6 May 2021

Principal's Report

Dear Families

Term 2 started with a very successful Cross Country last week at the new location of Sherburd Oval and surrounds. Some highlights were being able to see the students run most of the stages of the course, the encouragement and cheering from all of the students in their house colours, and the challenge of the ‘all terrain’ course pushing students' running abilities and fitness!  Thank you to Mr Iles for his organisation of the day.

Our Jumping Jacks team made their first public appearance earlier in the week on the courts as they kicked off the Jump Rope for Heart program within our school. Jason, from the Heart Foundation, showed us some very tricky skipping moves and even got Miss Catterall up doing the ‘pretzel’. Thank you to Mrs Nanna, Ms Genford and the Jumping Jacks students for all their hard work in preparing for the performance.

The Winterfest Committee met last Friday in the staffroom to begin preliminary planning. Save the date for Friday August the 20^th in Term 3! After last year it is wonderful to be able to again hold the Winterfest to celebrate our Tassie winter and enjoy the lantern parade, performances, food and drink. More details to come as we get closer to the date.

A few reminders …

Fidget toys - Unfortunately many children are now bringing fidget toys to school, and teachers are noticing that rather than helping children to focus in class they are having the opposite effect and are often a significant distractor. We ask that children only use fidget toys in the classroom where a student has a relevant diagnosis, for example ADHD, and the use of a fidget toy has been recommended in a report or other correspondence from a health professional, such as an occupational therapist, psychologist or paediatrician, or in consultation with the parent and teacher.

Pokemon cards – Many children enjoy showing and comparing their Pokemon cards, but we ask that Prep children do not bring them to school at all as they are too young to remember who they have loaned them to or swapped them with which has caused a few upsets.

We appreciate the support of parents in both of these matters.

Lastly, the Pre-Kinder LIL group run by Mrs. Georgie will be starting on Thursday 20^th of May in Bruny West room running from 9.00 – 10.30 am. This group is restricted to families who live in area only – siblings welcome. For those already enrolled, Mrs. Georgie will send a message via Seesaw, otherwise please email Georgie on georgie.mcrae@education.tas.gov.au if you are interested in attending.

Kind regards,

Cathryn Kelly-Bounds

Acting Principal

Calendar of Events

News from Prep & Prep/1

Prep J 

This term we have started to explore the concept of 'belonging'. These are some of our ideas about where we think we belong.

Prep O/E

Our Prep classes have begun a science inquiry on the weather. We have shared what we know and have lots of questions of what we want to find out. Everyday our star of the day will observe the weather and give a weather report about what it looks like and feels like, using words and symbols just like a weather reporter on TV.

Prep/1 W

Prep/1 have been very busy with visitors of late.  After finding lots of rubbish in the bushland area next to our school, we wrote to the Kingborough Council to ask why there wasn’t a rubbish bin there and explained our concerns.  Mayor Jo Westwood and Stuart Baldwin, part of the waste management team for Kingborough Council, did their own inquiry into the rubbish around our school. They found that the best place for a new rubbish bin to go would be at the bus stop opposite Illawarra Primary.  Jo and Stuart visited our classroom and explained the process to us and took us on a walk to show us what our questions can lead to!  This is a great example of change happening as a result of our voice being heard!  We hope everyone uses this bin to keep the area around our school litter free. 

As part of our bush land inquiry, we read the beautiful book called ‘My Patch’ by Nel Smit.  Nel visited our classroom last week to share her passion for nature with us. The children loved showing her their patches, exploring how they have changed, talking about how we care for our patches, observing colours and creating a bush orchestra.

Pop Up Shop - Mother's Day Special

Pop-up-Shop will be holding a special Mother’s Day Stall.   We will be open for business this Friday after school.

We will be selling homemade cupcakes, lettuce from the school garden, herbs and popcorn.

Also there will be soap, bath bombs, lemon cordial and cards made by the students.

Cross Country

The school Cross Country was held at Sherburd Oval last Thursday.  In perfect Cross Country conditions the Grade 3 -6 students tackled the new course which provided plenty of different running terrain and also some very exciting finishes to races.  Participation was excellent with students pushing themselves to their limits to score points for their house team.  Well done everyone!

A big thanks to supervising staff, Kingborough Council for the use of the Oval  and the Kingston High School Student Volunteers who were excellent course marshals

Final results were:

1^st - Wattle - 974               2^nd - Waratah - 903               3^rd - Bombora - 862

Individual place getters:

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Check out the Illawarra Primary School Facebook page for more great pictures of this event.

Grade 1/2A & 1/2B Excursion

On Thursday 3 June, 1/2A and 1/2B are visiting the Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre.

The visit begins with exploring the MDC, followed by:

• Scientific drawing of touch tank invertebrates
• Activities around bioluminescence
• Habitats and animal external features
• Explore plankton using microscopes
• Explore the sea with an underwater drone and watch baited underwater camera
• Feed the animals.

These activities link well with our Biological Sciences work on Living Things.

We have limited room for family members to attend, so if you have your Working with Vulnerable People check and would like to attend, please speak to Mrs Wendy or Ms Barker as soon as possible.

Launch into Learning (Pademelons) - Term 2

Please click the link below to access our Launch into Learning timetable for Term 2:

Canteen Menu - Term 2

Please click the link below to access our Canteen Menu for Term 2:

Japanese News

Well done to students in Grades One and Two who decorated carp flags to hang in the Royal Botanical Gardens for Children’s Day last weekend. The display will continue until Sunday 9^th May.

Sarah Sensei

Music News

Many parents will have noticed Grade 3 students coming home this week with their new recorder. With such a busy first term and lots of public holidays these students had their first official recorder lesson only this week. Each student has their own instrument and are encouraged to practise outside of their lesson times. Students have also been issued a resource booklet that has been developed between myself and the TSO. This resource allows students to rehearse alongside TSO musicians.

There is a website available which I encourage students to become familiar with at:

https://www.tso.com.au/recorder-lift-off/

I encourage you to support your children to engage in this program.

Yours in music!

Cynthia Howard

Music Teacher

Uniform Shop hours

A reminder that due to office staff availability, the uniform shop will only be open on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8.30am to 9.30am.

Order forms are available from the office if you are unable to attend at these times. If you place an order, it will be filled on Monday and Wednesday and can then be collected from the office.

SchoolZine App

Please click on the link below for instructions on how to access the Newsletter via the School Zine app. Contact the Office if you have any issues downloading the app.

https://www.schoolzine.com/szapp-installation

Community Notices