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

20 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Progress Reports

Progress Reports

Progress reports will be going home with students on 22nd of March. These reports provide an indication for how your child has settled into their learning this year and will also include attendance data for the term so far. Please take the time to look through your child’s report and have a discussion with them. A great framework for this discussion is to look at areas for celebration first, and then identity one or two areas for improvement. Supporting your child to set some strong goals from the progress report is a great way to support their learning at school. A reminder to all Parents and Carers, if you have any questions about the progress report or would like to discuss them in more detail please contact the school office on 63723900 to make an appointment with the teacher concerned.

Attendance – Every day counts!

Attendance – Every day counts!

Attending school every day has a huge impact on how well your child goes at school. Research shows that higher student attendance is associated with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience. As you read your child’s progress report I encourage you to have a careful look at the attendance report. Please contact the office to provide explanations for any days currently marked as unexplained or unauthorised. These types of absences may lead to you receiving an attendance alert letter if they remain unexplained.

As we are now in the second half of term 1 it is a good time to review our school’s attendance procedures. Please notify the office or your child’s class teacher of the reason for your child’s absence. I would like to remind families that according to the Education Act, the only authorised reasons children can be absent from school are:

  • sickness/incapacity
  • medical, legal or related appointments
  • natural disaster or extreme weather
  • terminal illness of an immediate family member
  • bereavement or a person your child had a close, significant or family relationship with
  • having witnessed or subject to family violence
  • being a participant or official at a recognised State, National or International event
  • participating in a recognised learning experience
  • an application for home education being received by the Education Registrar and provisional registration being granted.

https://documentcentre.education.tas.gov.au/Documents/Excused_from_Attendance_Changes_School_Newsletter_Article.pdf

We need your help!

Can you spare a couple of hours each week to assist with the School Association Op Shop? If so please contact the school office or call into the Op Shop for further details. The Op Shop Volunteers do an amazing job and the funds raised directly benefit the students of St Marys District School.

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

FUN AT FINGAL!!!! K – 2 PE with Miss Bramich

Giggle, roll, turn right, look up, two hands, one foot at a time! Why did we move like that? How did that movement feel? How do you need to bend your arms? Great team work every one! Here is something we have not tried before! Well done Grade 2’s for showing the Kinders how to stand ‘behind’ a witch’s hat! Drink break everyone!! PE has been so much fun – especially the big ball, hurdles and rubber chicken games! We can not wait for the Athletics Carnival on Tuesday 19th March!

GRADE 2/3 GRAY/STANFORD

On Thursday afternoons Grade 2/3 have Art. We have been reading the book ‘The Witches’ written by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl describes the characters of witches with great detail. To draw our pictures we created images in our minds and sketched them on to paper. The witches in the book have bald itchy heads, wear wigs, square feet with no toes and often wear boots to hide them. They have long curvy claws on the end of their fingers and wear gloves to hide these. Their eyes change colour and in the middle they have fire dancing and ice in the other. They have large wavy nose holes and blue split.

We used black permanent marker to outline our sketches and water colours.

LIFT

Home Reading

In response to parent queries about home reading, we are adding short video clips to our Newsletter. Our aim is to offer parents and grandparents useful tips for reading with/to children. If you have any requests for specific tips/strategies, please pass them on to your child’s teacher or to Mrs Bec Mason directly.

Video 1: “Tracking’’ means pointing at the words as you read. If your child can not distinguish the words on the page yet, you can “hand over hand” help them to point. This is an important strategy for early readers. 5 – 6 year olds are learning what a word is, that spaces signify the end and start of a word and that words go from left to right across the page. They are learning that the words relate to the pictures and are developing their fine motor skills to turn pages. Enjoy our first reading sessions, starring Ella (Reading With: Tracking) and Harrison (Reading with: Tracking). Students from Prep will be bringing home a flyer with Tracking Tips this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BQ99y327E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I41Je35GW9s

Parent Help

Volunteering for parent help is a wonderful way to keep in touch with your child’s learning, and our teachers really value and appreciate any help you can offer. We also love it when parents and grandparents participate in special activities that we organise for students.

All volunteers need a current Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) card. WWVP cards are available via online registration at the link below and an identification photo taken by Service Tasmania within 3 weeks of online registration. Volunteer WWVP card fee is $18.96, to be paid at Service Tasmania. Processing can take up to 6 weeks.

http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/working_with_children/application

We have many opportunities for parents to volunteer in their child’s classroom, a variety of events coming up on the 2019 calendar. Please register for your Working with Vulnerable People Card now to avoid disappointment. If you would like help with the online forms and/or access to a computer to register, our lovely office staff can make arrangements for this. If you hold a current WWVP card, please check its expiry date, as they have a 3 year limit and you may need to renew your registration in the coming months.

Assemblies and events do not require you to hold a WWVP card.

1,2,3,4, LOUDER, SOFTER, SHAKE, SING AND BANG!!

Wow! K – 2 Music students with Miss Bramich are having a wonderful time in Music. Our students are being introduced to different types of music and songs from different cultures around the world. Not only have they been learning the lyrics of an Inuit Eskimo fishing song called “Okki tokki unga” but they have been doing actions to the lyrics AND, can you believe it, playing the song on the keyboards WHILE they are singing! They are also learning an Australian Indigenous childrens’ song called “Ananay”. As the students learn to sing the lyrics, they are using their breath, teeth, tongue and lips to pronounce the words. This also supports the work class teachers do in Literacy with oral language in the classroom. With some polish and a dose of confidence, they may be able to perform these items in an assembly this term!

LEARNING INSTRUMENTS IN GRADE 3-6 MUSIC

In recent weeks Grade 3 – 6 students have had the opportunity to choose an instrument to learn to play. Students chose from string, wind and percussion instruments - ukulele, guitar, drums, recorder, keyboards and voice. Dance will be offered later in the year. Students have been using self-paced music-method resources with teacher guidance. Students are also completing some theory work such as understanding the parts to the instrument they have chosen, how to tune it, how hold it, what sounds it can make and how to pack their instruments away properly. Students have also been introduced to a sing a song as a class group.

THE SCALE OF IT!!

Students in Grade 5/6 Williams have been learning to use and interpret scale. We have studied maps and spent a day using scale to compare many major landmarks. We first drew their length and widths on concrete with chalk using a scale of 1 metre to 1 centimetre. We then returned inside to build the same monuments with straws using a scale of 1 centimetre to 10 metres. This is helping to develop understanding of place value.

FINGAL CAMPUS – EC1

Prep-Year 1 students have been learning how to use non-standard units of measurement to calculate the length of objects. We had to choose the unit of measurement, find objects to measure, estimate the length, count the units and record the answer. We learnt that when we measure we should not leave any gaps between the units, not overlap them, use the same units and align the units with the objects.

Year 2 students used standard unit of measurement (1 meter ruler) to measure the height and the length of objects. We learnt that 1 meter equals 100 centimetres. We measured the objects and recorded the measurements, converted the units and compared objects with different lengths and heights.

GRADE 7-10 SWIMMING CARNVAL

1st Place- DUNCAN 640
2nd Place- BLACKWOOD 464
3rd Place- DALMAIN 455

CHAMPIONS AND RUNNER-UP CHAMPIONS

Grade

Champion

Runner-up

7 Boys

Caleb Broughan

Jimmy Freiboth

7 Girls

Zali Taylor

Bayli Casboult

8 Boys

Elvis Russell

Max Salter

8 Girls

Darshini Barnes

Ava Lockwood-Roden

9 Boys

Darcey Scott

Aaron Mason

9 Girls

Bridie Aulich

Kate Aulich

10 Boys

Fraser Russell

Connah Tuck & Leo Taylor

10 Girls

Tahlia Randall & Ria Oliver

Erinn Spilsbury

NEW RECORDS

Grade

Event

Name

Old record

New record

9 Boys

50m Backstroke

Aaron Mason

43.81

Alex Cronan (2000)

40.81

9 Boys

50m Backstroke

Darcey Scott

42.06

9 Boys

25m Backstroke

Aaron Mason

18.12

Brendan Tennick (1999)

17.74

Congratulations to our champions and runners-up for the secondary swimming this year. We had a fantastic day at the pool with some very close contests across the Grades. We wish our team all the best for the Inter-High event in Launceston on the 29th March.

HOSPITALITY

TEAM WORK, INSPIRATION, CREATIVITY AND GOOD FOOD

Tom and Bayley making Fried Rice

LEARNING CO-OPERATION, ENTERPRISE AND FUN

Ria Oliver making Raspberry Muffins for Business Enterprise

Sylvia Watson and Olivia Reitsema making Sausage Rolls for Business Enterprise

Kate Aulich making Churros for Enterprise Cooking

FOCUS AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

Grade 7-8 Options – Cooking

HIGH SCHOOL ART

The students at St Marys are learning about the principles and elements of design and are being taught how to use the different mediums available to create ideas in their art work.

Jill Lewis, Art Teacher.

ASSIGNMENT – HOMEWORK SCHEDULE

Class

Teacher

Assignments /Homework

Due Date

7/8 A

K Nunn

Number Homework Book

Appropriate week due every Friday

9/10 A

K Nunn

Fraction, Decimal and Percentage Homework Book

Appropriate week due every Friday

Grade 6

Mrs Williams

Athletics Carnival recount

Letter to a politician

March 26th

April 2nd

SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS

These notices have been sent home to parents in the last fortnight. If you did not receive one and would like to receive a copy of the notice, please contact the school office on 63 723 900.

PRIMARY

NAPLAN 2019 - For student in Grades 3-5-7-9

Parent Welcome Letter for Grade 3-4-5-6 Fingal Campus

SECONDARY

Parent Letter for ICT User Agreement Form – For students in Grade 9-10

Excursion to Ironhouse Vineyard – For students in Grade 11-12

WHOLE SCHOOL

Bus Agreement form for students who travel on buses.

Miscellaneous

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

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