Dear Families,

This week we are in the midst of the NAPLAN testing period. 135 Year 3 and Year 5 students will have completed tests for Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy by the end of the testing period. Our students are displaying a positive attitude towards completing the tests,especially navigating some of the computer issues such as using different tools in the tests. As educators one of the areas that we really strive to develop in learners, no matter what age, is a genuine passion about learning and understanding what their individual strengths are, and what areas they can focus on to improve by setting their own personal goals for learning. There is a large proportion of students in our school who are developing resilience with their learning and who are striving to become independent learners, skills that will certainly set them up for their future. The tests are simply a snapshot in time of a student’s learning, and they are to provide us with an understanding of what we are doing well in our school and areas we can focus on to ensure we are providing appropriate learning programs in our classrooms. If you have a Year 3 or Year 5 student, make sure you give them a high 5 or a pat on the back for their efforts at the end of each day.

School Association
The AFP School Association undertake an important role in our school. The School Association provides you with many opportunities to assist the school in fund raising activities and where you can share your own thoughts and ideas in a non-threatening environment. It also gives you an opportunity to gain a better understanding and have input into the educational journey of the school as well as opportunities to have a stronger input into Department of Education policies and procedures. The AGM is coming up and nomination forms will be available in the office. It is a great opportunity to join a vibrant committee. Please consider if you have time and availability to join.

Year 6 Camp
Last week students in year 6 attended their annual leadership camp where they were involved in a variety of team activities that were designed to encourage students to work together and to build leadership skills. Judging by the photos and reports from all involved it was a wonderful experience with many positive memories made for all those who attended. The camp would not have been possible without the hard work of the year 6 teachers who do a lot of preparation behind the scenes. Thank you to Mr Perry, Mr Coppleman and Ms Kearns. Thank you also to Daniel Becker, Jasmine, Ms Jackson, Mr Bailey, Mr Guilliamse and Mr West who supported students at camp.

Safe Guarding
We all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe. This year, there is important training that anyone who works with children or young people must complete. This includes all our volunteers and service providers.
The training is compulsory under new laws designed to better safeguard children and young peoplein Tasmania. It will help you understand what to do if you believe a child or young person is or may be being harmed, and to make sure you are doing all you can to prevent this from happening. The training will also tell you what you must report under the new laws.  This simple, online training must be done as soon as possible, and you will need to complete it before you work with any children and young people this year.  Once completed you will receive a certificate, which you can save but will also need to be emailed to Austins.ferry.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au

Important: when emailing your certificate to us please put in the email title: Certificate of Completion - and your name.
To complete your training, simply visit Safeguarding Training. Click on Volunteers and Service Providers.
Thank you for leading the way in caring for our children and young people and keeping them safe so that they can focus on living bright lives with positive futures. 
A reminder to parents/grandparents and carers who volunteer in our school that you must also have a current Working with Vulnerable People Card. This card must be always carried with you when volunteering in the school grounds or on excursions and entered into the Kiosk system when signing in at the school Office. The card must also be shown to office staff and verified.
When applying for the card please remember to “attach yourself” to Austins Ferry Primary School by choosing Department of Education from the organisation drop-down box and then select Austins Ferry Primary from the location drop-down box. For more information follow the link below.
The cost is $21.36 for volunteer only. We do appreciate the support parents/carers give us!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our students this week. I have noticed that students are working hard to engage respectfully with each other and to communicate with a more positive approach. Red pod demonstrated this beautifully in their “camp fire” session where they shared their stories of ‘aspiration’, one of our values. Well done red pod!

As always, please take the time to touch base with me if you have any concerns, thoughts or questions. It is vitally important to work together and have strong partnerships between home and school. This supports our students in the best possible way.

What a fantastic start to school we have had. In Kinder J. we have been busy making new friends and learning all kinds of new things.

We have been concentrating on recognising and writing our name and have started to look at the letters of the alphabet. Some of the things we have made are sun catchers, tractors, and painted apple trees.

We have spent lots of lovely time outside with all our Kinder friends and we are excited to be using our beautiful new additions to our playground.

In 3/4 Gollogly, the start to the year has already been full of discovery, discussions, and determination! We’ve delved straight into our inquiry around native animals and started to investigate the lifecycle of eucalyptus trees within our environment. Our weekly Word of the Week, as well as our weekly read aloud of an entertaining and humorous picture book by Philip Bunting have sparked thought provoking questions and relevant connections. It’s clear the children’s curious minds are eager to have a deeper understanding while we continue to conduct maths and science experiments, read aloud to each other, form open ended questions, and continue to inspire each other through more fun, hands-on, and collaborative experiences!

In 1/2 Edwards, we have been looking at kindness. We read the Rainbow Fish and noticed how kind Rainbow Fish was when he shared his scales. We each created our own Rainbow Fish and brainstormed a way that we could show kindness at school.

5 Pankiw Colonisation of Van Diemen’s Land

In our Integrated HASS & Literacy Unit, we have been learning about the colonisation of Van Diemen’s Land.  It has been an amazing experience. We created some water colour artworks based on Shaun Tan’s allegorical book, The Rabbits. The English Settlers are the Rabbits who invade the land of the Numbats (First Nations Australians).

We have also been exploring our convict past, in Particular, why Port Arthur was created as a penal colony and some of the minor crimes children were sentenced to Port Arthur. We created our own wanted posters and wrote a persuasive letter trying to convince the Governor General not to sentence us to life imprisonment.

We have learned so much, and we are now creating Power Points for our assessment tasks, to show what we have learned.