Filter Content
Reports and Meet 2022 Teacher
End of year reports will go home on Thursday 9th December. The report envelope will also include classes for 2022.
Prior to reports going home, students will spend the afternoon in their 2022 classes. This opportunity to meet their teacher and classmates helps to ease student uncertainty and supports a positive transition. Please note, that some students can feel sad about being in a new room with new students, however, as parents we need to acknowledge their feelings but at the same time build resilience by highlighting the positives. We hope that all parents can support the placement of their child and know that all students will be taught by professional teachers who care deeply for each child’s education, safety and happiness. Teachers have spent many hours forming the 2022 classes, ensuring each student has at least one nominated friend and that each class is well balanced to support learning for all students. Once these decisions have been made it makes it very difficult to alter and due to this we will be unable to make changes.
2022 Australian Schools Plus Fair Education Grant
We are thrilled to let you know that we were successful in gaining a three year Fair Education grant of $250 000 with Burnie High School, Cooee Primary School and Burnie Primary School. The grant is funded by the Tasmanian Community Fund.
The primary improvement focus of the project will be to markedly improve Numeracy outcomes for all Grade 5-8 learners in the collective of schools, in addition to developing innovative ways to engage parents in their child’s numeracy learning. Even though the project is directed towards Grades 5-8, Numeracy will be a priority for the whole school.
This is very exciting collaborative project and we are very fortunate as the first Tasmanian schools to ever receive the grant.
Gaga Pit Fun
Last week we opened our Gaga Pit. It has been a very popular attraction with students either playing or observing and cheering on other players. It has been fantastic to see Grade 6 students taking on a leadership role to model and explain the rules, in addition to co-ordinating equal access.
The Gaga Pit has been an initiative that has spanned over a few years. The 2019 SRC began the fundraising process and then it was continued on by the 2020 and current SRC. This year we were very fortunate that the Parent Group was able to help the SRC in reaching the target to complete the project.
A huge thank you to Mr Haines for prioritising his time to build the pit.
Somerset Primary Art Expo
We hope you have enjoyed the online virtual art exhibition that has featured on Facebook and our Schoolzine app. I’m sure you will agree that we have some very talented and creative artists.
Artist, Mrs Annie Jones, had the very hard job of viewing all the artwork and then selecting the two artists whose work will be framed and displayed in our school for all to admire over future years.
The winning artists were:
Heidi with her colourful picture of Elmer the patchwork elephant.
Phoenix with spotlight on basketball using permanent marker and oil pastels.
Congratulations to these two students, you should be very proud of your amazing efforts.
25 Years’ Service to DoE
Congratulation to Cindy Mathewson for being recognised for 25 years’ service to the DoE. Cindy started at Somerset Primary in 1989 as a relief Teacher Assistant before gaining a permanent position. We are very appreciatative of Cindy’s dedication to Somerset Primary over the last 32 years. She is an outstanding Teacher Assistant and is committed to her role, spending many hours making resources and backing books at home.
Well done Cindy!
2022 Book and Uniform Collection Days
The school will be open for book pack and uniform collection on the following days:
Tuesday 1st Feb – 1.00pm until 6.00pm
Wednesday 2nd Feb – 9am until 3pm
Uniform balances will need to be paid on collection. Levy invoices will once again be deferred until mid-February, therefore we will not be taking payment for levies on these days.
Congratulations to the students from our grades 3 and 4 on their values certificates. These students have all demonstrated the value of To Grow: improving by always learning and finding better ways to do things.
POD 1
Well done to our Somerset Primary Netball teams for the Burnie Netball Association Spring roster. We thank our coaches Hannah, Janine, Kelli and Renee for the hard work and time they put in supporting our students to access netball. Our students show sportsmanship as they learn to play the game, win and lose – valuable life skills.
Prep – Grade Two
This term we started with a unit on skipping. As short rope skipping is a difficult skill for most children of this age, the emphasis was on gaining a smooth movement and experimenting with basic jump combinations e.g. side to side, forward and backward, jumping slow with a rebound jump in between them a continuous quick jump. The grade one and two children tried jumping with a partner in front of them and beside them.
The other skills we explored were all in a long rope, jumping and leaping the rope, running through the rope, running into the rope to jump, skipping rhymes and helicopter.
The children then participated in a week of water awareness lessons. In addition to progressing the children on with their swimming skills, it is also a perfect opportunity for those social skills of following instructions, keeping track of their belongings and the independence required to change before and after lessons.
As part of their water awareness, we discussed that as children, they should always have adult supervision in and around water and if uncomfortable in water, floating and waving to gain attention was the safest option. The children then practiced in the water, receiving an object that floats and using that for support. They also experienced being towed to the side with the weighted ropes.
Three – Four
The middle primary grades also started the term skipping, with running into the long rope from either side, jumping with a short rope in the long rope, using skipping rhymes, miss a beat, down the line and long rope running in and out, with a figure of eight and triangle.
With the short ropes we tried jumping with a partner in front, beside and various feet combinations.
THREE / FOUR EXPO
This year we decided to run our own in-house sports expo. The sports were Tae Kwando, Basketball, Soccer and King of The Court (lead up to volleyball). Unfortunately, the weather only allowed us to get three quarters of the way through all the sports, but the children certainly had fun with the three that they tried.
Five – six
The upper primary children skipped, they practiced running in and out of the long rope from either side, bouncing a basketball as they jumped, miss a beat, eggbeater, Double Dutch, all our friends, bounce pass to a partner in the rope and jumping a short rope within a long rope within an extra long rope.
Our short rope challenges, the same as the other grades required jumping in the rope and co-ordinating their feet to do other combinations (rather than conventional jumps), also manoeuvring the rope in unusual ways, e.g. holding one handle of the skipping rope with one arm under the knee of a raised leg.
Even though the CommBank School Banking program will not be returning to our school after this year, you can continue to make deposits into your child’s Youthsaver account through online transfers or at any CommBank branch. If you need further information please phone 132 221 or visit your local CommBank branch.