What a busy term 3 we have had. There have been a lot of things happening at Austins Ferry and we have been focused on our commitment to student learning throughout.  

Our school excursions this term have been impactful and really elevated student learning. Our Year 3-4 students visited Richmond as part of their HASS inquiry into Australian History – it was a valuable and engaging learning experience for everyone involved. In the Green Pod, our 1-2 students attended the Sustainability Centre to develop their learning around material science guided by the expert staff at the Centre. Some of our Year 6s were also invited to be a part of a 24 Carrot program event held at Botanical in Bridgewater. We are deeply thankful to 24 Carrot for allowing us this opportunity.  

It has been so wonderful to see students engaged and enjoying Learn to Swim, the Swimming Carnival and swim try outs. Swimming is such an important life skill especially in Australia. Thank you Georgia Stalker, our amazing PE teacher for organising this.  

Earlier this term we held a staff meeting where teachers presented their work on reading in classrooms. It was so impressive to see the dedication and hard work our teachers have demonstrated as they support improved literacy with our students. Every single teaching group showed growth in learning for our students which is a testament to their expertise and deep knowledge as teaching professionals.  

To cap of the term we concluded with a whole school assembly to celebrate student achievement throughout the term. We also saw our Year 3-4 Student Voice Team lead the assembly – it was a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on our emerging student leaders. Thank you to our Student Voice Team for their work this term – from organising free dress days to hosting the assembly, they have represented the school beautifully.  

James Stewart 

Advanced Skills Teacher

Red Pod Leader

This Term Kinder Spaulding have been very busy people noticing, wondering and thinking. We have planted gladioli bulbs in our classroom, which we noticed have already started to sprout and we are now wondering what colour our bulbs might turn out to be. While talking about the letter ‘B’ we were thinking about food that starts with that letter, our class teddy Talking Ted must have heard us and tried to make us some after we had left. Unfortunately Talking Ted is not as clever as us and has not started to learn how to read. He got the recipe very wrong, so we helped him by making our own banana bread recipe and baking it together as a class (then eating it together too, of course). We have started to learn about compound words and are practicing blending two small words together to make one big word. We have been thinking of examples of compound words that we know and a visit from some local firefighters was an excellent clue to help us with this, ‘fire’ and ‘fighters’ makes firefighters.

In 3/4 Collins/Sackley, we have been focusing on Maths - measurement- length. During this, we have been looking at millimetres, centimetres, and metres, and choosing which unit of measurement would be appropriate when measuring a variety of items.

Swimming and Water Safety Program

On Monday 18 Auguust our Swimming and Water Safety Program kicked off for 2025 for our years 3–5 students, along with selected year 6 students. There were plenty of big smiles, a few nerves, laughter, and enthusiasm as students began the program.

We are so proud of the positive attitude, resilience and courage shown by all our students and can't wait to see their skills and confidence grow over the next two weeks. It is wonderful to see students supporting each other, stepping outside their comfort zone and embracing challenges with confidence.

This term students in the Green Pod and Red Pod engaged in excursions to further their inquiry learning.

In the Red Pod, 3-4 students visited Richmond as part of their HASS inquiry into Australian History. Their inquiry question has been “Why did the British colonise Australia?” They have developed questions in connection with this and have explored historic sites at Richmond to learn more about colonial life in Tasmania and Australia. At Richmond, they explored the Richmond Gaol, the Bridge and the Church.

Green Pod students had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Sustainability Centre at Hobart College as they developed their thinking around material science. At the Sustainability Centre they explore different materials in the bush and in the classroom – creating, building and cooperating. They learned about how you can repurpose materials to create new materials through upcycling and were guided by the fantastic staff at the centre.

Thank you to our teachers for organising these wonderful learning opportunities and to our students for their excellent behaviour at these school events. They really represented Austins Ferry and our values during these experiences.

Our Year 3-4 School Voice Team hosted the end of term assembly – thank you to Ivy, Evelyn and Scarlet for being courageous leaders at this event. They spoke so well in front of a big crowd and we are really proud of them. 

Our School Voice Team have done a lot of work this term raising money to help support the purchase of school resources. The student led Free Dress Day earlier this term raised over $300 for sports equipment. Well done to our 3-4 SVT! 

So many students were presented with Principal Awards for showing our school values consistently all term.  

We also said farewell to two of our teachers Ms Gollogly and Ms Taylor. Ms Gollogly and Ms Taylor have both worked at Austins Ferry for many years and the whole community is sad to see them leave. We thank them for all the work they have done over the years to support our students with their learning and wellbeing. We wish them well on their next adventures!

School resumes Monday October 13