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

28 September 2017

Newsletter Articles

CAPITAL WORKS PROGRAM – STAGE 1

PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE AND ADMINISTRATION UPGRADE

After spending the majority of this year in planning and consultation with stakeholders, the tender for our Capital Works Program will be advertised in the near future, with works planned to commence in early December.

The first stage of works will involve the redevelopment of Block 1; Hall, Administration and classrooms, which will require us to relocate many facilities and services while the redevelopment takes place. While there will be disruptions during the redevelopment, we are timing the relocation of learning areas to minimise interruptions to teaching and learning.

Part of our planning involves the assessment of the impact of the works on block 1 on vehicle and foot traffic movement around the school. Access to parking at the top of the driveway (Carpark B) and internal car parks will not be available and traffic flow will be severely impacted once the works commence.

To assist the school community with becoming familiar with relocated spaces during the reconstruction, we will be making some changes to the location of our Administration Services. During the coming holiday period in October, the Administration office will be re-located to a shared space within the Library. From October 16th parents and community members will need to access the admin office via the rear door of the Library. (Please see image below).

We will soon be marking out a pathway from Carpark C (near the pool) so that parents and students can safely make their way from the carpark to the office. In order to limit any impact on student learning, we ask that when accessing the relocated Administration Office that parents be mindful that this is in a shared space with library lessons taking place in the adjacent classroom space.

Further information about the relocation of other services, traffic restrictions and the movement of construction vehicles will be circulated once the redevelopment commences. We appreciate your co-operation during this period.

EDUCATION ACT IMPLEMENTATION

The implementation of the Act will be a transitional and ongoing process, and we are continuing to work on a number of our policies in order to bring them into line with the new Education Act. Comprehensive information about the act and what it means for parents is available on the Department’s Education Act page.

https://www.education.tas.gov.au/about-us/legislation/education-act/

The last weeks of this term have certainly been filled with a variety of exciting activities across the school:

  • Our LIFT Fathers’ Day Bonfire night was an outstanding success with over 100 people from the community attending the event on our school farm.
  • The artwork of two of our secondary students will be on wheelie bins around the municipality as the Break O Day Council rolls out it’s recycling initiative.
  • Congratulations to all of our students who have represented St Marys District School in Australian Business Week, State Chess Finals, and the recent Country Gold Carnival.
  • After our successful Cambodia Walkathon to raise funds for an infrastructure project at our friendship school, nine of our students and three staff members are currently in Cambodia assisting with the construction of a fence for Donsava Primary school.
  • We have had visits from cricketers, footballers, Bravehearts and even an ADF Helicopter. It has been an exciting few weeks here at St Marys District School and I hope you enjoy reading about it in this newsletter.

On behalf of the staff at St Marys District School, I would like to wish our students and their families a relaxing holiday and we look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday 16th October, refreshed and ready for an even busier Term 4.

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

TASMANIAN INTERSCHOOL CHESS STATE FINALS

On Monday 18th September a crew of 10 students headed off early to Launceston to battle some of the most analytical minds in the state! With Craig Freiboth at the helm driving the school mini bus and Karen Bramich as team manager – the chess players were hopeful of success.

The primary team members were: Benji Bunton, Jayden Clark, Maggie Egan and Elvis Russell. The Secondary team members were: David “Chess-cobar” Escobar Monique Dufty, Sam Dufty, Matt Grayson and Ryan Madden. After a few diagonal and side-ways moves to sort out the bus seating arrangements, the team headed to Launceston where student members of the St. Patricks senior school welcomed us and escorted our team to the gym.

Over 100 chess sets and timers were set out on rows and rows of tables in the gym. At any one time there was over 100 games being played every 15-25 minutes. Computer generated competition lists were printed and displayed around the gym for students to check the name of their opponent, whether to use the black or the white chess pieces and also the table number at which to sit to play their game. The gym was very quiet all day with spectators watching, taking photos of high-pressure moments and with the constant click of the player’s timers creating the tournament sound-track.

All games commenced and finished with players shaking hands in the spirit of fair play and respect for the contest. Thankfully, there were no pulled muscles from some of the super-fast moves and players refrained from throwing their chess pieces in a moment of frustration! Consequently, the contents of the accompanying first aid kit were not required!

Our team came away with a number of wins, draws and losses – but all students appreciated and learned much from the experience. Our highest ranked player of the day was David Escobar who finished with 7 wins out of 9 games, finishing equal second in the senior division. David has been invited to represent Tasmania at the National Final in November.

Not only would we like to commend our players for their efforts during their 9 rounds of games, but we would also like to acknowledge their wonderful behaviour and positivity in the face of defeat and their support of each other when victorious.

Karen Bramich and Craig Freiboth

Chess
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Chess
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AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS WEEK

St. Helens District High School and St. Marys District School

For the 10th year running, staff from St. Helens District High School and St. Marys District School collaborated to run Australian Business Week with Year 9 and 10 students. Australian Business Week is an enterprise education program which is run over 5 consecutive days; it is a fun, engaging and hands-on learning experience which develops networks and relationships between students and local communities.

The focus of this year’s Australian Business Week was Tourism and Hospitality with an emphasis on sustainable food consumption. Students worked in groups to ideate and run their own café business simulations and then design a hospitality based product, idea or service that the community could benefit from. Throughout the week, students were fortunate enough to receive support from community mentors and local business owners as their business plans progressed. They listened to a guest speaker from Kingthing Marketing, who provided them with excellent strategies for marketing their products using social media. On the final day, each group pitched their business ideas and product prototypes to a panel of judges.

The judges were incredibly impressed with the innovation, creativity and commitment displayed by the students. During the course of the week, groups had worked diligently to create detailed business plans, marketing strategies, social media accounts, websites, financial projections, prototypes, video commercials, promotional materials and a trade display.

The 6 businesses were all realistic, sustainable and innovative enough to be viable on the East Coast of Tasmania:

Bamb-a-Lamb: An eatery featuring gourmet lamb burgers and hand-cut sweet potato chips – to add a special touch, products were served on polished Tasmanian Blackwood timber boards!

Bowl Food: Delicious, healthy meals served in an edible bowl (a hollowed out pumpkin).

Udderly Delightful: An environmentally conscious dessert parlour showcasing delicious Tasmanian Dairy products, such as Anvers chocolate and Pyengana milk.

Ecoast: Healthy and nutritious smoothies served in sustainable packaging, utilising fresh local produce such as Bicheno berries and local dairy products.

Off the Hook: A boutique food outlet featuring fresh East Coast seafood products, such as crayfish sliders.

Kipli Nayri: In traditional Aboriginal Language, this translates to ‘eat well’ – this business sells nourishing, gluten free smoothie bowls with ingredients sourced from local suppliers.

Throughout the week, all students involved engaged in highly authentic, real-world learning and developed valuable enterprise skills. This wonderful Australian Business Week collaboration was a credit to all involved.

Business Week
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Business Week
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BENHAM EXCURSION - FINGAL CAMPUS

Students in the K/P/1 and 2/3/4/5 classes at Fingal visited Benham Farm near Avoca to learn about shearing and sheep. We watched Tayah’s and Kayden’s dad Steve shear a sheep and even got to pat it. We learnt what rousers and graders do and where the wool goes after it is shorn. We had a wonderful time.

Thank you to Rigby Shearing and Benham Farm for having us.

Benham Excursion
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Benham Excursion
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YOUNG TASSIE SCIENTISTS

Young Tassie Scientists visited the Fingal Campus this term. We learnt about animal behaviour, especially eagles, how air can move things and animals in coral and kelp forest ecosystems.

REDUCING WASTE IN OUR SCHOOLS

PREP/ GRADE 1/ GRADE 2

The Prep, Grade 1’s and Grade 2’s have been learning how to reduce the waste in our schools.

In this lesson, the children collected the waste they produced for the day from their lunchboxes and graphed the results.

Reducing waste in our Schools
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Reducing waste in our Schools
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YOUNG TASSIE SCIENTISTS – SECONDARY STUDENTS

On Tuesday 29th of August, the Young Tassie Scientists visited the school. All secondary students had the opportunity to interact with three scientists; Jeremy (chemist & science entertainer), Patricia (marine scientist) and James (zoologist / animal behaviour).

Patricia told students about her current research, which is investigating how climate change will impact marine ecosystems. She showed videos of mini ecosystems that she had set up to allow her to investigate these animal interactions. This included images of how squid feed and how temperature can affect their foraging habits.

Jeremy told students about how scientists wonder about the world around them and about curiosity. This included questions about balloons, how carbon dioxide can be poured and extinguishing a flame. He showed that science can be entertaining, requiring imagination and questioning of the world.

James told students about his current research about wedge tailed eagles. This research includes catching wedge tailed eagles and placing monitors on their back to see were they fly. James also showed videos about how he determined safe distances from the eagle’s nests, so that humans would not impact on the wedge tailed eagle’s ability to raise their young. He did this through dance! He danced different distances from the eagle’s nests to find out how close people could get before the eagles were affected and flew away.

Young Tassie Scientists – Secondary
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Young Tassie Scientists – Secondary
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BOWER BIRD ART PROJECT – GRADE 2/3 CROMB

Grade 2/3 Cromb have created an absolutely fantastic, collaborative piece of art. The artwork spans over three panels, incorporating birds of all design. The majority of materials used for the artwork were recycled, including the paint. Parents were invited to come and help create with their children. There was a buzz of enthusiasm and pride, as the final touches were made. The students showed creativity, persistence and generosity when working together over the four weeks. Their pride in the final result, prompting them to host an afternoon tea so their parents may come and view the masterpiece. We would like to sincerely thank Building Blocks staff for supporting this initiative. We look forward to finding a permanent display space for the artwork once building works have been completed. Until then the artwork will be on display in the Grade 2/3 classroom. Please drop in, to have a look and congratulate the children on their work.

Bower Bird Art Project – Grade 2/3 Cromb
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Bower Bird Art Project – Grade 2/3 Cromb
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LIFT

Father’s Day Bonfire

We had over 160 people come along to the Father’s Day Bonfire and BBQ. It was wonderful to see so many families attend and help run the night. There was a lot of excitement on the oval with the Zorb Ball, where Scott, Colin and Matt gave themselves a good workout chasing the ball around the course. Many families took advantage of the lovely evening, and went to see our cute animals on the farm. The new calves were a particular favourite. The local Fire Brigade was on hand to make sure Mrs Mason didn’t go overboard with the bonfire, and after a second attempt at lighting it, the fire went up with a whomp! Glow sticks and the huge fire glow, kept everyone entertained, while our parent helpers kept the BBQ running. There was plenty of food, fun and fire. A good mix of activities on a lovely spring evening, all captured by the wonderful Ally Rolls in the photo booth.

Many thanks to all who made the evening possible, there are too many to mention here, but they were all amazing!

LOST and FOUND: two cute pairs of gloves were left behind at the bonfire – a small navy blue pair and a small maroon pair. These are in the school office, please collect.

Grade 2/3 Cromb have been busy creating some recycled art. Once completed, the art pieces will be ready to display on our school building somewhere…keep your eyes open!

Father’s Day Bonfire
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Father’s Day Bonfire
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TRASH WINNERS – BREAK-O-DAY STICKER COMPETITION

This term, Miss Coates informed our class about a competition Break O’Day Council were holding. The competition was to design a sticker to go on the top of the new general waste and recycling bins for all of Break O’Day. St Helens were in charge of designing the recycle bin sticker while St Marys were given the general waste.

Erinn and I decided to try and whip up something groovy. There were around 60 entries and after a week or so Erinn and I received a phone call saying that we had won the competition. We personally don’t consider ourselves artists of any kind but maybe bin designing will have to become a hobby. Our prizes were gift vouches for the Mac Store and our logo will soon be plastered on all of the Break O’Day bins.

MEDIA RELEASE

Break O’Day Sticker competition winners announced.

September 13, 2017

It was with great excitement and deliberation that Break O’Day Council selected the winners of their sticker competition on Monday September 11.

More than 60 entries were closely scrutinised by the judging panel made up of Councillors Janet Drummond and Glenn McGuiness and Council staff, Works Support Officer Kristina Freshney and Project Officer David Jolly.

After much discussion and debate, the winners were decided based on the artwork and the messaging of each sticker design.

A big congratulations to our winners, Zoe McKellar-Smith, age 9 from St Helens District High for her Recycling sticker, and the winners of the waste sticker, Monique Dufty and Erinn Spilsbury age 14 from St Marys District High who submitted a joint entry.

“The calibre of the entries was amazing and we certainly had a tough time deciding on a winner,” Works Support Officer Kristina Freshney said.

“The effort that the kids went to and the ideas they came up with were really outstanding.”

All three winners said they were shocked and surprised to have won their respective categories and were looking forward to seeing their artwork on bin lids across the municipality… and their prize of course.

The winners will receive an iPad or gift cards to the same value from the Mac Shop.

Mayor Mick Tucker said he was looking forward to seeing the stickers around the municipality as well.

“On behalf of Council, congratulations to our winners, Zoe, Monique and Erinn.

“All the kids who entered have done an awesome job and they should all be very proud of their efforts.

“I just can’t wait to see these big colourful stickers on the lids of bins all around our municipality.”

The stickers will be delivered with the new waste bins and Council hopes that all residents will take pride putting them on their bin lids.

Not only will the stickers help residents identify which bin is for what, Council hopes they will also be a discussion point in homes around what can and can’t go in each bin.

Council would like to thank both the schools for their support of the competition and our partners, Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group which has run recycling workshops at the schools and with local groups in the lead up to the competition.

For more information please contact Break O’Day Council’s Communications Coordinator,

Jayne Richardson on 6376 7900 or 0400 454 089.

KINDERGARTEN ARTWORK

In Kindergarten we have been learning that letters have a name and a sound. Some students made artwork to help with their letter and sound awareness as well as to help develop their fine motor skills.

We have some wonderful artists in Kinder. Check out their letter work and their drawings!

Kinder Artwork
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Kinder Artwork
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STUDENTS ENJOY NAVY HELICOPTER VISIT

Thank you to Jen Binns and Fraser and Elvis Russell for arranging the visit of the Naval Helicopter (and their uncle).

It was so exciting for the Kinders. All of the children got to look inside and even had the opportunity to climb in! Everyone had so much fun especially watching it land and take off.

The children had fun drawing helicopters after the visit.

Helicopter - Kinder
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Helicopter - Kinder
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chopper visit
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chopper visit
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BICHENO MUSIC

On Thursday the 31st of August our Grade 9/10 Music Class travelled to Bicheno Primary School to work with their 3/4 Primary class. They performed some songs to the 1/2 class on arrival, then learnt to play a new song which was performed at the end of the day.

It was a great experience for our older students who were able to share their skills and mentor. They even joined in at line up, much to the delight of BPS students. It is hoped we can make this a regular excursion.

Bicheno Music
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Bicheno Music
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WALKATHON AND CAMBODIA FUNDRAISING

The school fundraising walkathon was an outstanding success, with students walking and walking and walking for three hours. Our Grade 10 class were the winners of the longest distance, by walking a combined distance of 308kms. They were closely followed by our Grade 6 class with a combined total of 304 kms. The Grade 1/2 walked the furthest for our Early Childhood classes.

It was wonderful to see students show such amazing commitment and perseverance and it was also very pleasing to see how committed they were in organising sponsorship for the event. Over $3,000 was raised in the walkathon!

A HUGE thank you to our school community and the local communities in our area who have so generously contributed to the walkathon and the raffle. We have sent our student to Cambodia with almost $6,000 to support projects at our Friendship School, Donsava Primary School. We should be very proud of this amazing effort from a small community.

Walkathon
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Walkathon
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CAMBODIA MONSTER RAFFLE WINNERS

PRIZE

DONATED BY

WON BY

Fishing Rod

St Marys Newsagency

Kayden Rigby

Beach Cooler

Hunta Blair

Faraway Tree CDs

St Marys Post Office

Lauren Parker

Vintage Jansz Wine

St Marys Hotel

Jaxon Poole

Hamper

Bicheno IGA

Belinda Weyer

The Farm Shed Voucher

The Farm Shed

Jayne Cooper

Partylite Candle Holder

Elizabeth Death

Morgan Stokes

Voucher

Hillys IGA Supermarket

Andrew Barwick

Handmade quilt

Bagdad Quilting Supplies

Bianca Freeman

Voucher

St Marys Bakery

Robyn Taylor

Voucher

Purple Possum St Marys

Mat Poole

Voucher

Long Point Surf Shop

Bicheno

Beyonce Perfume

Bicheno Pharmacy

Janine Burt

Hamper

Caltex St Marys

Tom Spykers

4 Mug Stack and Planter

St Marys Pharmacy/Bank Tea House

Charlotte Loane

Quad Bike Safari

All 4 Adventure Quad Bike Tours

Bailey Freeman

Scrabble Board Game

Bicheno Newsagency

Adrian Poole

Photo Frames

Janine Burt

Dave Blair

Paddle Voucher

Freycinet Adventures

Lisa Cromb

Voucher

St Marys IGA

Zoe Johnson

Scentsy Gift Pack

Jane Thomson

Vista Lounge Wineglass Bay Cruise

Wineglass Bay Cruises

Max Minty

Springvale Wine

Springvale Winery

Janine Burt

Roll& Store Pastry Roller, Chiller Bowl

Log Cabin Store Bicheno

Angela Kinnersly

Youwell Sparkling wine

Centre Euro Wines

Robyn Taylor

Bucket of Schnapps & Glasses

Centre Euro Wines

Max Minty

Muse Night Royal Maiden Rose

Centre Euro Wines

Laura Sliskovic

Cambodia
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Cambodia
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HURRICANE VISIT

Footy clinics were conducted by Isaac Pinnington and sponsored by AFL Tasmania and North Melbourne football club.

We have had four weeks of progressive activity with all students enjoying taking part at their own level without feeling threatened.

Hurricanes
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Hurricanes
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STAY SMART ONLINE

For most of us, the internet opens up new opportunities – we can shop, bank, research, work and connect when and where we want to. But the online world can also give criminals opportunities to steal money, information and identities.

Stay Smart Online Week, which runs from 9 to 13 October, is a national awareness initiative that puts online security in the spotlight, and reminds us all to set aside some time to focus on the important but easy steps that we can take to stay safe online.

This year’s Stay Smart Online Week is all about simple steps to online safety, with a focus on five key areas: privacy of your personal information, strong passwords, software updates, backing up your important information and avoiding online scams.

Thankfully, there are some easy things that we can all do to dramatically improve how we protect our personal and financial information online, and recover if things go wrong. Even small actions can make a huge difference.

Simple steps for individuals include:

  • Being careful about how much personal information you share online
  • Create strong passwords and passphrases that are hard for others to guess
  • Keep your devices updated with the latest software
  • Regularly back up your data
  • Be on the lookout for suspicious emails or messages, and think before clicking on links or opening attachments.

Simple steps for businesses include:

  • Keep software up-to-date on your computers, mobiles and tablets to protect your business and customer information
  • Install anti-virus software on all of your business devices and set the software to automatically check for updates on a daily basis
  • Creating strong passwords and passphrases, or use two-factor authentication (2FA) where possible
  • Regularly back-up your organisation’s data to a storage device (USB or external hard drive) or online (cloud) service
  • Putting an online security awareness program in place to keep you and your staff informed about good online security practices.

With cybercrime estimated to cost Australians more than $1 billion per year, and around 87% of us accessing the internet every day, it’s more important than ever that we take the time to learn about how to keep our information and assets safe when we’re online.

For more easy to follow tips, or to find out more about Stay Smart Online Week, visit the link below or follow Stay Smart Online on Facebook.

http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au

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