19 October 2023

Principal Report

Dear Families,

Greetings as we enter the last term of the school year, hard to believe!

The last week of term saw student vs teacher sporting matches and our Kids Matter options afternoon which all students thoroughly enjoyed. Planning is well underway regarding class placements, end of year activities and Grade 6 Leavers events. We are in a position to offer straight grade classes in 2024 with the exception of a 4/5 class. Over the holidays the GP room was also recarpeted. This has certainly freshened up this space with further painting to be done at a later stage.

The Athletics Carnival is on next Wednesday for all grades – please see information from Mr. Illes re this further on in the newsletter.

PAT testing also commences in Week 3.

We have our Dinner and Disco fest fast approaching on Friday 10^th of November run by IPSA. Cross your fingers for good weather and make sure you save the date. This is a great night for students and families to enjoy each others' company, have something delicious for dinner and support our school’s playground improvements through fundraising. Please see if you can spare even 30 minutes on the night to help.

On the student free day next Friday 27^th  teaching staff will again work with Linda McKillop from Speech Pathology Tasmania for a full day to further develop whole staff understanding of evidence based best practice in teaching reading/spelling. Linda will continue the work she did with the staff at the beginning of term 3 and focus on the interleaving of reading, spelling and writing looking more closely at morphology. At the beginning of 2024 Linda will deliver a 5 day training course in the Yoshimoto Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching phonics at our school which our P-2 teachers will attend.

Reading teaching and learning is a priority for improvement for the Department (DECYP) and a key aspect of the Department’s strategic plan over the next 5 years. Recommendations from the Literacy Advisory Plan (Department of Premier and Cabinet dpac.tas.gov.au) will be implemented with support across all schools in the system. This will involve all schools implementing:

• A systematic, explicit approach to teaching phonics.
• A multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) for intervention in reading.
• A gradual phasing out of reading assessment through the use of PM readers as this assessment is not considered to have predictive validity.
• The use of decodables to support phonics teaching.
• Standardised assessments in reading.

Our school is in a strong position in regard to the above expectations as we are well underway with the implementation of many of these points as also evidenced by our continuing strong results in reading.

TELL SOMEONE

All children in Tasmania have a right to be known, safe, well and learning. We are highly committed to the safety of all students at our school.

Earlier this month, DECYP launched the Tell Someone initiative, to raise awareness in the community about child sexual abuse and grooming.

The Tell Someone website gives children and young people clear advice on what to do in situations where they feel worried, unsafe or unsure. It also gives adults advice and support on how to respond if they suspect or know a child is being groomed or sexually abused or is at risk of harm.

Please visit the website, read the information, and try to find a suitable time to talk with your children about this issue and the resources available.  It’s important that you both understand the possible signs of sexual abuse or grooming behaviour, and how to stay safe online and offline.

If reading this information has caused you distress, please visit DECYP’s website for a list of support services.

Please contact the school if you have any questions about this information.

Lastly, please ensure you child has a red school hat, it is left at school and it is named! These are available from the school office for $10.

Kind regards, Cathryn

Calendar of Events

Assembly Roster Term 4

ONYAS

Max A - For being such a curious and enthusiastic learner. Max, you are such an inspiration in our class. You have such a positive attitude in everything you do. Well done!

Layla C - For working hard to improve her Maths skills. Layla, your addition and subtraction skills are really improving. Keep up the good work!

Natalie C - For showing great attention to detail in all your work. Natalie, you take care to make sure everything you do is of a very high standard.

Zara M - Thankyou for consistently upholding our class’s hidden rules and helping to create a great learning environment with your positive attitude.

Louis F - Thank you for consistently upholding our class’s hidden rules and always being ready for learning.

Evie S - Thank you for consistently upholding our class’s hidden rules and continued respect and kindness you show to your classmates.

Amelie B - Thank you for consistently upholding our class’s hidden rules and continued respect and kindness you show to your classmates.

Freya G - Thank you for consistently upholding our class’s hidden rules and having such a positive attitude to learning.

Oliver J - Thank you for showing more initiative in our classroom, being so helpful and making it a better place!

Sidney K - For displaying the school value of Care. Sidney is focused on his learning and always supports his classmates. Keep up the amazing work, Sidney!

Austin L - For showing resilience and determination in spelling and reading groups. Keep up the fantastic work, Austin.

Riley S - For continuing to excel and strive to do his best during maths tasks.

Cameron W - For displaying the school value of Care. Cameron is a kind and caring classmate and always shows a positive attitude towards learning tasks.

James B - James has had a wonderful start to the term.  He has displayed wonderful manners and is always willing to lend a helping hand. James, you are a delightful and kind member of our Prep class.

Miko C- Miko, Welcome to Prep!  It is wonderful to see how well you have settled into our class and are making new friends.  Well done on your positive and enthusiastic start at Illawarra Primary.

Florence C -Flo has displayed a positive “can do” attitude towards her learning.   She is happy to share her ideas in class and is proud of her achievements.  Well done, Flo!

George V -For participating in all lessons in an attentive and thoughtful way.

Lachlan W - For working with others in a guided reading group in a respectful and inclusive manner.

Benji R – For displaying the school value of Care. Benji has been working hard to improve in all learning areas.  He has been an attentive listener, re-reading his work carefully and is taking on teacher feedback. Keep up the fantastic work Benji! 

Armaan S – For displaying the school value of Fair.  Armaan is hard working and always tries his best with his learning tasks. He shares his thoughts respectfully and always listens to others. Keep up the wonderful work Armaan, the class appreciates you!

Canteen - Week 2

After School Arrangments - Term 4

Can you please advise the school office (62 296 295 or email illawarra.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au) of any changes to your child's bus arrangments for Term 4.

We have a lot of children currently on our list who aren't showing up to catch the bus. 

Thank you 

Athletics Carnival - Wednesday 25 October

The School Athletics Carnival will be held on Wednesday 25th October.

Prep to Grade 2 will be held from 9:00am to 10:40am.

Grade 3-6 will be held from 11:10am to 3:00pm with a lunch break from 1:00pm – 1:40pm.

Parents are most welcome to attend

Students are encouraged to wear their house colours and suitable running shoes. Looking forward to a great day of participation, effort and teamwork!!

Road Kill Warriors!

This week both the grade 5 and grade 6 classes invited Lara Van Raay (Film maker) and Ruth Waterhouse (Artist and wildlife carer) to share with them their work in reducing the amount of native animal deaths on our roads. To view their story please see their short documentary on ABC iView via this link https://iview.abc.net.au/show/road-kill-warriors?utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared . This aligns with the learning of grade 5 and 6 students on the impact of humans on the environment over time. Please see a report below from the Grade 5s and Grade 6s regarding this visit.

This Saturday from 2-4 pm at the Kingston Beach Hall there will be a screening of the documentary and information about how to support wildlife that have been hit by cards on our roads. Come along!

Grade 5

In HASS in Year 5 we have been focussing on the question, ‘How do people affect places?’ We looked at how continents formed and researched countries of our choosing to gain a deeper understanding of culture, customs and traditions. This lead us to zoom into looking at communities and land management and the decisions people make that effect the environment and animals both positively and negatively. Some students have created Stop Motion movies showing a problem and creating a solution – topics included animal cruelty, deforestation, plastic pollution, rubbish in our oceans and so on. One of the areas students were passionate about was raising awareness about the amount of road kill on our local roads. From this we invited Lara Van Raay (Film maker) and Ruth Waterhouse (Artist and wildlife carer) to come and present their 12 minute movie called ‘Roadkill Warriors’ which is available to view on ABC iView. This was a fantastic opportunity to gain insight into what is being done and ask questions about film making.

Grade 6

On Wednesday, Lara, a local film director, and Ruth, a Tasmanian artist, came in to show classes 6C and 6B a short film that they’d made for the ABC. The film explained why roadkill is such a significant issue in Tasmania, and what we can do to prevent these creatures dying.

Ruth had been noticing lots of roadkill on the side of Summerleas Road. She decided to create markers shaped as a capital T (they were originally crosses, but she removed the top so as not to offend anyone) to indicate each dead animal on the side of the road. She hadn’t noticed how many animals had died because they had been removed, and it was only when she marked each body that she realised the enormous amount.

She received mixed feedback, but after multiple drivers saying that they found the markers distracting, they were removed form the ground. Ruth eventually got local schools involved, painting new and improved markers, featuring a “broken wallaby” image, surrounded by flowers. Ruth also designed signs picturing images of animals that had survived being hit by a car and put them along the side of the road.

After placing the new markers and signs, there was a noticeable decrease in roadkill, indicating that the community had been paying attention to the signs.

Both classes learnt a lot from this visit, and we are very happy that we got the opportunity to talk to Lara and Ruth!

By Tilly H & Imogen J 

Japanese Speech Contest

Congratulations to the following students who entered the Tasmania wide - 2023 Japanese Speech Contest - writing, memorising, and then performing a self-introduction in Japanese: 

Thomas D, Noah D, Molly S, Xavier S, Toby A, Kenzie B, Summer R, Ethan L, Shinji H & Stella M

From amongst this year’s entries from across all schools in Tasmania who entered, the following Illawarra students were judged to be amongst the very best in the State, and have been invited to Government House next month to receive their awards from the Governor of Tasmania.

Molly S, First Place – Grade 4

Thomas D, Second Place – Grade 6

Congratulations to these students for their outstanding effort in Japanese, and a special thank you to all families who supported them to practise their speeches at home.

Steve Sensei

School Association Fundraiser

Story Dogs

A big thank you to all the children families and staff for your FABULOUS crazy hat and sock day last term raising funds for Story Book Dogs Australia! 

Maggie and I are looking forward to another term of great reading and plenty of pats !

Maggie and Sue

ATTENTION ALL BOOK WORMS!

We are introducing a plan this term to help look after our amazing book collection. 

We are asking each student to bring a library bag to school on their designated borrowing day. 

Waterproof library bags are the best; however, a simple material bag will do. 

Students could be creative and personalize a DIY bag made from an old pillowcase. 

Students will benefit from this routine by acquiring better organisational skills; needed for executive functioning and a successful day! 

Many schools have implemented a NO BAG – NO BOOK rule to help protect books. 

Many thanks from your Library Team  🙂

Good News Story

At the end of Term 3, Casper A travelled to the Eastern Lions Kart club in Puckapunyal for a Victorian State cup race called the Junior Sprint Classic.

The event runs over 2 days and both groups that Casper was racing in had a total of 25 entrants in each, with drivers competing from all around the country.

After battling it out through the heats, Casper finished the final in 4^th place. Trophies were awarded to the top 5 finishers, so Casper was lucky enough to stand up on the podium and receive a trophy for 4^th place, as well as a medallion for his top qualifying position.

Congratulations Casper on such a wonderful achievement! 

Book Club Issue 7

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB ISSUE 7 IS OUT

Scholastic Book Club catalogue has been sent home with students this week, with another wonderful array of award-winning books offered for all ages, from old favourites to new exciting volumes! 

There are even an extra 50 titles available to peruse online only if you check out the LOOP ordering pages. 

Orders can be placed by returning the completed order form and money to school, or by using the online Book Club LOOP platform (scholastic.com.au/loop) for parents which allows you to pay by credit card.  The due date for Scholastic Book Club orders from this catalogue is Tuesday 31st October.

Tennis Coaching

Turning up Matters

Welcome back to Term 4! We hope you enjoyed school holidays, and are ready for another exciting term.

We all want the best for our children – for their futures to be as bright as possible. Showing up every day to school really matters. It gives your child every chance to learn, grow and find their interests.

This last stretch of the school year can sometimes be tricky. Keep it up, because each day is another chance to:

• be around friends
• learn new things
• find interests
• create dream futures (whatever that may be!).

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Please always talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help.

Community Notices