St Marys District School
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13 Gray Road
St Marys TAS 7215
Subscribe: https://stmarysdistricts.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

st.marys.district.school@education.tas.gov.au
Phone: 03 6372 3900

7 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

A big thank you to all our volunteers. Volunteers are an integral part of any organisation and your valuable contribution is greatly appreciated. A special thank you to our School Op Shop volunteers, we would particularly like to thank you for all the hard work that you do. A big thank you to Byron Beggs, Karen & Peter O’Toole, Mary English, Glyn Johnson, Anne Bennet, Ros Martin, Kerry Livingstone, Jane Appleby, Lillian McRostie, Kerry Whit, Jan Madden, Rod Drummond, Ingrid Mitchell, Lyne Piscitelli, Barbara McAllister, Jeanette Gilbert, Mick Neighbour & Andrew Wallace. Finally, thank you to the School Op Shop co-ordinator Janet Drummond who volunteers countless hours to ensure the successful management of the Op shop.

The students’ mid-year reports indicate some real progress occurring in our school. Teachers and students are to be congratulated for their accomplishments.

I wish to inform you that Miss Hannah French will be leaving us at the end of the week. In the time Miss French has been here we have enjoyed her collegiality and contributions to our school community. We are sorry to see her go and wish her well with her future plans.

A change of teacher will occur for the start of Term 3 and I am pleased to inform you that Ms. Lisa Cromb will be taking over the Grade 2/3 class until the end of the year. We welcome Ms. Cromb and are sure that the children will too. Ms. Cromb is already familiar with our Grade 2/3 students which will help to make the transition a smooth one. Ms. Cromb has been at our Fingal Campus while Mr. Kelly has been away on sick leave.

The responsible use of social media still seems to be a problem for some of our students. Please think before you place items on social media as it can be deeply hurtful for some of our students, especially when the whole picture is not clear.

I hope everyone enjoys the extra relaxation time during term break and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. Term 3 commences on Tuesday 25th July, for students. Teachers return on Monday 24th July to attend professional learning at the school, while other staff are attending their learning in different locations.

Kind Regards

Bruce Campbell | Principal

School Calendar

Sync Calendar

School Calendar

Term 4 Commences

All day

LIL 10.30-11.30 Kinder

All day

Pre Kinder Group 1 9-10am

All day

Grade 3 Sleepover

16 Oct 2025 - 17 Oct 2025

TasBGas Construction Skill Set Student interviews - Ref Tanya time tbc

All day

Construction Skill-Set Interviews

All day

HoL PL - KG, WI

All day

Kinder Excursion- St Marys Town Hall Children's Week

All day

Pre Kinder Group 2 9-10am

All day

LIL 10.30-11.30 Kinder

All day

NC/LC Enrolment Interviews

All day

Grade 9 Camp - CYC Blue Lagoon

27 Oct 2025 - 29 Oct 2025

Immunisation Catchups - if required

All day

Grade 5 Camp Rostrevor

29 Oct 2025 - 30 Oct 2025

LIL 10.30-11.30 St Marys Hall

All day

Pre Kinder 9-10am

All day

Transition visit 4 BPS Y6 to SMDS - OPTIONS Day

All day

World Teachers' Day 2025

All day

Student Free Day - Professional Learning

All day

Recreation Day (Northern Tas only)

All day

HoL Pyegana Dairy Co

All day

'Knock Knock' Performance K-4 PAC

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Kinder Excursion Serpentarium

All day

Pre Kinder 9-10am

All day

LIL 10.30-11.30 PAC

All day

Sporting Schools Surf Groms Gr 5/6

All day

Secondary Athletics Carnival

All day

PAC/Common Room closed for Student Exhibition Set Up

07 Nov 2025 - 14 Nov 2025

RYDA (Simmons Plains)

All day

National Theatre Company Water Literacy Performance 3-6 2.15pm

All day

National Theatre Company Water Literacy Performance K-2 1.30

All day

2025 Student Exhibition

All day

Year 11/12 EOY Lunch @TBC

All day

LIL 10.30-11.30 Kinder

All day

Inter-High Athletics @ St Leonards

All day

Pre Kinder 9-10am

All day

Recurring event

CONGRATULATIONS

Well Done to Darcey Scott and Tahlia Randall who represented our school in the State Cross Country.

ST. MARYS DISTRICT SCHOOL CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE TRIP 2017

Dear Parents and Community Members,

The St. Marys District School Cambodia/Singapore trip for 2017 will be leaving Tasmania on September 23rd and returning on October 6th.

We have three teachers and nine Grade 7-10 students travelling this year. We will again be visiting Donsava Primary School outside of Siem Reap and we will continue on with the work we commenced last year. The school have requested that we fund and build the front fence to complete the fencing work we commenced last year. Last year we completed three sides of the school fence, but unfortunately due to road works the front fence could not be done. The front fence will cost approximately $5000. Local families also used the school toilet facilities in the past. Due to the terrific fence which was built, four families are no longer able to access these facilities and the school would like us to support the community by funding the building of some toilets. Each toilet would cost $275. We will be commencing our fundraising efforts ASAP. There will be a number of fundraising activities undertaken.

  • We will again be conducting a monster raffle and we would like to ask our community to donate prizes for our raffle. If you know any community members who may be able to support us, please let us know. If you have any items you may be able to donate please contact the school office with a description of the item in the first week of Term 3. Raffle tickets will be sent home to all families on Friday 28th July.
  • We will be holding a garage sale, where we will be selling items which are surplus to the requirements of the school. The items will be advertised on our school Facebook page and a copy of items for sale will also be sent home. If you have any items you would like to donate for us to sell, please contact the school office. All proceeds from the garage sale will go to our fundraising efforts. Unless a reserve price has been stated, any reasonable offer will be accepted and items can be paid for and collected from the school. We will also be holding stalls at the local St. Marys market and information about the dates for these markets will be sent in a separate letter.
  • We will be holding other fund raising events and separate notices will be sent home closer to each date.

Your support of our fundraising efforts and Donsava Primary School is much appreciated.

GRADE 10 ENGLISH

Some fantastically effective literary devices: personification, simile, metaphor, alliteration and repetition which were produced by the Year 10 English class when they dabbled in descriptive writing!

  • The sun looks as orange as last night’s Indian curry (Jade)
  • Her blonde hair swayed in rhythm with the wind which made his heart skip.(Jade)
  • The way she would prance around in her garden would make any horse jealous! (Jade)
  • He is as strong as an ox and as silent as a shadow. (Matt)
  • He acted like a wise-weathered old king, with wealth and women. (James)
  • It was warm outside, a comfortable warm, a mother’s hug type of warm. (Sam)
  • Today she was getting her misery removed and her pride revived. (Sam)
  • He reminds me of a museum – look but don’t touch. (Liam)
  • Tommy was as fat as an over-grown watermelon on steroids. (Jack)
  • The tyres went flat and exploded like a Samsung S7 note. (Jerrome)
  • He saw the water flittering like a brilliantly decorated Christmas Tree. (Jerrome)
  • He was as happy as a tornado in a trailer park. (Jerrome)
  • Peter was fat. Peter had enough rolls to start a bakery. (Jerrome)
  • The sun was bright and warming like a mother’s hug. (Sara)
  • She was a whirlwind of stress and chaos. (Sara)
  • She walked with an indiscreet, irritating limp. (Sara)

KINDER – GRADE 6 CROSS COUNTRY

Although it was a little chilly, the K-6 Cross Country event was a colourful affair with students decked out in their House colours. There were some great results in all grade groups.

The Kinders lead the way, racing away along the fence line and disappearing up through the trees to appear again on the downward sprint to the finish line.

It was obvious the idea of a treat at the end was an incentive and some great runs were produced.

Thanks to the parents who supported their children, helped out with organising at the finish line and on the course. Also a big thank you to the senior students who helped show the way and encourage the younger runners, especially through the farm.

Final House Points were:

Dalmain

671

Duncan

517

Blackwood

411

The Primary results are as follows, with the first place getter being champion and the 2nd place, the runner up.

GRADE

1St

2nd

3rd

4th

KINDER

Jacob Erwin

Shiloh Faulkner

Oliver Hibberd

Ella Gillies

Levi Woods

Elka Woods

Sam Barnes

Emily Barnes

PREP

Miles Chandler

Halle Gillies

Fergus Burbury

Sienna McGiveron

George Austin

Lily Woods

Taz Bryant

Grace Legge

GRADE 1

Brodie Faulkner

Savannah Singline

Fletcher Mason

Paige Walker

Ryan Gorham

Bianca Freeman

Bailey Barnes

Emily Gillies

GRADE 2

Wally Freiboth

Mia Hibberd

Jaxon Harrison

Rose Jones

Byron Woods

Katie Jones

Max Gorham

Ruby Hoskinson

GRADE 3

Helayna McGiveron

Henry Legge

Tysen Gamble

Kayden Rigby

Will Diedrichs

GRADE 4

Amelia Mason

Ashton Gillies

Britney Webb

Lucas Guy

Bella Robson

Tyler Trivett

Dakota Singline

GRADE 5

Zoey Jones

Jimmy Freiboth

Addison Borradaile

Jack Cropp

Rebecca Harrison

Will Burt

Jessica-Lee Squires

Scott Barnes

GRADE 6

Ruby Churchill

Elvis Russell

Taylor Jones

Jack Hendley

Ava Lockwood-Roden

Jakobe Tatnell

Chelsea Jackson

Eric Trivett

SECONDARY CROSS COUNTRY

RESULTS 2017

Secondary Cross Country results 2017

1st Place

Duncan

376

2nd Place

Blackwood

313

3rd Place

Dalmain

294

CHAMPIONS AND RUNNER UPS

CHAMPIONS

RUNNER UP

Grade 7 Girls

Sofia Agostonelli

Kate Aulich

Grade 7 Boys

Darcey Scott

Aaron Mason

Grade 8 Girls

Tahlia Randall

Tara Guy

Grade 8 Boys

Brayden Singline

Ayden Cleaver

Grade 9 Girls

Anne Stewart

Breanna Singline

Grade 9 Boys

Sam Dufty

Sam Dufty

Grade 10 Girls

Isabelle Jarvis

Jade Kinnersly

Grade 10 Boys

Jerrome Smith

Sam Dufty

Cross Country 2017
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Cross Country 2017
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EAST – NORTH – EAST CROSS COUNTRY 2017

This year the Inter-school Cross Country was held at the Winnaleah Tree Farm course. This is quite a difficult course but most runners enjoyed the challenge – and the mud!!!! Our representative team was depleted by sickness but those who competed did so with dedication.

Although Ava Howorka and Alex Syka we too ill to compete at school they joined Helayna McGiveron to form a great Grade 3 team. Ava made it through to Symmons Plains and as our sole representative, ran a great race with 240 other Grade 3 girls.

Henry Legge, Tysen Gamble, Will Deidrichs and Lachlan Woods ran as a team and finished quite close together. The scores for runners increases with their places so the lowest score for the team is the best.

Ashton Gillies, Tyler Trivett and Liam Singline were our Grade 4 boy’s team.

The Grade 5 teams, Zoey Jones, Addison Borradaile, Rebecca Harrison, Jessica-Lee Squires, Jimmy Freiboth, Jack Cropp, Will Burt, Scott Barnes and Benji Bunton really understood the team work necessary, supporting each other and keeping close. Jack had some fancy footwork close to the finish but gained his balance and managed to pass another runner before they crossed the finish pad. Will had a spill in the cow paddock but was not phased as he kept up a good pace to the end.

Ruby Churchill, Chelsea Jackson, Coneeka Thow and Mahalia Baldwin really impressed with their team spirit, all finishing in the top 20. The Grade 6 boys, Jakobe Tatnell, Eric Trivett, Max Salter, Sam Jordan and Jayme King ran their hearts out with a very gutsy performance from Eric who made it through in the first 10.

This year runners were fitted with bar codes that recorded their times as they ran over the rubber pad at the start then again at the end.

Country Gold Cross Country
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Country Gold Cross Country
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PRIMARY PLAYGROUND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

A concept plan for the Primary playground has been recently developed in order to assist us with upgrading equipment and redeveloping the space.

The concept plan will assist us when planning maintenance budgeting in the coming years. The design has been created in a way that will allow us to progressively replace and upgrade play equipment and the overall environment.

We hope to make a start very soon with some of the groundwork for the playground (see concept drawing below), with the development of the track, deck, cube slide and play structure as well as a hills and hollows environmental playground in the infant section of the playground.

BAY OF FIRES YOUTH ART COMPETITION

Congratulations to Ayla Johnson who was runner-up in the 13-15 year old section of the BAY of FIRES YOUTH ART COMPETITION. Ayla received a prize of $60 for her mixed media board.

Excellent work, Ayla.

GRADE 3/4 COOKE

In Grade 3/4 we have been learning about Biological Sciences with a focus on how living things have life cycles. We have developed our understanding of the stages of life cycles of different living things such as insects, frogs and flowering plants. This week we have been conducting an “Ant Investigation” looking at how ants take seeds away from where they may have fallen off a plant and into their nest to germinate and start the life cycle all over again.

Helayna Mc Giveron

Grade 3-4 Cooke
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Grade 3-4 Cooke
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INTERHIGH CROSS COUNTRY

On Tuesday 20th June 2017 a small team of talented distance runners headed to Windsor Park, Riverside for the annual Inter-High Cross Country carnival.

After a delayed start due to a bus breakdown, we arrived to a wet, windy and very cold Launceston day. Perfect Cross Country conditions!! The event started with the Grade 7 girls as we handed back the shield from our win last year and tried valiantly to win it back again.

Well done to all students involved. We had some fantastic individual and team performances for the day. St Marys are in division 2 but they run both divisions together and separate students at the end of the race.

Darcey Scott - 2nd overall - 1st in Division 2
Tahlia Randall - 7th overall - 2nd in Division 2
Isabelle Jarvis - 3rd overall - 2nd in Division 2
Jerrome Smith - 6th overall - 3rd in Division 2

An extra congratulations to Darcey Scott and Isabelle Jarvis who received medals for finishing in the top 3 overall!!! What an awesome achievement.

Thanks to Ella Rowntree for running up an age group (Grade 10) and to Moochie Jarvis for her fantastic effort in the Grade 9 girls event as a reserve.

Our team finished fourth overall in Division 2 and our Grade 8 girls (Tahlia Randall, Monique Dufty, Tara Guy and Erinn Spilsbury) won the team pennant.

Top job team St Marys!!!

InterHigh Cross Country
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InterHigh Cross Country
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IN THE LIBRARY

Kinder students enjoying time in the library.

Kinder students have begun this year’s ‘St Marys District School Read To’ challenge. The challenge runs simultaneous to the Premiers Reading Challenge. The challenge promotes reading to children as it has been proven to enhance language, literacy, numeracy and overall thinking later in life.

Plus, it’s fun!

Library
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Library
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LUNCHTIME CONCERT

St Marys District School were extremely fortunate to have three performers from the up-coming Festival of the Voices Concerts visit and work with our 9/10 music class. Denni Procter, Zac Henderson and Ben Salter wrote songs and formed bands with the students followed by a lunch time concert which was enjoyed by the whole school. A special day for our school, allowing students to work with professional musicians. Thanks to Ange Boxall, FOV coordinator for organising this wonderful opportunity for our students via a grant she received.

Lunchtime Concert
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Lunchtime Concert
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Winter Farm Feast

The school farm held our annual Winter Feast at the Trade Training Centre on 22nd June from 5.00pm to 7.30 pm. The event was held to showcase some produce from the farm and to celebrate winter with a hearty meal and a get together with the school community. It was well supported by staff, parents, students and members of the community.

The food that was served consisted of:

  • platters of cheese, fruit, smoked fish, fresh oysters
  • a choice of soups - pumpkin or chicken and sweetcorn with fresh rolls
  • roast legs of lamb and roast rack of lamb with potato bake and lamb curry with rice
  • warm date muffins with cream

The atmosphere was friendly and very warming with great entertainment provided by Saree Salter, Georgia Buckinhgham and Lochie Aulich inside the building. They were fantastic! Fire pots were outside for a chat by an enticing fire on a cold night. Everyone had a lovely, relaxed evening enjoying both good company and good food.

We would like to thank everyone who supported the school farm by attending the event on quite a chilly evening. We would also like to thank the following people and businesses:

Hannah Papworth for decorating and helping out especially with her RSA so that the mulled wine could be enjoyed by some of the adults
Dylan Cooper - Tas Fire truck
Pete Symmons - smoked fish and oyster contributions
Pyengana Dairy - cheese contributions
St Marys Sports Centre - bain marie
Haley Gilbert – cooking
Hannah Papworth – decorations and mulled wine
Nick Wardlaw - music

Bill Hunt, Mandy Francis and Craig Freiboth
Farm Committee

LIFT

Learning In Families Together

Feed Me a Story cooking with Grade 1/2 Bennett has been loads of fun. Students have discussed healthy food options and tasted twelve recipes, giving each recipe a rating out of 5 stars. It is our hope that these tried and tested, lunchbox-friendly recipes may offer students some extra options for their lunchbox. Thanks to the parents who came in to assist their children cook, often at short notice. Students love sharing learning with their parents and we certainly had lots of excited and proud Grade 1/2’s!

Games Lending Library: A request that any outstanding Games Surveys please be returned to your child’s teacher (Prep to Grade 2). The feedback will help shape our Games Lending Library so that it works well for all families. Thank you to those parents who have already returned surveys.

Lift are collecting bottle tops (all sorts), ring pulls, washed icy pole sticks, bread ties and twists, feathers, shells, glass stones, unwanted beads, thin small shapes of timber (offcuts), unwanted coins (2cent,1 cent) or anything small that could be recycled into a piece of collage art. These items may be left at the school office.

Cooking
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Cooking
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SPORTING SCHOOL SOCCER PROGRAM

Prep students participated in our Sporting Schools Soccer Program over the past three Friday afternoons. Our Learning Intentions were: to play together as a team, to develop our ball skills -controlling the ball using our feet, and to have active fun. Jack Foreman was our wonderful, patient, soccer coach and we had fantastic parents who came in to help with the event. We all learnt some soccer skills, ball tricks and had fun playing soccer together. It was wonderful to see the increasing resilience of students over the three weeks. Students who struggled with various skills were absolutely thrilled when they eventually succeeded! Such big smiles and cheers of celebration when a goal was kicked, a trick was learnt or the ball went where they intended. The Preps were very keen to chase the ball wherever it went, however, by the third week, students were also beginning to realise the importance of passing the ball to team mates and working together for a combined effort to score a goal. A super fun way to spend Friday afternoons. Thanks to all involved, especially the students who never gave up trying!

Soccer
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Soccer
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ART INQUIRY BASED ON TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ARTISTS

Students from Grade 4 to Grade 10 were given a project in Art that was created to meet the Visual Arts band description for the Australian Curriculum. The Grade 6 students will be presenting their artwork at an exhibition at the Art Schools, Academy Gallery in Inveresk, Launceston in September and October. The art inquiry will also be presented to an Australian Curriculum for the Arts meeting at the University in September by Jill Lewis.

The students were taught about the Torres Strait Islander Peoples, mainly focussing on two artists, Glen Mackie (or Kei Kalak) and Daniel O’Shane. They learnt that their symbolic patterns are often used for different purposes, meanings and interpretations as they represent different views, beliefs and opinions. All students really enjoyed the lesson and the ideas that they learnt are already influencing the work they are producing in Art.

Indi Tonks
Grade 9

Dakotah Thomson
Grade 9

Chloe Malley
Grade 8

Ayla Johnson
Grade 8

Alyssa Cook
Grade 8

Ava Lockwood-Roden
Grade 6

Darshini Barnes
Grade 6

Sophie Guy
Grade 10

Amelia Mason
Grade 4

Jazmyne Dawson
Grade 5

Shyann Wheldon
Grade 9

Rearna Trivett
Grade 8

Lani Haas
Grade 7

Tiarna Cordwell
Grade 8

Mason Bucknell
Grade 9

NAIDOC WEEK

ya pulingina

On the 27th June 2017 primary students from both campuses and Grade 5/6 from Bicheno Primary School spent time participating in a day to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures. The focus this year was “Languages Matter.” Many of the activities were around reconciliation, art work, ingredients used in traditional cooking, games played by Indigenous children and board games using symbols commonly found in many areas of Australia. As part of our Acknowledgement of Country, students use the dual names of Ben Lomond/torbunna and St Patricks Head/lumera genena wuggalina. When talking about some Tasmanian places, older primary students have been introduced to the palawa kani names for example Tamar River/kanamaluka, Mt Wellington/kunanyi and Mt William/wukalina. Numbers from one to ten have also been shared. We were not able to engage an Aboriginal person to work with our students this year so we were not able to offer more authentic activities. Many thanks to the staff and parents who supported this day.

NAIDOC
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NAIDOC
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FINGAL CAMPUS

Building Blocks visited the Fingal Campus to introduce the Kinder/Prep/1 class to some Indigenous art, materials, stories and processes in the lead up to NAIDOC Week. We had a wonderful time and learnt so much.

We were also lucky to have local Aboriginal elder Kerri Webb visit the class to share her own experiences as a Tasmanian Aboriginal.

Fingal Campus
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Fingal Campus
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