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

10 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Welcome back to school for Term 3. It has certainly been a busy couple of weeks and we have been pleased to see the settled manner in which students have engaged with their learning.

In the first week we were fortunate to be visited by members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for public works who conducted a visit of our facilities in preparation for our upcoming $5 million redevelopment.

Our visitors enjoyed meeting out Grade 10 student leaders, who were a credit to our school, both in their personal presentation in their school uniforms and the manner in which they interacted with the members of Parliament.

This was a formal hearing and the transcript will eventually appear on Hansard. Our student leaders also attended the hearing and were able to see staff being sworn in as witnesses and testifying before the committee. We are now waiting for final approval of the works prior to commencement. Plans will soon be sent to council for building approval. Staff and students will also be asked to give feedback regarding the “finer details” of the plans and we should soon have a commencement of works date.

The works will result in some changes to classrooms and administration and we will alert you to how these changes may impact on students, staff and community members as we move closer to the works starting.

What a wonderful opportunity for our community to have 21st century facilities for us all to enjoy.

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

Charlize Speers submitted a book review for The Book With No Pictures. Her review has won a $15 book voucher which can be used at a number of online bookshops.

FINGAL CAMPUS

END OF TERM 2 EXCURSION

To celebrate the end of Term 2, students in the K/P/1 and 2/3/4/5 classes visited the new bike track at the Fingal Park. A big thank you to the parents who cooked us a BBQ lunch, played football and soccer, brought kids bikes along and generally helped out. It was a great day despite the cool weather!

Fingal Campus
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Fingal Campus
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KINDER - CAMPBELL TOWN SHOW

Bentley

Calib

Cohen

Cooper

Elka

Ella

Emily

Hamish

Jacob

Judd

Oliver H

Oliver J

Sam

Shiloh

BAY OF FIRES ART COMPETITION – KINDER

Congratulations to the Kinder children for their collaborative media art work for the Bay of Fires Art Competition - Class Winners

DRAMA DAY 2017

Drama day… talk about an entertaining experience! From the moment the St Helens’ students walked in the door, we knew we were in for an exciting day. Of course, this exciting day could never happened without the wonderful support from our Drama Day sponsors, Hub4Health. Thanks must go to both Hub4Health and the hospitality students, together with Mr Piscitelli who cooked us a delicious lunch of pizzas! We would also like to thank Mrs Jordan and all St Helens’ Drama students, as without them Drama day wouldn’t be nearly as fun!

From the moment the first act began, right through to the last act, the whole audience was in stitches with laughter. A St Helens performance, ‘Tassons’, starring Taj, Jackson, T.J and Cass won the Grade 6-8 division, with a St Marys group featuring Monique, Bridie and Evelyn named ‘Lost and Found’ coming in second place, and Sophia, Lexi, Celeste, Tom and Nathan’s performance coming in third. St Marys won the Grade 9-10 division with the winning performance ‘The Feeling’ starring Liam, Sara, Laura, Sam and Lolita. The winners and the rising stars of the day received movie tickets, able to be purchased thanks to the wonderful support from Hub4Health. Our rising stars were: Sam, Liam, Matt, Tom and Monique. All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous day!

Monique, Evelyn and Bridie

V for Victoria
Tom, Nathan, Sophia, Lexie and Celeste

The Feeling
Sam, Liam, Sara, Laura and Lolita

One of our lovely Grade 6 performances!

Hillbilly Heaven
Dakota, Elijah, Jade and Breanna

Good to see our St. Helens and St. Marys students getting along so well in a friendly game of Spacejump!

2017 Fred Hollows Humanity Award!

Nominations are now open

The Fred Hollows Foundation was delighted to recognise Deon Smith and Catherine Thomas last year, who are both students from St Marys District School, and we would love to celebrate more inspirational Year 6 students like them this year!

Nominations are open until midnight, Sunday 10 September, and can be made using the link below:

https://www.hollows.org/fredhollowshumanityaward/nominate

Principals, teachers, parents and members of the community can all nominate a student, so don’t forget to share this message with them too.

The Award recognises Year 6 students who follow in Fred’s footsteps by making a positive difference in their community. It celebrates students who show compassion, integrity and kindness in their everyday lives, just as Fred did.

Any Year 6 student who embodies the values of compassion, integrity and kindness can be nominated.

All nominees will receive a certificate and selected nominees will be recognised at a presentation ceremony in their state in Term 4 where a Junior Ambassador will also be announced.

CHAPLAINCY

As my time to take maternity leave approaches, I have turned my thoughts to reflecting on some of the programs I have had the pleasure of running at the school this year.

The Breakfast Club continues to be popular, thanks to the donations of bread every week from St Marys Bakery, other food items from Foodbank Tasmania, and a grant from Break O’Day Council for fresh fruit, as well as other donations from various individuals and local businesses as needed.

The Gardening Groups have seen the children develop a great sense of pride in their projects, and demonstrate excellent team working and planning skills. They are currently working on a Zen Garden and a time out space. Much thanks to St Helens Mitre 10 for their very generous donations toward these projects.

I have also run Mindfulness programs for individual children as needed, and an “Inside Out” resilience building program for a small group. It is such a delight to see students develop knowledge and skills that will empower them throughout their lives.

I know I will miss working with the children and staff over the next few terms, but am sure they will have as much fun and growth with Christine wicks as she fills the role of Chaplain until I return.

Britney, Oskar, Mia and Jayden painting the time-out bench with paint donated by St Helens Mitre 10.

CHESS

The East Coast Chess Tournament was a very successful event for the St Marys teams. All three were victorious and we also had some great individual results.

The Primary A team representing Grades 5 and 6 showed a high level of skill and concentration with Jayden Clark, Jimmy Freiboth, Benji Bunton, Elvis Russell and Maggie Egan taking the gold medals and the team trophy.

Aman Bhardwaj, Jay Bhardwaj, Riley Cooper, Helayna McGiveron, Daniel Cook and Bella Robson were the top players in the B team for Grades 3 and 4. For these young students it was quite a daunting experience but they performed well and are looking forward to next year already.

The Secondary students played in the same competition with the A team of David Escobar, Sam Dufty, Ryan Madden and Matt Grayson beating the junior team of Darcey Scott, Leo Taylor, Nikola Marriott and Monique Dufty.

David finished the competition undefeated over his 6 games.

Later in the term two teams will participate in the State finals. We wish them all the best and look forward to the continued success of chess in our school.

Chess
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Chess
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ART NEWS

The Art lesson based on the Torres Strait Islander Art has concluded and we wish to share some more finished pieces of work.

Storm Lord Grade 9

Ella De Jonge Grade 9

Jessica Lee Squires Grade 5

Enika Smith Grade 8

Rebecca Harrison Grade 5

Ellie Gamble Grade 7

Chloe Gamble Grade 9

Sara Greenwood Grade 10

Julia Bibby Grade 8

Georgia Nisbet Grade 8

Charlotte Harvey Grade 9

Nikola Marriot Grade 8

The Prep class were also taught some of the ideas behind the Torres Strait Artists work and they had fun with white pens and black paper to explore the idea of symbols and patterns.

Claire Ward

Miles Chandler

Tia Nicol

Etta Cornelius

Grade 4-5

In the Literacy block Grade 4-5 students have been learning about the elements of poetry.

Learning Intentions: To identify and discuss the nature and effects of some language devices used to enhance meaning and shape the readers reaction. This includes the relationship between words, imagery and language patterns of poetry.

Learning Outcomes: Students have produced their own Haikus and alliterations.

We have shown success by producing great Haiku’s and alliteration poems.

Haiku originated in Japan. They have three lines and it do not rhyme. A haiku consists of 17 syllables and is descriptive and usually about nature.

Line 1 - 5 syllables
Line 2 - 7 syllables
Line 3 - 5 syllables

Alliteration uses the same letter or sound at the beginning of most words in a phrase.

Alliteration by Grade 4-5

Monsters munch marshmallows and mandarins.
By Scott Barnes

Rebecca rolls rocks resembling roundabouts.
By Rebecca Harrison

Tyra the turtle turns and trudges away.
Wizard wicked worms wonder wildly while winking.
Leah likes to laugh a lot.
By Achounta Butwell

Betty Brown bouncing beside brownies and best friends, Billy and Bob.
By Mia Gillies

Aman ate apples all afternoon after acrobatics.
By Jay Bhardwaj

Sally swam to the silly side of the swimming pool.
Ferrets frolicking fairly on a fluffy floatie.
By Addison Borradaile

Logan likes little lumps lovable lambs.
By Ashton Gillies

Ashton ate an apple in autumn that was rotten.
By Logan Wilson

Jazmyne likes jaguars jumping jelly beans and front flipping on jellyfish.
By Jazmyne Dawson

Harry hits Hermoine’s head horrendously hard.
By Katy Bond

Ally Andrews always asks Alice Alligator for answers.
By Amelia Mason

Haikus’

I have a big dog.
His name is Bob the Builder.
He is big trouble.
By Jazmyne Dawson

I have a puppy.
He always gets in mischief.
His name is ‘Yartzee’.
By Mia Gillies

I have a big horse.
He is big, brown, white, black mane.
He is so special.
By Addison Borradaile

Henry is a little brother.
Into mischief and lollies.
I love him, a lot.
By Amelia Mason.

KINDERGARTEN MUD DAY

St Marys Campus Kindergarten children celebrated International Mud Day (29th June) with the children enjoying the fun and benefits of mud play.

Mud is a wonderful sensory experience which provides endless opportunities for discovery and experimentation. A 2007 study found that mud releases serotonin in the brain which is the chemical that is responsible for raising our mood. Mud can help build children’s immune systems and allows us to connect with nature and learn about the world. Mud inspires creativity. It can be anything from a mud pie to a mud house. It can be soup or the sea. It allows children to use their imagination.

Mud is wonderful for physical development. Walking in mud allows children to balance and not slip or slide. It also encourages whole body co-ordination; carrying buckets and tipping.

Mud play also develops fine motor skills as children squish, prod, squeeze and manipulate mud into sculptures and situations.

Importantly, mud play is fun - it encourages fun and laughter.

Mud Day
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Mud Day
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3D printing in the Grade 4/5 class

On Wednesday the 5th of July, the Grade 4/5 class had the chance to learn about 3D printing. This included learning about what the 3D printer is, how it works, and the type of things that it can be used for. Students used their iPads to check out a website called thingaverse.com. People put their designs on this website and people around the world are able to print their designs for free. The class also got to watch different parts of an unknown object being printed. Thank you to Nathan Spurling and Ayla Johnson who were wonderful teacher assistants to the class.

3D Printing
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3D Printing
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2017 CAMBODIA FUNDRAISER

St Marys School is once again raising funds for our Camboidan Friendship School - Donsava Primary School. In the next school holidays, a group of 9 students and 3 staff will be travelling to Cambodia to complete a humanitarian project within Donsava Primary School's community. Depending on the amount of funds raised, the project could be completion of the school fence, classroom refurbishment or construction of composting toilets for the community. To assist with our fundraising, we are again holding a number of fundraising initiatives:

Online Garage Sale:

Once again we will be holding rolling garage sale, where we hope to dispose of items that are surplus to the school’s requirements. With the upcoming re-development, we definitely need all the storage space we can find!

All items are sold as is/where is, first in-best dressed and everything has to go - so no reasonable offer refused!

We will continue to add items into the album and hope to have a garage sale/stall at a future St Marys Market. So, if you're up for a recycling project, please have a look at what we have and make an offer. Items can be paid for and collected from school during office hours (8.15am - 4.00pm). Photos of items available will be regularly updated in the Garage Sale Photo Album on our Facebook Page. To help you think of upcycling ideas, we’ve also included images of a number of possible projects our surplus items can be used for!

Online Auction:

LIMITED EDITION SIGNED & FRAMED HAWTHORN PRINT – 2010

Some of you out there may be thinking that we should be paying you to take this off our hands! However, a true Hawthorn supporter will appreciate the value of this signed, limited edition print from 2010. We will be auctioning this piece of Hawks Memorabilia via our Facebook Page. Genuine bids only, with the print being sold to the highest bidder over the reserve price. Bids are now open and can be made in the comments section.

Monster Raffle

Our community has once again been extremely generous in donating fantastic prizes for our 3rd Annual Cambodia Monster Raffle Fundraiser. Books of tickets will be sent home with students this week. Additional tickets are available from the admin office. Tickets are $1.00 each or 3 for $2.00.

Prizes include:

Fishing Rod - value $70.00

St.Marys Newsagency

Beach Cooler

 

Faraway Tree CD’S - value $30.00

St.Marys Post Office

Vintage Jansz Wine - value $70.00

St.Marys Hotel

Hamper - value $70.00

Bicheno IGA Supermarket

The Farm Shed Voucher $50.00

The Farm Shed

Party Light Candle Holder

Elizabeth Death

Voucher $50.00 St.Marys IGA

St.Marys IGA Supermarket

Hand Made Quilt

Bagdad Quilting Supplies

Voucher $30.00 St.Marys Bakert

St.Marys Bakery

Voucher $20.00 Purple Possum

Purple Possum St.Marys

Voucher $100.00 Longpoint Surf Shop

Longpoint Surf Shop Bicheno

Beyonce Perfume

Bicheno Pharmacy

Hamper

Caltex - St.Marys

4 Mug Stack

St.Marys Pharmacy

All 4 Adventure Quad Bike Tours, voucher for 2 hour Quad Bike Safari for 2 riders and 2 passengers -

Freycinet National Park, Coles Bay

 All 4 Adventure Tours

Scrabble Board Game

Bicheno Newsagency

Photo Frames

Janine Burt

Freycinet Adventures Paddle Voucher value $196.00

Freycinet Adventures

Plant Hanger

Bark Tea House

Scentsy Gift Pack

 

Vista Lounge Wineglass Bay Cruise for 2 adults value $280.00

Wineglass Bay Cruises

2 Bottles of Springvale Wines value $45.00 each

Springvale Winery

Roll $ Store Pastry Roller, Chiller Bowl

Log Cabin Store - Bicheno

2 Bottles of Wine

Centro Euro Wines

Please support our raffle by returning tickets you have been able to sell to family and friends. Any unsold tickets can be returned to the office. The raffle will be drawn on Tuesday 19th September.

BREAK O’DAY COUNCIL

Recycling Sticker Competition

With a kerbside recycling service coming to Break O’Day in the coming months Council are aware that there may be a few teething problems. The most significant change for residents will be understanding that the new bin they receive (blue with RED lid) will in fact be their General Waste bin and their old bin (blue with YELLOW lid) will become their recycling bin.

As the younger generation are already sustainability champions and have such a passion for affecting positive change (and amazing parental nag power!) we wanted to engage with them and empower them to become our Recycling Champions.

A large part of this is the implementation of a sticker design competition which will see interested students design stickers that will go on the lids of the bins helping the community to identify which bin is for what and we hope that we can work with both the schools to make this a great success!

In order to make it fair for the schools, we decided to give each school a sticker to work on… St Helens the Recycling Sticker and St Marys the General Waste Sticker.

There is a prize for each winning sticker design, an iPad!! Check out the entry forms and information below and get designing! Copies of the entry forms are available from the office.

More information about recycling is available at the Rethink Waste Website:

http://rethinkwaste.com.au/

ST JOHN FIRST AID COURSES

Although it’s a bit too chilly to be contemplating swimming at the moment, it won’t be long before the pool is up and running and available to community members. Please remember that one of the requirements of being a keyholder is to have a valid CPR. To assist in making this process easier, we have once again partnered with St John Ambulance to offer a CPR course at St Marys School. Please refer to the image below for more information. We MUST have a minimum number of 10 participants in order for the course to go ahead. Please book your place now before time runs out! Pool opening dates will be advertised in our next newsletter.

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