28 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Our school camp to Maria Island was an outstanding learning opportunity and success for our Grade 3 – 6 students. Programs and activities were coordinated by Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Discovery Rangers Riss Giddings and Tas (Triwana) Langford and covered many aspects, some of which are listed below:

• The protected flora and fauna of Maria Island and understanding the importance of ‘bush tucker’ and the Tassie Devil breeding program,
• 40 000 years of Indigenous heritage and 200 years of European convict, farming, tourism and Parks and Wildlife settlement,
• Geological areas of significance such as the fossil cliffs, painted cliffs, rockpool rambles, and
• Sustainability priorities around not feeding the wildlife, leaving only footprints in Tasmanian Parks, the impact of plastic waste on wildlife, minimising rubbish on the island, the importance of recycling on the island and its waterways, and taking all rubbish with us when we left.

I know the students will share photos but I had to share a couple also!

I would like to thank the following people for making this camp such a success:

• Riss and Triwana for their bounding energy, passion and knowledge sharing;
• Our Grade 3, 4,5 & 6 students who were courageous, friendly, respectful learners throughout the whole camp;
• Our wonderful parent helpers who worked tirelessly helping everywhere and supporting our students, David Adams, Corinna Taylor, Greg Oswald, Dan De Boer, and Hanna Woolley;
• Carrie Wallis who coordinated all the food ordering, preparations and pre-cooking of dinner as required;
• Mr Woolley and Mrs Bosua who gave so many hours preparing for camp, planning and programming, setting high expectations for the students and supporting them throughout the 3 days (I know how exhausted they (and I) were when they got back on Friday;
• And finally to all the bus drivers, parents, admin staff and other helpers who enabled the logistics of getting us there and back!

Last week Shireen Thomas and the principals of St Helens, St Marys and myself met and agreed to move forward in a collaborative model to create East Coast Schools of Excellence, focussed on our school improvement priorities of Quality Teaching in Literacy, leadership and improved wellbeing across our school communities. This is very exciting and I will share more in future newsletters.

Finally, just a reminder to our whole school community if you have any concerns our doors are open and both teachers, admin staff, myself and our School Association members and Chairperson Carrie Wallis are always willing to work through these issues should they arise. Conversely, if you have positive observations about our wonderful school please celebrate and share these with children, staff, other parents and the broader community as positivity breeds school improvement.

Have a great week and keep warm!

Prep/1 Self Portraits

In Prep/1 we have been working together to develop a supportive community where everyone feels safe to learn and grow. As a part of this process, we are having many conversations about how important everyone is in our class. We all have different interests and strengths that we bring to our community. We decided to create our own self-portraits that we have hung as a group in our classroom. This symbolises how we are all individuals who have come together to learn and grow as a community together.

What’s happening in our classrooms?

In Prep/1 this week:

In English the Preps are learning the most commons sounds for the letters s and a.

In English, the Gr 1s are learning the about the sound.

We are also learning about how to write and draw recounts, with a focus on what we wonder and have questions about.

In Maths we are asking the question ‘What are some different ways to count?’ and learning about these e.g. forwards, backwards, skip counting by 5’s.

Our social focus is being a good friend. We are asking the question ‘What makes a good friend?’ and learning ways we can get to know each other and be friendly to our classmates.

Grade1/2

In English Grade 1/2 are writing recounts, predicting when reading stories and exploring the different ways to spell the ‘sh’ sound.

In Maths Grade 1/2 are exploring hundreds chart to help develop their counting skills

Our Social Focus is understanding that making mistakes are a part of our learning.

In Science we are exploring local rockpools to investigate the living things there.

Indonesian

In Indonesian class last week we watched some traditional Indonesian dancing and had a go ourselves at Tari Pendet.

School Association News

Hi all

• Welcome back to School.
• Congratulations to all those who learnt so many new things about the environment and history of Maria Island.
• To all the new families and children who have recently arrived @BPS we welcome you to our vibrant school community.

So, the School Association (SA) committee gathers again, with the intentions of fully supporting the School, its Staff and Students and families.

We see supporting the BPS Staff, in a year where funding is tighter than ever along with assisting Rob to develop the Future planning, as our specific priorities.

As the parents and carers of the children @BPS, the SA invites you all, to come forward with your thoughts, your queries, your ideas and if you are feeling motivated, your time and energy…. Volunteers are crucial to make our events and activities successful and prosperous. Term 1 sees an Athletics Carnival Canteen, Easter Raffle and Sausage Sizzle at the upcoming State Election Booth. These activities raise valuable funds and provide the community with an enhanced experience of school life.

At the start of the school year the SA is certainly keen to see new folks come forward and be involved in the School’s current activities, its planning discussions & issues.

Further, parents are encouraged to take an active role in supporting Rob, his Staff and the students, by joining the 2018 SA committee.

The SA meets again on Thursday 22 March at 4:30pm at the School.

It is important that all those parents & community members who maybe intending to join this year make this meeting.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend, the SA has various roles and opportunities throughout the year. So, please feel free to come along, contribute and know that your thoughts & opinions are valued & respected.

Stay in touch with the SA via our Facebook page, our noticeboard at the school and directly by speaking with any of our current committee.

Chairperson Carrie Wallis

Committee: Sonia Kubank, Caroline Reynolds, Lisa O’Neill & Greg.

Thanks all…
Greg the Secretary.

Grade 5/6 writing from Camp

On Wednesday 21st of February through to the 23rd, Grades 3-6 went to Maria Island. We caught the ferry from Triabunna to Maria Island.

My favourite part was making damper because I have never made damper before. We made it in the mess hall with the two ranger’s Riss and Tas; an Aboriginal ranger. It took me quite a while to make the damper because it was either to dry or to wet; it took me about 7 attempts to get it right. We got to put some native chocolate in it, which was crushed Blackwood seeds, to give it more flavour. We cooked it in the fire for about 2 minutes for until it was crispy brown. Then could put jam and butter in it but I only put butter. In the end it was really good.

By Grace

On the 21st of February the 3 to 6’s went on school camp to Maria Island. There were two rangers; Tas and Riss, who did all of the activities with us.

On the first day the 5-6 group and Tas went up to some ruins on the top of a hill overlooking the bay back towards Triabunna. Before we went up the ruins we put ochre on our faces like the aboriginals did. Ochre is made out of smashed up rocks mixed with water, which makes a sort of paste mixture.

First we played a game called The Flu. It is based on the aboriginals who died of the flu because they didn’t have the needles that make us immune to it today. You play it with about 10 people. One person (The Spotter) goes and shuts their eyes while the remaining people choose who carries the flu. They also have to choose which native animal they want to be. Once everyone has chosen who carries the flu they call the spotter back and the spotter has to spot who has the flu before the whole population of native animal gets killed by the flu. They only have three guesses. While the spotter is guessing, the flu carrier goes around and taps people who fall down and die. The Flu game was really fun.

Next we played Duck, Duck, Goose. It went for a really long time but it was worth it! Some people got caught straight away, because the goose was ready for them. We played it on an uneven surface, so lots of people fell over going up and down the hill it also really hurt your ankles. In the end Isak, Caleb and I came in the top three.

Lastly we did some aboriginal dancing after Tas showed us the noises that the digeridoo made. The boys and girls both had different dance moves, but they were both the same dance, The Mutton-bird Dance.

The boys had to tap the ground in front of them with the tip of their feet, bend down on one knee with their arms out wide, and reach down and grab the pretend Mutton-bird out of the hole, crack its neck and put it on their outstretched arms. Then they sat around the pretend camp fire and cooked them.

The girls dance was different, they had to start on the ground and flap their arms like a Mutton-bird and fly above the ocean looking for fish to feed their young. Then they swooped in and grabbed the fish (Which were the boys sitting around the fire) and gently landed back on land.

Overall the dancing and games were fun and awesome and I’d love to do it all over again.

By Zali Taylor.

On the 21st grade 3/6 went to Maria Island, on the first afternoon, after a walk and Aboriginal dancing, we went to the beach. The teachers talked to us and we all listened, they and told us not to go past the steps because there was a big patch of rocks so we didn’t go near the rocks but the tide kept taking us towards the rocks. After that we moved over and had a swim but it was freezing cold. After the beach some people had a shower. After that we had dinner then we met up with ranger Riss and 5/6 went off for animal spot light. We saw heaps of paddy melons one snake heaps of wombat and a kangaroo. We were taught that if you see an animal point one finger to the animal and two fingers in the air.

By Polly.

At camp I liked the fossil cliffs walk, painted cliffs walk and the cultural walk the most.

On the second day of camp everyone got a chance to do art or go to the fossil cliffs. We had to get more than 10 people to go to the fossil cliffs and 15 people wanted to go so we got to go to the fossil cliffs. On the way there we stopped at an old convict barn it smelt really bad. Just in front of the barn was a cemetery the people on the walk where told by ranger Riss that half the graves weren’t even marked out. We kept on walking and once we got there we had a competition for who finds the biggest fossil. We didn’t end up having a winner but we did see a goldeny brown wombat and its baby. It was the smallest wombat I’ve seen on the island so far. Whilst we were there we tried some bush tucker; it was really, really salty but I didn’t actually mind it.

On the second day we also did the cultural walk and it was basically a bush tucker walk. There is a black wood tree and when you crush up the seeds it smells like chocolate and is supposed to taste like chocolate but I don’t think it tastes like chocolate. We kept on walking and Nickolas spotted a tiger, snake we all stopped to look at it for about 5 minutes. We started to walk away but Tas; the aboriginal person that was taking us on the walk, spotted a wombat poop. He told us why it was square.’’ Its square so it doesn’t roll away in the wind,’’ Tas said. We started walking again and got to an old convict ruin which is where we stopped for a drink and a look at the ruin. All of us got up and started walking on a sand track and ended up at the painted cliffs.

The painted cliffs is pretty much really colourful sandstone. We started walking along the small narrow paths on the side but we couldn’t go very far because it was high tide. So we all went back to the start of the painted cliffs to talk about animals in the rock pools, then we went back to the beach next to the painted cliffs to have a snack and do some environmental art.

By Ocean

On Wednesday the 22nd of February on the second day of camp in the afternoon; while some people went for a big walk to the fossil cliffs, I did Aboriginal art in the mess hall (that’s where we ate our meals).

First we listened to the didgeridoo; Tas the ranger played the instrument. It was hilarious as he put it up to our faces. Then we played 2 games of the Flu. The Flu is a game were a person (the seeker) has to hide while the rest of the people choose a person to be the carrier of the flu, they have to choose quietly or the person hiding will hear. Then they all yell the seeker’s name so they can come out. The person with the flu has to get people while the seeker is not looking and the seeker has 3 goes at guessing who the Flu carrier is.

After playing the flu we went into the mess hall to do an aboriginal painting that tells a story, our own story. Mine was that I live in Bicheno and I travelled to Triabunna and caught a ferry to Maria Island, and I saw Native hens and they eat grass. Then I looked at the art on display it was a really great activity.

By Lola De boer

Last week from Wednesday to Friday the grade 3-6s went to Maria Island for camp. The camp was full of exciting adventures, although the Fossil Cliffs were the best by far!

On Thursday a group of twelve went up to the Fossil Cliffs. The walk took about 1 hour as we stopped to look at the old barn with all the things they used for farming many years ago, and the cemetery.

At the cliffs, they had lots of fossils already chipped off for visitors to look out for while looking at the big, magnificent wall of fossils.

Ranger Riss told us about the fossil names and how to say them. We had a look around and found hundreds of fossils and had a race to find the biggest and tasted a special sort of leaf that you could use for bush tucker. After a while we sat to have a rest before heading back to the camp site. We were lucky to see a baby wombat and its mother.

The Fossil Cliffs were my favourite part of camp, it was really interesting to learn how the shells became fossilised.

By Bayli Casboult

On the grade 3/6 camp my favourite part was the free roaming animals. There were wombats, wallabies, pademelons, kangaroos, native hens and Cape Baron Geese. I like how they weren’t scared of coming into the area where everyone was. My favourite animal were wombats, they are just so cute.

We had to remember to leave our cabin doors closed or the animals might have come in and chew our stuff up.

We weren’t allowed to feed the animals because they get used to people and then they will start to bite; wanting food. Some animals have actually been taken off the island because they weren’t scared to bite.

Maria Island is a sanctuary for Tasmanian Devils. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see a devil, but I still saw lots of other amazing animals

The Devils are there because Tasmanian National Parks took the healthy devils to Maria Island by a plane to try to stop the Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

Luckily some of us saw a dolphin at the beach right before we were about to swim.

There were two nice rangers that ran all of our activities; Riss did most of the

activities but Tas also did lots of fun things like aboriginal dances and games.

I can’t wait to go back to Maria Island in the future.

By Sunny

On Wednesday last week the grade 3-6s went to Maria Island for camp. When we got to Maria Island we saw heaps of animals such as wombats, wallabies, kangaroos, birds, lizards, snakes and pademelons. We weren’t allowed to touch them or feed them otherwise they will hurt people. We got told about a Tassie devil called Nutella and she used to live on the Island but she had to be taken off the Island because people were feeding and patting her and she got used to it so she would hurt people to get some food.

By Shae Lord.

On the 21.2.2018-23.2.2018 Grade 3-6 went on school camp to Maria Island. First we drove down to the port and loaded our baggage on the ferry. We met our park rangers: Riss and Tas and then we set off.

We were cruising along at 19 knots. We got slower as we were getting to the port then the boat did a U-turn to straighten up on the dock. We went up on the top deck and got off the boat. We brought big trolleys up to the crew members and they loaded our bags and gear.

We all pushed the trolleys (5 people to a trolley) up the hill to the Penitentiary, where we were staying.

On the way home: Isak, Sunny, Olivia, Zali and I went and asked the captain and teachers if we could go on the front of the boat, they said yes. We went up and laid on the front of the boat it was carpet and was soft like a sheep’s back. We laid there for a while until we had to go back to our seat and then the rest of the class had a turn. When we arrived back at Triabunna the boat pulled up to the dock and we went down the stairs. I forgot there was a lip at the door way and I face planted in to the coffee cart and everyone laughed and I was limping off the jetty.

The crew unloaded the baggage and the teacher’s moved all the gear into the cars and trailer. We said thank you to Riss and Tas and drove back to school. We were all exhausted but had to unload all the gear, it was raining so we stored it under the veranda until our parents came. We played on the laptop until home time.

Camp was so much fun and we all had a great time. Thank you to Riss and Tas for helping and parents for giving up their time.

By Maceo Schneiders

The final night of our Maria Island camp was a quiz night. The quiz was a competition against the other teams. The questions were about things we had learnt during the camp. There was an adult team and a lots of kid’s teams.

This was an unusual quiz night because the teachers were being silly, for example for the question that asked what type of tree has seeds that tastes like chocolate, the teachers said: “The Cadbury Tree.” And to the question: how do you know when a Tiger snake is angry, the teacher’s said : “it has a hissy fit.” I also had a very weird team, because we couldn’t agree on the answers.

We did other fun things on camp, like going to the beach on day two which was better than day one because there were rocks on the first beach.

I also liked the walk to the Painted Cliffs, especially brushing my teeth with charcoal.

By Byron Alexis Ball

On the 3-6 camp at Maria Island we had to take everything with us including all the food for all our meals.

On the first night we had a bbq with coleslaw, on the second night we had spaghetti Bolognese. On that afternoon we had made damper bread.

For lunch we had rolls and cereal for breakfast.

We had fresh fruit and slices or biscuits for morning and afternoon tea. In the evening we had a warm cup of milo before bed.

The food was ok.

By Connor

On Wednesday 21st to the 23rd we went on camp to Maria Island, we had to take a ferry from Triabunna to Maria Island.

My favourite part of camp was the cultural walk to the painted cliffs with Tas and Riss the rangers. We got to see what we can eat from the bush.

We cleaned our teeth with charcoal it was really fun. Most people just rubbed the charcoal on their teeth, I just broke it up and put it all in my mouth and chewed it all at once then had a drink to wash my mouth out, then spat it out.

We moved along and Tas said “stand back.” Then we saw a tiger snake, I said that it looked: “so cool”.

When we got to the beach the grade 3/4 s were there eating there lunch. I found a She oak skink and it’s cracked eggs. The babies that hatched from the eggs were in the hole with their mum.

I asked Mrs Bosua if we can do environmental art and she said I haven’t checked with Tas yet. She asked Tas if we could do it and he said yes. When Mrs Bosua told us we could do our Environmental art, some of us we were excited to get started.

When the Grade 3/4s came back we had a snake line that’s what Riss called it. On the way over to the painted cliffs we got wet and the tide was too high and it was not safe so we had to go back. When we got back we talked about the aboriginal things that were there. Then went back to camp.

By Charli Pou

On the 21st February, grades 3 to 6 went to Maria Island. When we arrived we split into groups, 3/4 and 5/6. My first activity was with an aboriginal ranger named Tas his aboriginal name is Triwana, we walked from our cabins, up a hill to some old ruins where you could look over the bay.

The first thing we did there was an aboriginal dance where the boys and girls played different parts in the dances. The boys dance was about how the aboriginal men grabbed the young Mutton birds from their burrows, cracked their necks and put them on their stick for dinner. The girls dance was about how the Mutton bird take a long time to get in the air and diving into the ocean to get their fish and landing again.

The next activity on the hill was a game called “The Flu”

How to Play the Flu

1. Everyone is animals (an emu or a kangaroo)
2. Then you select one player to be the ranger
3. Then the ranger goes out of the room or hide behind something and closes their eyes
4. Then the rest of the players select a person to be affected by the flu. They call back the ranger and he/she tries to guess who the flu carrier is
5. The selected flu carrier must secretly tap the other players
6. When you are tapped by the flu carrier you pretend to die

Tas told us that when the English people came the aboriginals could not fight the cold/flu so many of the aboriginals died from simple English illnesses.

After that we did lots of other activities like a quiz, a bush walk, swimming, walked to the painted cliffs and loads more, and then finally had to leave. On the boat we took in turns to go up the front of the boat. We hopped off the boat and drove home. It was raining when we got arrived at Bicheno.

The camp was lots of fun I hope we can go there again!

By Sienna Patmore

The Fossil Cliffs are cliffs that, over the years, have formed shell type fossils. They were from the size of a nailhead to the size of your hand, there are 4 types of shell fossils.

At the Fossil cliffs there were many abandoned penguin areas, they have all moved to a close island and there was also wombat burrows in the wall of the cliffs. When we went down there was an older and younger wombat walking up and down the area of the cliffs.

On the way to the Fossil Cliffs we stopped to look at the machinery in the Farm Barn and the cemetery. The walk from the cabins to the Fossil Cliff took 60 mins. It took 30 mins to get back because we had no stops.

By Tarrant Wynne

Help….Volunteers needed

School Association Easter Egg Raffle

Your family should have received your tickets. Spare tickets are available from the office.

Lego Brick Competition

Movie night – courtesy of EON

Important dates

School Information

Phone: 63751222

Email: bicheno.primary@education.tas.gov.au

Principal: Robert Presswell

School Business Manager: Sandra Silberberg

Teachers

Kinder and LiL: Eliza Spykers

Prep/One: Emily McCormack and Jen Sliskovic

Grade 1/2: Bron Pierce and Ali Jones

Grade 3/4: Matt Woolley

Grade 5/6: Jill Bosua

Support Teacher: Robert Presswell

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