Dear Families

Welcome back to the new school year. I sincerely hope that all members of our school community have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with family and friends over the summer break.

A special welcome to our new students and families from Grade 7 and those who have joined us across other grades. It was lovely meeting so many families at enrolment interviews or through the transition meetings.  

We also welcome the following new staff: 

• Mr Ben Killalea - Grade 9 Team teaching Maths & Science
• Mr Sam Maddern – Grade 7 Team – teaching Maths/Science, HPE and POL
• Mrs Bronwyn Platz - Grade 7 Team – teaching English/HaSS
• Miss Grace Bannon – Grade 8 Team- Maths & HPE
• Mrs Sandy Kerr (TA)
• Ms Nicolina Craig (EFA)
• Mr Sean Kilcoyne (ICT Team)
• Mr Juan Lorences Hernandez (EFA) Term1
• Mr Edmondson remains on staff

Mrs Williams, Mr Whitford and Ms McGifford are all on leave. 

S.W.A.T. Week:

Success, Wellbeing, Aspiration, Teamwork

This year we decided as a school team to spend the first 3 days of the term (last week) with an alternate program of work to support our students and staff to be really ready for learning in 2021. These are what we have termed our S.W.A.T days and refer to the focus on:

Success and setting up well for a successful year.

Wellbeing and ensuring we look after our own and others wellbeing and build positive connections and relationships with others right from Day 1.

Aspiration and taking the time to set goals for the year ahead and look at being organised to enable these goals to be achieved.

Teamwork which relates to not only the grade teams but all of our students working together in various teams across the school to foster the skills and abilities in order to be successful in teams.

The three day program saw a mixture of grade based activities and learnings: some vertical grouped activities on the Thursday afternoon and some grade challenges and co-operation activities. We also had the pleasure of hosting Will Smith (2020 Tasmanian Young Australian of the Year) as a guest speaker on Thursday and he delivered a session each to the Junior and Senior grades. He was very inspirational and left us all with a very clear message about the “indirect influences” we have around us and the importance of being surrounded by the people who will allow and assist you to be the best version of yourself. He called this “your top 5” and I know all grades will be doing further work around his messages throughout the year. I encourage families to ask their children about this concept and who they may have in their Top 5.

We have had a very settled start to the year and feedback so far around our S.W.A.T. Program has been very positive. The mixture of activities and really building a sense of connection and community has been very obvious. Thank you to our staff team for all their work, including our EFA staff who provided a BBQ on Thursday and Friday lunch time for all. Indicators would suggest that our students are now very settled and ready to start structured curriculum programs and learning.

We have a beautiful environment in which to work and learn and the team of facility attendants and our administration staff have ensured that our school is looking spick and span at this time of the year. Thank you also to our staff for the extra hours you have already put in ensuring timetables are ready, units planned and materials prepared. The Canvas platform will continue to be the main place for students to access their curriculum units and all students can access at home and collaborate and show families what they are working on in different learning areas.

Your child's Home Group teacher will be making contact with you (via phone or email) over the next 2-3 weeks as a courtesy to communicate how your child has settled into the year but please do not hesitate to contact via the office or email if you have any questions or queries.

Thank you to families for supporting your child in their return to school. It can be a very anxious and stressful time with lots to remember. Our uniform looks impeccable with all students in full school uniform. We have school hats also available from our uniform shop which are now part of our official school uniform and students have been informed that they are expected to be in these if they wear a hat. Bucket hats have also been ordered as an alternative. Thank you to families for your support of our high standard uniform expectations.

I always like to remind families at this time of the year a few things that will assist your child at school and assist us to ensure we are providing the best education and care whilst they are with us.

Routine Reminders:

Attendance

It is imperative for good learning outcomes that students attend school every day. What may seem harmless can have a cumulative effect that significantly hampers learning. We acknowledge that students are not always well and able to attend school and thank families for communicating this to our administration team as soon as possible. This can be done via a phone call, message or through the Schoolzine App.  Attendance at school is a legal requirement and we have to follow this up accordingly following process and protocols as outlined in the Education Act.  Mrs Debbie Rigby in the administration team has the responsibility of following up on non- attendance and will make calls home to ascertain why students are away. We thank families in advance for your polite co-operation.

Drop off and Pick up

The school car parks are very congested places both in the morning and after school, especially with spaces being limited. We have many school buses entering and leaving the grounds both of a morning and afternoon and they need to be able to safely navigate in and out of the school. Another polite request is for families to try to refrain from dropping off and picking up in the bus turning circles before and after school. Your co-operation with this is much appreciated.

Healthy Habits

A reminder to all students and families that we encourage the wearing of hats in our playground at breaks and in HPE lessons to be sun smart and all our grade offices have sunscreen available for student use.

We have water hydration stations in the school for students to either drink hygienically from and/or fill up their drink bottles. Keeping hydrated in hot weather is very important.

Sleep is vital for healthy brain development and activity and at this time of the year, when school resumes, it is important to get a good nights rest. Please support and encourage your child to turn off devices and retire at a reasonable hour as they start the new school year.

Validation Forms

Validation forms/Device Hire Agreement/ICT Agreement/Aquatic forms have been sent home last week and it is imperative that we have the most accurate information on our systems, especially contact details. If you have not edited and returned these forms can I ask that you do as soon as possible. Grade 7, 8 & 9 students will need these forms signed and returned before their iPads can be issued. We are very excited to have 1:1 devices now for 3 Grades and Grade 10’s have discrete access to our school laptops as a result.

Welcome Barbeque

If you are unable to attend, I still encourage you to make regular contact with your child’s teachers to ensure we continue to develop a strong partnership in supporting the education of your child.

Maree Pinnington

Principal