Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome back to Term 3!  I hope that students, parents and families enjoyed a relaxing, and restorative break. 

Professional Learning Day for Staff

The first Monday of this term was a Professional Learning Day for staff.  These days are extremely valuable to schools as they provide an extended block of time for our staff to work together to learn, develop their skills and knowledge and to progress aspects of our School Improvement Plan.  Teachers participated in professional learning focussed on student wellbeing and the reading demands of the Australian Curriculum across all subjects. We understand that these days can sometimes be challenging for families in arranging care and supervision of their children, so I thank you for your understanding and support of these valuable days.

Book Week

This year’s book week theme is: READ, GROW, INSPIRE

To celebrate book week, on Friday August 25 all students from Kinder to Year 12 are invited to dress up and wear a costume based around the theme READ, GROW, INSPIRE or their favourite book character. I’m looking forward to seeing a wide range of ‘characters’ at school and on parade on the day. Students will also be engaging in other Book Week activities during Book Week including buddy reading, door decorations, a book mark competition run by Libraries Tas and of course our annual Book Fair will be held.

It is still timely to be reminded that regular school attendance is critical.  We monitor attendance regularly and record it daily.  As has been stated, please keep your child home if unwell but if this is not the case then students should be at school each and every day to maximise their learning and to strengthen their connections with staff and students.  Being at school each day provides students with purpose and regular routine, and these in turn support wellbeing.  If you need any help or assistance in supporting your child/ren’s attendance at school please contact us through the office on 63723900.  Please remember to notify us if your child is absent from school for any reason.

Attendance

Are you making every school day count?

As we move through the school year, sometimes regular school attendance can be challenging.

It’s important your child keeps up good attendance habits though.

Going to school every day means your child has every chance to learn, and be around their friends and teachers. Every day adds up, to benefit your child now and in the future.

If you’re having trouble getting your child to school, please talk to us. We’ll listen to your situation, and help in any way we can.

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.     

Carolyn Watson

Principal

Taekwondo is an unarmed Korean martial art. It means the “art of kicking and punching” in Korean. It is based on karate and an earlier form of Korean self-defense known as tae kyon. Taekwondo became an Olympic medal sport at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Training in taekwondo is done by learning individual techniques of kicking, punching, and blocking. They are practiced in combined series in traditional sets known as hyung.

This week our primary students have started a 4 week introduction to Taekwondo with instructor Maddy.

• Practise the INDIVIDUAL moves at home to support improvement and development.

For our learning in HaSS, we have explored communities and how important they are to us. We were amazed at how many great activities there are around our local community and the way in which we all support each other.

We compared the communities around us and the way in which Indigenous communities used nature to create objects to support their way of life.

The students enjoyed being outdoors and creating such objects such as fishing rods, nets for catching fish, brushes for their hair and a wide range of other useful tools.

Last week the Grade 5/6 classes participated in the first of four Upcycling and Repurposing Workshops. The students were joined by members of the St Marys community, who are deeply passionate about limiting the amount of waste in our world and repurposing items of clothing into new and useful items.

As this was the first session, the students were keen to explore the materials and experiment with the different apparatus that they could use. Some students (and teachers) learnt to finger knit with strips of t-shirt material, others learnt to use sewing machines.

Did you know that a t-shirt can be turned into a bag without sewing?

Some students learnt to do just that, with a few simple cuts and the tying of knots.

Plaiting was another skill that was learnt, and some students used these skills to begin weaving a mat. We are looking forward to seeing what creations will come out of the next session on Friday.

Dear Parent and Carers,

Since 1945, the Children’s Book Council Australia (CBCA) has brought students and books together across Australia, most notably through CBCA Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend a week celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. This year, Book Week will run at St Marys District School from Monday 21 August through to Friday 25 August, with the theme: ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’.

On Friday 25 August all students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character or as something related to this year’s theme. When considering costumes please consider the weather and suitable footwear so that students are warm enough and can walk the distance comfortably. Please remember that it is not necessary to hire or purchase a costume. Some suggestions include:

• Using existing clothing from home to dress as the book character,
• Accessorising with a prop; a wand, a basket, a golden ticket from a favourite book,
• Bringing the favourite book to carry in the parade or a copy of the book cover on a lanyard also helps to identify the character.

All St Marys District School students will have the opportunity to participate in the much awaited Book Week Parade and, as experienced in previous years, we will be taking the parade to the community. At 9.45am Primary students, the Student Leader Board and Secondary students in costume will depart from the St Marys District School front entrance and will walk into the St Marys township.  Upon the conclusion of the parade, students will return to school and engage in their timetabled lessons for the remainder of the day. Secondary school students who are not in costume will remain at school to continue with normal classes. This year, each class in primary and secondary will be decorating their classroom entry doors in celebration of Book Week. Classes will participate in a school-walk, whereby door art will be enjoyed.

In case of wet weather, the Book Parade will take place in the school gym at 9.45am. In the event that the gym will be used, the following information will support students, staff and visitors. Access to the gym will be via the main entrance doors which can be found by following the path around the gym. To assist us with our planning should we have to use the gym, please RSVP no later than Monday 21 August. Seating will be made available for all visitors who wish to attend. Information regarding this change will be shared via Facebook and Schoolzine.

Please join us in celebrating book week.

In addition, as part of Book Week we are excited to announce that the annual Scholastic Book Fair will be held from Monday 21 August to Friday 25 August. The Book Fair will be set up in the foyer of the main office with books being available to view and/or purchase between 8:30am and 3.30pm. All students will be given the opportunity to visit the Book Fair in small groups to look at the books. In addition, we will post images of some of the books available on our Facebook page throughout the week. Credit card, phone, online or cash transactions will be available. Details for phone and online purchases are on the back of the attached flyer.

All profits from the sale of books will be used to purchase books for our school libraries. The school is entitled to purchase books to the value of 30% of all sales. If we are able to sell $500 worth of books, we will be able to purchase books to the value of $150 for our library for everyone to enjoy! If you are able to support our Book Fair, come along and purchase some great books and support reading development in our community.

Parents are more than welcome to visit the Book Fair throughout the week it is on display.

We are looking forward to celebrating Book Week with all members of our school community.

If you have any questions or would like to RSVP in the event of wet weather, please contact the School Administration on 6372 3900.

The  list of shortlisted Book Week books can be found here: CBCA

You would assume that because it is winter, that things would be quiet on the farm, but you would be wrong.

Our sheep are having footbaths and hoof treatment (Mani-Pedi SMDS Farm style)

Some of our beautiful hens are starting to lay.

Visitors to the school may have noticed that the old music residence near the turning circle has been removed, giving us a wonderful view of the Trade Training Centre building and all of the student work and activities happening on the farm. 

Now that we can see this wonderful facility a lot more clearly, we will begin to  make plans for signage and plantings to really showcase this valuable part of our school.

Keep an eye out also for a Farm Open Afternoon, coming soon.  Dates will be confirmed in the next newsletter. 

What can Newstead College offer your child?

Please see the link below for the Term 3 Newsletter 

https://newsteadcollege.education.tas.edu.au/_d/4086

These notices have been sent home to parents in the last fortnight.  If you did not receive one and would like to receive a copy of the notice, please contact the school office on 63 723 900.

PRIMARY

CELEBRATION BOOK WEEK   2023

• Book Parade  - Friday 25 August
• Book Fair  -  Monday 21 Aug - Friday 25 August 2023

CPR_Courses.pdf

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