Dear Parents and Families,

The past two weeks have been busy, productive and exciting ones with students and staff participating in a range of events and excursions Including:

• A trip to the cinema for P-2 students;
• The Op Shop Volunteers joining staff and students for a school tour and morning tea;
• Year 9/10 Drama performances of Romeo and Juliet;
• Year 3 students ‘sleeping over’ in the PAC;
• A visit to the Kindergarten by the local SES;
• Newstead and Launceston College enrolments for Year 10 and 11 students,
• The second Annual Art Exhibition featuring student work from Art, MDT, STEM, Music and Drama;
• The secondary Athletics carnival, underway as I write this report.

Year 11/12 students are busily completing the last of their assignments before their year finishes next week. I would like to acknowledge Rebecca, Montana, Achounta, Annalissa, Scott and Ty on their successful completion of Year 12, thank them for their contribution to St Marys District School and wish them well in their future endeavours. Congratulations!

Over the past three weeks students have engaged in Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT). PAT assessments measure what students understand and help us to monitor progress over time.  This set of data is a requirement in Tasmanian schools and are in addition to National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).  PAT provides a useful set of data which assists at the whole school, classroom and individual level.  Thank you to Meg Burbury and Stephen Smith for co-ordinating the testing in our school.

While many of our Year 10 students have recently enrolled at Newstead or Launceston Colleges, which is an important step in their education journey, sometimes college does not meet the needs of everyone.  One of the options for students after Year 10 is the 11/12 program at St Marys District School. Currently we are finalising our course offerings for 2025. Please contact the school for more information. 

The Professional Learning Day last Friday, was busy and productive for our Staff.  Teacher Assistants worked together to complete Reading Professional Learning modules, whilst teaching staff spent the day focused on annual review work, including reflecting on current data sets and curriculum planning. Further analysis of the recently completed student, family and staff surveys identified the following strengths and opportunities, which will inform our School Improvement Priorities for 2025.

The day was a busy one, but it was also inspiring. Our teachers’ positivity, enthusiasm and motivation to be the best they can be and support every student to be known, safe, well and learning more each day is to be congratulated.

Kind regards,

Carolyn Watson

Principal

Our annual Art Exhibition, which was held last night, was bigger and better, with the inclusion of Design, STEM: 3D Printing, a Drama Performance and Music Performances by  our Secondary Students.

Please enjoy some photos of our Art Exhibition which was held on Thursday 7 November.

More photos, and winners will be included in our next newsletter.

On Monday 28 October, Prep/1A and 1/2A went on an excursion to St Helens. We visited the Easy Tiger Cinema and watched the Christmas movie ‘Elf’.

After the film we walked through the St Helens local precinct area to the St Helens Foreshore Playground where we ate our lunch and had a play in the playground.

All students are to be congratulated on their behaviour, attitude and the way that they represented St Marys District School with great pride, manners and respect.

On Wednesday 23 October, Kinder joined Building Blocks, our Launching into Learning families, St Marys Child Care Centre and St Marys Hospital Day Centre for an intergenerational Play Group at the St Marys Town Hall as part of Children’s week. The children invited an older person (grandparent or special friend) to join them at the event.

The children were very excited to walk down to the meet their special visitors and engage in some very exciting play experiences and morning tea. It was a very special day for Ren who was able to share this experience with his visiting Grandparents from Japan. Hannah whose grandparents live on the mainland face timed her Nan, Leonie who engaged virtually with Hannah and her Mum.

It was a very successful event. A big thank you to Tanya Greenwood and her team at Building Blocks for organising and including us.

On Wednesday 30 October Craig Freiboth and Matt Hoskinson kindly visited the school in the SES trucks. Kinder, Prep/1A and 1/2A enjoyed learning more about ‘community helpers’ and how important they are.

Wow! Such a great time was had at our Grade 3 sleepover. Starting with a wonderful swimming experience provided by our amazing Miss Bramich, where the students got to enjoy free time, playing with their friends and enjoying a range of equipment.

This was followed with afternoon tea of delicious cheese and crackers, outside games in the glorious sunshine and preparing sleeping bags.

Pizza and chips came next which was enjoyed by all students and staff with more energetic games, birthday cake to celebrate a birthday and finally a movie.

The next morning, we were all awake bright and early to enjoy breakfast with cereal and toast, tidying away our gear and having some free time before continuing on with our school day. With muffins, muesli bars, delicious rolls and lots of fruit, the students did not go hungry throughout the day.

Grade 3 you were amazing, and we are so proud of each and every one of you.

Thank you to all staff that made the experience such a memorable event.

Teresa Kirk.

These notices have been sent home to parents in the last fortnight.  If you did not receive one and would like to receive a copy of the notice, please contact the school office on 63 723 900.

PRIMARY

• Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival - Wednesday 20 November 2024
• Kinder -Grade 6 "Dance for the Fun" Performance - Wednesday 13 November 2024

....