8 September 2022

Principals Report

Hi everyone,

The past fortnight has been full of wonderful learning opportunities for students and as there are currently no positive student and staff COVID cases, sharing these opportunities with parents, such as last week’s Book Week Parade, has become much easier. 

Book Week celebrations and the opportunity it provided to promote the importance of reading was a real highlight.  Included in the newsletter are photos of the many characters that students and staff dressed up as to mark the importance of this event for the school.  However, every day is an important reading day at Illawarra with the teachers always striving to improve literacy outcomes.  For example, at the beginning of the term the staff investigated the link between reading, writing and spelling, and pleasingly at last week’s Principal Forum a literacy consultant, Associate Professor Misty Adoniou from the University of Canberra, reinforced to the school leaders present that students will only write as well as they read. 

Importantly, the teaching of reading in DoE schools will have a much sharper focus from 2023.  As a school we fully support this decision and even though the school’s reading gains, Prep – Grade 3 and Grade 3 – Grade 5, are excellent, we acknowledge that there is still work for us to do in teaching students how to read.  To support the DoE’s system-wide approach to reading we will continue to embed the delivery of the school’s phonics scope and sequence.  This will build on to the phonological awareness program piloted with our kindergarten students in 2020/21 and disseminate the increasingly sophisticated levels of this important literacy skill throughout ECE and Primary grades, assisting students to become fluent readers.

Further supporting the above approaches to reading, class teachers will ensure that students are continually exposed to rich texts to promote development of vocabulary as well as the use of correct grammar and punctuation.    What we have noticed as a school over many years is that a student’s ability to transition from learning to read to reading to learn is crucial for their success as a lifelong learner. 

As part of Book Week, Mrs Seitske Hunn shared the link below.  If you have time, I encourage you to watch this YouTube clip as a family as it beautifully highlights the joy that words and reading can evoke.

Josh Pyke & Justine Clarke - Words Make The World Go Around (Official Video) - Bing video

Other important recent and upcoming events.

Come and Try Sports Day

Last week’s Huon and Channel Primary Schools Sporting Association’s Come and Try Day for grade 5 & 6 students was a great success.  The variety of sports and the organisation of the day was outstanding, providing many unique experiences that would normally not be offered to primary school students.  The following quote from one of our students perfectly sums up the value of the day, "I thought croquet would be real boring, but it was the best thing we did today."

Grade 3-6 Assembly

The Grade 3 - 6 assembly held on Monday 29^th August was jam packed with examples of student work that classes were keen to share.  So full was the agenda, the assembly went over time.  Congratulations to all the students who received ONYAs and thank you to Tilly and Fenella for leading the afternoon.

Parent Teacher Conversations

If you haven’t already made a time to meet with your child’s teacher at the end of this term, I strongly encourage you to do so.  These important conversations are being held over weeks 9 and 10 and there is still time to make an appointment.  

2023 School Year Planning

I say it every year, but I continue to be amazed by how early we need to start planning for the next school year.  An important aspect of this planning is to have certainty of the students who will be attending Illawarra Primary School in 2023.  To help with this, in coming weeks all families will receive intention to enrol forms and it would be appreciated if these could be returned by the end of the term.   

I would also encourage all families who have Kindergarten aged children for 2023 to complete the enrolment process as soon as possible.  Planning has already commenced for the running of pre-kinder in term 4.  The pre-kinder program held every year in term 4 assists children and families to prepare for that most important first year of schooling.

Finally, as the organisation of class groupings has become an increasingly complex process it has been decided that students will not be asked to name the friends that they would like to be placed with for the following year.  When going through the process class teacher and senior staff will be very mindful of which groupings of students best support each other, and friendships will be a big part of this consideration.   To also assist in this process, I ask that any parent who wishes to discuss or provide information they consider relevant to the class placement process for their child contact myself, Cathryn Kelly-Bounds or Michael Hayen no later than week 3 of term 4.

Have a great end of term everyone.

Calender of Events

Parent Teacher Conversations Prep to Grade 2

Kindergarten Enrolments 2023

Launching into Learning Kindergym

ONYAS Prep - Grade 2

Cooper S – For improved effort and concentration during Flying Start lessons. Well done Cooper!

Jasmine S - For improved effort and concentration during Flying Start lessons. Well done Jasmine!

Hazel S – For always working steadily in Flying Start sessions and doing her best work. Well done Hazel!

Willow C – For always working hard to concentrate and do her best in Flying Start sessions. Well done Willow!

Philip R - For displaying the school value of Safe. Philip is always respectful of others and uses the resources in the classroom in a safe and careful manner. As a result, the children in the class enjoy playing with you.  Keep up the great work Philip.

Bailey S - For displaying the school value of Fair.  Bailey is always a respectful learner which helps those around him be the best learners they can be. His listening, concentration and focus should be commended. Keep up the fabulous work Bailey!

Kane S – For displaying the value of Care.  Kane is always offering to be a helpful helper, cleaning up the art room, unstacking and stacking chairs and helping tidy up the classroom.  Thank you for all you do Kane! 

Levi H - For displaying the school value of Safe. Levi is respectful of others and uses the resources in the classroom in a safe and careful manner. His play is fun and kind. Keep up the great work Levi.

Ruby C - For displaying the school value of being Fair.  Ruby always tries her best with her learning and gives her best effort.  She is a respectful listener, which allows her to do well as well as the classmates around her.  Well done Ruby!

Layla C - For displaying the school value of Care.  Layla is working very hard in Literacy Groups and as a result has moved up 5 reading levels!  Keep up the excellent work Laylah!

Brooke B - For the value of Care by helping a friend who was upset on sausage sizzle day.

Spohie M - For the value of Care by sharing her donation money to help a friend buy an icy pole on sausage sizzle day.

Blair G - For the value of care by always being kind and thoughtful to everyone in our class.

Harry B - For the value of care by taking care to do his best with his learning in class. 

Lochlan C - For always being a polite and friendly classmate who strives to give his best.

Anja K - For always accepting feedback from teachers and using this to improve her learning.

James W - For being a wonderful and patient helper in showing his classmates how to make pom-poms.

Alfie A - For having a positive mind set, accepting feedback and striving to do better.

Jackson X - For always being a caring and friendly class member who gets on with his work with focus.

Sophie B - For working hard every day to improve her understandings and being a wonderful helper and role model to her peers. 

Harry D - For trying so hard to improve his learning and being a kind and attentive helper in the classroom. 

Huon P- For working hard to concentrate and manage his distractions during learning. 

Patrick W - For his effort towards improving his learning and for his excellent ideas during classroom discussions.  

Eveyln X- For working hard to improve her understandings both at home and in the classroom. 

Olive D - For being a kind and thoughtful member of our class. You show care in everything you do and have such a fun sense of humour. Thank you Olive!

Harry V - For always being ready to take on challenging work. Your enthusiasm and willingness to throw yourself into more complex maths tasks in particular is exciting to see. Well done Harry!

Marshall Y - Thank you for aways listening attentively and willingly contributing to class activities with a positive attitude. Well done Marshall!

Charlotte P - Always demonstrates maturity and care in the classroom. The kind way that you treat others is to be commended. Thank you Charlotte!

Milla P - Well done for always looking for ways to improve and extend your work. The time and effort that you put into your writing in particular is so pleasing. Thank you Milla!

Amberly D - For being someone who respects our rules and takes care to follow them at all times.  This makes Amberly a wonderful member of our class and school community.

Alexandra L - For trying hard at her learning.  Alexandra is a brave learner who is happy and confident to try her best at all tasks.

Harris M - For sharing his inquisitive mind with our class. Harris is always wondering and pondering and is a great contributor in our class discussions.

James V - For being an eager learner who enjoys being challenged.  James has been writing more and more with each task and is showing enjoyment as a writer.

Mabel W - For being a conscientious learner who always tries her best.  Mabel shows a lot of enjoyment for being at school and sharing her learning with others. 

Christopher C -  Always plays fairly and cares about his friends.

Isabelle C - Is a kind and caring student towards her friends in and out of the classroom.

Lily S - Lily is enjoying sharing her loom bands with her friends. She is such a caring student as well.

Elliot J - Elliot is putting more effort into his work and is showing more consideration towards his class mates when working at his table.

Beau G - is showing more enthusiasm in class especially when speaking and completing written tasks.

Book Week Parade

Book Week celebrations were held on Wednesday 31 August. It was great to see so many students dressed as their favouirte book character and everyone coming together from Kindergarten to Grade 6 to celebrate our love of books! Mrs Hunn awarded students with the best creativity in the following catergories Furriest Costume, Scariest, Funniest, Most uncomfortable, Sparkliest and a staff special mention. More photos can be found on our Illawarra Primary School Facebook page. 

Kindergarten Gumboot Library

Kinder are setting up a Gumboot Library and are looking for donations of small sized gumboots that your child may have outgrown.  We are also in need of some size 4 or 6 black trackpants to use as spares as our supplies are very depleted due to so much fun in the mud!  Any donations can be dropped into kinder or the school office.

Thank you

The Kinder Team                       

Come and Try Day

On the 30 of August, a group of Grade 5 & 6 Students from Illawarra Primary School went to the Kingborough Sports Centre for a come and try day. Students were split up into 3 groups. Group 1 tried Basketball, Table Tennis, Judo and Croquet. Group 2 tried Orienteering, Squash, Indoor Cricket and Netball. Finally, Group 3 were the SpikeZone Volleyball Tournament. The students from Illawarra played these sports with or against other schools. Illawarra managed to win 2 of the 4 pools in the SpikeZone Volleyball Tournament, with group 1 & 2 having fun discovering new sports.  

Thanks to all of the volunteers from various local organisations who gave up their time to teach us these activities. We would also like to recognise and thank Sarah Mogridge the Regional Sport Coordinator from the Department of Education, who organised and ran the day. We are looking forward to hopefully having another come and try day next year.  

Written by Emelia Westwood and Thomas Dillon. 

Young Archies

The 2022 Young Archies Award recipients were announced by the Minister fro the Arts, the Honourable Elise Archer, at the presenation ceremony in Hobart on Saturday 27 August 2022. It is with great pleasure to announce that Matthew from Illawarra Primary School was awarded a Highly Commended for the year 3/4 Category. 

Congratulations Matthew for a marvellous self-portrait.

Still to be announced is the winner of the Department of Education Secretary's Award, and the winner of the people's choice award. Keep an eye out on Monday 12 September for the results! 

The full exhibition is on show in Hobart for one more week, until Saturday 10 September. Booking are essential, get your tickets through Eventbrite. Next week the exhibition of 2022 Young Archies Award recepients will  make its way to Launceston, and then to Burnie.

Cant make it in person to see the Young Archies? Visit the 2022 Young Archies Virtual Exhibition: 

• 2022 Young Archies Awards – Kindergarten to Prep
• 2022 Young Archies Awards – Year 1 to Year 2
• 2022 Young Archies Awards – Year 3 to Year 4
• 2022 Young Archies Awards – Year 5 to Year 6
• 2022 Young Archies Awards – Year 7 – Year 12
  

Mrs Peterson

(Art Teacher)

Canteen Week 8

Daffodil Day

Emerson and his Mum did a volunteering session after school in Centrepoint as part of Daffodil Day. Emerson did a fantastic job with his customer interactions, being able to make off the tally sheet, count back money and use the eftpos machine. What a great representative for Illawarra Primary School and an excellent experience for Emerson!

Book Club Issue #6

Book Club catalogues for issues #6 are due back to school or online by Friday 9 September. 

Thank you for your continued support of this program. 

Community Notices