20 December 2016

Newsletter Articles

GRADE 10 GRADUATION DINNER

The Grade 10 Graduation Dinner was held at the White Sands Resort on Thursday 15th December 2016. Our students enjoyed dinner together at White Sands after being greeted by a large crowd of family and friends for the traditional arrival.

Our students all looked amazing and it was an opportunity for car enthusiast to see some great cars.

We wish our Grade 10 students every success for the future.

Grade 10 Graduation Dinner

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Grade 10 Graduation Dinner

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PRINCIPALS REPORT

We have had another good year where our results are continuing to show steady, strong growth. Our capital works funding was announced and we have now been informed it will commence earlier than anticipated. I have met with the department’s team and three different architectural firms to discuss decisions around which consultants we will choose in January for design and planning. Tenders for construction will go out mid-year. We also received minor works funding to upgrade our gym. This facility will be given a complete facelift, ready for use in early 2017. There will no doubt be some disruptions and some difficulties and challenges we will face during the coming year, but we know that the end result will be worthwhile. We ask that you continue to support us through these disruptions.

We often think about heroes and we talk about them as champions in their field and hats off to those sporting individuals, but we must also acknowledge and celebrate academic achievements. All students who received recognition for their effort and work this year are champions.

I attended the St Helens End Of Year Assembly and two of our 11/12 students received awards-: William Hurd -Merit Award and Melanie Guy - Academic Application and Encouragement Award.

Congratulations to everyone who has been recognised for any achievement in 2016.

School are a very complex environment. We have over 300 students, 70 staff and are accountable to our students, parents and community. With this comes a level of complexity. This year, on a personal level, has been both exciting and heartbreaking.

Schools are extremely busy places and more and more complex. Schools are always changing Schools are a place of learning and we are working with children to help them to learn, with every available means that we have at our disposal. I would like to congratulate all my teachers, all our staff, parent help and community members; everyone who has been involved with the school this year. A special thank you to the School Association for their generosity and support.

In closing I would like to say farewell and good luck to the following people

• Ruth Miller who is retiring – we wish her all the best.
• Charlotte Gray who is transferring to Launceston
• Linda Brown transferring to St Helens
• Fran Pietersma who is moving to Sydney
• Lucie Ellis on maternity leave at beginning of next year.
• Amy MacGregor – School Psychologist – transferring to Hobart
• Sam Kelly who is transferring to Winnaleah
• Lila Meleisea will work at the Child and Family Centre at St.Helens

Welcome to our new staff for 2017:-Bronti Cooke – Grade 3/4, Ellen Redden Grade 7-10 teacher, Claire Hadrill - Grade 7-10 teacher, Chelsea Feldmeier - School Psychologist, Hannah Coates – 7-10 Teacher. Caitlin McCartney – Primary Music teacher.

FINGAL CAMPUS END OF YEAR EXCURSION

Students from both Fingal classes travelled to Launceston for a day of fun and adventure.

We started at City Park visiting the monkeys and ducklings before heading onto Kids Paradise.

All students followed the school values of being safe, respectful and learners throughout the excursion as they have done all year.

Congratulations on a fantastic year students in K/P/1 and 2/3/4.

Fingal Campus Excursion

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Fingal Campus Excursion

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GRADE 6 TRANSITION DINNER

On Tuesday the 6th of December the Grade 6’s celebrated the end of their primary school years with a transition dinner. It was held in the school cafeteria which had been decorated in a black and white theme. Students began arriving at 4.45 pm and by 5 pm the party had begun. Miss Papworth and Miss French kicked it off with some inspirational and heartfelt speeches about each student. By the time they were over the students had worked up an appetite, and all students enjoyed the fantastic buffet that Janine, Roseanne and Emma had prepared for us. Mr Campbell then shared some words of wisdom before dessert was served. Afterwards there was dancing, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company (and laughing at Miss French’s attempts to shuffle). It was a lovely evening and fun was had by all who attended. A big thank you to Janine, Roseanne and Emma for organising the food and to all staff who helped with or attended the evening.

Gr 6 Graduation Dinner

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Gr 6 Graduation Dinner

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POETS ABOUND!

This year, Grade 9/10 students completed a unit on poetry in which they examined a variety of poems from different times before writing their own. To celebrate this learning, we held a competition. The standard of the poems received was very high, so much so that we were unable to decide on one winner and have instead increased and divided the monetary prize amongst the following poets:

Madison Thompson
Seth Tonks
Jemma Randall

Well done to our winners and to all Grade 9/10 students on their work this year.

COUNTRY GOLD CRICKET

The Country Gold competition in Launceston presents a fantastic opportunity for the East Coast young cricketers to compete against other cricketers within the same age group. This year saw the competition in its 17th year, and the East Coast side finally put their names on the trophy after taking out the final in a very convincing fashion on the 29th November.  The team was made up of students from around the region, however St Mary's District School had four representatives. Sam Jordan and Jakobe Tatnell contributed brilliantly with both bat and ball throughout the Carnival. Aaron Mason and Max Salter's outstanding cricket was recognised by being selected to train in the emerging Tigers squad. Well done to all who participated and helped achieve this fantastic result. A special thank you to Sam Kelly who managed the team throughout the competition.

Scott Bennett
Coach.

Country Gold Cricket

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Country Gold Cricket

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KINDER STUDENTS VISIT EAST COAST NATURE WORLD

On Friday 25th November, the Kindergarten class from the St Marys campus visited East Coast Nature World. Students enjoyed exploring the park and learning about a range of Australian Native Animals. The train ride was a huge hit with the children, as was holding a blue tongue lizard. Our favourite animals were the Tasmanian devils, the wombat, cheeky emus and of course the kangaroos who so patiently let us pat them. The play equipment provided lots of fun also. Thank you to the staff at Nature World for their engaging tour and the experience they provided. The students had a wonderful time and learnt a great deal.

East Coast Nature World

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East Coast Nature World

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TEDDY BEARS PICNIC

On Tuesday 29th November, children and teddy bears were seen taking over the St Marys campus school hall! St Marys District School hosted a Teddy Bear’s Picnic for our local Kindergarten children, from both the St Marys and Fingal campuses and Bicheno Primary School. This provided a lovely opportunity for children to interact with each other in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Children participated in a range of activities including craft, sandwich making, storytelling, role play and parachute games. A great day was had by all.

Teddy Bears Picnic

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Teddy Bears Picnic

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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THESE STUDENTS WHO WON CERTIFICATES IN THE PRIMARY ASSEMBLY ON DECEMBER 9TH

Kinder

Indiah Ackroyd -being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
George Austin - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Fergus Burbury - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Miles Chandler - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Billy Churchill - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Etta Cornelius - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Elise George - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Halle Gillies - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Lilly Jones - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Grace Legge - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Daisy McCullagh - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Sienna McGiveron - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Tia Nicol - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Theo Piscitelli-Cole - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Noah Smith - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Charlie Speers - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Cooper Sweet - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year
Claire Ward - being a great learner by trying their best and working hard during their Kindergarten year

Prep

Mimi Burbury - Being a learner by always trying her best in all areas of learning.
Shelby Gamble - Being a learner by always offering thoughtful ideas in class discussions
Laena Singline - Being a learner by making excellent progress in her writing
Emily Gillies - Being respectful by always being a friendly classmate and helping others in need.

Grade 1

Reuben Woods – Being a learner by making great progress particularly in reading
Marius Castor – Being a learner by consistently producing work of a very high standard
Rose Jones – Being a learner by working very hard to improve her reading and writing
Henna Bunton –Being a learner by working very hard to improve her reading and writing
Charlotte Robson – Being respectful by being kind, caring and a helpful class member
Wally Freiboth – Being respectful by being a great listener, always following instructions and being a kind, caring friend to his classmates
Jack Barnes – Being respectful by being a responsible and very helpful class member who helps to keep our class organised.

Grade 2/3

Cooper Jackson- being respectful
Helayna McGiveron- being safe
Lucas Guy- being a learner
Tysen Gamble- being a learner

Grade 3/4

Jayden Clark – Being a learner by consistently trying his hardest in all subject areas
Addison Borradaile – Being a learner by producing a fantastic PowerPoint presentation for History
Jack Cropp – Being a learner by improving his work ethic during Term 4
Katy Bond – Being respectful by always treating others the same way she would like to be treated

Grade 5/6A

Mahalia Baldwin - being organised and always completing her work on time.
Ellie Gamble - consistently demonstrating our key values and her hard work this term.
Chelsea Jackson - Always applying her best effort to her endeavours.

Grade 5/6 B

Keshon Anum- Being respectful by taking care of our classroom and being very active in cleaning up at the end of the day.
Mackenzie Woods– Being respectful by demonstrating kindness and a calm thoughtful manner.
Jayme King– Being safe by always conducting himself well in public and encourages others to do so.
Ruby Churchill- Being a learner and demonstrating this by writing an outstanding poem about A Willow Tree.
Jack Hendley – Being a learner by applying himself to his Around the World Geography task and achieving pleasing results.

Values Cards Winners 9th December

Emily Gillies – Be Respectful
Miles Chandler – Be a Learner
Noah Smith – Be Safe
Brodie Faulkner – Be Respectful
Zaylie de la Pair – Be Safe
Grace Legge – Be Respectful
Fletcher Mason – Be a Learner
Lilly Jones – Be a Learner

PREP AND GRADE 1 CHRISTMAS DINNER

What a joy it was to receive an invitation to join the Prep and Grade 1 classes for a sit down Christmas lunch. You could sense the excitement in the air as the day arrived. The children were busy during the morning with the setting up of the places for themselves and their guests, making sure the place mats were in place, the cutlery was set out correctly and that the seating arrangements were completed. As I walked into the room, the children excitedly guided me to my designated place and I was honoured to be seated next to Katie Jones.

Our waiters Mrs Bennet, Mrs Gray, Mrs Burbury, Colinda Smith and Clayton Speers dished up some amazing meals. We had pumpkin soup, roast chicken, vegetables and gravy and topped off nicely with pavlova and strawberries and chocolate ripple cake. Between eating, the children opened their bon-bons and wore the Christmas hats, regaled staff with bon-bon riddles and then covered Mr Campbell with their stickers. He wore the stickers on his face, over his glasses and even over his mouth – which made talking quite difficult.

This Christmas Dinner was one of the best that I have had for a long time and I would like to thank and congratulate all of the children and their teachers for an amazing job. Mr Campbell, Miss Smith and I felt privileged to be part of this event.

Miss Cook.

Prep – Grade 1 Christmas Dinner

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Prep – Grade 1 Christmas Dinner

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ST.MARYS DISTRICT SCHOOL

OFFICE NEWS

The School Office will be closed from December 21st 2016.

We will re-open on the 25th January 2017

2017 Book & Uniform Sales:

9.00am – 2.30pm Tuesday 31st January & Wednesday 1st February 2017 at St Marys Campus for students attending both campuses.

9.00am – 12.30pm Thursday 2nd February at Fingal Campus for students attending Fingal Campus

Prior to collecting books, parents will be required to complete their annual validation form. Please allow approximately 20 minutes for completion of the validation process. Staff will be on hand to assist you complete your forms. It is very important for us to have up to date contact and medical information for your child as soon as the school year commences and your co-operation is appreciated. If your child has asthma or anaphylaxis, an action plan must be provided by your GP or Specialist. Please bring this plan with you to book sales in order to complete the validation process.

Stationery and levies will be invoiced at the commencement of January. Parents are able to make payments by credit card over the phone prior to book sales. This will speed up the process on book sales day.

Stationery packs have been pre-determined by the teaching staff. This year staff have decided to retain all stationery items except for books requiring covering.

Each year, there are items that are retained from the previous year for the next year. If these items have been lost or broken you may purchase those on the day. Students on STAS will need to pay for any additional replacement items required.

UNIFORMS: LOWES School Wear have been the successful tenderer for the supply of school uniforms for St Marys District School. This means that uniforms will be able to be purchased directly from the company via an online store front (details will be provided early in the new year), their store in Hobart and in the near future, a store in Launceston. Lowes will be offering a uniform fitting and sales service at St Marys School on Tuesday 31st January and Wednesday 1st February where you will be able to try on and purchase uniforms directly from the company.