Welcome and thank you to each and everyone of you for taking the time to attend our wonderful end of Term 1 assembly. Congratulation to our staff and students for sharing some amazing learning that has been happening here at Forest Primary School.

This term has been a busy one – students have had access to a range of learning experiences including; special guests in classrooms, excursions to look for fungi, Athletics and Cross Country, Year 5/6 Basketball championships, our Swimming and Water Safety Program, MAST, NAPLAN and PAT testing, Inside OUT emotional programs – just to name a few.

 This year we have once again partnered with the Children’s University and are about to sign up students who are interested in making this commitment.

 There is always so much happening – Facebook is a great place to follow our school’s journey or if you would like we can mail out a newsletter and keep you informed in other ways if social media is not for you.

 Our continuing priorities for 2025 include – Reading, Numeracy and Engagement for learning (attendance and safeguarding).  Our actions for the year have been monitored closely and we are definitely on track.

 At Forest Primary School we embed a culture of ‘high quality teaching and learning’ across our staff, students and community.  I ask and invite you all to provide me with feedback in regard to what we could improve to ensure Forest Primary School continues to be a great school to be at.

 Our School Association meet on Monday’s (once or twice a term) at 3pm.  It would be good to see as many people as possible coming along to support our school. Please feel free to come and speak with myself or call the office.

 Our Parents and Friends have had a positive start to the year as they have already planned some exciting fundraising events including the bulb fundraiser and the major event – trivia night.

Everyone is always welcome to attend these meetings and we look forward to your ideas.

Parents & Friends will meet on Wednesday evenings at 7pm in the staffroom.

 Communicating Evidence of Learning and Reporting – we have reached out to all families in regard to your child settling in for the year and had positive conversations.  Tomorrow we will be sending home an evidence of learning for English and Numeracy.  These evidences of learning are a snapshot in time of your child’s learning.  As always, if you would like to speak to your child’s classroom teacher please reach out to them via SeeSaw or the front office.

 Thank you so much for coming along today and witnessing the amazing work from our students. I wish you all a safe and happy Easter break and look forward to partnering with you all again in Term 2. Happy Easter, thankyou!

There are lots of things you can do to set your child up for success:
Make sure your child goes to school, every day.
Going to school every day gives your child every chance to learn and grow, and connect with their mates and teachers. It’s where bright futures start and where they’ll benefit the most.
Get them excited for school
If you show a positive attitude and excitement towards school, your child will pick up on that. The most common thing we hear from students, of all ages, is that school is where they can:
» spend time with their friends and teachers
» create new and fun experiences
» find their interests
» learn new things
» open up their options – for whatever future they want (whether that’s their dream job or to travel around the world).
Share these positives with your child. Talk to your child about school. Open up a conversation with your child about what’s happening at school. It will help you to better support their interests and confidence in learning. If you show an interest in school, they’ll know that getting an education is important and valued.
Celebrate the milestones
Big and small! Celebrate milestones such as making it through the first day or week of school. And remember: all milestones look different. If it’s a big achievement for your child, it’s important to recognise it.
Set up a time to talk to your child’s teacher or principal if you’re struggling to get your child to school, help is available. Please talk to us at school about your situation. We’ll support you, in whatever way we can.
Know when to seek help
There is no weakness in admitting you need help. If your child has completely disengaged with school, and not attending at all, there is support to help you. In the first instance, talk to us at school. For more helpful tips, please check out the Anything can happen website.

Understanding Phonics: A Key to Reading Success

Phonics is a method of teaching children to read by connecting sounds (phonemes) with letters or groups of letters (graphemes). This approach helps children decode words, making reading easier and more intuitive. Phonics is crucial because it lays the foundation for reading fluency and comprehension, enabling children to become confident and independent readers. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word, like the "s" in "sun," while a grapheme is the written representation of that sound, such as the letter "s." By mastering phonics, children can unlock the door to a world of reading and learning.

At Home Activity

Have some fun at home looking at your names through the eyes of phonics.

First count the phonemes (sounds) that you can hear. E.g. Melissa = m/e/l/i/s/a or William = w/i/l/e/a/m

Then have them explore the graphemes (what letters are representing each sound) E.g. m/m/ e/schwa/ l /l/ i/i/ ss/s/ a/schwa/

Last have fun comparing your names here are some questions to help.

• Who has more letters than sounds? Who has the same number?
• Who has 2 letters representing 1 sound?
• In our names can we find the same letter making different sounds? E.g. the a in Amy and the a in Abigail
• In our names can we find the same phoneme represented by a different grapheme? E.g. /schwa/ represented by e and an a in Melissa and William
• Was there any surprises about the phoneme and grapheme connections? E.g. i making the long e phoneme in William

We would love to hear any interesting things you discovered about your names as a family. Please share them with us!

This term in HPE at Forest Primary, students have engaged in team strategy games, focusing on communication, problem-solving, and collaboration. In Health, we’ve also explored the important topic of respectful relationships, discussing how to build trust, kindness, and positive communication with others.

I’m excited to continue building on these lessons and look forward to an active and engaging Term 2!

Ryan Nibbs

HPE Teacher 

Smithton Primary/Forest Primary

Japanese

Students in all grades have been focusing on learning numbers this term. 

Prep is learning to count numbers from 1 to 10 in Japanese.  They can sing a Japanese song “7 steps”.  This song is very catchy and easy to learn.  After Prep have their Japanese lesson Mrs Cox usually has them listen to their song several times and it can give her a headache. 

Grade 1 and 2 can count numbers easily and they can recognise numbers in Japanese writing.  

Grade 3 and 4 have learnt Japanese money and currency.  They can also count objects in Japanese.   

Grade 5 and 6 are practising ordering food and asking for the price in Japanese.

This week, students will use real jelly stick to count jellies and practice ordering food in Japanese.

During assembly, some students received “Outstanding Learning Behaviour” recognition for their Japanese study.  To receive this recognition students’ need to be demonstrating outstanding learning behaviour for most of the time. It was pleasing to see  students receive this Certificate.

Have a happy holiday! I cannot wait to see you again. Take care everyone!