6 July 2023

Principals Report

Dear Families,

On Monday we celebrated NAIDOC Week through a special assembly led by our First Nations students. This year's NAIDOC theme, 'For Our Elders', is an opportunity to ensure our young people are learning from our Elders' knowledge and perspectives, and that these continue to be passed down through generations for millennia to come. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders hold the stories that make up the oldest living culture in the world. 4/5 W and 3/4 O also shared their learning about the long history of Aboriginal Culture in Australia and we heard a ‘Welcome to Country’ spoken in Palawa Kani, the language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people. We are very lucky that our First Nation students open each assembly with a Welcome to Country song taught to us by Dwayne Everett-Smith. We also thank Mrs Amy for the time and thought she put into organising this year’s NAIDOC Week assembly.

The first Monday back of Term 3 is a student free day. On this day all teaching staff and teacher assistants will be working with Linda McKillop, a speech pathologist with Speech Pathology Tasmania. Linda will support our practice in integrating the teaching of spelling and phonics into writing. We look forward to learning from her expertise and improving the way we teach phonics and spelling to students. This is a whole school focus across all grades and is the basis of a collaborative inquiry that both Prep-2 teachers and Grade 3-6 teachers will undertake this year.

I am happy to confirm that I will be Acting Principal again in Term 3. As a result, Lisa King will continue in her role of Assistant Principal this year, Renee Jordan will continue to work as a Support Teacher on Monday and Tuesday and Kerry Baker will continue as an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) incorporating Grade 3/4 literacy support into her Support Teacher role. We are pleased that the continuity of the leadership team (also including Michael Hayen – AP and Chris Waugh – AST) provides strength, certainty and stability to the school and enables us to continue to focus on the inquiries and work with our professional learning communities (PLCs) that are already in place.

We also welcome Bec Copeland to the Illawarra teaching team. Bec is well-known to our school and will be teaching a Prep class on Monday and Tuesday, sharing the class with Renee Jordan. We farewell Laura Panopoulos, who will be moving to work four days a week at Taroona Primary school. We wish her all the best and thank her for her work with the Prep class over the past two terms.

I am sure everyone is looking forward to less pressure and rushing around over the holidays. Stay well (or get well as the case may be!). We look forward to the return of students in Term 3 on Tuesday 25^th of July.

Kind regards,

Cathryn

Calendar of Events

Office Hours - School Holidays

The School Office will be open intermittently during the school holidays. If you need to come into the school it is advised that you call ahead beforehand to make sure someone will be available. 

Thanks 

Admin Staff 

Uniform Shop

 The School Uniform opening hours are changing from Term 3.

New days will be  Monday & Wednesday 8:30am - 9:30am.

If you require uniform outside of these times we may ask that you fill out a uniform order form.

Canteen Update

Due to the rising cost of food at the supermarket, the canteen will be making some necessary price increases from the start of term 3. 

Many families may not know how our school canteen operates.  We have one Canteen Manager who is paid for 6 hours per week.  The Canteen Manager relies on volunteers to be able to run the canteen both behind the scenes, and to serve the students for counter sales.   The canteen is overseen by IPSA (the school association), which is also a group of volunteers.  IPSA oversees the canteen both financially and in an advisory capacity when required.   To continue to be viable the canteen needs to financially “break-even”, including the Canteen Manager’s wages.  The canteen does not aim to make a profit.  This is the reason for the unavoidable price increases. 

Thank you to families for your continued support.  

IPSA Quiz Night

Thank you from IPSA

Chess - Term 3

Feeder School Arrangements

Have your say on current feeder school arrangements

The Department for Education Children and Young People is seeking feedback from families on current feeder school arrangements. These arrangements have been in place for many years and are currently under review. The current feeder school arrangements have been published and can be found on the Department’s Find Your Local High School webpage.  Feedback on these current arrangements can be provided via on online survey at https://forms.office.com/r/q6SrdMne2i . Your feedback will be a valuable input into the review process.

Uniform Discontinued Items

Discontinued Stock - Double Knee and Cargo Pants $5.00 Per Pair 

Assorted sizes available. 

Available from the office during uniform shop opening hours Monday & Wednesday 8:30am to 9:30am 

Limited Stock 

Kindy Enrolments 2024

Community Notices