A note from our Principal - WEEK 9

As we go into our first term holidays, please take the time to reflect on what we have achieved in term 1, 2024. We have had students participate in our school athletics carnival. Some students were selected to represent our school at the SPSSA carnival and did a wonderful job displaying the values of courage and growth. It always makes me happy when students reflect on their achievements, and it is about how they tried their best, not the winning – although they do enjoy that aspect as well! Year 6 students were fortunate to have their Leadership camp where they learnt more about each other and their teachers. This time is a valuable opportunity to make connections with each other outside of the classroom. It is another of our values which we will be exploring in more detail in term 2. We are implementing changes in the way in which we respond to behaviour and will be actively working towards teaching students strategies and skills to support their learning in other areas – such as their wellbeing and emotional health. As a community we all play a part in developing responsible, lifelong, critical, and inclusive learners. We thank you for your support over term 1 and continue to look forward in working with you as the year progresses.

Some reminders for term 2:

• Austins Ferry Primary School’s duty of care starts at 8:30am each morning.

If your child/ren are being dropped off before 8:30am they MUST go to breakfast club.

• School ends at 2:50pm – If you are going to be late to collect you child/ren, you must inform the office by 2:30pm at the latest.

If you are going to be late picking up your child/ren, then they must be booked in to afterschool care (info in the office)

We appreciate the support from families in keeping our students safe before and after school and this is one area that we can all work together.

We welcome a new staff member to our senior staff team. Mr John Perry has won the Acting AST position while Keegan Bailey is on leave. 6A now have Georgie Mayh from Springfield Gardens supporting their development and growth both academically and emotionally. Georgia has made a great start to being on the Austins Ferry Team, developing positive relationships with the students.

Term 2 may also see new faces on the School Association as the Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 9^th April. Please put your nomination forward if you would like to nominate for any of the positions. This will close on Friday April 5.

During term 2 I would like to offer greater opportunities for our students to explore their many hidden talents or try something new. I am putting a call out to any member of our community who has some time between 12:50 and 1:30pm (any day of the week and with a WWVP card and completed the Mandatory reporting) who would like to work with students in an area of their interest that also supports our students. For example – if you love knitting and want to share this skill with our younger generation – we’d love to hear from you. Or you may have time before school to listen to students read. Please email Suzanne.oates@decyp.tas.gov.au if you would like further information or would like to put your hand up to participate.

Enjoy the holidays, whatever they 'dish out' and I hope we all come back in term 2 refreshed with a positive attitude to take up whatever opportunities are presented.

As the holidays are approaching, it’s a perfect time to reset and relax for a couple of weeks. 

During this time, focus on your mental and physical health and enjoy time spent with your family and friends.

My personal tips to having a great school break include:

• Moving your body everyday 
• Spend time outdoors
• Start a new project
• Set goals that you want to achieve everyday to maximize productivity 

These tips help me gain the most out of my holidays

As always, please come and pop in to say hi if you have any questions or concerns – or to let us know of positive news stories that we can celebrate with our community.

Term 1 Progress reports will be sent out to go home with students Thursday April 11

Any students that are away on this day can either collect from the classroom or will be sent home the next day.

In 1/2 Collins, our students have been having lots of fun learning about families in our HASS unit! We've been talking about what makes a family and who the special people in our families are. Families can be big or small, with everyone living together or spread out across the world.

We even looked at pictures of families and talked about the different roles each family member might have. We then created houses with our families in it. It's been really interesting to see how every family is unique!

In Kinder Clifton we have started exploring our letter sounds.  This week we are looking at 'Aa'.  We read Mr McGee and had fun making his apple tree.  We counted how many apples we put on our trees.

In 5/6 West this term we have been working with units of measurement, in particular length.

We have been measuring our heights, which we will do again in term 4 to see how much we’ve grown. We have estimated then measured how far we can run in 15 seconds, how far we kick a football, throw a soft ball and chest pass a basketball.