6 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Feedback and Communication

Many thanks to the large number of parents who have come in to speak to me over the past few weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you, hearing your stories and receiving your feedback about our school. One common theme of these conversations has been for our school to strengthen the communication systems in use to ensure clear, consistent and accurate messaging and information is reaching our parents and broader community. Therefore, all future communication with parents and the St Marys District School community will be through the following methods:

Fortnightly Schoolzine newsletter: includes student work, sector and school program reports, school events, general information, school calendar, homework and assignment table, list of notices, etc

St Marys District School Facebook page: includes regular updates of student learning, photographs of school events, information for parents, event dates, etc

Notices: At this stage, while we review the digital systems that have been in place, both general information notices and permission notices will be paper based notices and sent home with students.

Please support our school by downloading the Schoolzine app to your phone or computer and by liking the school Facebook page at the following link:

School Improvement and Reporting

St Marys District School is on an improvement journey, with all staff currently engaged in refining our 2019 school priorities of quality teaching, an orderly environment and student and staff wellbeing. This work, along with collaborative planning teams and professional learning for all teachers, supports our target of at least ‘one year’s growth’ for every learner in the school.

In the next few weeks all parents will be involved in, or receive the first round of student reporting for the year. After reading your child’s progress report, Prep-Year 12, or participating in a discussion with the teacher, for Kinder parents, please take some time to engage in a discussion with your child, share their report and set some goals for the next part of the year. I encourage all parents to make contact with their child’s teachers to discuss any concerns. These conversations are one very important way of school and home working together to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children.

Staffing Update

I would like to thank Mrs Claire Neyland for her work at St Marys District School over the past 3 years and wish her well as she heads off on leave in preparation for the birth of her baby. I hope Claire has a relaxing few weeks before parenting duties take over. Mr Patrick Bender is joining our staff as Claire’s replacement and I welcome Patrick to the school.

Policy Reminders

Finally, I would like to remind students and families about our policies regarding nuts and the use of aerosols at school. Whilst we cannot guarantee parents and carers that we are a nut-free school, I ask that you consider the medical needs of others and do not provide peanut or tree nut products in school lunches. We have a number of students with severe anaphylactic conditions who rely on your support to keep them safe. Likewise, the use of aerosols in the form of deodorants is banned from the school. There are many viable alternatives and I would ask that again, you consider the wellbeing needs of others by supporting this ban. Thank you in advance for your ongoing support.

Warm regards,

Carolyn Watson
Principal

THE STUDENT LEADERSHIP TEAM ATTENDS THE GRIP STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR 2019

The Student Leaders had an opportunity to participate in elective workshops, mix with leaders from other schools and build new skills, perspectives and ideas. The student leadership team left the conference prepared with a clear vision, a solid understanding and many ideas for making a positive contribution as leaders at St Marys District School.

GRADE K-P-1-2 FINGAL CAMPUS

As part of our Technology unit, Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students have been testing paper planes, working on their designs, trying to understand how materials and elements effect each other. Next step is the evaluation.

Prep students are practicing their number recognition, one-to-one correspondence and matching numbers to objects.

Taiah – Establishing one-to-one correspondence- Matching numbers to objects

Prep/Year 1 – Sight word photo

After reading their books students work on sight words – say it, make it, write it!

INDEPENDENT READING - PREP, GRADES 1/ 2

Our classes have been setting up individual reading boxes. Each day we have a short mini lesson where we teach a comprehension skill or a reading strategy and the children practice this in their quiet reading time. It is wonderful to see the older students assisting the younger ones in their reading. It is a daily reading time where we all get to enjoy 'books'!

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MISS BRAMICH’S PE CLASSES!

Our Early Childhood students are having a great time! They are learning how GOOD it feels to move their bodies in different ways. They are learning about how much FUN it is to move their body in different ways. They are experiencing HOW to move their bodies in big and small spaces. They are making CHOICES about the DIRECTION in which to move their bodies (up, over, in, out, under, behind, front, back, around). They are learning to be attentive listeners and responding to a whistle (“Stop, drop, look, listen, put gear down and get off equipment”). Our students are also recognising how and why they need to be SAFE learners in the gym, pool and playgrounds.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN KINDER – GRADE 2

HEALTH EDUCATION!

Our Kinder – Grade 2 students are engaging in activities designed to help learn how to share, communicate respectfully and how to be safe. Students are learning about feelings and emotions and why we feel differently in different circumstances. Some students are learning about how to develop positive interpersonal skills through game play. Students are learning how to play fairly, including how to win and lose graciously. Some students are learning about dental hygiene and how important clean teeth and gums are to overall physical health.

LA, LA LAAAAAAA!!!!! – GRADE 2 MUSIC!

Through playing instruments, singing songs and moving their bodies in dance, our students are engaging in creative play, exploratory activities and structured music experiences. Students are becoming aware of different sounds they hear in the world around them. They are learning about beat and rhythm. Our students are making their own music and learning how to become respectful audience members when listening to each other. They are learning that music can excite them, calm them or make them happy. Kinder – Grade 2 music lessons are full of fun and laughter.

ECOLOGY – CLASSIFICATION - GRADE 7-8B

On Friday 1st March, Mrs Neyland was teaching us about ‘classification’. She gave us the challenge of sorting a large amount of buttons so that there were no two buttons together unless they were exactly the same. As we were doing this, we had to make a classification key to go with it. This is the beginning of our unit which focuses on ‘Ecology”. It was a huge challenge that got our brains moving and thinking!

Elise 7/8B

SWIM TRAINING

On Friday March 2nd, our swimming squad were given a master class in swimming courtesy of Milt Nelms who used to coach Ian Thorpe and now is considered the ‘Horse Whisperer’ of elite swimmers around the world. Dana Volmer, a world record holder and a multi Olympic gold medallist from the USA and Jeanette Ottersen, current Danish champion butterflyer and individual medley trained in our pool with Milt. Both swimmers have competed in more than four summer Olympics. Dana, Jeanette and Milt really enjoyed their session with our students. Milt and Dana will return later this season before our Interhigh Swimming Carnival. Jeanette had to fly back to Denmark this week but is very keen to return next year and visit us again. After touring the school, they commented that our facilities were the best they had seen at any school. High praise indeed!

ART LESSON IN GRADE 9/10 YEAR ART

The students have looked at what a “notan” is. A notan is a Japanese word that translates as ‘dark-light-harmony’ and refers to the arrangement of dark and light patterns, that serve as the foundation of a composition.

The primary function of the notan is to define shape and pattern. It is a visual construct that exists largely in the mind of the artist. Ellie Gamble produced a very good example of a notan. The second exercise was to look at Magical Realism, an Art Movement that is a branch of Surrealism. Tiana Smith created her version of realistic objects placed in an unreal setting.

SUNSMART CHAMPIONS!

Thank you to Sylvia Watson and Olivia Reitsema, our Year 10 representatives, who recently attended the Cancer Council Tasmania SunSmart workshop in Launceston. The day involved collaborating with students from other schools in the Northern region. At the workshop participants identified three key roles of the Cancer Council, explored seven positive lifestyle choices to reduce cancer and, through informational sessions, were informed on how they can spread the word on how to be SunSmart.

ASSIGNMENT – HOMEWORK SCHEDULE

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS