Newsletter 26 March
From the Principal
A couple of really important messages that I would like to impress upon families in today’s newsletter please.
Children will not progress in their learning if they are not at school – while attendance has generally been quite strong, there is still room for improvement. Unless your child is sick or displaying symptoms then they should be at school. Please don’t take time off for birthdays. Please don’t keep children at home because “they had a hard day yesterday”, share their experience with us and we’ll work harder to support them to have a good day.
Initial reports go home on Friday – these are Primary Progress reports and give an indication of how well your child has settled in. Please book an appointment with your child’s teacher next week to discuss how well they have started the year. Most children improve when parents and teachers talk.
Athletics Carnival this Thursday – Congratulations to all our students representing Springfield Gardens tomorrow. It is particularly pleasing to see the high number of Grade 5/6 students participating and achieving, this hasn’t always been the case. Parents and families are welcome to attend, notes have already gone home with this information.
Good luck, we are proud of you already!
Leadership Day – this Friday at Blue Lagoon. Again, it is really pleasing to see so many of our students so positively engaged in school and taking on leadership roles. As a result, more than 60 students from Grades 3-6 will be going to Blue Lagoon on Friday with Miss Grech, Mrs Marshall and Ms Wilde. Notes have gone home to families already but just a reminder that it will be a late return to school after the usual end of day.
Playberry is the most important part of the day – this has become my mantra! Literacy continues to be our school focus and our whole school literacy program is continuing to show great gains across all grades. Please encourage your child to be at school on time and participate in Playberry to the very best of their ability! Playberry is the most important part of the day!
Thank you to all our families that supported children to participate in free dress day today. It was a gold coin or Easter Egg donation to support our Easter Raffle.
Every Child Belongs
Every child belongs – but do they believe it?
Teachers have maintained a wellbeing focus across our school in the last couple of weeks – with an emphasis on belonging. It comes up as one of the biggest concerns in our school wellbeing survey – approximately one third of our students indicate that they don’t always feel as though they belong! I feel that’s quite sad.
Class teachers have all focussed on a specific area from key slogans they are using in class to unpack student strengths. We’ve even changed up the music we use when the bell goes.
Staff will meet again tonight to consider what we’ve learnt from this focus and how we might continue to ensure every child in our school feels loved, safe and that they belong. You can help by having a conversation with your child, ask them if they fell like they belong. Who they feel close to in our school and what they think they contribute to our school. If you discover anything interesting, please feel free to provide feedback to us – it would be appreciated.
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.
Attendance
Our year-to-date attendance rate is currently sitting at 86%. Can we achieve higher?
When Your Child Needs To Stay Home
1/2 Sun
In 1/2S literature learning, we analysed how characters express emotions and discussed how people experience and show emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and voice. As part of this exploration, students engaged in our Two-Faces project, where they illustrated their half-happy face and half-sad face using drawings, lines, words, and colours to depict what triggers their emotions. 1/2S demonstrated their wonderful creativity and understanding in this activity.
Mackenzie said, “I like going on my dad’s boat, sharing some of my favourite food like pancakes with my family, and swimming in the pool makes me happy. The only thing that makes me sad is when my lip bleeds.”
Kit said, "I like soccer, ice cream, and basketball. I get angry when I get hurt by somebody or trip over."
Jaece said, "My family makes me feel happy. I like sunshine, not rainy days. When people around me are happy, it makes me feel happy. I don’t like it when people are mad at me."
Loki said, "I feel happy when I go to the pool, think about the pool, or have ice cream. I feel happy when my parents are happy. I love my parents and love being around them. I feel sad when my brother doesn’t share with me."
Through this activity, we not only connected with literature but also gained a deeper understanding of our own emotions and how different experiences shape our feelings.
5/6 Grech
Grade 5/6 Grech have had a fantastic start to the year. We began the year with many discussions about how we can be good leaders. It was very exciting to see so many students applying for the leadership roles available this year at Springfield Gardens Primary School!
We spent some lessons completing tasks that allowed us to get to know each other, including our skills and interests. We also took the time to create some goals for Term One, which now sit on our desks. A very popular goal this year was to earn our pen license. Many students have put in an awesome effort with this and have already received their pen license as a result.
In English we have focussed on narrative writing, and ensuring we are using punctuation and organising our stories into paragraphs. In Mathematics we have been consolidating our understanding of place value, including working with decimals. This has linked to our other focus of measurement, where we have been using measurement tools to find lengths of objects and convert between different units of measurement.
French
Bonjour, tout le monde!
In French so far this term we have been learning to say “hello” at different times of the day, as French people change their greeting depending upon whether it is the morning, afternoon or evening!
We have also learned how to ask someone their name, their age and “how are you?”
For some immersive fun, each student has been given their very own French name to use during our lessons. Many French people are named after Catholic saints and, in addition to their birthday, they have an extra ‘Name Day’ celebration on their Saint’s Day each year.
We have also prepared some ‘Poisson D’avril’ (April Fish) to stick on the backs of our friends and family on April Fool’s Day, as this is the tradition in France.
Currently we are mastering counting to 20 and learning the names of colours.
Au revoir, Madame Analie
PE - Athletics Carnival
Athletics Carnival
"The athletics carnival was on Tuesday, 4th of March. The events were 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 100m relay. The Grade 5s and 6s also did Shot Put and Vortex. Everyone participated and tried their best. They did amazingly well. The scores were close between Waratah and Acacia, but Waratah won with the score nearly at 90." by Kaia
Congratulations to the students who made the interschool athletics team. They should have received notices with information about the carnival. They will be competing this Thursday the 27th of March at the Domain Athletics Centre.
Friday Fun
One of the Friday Fun groups have been working on building an ant farm. So far we have talked about the queen, got items ready to build the farm and experimented with robots.
Our leader Mr. Jacobson is a volunteer at our school and had generously given his time for us to learn about ants.
"The best part so far has been the robots, and I am excited to see the colony grow and learn more about ants, which will be fun". Malachi
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