We had a very good response to our first assembly of the term last Monday. All classes met in the gym at the start of the day where we set our expectations for learning for Term 2. It was great to see so many students in uniform, concentrating on what was important and genuinely making a commitment to a great term ahead. We also welcomed a number of new faces to our team. Mrs Robyn Langworthy has joined us in the School Business Manager role, Mrs Helen Wearing-Smith is covering Mrs Nicole Poke who is temporarily in a Senior Staff role while Ms Penny Wilde is on leave and Tamika has joined the administration team in the office.

The important messages shared during assembly focussed on our Values of Learning, Respect and Community. We stressed the purpose of school is learning, that by law students are required to attend school and that unless there is a legitimate reason, students shouldn’t be missing school. I’m well aware that a number of students can be difficult at home of a morning. I encourage families to reinforce with students how important it is that they attend school regularly and make the most of the opportunity to learn. Most of all I encourage families not to give students the opportunity to stay home – what starts as a compromise often becomes a very hard pattern to break.

Respect is another of our three school values and we discuss it regularly and openly with students. Unfortunately, it’s often the value that is most regularly discussed but least often maintained by students, for lots of reasons. I discussed and shared with everyone present that it’s often hard to be respectful, especially when we’re angry, scared or upset or things don’t go as we would like. I shared a number of strategies students can use – that are acceptable when they are upset or angry. Finding a safe space in room, removing ourselves from the class, moving outside but staying close by where the teacher can easily see us is more than acceptable (provided it’s done in the right way). Explaining that we’re angry and just need some time (within reason) is acceptable – even if our voice is a little loud or angry is ok, swearing is not and is not respectful. These messages are regularly revisited and reinforced as we continue to explore our values with students.

Community is the last of our values but still very important and I used specific examples in assembly last week to ensure students understood the value and the behaviours that go with it. The ability to work together respectfully to ensure we have every opportunity to learn and be the best we can possibly be (see how important our values are to each other) is so important and is one of the values our students struggle with. It’s interesting how many students regularly ‘stir’ others up, ‘niggle’ each other or start something as a joke that then becomes serious and hurtful. When we work together as a community, we respect each other’s space, we ensure that we don’t bother others and that we are mindful of the feelings of others – all the time!

It's understandable that students will struggle with rules and acceptable ways of behaving at school sometimes, it’s a part of growing up and staff will always seek to support students to learn, grow and behave in an acceptable way. Our values and understanding them are pivotal to supporting students to behave in appropriate ways. Using this language at home, exploring with your child what our values of learning, respect and community mean and how they practise them is a great way of reinforcing why acceptable behaviour is so important.

We have had a lovely start to the term in Kinder O’Neill, where we have been developing our literacy skills through singing, acting out, sequencing and answering questions about the ‘The Wheels On The Bus’ nursery rhyme. We started exploring the nursery rhyme by recounting our personal experiences of when we went on a bus:

“I went to a beach on a holiday” – Aahana

“I went on a bus to the airplane” – Indiana

“Glenorchy” – Brantley-Jay

“On my birthday, I went to a hotel” – Aylah

“I went on a bus to the shop and the pool” – Summer

“Aquatic, I practised my swimming” – Athena

“To the beach” – Aabha

“To a picnic with Mrs O’Neill in LiL last year” – Joan

“I went to Bonorong” – Amanat

“I went to the city” – Benjamin

We have also been developing our counting skills by counting to 10. Our favourite table job of this week was using the construction trucks to pick up rocks and count them!

In 1/2 Sun we have been using the book "Where the forest meets the sea" for some idea's to do some wonderful drawing's. Here is some amazing work from Aida and Ray.

In Grade 3/4 Marmion/Marshall we have been learning all about lifecycles. Our inquiry began when Ross, our ESL teacher, brought in some baby skinks which had hatched from eggs in his yard. We learned that this skink, the Three-lined Skink, is one of only two types of lizard in Tasmania that lay eggs. All the others have live young.

We then got our class pets – mealworms! We watched their lifecycle before our very eyes go from larvae to pupa to beetle. We also studied the lifecycle of plants by growing snow peas. We were each given a bean seed and we had a competition ‘Beat my Bean’ where we could change one thing to try to grow a taller bean than the teacher’s. Some people put theirs in a sunnier spot in the classroom, some people watered theirs more and some people watered theirs less. Most people beat the teacher’s!

We visited the Marine Discovery Centre at Woodbridge to learn about lifecycles in marine habitats. We learned about the lifecycle of moon jellies and got to look at baby sea creatures (plankton) under microscopes.

We then chose an animal of our choice to research. We designed lifecycle posters and then brought them to life in mini plasticine models.

Book Club orders are due in by Friday 17 May 2024