27 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

I would like to begin with a huge thank you to our School Association for their commitment to our children, community and myself as Principal. The School Association have been working on reviewing new policy documents that are being rolled out as a consequence of the new Tasmanian Education Act, 2016. We are currently working on the new “respectful behaviour”, “dress code” and “volunteers in schools conduct” policy documents. The timeline given to us is to have all our old policies updated to reflect the new 2016 Act by the end of next term. If anyone would like to know more about this work or provide feedback please do not hesitate to contact any member of the School Association. In addition, the work our volunteers at the school ‘Op Shop’ led by Janet Drummond is especially appreciated. As a result of their work the School Association was able to provide a $50,000 donation to go towards the purchasing of new furniture and equipment for our new school library. I am sure you will be impressed and excited at the impact this space will have on the children and their learning outcomes. The students are loving the new spaces as they become available and with these changes we are seeing a change in attitude and appreciation for them. One student was heard to say and I’ll put this in a less colourful way, ‘’We no longer look like a bogan school, rather a proper school, this is great’’.

Last week was Australian Business Week with students from St Marys and St Helens honing their entrepreneurial and creativity skills. I have received a lot of feedback from both business leaders and school community members about the professional manner in which our students conducted themselves during this activity. Three of the judges, business owners themselves, were heard saying “That would make money” “What a great idea, I would give them a job based on how articulate they were in their presentation and ideas”. Congratulations to all our students, staff and volunteers who came in to work and support the students. This is also the time of year when we run the $20 boss initiative. This too has produced some outstanding results and at our assembly on Thursday they received some well deserved acknowledgement for their ideas and work along, with their philanthropic generosity.

During the term break our new Performing Arts Centre, along with the Canteen will be handed back to the school. This will be another exciting moment for everyone, particularly as our end of year assembly plans involve using our new space. Planning for 2019 has commenced in earnest as term 4 tends to come and go very quickly. Our school is growing in numbers with an expected increase of around thirty students. This is a very healthy and positive sign for our school.

So as we end the term we have lots of positives to end on and more to come. I wish everyone a restful, safe break after what has been an exhausting winter term.

COLES SPORTS SHOPPING VOUCHERS 2018

Once again, members of our school community have participated in the 2018 Coles Sport for Schools shopping voucher programme. We were able to accrue 6, 870 vouchers which allowed us to redeem some new indoor equipment to support our Kinder – Grade 10 Health and Physical Education classes.

We were able to purchase five sets of bright colour “slap downs”, regular whistles and an electronic whistle. ‘Slap downs’ are brightly coloured flat rubber markers that come in the shape of circles, curved arrows, straight arrows and long lines. They enable Health and Physical Education staff to mark out stations and areas of play and are also fantastic to teach direction and movement to the Kinder – Grade 2 classes.

In the picture, our Grade 3/4 class are holding up all the items to be used in all Kinder – Grade 10 indoor Physical Education practical lessons.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the purchase of these valued items.

Karen Bramich
(Coles/Woolworths Voucher Organiser)

HAY DAY

On Thursday 13th September, the whole school came together to raise money for the farmers that are suffering from drought across Australia. Students were asked to bring a gold coin donation and from that money we managed to raise over $3,000 dollars.

At lunch we had a barbeque where some students got either a hamburger or a sausage.

After lunch is when the real fun happened! We all went down to the farm to do some exciting activities. These were: an obstacle course and omelette for brekkie. We were all put in four different groups, then we had to start our obstacle course. What you had to do was go around the obstacle course, fill a cup or two of water and go back around! When we came back to our group, we had to pour the water in the groups bucket. Whoever’s group got the most water, won a prize. There were certainly some falls and wet t-shirts, but we still had fun. Group 2 just managed to win this one, but the other groups weren’t going to give up. There was still one game to play: Omelette for brekkie. In this game, you had to throw the egg down two lines of people from your group and try not to break the egg. Group 4 saw their chance and zoomed through it! They successfully won.

At the end of this magnificent day of fun, some student leaders (high school student leaders and primary student leaders) stood up and announced the prizes, not just for the winning groups, but some for trying their hardest and people helping out others when they fell.

I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a great day!

We would also like to say thank you for all the donations raised. The money will go to a good cause.

Grade Six Student Leaders.
Written by Jessica Squires.

Fingal Soccer with Mr. Jack Foreman

It has been a pleasure to have Mr. Jack Foreman on site at Fingal on Wednesdays this term to run soccer clinics for our Kinder – Grade 6 students. Students have been building on their foot/eye co-ordination skills as learned and developed in their Physical Education lessons with Miss Bramich. Jack has extended their knowledge by teaching them how to trap the ball, which parts of the foot to use and how to use space on the soccer pitch. It has been fantastic to see many parents come along to watch and join in. I would like to thank Fiona Lowe for organising these soccer opportunities through the Sporting Schools Programme. For many years Jack has contributed to the sporting climate in our school community by volunteering his time to share his skills and love for the game of soccer. We cannot thank Jack enough for the time and effort he puts into creating sporting opportunities for the students of St. Marys District School.

GRADE 9/10 HOSPITALITY ENTERPRISE GROUP

The Grade 9/10 Hospitality Enterprise Group were overwhelmed with the generosity of a group of Bicheno community members. The Enterprise Group had recently raised over $700 for the farmers drought appeal through a Lamington Drive when Mrs May Farrow contacted the school and asked if she could contribute with a donation from her Community group. Mrs Farrow came to the school and presented a cheque for $1000 which bought the total to over $1700. The group are deciding how best to distribute the funds, wanting to target teenage children who have been affected by the drought bringing them something nice to smile about. A huge thankyou to our school community and the Bicheno Community for your support and generosity.

WHERE IS MO?

5/6 Williams journalism unit exploring the case of the missing unicorn

MO COTTONS IS REPORTED MISSING

On Thursday 30th of August, Mo Cottons went missing from St. Marys, Tasmania. Three people saw him before he went missing:

Matthew Hoskinson

‘It was after lunch on a school day and I was just heading past the science room. But then I saw Mo and he looked worried. He was also walking weirdly, waddling. He didn’t have anything with him.’

Lynette Yodgee

‘It was very dark about 6pm, I was going to the shop and saw Mo with a suitcase. It was filled with food in shopping bags; he had an array of different foods. Despite this, Mo and I are very close friend, and as I think about it, Mo actually talks and hums music a lot.’

Michelle Bennett

‘I was driving home and I was just going past the railway entering St.Marys. Anyway, I saw a tall man (slim). He had a coat and hat on. He looked like he was dragging Mo away from St.Marys. Mo had a suitcase bobbing along as he was being dragged.’ Michelle also claimed that it was around the same time Lynette had seen him.

Mo is a small purple unicorn, he likes sausages and is well known to St.Mary’s School. If you have seen him please contact our school, police or council. Thanks for any help.

Missing Mo Case Continues by Olivia Bonner

On Thursday, 13th September the 5/6A class of St. Mary’s District School located the third clue for their ‘Missing Mo’ board.

Near the I-pad storage unit, a Grade 5 student named Amelia Mason, found the third clue. The clue as to where Mo is was a picture of him sitting on the fence in front of McDonalds, identified as the new McDonalds in Launceston, Tasmania.

So far there have not been any more clues found, yet. The class is still puzzled as to whom took their beloved Mo.

Previous pictures of Mo found do not seem to match up with the newest addition to their collection. The first picture of Mo was of him in the classroom. The second was Mo partying at the One Night Stand in St. Helens, and the third, as said before, in front of Mc Donalds in Launceston.

The class await their next clue, while they continue to try to solve the case.

KINDERGARTEN AND PREP/1 GYMNASTICS – TERM 3

The Kindergarten and Prep/1 students have been engaging in Rhythm and Dance on Tuesdays and Gymnastics on Friday with Miss Bramich in their practical Physical Education lessons.

Our young learners have been engaging in many gymnastic fun activities and challenges including:

• Balancing their bodies on different equipment while being still and moving
• Rolling in different ways – egg roll, pencil roll, forward roll
• Moving forwards and backwards
• Using two feet to take-off on a mini-tramp and land safely with two feet in the ‘motorbike position’
• Learning to move in the space around them – in, over, around, through, under, front, behind
• Using a range of equipment – large trampoline, mini-trampoline, tumbling mat, crash mats, vaulting segments, balance beam and wide beams
• Learning about personal and partner safety
• Learning to use the equipment appropriately and safely

Please enjoy these photos of our young students as they work through many gymnastic activities.

PARENT BOOK CLUB INVITATION

Would you like to gain a deeper insight into how your child experiences reading within the educational context?

Please join me for a four week Parent Book Club in Term 4.

Together we will explore a set text with useful tips on how to connect with your child’s reading development, at the same time increasing reading engagement.

If you are interested or would like to know more, please contact Lynette Yodgee on 6372 3900 or lynette.yodgee@edication.tas.gov.au.

Lynette Yodgee
SMDS Literacy Coach