29 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Unfortunately, I was too unwell to participate in the Book Parade, but from all accounts it was a great success and the photos of the costumes show the incredible effort and thought that went into such a special event celebrating wonderful literature!

On Friday I attended the Leaders Forum in Burnie with Principals from across the Northern Region. It is really exciting to see the absolute focus around implementing the 2018 – 2021 Strategic Plan. In particular the work being done in working towards our goals around Early Learning 0-8 year old age group is exciting and will certainly feature in our school's 2019 School Improvement Plan.

Our work across the three East Coast schools continues to gather momentum with the Principals and literacy leaders meeting soon to organise advertising of the co-ordinators role, and also to identify literacy assessment tools we will all use to gain a benchmark in where current student skills are. This will enable us to set aspiring targets in literacy across our schools. This Thursday we welcome Mr Campbell, Principal of St Mary’s District School, who will be visiting to talk with our Grade 6 students about their transition from Bicheno to St Mary’s in 2019.

In the next newsletter I will be sharing our NAPLAN results from this year. We are certainly excited to see how well many of our students have done and also identify areas for future school improvement.

As we enter into the AFL business end of the season we have some great celebrating to do with the East Coast Giants winning the U12 Grand Final. Congratulations to Caleb, Izak, Axel, Ned, and Tarrant on their come-from-behind win for their team. Tarrant kicked the goal that took them into the lead, and Caleb marked on the final siren and kicked the sealer goal – well done lads! Another wonderful achievement was Caleb winning the Best and Fairest award for 2018 by a convincing margin. Well done Caleb as this demonstrates not only your great shills in AFL but also the respectful and courageous way you play the game!

Last Monday we installed a small but special kitchen garden down at Kindy. It looks amazing and has brought much excitement to our special Kindy students! Special thanks to Scotty, Sandra, Mel and Eliza for your team efforts in making this happen. Also we thank the School Association for funding this worthwhile project. Kindy is abuzz with productivity particularly as the little chickens grow in size after a much awaited hatching!

Have a lovely week and I hope everyone is brushing up on your Hoedown dance skills!

Rob Presswell

Photos from our book week parade

Science Week excursion – Grade 1/2

I liked the planetarium and the spider exhibition, it was awesome. I also liked Change Your Game and the Crazy Scientist Show. I found out where planets are in the night sky.

By Finn

At the spiders exhibition I played a really cool game. I saw real live spiders. We also saw the Crazy Scientist. I blew toilet paper everywhere! We also did Change Your Game and I made a lighthouse. We also went to the Planetarium. I saw a show.

By Elliott

I loved the excursion. My favourite part was the Crazy Scientist Show.

By Kaden

First we went to the spiders exhibition. I liked the spiders exhibition because it had a lot of alive spiders. Then we went to the Crazy Scientist Show. I liked it because I like to do science. Next we went to do Change Your Game. I liked it because it had lots of stuff that I like to do. Finally we went to the Planetarium. The Planetarium was my favourite. I learnt about planets. I felt excited.

By Grace

The planetarium was my favourite place because it had lots of stars.

By Tibs

I went to the Planetarium. I saw stars. I felt excited. I made a lighthouse. It was hard. I had a great day.

By Darcy

At the spiders room exhibition I liked the spiders because you could see them up close. Then we went to the Crazy Scientist show. I went up to do a tug-of-war with Kaden and we had horse heads on. Then we went to Change Your Game. I went to three tables and I went to the make the body, make a lighthouse and animal table. Then we went to the planetarium. I learnt about lots of places and planets. I felt happy and excited. The bus was bumpy.

By Jessie

On the Science Week excursion we went to the museum. It was so fun. We went to the Planetarium, the spiders exhibition and the crazy Scientist Show. I felt happy. My favourite spider was the dancing spider.

By Tyler

My favourite room in the museum was the spider room. I loved the Crazy Scientist Show. We watched a show about black holes. I felt excited.

By Marcel

Photos from the Prep/One and Grade 1/2 Science Week Excursion

What’s happening in our classrooms?

Prep/One

English

Understanding how characters are developed in different texts by identifying the language features, images and vocabulary used to describe different characters.

Learning about the different ways to make the ‘c’ sound e.g. ck, c and k.

Maths

• Measuring capacity using non-standard units
• How we can identify what strategies we are using when adding numbers e.g doubles ( 6 and 6, 4 and 4), counting on from the biggest number and making 10 (e.g. for 6 plus 8, think: 8…. 2 more to 10 and 4 more …. 14).

Science

Why do I live here?

Continuing to examine a range of living things to explore the links between the external features of living things and the environments they live in.

Social focus

What is a growth mindset and how can we develop it?

How do I feel when I make a mistake?

How can we support each other when we make mistakes and celebrate how this helps us with our learning?

Grade 1/2

English

• Comparing characters in stories
• Adding ed and ing to base words

Maths

• Doubles
• Being maths detectives to solve number sentences with missing parts, eg. 4+ _ =9

Social focus

• What is a good friend? How can I be friendly?

Grade 5/6

In Maths we have been learning to add and subtract fractions with related, common and uncommon denominators and have started to connect our understanding of fractions to decimal fractions. In English we have been studying the Gary Paulsen novel Hatchet, considering how the main character would be different when returning to his previous life (after the story has ended). We learning about root words and their meaning and have looked closely at words where the consonant ‘c’ is followed by a vowel and how i, e and y turn the C into a soft “c”. In Science we have been working on our independent research and presentations on a natural disaster. In HASS we have been working collaboratively to research an era in Australia’s immigration history.

Indonesian

The kinders are continuing with the ELLA program.

Prep/1 and 1/2 are focusing on animal vocabulary.

Grade 3/4 are continuing to make a Barong mask and using the related language of colours and body parts.

Grade 5/6 will be continuing to translate an Indonesian text.

Terima kasih/ Thankyou.

Science Week Results

Bicheno Primary School celebrated all things science related last week. As part of National Science Week 2018 both the Prep/1 and Grade 1/2 classes travelled to the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston where they participated in a range of activities to showcase the importance of science and to experience the wonders of science, bought to life by The Crazy Scientist.

Back at school we saw a record number of contestants participate in the FAMILY STEAM CHALLENGE: Mouse-trap Cars. These challenges are designed to show parents and students the power of STEAM. It is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics s access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. The end results are students who take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process. Our students are the innovators, educators, leaders, and learners of the 21st century.

The Mousetrap car challenge had three categories: Distance, Aesthetic design and creative writing, won by The Taylors (Finn and Zali), The de Boers (Isla and Lola), and The Patmores (Molly and Sienna), respectively.

We were also lucky to have a CSIRO scientist, Dr Glenn Johnstone visit the school to share with the students his career narrative and how he became an Antarctic scientist. Dr Johnstone showed the students some of the work he does in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The students then tested out their understanding of food chains and food webs with an interactive game.

School Satisfaction Surveys

Annual School Satisfaction Surveys for students, parents and staff are being conducted during August 2018 across Tasmanian government schools.

The surveys provide an opportunity for students, parents and staff to give important feedback on what the school does well and where we can improve. Questions cover a range of topics about our school.

All responses are secure and anonymous.

Students from grade 3-6, parents and staff and invited to participate. Parents will receive a letter in the coming days. This letter will provide parents with an online code for accessing the survey. If people would prefer to do a paper version of the survey they can simply swap their letter over at the school office. The school office will also have iPads and laptops available for parents to complete the survey at school if they would prefer.

We encourage you to complete the survey to give our school a clear direction for future school improvments.

Rob Presswell

Bicheno Primary Penguins

Our penguins again formed part of a large display at the Australian Antarctic Festival. They are currently on display in the administration window.

Kindergarten garden installation

Thank you to the School Association for sponsoring the installation of a small garden patch outside the Kinder. The Kinders had a great morning planting various herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. We will look forward to seeing how green their thumbs are throughout the rest of the year. Thanks to Scott for getting the garden beds ready.

Soft Plastics Art Project

Wanted: Plastic Bags and plastic meat trays

A former Bicheno Primary School student, Cassie Silberberg is creating an installation artwork as part of her Environmental Leaders project at Scotch Oakburn College. Cassie is creating a large installation constructed from soft plastics. Her piece will highlight the issue of soft plastics in the Ocean and particularly focus on the impact of plastic bags on marine animals such as turtles.

She is asking for help from the Bicheno Community by asking people to recycle their plastic grocery bags and also plastic meat trays by dropping them off to the school.

School Association Update

2018 Major fundraiser “Country Hoedown”

Yee-haw! Friday 14th September is our annual major fundraising event. Put the date in your diary, shine up your best boot scooting dancing boots and start saving those gold coins!

Ticket sales will be at the school each Monday at drop off and pick up times.

There are a number of tasks in the lead up to the event and on the night which require volunteers. We won’t take up much of your time or stop you from having free time to enjoy the event. Please see any of the School Association members if you would like to find out more.

Little Blue Sports

After school sports returns this term on Tuesdays: September 4th, 11th & 18th. The School Association is covering the cost of these activities so that your child can experience team sports free of charge this term.

Important School Association dates

School Association Footy tipping margins update

Round 22 winner was Bruce O’Neill

Round 23 winner has not come forward as yet, Ticket number 659920 winning margin 22

Bendigo Birthday celebrations

Student Assistance – deadline approaching

Yoga session

Important dates

Information for parents

A friendly reminder that the school has a duty of care for student from 8:15am, extending to 3:15pm. Students on the school grounds outside of these operating hours must be under parental supervision. The school toilets and classrooms are closed at 2:45pm. There are public toilets located next to Little Penguins Child Centre.

Rob Presswell

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

School Calendar