Illawarra Primary School eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Parents / Carers

Thank you to those who were able to attend parent-teacher conversations last week. The feedback I have received has been very positive, especially in relation to the sharing of common work samples across classes.

At the end of this term, parents of Grade 1-6 students will receive a written report. As advised in Term 1, your child’s reports will look somewhat different from previous years. The report will provide ratings for Maths, English and Science for students from Grade 1-6, but there will be no written comment. As Preps are still at the early stages of their learning and it is not considered helpful to assign ratings, they will not receive a mid-year report. However, at the end of the year, all Prep -Grade 6 students will receive a report with ratings.

The reason for moving away from comments in reports is that the Department of Education undertook extensive consultation in 2021, and the feedback it received was that parents want more opportunities to meet with teachers and look at their child’s work, rather than receiving lengthy written reports. This will mean that we will provide a second opportunity for parent-teacher conversations late in Term 3, where once again you will have the opportunity to look at your child’s work and discuss their progress.

School Uniform

Today’s newsletter includes two items pertaining to school uniform. The first is a letter from two members of the student representative council, Ruby Fishwick and Cariad Lewis. Not only does this letter provide an acknowledgement of the importance of wearing school uniform and the need for students to take responsibility for their personal items, it is an outstanding example of writing by Cariad and Ruby.

The second item provides the school community information of the School Association’s commitment to sourcing items of school uniform based on the principles of equity, sustainability and ethical sourcing. As you will read there are now woollen rugby jumpers available for purchase. (Please be mindful that due to these needing to be ordered separate to other items of school clothing, parents interested in purchasing them for their children will need to first contact the school office.) The second item of clothing highlighted in the item is the imminent arrival of cotton polo shirts to the school. These polo shirts replicate the design of those presently available but are made from the ethical sourcing of cotton. This new item of school clothing should be available late term 3.

Outstanding Student Achievement

I would like to acknowledge the achievements of sisters, Yifei (Mia) and Evelyn Xiao, with both girls placing first in their section of this year’s City of Hobart Eisteddfod. Mia placed first in the 9 & 10 Years Pianoforte Performa (Solo), and Evelyn placed first in the AMEB Grade 1 Piano Performance (Solo).

Our Cross Country team also needs special mention, not only for the great team effort and outstanding individual performances at last week’s Huon and Channel Primary Schools Cross Country Carnival but also for the positive manner in which the team represented the school. After last weeks carnival I had the pleasure of receiving an email from one of the parents who attended and who was impressed by the … encouragement, support, enthusiasm and respect that all the Illawarra students showed to each other and the wider community. Well done to all members of the team.

Calendar of Events

June 6-17 Grade 3-5 Swimming and Water Safety Program

June 13 Public Holiday

June 16 Year 6 Band Rehearsal - Kingston High

June 21 State Cros Country - Summonds Plains

June 23 1W Excrusion to Channel History Museum

June 30 Year 6 Band Rehearsal - Kingston High

July 6 School Photos

July 8 Last Day of Term 2

July 25 Student Free Day - Professional Learning for teachers

July 26 Students return for Term 3

Smartbots

Some of our primary extension students have just started to work each Thursday afternoon with Mr Hayen and Mr Bob Elliott, a robotics and coding teacher from the Department of Education.

The students work in teams to build Lego robots and undertake challenges with them. In the first two weeks of the program, students had to:

Design and program a robot that could move without the use of wheels, and reach a set point in the quickest time.
Begin to design a robot that would fire/push an object to knock small ‘bowling pins’ over.

Huon & Channel Cross Country

On Wednesday 25^th of May, a team of 45 Illawarriors headed down to Huonville to compete in the Annual Division A Huon Channel Cross Country at the Huonville Athletics Track.

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we left Blackmans Bay, but as we crested Vinces Saddle we were driving through heavy fog with no sunlight, it was freezing. Jumpers, beanies, and trackpants went back on as we set up for a day of running. The sun did come out at about 12:30 for the last couple of races!

Our students did themselves and Illawarra proud as they gave everything they had in every race, they ran extremely well in dewy conditions. We not only had outstanding individual performances but also a great team effort which resulted in 3 out of the 8 pennants going Illawarra’s way. Well done to the grade 3 girls, grade 4 boys, and grade 5 boys!!

Student who achieved a top 4 finish:

Leuca Woolford 3^rd in Grade 3 Girls

Flynn Ascencio-Lane 1^st in Grade 3 Boys

Ben Morgan 3^rd in Grade 4 Boys

Ollie Cox 4^th in Grade 4 Boys

Meg Stewart 3^rd in Grade 5 Girls

Thomas Dillon 1^st in Grade 6 Girls

Lucy Page 3^rd in Grade 6 Girls

Zac Cox 3^rd in Grade 6 Boys

A big thanks to all the parents who came and assisted on the day as marshals, recorders, jumper holders and organisers who helped to get our students to their races on time. Your support of the students and the school was greatly appreciated!!!

Good luck to the Illawarriors that are going up to Symmons Plains!

5/6 Cooke/Waugh

Those students who did well at the recent Huon Channel Cross Country have the opportunity to represent the school at the All Schools Event held at Symmons Plains on Tuesday 21^st June. All the information you need is attached here in the newsletter but Students do need to organise their own transport to and from this event and supervision during as there are no Illawarra Staff attending. If you have any questions please contact Mr Iles at school.

All_Schools_XC_Event_Information_Primary_2022.pdf

5/6 Bloor Senses Writing Task

Grade 5-6B would like to share some writing made in the environment outside our classroom as part of our narrative story unit. I asked students to use their senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch in their short, descriptive text.

We took around 15 minutes to make a text that described the environment around us. There was minimal editing and a focus on expressive writing. Four brave students have volunteered to share their work.

Fenella Vincent

My legs feel as though they’re being dipped in a freezing, uncomfortable bucket of cold ice. I can smell the burning of birthday candles. I can feel the cold, dry stone ground as through it’s sucking me in, willing me to lie there forever. I can barely see the sun, because it’s so bright, even from behind the cloud. It’s just like heaven, popping out from behind darkness. I can see me using Tilly’s back as a warm, dry, comfortable clipboard. I can hear the chattering of children, talking, into nothingness. I can see flowers, swaying in the wind, like little children dancing to a slow song.

The path just sits there, cold and empty, wishing it were warm and alive. The buildings gaze over the horizon, watching every sunrise and every sunset. The clouds, there are so many, I can barely see the bright, powder blue sky. The sky, it feels so crowded, with all those clouds.

Matilda Hutton

My whole body feels immobilised, life slowly drawn out of it by the freezing air, as cold and menacing as a lake full of death. The concrete beneath me scratches the bare skin on my hands. It is dry as bone, yet cold as your worst nightmare, willing you to believe it is somewhere you want to be forever.

The breeze plays with the many flame-like leaves on the scratched, gnarled branches of the small, yet somewhat eerie trees. The distinct sound of rustling and the chatter of children combine into a haunting, near silent cacophony. The sound of small feet scuffing up the fallen leaves come with sprays of water, awoken by movement of shoes.

The sun glares down, reminding me of emptiness. The white light is not warm, it is more like flames, smothered by dark, damp clouds. As I stare at the silver rays of light bouncing off the clouds, I realise that it is surprisingly pleasant to look at. The steady pulse of the breeze moving the clouds in front of the sun, makes my thoughts float up, up being lost to the powder blue sky.

Imogen Johns

Rosemary a type of bush with little blue flowers on the top, and sucking on the flowers were tiny honeybees. They were drinking the nectar out of the flower. The little blue flowers are like crashing waves reflecting of the beautiful blue sky.

Clouds as white as a piece of paper surrounded by more sky. I see the beautiful burnt red and orange leaves falling slowly of the trees. I can smell lemon leaves when I rub them between my fingers; it smells beautiful.

I lay on the rocky cement, it feels like I will never come up to breath. It’s as cold as ice! red berries as red as blood, tasting like pink and blue fairy floss.

Maddox Day

The trees looked like they were on fire, with leaves from red to orange to yellow and tiny amounts of green. There is no grass around them because the trees are surrounded by plastic. Past the grey rocky concrete path there is a small wooden bench with grass around it, opposite the path there is a pale-yellow brick wall less than a meter high. On top of the wall there are several tall evergreen trees and a few half-dead bushes, below the wall and to the side of the bench there is a small area of berry bushes and lemon trees with a floor of pine bark. There are some rose bushes next to the wall. The grass shines in the sun, which is in the almost cloudless sky. The sound of children learning is the loudest sound around. Near the classrooms there is a lonely building only used after school which has three trees which tiny red and orange leaves sit on.

What you put in the drain goes out to sea when it rains!

Last week five students from 5/6 Lohrey/Catteral assisted Kingborough Council in the installation of more Stormwater to Sea stencils. Last year these were painted near a drain at the front of the school and on Tinderbox Road. This year the stencils were painted on Illawarra Road near the bus stop opposite Thornton Close. Thanks to Marli, Zoe, Alice, Sophie and Maisie in doing their bit to promote keeping our storm water drains free from rubbish and to Bridget Jupe from Kingborough Council.

My New Gallery

So many great new books ….

So little time to cover!

Help cover some books and your child can have a sneak preview of them!

Any help is welcome, please see the staff in the office if you can.

Thanking you in advance,

Sietske Hunn

School Library Technician

School Photos

School photos will be taken on the 6th July 2022. This year it is important to note that individual envelopes for each student will not be provided.

Photos are to be ordered online following the information provided below.

Family photos are available following the same process and must be ordered by 4:30pm on the 5th July.

School_Photo_Flyer.pdf

Uniform News

Uniform Shop Opening Hours

Due to some staff changes the hours for the uniform shop will now be

Monday 8:30am to 9:30 am

Thursday 8:30am to 9:30am

Orders can be placed at other times by completing an order form. Once these orders are ready for collection you will be notified.

Name Your Jumpers!!!!!

Hello, this is Ruby Fishwick and Cariad Lewis. We recently returned lost property and found that 70%-75% of the jumper’s nametags were blank, faded or only had the owners first name, stated below are the reasons why this is a downfall for our school community.

To begin with, school jumpers are very expensive, as most parents know, and losing them is a massive misuse of money. They are made of polyester, so eventually, they must go to landfill, which is bad for the environment AND an atrocious waste of resources. Losing jumpers means more must be made!

To continue, it’s vital that kids learn responsibility, rather than relying on others to return their jumpers. If students continue to depend on others to deliver their belongings, they may not take care of their possessions enough as an adult and not learn the essential life lesson that everyone must know.

Finally, having that number of jumpers sitting in the lost property puts an immense amount of pressure on the selfless people trying to return them to their owners. Not only this, but also the returners are taking valuable time out of their learning to deliver what others have lost, and the more jumpers there are the more time that is.

To conclude, it’s very important to fully name your jumpers and make sure the names are always bold. Remember, doing this saves money and resources, teaches your children responsibility and lessens the weight on the returner’s shoulders. What are you waiting for Illawarra? NAME YOUR JUMPERS!!!

School Association

Kingston High School

Each week students from Kingston High School write articles for the Kingborough Chronicle. This week the articles are about Kingston High Schools involvent with hands onlearning and the 24 Carrot Garden Project and Kingborough's young writers. Enjoy!

KC_Flash_Fiction.pdf

KC_24_carrot_Garden.pdf

Canteen Menu - Week 6

Kingborough Community Safety Commitee

The Kingborough Community Safety Committee has recently established a register of public linkways that could benefit from the addition of path lighting to provide better visibility and safety for residents using these linkways, especially during the darker early mornings and late afternoons at this time of year. One of our IPSA parents, Jarrod Coad, is also a member of the Kingborough Community Safety Committee and is happy to pass on any details of identified linkways that parents feel would be useful. Please email Jarrod at jacoad77@gmail.com and provide details of any public pathways that you feel would be improved by the addition of path lighting.

Don't let the flu go viral

It hasn’t been out and about much lately, but the risk of flu is here. Keep yourself and your children safe by booking your flu shots today. The Tasmanian Government are running free community vaccination clinics. Or get in touch with your GP or local pharmacy.

It’s recommended for everyone over six months of age. It’s also free for people at higher risk including children aged six months to five years. For more information, please visit the Department of Health website

Community Notices

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2nd June 2022