19th May 2022

Principal's Report

The past couple of weeks have absolutely flown by.  The school’s cross country held on Thursday 5^th May was a wonderful success with many outstanding efforts and with a great number of students participating.  We were so very fortunate that all events were completed before the rain came.  Some may say this was just good luck but knowing Mr Warren Isles I’m sure it was more to do with his great planning.   

Also, over the past fortnight, Grade 3 and 5 students have been participating in NAPLAN testing, and although the participation in these standardised assessments is quite different than the learning students normally engage in, they need to be commended for their positive and motivated approach.  As a result, all students gave themselves the best opportunity to demonstrate their Literacy and Numeracy knowledge and understanding.  The success of the school fulfilling the requirements of this testing also can be attributed to the outstanding organisation and planning of Michael Hayen and Chris Waugh, and the school’s IT Support Officers, Paul McGinnis and Josh Dickinson.

Student Reporting and Assessments

Thank you to everyone who has made a booking for Prep- Grade 6 parent-teacher conversations next week.  These meetings are an important part of open and ongoing communication between school and home and provide you with the opportunity to learn about your child’s progress, celebrate their achievements, and discuss any concerns.  As part of these conversations, teachers will also share examples of your child’s work in English and maths. 

Towards the end of Term 3 you will also have the opportunity to attend a second parent-teacher conversation and discuss your child’s progress to that point. 

Grade 1-6 parents will receive a mid-year report in Week 10 of this term, with ratings for maths, English, science and specialist subjects.   The ratings this year will be on a 9-point scale, and we will provide more detailed information closer to the end of term to help you understand this new format for your child’s report. Teachers will speak with the parents of students with learning plans to decide whether reporting should take place against the learning plan or the Australian Curriculum.

At the end of the year, Prep-Grade 6 students will receive a report that is the same as the mid-year report, except that Grade 1-6 students will also receive a rating for Humanities and Social Sciences.

The reports will not have written comments as the Department of Education’s focus is on increasing direct communication with parents through a second parent-teacher interview, and on increased sharing of student work with parents as we move into 2023.

COVID UPDATE

We continue to have a steady stream of students test positive to COVID and I thank all the families for making the effort to inform the school in a timely manner.  However, over the past fortnight there have been significant number of teaching staff away due to testing positive.  As I reported to the School Association last night, unfortunately, we expect that staff absenteeism, due to Covid, will continue throughout the term. 

As mentioned in last fortnight’s newsletter and a recent email to the school community, the Covid reporting requirements for schools has changed somewhat from last term.  Below is the most recent advice. 

Managing COVID-19 in schools

This term, there will be some changes in how COVID-19 cases are managed in schools.

Our school will continue to work closely with Public Health to safely manage any COVID-19 cases, with a focus on testing students and staff who have symptoms.

The number of students and staff with COVID-19 will be closely monitored, and we will work with Public Health to respond as needed. If there’s an increase in cases, Public Health will tell us what we need to do and what actions families will need to take.

Parents and carers will no longer receive a message every time there is an individual case in a class or grade – unless students or staff are medically vulnerable.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our school office.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

Please be mindful that there are some members of the school community who are considerably more vulnerable to the virus, in particular those who are immunocompromised. Therefore, everyone’s quick response to providing information regarding a potential exposure to COVID is essential.  Although the reporting requirements have changed the school will always endeavour to keep these families informed of any cases that may impact on them.

Stay warm everyone.

Calendar of Events

May 23                                    1/2A & 1/2B excursion to Moleworth

May 25                                    Huon & Channel Cross Country

June 2                                      Year 6 Band Rehearsal - Kingston High

June 6 - 17                             Grade 3 - 6 Swimming & Water Safety Program

June 13                                     Public Holiday - Queens Birthday

June 16                                     Year 6 Band Rehearsal - Kingston High

June 21                                     State Cross Country - Symmons Plains

June 30                                     Year 6 Band Rehearsal - Kingston High

July 8                                         Last Day of Term 2

July 25                                      Student Free Day - Professional learing for teachers

July 26                                      Students return for Term 3

Cross Country

The School Cross Country was held on Thursday May 5^th at Sherburd Oval and despite some fairly gloomy weather predictions early in the week we pushed on hoping that the sun would still shine and not have to postpone.  Fortunately the deluge held off and we had delightful conditions to run in.  The course threw up a few challenges of uphills and downhills but our Grade 3-6 students were up to the task and put in some amazing performances.  All students earned valuable points for the houses no matter where they finished and it led to a tight race for 2^nd and 3^rd but the winning house was clear out in front

1^st -        WATTLE 1018                     2^nd -       BOMBORA 900                  3^rd -        WARATAH 896

WELL DONE WATTLE!!

Our podium finishers for each Grade are below

Well done to these students and good luck to all those representing the school at the Huon Channel event on May 25^th at Huonville.

A big thanks to Mr Hayen and Mr Waugh who helped set up the track in the morning, our Grade 5/6 House Leaders who marshalled and encouraged our runners and also the Kingston High Leaders who can along to assist with setting up, marshalling and also packing up.

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Japanese

In Japanese this year we have put a lot of energy into reading and writing to set us up for a more dynamic and fast pace second half of the year. Japanese writing can appear a little daunting at first but many students have already realised there is a simple logic that actually makes it much easier than learning to spell in English. From the end of term 1 and these first couple of weeks in term 2, all grades (except Kinder) have put in a huge effort and are now starting to see genuine results. Please provide all the encouragement you can from home about Japanese. Perhaps challenge your child to write sushi for you in Japanese tonight, if they smile 😊 we’re on track. If they grunt, please give me a little more time to make it fun for them, we’ll get there.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any particular language requests, tips or advice you would like me to keep in mind for your child @:

Steve.clowry@education.tas.gov.au

And with international travel and family reunions finally possible again, this term we will also be talking about the ‘the languages we speak’ at home with our families and communities. I am looking forward to hearing more about the many different languages and cultures that make up the family and community of Illawarra Primary School. On that point, if you are travelling to see family overseas soon, great! Any language is good language, whichever it is, it will all be good practice for learning Japanese too.

Hello from the Library!

We are in Week 3 of the Premiers Reading Challenge – and some students have excitedly told me how many books they have read! 

Thank you for encouraging your child!

Is there anybody out there who enjoys covering books by any chance?

I will leave some at the office if you are able to cover a few in your spare time, it would be much appreciated. 😊

Female Factory Excursion

On Wednesday, 4 May, Grade 4-5WH went on an excursion to the Female Factory in South Hobart.  We left school on the bus at 9:50am and arrived at 10:15am.

When we arrived, we walked down a corridor and listened to voices saying where the women had come from.  When we entered the building we met our guides, Flo and James, who took us into yard one.

We walked across the gravel to the main gate. Here, we walked up some stairs and Flo talked to us and showed us some drawings of the other yards and buildings that had once been there.  From the gate we moved to a metal box to show what a solitary cell would have been like for women who were being punished, and we got to go in it.  In the solitary cells the women could not talk to each other, couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t hear anything.  Some of the women also wore an iron collar so it was uncomfortable to sleep.  They were in solitary for 23 ½ hours a day and they went out for ½ an hour of exercise.

Flo also talked about the classes of women.  They were called crime class, second class and first class and if you were good you could move up a class and if you were bad you could move down a class.  IF you did something really wrong you would go in solitary.  The main job for crime class was washing and for second the jobs were sewing and cooking.  The first class job could be being a servant for a master outside of the Female Factory.

We were shown the nursery area where the women’s children were kept until they were seven or eight and were taken to the orphanage in New Town. They were then sometimes allowed to see their mum.

We also looked at some records of women and had to explain how some artefacts we got to handle were related to the women.

When we left the Female Factory, we went on a long walk down the Rivulet and stopped and had some lunch and got to go on a climbing frame.  The Rivulet was the Female Factory’s water supply.

Finally, we got on the bus and went back to school. We were lucky because it had just started raining!

William Lucas

4/5WH

5/6 Catterall/Lohrey

Fantastic fun! That’s how we describe the start to our year in 5/6 Catterall/Lohrey. From persuasive writing to Aboriginal art, we’ve done it all. It was hard to pick the highlights, but after careful consideration, this was our decision.

Our class novel, Cogheart wove its way to the top. We eagerly listened as the two main characters, Robert and Lily, followed twists and turns, ups and downs and one great story. Not only did we read it, but we based a lot of our work around it, designing airships and mechanicals.

In second place was our poetry performance. Although it was only one session, that doesn’t downplay the fun we had. We grouped up, found a poem and had tons of fun acting it out. 5/6 C/L’s first poetry performance brought laughter and learning together, as we found out we could do anything with the power of teamwork.

The bronze medal winner was our fantasy maps. We haven’t finished yet, but even just starting we knew that it would make the highlights list. As we drew mountains and valleys, our freedom of creativity gave us the power to make our maps our own.

By Cariad Lewis and Ruby Fishwick

Grade 1/2 Writing

A group of students from Mrs. Barker's class have been working on writing scary stories with Mrs.K-B. We read the book 'A Dark, Dark Tale' by Ruth Brown then worked together to record a word bank of scary words in our Alpha Box. Students developed a plan for their story with a clear structure and used their Alpha Box words as a scaffold to enrich their writing and create a picture in the readers head.

After conferencing with Mrs. K-B  and proof reading their rough draft, students are now writing and illustrating their published draft. They hope to read their scary stories to their older buddy from their Buddy Class next week and scare them a bit! 🐈‍⬛🦇👻

Art Room News

It has been all about COLOUR in the Art Room and how fabulous it has been to see the amazing art being created using this Element of Design. Students from years 3-6 have had fun mixing the basic primary colours of Red, Blue and Yellow to create a range of secondary and tertiary colours. A variety of painting techniques and skills and problem solving have been used to complete various colour activities. A display of colour wheel eyes is currently on display in the office foyer.

Mrs P

Art Teacher

Canteen - Week 4

School Levies 2022

The 2022 school levies arenow overdue.  Please contact Deb Doole in the school office if you would like to put a payment plan in place.  Arrangements can be made for weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments to assist with paying of the school levies.  

There is also the opportunity for families to apply for the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS).  The following information is provided about STAS and how you can apply.  If you have any questions about this process, please contact the office.

Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) for 2022 School Year

The Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to low income families towards the cost of levies for students enrolled in a school from kindergarten through to year 12.

STAS is provided through school and college resourcing rather than payment direct to families.

Eligibility

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

• Services Australia – Centrelink Health Care Card
• Service Australia – Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card
• Services Australia – Pensioner Concession Card or
• Department of Veteran Affairs – Pensioner Concession Card.

2022 Eligibility for Previous STAS Recipients

Parents who received STAS during 2021 who do not hold a concession card outlined will be approved using the 2021 process where evidence is provided to support their claim. The Department will contact parents in relation to this.

To apply for STAS please complete the Student Assistance application form.

For further information please view the Frequently Asked Questions.

What is the Financial assistance for Parents

• Families on low incomes who meet the eligibility conditions of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) will not be required to pay school levies.  Grandparents raising grandchildren may also be eligible for STAS.
• Families who are not eligible for STAS, but who may experience financial hardship should talk to the school about payment arrangements and other financial assistance which may help.
• School staff understand that financial matters are highly sensitive, so your questions will remain completely confidential.
• These matters will also be dealt with directly with you and not through your child.
• Your child’s participation in learning will not be affected.

Medications at School

The Department of Education has very strict guidelines around administration of medication to students in schools.

Administration of medication of any kind must be authorised by a parent or guardian using specific forms available from the office.  For non-prescribed medication, parents must complete the Authorisation for Administration of Student Medication Form A – non-prescribed. For prescribed medication, parents must ensure that Administration of Student Medication Form B – prescribed is completed by a doctor, pharmacist or practise nurse, and signed by the parent.  Parents MUST ensure that the completed form is supplied to the school, or the school MUST NOT administer medication to the student. 

Medications supplied to a school MUST be in date (not expired), and in the original containers or in a Webster-pak prepared by a pharmacist. If medications are expired, or not in the original containers or Webster-pak, schools MUST NOT accept these medications.

Students should not have any medications in their school bag unless it is asthma medication.  All other medications must be administered through the office.

Uniform Shop

Pop Up Shop

The school's Pop-up Shop will be open for business this Friday after school.

We will be selling our famous homemade cupcakes, organic produce from the school garden: lemons, golden nugget pumpkins and apples.

Thank you for supporting this fabulous program.  

Community Notices