 9 in this newsletter and return it to your Class Teacher or place it in the Posting Box out the front of the office by the end of this week. Further information is available at https://education.nsw.gov.au/curriculum/religion-and-ethics/support-materials

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

School Attendance

This week I would like to raise the importance of school attendance. Regular attendance at school is essential for your child to achieve their educational best and increase their life options. NSW Public Schools Work in partnership with parents are to encourage and support regular attendance of children and young people. When your child attends school every day, learning becomes easier and your child will build and maintain friendships with other children. The importance of arriving to school and class on time: - Ensures that students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day - Helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routine - Gives students time to greet their friends before class - Reduces classroom disruption What to do if my child is absent from school Following an absence from school you must ensure that within 7 days you provide the school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. If the school has not received an explanation from you the school will contact you for an explanation of the absence. More information is available at

http://www.schools.nsw.edu.

LAPS Swimmers

Congratulations to all our LAPS Swimmers who represented our school at last week's Wagga PSSA Carnival. It was very exciting to see our students competing and pushing their limits. Throughout the day we had some stand out performances and most, if not all of our swimmers achieved a personal best in their event. While we are very proud of all these students, I would like to make a special mention to Millie McKenzie who was named Junior Girl Champion. Millie will be joined by Izabella Zambon, Ashley Croston, Ainslie Foster, Liam Crittenden, Ashton Ramsay, Jock Graham and River Phelps to participate in various events at the Riverina Carnival next Monday (13th March). I was fortunate enough to watch all our Relay Teams race and while our Junior Boys had the most exciting start to a relay I have ever seen, it was our Senior and Junior Girls Relay Teams who put in a massive team performance to qualify for the Riverina Carnival. Ainslie Foster, Ashley Croston, Izabella Zambon & Brooke Kaye-Mahon; Madeline Angel, Millie McKenzie, Sophie Donelan & Jade Eastwood will represent LAPS in the relay event. Well done girls!

P&C

Last night the LAPS P&C met for their Week 7 meeting. Thank you to all parents for attending and being involved in all conversations, discussion and decision making during this meeting. Some of the outcomes from this meeting were: - The purchase of an AED (automatic external defibrillator) machine for the site - Fundraising events for 2017,

Easter Raffle,
Trivia Night, School Disco,
Colour Run and Movies by Moonlight

I would like to thank Mr Travis Downie (parent) from Rotary Club of Wollundry Wagga Wagga, who chairs Defib for Life Wagga. Travis shared the value of having an AED on site for not just our school but our wider community. Please take the time to find out further information regarding this initiative. http://www.wollundryrotary.org.au/Page/defib-for-life-wagga

Canteen

Lastly, I would like to thank Kelly Maher for her involvement with our school and the canteen. Kelly has been a wonderful asset to our school and our students have benefitted from her involvement. I would like to thank Kelly for her work with us and wish her the best in her new position. Karlie Hubbard has agreed to assist in this position to ensure that the needs of our students are supported. If you have any time to help out or would like to be involved as a volunteer on a regular basis please see Karlie. All volunteers are asked to be aware of Working With Children Check process: http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/what-we-offer/regulation-and-accreditation/early-childhood-education-care/service-providers/working-with-childrencheck

Russell Graham

Principal

Sports News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

Congratulations to Rowan Hoare and Lewis Pulver who have gained selection in the Riverina squad of 24 for cricket. The boys will continue to train and develop as part of this squad that will then be reduced to a team of 12 in Term 4. We wish them all the best!

Mr Crittenden

On Monday the following boys participated in the Wagga District Football (soccer) Trials at Rawlings Park:

- Mitchell Spalding

- James Collins

- Jack Matheson

- Liam Crittenden

- Bryce Falepau

The Lake Albert boys trialled very well against some very skilful players. We are pleased to announce we had one successful student. Congratulations to Bryce Falepau who will now going on to represent the Wagga Wagga District team at the Riverina Trials.

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Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Snake Awareness, Safety and First Aide

We aim to keep Lake Albert Public School the safest place possible to learn. To achieve this we regularly review policies, practice and procedures and inspect our environment and surrounds.

Due to the location of our school and its surrounds we are aware that snakes are part of our environment and that there is potential for a snake to enter the school grounds. To ensure that the school is informed and prepared for all situations, staff and students are briefed on what to do if they encounter a snake and are informed of first aide required in case of a snake bite.

Snake identification and first aid information has been placed in various locations around the school. In addition to this snake and spider bite kits have been provided at identified and accessible locations across the school. I would like to thank Mr Michael Maw (LAPS parent) for working with us around this.

While the risk of snake bite is very low, the best strategy is knowledge, prevention and planning.

School Calendar

This week we have added a term calendar to our newsletter. Ms Michelle Trevaskis has created this feature for our community information and parents are encouraged to look at this when keeping up to date with school events and student activities.

POP (Parent Online Payment)

As discussed last week, payment methods to the school by parents will change. In the coming weeks permission notes will begin to include the Online Payment recording section.

This method is available through the school website http://www.lakealbert-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

LAPS Swimmers

Good luck to all our LAPS Swimmers representing our school this week at the Wagga Wagga District Swimming Carnival on Friday. Miss Kellie Strong is taking a team of 29 swimmers who will compete in all events throughout the day.

Staff Changes

This week Mrs Melisa Downing has taken on the Relieving Principal position at Yerong Creek Public School. Mrs Downing will be in this role for the remainder of the term. Miss Strong will be the Class Teacher for 5/6D during this time. Mr Mark Crittenden will be the Relieving Assistant Principal for Stage 3.

LAPS Band

It is very exciting to hear about so many of our students taking the opportunity provided to them through our school to access private tuition from the Conservatorium of Music. We have had a large intake of new students this year who are already receiving weekly lessons and are working towards developing their skills to be part of our wonderful LAPS Band.

Our Band Committee meet on a regular basis and provide our students with an excellent pathway into learning the lifelong gift of music. If you have any questions regarding the school band or involvement of your child, please see Mrs Livio.

Russell Graham

(Principal)

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

LMBR

In the coming weeks, LAPS will begin its formal training and administrative changeover to the new system of LMBR. LMBR stands for Learning Management and Business Reform. The entire Department of Education is in the process of implementing a modern, integrated IT system in human resources, payroll, finance and student administration to provide better service and value to staff, students, parents, and the community. It will impact on every facet of school life. Among other things, LMBR will provide: - Accurate reporting of financial operations - Better definition and reporting on services - A unique and secure student registration number and single source of up-to-date information about our students - Increased and improved information about student academic achievement and plans - Better tracking of important health, well-being and emergency contact information In preparation for this our administration staff (including the Principal) have begun preparing, and will begin regular training as we move towards our "go live" date on the 22nd May. As part of this changeover, the way payments are made to the school by parents will look very different. Our school will transition into using the PARENT ONLINE PAYMENTS (POP) system to enable parents to make school payments from home.

POP (Parent Online Payments)

This will enable parents to do school payments just like paying any other utility bill. The customer can print or email their own receipt which saves the school paperwork and sending home receipts with students. Next week we will provide all families with step by step instructions on how to use this system. This payment feature will also appear on upcoming excursion notes, etc that require payment. LMBR – Health Records - Health Care Plans and Medications This week our Office Staff and Learning Support Team have focused on students requiring a Health Care Plan and receiving medication at school. As part of the LMBR transition, our school is required to upload Health Care Plans,

ASCIA Action Plans (allergy and anaphylaxis) and Asthma plans.

It is essential that all students with medical needs have a Health Care Plan in place. This is done with guidance from a Paediatrician/GP and in consultation with the parent and the school. Our Learning Support Team of Mrs. Suzanne Heffer and Mrs. Kathy Oakman are available to work with parents to ensure that the most accurate information is in place and communicated to the staff as required. If you have any questions about the Health Care Plan of your child, or if their circumstances have changed please contact the office to meet with our Learning Support Team. Students requiring medication at school must have the most accurate information regarding their medical needs and administration of medication provided to the office. If your child is required to have medication during the day, it is a department policy that all medication be presented in the original box, clearly labelled with the completed paperwork. If you have any questions regarding this procedure please contact the office.

Running Club

This morning the LAPS Running Club started off its 2017 with a huge amount of students, staff, and parents enjoying a run along our lake foreshore. This year, Mrs. Jen Moloney and Mr. Aiden Ridley are coordinating our runners and are offering two levels of running groups. One group will cater for students who are capable (and willing) to run the entire lake and the other to cater for those who are building towards a greater level of running strength and endurance. This morning we enjoyed a large amount of positive feedback and comments from members of our wider community who also use our lake as part of their morning exercise routine. All parents are invited to join us each Wednesday and take on the challenge of the lake.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Swimming Carnival

The Oasis Aquatics Centre played host to the 2017 LAPS Swimming Carnival this week. We enjoyed a great turn out with a large amount of assistance and support from parents and families. While these carnivals are based around competition and swimmers racing to the end of the pool for places, it is also about the challenge of individual competing, testing themselves and achieving their own personal goals. The determination of all our swimmers was inspiring. Congratulations to all our place winners, age champions record breakers and winning house. Presentations will be held at the Primary Assembly this Friday.

Parent Teacher Information Night

Stages have held or are holding Parent Information sessions for parents. These sessions are a great way for parents to hear from the class teacher regarding the year ahead. While this is not a time to discuss the individual learning of each student it is a time to clarify expectations, requirements, class goals and important events. If required, parents are asked to make an appointment with the class teacher to discuss their child. Communication between school, child and parent is highly valued and is a vital part of the learning process.

Extra-Curricular Opportunities

As the new year is well underway, so too are many of the additional extra-curricular opportunities for our students. Teachers volunteer themselves and their expertise to make these activities available to our students. In many instances students are required to express an interest in being involved, trial/try out and then commit if selected. This year we are offering: Dance, Choir, Band, Chess and Running Club. In addition to these ongoing activities, students are offered a range of sporting, creative arts, public speaking and academic opportunities throughout the year. Such opportunities are always well supported by our staff and parents and provide our students with valuable experiences.

Permission to Publish

As we update student records and information parents are asked to complete the Permission to Publish form being sent home with each child today. Photographs, sound and visual recording of students is common practice in the learning environment so please read, complete, sign and return to the office ASAP to ensure the school has the most up to date information regarding your child.

LAPS P&C

Thank you to our LAPS P&C for their continued support to our students. This week we have seen new readers heading into Stage 2 classes and have placed an order for new laptops for Stage 1. These additional resources are only made possible by fundraising efforts from our P&C. Their efforts have a direct impact on the learning of our kids. Thank you.

Hot Weather

Was it hot last week? Yes, it was. We took great interest in trying to gauge the accuracy of our temperature reading from the school sign. This was as hot as it got in the sun on Friday afternoon. I hope we do not see this number again! Well done to all our students for making smart and safe decisions regarding heat wave conditions.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

2017 Kindergarten

This week we have welcomed our Kindergarten students into the playground before the first bell. Our kinder students have settled in extremely well and enjoy the excitement of being in the playground with all the other students. I would like to make special mention of our older students who take it upon themselves to assist, comfort, play with and support our newest students as they continue to settle into the routines of school life. Our students demonstrate a high level of caring and concern for the welfare of these little people. Thank you.

Student Numbers and Classes

As previously discussed student numbers have us very close to requiring the formation of another class. However, at this stage, they are not enough for this to occur. Therefore our classes and staffing structure will remain as it is. We have had an extremely positive start to the year and our students have benefitted from being with their 2017 teacher from the first day of the school year. It has been very pleasing to see how excited our students are to be in class and to observe how quickly strong teacher and student relationship are established.

P&C Meeting

Thank you to all our parents who attended the first P&C meeting for 2017. Mrs. Roberts attended in my absence and enjoyed meeting with a very large turn out to discuss school matters and the goals of support for this year.

Swimming Carnival

Good luck to all our students participating in the 2017 LAPS Swimming Carnival on Monday. Our Sporting Houses are ready to compete for the very first time this year. All parents are invited to join us for the day. If you would like to assist in any way, please contact Mr McColl. Congratulations to our 2017 House Captains and good luck in leading your house on Monday.

Hot Weather

As we continue to continue to experience extreme weather conditions throughout this summer, we monitor and adjust our daily activities when required. Our new school times have allowed for students to have an opportunity for active play before the midday heat. When required, outside play locations and activities are adjusted to ensure we all remain safe from the weather conditions. All students are reminded of the importance of smart choices and water consumption throughout the day.

School Newsletter

In 2017 the LAPS school newsletter will be published and available in digital form each Wednesday. This is accessible through the SchoolENews app. A printed version will be distributed on the Thursday. All families are asked to indicate if they would like to receive a printed copy. This form is included in the newsletter. This change has been made to ease administrative pressure on our very busy office staff.

Russell Graham

Principal

Book Club Loop System

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:06 AEST

Principal's Message Week 2 Term 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

It has been a very warm start to the 2017 school year for our wonderful Lake Albert families and staff. While the weather has been hot, we have had the terrific start to the year. Our students and staff have returned as keen as ever to get learning underway and today we have welcomed our new Kindergarten students into our school. I felt very privileged to see all the happy faces on Monday morning, ready for the new school year I would like to congratulate all our students and families for making the start to the year so successful.

K-6 classes have been established this week, however due to a number of new enrolments and a large intake of Kindergarten students some class changes may be required in the future. If this is the case careful consideration is given to all necessary changes and as with all school decisions the child's best interest is the priority.

Staff This year we will benefit from a very stable staff. Staff changes have been very minimal and we are very pleased to welcome back Mr Mark Crittenden and Mr Andrew Chapman to our teaching staff. Kindergarten A big welcome to our newest school members – TODAY!.

This year we welcome in 72 Kindergarten students to begin their primary schooling at LAPS. Starting school is a very exciting and nervous time for students and parents. I would like to recognise the efforts of our teaching and support staff for in making our little people so confident during this time. Over the past two days all of our Kindergarten students have completed their Best Start Testing and have enjoyed a very successful first day of school.

Bell Times We have begun the year with adjustments to our school day timings. This has meant some changes to lesson and break times, however it will provide our students with improved eating and play times throughout the day. Please be aware of the timings to our day.

8:45 Morning Bell – staff on duty

9:15 Assembly

9:20 Lesson 1

10:20 Fruito/Active Break

10:30 Lesson 2

11:30 Lunch – Eating

11:55 Lunch - Play

12:20 Lesson 3

1:50 Recess

2:15 Lesson 4

3:15 Home time

Classes This year we have had a small increase in student numbers. This increase puts us very close to being able to form another class however as the numbers are very close we will have to confirm actual enrolments on the 10th of February to ensure we have the required amount of students enrolled. With this in mind we do not want to stall teaching and learning and have established classes and begun our school year. After considering parent and teacher feedback we have formed straight classes where possible. If a new class is formed this will be actioned after Week 3. By this stage we will have the damaged demountable refurbished and operational as a classroom if required. Parents will be informed in advance of any changes to classes. Uniforms and Hats Congratulations to all our students who just looked amazing this week in their full school uniforms – all ready for their learning journey in 2017.

As part of our school policy all students are required to wear a SCHOOL HAT when outside in the sun. All parents are reminded to ensure each hat has the child's name on it. Children without hats will be required to play in the shade and may be unable to take part in excursions or carnivals. These steps are for the safety and health of each child.

Lastly, welcome back to Lake Albert! The year ahead promises to be very exciting and highly successful.

Russell Graham (Principal) Principal

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

On behalf for all our staff here at LAPS I'd like to with you and your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Principal's Message Week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Presentation Night

Congratulations to all students who attended our Presentation Night last Wednesday. It was a very special evening showcasing our student talent and celebrating the achievements of students throughout the year. While I had an opportunity to thank our outgoing School Captains and Student Leaders, I did not have an opportunity to formally welcome in our New Student Leaders.

Congratulations to:

Captains: Lewis Pulver, Eliza Nosworthy

Vice-Captains: Jack Woodhouse, Tess Humphries

Prefects: Katie Fawns, Tanisha Crawford-Foster, Emily McMahon, Rowan Hoare, Mitchell Spalding and Josh Angel

Reports

All students will receive their written Semester 2 2016 report today. Parents are encouraged to catch up with the class teacher to discuss any aspect of the report they have questions about. I have enjoyed reading through these reports and learning more about each individual learner.

Desrochers Dash

Congratulations to our runners and our winners this morning. We enjoyed a huge welcome home from our entire school as we ran up the final stages to ring the school bell. In all, 12 students and 5 teachers made their way around the 6km (approx.) course. Mr Desrochers set the standard for all those to come by clocking a super impressive 23:11 run. Bayley Moller was the inaugural student winner with a very fast 29:08 run. Thanks to Mr Baker, Mrs Bowen and Mrs Moloney for supporting our runners around. Next year the running club will be back and after today's event we are expecting an explosion of members. Thanks to Mr D for his involvement.

Year Book

This year Mrs Deanne Lucas has done an amazing job with our Year Book. All families have had the opportunity to purchase a digital copy that will be available this week and alternatively a hard copy that will be printed over the holidays. This change of format has allowed for the end of year events to be included in this keepsake.

Classes and Teachers

At this stage we are anticipating beginning new classes on day one 2017; however, we are very close in numbers to forming another class. After the census day during Week 2 we will have further information about student numbers. There may be some minor changes to classes if this occurs. I can assure parents that all student placement, teacher allocation and make up of classes is a highly in depth and considered process. This involves a lot of time and discussion.

2017

A reminder to all families of the start dates in 2017: ¿

Staff Development Day: Friday, 27th January ¿

Students 1 – 6 Start: Monday, 30th January ¿

Kindergarten first day: Wednesday, 1st February

Holiday Wishes

Finally, thank you to all our School Community for making my first year so enjoyable. I feel very privileged to be part of this School Community and I am excited about our future journey together. I wish you a safe and happy holiday.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Presentation Night

I am looking forward to joining all families this evening for the 2016 Lake Albert Public School Presentation Night Awards. This evening is the highlight of our Annual Calendar and allows for us to recognise and celebrate our achievements throughout the year. Today a number of students and staff have spent the day at Joyes Hall preparing and rehearsing. I am looking forward to taking part in my first Lake Albert Presentation Awards Night and joining in the celebration of our students and their achievements. We would ask that all those attending be seated for a 6:00pm start. Thank you to all our families and community members who have been so generous in their donations to support prizes and awards for our Presentation Night. Your support is greatly appreciated.

K-2 Christmas Concert

Congratulations to all our performers at this week's K-2 Christmas Concert. Our students enjoyed the opportunity to perform in front of others and make the most of all our school activities. It was a real treat to see our students and staff get into the spirit of Christmas.

LMBR

Yesterday, Mrs Robyn Coulton and myself attended the much anticipated LMBR launch. The Learning Management Business Reform (LMBR) will improve the administrative systems of all public schools and will mean some changes and a lot of learning for our office staff and myself. The end result will be worth it and it will assist the operation of our school. Our school will work at changing over to this new system in 2017 and it is anticipated that all schools in the Wagga area will be live by July.

Desrochers Dash

Next week we will hold the inaugural running of the Desrochers Dash - a race around the lake! This is a race to commemorate the beginning of the LAPS Running Club and the year that Mr Darren Desrochers has spent with us. Our Running Club has been supported by a dedicated group consisting of Teachers, Students, Principal and Dr Rachel Glasson. I would like to thank Rachel for her enthusiasm and drive to make this club happen and for supporting our students as they continue to challenge and improve themselves. This morning was the final hit out before next week's Desrochers Dash. Only students from the running club can compete and Mr D has identified 12 students who have qualified to take part: Xavier Moller, Jack Matheson, Jack Stanton, Bayley Moller, Mia Graham, River Phelps, Lewis Pulver, Jock Graham, Mason Crawford-Foster, Blake Walsh, Alex Maiden and Beau Edmunds will all be running. This event will have two categories - fastest student and fastest staff member. The start time will be 9:00am sharp and the fast runners should finish well under 30 minutes. Our school will assemble to cheer on the winners on their way to ringing the bell.

Ethics

All parents are invited to complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) for Ethics classes in 2017. There has already been a large response to this EOI and I would refer parents to last week's newsletter for further information regarding Ethics classes. More information is available at www.primaryethics.com.au

Industrial Action

Tomorrow the NSW Teachers Federation has called a one hour stop work meeting. Lake Albert Public School will operate at this time under minimal supervision. All students in attendance will be supervised by teaching staff however normal class routines will not be possible during this time. Normal class times will resume at 10:00am.

Russell Graham

Principal

Operation Christmas Child

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Once again LAPS is supporting Operation Christmas Child. However, this year the timing is a little different. To give us the best opportunity to stock as many boxes as possible, we will use funds collected this year to shop in post Christmas sales. The boxes will be made up for the 2017 appeal. For those of you who don't know about this wonderful initiative, we fill shoe boxes with gifts and these are distributed to children who are victims of war, poverty, famine and disease.

Christmas boxes packed in Australia are destined for South-East Asia. Countries like Cambodia, Papua new Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam and Fiji.

On Tuesday 13 November, we will be having a Mufti Day. Students are asked to wear a Christmas T-shirt if they have one or wear clothes in the Christmas colours of red and green. A gold coin donation, more if you wish will be collected on the day. This will ensure each box has what is required in it. That is, something to wear, something to love, some things for school, something to play with, something for personal hygiene and something special. Some of the money will be used to cover the costs involved in shipping the boxes overseas.

Thank you for your support Megan Muir with the SRC

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Student Leaders

Last week I had the absolute privilege of being part of the Student Leaders 2017 nomination speeches. This year we heard from 20 high quality applicants who addressed the School Assembly and put forward their reasons to be considered for a School Leadership position. The speeches presented were very well considered and each nominee was able to articulate their connection and commitment to our school and provide a clear indication of their leadership abilities. Staff and students then had the very difficult decision of voting for our School Prefects. From these 10 School Prefects our School Captains and Vice-Captains will be selected. Congratulations to our 20 nominees and regardless of the outcome we are very proud of each student for what they have already achieved through this process and we are very fortunate to have a large and capable Student Leadership group leading and guiding our students. I look forward to continuing to watch your leadership skills grow and to work with you to make our great school even better.

Remembrance Day

On Friday we conducted a Remembrance Day Ceremony at school to commemorate this important day with our School Community. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has a special significance in the post-war years. This was the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front in 1918 and has become universally associated with the remembrance of those who have died in war. Thank you to our student leaders who lead this ceremony.

Borambola Sport and Recreation Excursion

Next week our Year 4 campers finally get to head out to Borambola for their school camp. This is a highly active camp and our students and staff will enjoy the excellent facilities that Borambola offers during their two day stay. I am looking forward to joining our Year 4 students and taking part in what is always a highly enjoyable excursion.

P&C - Annual General Meeting

All families are reminded that Tuesday 22nd November will be our AGM for the P&C. The P&C continue to provide our school and students with excellent support. I would ask all parents to consider becoming involved with our P&C to shape the direction of our school.

Todd Woodbridge Cup

Congratulations to the LAPS Tennis Teams who headed to Sydney Olympic Park last week to participate in the Todd Woodbridge Cup. 28 schools from across the state competed with our team winning their pool. They advanced to the finals, where they fought hard to claim 3rd place overall. Thank you to Mr Urbanavicius for making this experience possible for our students and a huge thank you to Reagan Angel and Hayley Peverall for providing transport and supervision for the team.

Planning for 2017

As the end of the year draws closer we being to work on planning for 2017. A large part of this planning involves student numbers, classes and staffing. Teachers will be meeting in the coming weeks to begin to consider classes for 2017. Class Teachers have a deep knowledge of each student's academic and social progress and these are used when forming classes. If parents have specific information that would be valuable during this process please make time to discuss it with the class teacher in coming weeks.

Best regards

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Yellow Day

Today all students have participated in Yellow Day – raising money for the Cancer Council. Our very own Taylor Garrett and her teacher, Mrs Kathy Crawford have coordinated this day to raise awareness and funds to help the fight against cancer. The Cancer Council has visited the school and presented a very entertaining puppet show to all students. Thank you to all our community for supporting this day.

Combined Band Performance

On Friday the 11th of November the LAPS School Band have been invited to participate in the annual Combined Schools Band Day, to be held at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music (RCM). Our musicians will spend the entire day at the RCM in rehearsals and will hold a performance to showcase their individual school and combined music pieces. This is a spectacular annual event and an excellent opportunity for students to participate in as a member of a large band. Thank you to Mrs Livio and Miss Dawson for supporting our students.

Proud and Deadly

Yesterday the Wagga Wagga area recognised and celebrated the achievements of Aboriginal students with the Proud and Deadly Awards. I was fortunate enough to accompany our fabulous LAPS Proud and Deadly award recipients to the Commercial Club for the presentation of their certificates. Congratulations to all our students.

Healthy Harold

Harold and the Life Education Van have spent the week on the lake delivering messages of health and safe life choices. This year the LAPS P&C and the school have combined financial support to ensure that all students attend at no cost to the individual. This is a significant investment, however the school values the message delivered by the Life Education program and Class Teachers use this experience in whole class follow up lessons. An order form went home with your child today if you wish to purchase Healthy Harold merchandise.

Child Protection

During Term 4 classes will be delivering lessons around Child Protection. These lessons are delivered in line with the PDHPE Department of Education syllabus. Parents who have concerns or would like to know more about lesson content are asked to talk to individual Class Teachers.

LAPS P&C

All parents are reminded that the next P&C meeting will be held on Tuesday 22nd November at 7:30pm.This meeting will be the AGM. Paul Greenwood It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Mr Paul Greenwood (Principal Riverina Environment Education Centre). Paul was a much respected and passionate colleague and our thoughts are with Paul's family and staff at this difficult time. A number of Lake Albert staff will attend Paul's funeral this week on behalf of the school.

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Proud and Deadly Awards

Next Tuesday a number of our students will be attending the Proud and Deadly Awards at the Wagga Commercial Club. This ceremony is a celebration and recognition for Aboriginal students who have demonstrated achievements in areas such as academic, culture, improvement towards learning and citizenship. More information will be sent out to those students who are involved later this week.

LAPS Charity Drive

At LAPS we are very proud of our efforts in fundraising and supporting worthy causes and charities. At the moment Mrs Tinnock is still coordinating the collection of little soaps, shampoos, conditioners, hand-creams, toothpaste, toothbrushes etc from hotels and motels we stay in. We often don't need them so why not donate them. There is a box in the front office for all these little goodies. We have another two tubs full and ready to go, with a 3rd tub half full. These are being donated to St Vincent De Paul this Friday who oversee Micah House and the Edel Quinn Shelter. They make care packs for people who use these facilities and coming up to Christmas it is very much appreciated.

Transition to High School

Today our Year 6 students heading into Kooringal High School in 2017 have been involved in testing for Year 7. These tests provide the High School with another layer of information to ensure the strongest possible transition into Secondary Education possible for our students. Year 7 entry to Selective High Schools in 2018. Selective High Schools cater for highly achieving academically gifted students who may otherwise be without sufficient classmates at their own academic and social level. These schools help gifted and talented students to learn by grouping them with other gifted and talented students, teaching them in specialised ways and providing educational materials at the appropriate level. Applications for Selective High Schools placement are considered mainly on the basis of the Selective High School Placement test results and school assessment scores. The Selective High School Placement test will be held on Thursday 9 March 2017. Parents must apply online at the following link: www.schools.nsw.edu.au/ shsplacement and should read the instructions carefully. If you child is currently in Year 5 they are eligible to sit the test if you complete the online application form. The application website closes on 14 November 2016. No late applications will be accepted. You may wish to discuss your child's academic progress with their teacher if you are unsure about how your child will cope in this class.

Snake Awareness

There are many, many positives from living on the lake, one negative through is the raised possibility of snake activity. This time of year and after a long wet winter it is possible that we may experience an increase in snake activity. At school we use prevention strategies to minimise the risk of a snake incident. These strategies include:

- Ensuring long grass is cut back

- Remove snakes access to water within the site where possible

- Remove snake habitats such as ponds, piles of timber and sheets of galvanized iron

- Maintain clean yards and surroundings to reduce the mice population

- Ensure an Action Plan is ready should a snakebite occur

- Ensure that first aid procedures and hospital/doctor/ambulance phone numbers are clearly displayed in the staff room.

- Provide students and staff specific instructions regarding the correct procedures to adopt if they encounter a snake.

Teachers continually talk about snake awareness with children and our school grounds are cleared where possible, our grass is kept short, boundaries are set of play areas and staff are always on the lookout as part of their supervisor duties. Parents are asked to take the time to reinforce safe practice with their child in the event of encountering a snake - Remain calm and motionless in the first instance - Leave the snake alone and give it the opportunity to escape - Move slowly to a safe distance observing the position of the snake at all times - Alert students and staff (advise them to stay calm and keep away)

Russell Graham (Principal)

Colour The Lake Photos

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:09 AEST

Principal's Message Term 4 Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Colour the LAKE
What an amazing day for our school and wider community. Our P&C and Colour the Lake Committee did an incredible job putting together this event. We were blessed with perfect weather and the 750 plus people who made their way around finished covered in colour and wearing beaming smiles. This day would not have been possible without the organisational skills of the committee, our sponsors and volunteers. It is worth making special mention of these people and thanking them for helping in the success of the day. All money raised from this event directly supports our students and school. This event promises to be a major date on our fundraising calendar and there is already planning in place for next year.
Thank you to:
Colour the Lake Committee - EJ Miles, Lisa Trevaskis, Prue Adams, Jay Quintal.
Sponsors - CRS Plumbing, Wagga Scrap Metals, J & J Higginson Building and Construction, Commonwealth Bank, RSM Accounting, Coca-Cola, Wagga Physiotherapy and Sports Injury, Wagga Slashing Services, PDK, Riverina Horticulture & Landscape.
Volunteers - Jess & Jarrad Higginson, Sara & Chris Sutton, Anna Roberts, Clare Rob-erts, Leigh Trevaskis, Troy Maiden, Aaron Miles, Kim Zeiher, Nicole & Craig Snowden, Michele Nosworthy, Alison O'Donnell, Shennon Billingham, Melissa Murray, Lauren Dawson, Jane Downey, Suzanne Heffer, Marg Tinnock, Briony Whyte, Belinda Cole-man, Jo Bowen, Jo McIntosh, Anna & Souljah Gannon, Kathy Crawford, Barry McColl and the Lake Albert Rural Fire Service.

Jewellery
Last week all students were reminded of wearing appropriate jewellery and accessories to school. Small earrings, watches, thin bangles, etc are suitable. Bracelets, necklace and chains, rings and large earrings are a safety concern and students are asked to not wear these. Also items that are expensive or have sentimental value may be best left at home. Parents are asked to discuss appropriateness of items worn to school and if your child is unsure of what is appropriate they need to speak to the class teacher of myself for advice. Thank you for your support with this.

P&C Meeting
A long but enjoyable P&C meeting was held last night. During this meeting many school issues and decisions were discussed and the P&C provided valuable feedback for consideration. Some major topics discussed were the introduction of Ethics Classes in 2017, Class Structures, Bell Times, External Validation of the school and 2017 School Funding. The P&C also made some very big financial decisions by allocating money to subsidies students to attend the Life Education visit and also providing financial support to purchase significant technology that will benefit all students. This P&C support is only possible through an ongoing commitment to our school. All funds raised go directly to providing our kids with enhanced learning experiences and opportunities.

Spring
This term we are working on improving our School Grounds and bringing them back to their former glory after a long wet winter. You will notice work being conducted around the area outside the hall. Out General Assistants Klaus and Barry do an amazing job for us keeping our grounds maintained and always improving.

Russell Graham
Principal

Principal's Message Term 4 Week 2

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Parent Survey - Tell Them from Me

All parents are asked to take the time to complete the online Tell Them from Me – Partners in Learning survey. This survey will close on Friday and at the moment very few of our families have completed it. The information gathered from this survey is very valuable to our school, and will provide us with important information relating to student engagement. Please find the survey at: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/zqy9d

LAPS Prefect Election Process

This week Year 5 students have begun the process of the 2017 Prefect Election Process. I am very impressed at the number of students who have nominated for election. At LAPS we have fantastic student leaders and encourage all students to consider taking on leadership roles and responsibilities within the school. Our current Captains and Prefects are excellent role models and demonstrate on a daily basis the importance of strong student leaders to a School Community. I would like to acknowledge all students who have shown the commitment and courage to nominate for consideration of a leadership position. Your willingness to take on such an important role is a credit to you and your family. Regardless of the outcome you should be congratulated for this.

Attendance

At the beginning of a new term I would like to remind all families of the importance of school attendance. If a student misses as little as 8 days in a school term, by the end of primary school they'll have missed over a year of school. On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

being sick, or having an infectious disease
having an unavoidable medical appointment
being required to attend a recognised religious holiday exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g. attending a funeral)

Following an absence from school: You must ensure that within 7 days you provide your child's school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. However, if the school has not received an explanation from you within 2 days, the school may contact you to discuss the absence. Further information is available at http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/studentsupport/programs/attendance.php

'Swimming

This week our Infant Students have begun swimming lessons as part of the Department of Education School Swimming Scheme. While taking part in these lessons can be exhausting for our younger students it provides them with the opportunity to take part in structured lessons and activities that develop water confidence and provide students with basic skills in water safety and survival.

P&C & Band Meeting

All parents are invited to join the P&C this coming Tuesday for the first meeting of Term 4. These meetings are always enjoyable and are a great chance to have input into our great school. This meeting will be held in the Boardroom at 7:00pm Tuesday, 25th October. Previous to this will be a Band Meeting at 6pm in Mrs Livio's room in Red 4. Everyone is welcome.

Colour the LAKE

I am looking forward to participating in the LAPS Colour the Lake this Sunday. Tickets are still available and the weather forecast is perfect. So get your whitest of whites ready and if you are anything like me, start your pre-running warm up routine now. www.stickytickets.com.au/35403

Russell Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Term 4 Week 1

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Welcome back to Term 4.

I trust our school community enjoyed the time off and managed to stay dry throughout a very wet holiday period. Term 4 is always an exciting and extremely busy term and it was very pleasing to see all of our students arrive back on Monday, enthusiastic and ready to get into classrooms.

Tell Them From Me Survey
All parents are asked to take the time to complete the Partners in Learning parent survey on student engagement. This survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The parent survey will close on Friday 21 October. Please find the survey at:
Tell them from me

Canteen
This week the LAPS P&C Canteen released its updated menu. This menu and all food items sold to our students has been reviewed and adjusted in consultation with Alexandra Walker, Health Promotion Coordinator/Officer - Murrumbidgee Local Health District. As a member of Healthy Kids Association our canteen was already very compliant with the NSW Healthy School Canteen criteria. Consequently our new menu will identify all food sold as either Green or Amber allowing for all our customers to make healthy, informed choices. Red foods are not sold at the canteen, however it is permitted on limited occasions to do so and the canteen will hold "Red Days" where foods that fall outside the Green and Amber category will be available. Sadly, Hotdogs fall into the red category and as the canteen is unable to source a suita-ble hotdog product they have been removed from the menu. There have also been some price changes due to increased wholesale costings. Our school canteen is an important part of our school and one that is very well supported by all students. If you have some time to volunteer and help out please speak to Kelly.

Jayne Howard - RSL Rural Commemorative Youth Choir
Congratulations to Jayne for her recent RSL Rural Commemorative Youth Choir performance at Government House. Jayne is a very important part of this choir and demonstrates great commitment to ensure her involvement in it. Well done Jayne. Picture on page 3.

K-2 Swimming Lessons
Over the coming weeks we are sending our K-2 students off to swimming lessons. The Department of Education School Swimming Scheme provides students with the opportunity to take part in structured lessons and activities that aims to develop water confidence and provide students with basic skills in water safety and survival. Our students will make the trip to the Oasis Swimming Centre daily (excluding Thursdays) over the next 2 1/2 weeks for these lessons. You should have received a note yesterday with the dates and what to pack for swimming.

Colour the LAKE
The LAPS Colour the Lake Fun Run is fast approaching. Get your tickets now and join in the fun of running around our beautiful lake and enjoying splashes of colour along the way. This morning the colours were tested and I can assure you it all washes out. Look forward to seeing you in your white running gear on Sunday, 23rd of October.
Colour the Lake Tickets

Russell Graham
Principal

Year 6 Mini Fete

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Young Communicators Finals

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Principal's Message Week 10

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:15 AEST

Trivia Night
A special mention this week to the wonderful P&Cand to Mr McColl and Mrs Nosworthy for putting on the LAPS Trivia Night. A hugely successful night with plenty of laughs in a room full of highly intelligent people. Sadly however, it has to be reported that both teacher tables did not perform well on the scoreboard. It was a great turn out and a very enjoyable night. Congratulations to the winners of the night and thank you to our sponsors for their generosity and support of our school.

External validation
Over the past two weeks our school has been heavily involved in preparing for the External Validation process that will occur on 1st November. This process is a very detailed and powerful way to assess school performance and practice and to identify strengths and future directions of the school. The School Excellence Framework is used and the school rates itself against Learning, Teaching and Leading. In all there are 14 elements considered. These include:
Evidence is gathered, annotated and analysed to determine its impact and ways to improve. At LAPS we are committed to the pursuit of excellence and the provision of high quality educational opportunities for each and every child. This report will be shared with the P&C next term.

Year 6 Mini Fete
Congratulations to our Year 6 students for their successful running of the 2016 Mini Fete. This was a highly organised event put on by our Year 6 students to raise funds for their Graduation Evening and for a school gift. Mrs Downing and the entire Stage 3 staff worked with students to ensure everyone had a great time. Due to the overwhelming amount of donations and support of students and families a significant amount of money has been raised. At this stage we have raised $4250, with more raffle ticket money still to come in.

Tell Them From Me Survey
All parents are reminded to complete the Partners in Learning parent survey on student engagement. This survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The parent survey will be conducted between 31 August and 21 October. Please find the survey at:
https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/zqy9d

Term 3
As we are in the final week of Term 3 we take time to look back over school student achievement, class programs and school events to assess and evaluate. It also is a time for planning for Term 4 and to ensure learning and teaching is ready to go. This term has been extremely busy (and wet). Our students and staff have been involved in some highly enjoyable and successful activities. We have enjoyed tremendous support from families and the community and we are really proud of what we have achieved throughout the term. I would like to congratulate all our students and staff for a very successful and extremely enjoyable term. I would like to wish you all a safe and relaxing holiday. School starts back on Monday 10th October for staff and students.

Russel Graham

Principal

Principal's Message Week 9

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Trivia Night
I look forward to joining staff, parents and community this coming Friday at the LAPS P&C Trivia Night. As always this promises to be a great night for the school community and one that raises funds for our students and school. Thanks to the P&C, Mr McColl and Mrs Nosworthy for putting this night together.

Mobile Phones
All students and families are reminded of the school policy regarding mobile phones at school. It is understandable that some students require phones due to before or after school arrangements. There are no concerns with these arrangements as they are family decisions. It is however important that these phones are not accessed or used during school hours. Student mobile phones are to be handed in and collected from office where they will be securely stored. All necessary communication and contact can be done via the front office. If you require your child to carry a mobile phone to and from school there will be a note available for parents to sign. If you have any questions regarding this please contact
the office.

Young Communicator Finals
What a fantastic day this was to complete our Young Communicators 2016. This school wide initiative has delivered an opportunity for all students to develop their public speaking skills and confidence. From Kinder to Year 6, students delivered a speech of their own choice. Today we heard the 16 finalists from the different stages deliver their speech to determine the Young Communicator winners. I was joined by Mr Graeme Dutton to judge each speaker and we were both overwhelmed with the quality of speakers and the courage and confidence demonstrated. I would like to acknowledge the work of Mr Pitchford, Mr McGowan and Mrs Heffer in making this such a valuable opportunity to our students. I am already looking forward to next year.

Welcome Miss Murray
This week we have welcomed Miss Melissa Murray to our class teaching staff. Miss Murray has joined KS in place of Mrs Scrivener.

Tell Them From Me Survey
Lake Albert Public School will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning outcomes and measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices. For students the survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. A consent form for parents/carers about the survey is included in this newsletter. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the school . I would also remind all parents to complete the Partners in Learning parent survey on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement.
Running this survey will help our school understand parents' and carers' perspectives on their child's experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The parent survey will be conducted between 31 August and 21 October. Please find the survey at: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/zqy9d

Russell Graham
Principal

Principal's Message Week 8

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

Health Care Plans
As the weather moves into spring and the pollen count begins to increase, it is appropriate to remind all parents of ensuring that if your child has a Health Care Plan for asthma, epilepsy, allergies etc that the School is provided with an updated Health Care Procedure/Action Plan. These plans should be updated every twelve months and possibly more often in individual circumstances. If your child has a Health Care Plan or you feel needs a Health Care Plan and you are unsure what to do, please contact the office. Student health and safety is para-mount and at Lake Albert we endeavour to take every precaution to eliminate any issues or risks for students and staff.

Excursions and School Events – Permission Notes
This week all staff have discussed the importance of early organisation for excursions and school events. To ensure appropriate communication, student information, accurate booking numbers and costings the school requires known student participation numbers well before the event. Each permission note nominates a date that it must be returned to the School for the student to attend the excursion/event. All teaching and office staff have been reminded that it is vital that cut off dates be adhered to ensure adequate organisation and for all safety and supervision requirements be covered. While we do not want students to miss opportunities and experiences, time is needed to implement the appropriate organisation.

Young Communicators
Congratulations to every student who has taken to the stage this week and delivered a prepared speech to peers, parents and teachers. I have been fortunate to have been able to listen to the majority of speeches and have been impressed with not only the public speaking skills, but the variety of topics. This has been the highlight of the term. Well done to all our students who prepared a speech throughout the term and to all students who have been selected to move on to the finals.

High Performing Students
At LAPS we celebrate the achievements of our students and recognise the efforts our students and families make. This week I would like to recognise the wonderful efforts of five of our students who are part of Riverina Central Choir and recently performed at the Sydney Opera House. Involvement in this type of activity requires huge commitment from both the student and the family. It also provides the student with many more experiences than just the one they set out for. I asked one of our students to share their experience with us. Please enjoy the brief report Leith Austin has provided.

My Sydney Opera House Experience by Leith Austin
I was selected along with 30 other children to be in the Riverina Central Choir to sing at the Opera House in Sydney. We left Wagga on Sunday because we wanted to show my Gran the sights of the city. She lives in South Africa and it was only her second visit to us in Australia in ten years. We went for a walk on Monday and saw that the Australian Olympic Team was having a welcome home. We stayed and watched and got to meet lots of the Olympic Team. Mum's picture was in the Sydney Morning Herald, with a cranky face! I was excited to meet Chloe who won a gold medal!
On Thursday we had the rehearsal and performance. We met everyone on the steps of the Opera House. We learnt when to stand up and sit down and what we were going to be doing and which part was singing when. We also learnt actions to Mumbo Italiano. I felt kind of excited at the performance.
We sang Mumbo Italiano, We Will, Circle of life, Uncle Joe, Green Eggs and Ham, Shining star, Skipping stones, Touch the Sky, For the Beauty of the Earth and I still call Australia home.
I sang the Alto part, which is the low part. We were conducted by Ian Jefferson. There were 700 children from lots of different Schools. Some sang and some School Bands played. The best bit was definitely the streamers that were shot from confetti guns in the roof. It was the best experience!

Russell Graham
Principal

Principal's Message Week 7

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:18 AEST

SAS Staff Recognition Week

This week students, parents and staff in NSW Schools will acknowledge the hard work done by School Administration Staff (SAS) as part of National Recognition Week. As modern schools step to the challenges of educating students in this century and the demands of an ever changing world, SAS Staff are the backbone of great work being done. SAS Staff include: School Administrative Managers, School Administration Officers, School Learning Support Officers, Aboriginal Education Officers, General Assistants. I would like to thank all our dedicated SAS staff for the work they do each day at our school.

Book Week Parade

What a day this was! This day is clearly one of the highlights of the year and the enthusiasm of our school to get into the spirit of celebrating our love of books and reading was bursting last Thursday. From horses to mermaids, Happy and Sleeping Beauty to Darth Vadar we had it all at LAPS. Everyone enjoyed the day and took part in fantastic activities celebrating the love of reading. Thank you to all our community who joined us for the parade.

P&C Meeting and the Canteen

Last evening the LAPS P&C held its Week 7 meeting. There are a couple of items from this meeting that I would like to highlight.

All parents are asked to consider volunteering in our canteen. Fridays are a huge day for the canteen and we always welcome help at this time. Thursdays however are just as important as this is preparation for Friday. If you are able to join us in the canteen please see Kelly to put your name down.

The P&C have removed yellow and light blue polo shirts from the school uniform. These will no longer be available or be part of school uniform as we have transitioned to the royal blue and yellow polo.

Tell Them From Me (TTfM)

As our school is participating in the TTfM survey this term I would like to invite all parents to complete the Partners in Learning parent survey on student engagement. The survey asks parents and carers questions about different factors that are known to impact on student wellbeing and engagement. More information is available at: http://surveys.cese.nsw.gov.au/ttfm-surveys/ parent-survey Running this survey will help our school understand parents' and carers' perspectives on their child's experience at school. These include: communication between parents/carers and staff, activities and practices at home and parent/carer views on the school's support of learning and behaviour. This valuable feedback will help our school make practical improvements. The survey is conducted entirely online at home or on public computers. The survey will typically take 15 minutes or less to complete and is completely confidential. The parent survey will be conducted between 31 August and 21 October. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary, however, your responses are very much appreciated. Please find the survey at: https://nsw.tellthemfromme.com/zqy9d

Important Dates

Jacqueline Harvey visit tomorrow! 3/4P Assembly – Change of day. Thursday 8th September, Week 8, instead of the Friday P&C Trivia Night – Friday, 16th September Colour Run -- Sunday, 23rd October. Don't forget to get your tickets. Year 4 Borambola Camp - 24/25th November Running Club Well done to all our runners this morning. We made a full lap of the lake and beat the rain!! See you next week.

Riverina Central Choir

Congratulation to Leith Austin, Katie Fawns, Axel Kingwill, Brooke Kaye-Mahon, Emily McMahon who will be performing with the Riverina Central Choir at the Opera House tomorrow. Well done to these students.

Russell Graham (Principal)

Principal's Message Week 6

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Running Club
This morning Mr Desrochers was joined by 28 enthusiastic runners, two mums and enthusiastic but far less capable Principal to begin the LAPS Running Group. The goal of this club is to provide students with an opportunity to run with their peers and enjoy challenging themselves under the guidance of a structured program. This is not meant as a coaching programming it is aimed at developing the capacity of each runner. All students in 3-6 were offered an opportunity to join and in the next week Mr D will be speaking to Year 2 students to extend an opportunity to join in. The group will meet each Wednesday at 8:00am at the COLA and parents are welcome. Photograph on page 3.

Young Communicators
This week I have had the absolute pleasure of sitting in 5/6L as students presented their Young Communicator speeches to their peers. There were a number of things that stood out for me as an observer:

the supportive environment that exists within this senior classroom. Every student was supportive and respectful towards one another and this allowed for students to deliver their speeches with increased confidence and a willingness to overcome their nerves and apprehensions.
the ability of the class as a whole to provide constructive feedback to the speaker. This feedback was considered, detailed and offered points to improve upon or areas of strengths.
the ability that each speaker showed to accept this feedback from the teacher and peers and in many cases being able to critique their own performance.

It was an absolute pleasure to watch and while this is reflective of the teaching practice and student engagement in 5/6L it is a reflection of what happens daily in all our classrooms. I would like to congratulate all speakers in every class for taking part in the Young Communicators and I look forward to hearing more in the coming weeks.

Book Week Parade and Activities Day
Tomorrow we host our 2016 Book Week Parade and activities. This is a highly enjoyable day for all and involves a whole school parade followed by activity group rotations that mixes students from Kinder to Year 6. I look forward to seeing our school come alive with real life characters from stories and books. The parade will be in the hall/cola and begin at 9:30am.

Sick Bay
This week we have had a huge increase in the number of children presenting to sick bay and being sent home due to illness. There have been a number of times this week that students have arrived at school ill and have not been able to make it to class. Students have also been reminded about being more self-aware of their own health and wellbeing and to take it easy, especially in the playground if they are feeling unwell or have been sick.

Colour Run
All families are reminded of the upcoming LAPS Colour Run. This promises to be an amazing event for our school and community. Make sure you get your tickets. All proceeds go directly to our P&C and therefore directly benefit our kids.
Mrs Danyelle Scrivener
This week we inform our School Community that Mrs Scrivener has accepted a temporary appointment at the Riverina Environmental Education Centre. While we are very sad to say goodbye for the time being we are very excited that Danyelle has been given the opportunity to pursue her professional interests and we look forward to her return and the new skills and knowledge she will bring back to LAPS. Mrs Jill Watt will take over as Class Teacher during this time. Mrs Watt has developed a very strong relationship with this class over the year and looks forward to working with KS.

Russell Graham
Principal

Principal's Message Week 5

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:17 AEST

Tell Them From Me Survey
In the coming weeks Lake Albert Public will participate in a Department of Education initiative: the Tell Them From Me stu-dent feedback survey. The survey aims to help improve student learning outcomes and measures factors that are known to af-fect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engage-ment and effective teaching practices.
The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. Schools in Australia and around the world have used the Tell Them From Me survey to help improve how they do things at school.
I want to assure parents that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 22 August and 21 October. Participating in the sur-vey is entirely voluntary.
A consent form and FAQs for parents/carers about the survey is included in this newsletter and is being sent home with stu-dents. If you do not want your child or children to participate, please return the form to school by 31st August 2016. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from the website above.
More information about the survey is available at: Information For Parents

NAPLAN
This week schools have received access to the 2016 NAPLAN results for students. Student NAPLAN reports will be sent home to parents in the near future containing information regarding this testing. Next week teaching staff will take time during the staff meeting and professional learning sessions to begin to analysis this data and determine how it can inform student learning and teaching practice.
How is it of benefit to our school?
Students and parents: Discuss progress with teachers and compare performance against national peers.
Teachers: Help teachers to challenge higher performers and identify students needing support.
School: Map student progress, identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching programs and set goals.
School systems and governments: Valuable data to support good teaching and learning, and school improvement.

Kooringal High School Band and Music Experience for Years 3 - 6
This Friday our Years 3 to 6 students and staff are very excited to welcome the Kooringal High School Band and Music Ex-perience school tour. This live musical show will include performances from the KHS junior and senior funk explosions, plus a selection of tunes from the recent production "Rumble in the Jungle". KHS VET Entertainment students will also be bringing a full lighting, sound and vision production. This is a high quality performance and one that KHS is very excited to delivering to us. Parents are most welcome to attend. The show starts at 10:15am in the hall.

School Events

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of being involved in two school experiences that demonstrated the wonderful students and school culture at Lake Albert. Firstly I was able to join the Tony Lockett Shield team as they competed against other school in Australian Rules. Our boys played four very competitive games and came away with two wins and two losses against quality opposition. Every game was played with sportsmanship, commitment and team work and every player showed great support for each other. I would like to thank all our parents and families who made the trip to Borambola and assisted with transport and to Scott Angel and Shane Pedler who gave their time and knowledge to coach our players.

Secondly I was very fortunate to watch 3/4L deliver an outstanding class dance routine at the senior assembly on Friday. What was most evident about this performance was the enjoyment and the confidence each student displayed while performing in front of peers and adults. It was a joy to watch.

Russell Graham
Principal

Staff Onesie Wednesday

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

On Wednesday 10th August the staff at LAPS had Onesie Wednesday where we wore Onesies to school for the day. Both staff and students enjoyed this fun day!

Principal's Message Week 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

Principal's Message
It was very exciting to return to our great school yesterday. Thank you to Mrs Melisa Downing for stepping into the Principal role over the past two weeks. It has been a very busy fortnight and I have enjoyed being able to be kept up to date while overseas by following the school website and receiving school related information through School Enews. This really is a great way to keep informed about school life and events at Lake Albert Public School.

Education Week
The reports from Education Week and the events held within the school and out in the community have been very exciting. Our students enjoy the opportunity to showcase their talents and our school by sharing their learning or performing for others. I would like to thank each and every one of our families and community members who shared these events with us. Teachers have made comment that the level of parent and family involvement in each of our planned activities was amazing.

Chess Competition
Congratulations to Mr Oakman and the Chess Team for their involvement in the Chess Competition held yesterday at Sturt Public School. This day attracted may chess players and our students enjoyed the opportunity to test their skills and strategies against players from the various schools in attendance.
Author Visit
We are very excited to welcome Jacqueline Harvey to LAPS on Thursday 1st September. Jacqueline Harvey is a bestselling, award winning children's author from Australia, best known for the popular Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series. More about Jacqueline can be found on her website http://jacquelineharvey.com.au/ and there is an order form attached to this newsletter if you wish to order one of her books.

Spelling Bee
Over the last three weeks, LAPS Stage 2 and 3 students have been involved in The Premier's Spelling Bee Challenge. Each class has conducted a challenge and a representative from each class won the right to participate in the Stage 2 & 3 finals. The Stage 2 final was conducted yesterday in the School Hall in front of parents, teachers and peers. The finalists were; Jenna Oakman, Zoe Whytcross, Nethukee Jayasekera, Lachlan Garnock, Bastian Priest, Jack Matheson, Jack Stanton, Andre Wrenford, Bailea Trinder, Alex Weightman and Leena McLean. Congratulations to these 11 students. They spelt difficult words well and represented their classrooms proudly. The Stage 2 winner was Jack Stanton and the runner up was Bastian Priest. The Stage 3 final took place this morning: again with peers, parents and staff watching on. The Stage 3 finalists were; Liam Bettens, Georgia Dickinson, Tanisha Crawford-Foster, Gemma Sutcliffe, Deakin White, Lily Polsen, Taylah Whytcross, Chelsea Burgess-Hannon and Hunter White. Congratulations on making it this far. These 9 students had to spell words some adults were looking puzzled about and did a great job. The Stage 3 winner was Lily Polsen and the runner up was Chelsea Burgess-Hannon. These four students now progress to the Wagga inter-school rounds to be held at South Wagga PS on Monday 12th September. Information will go home with these students as times become available. Well done to Mr Urbanavicius (Mr U) and his fellow judges/organisers, teachers, students and parents for supporting our students as soon as possible.

2017 Kindergarten Enrolments
Our community is reminded of the importance of early enrolment for Kindergarten students for 2017. In Week 7 of this term we will be finalising kindergarten enrolments and considering out of zone applications for 2017. Parents will be provided with orientation and transition information at this time. If you are enrolling a child into kindergarten for 2017 please drop into the front office for forms and/or applications.
Russell Graham
Principal

Principal's Message Week 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:16 AEST

It has certainly been a busy, but exciting time to be the Principal of Lake Albert Public School. Education Week is a special time that highlights the ongoing learning and activities that make being part of a Public School such a valuable thing.
Our School display that is proudly standing in the Marketplace shows many samples of the talented students we have here at LAPS. A wonderful mix of art, craft, writing and research samples show that from Kindergarten to Year 6, all students are taking part in wonderful class activities prepared, of course, by their hardworking teachers! If you have the opportunity, take a trip down town and view not only the samples from Lake Albert but also the many other schools that are on display. It is incredible to witness the fabulous teaching and learning that is happening in our local Public Schools.
I was fortunate yesterday to represent Lake Albert Public School at the Education Week Marketplace performances. Over 140 of our students sang, danced or played their best to a large crowd outside Big W yesterday. Our students were a highlight of the morning, showing great pride in their school and pride in their own personal achievement. Well done boys and girls and a big thank you to your teachers for all their preparation. Thank you also to the many parents, carers and friends who came to support our school.
Tomorrow, Thursday 4th August from 12pm in the School Hall, we will begin our Open Day for Education Week. Please join us to watch our talented students perform before we open the classes. 3/4W, Senior Choir and 1/2M will all perform for you. A wonderful start to our Open Day activities! Once the performances are complete please feel free to visit your child's class and see the wonderful learning experiences they are taking part in. Don't forget to visit the Library for the Book Fair. Students can purchase a book on the day. The school receives proceeds from all sales, which we can use to purchase more wonderful reading resources for our own students! The Book Fair is open before and after school and during open day from 12.30pm.
Mr Graham returns on Monday 8th August.
Melisa Downing
Relieving Principal

Enrol for Kindergarten 2017

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

We are now taking enrolments for Kindergarten 2017. If you have any children who will be starting school next year please contact the school office ASAP. If you know of neighbours or friends who may have their first child starting school next year we would also ask that you pass on this information to them. If at any time you would like to discuss the opportunities our school provides for your child please contact the school office on 6922 6400.

Education Week Timetable

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Education Week Open Day Timetable

Thursday August 4th 2016

Start Time – 12pm
Senior Choir Performance outside the Office 12pm
Band (to be confirmed) – School Hall 12.15
Open Classes – 12.20 – 1pm
Book Fair – Before & after school and during open day time
Picnic Lunch – Bring along a picnic lunch to share outside

Principal's Message

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Welcome to Week 2!
The new term has started with plenty of activities planned. The visiting performance today, Labyrinth in the Library, looks amazing and the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy the puppets and drama. However, there were quite a few students who missed out on the performance due to permission notes and money not being handed in on time. Excursions have cut off dates so that the school can finalise excursions before they happen. It is very important to hand in notes and money by the due date so your child doesn't miss out. Parents, please sign up on the School Enews App for updates, reminders and messages in regards to excursions and other activities going on so that you are informed. This is very important. Information regarding the App is on page 4 of this newsletter so sign up today.
The Riverina Choir visited our school today and took part in many activities to strengthen friendships and enjoy singing. They certainly were having a great time.
Next week is Education Week. Lake Albert Public School has many activities planned throughout this special time. Below is a timetable of our Open Day activities, planned for Thursday August 4th. We hope to see as many families and community members as possible to support our great school.
The Premier's Spelling Bee has begun this term, with each class having a class ‘spell off' and two students chosen to represent their class at the school competition later in the term. We have also started the Premier's Sporting Challenge. This sees classes take part in organised sports and physical activity lessons which are tracked each week. Students who reach their goal will receive a certificate later in the year.
Our Young Communicators Speech Competition has also started. Classes have been discussing the processes behind successful public speaking and will have a class speech competition to nominate a class representative. This representative will take part in a School Speech Competition. I wonder who will receive our Young Communicators Awards for 2016?
There are also a lot of sports activities taking place this term. Please keep checking with your children about any changes that may take place or if dates get postponed due to weather and ground conditions. Updates will also be posted up on the School Enews App.
There are also three new faces in the school this term. Three students from Charles Sturt University have joined us. Miss Linton on 5/6D, Miss Fellows on 4/5H and Miss Batkin on 3/4P. These ladies will team-teach with class teachers for the first few weeks of term before taking over the classes fulltime.
Mr Graham is currently on two weeks leave and will return to duty on Monday 15th August. I have been fortunate enough to replace him during this time. Please feel free to contact the office if you have anything you would like to discuss.

Melisa Downing
Relieving Principal

Riverina PSSA Softball Team

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

Lake Albert students Deakin White, Liam Bettens, Jacob Rose and Alex Maiden have been selected in the Riverina PSSA Softball Team to participate against the best players in the state. A tremendous achievement following their dedication, determined efforts and positive attitudes during the softball trials in the last week of Term 2. The Boys will play their State Carnival at Wagga Wagga in Week 7 August 30 -1st Sep. Alex travels to Camden, Sydney in week 10 (20th-22nd September). Best of luck to our LAPS representatives.
Mr Oakman

Premier's Spelling Bee

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

Each year our primary students participate in the Premier's Spelling Bee. This program is a fun and educational way for primary school students to engage in spelling and includes activities to encourage all students to engage with spelling and to promote improved literacy in combination with the English K-6 Syllabus. Spelling lists for Stage 2 and Stage 3 can be found at: Premier's Spelling Bee .
Please take the time to have a look and even test yourself.

Young Communicators

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:23 AEST

Throughout Term 3 our school focuses on providing all students with the opportunity and expectation of writing and delivering a public speech. All students will be provided with support in the classroom and will be given the responsibility to develop their speech in their own time, individually or with the assistance of an adult.
Students will then have the opportunity to present their speech at a class level. Speeches will be scored by teachers and successful students will have an opportunity to progress through to delivering their speech at a stage and school level.
Public Speaking is a very important skill to develop. Young Communicators provides all students with an opportunity to develop a range of important life skills including; confidence, organisation, connecting to an audience, self-awareness and courage. I look forward to listening to the speeches from our students later in the term.

Welcome Back

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Welcome back to Term 3. We trust our community had an enjoyable and restful school holiday period and managed to stay dry and warm through the wet winter we are experiencing.
The term ahead promises to be very exciting and we have a number of activities planned that will keep us all busy and involved.

Canada Day Celebrations

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:07 AEST

On Friday 1st July we celebrated Canada Day at LAPS. We started the day off with a wonderful pancake breakfast. The rest of the day was spent learning all about Canada!

Here are some photos from the day.

P&C News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

A huge thank you to all our LAPS families who supported the 5 cent Coin Challenge. A total of $1708.90 was raised! That is 34178 coins collected, a total of 88kgs in weight. The winning class was 3/4D who will enjoy a pizza lunch this Thursday.
Our next big event will be a Trivia Night on Friday 16th September at The Boat Club. If any of our families are able to donate prizes for the night, we would be very grateful. Please contact the school or a member of the P & C Executive. Tables can be booked via Mrs Nosworthy on 0407 213 397.
We will be running an Election Day BBQ and cake stall this Saturday. Plates will be sent home this week with your children. It would be greatly appreciated if each family could bake or donate a plate of goodies to sell at the cake stall. Donations can be left at the canteen on Friday 1st July or bought to the stall on Saturday 2nd July.
The P&C are currently organising a colour run/walk around Lake Albert on Sunday, 23rd October. This will be a great family friendly day of fun. Online tickets are now available for purchase at https://www.stickytickets.com.au/35403/laps_colour_the_lake.aspx

Public Speaking at LAPS

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

Canada Day

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:08 AEST

Hello Students and Families!
Along with my 3/4D class, I am excited to celebrate Canada Day with you at LAPS this Friday 1st July. With the help of some parent volunteers, students will be treated to a traditional Canadian breakfast - pancakes and maple syrup. (Please be sure to eat a normal breakfast as well, as it may not fill everyone's appetite). The breakfast will last from 9:30 - 10:10am. After brekkie, we will have an assembly performed by 3/4D. Years 3 - 6 will watch the Assembly from 10:15 to 11:30; K - 2 from 12:10 to 1:25.
My family and I are humbled and grateful to share this day with you. We hope it will be a fun day for everyone.
Mr Desrochers
Volunteer pancake flippers required. Please see Mr Desrochers if you can help out or leave your name and number with the office.

Happy Holidays

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of Term 2 and marking the half way point of our school year. Firstly I would like to say thank you to the entire school community for welcoming me into this wonderful community and letting me be part of such a special school. I am very excited about the future of our school and I am looking forward to working with all stakeholders in our school as we work towards providing the very best educational opportunities for our students.

Term 3 dates
Monday, 18th July - Staff Development Day
Teaching staff attending Wagga Wagga High School – Cultural Awareness Training
Support Staff attending Lake Albert Pubic – Wagga Support Staff Network training
Tuesday, 19th July - All students return to start Term 3

Have a safe and relaxing holiday.
Russell Graham
Principal

Attendance

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:06 AEST

Lake Albert Public School values school attendance. We expect our students to arrive on time and be ready for learning every day. Each week we review student attendance and we ask that all parents provide the school with an explanation for their child if they are away from school. We have a high number of students who achieve very high attendance rates and this week I would like to share some figures worth celebrating. In Term 2 we have:
104 students who have 100% attendance
301 students who have 95% attendance or higher
397 students who have 90% attendance or higher
Consistent school attendance is a vital part of successful learning. While illness and family circumstances can impact on attendance we value and recognise those students who have achieved such a high level of school attendance. Congratulations.

Semester 1 Reports

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

All students have received their Semester 1 reports this week. These reports offer parent information regarding the progress of their child. As I have done over the past few weeks, I would like to encourage all parents to make a time in early Term 3 to discuss any aspect of their child's report they would like further information about.

Amaroo Snapshot

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:06 AEST

This week LAPS has hosted Mr Mark Crouch and Mrs Lee-Ann Thomson as they conducted a Aboriginal Education Snapshot at our school. Although this was a similar review to one conducted in recent years, it has been provided as part of our involvement to the Amaroo Community of Schools and will form a major part in how we move forward in delivering quality educational and cultural experiences to all students. A final report will be provided to the school in the coming weeks and this will be shared at our next P&C meeting. Thank you to all parents, students and staff who provided opinions, information and ideas. Your input will help shape the future of our school

KHS - Rumble In The Jungle

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of joining students and staff to attend the LAPS Big Day Out event "Rumble in the Jungle", performed by Kooringal High School students. Our students were treated to a highly entertaining show combining well known songs and a story line that encouraged audience participation. Once our students got into the swing of being part of a pantomime audience the cheering and booing really took off. It was great fun and our students were extremely proud and excited to see so many faces of past Lake Albert students on stage, in the Band and as part of the support crew.
Congratulations to Kooringal High students and staff for putting together such a professional show that showcases the talents of our local high school students.
KHS - Rumble in the Jungle

Performing Arts - Lake Albert School Band

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

his week I would like to highlight our LAPS School Band. In Week 7 our students and staff enjoyed a performance and were left very impressed with the quality and skills of our very own musicians. We are very proud of our School Band and are committed to work with the Riverina Conservatorium of Music to provide our students with the opportunity to receive high quality tuition in their chosen music pursuit. While there is a significant cost for tuition, the opportunity to learn a musical instrument is an investment for life. Our ongoing relationship with the conservatorium allows for this opportunity to take place at the school and during school hours.
Next Thursday 30th June Mrs Livio is organising a "Come and Try" session for all students interested in taking up a musical instrument. Music tutors will be joining students to demonstrate and allow for students to have a try. The SRC will also be hosting a "Crazy Sock Day" to raise funds to support our School Band. If parents would like any further information regarding the school band please contact Mrs Livio.

P&C News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the children who attended the disco on Friday night. We were overwhelmed by the huge response. We even had to make a quick dash to the supermarket for more supplies! Thanks also to the parent helpers and teachers who gave up their time to make it a huge success. The night raised over $2000 to be put towards resources for our children.
We are still requiring your feedback regarding the canteen. Don't forget to complete the canteen survey, which can be found online at :
Canteen Survey
The current leaders in the 5cent coin challenge are 3/4L, closely followed by 3/4D and 5/6L. Collect your 5 cent coins and bring them in, it runs until the end of Term 2. The class who raises the most money will win a lunch or morning tea of their choice.
The P&C are currently organising a colour run/walk around Lake Albert on Sunday, 23rd October. This will be a great family friendly day of fun. Online tickets are now available for purchase at

Stickytickets.com

Enrol Now for 2017

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Staff Development Variation

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

Lake Albert Public School uses our three School Strategic Directions (displayed at the top of our newsletter) to guide planning, programming, teaching, professional learning, learning opportunities and allocation of funds and resources. Our staff are committed to our strategic directions and refer to the School Plan regularly to evaluate performance and determine future directions for our school. A large part of meeting our goals is providing staff with quality professional learning and development opportunities.
To best meet the needs of the school, all schools have the opportunity to use the Staff Development Days allocated at the end of Term 4 throughout the year by providing a variation to the times and dates of these development opportunities. LAPS staff have committed to attend training times outside of school hours on four occasions throughout the rest of the year to ensure that the professional learning gained in these sessions can be of value to our students in this school year. As discussed with the LAPS P&C our staff will engage in four additional training and development sessions in
Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)
CPR and Anaphylaxis
How2Learn.
These additional development opportunities will provide impact in teaching and learning for our school 2016.

How2Learn

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

This week I joined Mrs Scrivener and Mrs Roberts to attend a professional learning day on Innovation Learning. This day provided us with an increased knowledge of the power of visible learning strategies and was very insightful in providing us with confidence to better delivering and embedding the learning dispositions and habits of the How2Learn strategy. Our aim is to provide our staff and students with a focused strategy to build students' capacity to learn. At Lake Albert Public School we can achieve this by explicitly teaching dispositions and habits within our existing programs and practices to develop a learning culture that enables everyone to:
• Be self-aware in their learning.
• Use the language and dispositions of successful learners.
• Share a belief that intelligence is learnable and expandable.
Our community will be regularly updated on our focus and progress as we continue on our How2Learn journey.

P&C Disco

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

Congratulations to all our dancers who attended the P&C School Disco on Friday night. 376 students and many parents and staff braved the bad weather to dance the night away. Our P&C would like to make special mention of Mrs Robert and Mrs Downing for their effort in making the night such a big success. Also a big thank you to all staff and parents who support the evening. Our P&C are in the process of planning the annual Trivia Night and the LAPS Colour the Lake Fun Run. Make sure you get involved in these two great school social events.

Semester 1 Reports

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

As the end of Semester 1 rapidly approaches Lake Albert students and staff, are engaged in assessments and evaluation to complete student reports. These formal reports are an important way of communicating the progress of the student at the half way mark of the academic year. Reports will be sent home on Tuesday 28th June.
Your child's report is based on their performance while completing daily tasks in the classroom, formal and informal assessments, engagement in learning opportunities and teacher observations. Comments regarding both academic and social development are included in the report. All parents are reminded that this report can be discussed further with the Class Teacher upon request. If required please make a time to discuss the Semester 1 report with the Class Teacher.

Welcome Back to Term 2!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:06 AEST

Welcome back to an exciting Term 2!

We are very pleased to have our new Principal' Mr Russell Graham join us this term! If you see him around the playground please make him feel welcome!

In the coming weeks Mr Graham will introduce himself formally on our Website once he has settled in.

Please enjoy another amazing Term here at LAPS!

Welcome Back to LAPS!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

On behalf of the staff at Lake Albert I'd like to welcome everyone back to a new and amazing year! We would like to also welcome all our new families and we are sure that you will find our LAPS Community very friendly. We have a few new faces around our school as well as a new Principal for this Term in Mr Barry McColl.

This is going to be an exciting year for everyone involved. Keep an eye on this website for updates over the next few week as we enter in all our new classes and staff members. We will be adding some photos of what's happening around LAPS and we are sure you will enjoy checking them out!

We will be also putting any relevant dates into our calendar.

Merry Christmas!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

Well we made it! What a wonderful year we have all had.

On behalf for the staff of LAPS I would like to wish all our families and the community a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Please enjoy the time with your family and return safely in 2016.

Year 6 Dinner Dance

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

On Tuesday night LAPS held their Annual Year 6 DInner Dance in our school hall. Year 6 students and staff enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by our awesome Canteen Supervisor Mrs Viv Walker. Speeches were delivered by Mr Mott, Mr McColl, outgoing School Captains and our Guest Speaker Miss Christina Fawns and were enjoyed by everyone present. Our Captains cut the Year 6 cake and everyone enjoyed the Year 6 PowerPoint. Everyone was dressed up and looking fantastic.

After the dinner our Year 5 students joined our Year 6 class for a disco. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Please check out the photos of the night on our album page.

Presentation Night

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

On Monday night LAPS held their Annual School Presentation Awards Night at Joyes Hall, CSU. This night was a great success and it celebrated the wonderful achievements of our very talented students both academic, in Creative Arts and on the sporting field.

Please check out some of the photo highlights from the night.

Borambola Sport and Recreation Excursion

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:07 AEST

It is a very exciting time for our Year 4 students as they prepare for their first overnight excursion whilst at school. The students will have an excellent time experiencing the archery, bike riding and they ropes course. The night activities will be very memorable for the children and it is definitely an experience which will be a milestone in their education.

P&C Annual General Meeting

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

Next Tuesday 17th November we will be having our AGM for the P&C. The P&C provides excellent support and feedback for our school. Please consider nominating for a position as it is an excellent way to shape the direction the school is heading. Thank you to the current P&C members and in particular the Executive for their support over the past 12 months. They have been vital in shaping the 2015-2017 School Plan. All members of the Executive have indicated that this will be their last year in these positions so it is an excellent opportunity for new and fresh ideas coming into our P&C.

Mobile Phones and IPods

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

Mobile Phones are becoming common place at school with many parents giving their child a mobile phone or IPod to bring to school. To ensure security of these items we are suggesting that all children bring them to the office when they arrive at school. Could all parents please be aware of how your children are using technology at home. In some cases they are viewing or sending messages which are offensive using the application "Kick". Also Facebook has an age limit of 13 years. To access prior to this the incorrect date has been put into the profile setup. Please talk to your children about this and provide guidance on safe use of this technology.

Presentation Night

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:14 AEST

Our School's Annual Presentation Night will be held at Joyes Hall, CSU, on Tuesday 8th December beginning at 6.30pm. This gives our School Community a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the excellent achievements by all our students. The School Band, Dance Group and Choirs will be performing on the night. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Remembrance Day

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

On Wednesday we conducted a Remembrance Day Ceremony at school to educate our students on the importance of this day. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has a significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front in 1918 and has become universally associated with the remembrance of those who have died in the war. The first modern world conflict has brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left 13 million people dead, perhaps as many of one-third of them with no known grave.

LAPS Year Book

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

One of the great traditions that our school has is the School Year Book. Each year we commemorate the opportunities and experiences provided for our students in this outstanding publication. Mrs Scrivener has been working tirelessly to put it all together and from the snap shot that I have seen it will again be a fantastic memento. We will be ordering these books on Monday 9th November so we require all orders to be paid for by Friday 6th November. Unfortunately, if year book orders are not in by thins day you will miss out.

Year Book Sponsorship

This year'a Lake Albert Public School Year Book promises to be a huge compendium of memorabilia, outlining all the best things about 2015. To ensure it will be published in all its coloured glory, we need SPONSORSHIP from our local supporters and businesses. Digital ads can be sent directly to Mrs Scrivener at danyelle.scrivener@det.nsw.edu.au.

How to sponsor our 2015 Yearbook

Bring in your business card and complete a sponsorship form.
Decide on your size- $50 half page or $100 for a full page advertisement (A4)
Cheques can be made out to Lake Albert Public School and EFTPOS is available in the front office.

Thank you all for your continued support of our school.

Stage 3 Dance

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

Our Stage 3 students this week have started dancing for PE/PD/Health for this term. They will learn a selection of dances including "The Penguin", The Macarena" and "The Nutbush" just to name a few. They were all very excited to start with "The Penguin" today and everyone enjoyed the dance. Over the next few weeks they will learn a new dance each week and then they will perform some of the dances at the Year 6 Dinner Dance.

Keep watching this website for more photos of our talented Stage 3 students.

LAPS Trivia Night

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

Last Friday night our school community came together to participate in our Annual Trivia Night. It was great fun as we tried to answer some very tricky questions. The discussion and banter between participants was enjoyable and is a great chance for us to have fun as a community. A massive thank you to Michele Nosworthy from the P&C and also Barry McColl as the Quizmaster.

A Very BIG Thank you to our Sponsors who donated cash, prizes and gift vouchers towards what was a very fun and enjoyable night. We raised $2500 on the night.

Lake Albert Butchery Lake Village Newsagency Lake Village Foodworks

GIO Business Insurance Nugan Estate - Griffith Masters Home Improvement

The Lilburne Family Kooringal Butchery Bunnings Warehouse

Lake Village Service Station Lake Albert Pharmacy Inspiration Paints

Ag n Vet Services Wagga Motors Officeworks

Phil Murphy Electrical Gavin Case Marine Services Wagga Wagga Boat Club

Please support these businesses as they continually support Lake Albert Public School.

Operation Christmas Child

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Last Friday our whole school participated in a Mufti Day and wore their best Christmas clothes to raise money for Operation Christmas Child. Students and staff looked great and together we raised $545 for this worthy cause.

Mrs Muir when shopping on the weekend and was able to put together 17 Christmas boxes to give to needy children. Well done to everyone!

Music by the Lagoon.

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

This Friday our School Band is joining with Kooringal and South Wagga PS to create the Wagga Wagga Public School Band at Twilight by the Lagoon starting at 7pm.

It will be a very entertaining night so please feel free to bring a picnic rug and some food to support our school band,

CHORDS Festival

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:09 AEST

On Tuesday night we had 100 students represent our school at the CHORDS Festival. It was a fantastic night with our School Choir joining students from Ashmont PS, Junee PS and North Wagga PS to delight the audience with a fantastic repertoire of songs including "Count on Me", "The Bare Necessities" and "Geronimo". Our Kindergarten Dance Group were wonderful with their smiles, cuteness and great dancing to "What a Wonderful World". Our Stage 2 Dance Group also showed great effort and technique in their dance to "I Can See Clearly Now". Parents and staff were all extremely proud of the effort and skill all of our students displayed.

A Huge Thank you to Mrs Livio, Mrs Crawford and Mrs Buinac for their efforts in coordinating and helping our students achieve their best.

Check our some of the other photos in the CHORDS Festival Album !

Stage 2 & 3 Literacy Day

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

This week eighteen Stage 3 students and twenty-three Stage 2 students were given an opportunity to work on a research task with me. Each and every one of them worked exceptionally hard from the moment they arrived. They were asked to research and plan a mock holiday for their family and were given a list of 8 destinations to choose from. The students were expected to research every aspect of planning a holiday and find out all the relevant costs. This enabled them to put their research skills to a practical real-life situation. Their information was then organised into PowerPoint slideshows that they then presented to family and friends. I am extremely proud of each and every one of the students who participated and they all demonstrated great perseverance and resilience when the technology didn't work as planned. Well done to all involved.

Mrs Leah Penfold.

Operation Christmas Child

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Yes, it's that time of year again.

Time to start thinking about Christmas!

LAPS is again supporting Operation Christmas Child. For those who don't know about this wonderful initiative, we fill shoe boxes with gifts and these are distributed to children who are victims of war, poverty and natural disasters. Christmas Boxes are packed in Australia and destined for South-East Asia. Countries like Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam, Vanuatu and Fiji.

On Friday 23rd October we will be having a mufti-day. Students are asked to wear a Christmas T-Shirt if they have one, or simply wear clothes in the Christmas colours of red and green. A gold coin donation ( more if you wish) will be collected.The money will be used to purchase the goodies for the boxes. This will ensure each box has what is required in it. This is, something to wear, something to love, some things for school, something to play with, personal hygiene items and something special. Some of the money will be used to cover the costs involved in shipping the boxes overseas.

Thank you for your anticipated support

Megan Muir

(Librarian)

TRIVIA NIGHT!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

We are looking forward to our Trivia Night this Friday Night! It is 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start. The P&C and Mr McColl have put in an enormous effort organising prizes and questions o ensure this night will be enjoyable. We look forward to seeing you there!

Classes for 2016

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:09 AEST

We are beginning to look at classes for 2016 over the next few weeks. This year's Class Teachers with their in depth knowledge of your child's academic and social progress create next years classes. If you have any special information regarding your child which may help this process please contact Mr Mott directly prior to Friday 30th October.

2016 Kindergarten Transition

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

2016 Kindergarten Transition began this morning with around 70 new students coming to our school. Parents participated in an Information Session in the School Hall which was aimed at introducing key aspects of our school as well as key personnel.

Our Kindergarten Teachers for next year will be Mrs Roberts, Mrs Crawford, Mrs Hensley and Mrs Scrivener.

State Athletics Relay Superstars!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

Last week two of our Relay Teams competed in Sydney at the State Athletics Carnival. Sophie Edmunds, Lainey Shepherd, Alex Maiden, Jorja Bootes, Angus Purcell, Rowan Hoare, Lewis Pulver and Xavier Moller represented our school with distinction and both teams recorded personal best times. Well Done!

LAPS P&C Meeting

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

On Tuesday night the school P&C held their monthly meeting. This group has the opportunity to learn in more detail about our school and its programs and provides valuable feedback so we can do things better. Next month will be the AGM with many of the Executive indicating they will be giving others the opportunity to lead this organisation after being on it for many years. Please consider taking up this role as it is extremely important to our school. For further details please contact Mr Mott on 6922 6400.

Year 7 2017 Selective High School Tests

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Applications are now open for students wishing to apply for a Selective High School for Year 7 2017. An online application needs to be completes by 16th November 2015 by visiting Yr7 2017 SHS Application. For further information please contact the school office.

Trivia Night

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

The Trivia night is fast approaching - Prize donations needed!!

The ever so popular LAPS P&C Trivia Night is back on Friday 23rd October 2015 at the Wagga Boat Club. Strictly 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start. Food will be available at the venue but you are welcome to BYO nibblies. No BYO DRINKS. Drinks can be purchased through the bar on the night.

We are seeking prize donations of any kind: wine, chocolate, gift vouchers, food hampers, beauty packs and products (men's and woman's of course!) hair care, gardening items, etc. If you can help out with any donations of prizes contact Michelle Nosworthy on 0402 349 114 or drop any donations into the school office.

Please Note: Make sure you have full tables o 10 people as we have a waiting list. $10 per person.

CHORDS Festival

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:09 AEST

The CHORDS Festival is fast approaching with Cluster rehearsals tomorrow followed by the performance on Tuesday 27th October. Tickets for the night time performance are now on sale. Tickets are $20 for single entry, or $60 for a family of 4 (2 adults & 2 children) with extra child tickets at $10 each. Tickets can be purchased from the Civic Theatre on 6926 9688.

We have been given the opportunity to take 150 students to the preview show on Tuesday 27th October beginning at 12.15pm. Attached to the newsletter is a permission slip which has been given to all Year 3-6 students. Attendance at this event is optional and will cost $5 and will be on a first in first served basis. Please return the permission slip with money to your child's class teacher.

Book Club New LOOP System

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:07 AEST

We are no longer accepting cash for Scholastic Bookclub orders. Payments can be made only on website when order is placed or you can send in your order with a cheque payment made out to SCHOLASTIC. Thankyou for your Co-operation

NSW PSSA Athletics Champions

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

Eight LAPS students are packing their bags and dreaming of personal best times as they head off to Sydney to represent their school and the Riverina Association at the Olympic Complex next Wednesday and Thursday.

We congratulate:-

Angus Purcell Jorga Bootes

Rowan Hoare Sophie Edmunds

Lewis Pulver Alex Maiden

Xavier Mollar Lainey Shepherd

Jonior Boys Relay Team Junior Girls Relay Team

We wish them fun and great memories. Well done Runners!

Mr Barry McColl

LAPS Sports Co-ordinator

CHORDS

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:09 AEST

We have approximately 100 students participating in the CHORDS Festival this year. We have students representing our school as part of our School Choir, the Core Choir, Stage 2 Dance Group and Kindergarten Dance Group. A huge amount of effort has been put into preparing the students for this opportunity by Mrs Livio, Mrs Buinac and Mrs Crawford.

We received notification at the end of last term that tickets for the night time performance will now be on sale. Tickets $20 for single entry, or $60 for a family of 4 (2 adults/2 children) with extra child tickets at $10 each. Tickets can be purchased from the Civic Theatre on 6926 9688.

Welcome Back to Term 4

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

Welcome back to Term 4 at LAPS. The first two days have gone extremely smoothly with the children straight back into classroom learning and positive playground behaviour. We would like to welcome our new families to the school. We are sure that you will enjoy the school and community.

This term as always will be extremely busy with any activities planned. We try to advertise upcoming events in the "Dates to Remember" section of each newsletter and also on this website, so please keep an eye on this section. We will also have a term planner available next week with information and approximate costs outlined.

Events which need to be highlighted are End of Year Excursions, CHORDS, Healthy Harold, K-2 Swimming Scheme, Year 4 Excursion to Borambola and our LAPS Presentation Night. From time to time some families may need financial support to participate in some of the opportunities planned. If this is the case please contact Mr Mott as we have a small amount of money to ensure all students have the opportunity to participate.

As always the strength in our school and your child's enjoyment of it lies with the positive partnerships we have continue to develop with you as parents. Our teachers want to hear from you if you have any concerns or questions so please feel free to contact the teachers if there are any matters which you require information on.

A Fantastic Term of Learning

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:06 AEST

Here we are at the end of another busy term and I am always impresses at the commitment and enthusiasm our students constantly display.There have been a large number of sporting and cultural commitments this term, providing great opportunity for all of our students. Thanks to all the staff and parents who coached, managed , provided transport and supported the students at the various events.

Our focus continues to be on the quality of the teaching and learning in each and every one of our classrooms. With programs such as L3 and Focus on Reading, our teachers are well placed to provide the very best opportunities for our students.

We also had Education Week, Book Week, LAPS Idol, Young Communicators Program and the Permier's Spelling Bee just to mention a few.

We trust that all students have a happy and safe holiday and return revitalized for the final term of the year. Students and staff both return on Tuesday 6th October 2015.

Dance Eisteddfod

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Congratulations to our LAPS Dance Troupe! They performed admirably last Monday at the Wagga Dance Eisteddfod and received 3rd place on the day! Great Work!

Life Education Van

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

The Life Education Van visits our school next term. This program is generously funded by our School Canteen Committee who cover some costs for our students. At the beginning of the year all parents were given a general information sheet to complete. This sheet included permission for the Life Education Program - Healthy Harold.

Kindergarten Orientation

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

Our annual Kindergarten Orientation takes place next term on these dates.

Thursday October 22 9.30 - 11.00am
Thursday October 29 9.30 - 11.00am
Thursday November 5 9.30 - 11.00am
Thursday November 12 9.30 - 11.00am

A parent information session and morning tea will be held on the first Thursday commencing at 9.45am - 11.00am. We will be providing information which will assist parents to understand the processes and programs available at our school.

Kindergarten Orientation allows staff to observe the students and look at the structure of next year's classes. Parents should have received a letter inviting them to the Information Session and giving the dates for the Kinder Orientation Days. If for some reason you have not received this letter please contact the school office on 69226400.

NAPLAN Results- Parent Information

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:13 AEST

NAPLAN results are an excellent diagnostic tool which allow us to identify the strengths and areas for improvement for our students individually and as a whole school. Teachers spend significant amounts of time interpreting these results to enhance the learning of our students. At Tuesday's P&C Meeting we were explaining how these trends allow us to further enhance the learning of our students. For further information on NAPLAN please contact Mr Mott.

Jump Roap For Heart "Jump Off"

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Today we held our Jump Rope For Heart "Jump Off" Fundraiser. Jump Rope For Heart is an organisation that raises much needed fund for Heart Disease research. Each child go sponsorship for the "Jump Off". The students participated in a rotation of different skipping games and fun for this worthy cause.

Year 6 Mini Fete

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

Yesterday our Year 6 Students held their annual Yr 6 Mini Fete in the school grounds. Year 6 demonstrated excellent leadership skills in creating a fun afternoon for all the children. They organised food and game stalls which the children enjoyed. The White Elephant Stall,as always, was a huge success selling toys, books and clothes.

The winner of the chocolate cake for the most White Elephant Stall Donations was 5/6 U and they enjoyed eating and sharing the cake with their stage and buddy classes.

We would like to thank all of the community for their support of the day and in particular the parents of the Year 6 Students for their help. Well done to Mr McColl and the Stage 3 Teachers for their efforts in organising such a great day. The money raised from this day contributes to the Year 6 Farewell and present to the school.

On Friday the draw for the Mini Fete Grocery Raffle will be drawn and 66 lucky winners will take home one of the many buckets of groceries up for grabs!

LAPS Young Communicators Final Speak Off

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

Our Young Communicators Program culminated yesterday with the Final Speak Off. This program aims at developing confidence in public speaking. A very pleasing aspect has been the opportunity for all our students to learn about public speaking in class and then have a go at presenting their speech.

In yesterday's finals, representatives from each grade presented their speeches for the rest of the students and their parents and supporters. We heard speeches about favourite destinations, sports, what they wast to do when they grow up and the Stolen Generation just to name a few. Congratulations to all of our speakers yesterday with the following children selected as winners and runner ups of their section.

K-2 Winner - Ned Woodhouse Runner Up - Isabel Edmunds Encouragement - Cooper Cox

3-4 Winner - Liam Crittenden Runner Up - Alec Schmetzer

5-6 Winner - Charlotte Collins

A big thank you to Mr McGowan and Mr Pitchford for their leadership in organising this opportunity and to the teachers and parents for their hard work in helping the children with their speeches.

SASS Recognition Week

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

Often when we speak to parents and teachers they always remark on how great our School Office Staff, Classroom Support Officers and Grounds Assistants are. This outstanding group of individuals often go above and beyond what is required, in supporting our students academically, socially and personally. This week is SASS Recognition Week where we acknowledge the hard work and commitment of these team members so please give them an extra big smile when working with them over the week.

Good Luck in Eisteddfods!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

Our School Band and Dance Group will be participating in the Eisteddfod over the next few weeks. We wish them well and hope they enjoy performing and representing our school.

Young Communicators and Multicultural Public Speaking

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

One of our key goals this year is to provide opportunities for all students to participate in Public Speaking. We see this as an important skill for our students and one which will help them throughout the rest of their schooling and life. Mr McGowan and Mr Pitchford have developed the idea of the "Young Communicators" Program where students have has the opportunity to learn some fundamental Public Speaking skills and then present a speech to their class. On Tuesday 8th September selected students will be presenting their speeches to a larger audience in the School Hall.

On Thursday Amber Lynch did an amazing job at representing our school at the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition. You did your school proud Amber!

LAPS Idol!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:20 AEST

This Friday night, 28th August, our School Band will be holding their annual fundraiser - LAPS Idol. Fifteen acts have nominated to performson what will be a very enjoyable night. A BBQ will begin at 5.00pm with the School Band kicking LAPS Idol off at 6.00pm. Everyone is welcome to support our talented students. A huge thank you to Mrs Livio who spends an enormous amount of her own time coordinating many of the Creative Arts opportunities that are offered to our students.

Good luck to all of our performers!

Enhancing Community Partnerships

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

On Wednesday 26th August, Our Community Engagement Team held a Parent Information session on "Helping your child to read". At this session Teachers presented strategies for parents to help their children to read more confidently. 30 parents attended this information session and found it extremely helpful. If you were unable to attend this session please feel free to download the attached information package below.

Lake Albert Public School values community partnerships.

Helping your child to read. (pdf 1769 KB)

Book Week

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:07 AEST

Today was our annual Book Week Parade. Students and Staff all dressed up in their favorite book character costumes and paraded in front of proud parents. So many wonderful costumes were a credit to our creative parents. After the parade all our classes rotated in groups of K-6 students and read some stories and did some creative artwork. Everyone enjoyed a very busy day! You can see some photos from the day in our Albums.

Welcome Mr Troy Mott

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

On behalf of LAPS Staff I would like you to welcome our new Principal, Mr Troy Mott. Mr Mott comes to us from Bega Public School. I am sure you will all make him very welcome.

LAPS Heritage Courtyard

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:11 AEST

Please print off and fill in the Expression of Interest below and return to the office.

EOI Pavers (pdf 195 KB)

Proposed Uniform Changes

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:19 AEST

P&C News

These designs are up in the foyer of our school for a proposed uniform change. The final decision will be made by financial members of our P&C committee at the next P&C Meeting on Tuesday 18th September 2012.

The Great Christmas Tree Challenge

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:07 AEST

Congratulations to Mrs Marg Tinnock and Mrs Marg Ness and the students of year 3/4 for their awesome entry into the Bunnings Great Christmas Tree Challenge that won our school first prize! First prize was a brand new Hooded 4 burner BBQ which will be a fantastic addition to our school. Well done everyone!

Library News

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

Book Fair

Our annual Book Fair will be held in the library

next week. The Book Fair directly benefits the library with our

commission being taken in free books. The more money spent at

the fair, the more books for the library!

Students, parents and friends are welcome to purchase from the

Book Fair during the following times:

Monday 15th August to Wednesday 17th August from 8.45-

9.15am and 3.15-3.45pm and Thursday 18th August from

8.45-9.15am only.

Remember, the school receives a commission based on sales.

Please make payments using cash or cheques only. NO credit

card facilities.

Welcome Back to Term 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

We would like to welcome everyone back to a very fun and exciting Term 3. We are now half way through a very busy year and look forward to all the good things to come. Our year 6 Mini Fete will be at the end of this term so that is something to look forward to. Its great to see everyone back happy and healthy!!

Crazy Hair Day!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

On Thursday 30th June our SRC held Crazy Hair Day. Staff and students participated by coming to school with all kinds of crazy hair dos! Some of our staff and parents even got their hair coloured or cut. Their great efforts raised $500 for The Leukaemia Foundation. Well done everyone!!!

Welcome back to Term 2!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

Welcome back to a very full and busy Term 2!. We all hope you had a lovely holiday period and a wonderful Easter.

Happy Easter Holidays

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:10 AEST

We hope you enjoy your School holidays and have a lovely and safe Easter. Children return to school on Thursday 28th April. We hope the Easter Bunny is good to everyone!

Canteen Mufty Day

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:08 AEST

Our Canteen would like to thank everyone that came in Mufty last Tuesday and donated groceries to fill the pantry. Everything you sent in was greatly appreciated. Well Done!

Tropical Fun Day

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

On Thursday 17th February our SRC held a Tropical Fun Day to raise money for the Queensland Flood Relief. Students and Staff dressed up in colourful tropical clothes and the canteen served up some wonderfully tropical tasty treats. A map of Queensland was drawn under the COLA and the students placed their gold coin donations into a small pool. We raised an amazing $640. It was an awesome day for a great cause.

Welcome back for 2011

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

We would all like to welcome you back for a wonderful and exciting school year. Our new buildings are ready for our classes to move in to and we are ready to get back into some fun learning. Keep an eye on our website for all the important things coming up in 2011 here at LAPS.

Merry Christmas!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST

On behalf of all the staff at LAPS I would like to wish you all

a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.

Enjoy this time with family and friends.

Welcome Back to Term 4!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

We would like to offer a warm welcome back for a very busy and exciting Term 4.

Welcome Back for Term 3

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:21 AEST

Welcome back to all our families for a very exciting and busy Term 3. We would also like to offer a very warm welcome to our many new families to our school community.

Welcome Back!

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:22 AEST

On behalf of all the staff here at LAPS I would like to welcome you all back to a brand new school year. 2010 is going to a busy and exciting year at Lake Albert School and I am sure it will be enjoyed by everyone!

Merry Christmas From LAPS

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:10:12 AEST