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The redevelopment of our grade 5/6 classrooms is well underway. The builders have quickly set to work and are gutting both classrooms and will soon be beginning to prepare the building structurally for the upgrade to begin. It must be quite surreal for builder Matt, one of our ex-students, demolishing his old classroom!
Over the last few years, we have undertaken a deep dive into the science of reading. Our staff have been emersed in professional learning and adopted ways of working that have, at times, challenged the thinking and ways of working that have been prevalent in schools (worldwide) for the past 40 or so years. Our reading results have continued to be extremely strong- particularly against “like schools” (of similar demographic) and our growth data exceeds like schools, Tasmania, and Australia, particularly when our students reach year 5. What we are also seeing is enormous growth in student reading achievement in our in-school data sets. You may have seen in the media that the Education Department’s reading strategy that has recently been announced, very much aligns with the work we have already undertaken, and we are extremely confident that we are very much ahead of the curve. This is very evident in the way we have set up our tiered support, our focus on the “Big 6 of reading” and the feedback we have received from the school improvement team.
This week Firefighter Aaron has been working with all classes form Prep to 5/6. The messages and learning that students receive is vitally important, and research has shown that this program has amazing impact on students and has reduced the number of fires and fire related injury since its inception. I encourage all parents and carers to engage with your children and do the floor plan and meeting point homework. Its very important that you have this in place, “just in case”.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the amazing teacher assistants we have at our school. Teacher Aide Appreciation week is being celebrated all over the country and we have some of the very best! Our students have created some tributes that are being displayed around the school and we all extend our gratitude for the work they do. We are lucky to have such a skilled, empathetic and hard working group of people to work alongside.
Friday 8 September | Round 5 Winter Sport - Rain Day 15 September |
Wednesday 13 September | 1/2 Classes Excursion to QVMAG |
Thursday 28 September | Country Gold Carnival |
Thursday 28 September | Sport Colours Day (gold coin donation please) |
Friday 29 September | Last Day of Term 3 |
Monday 16 October | First Day of Term 4 |
Thursday 2 November | Whole School Colour Fun Run |
Friday 3 November | Professional Learning Day |
Monday 6th November | Public Holiday - Recreation Day |
Thursday 21 December | Students' Last Day of School |
Prep's Excursion to the Library for Book Week
On Wednesday 23 August our Prep students visited the George Town Library for Book Week. Students enjoyed listening to two stories and then listened to Craig from Sea Horse World talk about Seahorses and other sea creatures. Preps then had an amazing opportunity to hold seahorses and hermit crabs and look at shrimp under a microscope. It was a fabulous visit. A very big thank you to the George Town Library staff for inviting us to visit!
On Wednesday 23rd, seven continuing players from our Esk Band attended a band workshop at Newstead College. We were joined by students from Exeter, Riverside and Trevallyn schools, and together formed a band of 60 students playing flutes, clarinets, bass clarinets, alto saxophones, tenor saxophones, trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, tubas and a huge range of percussion. It was an amazing experience hearing such a great sound as we worked towards the same goal together, rehearsing 4 pieces of music to be performed at Launceston City Park in November. It was wonderful to see new friends being made, and others being able to catch up with existing friends, from other schools. We acquired many new skills at the workshop and look forward to sharing our pieces with the school soon!
Our staff, students and parents have been braving the cold for winter sport this year. Thank you to parents coming along to support the teams. Here are some photos of a couple of rounds.
Round 3
Round 4
Thank you to all staff, students and families for helping to support Book Week. Whether it was purchasing books at our annual Book Fair in the library or all the countless hours behind the scenes spent preparing your child’s costume for Dress Up Day. Book Week continued to be hugely successful in 2023. We hope you enjoy looking at some pictures from our Book Character Dress Up day held on Thursday last week. Check out our school Facebook page for more photos. This is definitely one of our favourite days here at school.
Prep Quinn | |
Morrison | Writing an amazing sentence in Monday writing all by himself! Awesome effort! |
Emery | His fantastic reading in reading groups this week. Great job Emery! |
Billie | Using fantastic problem solving skills in group time. Great job Billie! |
Henry | His amazing work in maths groups this week. Well done Henry! |
1/2 Locke | |
Isabella | Consistently excellent behaviour. Making the most of school by embracing all opportunities presented to her |
Hayden | Working hard to learn his blue heart words |
Amaya | Being an accepting, kind and tolerant student to those around her |
1/2 Edwards | |
Arthur | Using the 'Make 10' and 'Doubles' strategies to calculate a list of 5 single digit numbers |
Taylah | Her fantastic progress in reading and writing. She reads with amazing expression and is working hard to create grammatically correct sentences |
1/2 Scilini | |
Summah | Improving her attendance at school this term. We love having her in class |
Hendrix | Always working hard on his writing and making efforts to improve his spelling |
3/4 Garwood | |
Archie | Working hard to improve his writing and reading with a positive attitude. Well done! |
Clodagh | Working hard to improve her vocabulary in her writing tasks. Well done! |
3/4 Clancy | |
Livinia | Being a hard working, helpful, caring and polite member of class |
Rhianna | Being a responsible learner and for always helping others |
Elliana | Being a hard working student who always helps others |
Jaxson | Working hard to improve his knowledge of numbers |
5/6 White | |
Isabella | Her improved work ethic and focus. Also asking for help, when needed |
Aaron | His care for others. Aaron is also showing improved effort with his presentation and focus |
5/6 Timms | |
Azalia | Her commitment to improvement in all subject areas |
Sharni | Improved participation in class discussions and answering questions |
Prep Quinn | |
Silas | His happy and enthusiastic attitude that he brings to school everyday |
Riley | His fascinating and entertaining show and tell this week |
Austin | Using some fantastic adjectives when writing about the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk |
Ryder | Working really hard to remember the number 15 when counting to 20 |
1/2 Locke | |
Elsie | Being kind and compassionate to others |
Isabella | Improving her reading fluency. Reading more confidently with greater volume |
Kai | Being a passionate writer and history learner. Your interest inspires others. Thank you! |
1/2 Edwards | |
Amiah | Her fantastic improvement in reading with fluency. Amiah notices punctuation and uses fabulous expression |
Ellee | Asking for help when she needs and using the make 10 strategy in maths |
1/2 Scilini | |
Charlee-Rae | Excellent progress in reading and writing. Your hard work is paying off, well done! |
Josh | Working hard to build resilience through persistence and a positive attitude |
3/4 Garwood | |
Kalani | Working hard to add detail to her sentences. Well done! |
Skyla | Working hard to improve her reading fluency. Well done! |
3/4 Clancy | |
Jordan | Trying to improve his spelling skills and handwriting |
Georgia | Working hard to improve and develop her editing skills |
5/6 White | |
Aurora | Her focus and effort with independent tasks such as her animal research |
Hannah | Her consistent high quality work in all subject areas |
5/6 Timms |
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Kobi | His improved participation in class activities and work commitment |
Andie | Always having a positive attitude during all class activities |