Performed for 7 schools in the Central West (Bathurst) area and our 3 day Band Tour is now complete! A big thank you to Vicki Flaherty, Jann Barry, Emma Virgona and Scott Plunkett for looking after everyone, packing and unpacking the gear (again and again). We can't say enough about our two wonderful directors Carlo Antonioli & Gav George who gave everything they had and some! Thank you also to Scott and Gav for driving the van full of percussion gear for the whole tour! And what can we say about our young musicians whose performances left all our host schools absolutely gobsmacked. Such talented musicians and an absolute joy to be with for three days!

Our Annual Athletics Carnival and K-2 Sports Day will be held on Thursday , August 3 at King George Park . The bus fare and permission note for this event will be included in this term’s activity statement. This is traditionally a family event and we encourage as many families as possible to come along and support their children and perhaps have a picnic lunch. Note: This is a whole school event so all students are expected to attend and participate on the day. The programs for the Athletics Carnival and the K-2 Sports Day will be distributed early next term.
Location Map

It's our favourite time of the year - the world famous LPS Trivia Night is nearly upon us!!!
When: Saturday, June 17th - doors open at 6.30pm and trivia starts at 7pm.
Where: SSC Leichhardt Campus Hall
Tickets: $40 a head - you can buy in groups of 10 and reserve a table or as singles/couples/quads and sit wherever you'd like at an unreserved table on the night.
To purchase your tickets, raffle tickets and wine vault tickets (must be present to win) please visit:

http://www.trybooking.com/QDLB

We will let you know when tickets will be available for pick up at school.

Food will be served. Drinks BYO.
The theme for the evening is the 1980's so find your shoulder pads, parachute pants, seersucker jackets and thin ties!

Another band tour concludes and once again we are reminded of how extraordinary our young musicians are and how blessed we are to have such talented mentors to nurture them. The Wind Ensemble and Big Band performances left a lasting impression on the staff and students from the seven Newcastle schools- they were in awe of our young musicians. The mums and dads would have been so proud of them. It was a bit hectic at times and quite tiring for them but they remained focussed on the task of loading in and loading out at each school and providing consistently strong performances.

Thank you to Carlo Antonioli and Gav George for their hard work in preparing our young musicians for the tour. I truly believe their combined efforts helped to raise the performances to another level.

Thank you also to Vicki Flaherty for working closely with me to organise transport, places to perform , somewhere to sleep and something to eat over the three days. Finally Jann Barry and Emma Virgona for their encouragement and support of our musicians over the three days- It was a great team effort.

In 13 plus years of education, your child will eventually find themselves in a class without their close friends. It's normal for them to initially feel a little anxious about this, so how should you handle it?

Tempting as it may be to request a class swap (which can be a logistical nightmare for schools and not always possible), here are some important things to consider first.

• Don't rob your child of this opportunity to develop social skills. School is a place where our kids learn important social skills as well as academic ones. Finding their place and making friends in a new group is a vital skill to develop and one they'll rely on their entire lives. The classroom is one of the gentlest places to start learning this because:
• Teachers turn a "bunch of kids" into a team every year. They keep an eye out for students who aren't mixing in, and create opportunities to pair them up with different children.
• There's still lunch and recess to play with their mates. It's also a great opportunity for them to learn about separating social time and work time.
• Lots of their classmates are in the same boat. Everyone is starting a new year, with a new teacher and a new classroom and many will be looking for new friendships too. Some kids choose a new "best friend" in every class they have, which builds a rich network of friendships over the years.
• Children learn different skills from different classmates. These days there are lots of opportunities for group work in class, when students team up and work through tasks together. Unlikely pairings can produce excellent workmates, who share a common language of learning and help each other along.
• You can gently help them make new friends. If you are able to spend some time in your child's classroom (for example, by helping out with reading or maths groups) you'll meet the other children and be able to suggest possible friends to your child. Your child will be thrilled to see you in their classroom and it also seems to fast track their sense of 'belonging'. Encourage play dates with classmates.

If, after a couple of weeks, your child doesn't seem to be settling in or is still anxious about their new class, by all means drop a note to the teacher or make an appointment to chat.

Veteran parents and teachers tell us that more likely than not, your child will be absolutely fine and will have developed a new level of resilience from spreading their wings a little.