Dear Parents & Caregivers

I hope you have all had a lovely past couple of weeks and have been enjoying the cooler days and evenings.  

Liwara Swimming Carnival
A delightful day was had by all at our Liwara Swimming Carnival last Thursday, mainly due to the superb planning and organisation of Mr Sanders and his team of dedicated staff, enthusiastic students, and supportive parents, who truly made this event a resounding success.   

It was thrilling to witness the active participation and sportsmanship displayed by our students.  Their determination, teamwork and positive attitudes were truly commendable.  It was heartening to see students cheering for their classmates, whether they were leading a race of giving their best effort.  The day was filled with excitement, camaraderie and outstanding performances and I thank everyone who contributed to the success of our Liwara Swimming Carnival.   

Yr Six Ministries
Leadership skills are an integral part of a well-rounded education and last week I was privileged to present the badges to our Semester One Ministry Groups.  All our Year 6 students, whether a member of a Ministry or Acts of Service group, have been using their initiatives to lead and organise events and contribute positively to the school community.  Their leadership qualities are inspiring, and we are excited to watch them grow into future leaders.  

Catholic Education Early Childhood Conference
Our Kindy teachers, Mrs Andrea Shilkin and Mrs Michelle Bratich recently attended the Catholic Education Early Childhood Conference and have shared some of their thoughts... "This year we were fortunate enough to attend the CEWA Early Childhood Conference. We were part of a wonderful community of passionate Early Childhood Educators and inspiring speakers from all over the world. The wisdom from some incredible professionals was shared with us about many topics, the main being inquiry-based learning. The big take away was that we need to prepare our young people for the changing world we live in today and the future world that belongs to our children.

Other sessions that we were inspired by were: ‘Nature Play’ and ‘Botanical Literacies’, where learning is taken outside, and the children learn through inquiry, in our local environment. It made us think how lucky we are to be teaching at Liwara where we are surrounded by natural bush. We also participated in ‘Moving Beyond Counting’ where we explored extending students number understanding beyond oral counting. We came away with a deeper knowledge of number sequence and value using play and concrete materials in Kindy.

Furthermore, we thoroughly enjoyed sessions about how we can support our students social and emotional development as well as their spiritual growth. Our favourite session was learning more about Kimochis as we have recently purchased kits for our Early Childhood classrooms. It’s a fun and playful way we can support children expressing their feelings. Watch this space as we receive more training and explore this in our Kindy and Pre-primary classes.  

Every Keynote speaker and session we attended, left us excited and motivated to embed inquiry-based learning in our planning. We can’t wait to share this with our Kindy students throughout the year.".

Parents & Friends
At the P&F Meeting on Tuesday I received feedback about another successful LADS (Liwara Awesome Dads Society) camping event for our families.  I think the biggest hurdle in the future is to extend the amount of bays put aside for next year, as it was another sell out event! Thanks to the LADS for being instrumental in organising this family camping opportunity. I would like to encourage all members of our school community to come along to the meetings held in the School Hall in Weeks 2 and 7 each term at 7:00pm.  

Celebrating Our Grandparents
A link was recently sent out via Seesaw for families to register numbers of grandparents who will be attending our special celebration on Thursday 21 March.  If you have not replied on their behalf yet here is the link:  https://forms.office.com/r/Lpjdbt2cQf.    A reminder that our day will begin at 8:30am, with parking available on the school oval.  Staff will be directing traffic so please follow their directions as the oval is in such good condition that we want to keep it that way.   We look forward to welcoming our grandparents into our classrooms from 8:30am.

Establishing A Community Register Of the Past 50 Years
Early next term we will be sending out a link to the community to establish a register for past students, staff, parents, grandparents, great grandparents and other members of the Liwara Community from the School's earliest days.  Please spread the news so we can collate a list, with contact details,  of as many people as possible that have been involved in the Liwara School Community over the past five decades. Your support in gathering as many names and details as possible will be a rewarding data gathering process for Liwara Primary School.