14 September 2018
Newsletter Articles
- PRINCIPALS REPORT
- CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA’S CHILDREN’S AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS
- STOP PRESS
- SHOULD STUDENTS HAVE TO WEAR SCHOOL UNIFORM?
- A TASTE OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
- PIZZA MAKING IN GRADE PREP/1 AND GRADE1/2
- BOOK WEEK IN GRADE 1-2 BENNETT
- GRADE 2-3 MATHS – TREASURE MAPS
- PRIMARY ASSEMBLY
- VALUE CARD WINNERS
- GRADE 5-6A WILLIAMS
- TABLE TENNIS
- JJJ ONE NIGHT STAND
- FOOTBALL FINALS
PRINCIPALS REPORT
The St Marys grade seven NAPLAN data has provided evidence that we are heading in the right direction when it comes to teaching and learning. For the first time in the history of NAPLAN at this school, our grade 7 data is outstanding with our students making great gains in their learning. Congratulations to both students and staff.
We have now moved into the new administration area, with the performing arts centre being completed by the end of this term. Work on the 6 new high school classrooms are well underway. At our end of year assembly, if things go to plan, we will have an open inspection for visitors, parents and students to do a walk through all the new facilities. Furniture for the library and performing arts will be arriving in the last week of term. The capital works has made the school a challenging place to work and learn, however, our staff and students have been superb in their flexibility and support.
Plans for 2019 are beginning to take shape, with news that we were successful in receiving funding to secure the work we are doing on the school farm. The initiative, ‘Grow, Make, Protect’ is the theme of the Tasmanian Agricultural Education Framework. The framework will provide direction for teaching and learning.
In addition, Bicheno Primary, St Helens and St Mary’s Principals sought funding in an effort to enhance the work we have been doing in the middle school years, that’s grades 4-8. Once again we were successful in receiving funding that will allow all 4 campuses an opportunity to work with our students in those middle years and assist them in making that at time difficult transition from Primary to High school seamless.
We are awaiting on further news regarding staffing in the literacy area. 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year, with new facilities and extra staffing - there will not be anything to hold us back.
Congratulations to, Aaron Mason, Matilda Harvey for making the North Melbourne Next Generation Academy. North Melbourne’s Next Generation Academy (NGA) returned to Tasmania, with a renewed focus on developing talent and providing a well-rounded off-field program. There is a comprehensive selection process conducted collaboratively between NMFC, AFL Tasmania, local leagues and clubs with the focus on strengthening the talent pool and providing development opportunities. We wish Aaron and Matilda well in what is a diverse learning opportunity involving multi-modular education curriculum, covering cross cultural diversity, leadership, careers, education, health, and wellbeing.
Congratulations also must go to our Country Gold representatives will head off to Launceston on 20th and 21st September 2018 to represent our community in a range of winter sports. We wish them every success and will provide more news on the Country Gold Carnival in our next newsletter.
School Calendar
CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA’S CHILDREN’S AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS
Sun shone down on our East Coast township – St Marys for our annual Book Week Parade. However, this year there was a difference. For the first time the staff and students brought the costume parade to the streets of the community on Wednesday 22nd August. Our destination was the St Marys local library.
Students from both Fingal Campus and St Marys Campus spectacularly donned costumes of favourite book characters along with outfits reflecting this year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) theme ~ find your TREASURE!
In preparation for Book Week, staff and students read many of the shortlisted titles from the various categories – The Book of the Year: Early Readers; Younger Readers; The Picture Book of the Year; Eve Pownall Award for documenting factual matter and the Crichton Award for encouraging new illustrators. You can view the Winners for 2018 here.
Throughout Book Week, Grade 5/6 students prepared and conducted reading activities for our Prep/1 and 1/2 classes. All primary classroom doors were decorated reflecting our appreciation for books and reading, bookmarks were decorated and exchanged as well as students devouring treasure-filled cupcakes. If falling off to sleep with beautiful thoughts of a fun filled day wasn’t enough….a charming certificate of participation was presented to all, as a memento.
These celebratory days are important on so many levels. The students from our two campuses had a wonderful reason to connect and learn together. Older primary students stepped up and allowed their leadership skills to shine by working in the classes of younger students as well as showing care by accompanying them throughout the parade. Secondary students gathered at the school driveway to cheer the students as they left the school grounds. Then there was the involvement of family. This was evident by the number of students who were dressed up this year and those of you who were available to attend the parade - waving us on. Our local police personnel made themselves available to assist with the crossing of Main Street. Their visibility and support builds trust and appreciation for the work they do in our community. Networks were alive with the St Marys Childcare Centre bringing the children down to join in the excitement. Links were strengthened with our local library. Library staff were enthusiastic about the event recognising the shared purpose of building appreciation for literacy within our community. The Department of Education – Tasmania’s initiative, Learning in Families Together (LIFT) promotes the building of links of collaboration between home, school and community to elevate literacy (and numeracy) learning outcomes for all children. The CBCA – Book Week celebration provided a springboard for our community to achieve this along with cultivating literacy skills and fostering a love for reading.
Lynette Yodgee
Literacy Coach





STOP PRESS
2018 Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize
Good luck to Chloe Malley who is one of 12 students within the state shortlisted for the Frank MacDonald Memorial Prize. She will be attending an interview on Monday 17th September in order to select the final 6 students to undertake the trip to France and Belgium in April 2019, which will incorporate the Anzac Day service at Villers Bretonneaux. We wish Chloe the very best of luck at her interview.
SHOULD STUDENTS HAVE TO WEAR SCHOOL UNIFORM?
“Should students have to wear school uniform?” There are two sides to every argument and I think this one might just have the whole world divided. I am well aware that there has been a lot of controversy about it this year at St Marys as I am sure you are aware of too, which is why I thought it was completely relevant for me to talk about.
Whilst my opinion is that uniforms are important and should be enforced, I am going to stay neutral and educate you on all sides of this issue without letting my personal thoughts and opinions becoming a conflict of interest.
Studies have shown that wearing school uniform enhances the feeling of school pride. It makes students feel as if they belong in school. When everyone is wearing the same uniform, it makes the environment feel inclusive as all students are equal. It is believed that uniforms help troubled students find a ‘sense of belonging”. From the teacher’s perspective they find that after uniforms are introduced to a school they feel an increased level of respect, caring and trust all over the school. On the other hand, it’s scientifically proven that uniforms do not improve attendance, academic preparedness or exam results. Having a school uniform might make kids feel included but having uniforms seems to be useless as they don’t actually help with stopping behavioural problems such as fights, suspensions and so on. Uniforms don’t help stop substance use at school and students feel as if they can have a negative effect on their academic achievement.
The next reason I am about to talk about is quite controversial. The pro of this debate is that uniform policies save valuable class time. When there aren’t school uniforms there are still dress codes like no singlets, cropped tops etc. but with a dress code every student would had to be checked to see if they are wearing appropriate clothing. There are so many rules and guidelines that it would be nearly impossible to control the attire of every singular student every day. There would be a lot of suspensions. On the con side of things school uniforms actually emphasize the social divisions they are supposed to eliminate. For example, in America where they have different students wearing different uniforms. The athletes wear jackets or short skirts are at the top of the ladder. The academic achievers and the rest of the school all wear downgraded plain uniforms making them feel insignificant. In Australia we do not have the same problem yet a similar one uniform does not conceal the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ within the school environment. It has always been obvious, and it may just be how it always will be.
The last reason I will tell you about is the gender-neutral uniforms. People who are against school uniforms have said that it is because it forces femininity onto girls. Girls can be restricted by dresses and skirts as they have a lack of movement. This means they can’t play as easily as boys can. Also, because girls are consistently told from a young age they have to act ‘ladylike’, have their legs crossed and can’t run around or flip upside down because boys might be looking, and it just isn’t okay for girls to act like that. It is very traditional for girls to wear dresses and boys wear pants. That’s how it has been since before any of us were even born. Times are changing however, it is socially acceptable now for girls to wear things such as shorts and pants. Boys are also beginning to wear dresses and that is seemingly acceptable too socially. Young generations are bringing equality for both genders. This is one side of this two-sided argument, uniforms should ‘apparently’ be banned because of the gender stereotyping schools are doing by forcing girls to wear dresses. This seems to be one direction people are trying to take; another is enforcing gender neutral uniforms. Others believe uniforms aren’t all that bad but the gender stereotyping is most definitely there, there just happens to be a different approach to dealing with the matter. Gender neutral uniforms would mean girls and boys would wear exactly the same thing. Girls would not have to wear skirts of dresses but in fact shorts or pants just like the boys. This idea is currently being tested in numerous schools around Australia and the world but is not being forced anywhere. So do school uniforms need to be thrown away all together or just altered?
What are your thoughts?
Do you think uniforms are a good thing or are they damaging?
I think school uniforms are a beneficial thing, but I do understand and see the down falls.
Thank you for reading, Dakotah Thomson
A TASTE OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
On the 21st of August, four students (Moochie Jarvis, Indi Tonks, Ria Oliver and Ayla Johnson) went with Claire Neyland to the Drysdale TasTafe in Launceston, to gain a wider knowledge and understanding of the hospitality and tourism industry. We were put into mixed groups with other schools to participate in a variety of different activities such as cupcake decorating, learning the basics of making a coffee on the espresso machine and finding out information to become a bartender. We also were given the chance to talk to four different people who work in the hospitality industry. The experience opened our minds to different career opportunities. Overall we had a great day, the best part being when Mrs Neyland took a wrong turn into Launceston College and had the car stuck in the middle of the school during recess time!




PIZZA MAKING IN GRADE PREP/1 AND GRADE1/2
Last month, we were lucky enough to have Tanya from Building Blocks visit our classrooms to make pizzas with us. Students helped prepare ingredients, make the pizza dough, cook their pizzas and then enjoy the eating of them!
Many thanks to Tanya for organising such a fun day for us, and a big shout out to the Coach House Restaurant for donating all the pizza boxes for us.





BOOK WEEK IN GRADE 1-2 BENNETT
Book Week Writing
Charlize Speers
Halle Gillies
Jack George
Lilly Bunton
Mieka Swanson
Claire Ward
BOOK WEEK MAPS
Daisy McCullagh
Etta Cornelius
Halle Gillies
Lilly Bunton
Mieka Swanson
Sienna McGiveron
Grace Legge
GRADE 2-3 MATHS – TREASURE MAPS
Billie Jackson |
Fletcher Mason |
Haydon Haberle |
Mia Hibberd |
Rose Jones
PRIMARY ASSEMBLY
MERIT CERTIFICATES KINDER
Kinder
MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE PREP-1 WILLS





MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE 1-2 BENNETT




MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE 2-3 STANFORD/COOPER





MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE 3-4 HODGE/COOK




MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE 5-6A WILLIAMS




MERIT CERTIFICATES GRADE 5-6B PAPWORTH



VALUE CARD WINNERS
Bentley Coker-Williams |
Cohen Piscitelli-Cole |
Cooper Griffiths |
George Austin |
Hamish Bean |
Jayden Garth |
Mia Gillies |
Olivia Bonner |
Tia Nicol
GRADE 5-6A WILLIAMS
FRACTIONS
In Term Three Grade 5/6A Williams have been learning about fractions. We learnt that there are many ways a fraction can be shown, but as long as there are equal parts of a whole they are still fractions. We have compared fractions with the same or related denominators and sorted them on a number line. We have started exploring adding fractions and equivalent fractions. We can convert mixed and improper fractions.
Here is some work demonstrating finding equal parts of a whole.



Here is some work demonstrating mixed fractions.





INFORMATION TEXTS
In Grade 5/6A Williams we have been learning about information texts in our reading and writing. We have learnt about the text features of information texts; how to look out for opinion pieces acting like information texts; testing the reliability of a source and looking at the author’s purpose.
In writing we have produced our own texts with the purpose of informing the younger students in the school. Amelia Mason wrote this text about hibernation.
In the remainder of the term we are using the skills we learnt about information texts and extending them in a unit on journalism, exploring information in a news situation.
TABLE TENNIS
During the Sporting Schools Table Tennis sessions the students showed some excellent skills with a couple of stand outs. Ping Li proved a formidable opponent for program deliverer Roger Massie, as did Riley Cooper. It was great to see all students having a go and some surprised themselves with their ability. A big thanks to the Olivier Chartrain, Murray Bennett, Rod McGiveron and Jeff Ince for setting up the make shift tables using large sheets of timber from the MDT area. We have one fold away table and now have nets we can use with any size table. Jack Foreman completed some training and will be able to deliver further programs once Table Tennis Australia signs him off.





JJJ ONE NIGHT STAND
Year 8 Student, Catherine Thomas was lucky enough to be selected as one of two students from the East Coast be mentored by local photographer, Mel Ihnen. The students underwent a workshop, gaining some photography tips and then were able to take photos from the media pit and around the crowd. Catherine enjoyed the opportunity very much.
FOOTBALL FINALS
A number of our students have been playing in Club Football finals in recent weeks.
Jake Kerr played for Longford Division 1 at UTAS Stadium with the Longford team winning 9.13.67 to North Launceston’s 5.10.40.



East Coast Giants teams also played in their first ever NTJFA Grand Final at UTAS Stadium.





NOTICEBOARD
Table Tennis - Community Group - St Marys School Gym
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