2 May 2024

Principal Report

Dear Families,

We hope everyone has returned to school rested after the holidays. We ended the term with our annual Walkathon which is always a highlight for our students, especially when it is held in the beautiful environment of Blackmans Bay Beach. I never cease to be grateful for the access our school has to this environment and for the views from the oval when I am out on duty. Wattle house came first, with the highest number of laps of the beach recorded, followed by Bombora and then Waratah. As usual the behaviour and conduct of our students was excellent and a tasty BBQ lunch provided by our School Association made it a pleasant day for all.

We began this term with our Cross Country held on Sherburd Oval for Year 3-6 students and for the first time, a mini-Cross Country held on the school oval after lunch for our Prep – 2 students (photos are on our school Facebook page). All of the students cheered, pushed themselves and had fun in the fresh air. The younger students were very excited about their first Cross Country, putting in a massive effort and ending the afternoon with a well-deserved icy pole. Thank you to our PE teacher, Warren Iles for his organisation of the day, and to our Year 6 House leaders and Kingston High School Sports leaders for their support in ensuring the day ran smoothly.

Thank you to year 6 students Benny R, Luca G as well as Mrs. King for attending the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Kingston Beach and paying respect on behalf of our school to those who have lost their lives and served in previous wars and those who continue to serve our country.

Over the holidays our School Business Manager, Cassie, has been hard at work continuing to improve the infrastructure and aesthetics of our school. New seating is gradually replacing older splintered seating in the courtyard, garden areas at the front of the school along Mountain block were cleared up but unfortunately the pressure washer booked to clean our concrete areas broke down so cleaner paths will need to wait until another day! We have been successful in acquiring a grant through the Department to display new values signage which is planned for the grey wall facing the courts area and the grant will hopefully stretch to accommodate a new school sign at the front entrance to the school driveway – watch this space.

Our teaching staff continue to focus on the implementation of our updated Teaching and Learning Framework which outlines the use of consistent, evidence-based teaching-based practices across all classes. Teachers this term will be inquiring more closely into the use of one of these evidence-based teaching practices which is  ‘feedback’ . Effective feedback ‘to’ students can significantly progress student learning and feedback ‘from’ students enables teachers to adjust and adapt their approach going forward accordingly.

A few quick reminders:

Duty of care for students does not begin until 8.30 and finishes at 3.00. Students should not be onsite before or after these hours without parent supervision.

After school busses - the Office will be communicating with parents to update bus information this week.

Canteen  - an email will be sent out today detailing new canteen arrangements – please look out for this. Thank you to Rachael Lewis, one of our IPSA members, for her hard work in persisting with the provision of a canteen service once a week to the school. Not making school lunches once a week is highly valued by parents and her efforts in keeping counter sales going so far this year is much appreciated.

Lastly, in the last week of Term our School Psychologist, Lesli, delivered a workshop one evening on supporting children with anxiety. This was well-attended by parents with many giving feedback afterwards that the information and strategies Lesli shared , as well as sharing her own experiences as a parent with an anxious child, was very helpful in understanding how to support their own child. Lesli has generously made her power point available and this can be accessed via the link below.

Supporting children with anxiety (cloud.microsoft)

Kind regards, Cathryn

Calendar of Events

Assembly Roster Term 2

Value Awards

Congratulations to all the Value Award recipients for this week. All awards will be handed out at our next assembly on Monday 6 May 2:00pm start

Family members are welcome to attend.

Natalie C -  Growth -  For engaging in all aspects of class activities and her wonderful creativity in art and descriptive writing.

Max A - Growth/Courage – Always willing to have a go in all tasks, consistently sharing his great ideas and giving his best.

Chloe J - Courage/Respect – For persevering with difficult tasks to give her best, using her sense of humour and demonstrating kindness and respect for others.

George V -  Respect – A positive, caring member of our class, always sharing his ideas and treating others with respect.

Hugo J- For showing the value of responsibility by focusing in class, ignoring distractions and producing some excellent work.

Philip R – For showing the values of respect and responsibility by listening well to instructions and always giving his best.

Archer M – For showing the value of Growth through the positive mindset he has for his work and ‘can do’ attitude.

Helen R - For showing the value of Growth by demonstrating her scientific understanding when creating the lifecycle of her invented insect.

Wil H - For showing the value of Growth by working hard to improve his descriptive writing. Wil was able to show how his character was feeling and used the 5 senses to describe a spooky setting.

Zibah D - For showing the value of Respect by always listening respectfully to others and being a kind and thoughtful member of the class.

Frankie A - For showing the value of Growth by persisting with learning a strategy to solve elapsed time problems until he was confident to do them independently.

Isabelle C - For showing the values of Growth by working hard to improve her handwriting style and present her bookwork to a very high standard.   

Kiah M - For showing the value of Courage by contributing to whole class discussions during spelling vocabulary lessons.

Ruby D - For showing the values of Respect and connection by being an inclusive, helpful and enthusiastic member of our classroom community.  

Emerson M – For the value of Connection by being an ever inclusive member of the classroom and wider school community.

Ari H – For the value of Courage by always putting her all into our reader’s theatre scripts and bringing characters to life.

Ruby A – For the value of Growth by giving her best effort to all of her learning and listening carefully to all lessons, this has directly translated to improvements in her schoolwork.

Max R – For the value of Respect by consistently showing a high level of respect for the adults and peers he works with at school.

Gabe C – For the value of Responsibility by making suggestions and recommendations for improvements in our classroom environment and culture.

Pippa H - For showing the value of Growth by embracing every opportunity to learn and encouraging others to do so as well, always striving to do her best

Chelsea O - For showing the value of Courage by pushing herself to always do her best, even when challenges may be difficult to accomplish but having a go anyway.

Willow B - For showing the value of Respect for the kind and considerate way that she interacts with others, thinking about not only herself but the needs of others

Luna C - For showing the value of Responsibility.  Luna listens carefully during class discussions, tries her best in every subject and takes pride in her work.

Louis F - For showing the value of Growth.  Louis always tries his best, listens carefully to feedback and is willing to challenge himself.

Ethan P - For showing the value of Respect.  Ethan listens carefully to everyone in the class, works well as part of a group and always tries his best.

Luca G - For showing the value of Growth.  Luca is working really hard during our class spelling sessions, sharing ideas and challenging himself even when the work is tricky.

Natalie O - For the value of Courage- Natalie always gives her best effort in every piece of work she attempts and is always so helpful in class. All with a smile too! Amazing job Natalie!

Haven S - For the value of Growth- Haven is working so well in her maths, showing incredible growth and perseverance. She should really be proud of the effort she is putting in! Excellent job Haven!

Benny R - For the value of Courage- Benny is always keen to embrace every single learning opportunity. He shows an incredible ability to think about and tackle problems in new ways. Keep this up Benny!

Jacob S - For the Value of Growth - Jacob quietly puts great effort into all his work; always without fuss, and always doing a great job. I really appreciate how much care he has for his learning. Excellent effort Jacob.

Ayla Shaves For A Cause

On Friday March 22 at the Longley International Hotel Ayla A one of our Grade 6 students participated in the Worlds Greatest Shave to honour her late Uncle Josh who passed away from cancer.

Ayla, who was vey nervous on the day, bravely shaved her head along with four others, including her cousin and family friend to honour her Uncle and to support others battling with cancer. 

So far Ayla's family has raised nearly $23,000 which is a massive achievement. This is also the Tasmanian record for an individual fundraiser. They are hoping to make this an annual event. 

Well done Ayla, everyone at Illawarra Primary is proud of how amazing and brave you are. 

Mothers Day Pop-up-shop

Pop-up-Shop will be holding a special Mother's Day Stall next TUESDAY after school.  

We will be selling our famous homemade cupcakes and organic produce from the 

school garden: lemons, silver beet, leeks and more. 

There will also be special homemade soap, bath bombs, lemon cordials, 

cards made by the students, and many more items that would make an excellent gift for Mother's Day. 

Grade 6 Parliment House Excursion

On Wednesday 10 April the grade 6 students went on an excursion to Parliment House in Hobart. Here are some of their impressions. 

Pete M - I was impressed with how people stepped up and took on the roleplay and contributed without having a script.

Mathew C – We wore the same kinds of uniform as the people who work in parliament, like the sergeant at arms who protects the speaker of the house who carried the ceremonial mace

Summer R – We went into the upper house (legislative council), we sat in the chairs that the members sit in. The speaker organises the discussion and does not usually vote.

Louis F – The bell summons people to vote and is rung by the clerk.

Heidi W – The speaker isn’t part of a political party.

Toby A - The speaker keeps the debates going and shouts “order” if they need to ask for quiet.

Ayla A – we debated about introducing a law allowing support dogs in class.  This is called a bill. The political parties sit on either side of the house and take turns to share their views in a debate.

New Playground Equipment - Kinder

On Wednesday 10 April our Kinder playground was lucky enough to have a new dual slide installed. 

The students are loving the new addition to their playground and have already called it the 'Friendship Slide' as you can go down it togethor. 

Japanese Poster Competition

The Japanese and Art students at Illawarra have been extremely busy creating designs for the annual statewide Japanese Poster Competition. This year’s theme was “Year of the Dragon,”. It created a real buzz and steady task engagement in classrooms around the school. Students utilised a combination of skills/concepts learnt in both art lessons with Mrs Petersen and Japanese class with Steve Sensei.

The judges were so impressed with the quality of the posters, making it an immensely difficult decision to select the maximum of three winners from each category.

The winning entries that will represent Illawarra in the Competition are:

Category Prep-Yr. 2: Benji, Louis, Sam.

Category yrs. 3-4: Zibah, Brooke, Natalie.

Category yrs. 5-6: Benny, Ewan, Gabriel.

Illawarra Encouragement awards:

Year 1/2: Evie, Miko, Chloe, Euan, Stella, Phillipa, Zara, Luca, Sidney, Aida, Riley, Niamh, Connor, James.

Year 3/4: Sami, Harry, Willow, Maisie, Daisy, Hazel, Elsie, Imogen, Cecile, Orlando, Isla, Zuhaa, Nina, Abagail.

Year 5/6: Isla, Seren, Owen, Priya, Molly, Ryder, Violet, Maggie, Ayla, Luca, Marcel, Leo, Maggie, Felix

New Winter Uniform - Beanie

Nurse Lilli - Helpful Winter Tips

Chess Term 2

Every School Day Matters

By showing up to school every day, your child will have the best opportunity at a bright future. It gives them every chance to be around friends, learn new things, and find interests.

Good attendance habits can sometimes be hard to stick. Keep trying to create a solid routine, to set your child up for success for the rest of the year.

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.

City to Casino Fun Run 2024

This year Illawarra Primary will be entering a school team in the 51^st  City to Casino fun run. The City to Casino will be run on Sunday May 26^th  starting at 8am, with the option of completing a 2.7km, 7km or 12km course. The run is a great opportunity to set yourself a personal goal to achieve, improve your general fitness and long distance running, and represent Illawarra Primary School in one of the largest fun runs in Hobart.

I will organise closer to the date a meeting spot for those students running in either the 7km race from Cornelian Bay or the 2.7km event from Salamanca. Parents not running with their children will need to be at the finish line to pick them up at the conclusion of the race. We are encouraging students to run in the school sports shirts to stand out amongst the crowd of runners and supporters. I will hand these shirts out on Wednesday 22^nd and Thursday 23^rd  May at school to those students and parents who have successfully registered online. If the number of entrants exceed the number of shirts available, preference will be given in order of registration.

If you think you may be interested in joining the team, feel free to jump online and register at https://citytocasino.com.au  or scan the QR code below. Our team is Illawarra Primary School in the drop-down box when you fill out your online registration form. Race numbers will be available for collection from the Running Edge in the week prior to the race and this is the responsibility of the parents registering their child/children.  Feel free to pop in and see me or send me an email at chris.waugh@decyp.tas.gov.au  if you would like further information. See you at the start line!

Community Notices