Friday, 9th February

From the Principal ...

WHAT'S NEW THIS YEAR?

We have lots of changes and new initiatives taking place this year and these are predominantly a result of staff and parent surveys that took place at the end of last year as well as new directions and visions coming from the school Leadership Team. There is a focus on wellbeing, the farm and curriculum, both content and pedagogy (that is, way of teaching). More will be shared about these through the newsletter regularly so that parents and carers are kept informed and up to date about what is happening in the school.

Wellbeing 

We have a strong and clear focus on wellbeing this year. We have a dedicated Wellbeing Key Teacher who is part of the Leadership Team, we have specialised Health lessons implementing our new UR STRONG program (details below) which focuses on friendship and problem solving, we have two Therapy Goats Charlie and Hugh who are already showing themselves to be a big hit with the students and parents, we have timetabled in Buddy Classes so that students have regular contact with older/younger peers to help develop inter-school relationships and we are also introducing a wellbeing support TA.

Farm

We are developing our Farm Day Fridays so that they better reflect the true nature of farms and farm life. We are doing this through the lens of permaculture - the three principles of permaculture are Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share. Below are some details about our Farm Day Fridays.

Students need to bring their own food for recess and lunch (recess and lunch breaks are as per normal school timetable).

Parent helpers - We would love to have parent helpers involved in the day. We are able to accommodate 3 parents per group which makes a maximum of 9 parent helpers at any one time. Each parent will stay with the group their child is in and move with the group to the different sessions. There is no set order for the sessions so there is no guarantee as to what session your child may be in at any one time.  A reminder that all helpers must have a WWVP card and present this to the office on Farm Day.

Curriculum

We have purchased new desks where needed and installed data projectors in all the Prep to year 6 classrooms to support teachers with implementing the Science of Learning. Explicit teaching is a key element of the Science of Learning and having desks in rows facilitates teachers being able to teach face-to-face with students and provide invaluable feedback as the learning is taking place. We are also updating and re-doing our whole school curriculum scope and sequence which shows what learning is taking place across all the year levels from Kinder to year 6 for the year. We will be integrating subject areas for units where possible to provide a richer and deeper learning experience for students.

Staffing 2024

Please click on the link below to see our staffing for 2024.

UR STRONG

We are implementing the UR Strong program this year at Larmenier!

URSTRONG is a whole-school strategy that empowers kids with friendship skills to create communities of kindness in schools. Relationships are the heart of social-emotional well-being! URSTRONG gives kids the skills, and self-confidence to be better friends and develop healthier relationships. Using a language approach, educators & parents learn a simple framework to support and coach kid-friendly kids towards positive relationships. Teaching children how to develop healthy friendships and manage conflict in an explicit respectful way is the key to bullying prevention and creating safe, caring learning environments
and inspiring kinder, happier children.

The curriculum element, which is aligned to the Australian Curriculum, will be taught as part of students' specialist health lessons each week with Mr King in term 1 and 2. Leadership, classroom teachers, support teachers and TA's will support the implementation of the program by using the strategies as part of their every day interactions with students.

I will be offering a Parent Information session later in term 1 so that parents and carers can learn about UR STRONG. The knowledge, skills and strategies from UR STRONG are also helpful for use in the home,  in sports teams and in social settings in general. They are lifelong skills, not just for school.

Go to the UR STRONG section further down in the newsletter for a short video and flyer.

CHARLIE & HUGH

Charlie and Hugh are our new Therapy Goats. Charlie and Hugh are both pygmy goats and are 5 months old. They are not brothers but are best buddies. Charlie and Hugh are supporting students with arriving to school by meeting them at the gates. They are supporting students to return to class after break times by having students walk them up to classrooms or to their enclosure. Charlie and Hugh will be slowly introduced to the classroom environment and we look forward to being able to share photos and stories when this takes place.

More photos of Charlie and Hugh can be viewed on our school FaceBook page.

DID YOU KNOW?

We have a school FaceBook page which is the platform that we use to share and celebrate the life of the school. Are you following our FaceBook page?

Kind regards,

Niccola Pearce

Principal

Dates to Remember ...

FEBRUARY

• 9th - Assembly @ 2.20pm (all welcome)
• 13th - Shrove Tuesday
• 14th - Ash Wednesday
• 14th - Lar-mini-ers / Setup for Success begins 
• 18th - 21st - Grade 6 Camp to Spring Beach
• 23rd - Assembly @ 2.20pm (all welcome)
• 23rd - Kinder Families Meet & Greet Picnic 5pm@Punchbowl
• 28th - P - 6 Meet & Greet BBQ 4.30pm - 6.30pm@Larmenier
• 29th - Larmenier Swimming Carnival

* For more dates & events, have a look at the school calendar

FARM DAYS

• 16th Feb - Grade 3
• 23rd Feb - Grade 5
• 1st Mar - Grade 6
• 8th Mar - Prep
• 15th Mar - Grade 2
• 22nd Mar - Grade 1
• 5th Apr - Grade 4

TERM DATES 2024

• Term 1  - 7th Feb-11th Apr
  • Easter - 29th Mar-1st Apr
• Term 2 - 29th Apr-5th Jul
• Term 3 - 23rd Jul-27th Sep
• Term 4 - 15th Oct-18th Dec

Kinder 2025

If you have a child that will be turning 5 next year, please send in your enrolment form now! If you have family or friends wishing to enrol here at Larmenier, please let them know. You can find a copy of the Enrolment Form on our website.

Setup for Success begins next Wednesday, 14th February!

Grade 4 this week ...

30 nervous and excited students entered Grade 4 on Wednesday morning. The day went very quick and we started to establish our classroom routines. Students started working on some graffiti art about themselves.  There was lots of reflecting taking place in order for them to answer the questions.

Hats

All students and staff are required to wear hats in term 1 during recess and lunch as well as during outdoor lessons and excursions. No hat, no play, no fun today!

How do I get my child to tell me more?

Does your child need some prompting to share news about their day? Try some of these questions.

U R STRONG

Click on the link below to view posters of the 4 core components of the UR STRONG program.

St Peter's Catholic Parish

Mass times at St Peter's, Kings Meadows.

PCYC

Tassie Kids Need Foster Carers

L'ton United Soccer Club