What an absolutely wonderful day we had for our Swimming Carnival last week!

The atmosphere was just lovely with students cheering each other on, showing courage and aspiration to have a go and being respectful and polite as they waited for their events or found ways of helping out.

It is with great delight that the house points are announced……….(drum-roll please ?)

Tahune – 249

Mannena – 227

Congratulations to Tahune for narrowly winning our first sports carnival for the year.

ありがとう ARIGATOU   -   Thankyou

Sam Ryan
Japanese Teacher

Students in Years 5 and 6 who wish to be considered as representatives on the Student Council have this week had posters on display sharing with the school who they are and why they would make a good student councillor.

This coming Tuesday 7th March, each student will also give a short speech to the whole school and then each student in the school will have the opportunity to vote on who they feel will best represent them.

Best of luck to each of our candidates.

NAPLAN testing is coming up for students in Grades 3 and 5. An information Brochure will be coming home with the newsletter today. Testing begins on Wednesday 15th March and there are 4 tests in total. We will of course be celebrating the end of the testing with our traditional post-NAPLAN pizzas, which I know students look forward to.

The NAPLAN Public Demonstration site is a great way for students and families to see the types of questions students will answer and the functionalities that are available in NAPLAN tests.

 https://nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-sitenstration site

Please contact the school if you have any further questions.

This year our Sharing Assemblies will be alternating between Fridays and Mondays.

Our first Sharing Assembly for 2023 is coming up at 2:00pm on Friday 10th March for Prep-Year 6 classes.

Each class will share a short item showing something they have been learning in class.

Families are most welcome to attend and seating will be provided. We ask that for health safety reasons, people only attend if fully well.

Most families of students in years Prep-6 will soon be receiving the Term 1 Progress Reports. These give you an indication of how your child has settled into the new school year, the learning behaviours they are demonstrating and how they are engaging with others. These will be sent home on Thursday 9 March.

Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns about this report.

In some cases families may instead have a conversation with their child’s teacher about Learning Plan Goals for 2023.

There will be further information about changes to reporting for this year coming out soon as the Department’s new Communicating Learning with Families procedures continue to be rolled out over 2023/2024.

To order lunch from the canteen, parents need to download the Spriggy Schools app.

The canteen is open Thursdays at recess and lunch selling snack items. We accept cash only at the canteen.

Next week's special is a firm favorite amongst students, Laura’s Nachos. Make sure you download the app to order!

If for any reason you can’t use the app and would like to order your child lunch, please contact Laura on 0437 177 507 to organise an alternative way to place an order.

Thank you for your continued support.

On Friday 17th March we are offering an Open Classroom Afternoon.

Families are invited to come along and visit their child/ren’s classrooms, see what they have been learning so far this year, chat with the teacher and celebrate the great start we have had to 2023.

This week in Prep we did our first scientific drawing of our stick insects. We have two beautiful juvenile Lichen Crowned stick insects, native to QLD (I hope they don't mind our Tassie weather!).

We have started an Inquiry unit on what living things need to be happy and healthy - we'll look at habitats, food chains and the properties of living things this term.

We will revisit this activity in a few weeks after we've studied the creatures more, and I'll be interested to see if their drawings become more detailed. Their pictures are up on display in the classroom if you'd like to see.

Jess Black/Emma Constantine

Hello families

I am feeling very welcome here at GHP and am getting to know everybody.

As part of our school improvement plan this year, we are focussed on improving reading outcomes for students. We will be implementing a systematic approach to phonics across the school, aligned with the updated Australian Curriculum. Teachers will meet regularly for professional learning and to monitor student progress collaboratively. 

You may notice a slight delay in your child/ren bringing readers home and this is due to us phasing in new decodable books. These books are sent home in a specific order, once a sequence of letters and sounds, or high frequency words, have been explicitly taught.

More information to come.

Brooke Schiebel (Quality Teaching Coach).

Did you know?

1 in 6 Australians experience some form of hearing loss in their lifetime.

For 1 in 3 Australians with hearing loss, it could have been prevented.

From: https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/ear-health

Worldwide, more than 1 billion young people (12-35 years old) are at risk for hearing loss due to recreational exposure to loud sound (World Health Organisation 2023).

Click on the link and see below more information about how hearing loss may be prevented.

From: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/hearing-loss#prevented

If you have any concerns about your child’s hearing, you can request a free hearing assessment with Nurse Emma by completing a consent form at the office or speak to your child’s teacher.

This is an opportunity to raise awareness about bowel health and related gut health problems. The Continence Foundation of Australia has a number of free resources that focus on gut health.

Children usually develop the ability to be toilet trained by about three years of age. If a child is unable to be toilet trained or has regular poo accidents after the age of three to four years, then they should be medically assessed.

Constipation is when bowel actions (poo) are difficult to pass and less frequent. If not recognised or left untreated, soiling (faecal incontinence) may occur as a result. Medical assessment is also recommended If a child has been toilet trained and at a later stage starts to soil.

This QR code takes you to The Bristol Stool Chart. This is a medical aid designed to classify faeces, but you can use it to check what your stools are telling you. According to this scale there are seven types of stools (or faeces/ poo). The important thing is that your stools are soft and easy to pass (like types 3 and 4)

Keeping your bowel healthy: Here are some ways to maintain a happy and healthy gut. 

• A healthy diet containing plenty of different fibre rich foods(e.g., fruits and vegetables, cereals (breakfast cereals, bread. Pasta and rice), beans(legumes), nuts and seeds
• Drinking plenty of water- The recommended daily intake of water for children is:
• 4 to 8 years old: 5 cups (of 250 mls)
• 9 to 13 years old: 5 to 6 cups ( https://www.healthdirect.gov.au)
• Regular exercise- each day children aged 5-12 years need at least 60 minutes of ‘huff and puff’ activity e.g., running or sport and strength activities such as jumping or climbing 3 days per week healthytasmania.gov.au
• 

No Upcoming Events