Thursday 27 March

Principal Report

Huon and Channel Schools Athletics Carnival

On Wednesday, Illawarra Primary School took out first place overall in the Huon and Channel Schools Athletics Carnival!

A huge thank you to our incredible PE teacher, Warren Iles, for his outstanding organisation of the event and for preparing and mentoring our students to perform at their best. His dedication and support played a key role in this fantastic achievement. This was a wonderful display of sportsmanship, courage, determination and growth from our students. Congratulations, to all our athletes!

NAPLAN

From the 12^th to 21^st March, our Year 3 and Year 5 students participated in NAPLAN assessments, demonstrating resilience, focus, and a commitment to doing their best. These assessments provide valuable insights into student learning and help guide our teaching practices to support continued growth.

A huge thank you to Michael Hayen for his coordination of the NAPLAN process. His organisation, attention to detail, and calm leadership ensured everything ran smoothly—from scheduling tests to supporting students and staff throughout the assessment period. Michael’s dedication created a positive and supportive environment, allowing students to approach the tests with confidence.

This year, our students at Illawarra Primary School successfully completed over 400 assessments across the four key areas: Writing, Reading, Numeracy, and Conventions of Language. This is a tremendous achievement, and we commend all our students for their effort and perseverance throughout the testing period.

Finally, a big well done to our Year 3 and Year 5 students for their perseverance and positive attitude. Regardless of the results, NAPLAN is just one snapshot of their learning, and we are incredibly proud of their efforts and achievements.

School Association AGM – 2 April 2025

On Wednesday, 2 April, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting (AGM), followed by a general School Association Meeting in the Staffroom from 7:00 pm. We strongly encourage you to come along and see what the School Association is all about.

This year, we have two vacancies on the executive committee, and we are actively seeking a Community Representative and Vice Chair. Nominations are due to the Returning Officer Cassie, our SBM, in the office by end of day tomorrow 28.3.2025.

If you are unable to attend in person, you are warmly invited to join virtually via Microsoft Teams:

🔗 Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 459 659 327 607
Passcode: VC2Wp2xa

Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing you there!

Kristy Hay

Principal

Upcoming Events

Value Awards - Courage

Congratulations to the 'Courage' award recipients. These awards will be given out at the next assembly which will be held on Tuesday 1 April 1:45pm start.  Parents welcome to attend.

Gabriel C - Gabriel always demonstrates a love for learning and of our school, even when he’s outside his comfort zone. He’ll always give something new a try and usually succeeds. If for some reason he doesn’t get what he’d hoped for, he does what many people don’t – he Courageously thinks carefully about what he’s learnt from trying and tries to grow as a person. A wonderful attitude Gabriel!

Lily L – Lily is the first person to volunteer for anything. She’s always cheerfully helping out and giving new things a go, even if she’s never tried them before. Lily always reflects on everything she does and will never give up, which shows great Courage and tenacity. What an excellent can-do attitude Lily!

Lohan K - For the Courage he has shown with his learning and when making friends at Illawarra Primary School.

Lohan K 의 Illawarra 초등학교에서의 학습과 친구를 사귈때 보여준 용기에 감사드립니다.

Chloe J - For the Courage she has shown when attempting all learning tasks in all situations.

Lachie W – Having the Courage to take risks with his work and for showing courage to take responsibility for his learning.

Audrey M – Having the Courage to share her ideas and opinions with her class and take risks with all of her work.

Ivy M - Showing Courage in having a go, thinking carefully, and joining in discussion.

Tilly O - Showing Courage by always participating and joining in, even when something is difficult.

Emilio M - Emilio has shown the value of Courage for consistently trying his best and actively contributing to class discussions. He always maintains a positive attitude to his learning. Well done, Emilio!

Josephine N - Josephine has shown the value of Courage by accepting the challenges given to her. She embraces all learning tasks with a positive attitude. Well done, Josephine!

Blair G - For demonstrating Courage by consistently trying her best, actively participating in class discussions, and embracing every learning opportunity. Blair always puts in her best effort, perseveres through challenges, and maintains a positive attitude toward her learning. Well done, Blair!

Bailey R - Bailey has demonstrated the value of Courage by putting in a great effort to strengthen his times tables recall and improve his reading fluency. Well done, Bailey!

Toby N – Toby had the Courage to negotiate the price of his item he purchased on our tip shop excursion. He used polite persuasive language to get a bargain.

Emerson M – Emerson has been working on his reading fluency and has voluntarily read our novel out loud for the class. Emerson has improved his reading fluency results by 9% in words per minute and 3% in accuracy.

Ethan L - For showing the value of Courage by overcoming his nerves and putting his acting skills on show when helping to demonstrate a fluency task for the class.

Kiah M - For showing the value of Courage by becoming more confident in sharing her thoughts and ideas during class discussions throughout the term.

 Chloe W - For always having the Courage to embrace any new challenges that school may present her.

Shinji V- For always expressing his opinions and the Courage to stick to his beliefs and values.

Previous Courage awards recipients - Award already received

Ava G - For showing Courage. Ava is brave by sharing her ideas and understanding to the class. She also looks out for her peers and supports them when needed.

Rafael A - For showing Courage. Rafael is always willing to support his peers and teacher by offering his stories and understanding in classroom discussions. He is brave as he extends himself in his learning by trying new skills and being willing to make mistakes.

Loose Parts Playground

Waterproof trousers/overalls wanted

We are looking for donations of waterproof trousers/overalls to fit kinder sized kids (size 4-6).

Our kinder students absolutely love exploring in our mud kitchen, but our kinder families do not love all the washing!

If you have anything suitable that your children may have outgrown, they would be very gratefully received. 

Thank you-the kinder team. 

Kellie & Tracey

Grade 6 News - 6A & 6B

We had such a fantastic day out for our first 2025 excursion as a Year 6 team.

The staff took us for a tour of the South Hobart Tip Shop, explaining all that they do.

We then donated and purchased with so many fabulous bargains.

Following this we had lunch and a great time at Kingston Park.

Thank you so much to Kate, Jasmin, Louise, Derek and Casey for joining us.

We were both very impressed with the students and even received compliments about how wonderful they were from the public and the staff at the tip shop.

Miss Andrews and Mr Bloor

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Huon & Channel Athletics Carnival

Yesterday a team of 47 students headed to the Huon Channel Athletics Carnival to represent Illawarra against 5 other schools in the A Division.  It was a great day of athletic competition, with all students giving their best in great conditions.  The team showed a high level of ability but also supported each other by filling any gaps in events and watching and cheering each other on.  There were some amazing performances from our athletes and there were huge cheers when the final points were tallied up and Illawarra finished in first place. 

Well done team!!

Thanks to our large crew of supporters who came to cheer us on….and provide some much-needed refreshment as the sun came out.  It was great to see so many people there to encourage our team.  A big thanks to Mrs Ashlin and Mr Waugh who helped get all our athletes to their events and assisted with our tasks for the day.  And thanks to all of our team members who gave their best and supported each other all day.

Warren Iles

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Tasmania Reads

6A got very creative during the week showcasing examples of different ways to enjoy a book! 

Easter Raffle

🐣 Wouldn't winning one of the Easter Bags jam-packed with treats be amazing? If you're a great ticket seller, there are still plenty of books available at the front office.

Please remember to return your Easter Raffle tickets and money to your child's classroom teacher by Friday, April 4th.🐰

Also, mark in your calendars for Free Dress Day this Friday, March 28th! If you wear free dress, please bring an Easter egg to donate.

Thank you for supporting the Jumping Jacks Easter Raffle!

**Important Dates:**

**Free Dress Day: Friday, March 28th.

**Raffle Ticket Return Date: Friday, April 4th.

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea

Anxiety and School

What do you do when your child says they don’t want to go to school?

It’s so hard to see your child feeling unhappy about going to school. It can look like: being unusually quiet and reserved, a sad face and maybe tears, or agitated and aggressive behaviour, like hitting.

At the heart of many of these scenarios is your child’s worry or fear about something that may occur during the school day. It could be to do with learning (maybe they are struggling with reading, or maybe there is a test or performance), friendships (maybe their usual friends are away or there has been some kind of conflict), the school environment (maybe they find school too bright, too loud, or too busy), or something else. It might be a one-off worry, something that has been there a long time or something that comes and goes.

What to do?

• Listen: find out more about why they think they’re going to have a bad day at school.

• Validate: show that you understand why they are feeling that way given what they think is going to happen.

• Explore: when you consider what is known about the situation, is your child’s worry likely to come true? 

• If it is, then brainstorm and problem-solve: how can the problem be dealt with? It’s okay to help your child fix their problem, you don’t have to insist that they deal with it alone. Try to find ways that they can be active in fixing the situation though and let them choose the solution where possible.

• If it is not likely to come true, explain why the evidence suggests that their worry is not likely to happen. Help them understand the difference between thoughts and reality. Help them think of ways to feel calm even when they are having anxious thoughts. 

• Don’t let your child stay home. Although they will feel better in the short-term, they will learn that avoiding their worries feels good, which does not fix the problem and can make it harder to face worries in future.

This is general advice and may not apply to every situation. Please ask for help if you need it. You can get help from your GP, the school, private psychologists/mental health social workers, books and reputable online sources, like:

https://emergingminds.com.au/   

https://brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au/

https://coolkids.org.au/login

Lesli Hokanson MacKinnon

School Psychologist

Every School Day Matters

We are seeing a huge increase in parents signing out their children early or arriving late due to a number of different reasons. We understand that not all appointments can be made after school, but when a child leaves early or comes in late it really does impact on learning, as well as interrupting the class.

TAKING HOLIDAYS DURING TERM TIME 

As a school we recognise that there are times where students will travel during the term, and that travel can have many positive benefits. 

However, it is important to consider the potential effects on their education and development.  

Missing school can disrupt a child’s learning routine, leading to gaps in knowledge and skills that can be difficult to catch up on later. 

Repeated absences for family holidays during school time can also accumulate and lead to significant learning challenges. Children who miss school frequently generally find it harder to keep up with their peers, resulting in lower academic achievement and increased stress when they try to make up missed work. Additionally, long-term absence can affect social development, as students may miss key interactions with their classmates, potentially leading to feelings of isolation. 

Similarly, regularly missing Fridays for extended weekend trips can have the same impact. A child who misses two Fridays every term will miss over a term of learning by the time they finish Grade 6. 

Parents Association AGM

Book Club Issue 2

Scholastic Issue #2 is here with another selection of fantastic titles for all our excited readers!

It's packed with hundreds of books from just $3 to help you on your child's reading journey.

Orders from this catalogue are due back by Fri 28th March so please get yours in as soon as possible.

Remember if you use the Scholastic online LOOP website to place your order, you get reward codes for future catalogues - if you placed an order online from Catalogue #1, don't forget to use your $5 discount code on this catalogue.

Literacy Boost

Community Events