The weeks have flown by and this will be our last newsletter for this term.  Term 2 has been a busy one with NAPLAN, our school writing seed, KDC, reading benchmarking, reporting and Parent Teacher.  Our reports were different this year based on the staged implementation of the new Communicating Student Progress policy and procedure.  Thank you to parents who attended Parent Teacher discussions, we hope you found them informative about your child’s progress and future focuses.  You will also get another opportunity to engage in Parent Teacher discussions in Term Three.

Progress towards our whole school priorities

Writing Priority

• Our writing inquiry with the Burnie cluster of schools is continuing to develop.  The focus continues to be centred around feedback and in particular bump up walls to build student agency in improving their writing.
• All teachers will have a writing goal in their Professional Development Plan by the end of the term.

Numeracy Priority

• Our numeracy inquiry with the Burnie High School feeder schools is progressing well. The focus is on the Big Ideas in Number.
• All teaching staff have had professional learning on Trusting the Count and Place Value.
• We have surveyed parents and Grade 3-6 students about the perceptions of numeracy and support needed.
• Grade 5-6 students have undertaken a Scaffolding Numeracy Assessment.
• Grade 1-2 students have been involved in assessment around misconceptions in number. Preps will be involved in Term 3.
• We have commenced an audit of our numeracy resources and begun purchasing these.
• All teachers will have a numeracy goal in their PDP by the end of the year.

 Inquiry Priority

• All classes have engaged in an inquiry unit based on our Term 2 whole school concept of Innovation.
• In Week 7 all teaching staff visited each other’s classrooms to present their inquiry journey and gain an understanding of how the concept progressed across the grades.
  • In Prep the focus was on unpacking what innovation means and being innovative and creative with box design and making, leading into the properties of materials.
  • In Grade 1 the focus was on exploring objects from the past, predicting their use and projecting into the future.
  • In Grade 2 they explored how schools looked in the past e.g. ink quills, chalk and blackboards, paper bags for lunch boxes. The students were very interested in how lunch boxes have changed over time and their culminating performance was to design a lunchbox for the future.
  • In Grades 3/4 they explored how and why music players, telephones, appliances and gaming devices have changed over time. They then looked at timelines for specific devices and were innovative projecting where they would go in the future.
  • Grade 5 investigated how innovation has solved problems over time. To conclude the inquiry, students designed an object that would solve a current problem in their world.
  • Grade 6 students explored innovations and the impact they have had on society. They were most interested in phones and social media.   This led to some provocations around the percentage of time children are spending on phones and social media and the impact of this.
  • The Kinders have been exploring innovation through our Learning Assets. Their inquiry was based on the concept of friendships and what does it mean to be a good friend.  

Original Poem Competition in the Burnie Eisteddfod

We had a number of students enter the Original Poem section of the Burnie Eisteddfod.

The poems have been judged and are now on display at the Burnie Arts & Function Centre.

A big congratulations to the following prize winners from SPS:

Grade 1

1^st ­Harper.  Harper also won Outstanding Poem from the Grade Prep-2 Section

With his poem entitled “Magpie”

2^ndLily.P

3^rd Joshua Jr

Grade 2

3^rd Amelia

GRADE 3

Equal 2^nd Jay

GRADE 4

Equal 3^rd Mia D

Highly Commended: Lilly M

GRADE 5

Equal 1^st ­ Bradley

Highly Commended: Saxon and Ever

GRADE 6

Equal 1^st Khan

Equal 2^nd Hunter

Term dates 

Reminder, the last day of term is Friday 8^th July.  I hope everyone has a fun term break and look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday 26^th July.  Monday 25^th July is a Professional Learning Day for staff therefore students do not attend.

Grade 6 Newsletter Editors

Grade 6’s PCYC Challenge

The Grade 6’s adventure continues as we go to the Burnie Aquatic Centre for the PCYC challenge with Jeff (an ex-army officer) where we have been involved in team and leadership growth through competitive army exercises.  On the first day we practiced leadership, communication (listening and talking), cooperation and teamwork. The second day was surprising because one team member was visually impaired with goggles that make you see rainbows where it was light, blurs your vision and makes you feel taller.  Three out of four teams made it through the obstacle course in under forty minutes and one team made it in twenty-one minutes, which is rare for the second day.  The other teams went extremely good as well with timing, leadership and guiding the visually impaired person. The Grade 6’s have one more day on Thursday this week in a tournament against other schools’ times to see how fast we can go under the cargo net.

Written by Jaxon, Mason, Bailey and Annie

School Football

The Somerset Primary School’s football team mixed with Grades from 4 to 6 and coached by Michael is going extremely well! The team has played Havenview/Romain Primary School at Somerset, Montello Primary School at Montello, Burnie Primary School at Burnie and Stella Maris at Somerset which was cancelled because of the bad weather. We have also played Cooee at Somerset and Romaine at Romaine. I have interviewed some students that are playing for the team, and this is how they are enjoying it:

Chet in Grade 6: Chet is really enjoying the games.  He thinks he is going pretty well and he thinks the team is going very well.

Mason in Grade 5: Mason is happy that you get to tackle in the games and is having lots of fun.  He thinks he is going good in the games and he said that the team is going super!

Zachary in Grade 4: Zachary is enjoying the games as well and loves the community around the team.  He thinks he is going well in the games and thinks the team is going great.  He also thinks it’s great that the Grade 4s are getting included and thinks that more should play.

Personally, I think that the team is going well and I am happy where we are going.

Reported by Jaxon