Newsletter 10 April

From the Principal

Making school approachable or making us an approachable school?

The closure of the school canteen (last day this Friday) and the communication that went out about it has taught me a couple of lessons this week – it isn’t always easy to communicate effectively with everyone and even though we try very hard to make school a place parents feel comfortable to feedback to we can’t always be sure that it is.

Closing the school canteen wasn’t an easy decision – it is something our families enjoy utilising but when it comes down to people in classrooms supporting learning or a canteen, we will always prioritise student learning.

Perhaps I didn’t put that in the communication and maybe I should have. I did invite families in to discuss it – please know my invitation is genuine, but only one parent has been in.

Our school lunch program has had a big impact on our school canteen as well as what we are allowed to sell. All schools must be accredited and are required to only sell “healthier options”. The current price of food also makes what we can offer difficult. Instead, we will look at providing special days like the ones we have had previously including Subway lunches etc.

I have been made aware that there are families who feel we don’t listen. Who have concerns that the canteen was only open one day a week and that the prices were too expensive.

There are families who also feel their feedback is never listened to – that in fact there wouldn’t be a school without them - the parents. I do wonder if it is a small group of families that feel this way, or a large group?

I would genuinely appreciate some feedback – good or bad – through email Nadine.davey@decyp.tas.gov.au , text msg on the school mobile 0438 705 049 or by making an appointment through the school office to see me on the following question:

How do we make ourselves more approachable?

If we can be approachable and take on your feedback, the learning opportunities your children receive, have the potential to be so much richer.

Nadine Davey

Principal

Early Collection of Students

REMINDER: COLLECTION OF STUDENTS DURING THE SCHOOL DAY

Learning is a focus at every point of the school day and while it is accepted that children are required to leave school early occasionally, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN REGULALRY AND DOESN’T DISTURB THE LEARNING OF THE CHILDREN LEAVING OR THOSE STILL AT SCHOOL.

Where a child has a doctor or specialist etc appointment and needs to leave the school before the end of the school day, could you please let the child, and the office know at the beginning of the day and collect them at either 10:20am, the beginning of recess or 12:20 from the front office. 12:20, is the beginning of supervised eating time and ensures the least interruption to learning time.

The office will ensure the class teacher knows when they will be leaving and will send them to the office to support a timely pickup.

This arrangement supports everyone to prioritise learning with less interruptions. I appreciate that this takes a little more organisation on your end but hope that you can work with us.

Where parents require messages to be passed on to children regarding end of day arrangements etc, the office are more than happy to collect your message and will call those children to the office at the end of the day with one announcement across the school. Please make sure you have contacted the office, ideally by 2:30 to ensure we have enough time to communicate with your child.

Thank you very much for your support.

2025 Levies

Levies for 2025 have been issued and are now due. Please make payment in full as soon as possible.

Levies can be paid:

• At the school (by EFTPOS or cash)
• At Service Tasmania (by EFTPOS or cash)
• Through BPAY (using the Biller Code and Reference on your invoice)
• By mail, forward your cheque, money order or credit card details to the school, with the payment slip from your invoice attached (payable to the Department of Education)
• Using Centrepay, a service provided by Centrelink.

You can choose to pay your levies by instalment by contacting the school to set up a payment plan of regular instalments. Payment plans can continue through to the end of the school year.

Can I get help with school levies?

There are a range of options available to support families with the costs of schooling.

• You are eligible for the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) if you hold a Health Care Card, Low Income Health Care Card, or Pensioner Concession Card. Once you have applied for STAS, you will not need to pay any levies. You may apply online (https://www.education.tas.gov.au/parents-carers/parent-fact-sheets/fees-levies/), or collect a paper application form from your school office.
• Families receiving STAS can access the Spectacles Assistance Scheme to support children who require spectacles.

If you are experiencing financial difficulty or financial hardship, and none of the support options above will work for your family, you can contact Ashlee Isaac, the School Business Manager on 6272 7877 or the Department of Education’s Financial Services Unit at Fin.Serv@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 827 055.

Canteen Closure

This Friday, April 11 will be the last day the school canteen will be operating this year. Unfortunately, the canteen isn’t making enough money to support it to continue.

Our participation in the School Lunch Matters Program on a Wednesday and a Thursday provides students with a very positive meal experience, where they sit with their friends and eat their lunch in a positive community environment. This will offset the loss of the school canteen.

We will take the opportunity to review this decision towards the end of the year.

Thank you very much for your support.

Leadership Excursion

Leadership Excursion

On Friday the 28^th of March was the leadership excursion. We went to the Blue Lagoon. The leadership roles are SRC, House Captain, Library Monitor, Canteen Monitor, Smiley Shop Monitors, Chess Captain, Technical Crew, Daily PE Leader, Flag Monitor, Sustainability Crew, Student Executive and Student Mentor.

To get to Blue Lagoon we had to go on an hour bus ride. At Blue Lagoon there were two activities, one inside and one outside. We split into two groups and changed each hour. The outside activity was an obstacle course full of different teamwork challenges. The first obstacle was a spider web made of ropes which you had to connect a harness to and had to try to climb across to the other side. The next obstacle was a Seesaw which you had to balance evenly with your team for ten seconds. The next obstacle had tiles with a path which you had to get across, but you didn’t know the path. For the next obstacle there were two ropes at the end of a big wire that looked like a tightrope. We needed to balance and use the ropes to cross to the other side. Another challenge had two planks, and the team had to find a way across the obstacle using the planks, without falling. This was followed by using a rope swing to get your team to the end. The last activity involved moving tires onto different polls following a set of rules to solve the challenge.

Then we had recess and got to play. The things that we could play on included two big slides, two trampolines, a playground, a basketball court, a gaga ball pit and a swing set. After recess the groups swapped activities. The first inside activity involved getting split into two even groups, getting a number between 1 and 11. Once you get your number called out you run to the box and take off your shoes and use them to hit a bowling pin and if you get it before the other team then you win. The other game is where you are in the team’s again, but you have a blindfold and the teacher hides a pool noodle of your colour somewhere in the square and your team has to direct you to your pool noodle, but if you pick up the wrong pool noodle then you have to drop it and find yours. Once you have your pool noodle you must hit the other player below the shoulders.

At lunch we ate and got Zooper Doopers and after we ate, we were allowed in the gaming room. In the gaming room there were Pool Tables, Air Hockey Tables, Ping Pong and Table Soccer. After that we all went home.

During the activities on the excursion, we needed to work in teams. We learnt about the importance of good communication, encouragement, and many other qualities that make a good leader. Some of the challenges were very hard, but we needed to use initiative and persist with our team to successfully complete them.

By Kaia and Carlee.

Kinder O'Neill

It has been a busy term in Kinder O’Neill with students demonstrating bravery as they settle into the routine of school. We have been learning about ourselves, our families and the school community which we belong to. During Harmony Week, we all drew pictures of ourselves and discussed how we are all unique and different but still belong together.

We are also starting to learn the foundational skills of literacy as we have been focusing on holding a pencil correctly, recognising our names and the concepts of print. We have recently started to explore the alphabet, and letter sounds through Playberry during our word work each day which is very exciting!

Last week, we had two special visitors to our classroom: Anne and Dan from Delta Dogs! They taught us how to be safe around dogs and the importance of only interacting with happy dogs who have waggy tails and their tongues out. We all learnt how to stand still like a tree if an angry door approaches and how to ask a dog if they want a pat.

What did you learn from the Delta Dogs visit?

“Do not touch without a person.” – Biplove

“Happy dogs have pink licky tongues.” – Zayden

“When a dog is scary you stand like a tree.” – Xavier

“The dog is angry. I saw a picture. Tail up.” – Olivia

We are all looking forward to another busy term after the holidays!

Prep Jardine

Prep students were asked about their favourite thing to do at school. At this stage, play is still a really important part of their social and physical development. Building involves fine motor muscles, problem solving and cooperation. Dramatic play builds social and personal skills and expressing creativity. We also participate in Playberry literacy every day, play maths games to develop counting and addition skills. It has been a big term of learning! Have a great holiday and see you next term 😊

Aabha – Learning my letters

Aahana – I like to cook in the kitchen

Athena - Playberry – writing jobs

Benjamin – Painting!

Ciaran – Playing with Mr Potato Head

Ethan – Playing in the home corner

Felix – Numbers – I’m getting better at numbers

Joan – Playing with Athena and Sophia

Jonah – Playing with magnet blocks

Layland – Playing on the swings

Luke – It’s the games – Maths games

Milly (Amelia) – Playing cats and mums

Mysha – Playing Penguin tag with Aaliyan and Cairene

Sophia – Playing with Amelia, Summer, Joan and Athena

Summer – Playing in the kitchen

Tane – Playing with the blocks

Veer – Playing with Magnet tiles

1/2 Poke

What a term we’ve had in 1/2 P! We made a list about all the things we’ve done and enjoyed, including, but not limited to: meeting Henry, Finn and Lulu, writing, being amazing at packing up, Playberry, reading books, Zones of Regulation, learning about our emotions, Delta Dog, school lunches, making personal history clocks, Harmony Week art, planning and creating plasticine scenes, art, learning about animal needs, daily fitness, learning about what plants need, daily 5, A 5 is a big thing, music, PE, library, recess, lunch, learning the birthday song, working on our class agreement, learning the Tidy Up Song, singing and dancing to songs, assembly, the Big Numbers Song, Squiglet, mouse mode, collecting and spending Smilies

Below we wrote about our favourite parts of school this year. 

1/2 Sun

This term, our Grade 1/2S students have explored exciting learning experiences across Science and HASS. Through these experiences, students have been deepening their understanding of the world around them.

In Science, students investigated plant growth by nurturing their own broad bean plants. Through weekly observations and discussions, they discovered what plants need to thrive. This hands-on experience helped them connect scientific concepts to real-life observations.

In HASS, we celebrated our diverse backgrounds by creating a Class Museum, where students shared stories, artifacts, and traditions from their family cultures. This meaningful project linked with Harmony Week’s message – “Everyone Belongs,” fostering a sense of respect and appreciation for different cultures within our school community.

To express their learning and appreciation for the connections they’ve built, students collaboratively created a Class Aboriginal Flag. Using drawings, lines, and words, they reflected on the sun’s warmth, the friendships they’ve formed, and the shared land and resources within our school community. This activity encouraged deep thinking about belonging, respect, and the connection we all share.

It has been a fantastic term of learning, curiosity, and collaboration! We look forward to more discoveries in Term 2.

3/4 Pears

Term 1 has involved a fantastic beginning to learning for 3/4P! It’s been amazing to see the students settling into routines and developing their growth mindsets when it comes to embracing new learning challenges.

This term we have focused on building strong literacy foundations through our daily structured program, Playberry. Fluency is also a big focus in our class reading sessions, something we do 3 days a week – we have embraced the routine of partner reading to get feedback from peers and improve our comprehension skills as a result. We have also been working on narrative writing and finished our unit with writing short stories about divers exploring the ocean!

Numeracy this term has been all about exploring numbers! We have been creating number patterns out of blocks and using them to show off our skip counting skills. We have also been looking at place value and working towards creating numbers in the millions! We have ended the term on time, where we are practicing the real-world skill of clock reading and converting between analog and digital. Now we no longer ask Miss Pears what the time is – we just look at our classroom clock!

Our science unit, “Food Chains,” has been an amazing reason to get out and about in our school garden. We have been investigating all the different parts that make up a food chain and finding examples that we have right here at Springfield Gardens! We were quite excited to find various animals such as butterflies, spiders and ladybugs, and participate in games that required us to track how a kangaroo population can change depending on the resources in the environment. We also learnt 2 important rules when we began creating food chains – ask us, we’ll tell you! 

This term in H.A.S.S we have been looking into communities, why people become part of them, and the rules and consequences that are created in these communities. This has tied in nicely with our inquiry of belonging at Springfield Gardens, where we collaborated with 3/4B to create an amazing display of the places at school we feel most part of. It was lovely to see that all the students could identify one place at school that created a sense of belonging for them. It also linked with Harmony Day, and the wonderful display we made as a whole school. We have also had many insightful class discussions about rules, where and why we have them, and times when they may change.

Thank you to our families for your ongoing support this term. Your encouragement helps us create a positive and thriving learning environment. We look forward to continuing this journey together in term 2!

3/4 Balhatchet

3/4 B have worked so hard this term. After studying ‘The Book of Curious Birds’ by local author, Jennifer Cossins, we created our own birds using elements of the informative text structure.

We planned.

We wrote.

We edited and typed.

Nike birds are spotted in the mall. Nike birds are not seen often because they are rare, they like to lay their eggs in old Nike shoes. And Nike birds like to spy on people like Santa, but Nike birds are not invisible. The Nike birds they weigh 200 tons because they have 1,000,000 Nike shoes.

Chase

The stargazer! by Faith

The star gazer is a small type of secretary, but they can be found in Oceania!

Star gazers have very large feet, but they need them to survive! They need their feet because the way they hunt is crazy! They hunt by stomping on the ground making all the worms come to the surface, and they can use them to protect themselves!

Fun fact! Stargazers are not nocturnal! They are onurnal meaning they sleep at any time like humans!

Stargazers have one egg only! Once they mate, they don’t ever again, this is why they are almost extinct, but that does not stop them! They are the strongest bird in the world one kick can kill an elephant!

Stargazers live all over Oceania! They are mostly found in Australia! They love to sit and

sleep, they are great pets, but they are a bit too dangerous to have inside! I hope you know more about stargazers! Have a good day!

Come and see our display board to check out other curious birds.

4/5 de Paula

This term, Year 4/5 have been building their focus and determination week by week, and it’s really starting to show in our learning!

We’ve jumped into Playberry, where we’ve been studying spelling rules and phonemes. It’s been exciting to see how much progress some students have already made with their handwriting and spelling – it’s clear all the practice is paying off!

In literacy, our focus has been on Imaginative Texts. We’ve been learning how to craft interesting characters and settings, as well as exciting problems with smart solutions. We also have been working on our spellbooks, where we invent spells, monsters, and magical objects, all while learning about Greek and Latin root words.

In maths, we’ve been improving our skills in the basic operations, working with numbers both small and large, before we can tackle new challenges in Term 2. Times tables have been a big focus too, and we’ve had loads of fun with activities like Multiplication Bingo to make the practice more engaging.

Our science unit this term has been all about food chains. We’ve been learning how living things connect through their roles as producers, consumers, and most recently, decomposers.

In HASS, we’ve taken a closer look at the Arrival of the First Fleet. We’ve had meaningful conversations about how the different groups involved faced this important time in history. Students have shown amazing empathy and curiosity, especially as they now begin researching the lives of convicts aboard the ships.

I’m truly proud of everything we’ve achieved so far and can’t wait to see what Year 4/5 will accomplish in term 2!

5/6 Grech

Grade 5/6 Grech have had a fantastic first term. Students have settled into routines such as Playberry, spelling and reading groups. Many students have begun their roles for leadership positions such as Daily PE leaders, SRC and House Captains.

Our focus in English has been imaginative texts, with students consolidating their understanding of the structure and features included in a good narrative. They have written some creative stories, incorporating interesting vocabulary and focusing on genres. We have spent the last two weeks exploring information reports and will continue this into term two.

Maths this term has covered place value, decimals (including adding decimals) and measurement of length, mass and capacity. Most recently we have been learning about grid coordinates and how to locate them on a Cartesian plane, which involved some fun games of Battleships. We have also been working on multiplication, doing a recap on our strategies, and learning about vocabulary such as products, factors, multiples and prime numbers. We will continue to practice our times tables as a warmup maths activity throughout the year.

Our science lessons have involved learning about states of matter. Students have been investigating solids, liquids and gases, and have been exploring their properties. We have discussed how the particles in each state of matter behave and have created diagrams to show this.

Throughout the term in HASS we have been learning about the British colonies that were established in Australia, and what life was like for different groups of people during that time. We will continue exploring this, with a focus on convict life, during our informative texts unit in term two.

Students have participated in several exciting events throughout term one, such as the school & Interschool Athletics Carnivals, and leadership excursion to Blue Lagoon. Students who attended these did a fantastic job and should be very proud of their efforts.

5/6 Marshall

Term 1, 5/6M

During our whole class Literacy blocks, we have been reading the novel, "Fish in a Tree". The students have been responding to a variety of questions about what happened to the main character, Ally, and if her experiences are like any in their own lives.

We have also been using the novel to review different word types and the structure of an imaginative story.

Many of our class members attended the leadership excursion at Blue Lagoon last month. Having so many students in our class being willing to take on extra responsibilities and be role models in our school is fantastic. While some activities were a bit challenging, everyone worked together, and we had a great day out.

Friday Fun

Friday fun is such a great opportunity for students to try something a little bit different. Here are some examples of the prints created by Ms Balhatchet's printing group. Aren't they amazing?! 

Prep Art

Prep Art

Prep has made a great start to the year in Art. They have been working on their drawing skills, as well as learning about different ways to create a picture. Most recently, Preps have used shapes to create an image of a bridge, with a line of buildings on it. Some students have added boats, by combining triangles and semi-circles. They loved arranging the bright and colourful shapes against the background, making deliberate decisions to create the image they wanted.