This term is a short 9 weeks – so it is incredible that we have already hit the half way mark! With a couple of Long Weekends thrown into the mix, every second at school counts! You will notice that we will check in with you if your child has had even a couple of explained or unexplained absences. Attendance at school matters.

Between 5 - 11 March our school, and the wider community, are inviting you to read with us. Tasmania Reads celebrates books, reading and storytelling. Keep your eye out for Class DoJo posts and our Facebook page, inviting us to join in reading together. Our Literacy priority this year is Reading - when we learn to read, we can then use those skills to read to learn.

As you read this report, Year 6 Leadership Camp is underway. Staff and students are at the fabulous Gum Leaves Camp on the East Coast. We are grateful for the time the Year 5/6 team and Senior Leadership Team have put into planning for the event, and giving up time with their own families to attend. We look forward to seeing the photos and sharing in the stories from the two-nights away from home and school. There were many excited faces as I waved off the bus this morning!

This week our School Association held the AGM and first meeting of the year. If you want to support your child, consider participating this year. You can find out more about how our school plans, actions and supports your child’s learning. Please lock in the next School Association Date: 28 May 2023 – we hope to see many new faces in attendance!

An update for our community on Breakfast Club in 2023. Breakfast Club is a community service that supports our students to start the day ready for learning, and is supported by community partners: Banjo’s Bakery, The Food Bank, Loaves and Fishes. Our school supervision responsibility commences officially at 8:30am, when classroom doors open. But we do have staff onsite earlier (from 8am), who assume responsibility at Breakfast Club before this official duty of care commences. Like you, we want to make sure we have the appropriate level of cover and care to ensure student safety. Parents and guardians are asked not to drop students off before Breakfast Club doors open.

Warm Regards,

Nikki Mann

In Prep Seymour we have been engaging in partner reading as a fun way to build our reading understanding! We have been looking at the pictures and telling our friend what we think might be happening. This reading skill is called predicting! Next, we are going to work on finding a letter in a sea of text and will work on pointing at (tracking) words when we hear them read to us!

In 3/4 Gollogly, the start to the year has already been full of discovery, surprise, and fun! We’ve dived straight into our inquiry unit called Submerged and have begun learning about freshwater animals, rivulets, and waterways. Discussions about the snakes that were spotted over the holidays sparked our curiosity as to why they can be found in watery environments.  We discovered a Tiger snake had been sighted in a local rivulet and learnt that they can actually swim! We even brought our Tiger snake endeavour into maths recently by mapping out and measuring Sid the snake’s journey to the Roseneath Rivulet. We’re looking forward to more fun, hands-on, and collaborative experiences!

In 5/6 Parrott, we started the year by setting expectations and establishing routines. The class co-authored and signed a class contract that would set rules for behaviour in the class. We are also prioritising our reading this year. Students are encouraged to read from a wide range of texts, which is reflected in our reading station, containing novels, non-fictional texts, and picture books.

Our literacy focus to start the year has been persuasive writing. We have focussed on issues that are relevant to our students – reading about the harms of social media and debating whether students under the age of 13 should be allowed to use it. We have also been learning more about bullying, analysing a scenario in class, and drafting a letter of advice to the student about their behaviour.

"On Tuesday 28 February and Wednesday 1 March the Year 3/4 and 5/6 Athletics Carnivals were held. Students participated fantastically over the two days in a wide range of events to earn points for their houses. It was great to have parents back as spectators. 

At the end of the two days the final results were:

Emerald: 730

Ruby: 724

Sapphire: 630

A big thank you must go out to our House Leaders, Montrose Bay High School helpers and the wonderful Chris Raspin who volunteered to be a recorder on the second day. The House Shield will be presented in the Year 3-6 assembly to the House Captains."

- Keegan Bailey, AST & HPE Leader

Launching into Learning (LiL) is a free program and opportunity for you and your child to get to know your local school and other families. LiL is for families with children from 0-4 years of age and is located in the Early Learning Centre (ELC) building on the Austins Ferry Primary School site. Once enrolled, you and your child(ren) may attend any and all sessions - attendance is not compulsory. These sessions are a mix of both classroom and outdoor environments with various excursions. LiL enrolment packs, including class session calendars, can be collected from the school office.

LiL sessions times 2023:

Monday 9:00am-10:30am and 1:30pm-2:50pm

Tuesday 9:00-10:30am

Friday 9:00-10:30am

LiL Calendar - Scheduled activities and excursions:

"We have so much fun playing and learning at LiL! If you have a child from birth to 4 years of age, we’d love for you to come along. Feel free to pop-in to one of our sessions, or call Erin to find out more. Hope to see you soon!"

- Erin Rogers, LiL Coordinator 

Friday 24 March is Ride2School day. Students can ride, scoot, or skate to school. 

The bike track will stay open until 8:50am for students who ride their bike to school, but the netball/basketball court will be closed to allow students that skated or scooted to school to ride around until 8:50am. Students must wear helmets to be allowed on both areas and there will be prizes available to students who participate in the event.