We are excited this week to share some very positive student results we have received recently after NAPLAN testing. Our school improvement goals over the past 2 years have been prioritised around Spelling and Number and it was fantastic to view improved results in both these areas.

• Year 3 Spelling results indicate we are now outperforming similar schools.
• In Year 3 Spelling we have increased our Mean Score by 10 points from 2021.
• Year 5 Numeracy results indicate we have increased number of students reaching National minimum standard than similar schools.
• In Year 5 our Mean score has increased in Reading, Writing, Spelling and Numeracy.

Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival

Yesterday we held our Swimming Carnival which was a great success, participation was high and support for each other was fantastic to see. Students participated in many events across the day competing for the house award. Our winners were Emerald on 709, followed by Ruby on 640 and Sapphire on 579. A big thank you to Mr Bailey and Mr Guilliamse who organised the event and to parents/carers who supported.

Footy Colours Breakfast – Thank you

We were delighted to welcome our community back on site for this event. We had a huge turnout which kept our BBQ chefs very busy! It was great to see family members back on site interacting with students and staff. We also held our annual Staff vs Students footy match during the lunch break. It was again a whitewash with staff taking the opportunity to get one over our year 6 students and show them who is boss on the footy field. There were some great moments during the game which included Mr Perry slotting goals from every angle and Mahli Bird flying over teachers to take big marks.

Holiday Break

As we move into the last couple of days of Term 3 I would like to thank our staff for their efforts of support and continuing to drive improvement across all areas of our school. NAPLAN results were great evidence that the structures and systems we have in place are supporting our learners. I wish all of our community a restful break and look forward to the events that are scheduled for Term 4.

Hats – Term 4

As we head into Spring, our hats policy will be implemented in Term 4. I would like to highlight that at the beginning of Term 4 all students will be required to wear a school bucket hat or similar. No students will be permitted to wear non school caps as these do not support our sun smart policy or provide sufficient protection to face and neck. Any students in Term 4 who bring non-school caps to school will be asked to remove them and told to sit in the courtyard under the shade during breaks. We ask families to support this policy and ensure all students are sun safe.

Show Day Reminder

This year, Show Day falls in our first week of Term 4. This means that students will only be at school until Wednesday in week 1. Thursday is Show Day and Friday is a student free day, during which time staff remain at school to complete professional learning.

September 2022

Dear Parents and Carers

Coming soon: new Department for Education, Children and Young People

On 1 October 2022 the Department of Education will join with some functions from the Department of Communities to form a new Department.

The new Department will be called the Department for Education, Children and Young People. It will be responsible for child and youth centred activities including:

• Tasmanian Government Schools
• Child Safety
• Youth Justice
• Out of Home Care
• Libraries Tasmania
• Child and Family Learning Centres

Schools will continue as usual

On 1 October 2022 schools will continue as normal. Our priority is service continuity. You likely won’t notice any change.

Over time you will notice a new email address and branding appearing on materials sent from your school.

Why a new Department for Education, Children and Young People?

As reflected in its name, this is a new Department built entirely for children and young people. They are at the centre of everything this new Department will do.

I am excited by the unique opportunity to combine knowledge, experience, and ways of working. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that every Tasmanian child and young person is known, safe, well, and learning.

You can keep up-to-date on how this work is progressing by visiting the public website at
https://www.education.tas.gov.au/new-department/

Yours sincerely

Tim Bullard
SECRETARY

This term we have been enjoying lots of hands-on learning experiences in 3/4 Nichols.

We designed and built spaghetti towers that could hold up a marshmallow.

We created paper bag puppets and cooked damper.

We experimented with magnets and copper to generate electricity.

We built numbers out of MAB blocks and cut fractions from potatoes.

We also crafted aluminium foil boats and loaded them with weights until they failed.

We love learning by doing!

On Footy Colours Day Prep/1 King were asked the question,

“Why do we have footy colours day?"

Students had an opportunity to share their thoughts with the rest of the class.

“We celebrate because it’s footy grand final day.” – Douglas

“We are wearing football colours to celebrate teams that won and lost.” – Annabelle

“Some teams are going for the grand final.” – Lily

“We are voting for who has the most people going for a team.” – Islah

As a class they then watched a video on the real reason behind Footy Colours Day and got to hear from a few children who have/had cancer and what it was/is like for them. As a class they learnt that the gold coin donation goes to children who have cancer so that they can keep learning while they are being looked after at hospital or at home.

The students were asked “What do you know now?”

“I have learnt that when people get cancer, they get really sick and we have footy colours day to help children get better so that they can have a happy life.” – Annabelle

“I now know that we give money to help families that have kids with cancer.” – Declan

Prep/1 King read a story created by Alison Lester and Jane Godwin in collaboration with the children of The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, The Silver Sea. The story follows two children on an adventure under the ocean.

Student were asked “Do you think drawing would make the children feel better in hospital?”

They shared some greats thoughts.

“Drawing can help them feel calm and less afraid.” – Annabelle

“It makes them feel better.” – Matilda

“They would like it as it would make them feel safe when they are sick.” – Ariah

“When they draw a picture, they might feel less scared. I feel better when I draw.” – Addison

Students then had an opportunity to draw their favourite part of the story and could include a brief written sentence about their drawing.

In Prep/1 Seymour we have been learning different ways to count and problem solve Mathematic questions! This term, we have been linking up with Prep/1 King to explore the concept of sharing objects equally and have been learning how to organise our materials in a manner that allows us to find an accurate answer!

In Prep F we have been enjoying the whole school inquiry on Sustainability. After our excursion to the Recovery Shop we have tried to reuse different discarded materials to create new objects in class and with our buddies. This has fuelled our learning of materials in Science. We have also explored how to take care of some of our special places as part of our HASS Inquiry and have tried to come up with workable solutions.

Dear Parent/Carer

There is large number of swimwear, goggles, towels and clothing items in lost property at the school office as a result of learn to swim (too much to provide photos!).

If your child is missing items, please direct them to the office this week, or pay us a visit as items not collected will be donated to charity.

The Year 6 Leadership Camp at Gumleaves will be occuring in early Term 4 - Wednesday 2 November 2022 to Friday 4 November 2022. Would parents/carers please ensure that payment of $50 is made to the school office by Wednesday 26 October 2022.

Cash or EFTPOS payments can be made at the school office or via the Qkr! app.