12 December 2024

Principal Report

As we come to the end of the school year, I want to take a moment to tell you how proud I am to be here in the role of Principal of Illawarra Primary School.  Thank you, everyone—students, parents, staff, and community members—for your contributions in making our school a vibrant and positive community this year.

Throughout the year, students’ have lived the ‘Illawarra way’ and demonstrated the DECYP Values in so many ways:

• Students have shown Connection by building strong friendships and supporting one another.
• Demonstrated Courage by tackling challenges and stepping outside their comfort zones.
• Taken Responsibility for their learning, actions and contributions to our school.
• Embraced the challenge of Growth, constantly striving to improve and learn from mistakes.
• And shown Respect to their teachers, peers, and the environment around us.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the incredible team of teachers and staff who support our students every day. This week we were entertained and amazed by the hard work and dedication of our students in the Music program. A very special and sincere thanks to:

• Our wonderful music teacher, Mandy Brown, for putting together our end of year Music Assemblies.
• Alex Brown, for leading our band and helping our musicians shine.
• The Kinder Team – for a great Kinder Christmas performance!
• To our extraordinary class teachers and teacher assistants, who work tirelessly to help students learn and grow.
• To our amazing leadership team—Mrs King, Mr Hayen, and Mr Waugh—for guiding and supporting all of us throughout the year.

Illawarra Primary School Staff 2025

Principal: Kristy Hay

Assistant Principals:  Michael Hayen and Lisa King

Advanced Skills Teacher:  Chris Waugh

School Business Manager: Cassie Steele

Administration Officers: Kelly Crane (M-F) & Carmen Bull (M/W/F)

Education Facility Attendants: Nigel Crawford (Grounds), Teena Goodson, Dylan Stubbs, Brian Wu

Launching Into Learning (LIL) –  Tracey Williams (Fridays)

Kindergarten:

Kinder Possums  – Kellie Pickett (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) Kinder Block

Kinder Wombats – Tracey Williams  (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Bruny West

Prep:

Prep A –  Catherine Oldmeadow – Full time – Lighthouse South

Prep B –  Jess Dwyer – Full time – Lighthouse North

Prep Intern Teacher –  Asha Buchanan Wright – Full Time

Year 1:

1A -  Amy Whenman – (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday) - Derwent North

1A – Beck Copeland - (Thursday) - Derwent North

1B – Hannah Barker – Full time - Derwent South

Year 2:

2A –  Djirilina Boost – (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) - Sherburd South

2A –  Beck Copeland (Friday) - Sherburd South

2B –  Bernadette Brinkhoff – Full time – Sherburd North

Year 3:

3A –  Tenille Ashlin – Full time – Mountain South

3B –  Jo Bilson – (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) – Mountain North

3B – Terri Coombes - (Friday) – Mountain North

Year 4:

4A –  Chris Waugh – (Monday, Tuesday, Fridays – even weeks) - River North

4A –  Jayne Johnson – (Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays – odd weeks) - River North

4B –  Chris Pullen – Full time – River South

Year 5:

5A –  Charlotte Genford – Full time – Undercroft South

5B –  Vanessa Shaw – Full time – Undercroft North

5C –  Chris Cooke – Full time – Beach North

Year 6:

6A –  Rebecca Andrews (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) – Bay North

6A – TBC (Friday) – Bay North

6B – Graham Bloor – Full time – Bay South

Specialist and Other Teaching Staff:

Support Coordinator -   Renee Jordan – Full time – The Light House

Support Teacher -   Kerry Baker – Full time – The Light House

Education Support Specialist –   Nanna Jansen-Munday – Full time

K-6 PE –   Warren Iles – (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

P-6 Music –   Mandy Kroon (Brown) – (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)

P-6 Drama –   Tara Rawlins – (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

P-6 Art –   Terri Ann Petersen – (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)

5/6 Japanese – Anita Wedd - Wednesdays

Kinder Music/Library – Miss Lilli Taylor

Band –   Alex Brown – Wednesday afternoons

Library Technician: Sietske Hunn

Teacher Assistants: Bec Arnold, Sally Bowman, Sarah Britton, Anna Cockerill, Sam Coupland, Christine Cracknell, Michelle Currie, Ange Dickson, Holly Kentwell, Alison Mann, Liesl McIlwraith, Peter McKenna, Morgan Swanton-Booth, Marg Thalmann, Nicky Wilson

This year, Meet the Teacher will be held on Monday, 16 December, from 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm. Students will begin and end the day in their current classes, with the transition to their 2025 groups taking place after lunch. Meet the Teacher is an exciting opportunity for all students to transition to their 2025 classes and connect with their peers and teachers for the coming year. It also provides a chance to welcome new students to our school community.

The creation of class groups is a thoughtful and comprehensive process that takes into account a variety of factors, including academic abilities, student wellbeing, friendships, and the unique needs of every student. Our teachers draw on their deep understanding of each child to ensure that balanced and supportive learning environments are established for 2025. We kindly ask families to trust our professional judgement in making these decisions, which are made with the best interests of all students in mind. We look forward to this special transition and to continuing our partnership with you to support your child's learning journey.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Year 6 students, the class of 2024 for their contribution to IPS and the memories they have given us all. I wish you all the best as you prepare for the next exciting chapter in your learning journey. You have all shown the DECYP values during your time at our school, and I look forward to celebrating your achievements at your final assembly and leavers' dinner next week. Finally, to our returning students, I hope you take time over the holidays to reflect on your achievements and recharge for the year ahead.

Wishing you and your extended families a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Kristy Hay

Principal

Calendar of Events

Summer Holidays Office Opening Hours

Merry Christmas from the School Office!

The office will be closing at 12pm on Friday December 20, re-opening on Monday January 20. Office hours will be 9.00am to 3.00pm daily during this time.

Wishing all our families a safe and Happy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.

From Cassie, Kelly and Carmen

2025 Back to School Uniform Sales

The School office will be open on the following dates for Uniform Sales

All items will be available for purchase via cash or EFT

Wednesday 29^th and Thursday 30^th January 

Open between 9.30am to 12.00 noon, and 1.00pm to 2.30pm

End of Year Reports Prep - Grade 6

Christmas Stall

A huge thank you to the School Association and all of the parents who gave up their time to organise and run our Christmas Stall yesterday.

 This is a long-standing tradition at Illawarra Primary School and is loved by our students.

We were even fortunate enough to have Santa Claus, who in the non-festive season works for us as a Teacher Assistant called Peter McKenna, there to spread Christmas cheer.  

News from 3A & 3B

On Tuesday, 3A and 3B went on an excursion to see Alice in Wonderland at the Botanical Gardens.

The interactive play took them on a magical journey, with scenes staged around the gardens, making it feel like they were stepping into the story themselves.

A highlight of the day was seeing Joh and Layla take part in the performance, which had everyone cheering with pride.

The play was filled with funny jokes that had the students giggling, adding to the fun atmosphere. After the show, the group headed to the park for a delicious sausage sizzle.

From 3A and 3B

Grade 3/4 Illawarra Warriors

For most players it was their first introduction to netball, a very rules heavy sport.

However, our Grade 3/4 Netball Team were an outstanding group of girls, who each and every week, listened, learnt & put into practice on game day! 

They were polite, respectful to all & most of all had fun! They most certainly represented Illawarra School & themselves in an excellent manner! 

I know as Coaches we are incredibly proud & wish them a lifetime of friendship & fun hopefully on a netball court! 

Dani Reid & Kat Carmichael 

Robotics Competition

On Tuesday, 26 November our upper primary robotics extension students visited Kingston Primary School to compete in a sumo competition.  Our students worked in cross-school groups with students from Kingston Primary and Glen Huon Primary to build and program a robot that would push another robot from a ring. Students used sensors to locate the robots of other teams, as well as sensors to ensure that their own robot stayed within the boundary of the ring.   It was fantastic to see our students work so cooperatively and positively with students from other schools.

Michael Hayen

Assistant Principal

Cricket Gala Day

Illawarra sent two teams to the Huon Channel Girls Cricket Gala Day at the Twin Ovals on November 19^th.  Both teams had a great day playing games against schools from Margate, Cygnet, Franklin & Snug.  Thanks to Mark and Emily from High Performance Cricket, the Kingborough Knights Cricket Club and Kingston High School Students for running the day

Triathlon

On Friday 29^th of November we sent nearly 80 students to Bellerive for the Schools Triathlon Event.  We had much better conditions than the High School had to endure the day before so we managed to get the full event in which was great.  We had some amazing performances from both teams and individuals.  Also a number of students jumped in to help when a team was short due to a late illness or absence.  Well done to those who offered to Swim, Ride or Run again to help out another team!  A massive thanks to Mrs Ashlin and Mr Hayen who helped our teams and individuals to all get to their events on time and help organise bibs, numbers and bikes!!  Also to the large number of parents who braved the traffic and crowds to support our students.

School Tops

If your child has represented the school this year can you please check under beds…in cupboards…in school bags for any of the Illawarra School running tops and singlets?  We do try to collect them in after every event but sometimes it can be a mad rush in the rain or someone has just forgotten its on under their jumper and it finds its way home.  Even with a few new tops ordered this year we can still be short of a size or two at events.  Please return any tops to Mr Waugh or Mr Iles.

Tennis Opportunity

Illawarra have the opportunity for a group of students to be involved in a centre court Hot Shots demonstration at the Hobart International Tennis Tournament in January.  If your child is interested in being involved in this activity it will be on Monday January 6^th at the Domain Tennis Centre for a 10:00am start. All equipment is provided and students will receive some gear to take home as well.

If you are interested or would like further information please contact Mr Iles at warren.iles@decyp.tas.gov.au.  If we have enough interested students by the end of next week I will confirm our attendance.

Icy Pole Sale - Tuesday 17 December

Canteen Update

IPSA is excited to announce that we have a new canteen manager, Danielle Loenneker, starting in Term 1, 2025.  Canteen will continue to be on a Tuesday and will return to the previous format of a lunch service as well as counter sales. Danielle will begin by reinstating sushi week alternating with pie/sausage roll week, with the aim of increasing variety once she is settled in.  We will continue to use Spriggy for lunch orders.

Remember that to have a canteen it does need to be financially viable for IPSA, so please support both the lunch and/or the counter sales if you are able to do so. Counter sales are a fun way for students to become familiar with money and change and enjoy making their own choices on the spot. 

Summer Holiday Reading

Vacation Care

School Nurse News

Cotton Polo T-Shirt

Community Christmas Carols

Community Notices