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Primary swimming
Over the last two weeks our Grade 3-6 students have participated in their Swimming and Water Safety Program as part of the Health and Physical Education component of the Australian Curriculum. This is a very important program for students and in particular for our community which is located close to beach, rivers and dams. During the ten day program students do not just focus on stroke development like they would in private lessons but more importantly focus on water safety. The water safety component involves practical experience that could save your child or other’s lives, for example:
- boat safety
- personal flotation device safety
- strategies to assist a struggling swimmer
- survival strokes (e.g. treading water, back float)
Book Week and Book Parade
We celebrated Book Week early this year due to a clash with Primary Swimming. During the week classes were involved in reading, sharing and responding to the shortlisted books. Each class then chose a book for students to respond to in a variety of ways. These have been displayed in windows outside each classroom, so if you get a chance please visit classrooms to view them. On Wednesday 14 August we held our annual dress up day. Once again I was totally amazed by the effort that parents, children and staff went to in dressing up as a specific book character and bringing their book along to share. Book Week is so important as it gives our community an opportunity to celebrate the love of books and reading.
This year we also held our bi-annual Book Fair with some fantastic books on display. A big thank you to Mrs Type-Farrell, Cindy Mathewson and Lynne Goninon for organising and running the fair.
SPS Little Big Shots
Over the next few weeks we are going to be celebrating our students’ talents by holding our own Little Big Shots. We have over 50 students from Grades 3-6 participating in the lunch time heats. It is fantastic to see the variety of talents our students have. So far we have had comics, dancers, singers, baton twirlers and a demonstration on how to care for witchetty grubs. We look forward to watching the remainder of the acts before we showcase the finalist in a special whole school assembly on the last day of Term 3 commencing at 1.45pm.
Staff Changes and Farewell
On Friday 30 August we will be farewelling our Groundsman, Mr James Woodhouse who after 20 years will be retiring from the Department of Education. I would like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge James for the wonderful work he has done at Somerset Primary to make our grounds look so neat and tidy. When I receive visits from members of the community and from the Department of Education, one of the first things people comment on is how well presented our outside environment is and this is due to the dedication James puts into his role. In addition to this I would also like to make mention of the extra things that James does to make our school such a special place, these include:
- mentoring some of our students and allowing them to help with outside tasks
- helping the Grade 6 students build and design the chicken coop
- getting the oval ready for carnivals, school footy and cricket
- being the starter at our running carnivals
- assisting on excursions
- building structures for the playground.
Students and staff will definitely miss James and we wish him all the best in his retirement.
Mr Stephen Haines will be our new Groundsman and we look forward to him joining our great team at Somerset Primary.
Hats
Based on the Cancer Council recommendations our new Sun Smart policy specifies that we need to commence wearing hats from the start of September. Can students please make sure they have their approved school hats ready for Monday 2 September.
eSMART week this year at Somerset Primary School will run from the 2nd to the 6th September. During this week students and teachers will have the opportunity to listen and learn all about staying cyber safe when online and the dangers associated with technology. Last year students really enjoyed these sessions and especially liked asking any questions they had.
Again this year we will be running an eSMART information session for parents on Thursday 5 September. The parents who attended last year were very surprised and amazed at the information shared during the evening. Many left the presentation feeling much better informed to make responsible choices about their children's access to technology and internet access. This year to maximise parent involvement we ran a poll to get parent input as to the most appropriate time to run the parent session.
Considering the response to our poll the eSmart parent session will be held from 6pm to 7pm in the Discovery Room, on Thursday 5 September. A notice about attendance has been sent home already. Please complete the attendance slip on the bottom of the notice and return it to the office by Tuesday 3 September.
Applications for the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) close on September 6 2019 for the current year. Please see the table below to see if you may be eligible. Forms can be collected from the school office or by going to:
Classes sharing in Monday's assembly are Kinder A, 1A, 3/4B and 6A. The assembly will begin at 1.45 and conclude at approximately 2.45. We look forward to seeing you there.
This season we've had a team in the under 12's J-League roster in Burnie. We had a mixed team of Grade 5 & 6's. Altogether we had 11 players on our side, but sometimes when we didn't have enough players, the other teams were nice enough to lend us a couple of players. We played lots of different teams from the Burnie region. We train on a Monday night and this has helped us to improve and win more games as the year has gone on. Because its the last year of J-League for the Grade 6's we encourage them to play for a club, either Burnie United of Somerset Sharks.
Special thanks to the 5/6 coaches Todd Clifford and Mathew Leeson.
By Nathan Poke and Finn Clifford
Just a reminder that uniform orders are due in by this Friday 30 August.
Term 3 |
|
Aug |
|
19-30 |
Primary Swimming |
30 |
Devon v Darwin (rep chn) |
|
|
Sept |
|
2 |
Assembly - Believe |
10-13 |
Grade 6 camp |
18 |
Cross Country |
25 |
Cross Country back up day |
27 |
Little Big Shots final 1.45 to 2.45 |
27 |
End Term 3 |
Term 3 | Monday 22 July - Friday 27 September |
Term 4 | Monday 14 October - Thursday 19 December |