Well, we have come to the end of another very busy term for staff and students.  It has been great to have things return more or less back to normal for us while on school grounds.  We do miss the parent contact and having the opportunity for you to celebrate our special events and achievements with us but we hope you still feel connected through Class Dojo, Facebook and our Schoolzine newsletter.

Update Term 4

Moving into 4^th Term things will still stay the same with the Department of Education continuing to take a cautious approach with guidance from the Health Department.  Some certainties at this time:

• Venue density and social distancing for adults is still applicable. This means that we are unable to host large gatherings of adults on school sites.
• Adults can do Parent Help, however, you will be requested to fill in a COVID screening sheet and wear a volunteer sticker before proceeding to the classroom.
• The Grade 6 leavers’ events will take place on their original dates with some slight adjustments (Leavers’ Assembly 14^th December at 1:00pm and Dinner on 16^th December). An information sheet will go home early in Term 4 with up to date details.
• We are still in the process of brainstorming what our whole school performance assembly will look like. So please stay posted via Facebook and Schoolzine newsletter.
• The parent group have some plans in place so we can also proceed with the Christmas Lunch on the 8^th and 9^th of December.
• End of year reports will be the same format as 2019 and will go home on the 10th December.

Cam 2.5 and Cross Country

On Thursday 17^th September we held our annual Cam 2.5 with Cooee Primary and our shorter cross-country event for our Early Childhood students. Our Kinder children braved the cold on Wednesday afternoon so they could all take part and run together.

Before the events started I spoke to everyone about some of the focuses for the day, these included:

• Giving best effort rather than being the best (To Believe)
• Setting individual goals or challenges (To Grow and To Dream)
• Displaying sportsmanship (To Respect)
• Having fun.

 It was fantastic to see the students trying their hardest and finishing with a smile on their face.  Some real highlights:

• I was particularly impressed by a number of students who competed for the first time or took the challenge of doing 2 laps.
• A couple of students fell over early in the race but they did not give up, they got up and kept on running.
• Our Sport’s Leaders did a wonderful job, helping with the recording and supporting our younger students to complete the course.

A big thank you to Mrs Evans for her hard work in organising the event so it could run smoothly.   

Congratulations to Bass and the following place winners:

Please click on our photo gallery to see the awesome photos taken by Mr Jones.

Somerset’s Little Big Shots

Throughout this term we have had over 50 students participating in Little Big Shots.  The students have been very keen to showcase their talents and share some of their outside school interests.  This year we have been entertained by: magicians, baton twirler, dancers, singers, gymnasts and a world record handball attempt. 

Little Big Shots is a wonderful opportunity for our students to enact our values of BELIEVE/COURAGE, DREAM and GROW.  I am always amazed at how courageous students are at getting up in front of an audience to perform in addition to demonstrating resilience when things don’t always go to plan.

Our value of RESPECT was displayed by the audience giving appreciations and encouragement, in addition to our student judges’ thoughtful and considerate feedback.

Congratulations to our finalists:

• Nadia – Singing
• Summah – Gymnastics
• Erin – Irish Dancing
• Freya, Ruby and Georgie – Dance/Gymnastics
• Ella, Lila, Aylah, Shukuya and Anina – Gymnastics
• Giarna – Dancing
• Annie - Singing
• Mason, Maverick, Charlie and Ollie – Handball world record attempt

Our final will be held tomorrow, Friday 25^th September to celebrate the end of Term 3.   

I hope everyone enjoys their break and are refreshed ready for Term 4. 

Gymnastics

This term all classes have been working through a unit of lessons for gymnastics and circus skills. Within each lesson, activities involved the movement patterns of landing, statics, locomotion, balance, rotation and springing. Each lesson has a strong emphasis on confident body management, with an integral part of the children’s interaction with each other, to follow and adhere to safety considerations.

Swimming and Water Safety

Children in Grades 3 to 6 participated in the ten day Swimming and Water Safety Program.

Prior to this the children worked through a theory lesson in preparation. Topics covered were:

• Safe to least safe places to swim and what makes a body of water least safe.
• Aquacode – swim together, float and wave, reach to rescue
• Hyperthermia
• Conservation of heat and energy
• Use of lifejackets
• The most important person in a rescue being the rescuer
• Lifesaving strokes versus swimming strokes

With the campaign to follow, the practical skills of stroke development, water skills and water safety drills, are then developed to suit each individuals stage of development.

Marine Safety Tasmania also talked to the children at school, covering all aspects of safe boating.

Cross Country

A team of our long distance runners travelled to Ulverstone in week eight of term to participate in the North West Primary School Sports Association (NWPSSA) cross country. The children did themselves proud with their efforts, with four children gaining top ten placings.

The term will culminate with the school cross country event for all children. Long distance running is challenging and for this reason the primary children can nominate to run the medal event (two laps ) or fun run ( 1 lap ) to allow all children to participate at a level they feel confident in. All participants from Prep to Grade 6, then earn house points to determine the winning house.

Congratulations to the following students who were recognised at our assembly for their awesome home reading. A special congratulations go to three of our students who have reached 200 nights reading. Well done to Destiny (2A), Kip and Koby (3B).

We have one more assembly next term where we will acknowledge students who have reached 50+ nights reading so there’s lots of time to be reading at home and get a reading certificate.

Remember, reading at home can take lots of forms; reading a picture book, a home reader, the newspaper, being read to by an adult or older sibling or taking turns reading with someone. The main thing is to make it an enjoyable time for everyone.

This year’s theme is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds and we can’t wait to see some curious and wild creations at our dress up day on the 21^st October. Book Week dress up is a chance to share your favourite character from a wonderful story. Costumes do not need to be purchased or extravagant. Something homemade or reused is wonderful. Children are welcome to dress up but do not have to.

Here are the winning poems from the recent Burnie Eisteddfod. Please enjoy reading them.

We have an overflowing basket of unnamed lost property. These items will be washed and rehomed if they are not collected by the end of this term. If your child is missing a jacket (mostly not school jackets), long sleeve shirt, shoes, toys, jewellery and many other items please come and check our basket.

We are preparing for the return of “normal” canteen for term 4.

Some slight menu changes remain to support Covid management however many items will return to the menu in Term 4. A menu will be sent home with children on Friday.