22 July 2021

Principal's Report

Welcome back.

Personally, it has been a pleasure to return to Illawarra this term.  Yesterday I spent much of the day visiting classrooms and catching up with students to discuss their holidays and in the process I also took the opportunity to ask them about their experiences and learning in terms 1 and 2.  Every child I spoke to was very positive about the school year, a reflection on their interest and engagement in learning and the wonderful support they receive from their families and the staff of Illawarra Primary School.  The students’ responses were also great recognition for how successfully Ms Cathryn Kelly-Bounds has led the school during the first half of the year.  The first two terms of any school year are busy and challenging but in the short time that I have been back at Illawarra it is obvious that the school has thrived under Cathryn’s outstanding leadership.

One of the great aspects of returning to work in a school environment is the opportunity to attend professional learning (PL) and to share this experience with other educators.  There were many PL opportunities presented to staff on Monday, with all teachers being provided an opportunity to review the DoE’s Respectful Relationships resource and then plan grade based units of work focussing on the My Relationships concept.  Thank you to Chris Waugh for leading Monday’s first session. As a result of this work we will endeavour to keep everyone informed of the progress of the social skill learning that will be engaged across the school this term.    The remainder of Monday’s professional learning was dedicated to the teaching of numeracy, in particular, task design, collaborative thinking and mathematical reasoning, the Big Ideas in Number, the fostering of student agency and inclusion through a Structured Inquiry Model, and encouraging the use of manipulatives. We were very pleased that the teaching staff of Snug, Bruny Island and Blackmans Bay Schools were able to join us at Illawarra to participate in these sessions lead by Lead Quality Numeracy Teaching Coaches, Steph van der Schans and Nathan Duig.

Also, on Monday the school’s support staff were busily engaged in professional learning, participating in a webinar on Developing Social Communication, a Trauma PL and a session on supporting students with disabilities to develop mathematical understanding.  I commend all support staff for the dedication they not only demonstrated on Monday to their roles but also their ongoing commitment to supporting all students at Illawarra.  

Unfortunately, we have returned to school with a need to be increasingly vigilant due to COVID-19 outbreaks in other states.  In recent days information has been provided to all members of the school community regarding families who have travelled to both Victoria and South Australia during the school holidays.  Thank you everyone for complying with the advice provided via the school’s Facebook page, class SeeSaw accounts and email.  As further advice will be provided in coming days, I would ask that everyone continues to check these school communications for updates as to student attendance requirements if families have recently travelled interstate. 

I also need to acknowledge the continued support and consideration all families have paid the school during the past 18 months of the pandemic.  In particular by adhering to the regular Public Health and Department of Education advice regarding whether a student should attend school if they have flu-like symptoms or any other symptoms of infectious diseases such as fever, runny nose, cough, sore/itchy throat, shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting.  It is most important that students are not sent to school if they have any of these symptoms, nor should they return to school until cold/flu like symptoms have passed.  For further clarification please click on the following link. A4 Infosheet - Template - DoE - Support and Development (education.tas.gov.au)

Have a great term everyone.

Nick Donnelly

Principal

Calendar of Events

Onyas

Stella A for the bright and cheerful way that she enters the classroom every day (with a smile on her face), ready to learn and do her best. Natalie P for becoming more confident with sharing her ideas during class discussions. Maia S-G for being an incredibly helpful member of our class and working really hard to organise and improve our class reading area.  Thank you Maia, it looks much better! Julian Y for being such a focused and hard-working member of our class.  Julian is working especially hard in writing to produce work to the best of his ability and has done some excellent planning for his quest story.  Well done Julian. Harri C for his willingness and positive attitude toward his learning. Deva C for doing an amazing job of improving her procedure writing and creating awesome instructions on how to take care of a dragon. Clara P for showing care for our classroom by organising classroom supplies and tidying up after us all! Jamie R for showing fairness and caring for his classmates by including others in different activities. Maisy B for demonstrating care for her learning by making significant improvements in her reading and comprehension skills through her involvement in the MacqLit Program. Well done Maisy!

Potato Olympics in 5/6 Brancher

We’re holding the Potato Olympics in our class. Students are writing profiles, national anthems, estimating and measuring. We will be writing newspaper articles, and our athletes will be taking part in the pentathlon (sprint, lawn bowls, long jump and ten pin bowling) and any additional events that we can squeeze in and adapt to our athletes unique qualities. Don’t tell anyone, but we’re having lots of fun already!

Launch into Learning (Pademelons) - Term 3

Canteen Menu - Week 2

Kindergarten 2022

School Crossing Guards

Covid Check-In information

School Zine App