Halfway through Term 4 already! It certainly has been busy so far and our students have been engaging with their learning in a very positive manner. I have been lucky to have been running some reading groups while Ms Owens was on long service leave and I was impressed by the dedication and progress those students have made over the year, and even during the short period that I had them.

Our grade 5/6 trip to Hobart was another fantastic learning opportunity and the feedback we received from the places we visited was outstanding. Our students were engaged, polite and asked great questions. They certainly represented our school with pride and not only maintained but enhanced our reputation in the Tasmanian community.

As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, we are lucky to have been able to keep all our existing staff. We will have some staff movement around classes and roles, and I can announce that next year we will have:

1 Kinder

2 Preps

2 1/2 classes

3 3/4 classes

2 5/6 classes

We will announce the teachers on those classes later this term. It is vitally important that if you have children who won’t be attending South in 2023 that you let us know as soon as possible. Likewise, if you know of new families moving into our area who are intending to enrol their children it is very helpful for us to know.

We look forward to seeing many of our community at our end of year festivities and finishing the year with more great student learning, engagement and fun.

This term the 3/4 classes have been learning about explorers, their travels, and their connection to Tasmania. They conducted in class inquiries into George Bass and Matthew Flinders, including where they went, what they discovered and why this is important to us. To conclude the unit, they went on an excursion to Bass and Flinders Maritime Museum!

At 6:30AM last Friday, we arrived at school so we could get onto the bus.  We headed to Hillwood to pick up any students at around 7:00am.

By the time we had arrived in Launceston, it was time to grab Mr Timms and Mr Hay.

We travelled and ended up in Campbell Town for a snack, toilet break and a quick little play.

After leaving, Campbell Town was only toilet stop, until we had reached Hobart.

Once we arrived in Hobart, we had our first stop which was Government house. We got to meet “Your Excellency” (Barbara Baker, who is the Governor of Tasmania). We asked questions and got a tour inside and outside Government House which was wonderful.

After we left Government House, we headed towards Parliament House and the Museum. 5/6 White/Daire went to Parliament House first and 5/6 Timms went to the museum. Parliament house was an awesome place. Students got to interact as a “clerk” and “the speaker”. We got to see “the House of Assembly” which was the lower house, and everything was green! “the Legislative Council” was the upper house it was red!

Then the classes swapped, 5/6 Timms went to the Parliament House and 5/6 White/Daire went to the Museum.

The Museum had almost all the of the animals from Australia. The museum even had whale and dinosaur skeletons. There hasn’t been a dinosaur skeleton found in Tasmania. The dinosaur skeletons were flown in from Queensland, but the whale skeletons were from Tasmania.

After the tours of the Museum and Parliament House, we sat back down in our seats and travelled to Bounce. At Bounce, where we spent one hour, there were trampolines and rock climbing.

After leaving Bounce we travelled to St Peters Pass for dinner which was subway. Leaving St Peters Pass we headed back to Campbell Town for our last toilet break.

We got back to George Town at 8:45pm where everyone’s parents had been waiting for their children.

Thank you, Shayne, Tim, Rebecca, Decinta and Chantelle for coming along to support students and thank you to the teachers for creating this excellent excursion.

This excursion has been one of the best trips ever! I especially liked Parliament House when we got to interact as a “clerk and speaker”. I will definitely look forward to going again next year. Thank you!

Written by Ella MacFarlane

Check out our facebook page for more photos of the Hobart Excursion. 

Last week selected grade 3-6 students went to the George Town Pool to compete in the TPSSA Swimming carnival. It was such a sucessful day, well done!

Here are some of our latest 'Reach for the Stars' recipients. These students have demonstrated our school values over several years. Congratulations on this very special award!