What a busy week it has been. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing the last newsletter and here we are already into week 3 of the term.

This week our teachers started their weekly Professional Learning Team Meetings, working alongside Miss Van der Schans and Mrs Tucker to focus on setting numeracy goals this year. This will become a large part of our school wide work this year.

I had the pleasure of spending some time in the Kinder classroom and we had a wonderful time reading Wombat Stew together. The class joining in as we read it a second time, having great fun with our expression and acting out the various personalities and mannerisms of the characters in the story.

Student Representative Council elections

At our morning assembly today students from Grades 5 and 6 wishing to run for SRC this year delivered speeches to the school. They had already created posters promoting their skills, attributes and ideas and these have been on display in the Multipurpose Room windows. The delivering of their speeches today was an outstanding demonstration of all our school values, as each and every person showed a clear respect and passion for our school. They spoke of the aspirational goals they would like to achieve if elected and identified ways that would encourage the growth of our school. It certainly took a lot of courage to stand up in front of the whole school and speak publicly. Well done to every student who ran for election.

Congratulations go to the following students on being elected as our successful SRC representatives for 2021:

• Ashlegh
• Brody
• Ella
• Elsie
• Elvy
• Heather
• Johanne
• Keira
• Leino
• Luca
• Mem
• Olive
• Scarlett
• Talara
• Zach
• Eamon

Grade 5/6 Camp

Our Grade 5/6 students are getting excited about their camp to Port Arthur which is coming up next week. They will be heading off on Monday and returning on Wednesday afternoon. This will be a wonderful opportunity to build friendships, develop skills of independence and self-organisation and there are also some really fantastic activities and experiences planned for the day at Port Arthur Historic Site.

Swimming Carnival

Our Swimming Carnival is coming up on Thursday 4^th March. A letter with more information will be coming home shortly including permission forms for aquatic activities

COVID-19 Update

The situation around COVID-19 continues to be monitored on a daily basis and so far we have been incredibly lucky here in Tasmania. Whilst parent and carer access to school sites was restricted for a period of time during 2020, schools are now being encouraged once again to seek the active involvement of parents and carers in our schools. Physical distancing of 1.5m for adults continues to be the expectation and we thank you for your support in ensuring this occurs, particularly at the end of the school day when quite a number of parents and carers assemble to collect students.

Our school now has a Check in TAS App QR code. This means that any visitors to the school can scan the QR code with their phones and register their presence on our school site. This information is purely for contact tracing purposes and is NOT shared with the school or the Department of Education.

As a school we still require our own visitor sign-in process and so it is important to note that use of the Check in TAS APP QR Code does NOT replace having to sign into the visitor logbook.

Late Bus Jokes

Mrs McKay started a tradition of saying a short rhyme over the speakers when it was time for students catching the late bus to gather their bags. Whilst I was filling in for Mrs McKay last year when she broke her leg, I was informed of this tradition but instead of telling a rhyme I started instead to share a joke.

The joke telling has continued upon my return and in order to share the laughs (and sometimes groans of, “Mrs Lees, that’s so lame!”) with the whole school, I will be publishing the jokes from the previous week in the newsletter for all of you to enjoy.

What do you call a fly with no wings?

A walk

What does an echidna have for lunch?

Prickled Onions

What steps would you take if you were being chased by a bull?

Big ones!

On what side does a chicken have the most feathers?

On the outside.

What should you do if a gorilla is sitting at your school desk?

Sit somewhere else