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This will be our last newsletter for the term. Once again it has been a busy term with staff and students working hard on our learning and school priorities. Over the last two weeks the Literacy Team and members of the Leadership Group have been conducting reading benchmarking on all students in Prep to Grade 6. It has been fantastic to see the growth in our students’ reading and we feel that our school wide inquiry on guided reading over the last few years is starting to have a real impact.
Progress towards our whole school priorities
Writing Priority
- We have continued our writing inquiry with the Burnie cluster of schools. The focus continues to be centred around feedback and in particular writing conferences.
- All teachers have a writing goal in their Professional Development Plan.
Inquiry Priority
- We have developed our 6 Learning Assets and descriptors. These are displayed as posters in all classrooms. Teachers are starting to unpack these more with their class and use the corresponding language.
- All teachers have an inquiry goal in their Professional Development Plan.
- Last week the Leadership Team conducted a professional learning session based on thinking and metacognition. During the session we focussed on:
- How can we make thinking more visible in our classroom?
- How we support students to become more aware of their own thinking and strategies they use to think so they become more metacognitive?
- By being more explicit with the language of thinking, students’ awareness of strategies to direct their own learning grows and they become more independent and metacognitive.
Zones of Regulation
- All classes have posters on walls and use the language associated with the zones during daily check-ins or to help students regulate.
- Our next step is to develop tool boxes to help students self-regulate.
Somerset Stars
Burnie Eisteddford
This year we had several of our Grade 1-6 classes enter the Original Poem section of the Burnie Eisteddfod. We were thrilled to find out that we won the Inaugural Shield, with the most Primary School entries plus some fantastic individual winners. In total we won 6 gold medals, 6 silver medals, 4 bronze medals and 29 highly commended. Writing has been a whole school priority for 2020-2021 and it is great to see our students being recognised for their efforts.
We are proud of all students who entered and enacted our values of To Believe and To Dream and look forward to reading their poems. Below is a list of our place getters and we will present their medals and ribbons at our assembly on the 30th June.
Grade 1 1st – Indiana, 2nd Poppy and Matilda, 3rd Elizabeth
HC – Nixon, Cooper, Mason and Isabella
Grade 2 1st Jaiden, 2nd Nash, 3rd Colin
HC – Rocco, Lily, Chloe, Thorin, Ruby and Marli
Grade 3 1st Jordan
HC Zac
Grade 4 2nd Olivia
Grade 5 – 1st Annika, 2nd Rachel, 3rd Mason
HC – Chanse, Chad, Maddison, Hosea, Madison B, Toby, Alyssa
Grade 6 – 1st Darius and Sophie, 2nd Lucy, 3rd Phoenix
HC – Chase and Rihanna
Congratulations to Miller
Miller participated in the 2021 Tasmanian Primary All Schools Cross Country on Tuesday and placed 10th out of a field of 249 competitors and with just 50 seconds between first place and Miller. Well done
Last Day of Term
Friday the 2nd of July will be the last day of Term 2. Term 3 will commence on Tuesday 20th July for students as Monday the 19th is a Professional Learning Day. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays. I will see everyone on Tuesday 3rd August when I return from Long Service Leave. During the two weeks when I’m on leave, Mrs Amanda Lloyd will be Acting as Principal.
We’ve noticed an increasing amount of offensive language in the playgrounds and classrooms across the school. This is concerning and inappropriate for public venues such as the school. The language includes swearing and words that shame. Our culture at SPS is inclusive and therefore a zero tolerance will be in place for offensive language. Students using offensive language will be removed from the playground/classroom and parents will be contacted or notified by a message, phone call or restorative sheet.
Interestingly along with the offensive language is the link to students reporting they are accessing social media and/or apps that are inappropriate for their age. We encourage parents to be vigilant at checking what their child/ren are accessing online as well as discuss the use of appropriate language to use at school.
Parents who allow their children to use 13+ apps and online programs such as Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube (there is actually a Kids YouTube that is safe) and Roblox are exposing their children to things their children’s brains are not yet ready to cope with. Interestingly, many times when online issues occur parents report they are monitoring access, however, we know that children are savvy and find ways to access inappropriate content.
Congratulations to some of our Pod 2 Values Certificate recipients this fortnight - To Dream - a culture of high expectations and high achievements.
Football
It has been an exciting couple of weeks with the school football team. We have played Burnie, Montello and Romaine. There have been some good matches and the girls and boys are really enjoying it. We have been doing some practices at lunch to help the team get to know the game of football and to help everyone play as a team. Some of the boys have been interviewed to see how the team is going. Jacobi says that ‘’the games are going great and I really enjoy the way that training is going too’’.
The team is very thankful for Robert Burr giving up his free time on a Friday afternoon to coach the football game. The team can’t wait for more fun games to come ahead.
By Jesse
Mrs Lloyd Netball
What Grades?
In the beginning of the year only Grades 3 to 6 can do netball.
In second half of the year any child 8 years or older can play in the second roster.
Where is it played and when?
The Burnie Netball Association courts in Howe St in Burnie. Games are played Saturday mornings 8:30, 9:30 or 10:30
How many teams?
Depends on the time of the year. Usually there are two to three teams in the first half of the year, and four to five teams in the second half of the year.
How are they going this year?
We started with 3 teams but a lack of commitment by serval players has resulted in two teams. These two teams are inspirational. The commitment that the girls and boys display is admirable. They are playing well in their divisions. We thank the coaches and umpires for all the hard work. We also thank the parents for supporting their child with turning up to training and those cold Saturday morning games.
By River
During Term 2 the children have focused on developing/refining their level of skill, which contributes to their ability to participate in physical activity, competently and confidently.
Prep to Grade Two
The Early Childhood classes continued on with their work from the end of term one (beanbags) and practiced their manipulative skills with basketball and soccer balls and then moving onto tennis balls. The skills of throwing, catching, striking, rolling, fielding, and dribbling, both with their hands and feet were practiced.
Grades Three and Four
Grades Three and Four have spent the term using small balls exploring throwing, catching (both one and two hands), rolling and fielding. These activities were then a perfect base to practice striking skills, firstly with their hands, small bat, tennis racket and finishing with a two-handed strike using softball bats.
Grades Five and Six
The Upper Primary children explored numerous combinations of basketball dribbling. Bouncing one and two balls, various heights, speed, exchanging a bouncing ball with partner / small group and throwing and catching with a partner using one then two balls at the same time. They then watched a couple of videos of Chinese school children using these skills in a choreographed routine. The challenge was then for the children to form small groups of four, five or six and create their own routine. This required understanding and empathy of group members and their abilities, communicating ideas between each other, creating the routine and finally performing for the class. The last couple of weeks we practised soccer skills of dribbling, passing and kicking, finishing with some short futsal games.
Forty of our grade three to six children also participated in the NWPSSA cross country, held at Ulverstone.
Teamwork and co-operation are a major focus in all areas, with the children being exposed to a variety of group dynamics involving individual, partner, small group and team activities. Children are encouraged to demonstrate tolerance and respect for peers, rules, and equipment.
Our office is open from 8am until 3.50pm each day. You can contact us via the following methods:
Phone: 6435 1114
Mobile: 0419 583 998 (text only)
Via the Schoolzine App – see below for how to download