On Wednesday, 1 June, 40 very keen 3-6 participants alongside 6 Year 10 helpers headed to Beaconsfield Primary School for the Tamar Cross Country Carnival. After being held up with some road works and a “hold your breath” request over the bridge from Mr Brown, we arrived at the school.

After a small wander to find the entrance (the Year 10s and I got ourselves lost a couple of times!) we found our area and got ourselves ready. After a lap of the course with the explanation, the races started. In the top 10 across the grades: Year 3 boys Jack was 8th; Year 3 girls Madeline was 4th and Heidi was 7th Year 4 boys Cooper was 1st and Kaiden was 2nd Year 4 girls Charlie was 1st and Bede was 2nd Year 5 boys Callum was 1st and Titus was 10th Year 5 girls Madison was 10th Year 6 girls Tully was 3rd, Indii was 8th and Thea was 9th.

Well done to everyone involved – the participation and sportsmanship was excellent to see, and a huge thank you to Mrs Bailey, Mr Brown and Mrs Garrett for supervising, and of course – Mr Brown’s delicious cake. Thank you also to the Year 10s supported well, and were excellent marshals.

We know that sickness will impact most learners, to varying degrees, during Term Two and Three. With the weather changing and becoming less inviting it is often a time when motivation levels can drop off.  This sometimes can be true for our students and it is important that we continue to support and encourage them to make the most of every day.

Having conversations with your child about their school day, sharing positives and successes, is important irrespective of their age. It shows that you are interested and that what they do is important to you too. Often, we can ask closed questions: “How was your day?” Standard responses are “Good” “OK”.  We need to try to ask more open-ended questions, such as, “Tell me about the best part of the day?” This creates an expectation of a response, requires reflection and allows students to pick something that is important to them.  It also helps keep you up to date with how things look from their perspective.

We have a couple of staff changes occurring.  We wish Mrs Lava well with her maternity leave and trust that she has a wonderful time with her growing family. Mrs Lisa Bailey is taking on the role of Sector Leader for our Early Years to Year Two sector as well as additional Assistant Principal roles in her full-time capacity. Lisa has a wealth of experience and knowledge which we know will benefit our school. Lisa has come to us from Ringarooma where she was acting Principal this year.

We wanted to celebrate some reading and numeracy results which have become available about our early years students, through our PAT testing and the work that Ms Lava has been leading with staff over the last couple of years. 

• 100% of Year One students had medium or high growth for Reading compared with 92% statewide
• 87% of our Year One students had medium/high growth for numeracy compared with 86% statewide
• 96% of Year One and 93% Prep students are meeting or surpassing the standard for Reading
• Prep numeracy results were 3% ahead of TAS Gov Schools for students at standard or above
• Prep reading results were 4% ahead of TAS Gov Schools for students at standard or above

Whilst we are really pleased with these results, we still acknowledge that we have further work to do. We are always seeking out improvement and developing our ability to differentiate based on need.

Last Wednesday we had a large team represent us at the Tamar Valley Primary School Cross Country event.  We had some fantastic results from our students but more importantly we had all our representatives give their best across events. The behaviour from our students was great and our senior leaders who went to assist were commended for their manners, initiative and diligence with their roles. 

We were very fortunate to have a wonderful day for our K-2 Cross Country last Thursday. We had a wonderful day with students getting in and doing their best. Those who needed extra support were assisted by our senior students who ran with and encouraged their smaller peers. It was a great celebration of pursuing a fit and healthy lifestyle.

We would like to wish our Senior Cross Country representatives all the best for today’s inter-high competition.

With the change of COVID requirements there is an expectation that all students will return to full time schooling, unless there is a medical condition which prevents this occurring. As a result, the school will be monitoring attendances closely to ensure that each child is here accessing their learning as often as possible. We still strongly encourage you to keep your children at home if they have symptoms and to test using the kits provided through school. These continue to be available to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible. Please remember to contact the office if your child/ren are away so that we have accurate records. Similarly if your child contracts COVID we need to have this information passed on as soon as you can after notifying Public Health.

Colin Pearson – Principal

We've had reports from our bus drivers regarding prolonged issues with rubbish and food being left/thrown around the buses. Students have also been excessively noisy, jumping around and moving seats on the buses.

Part of the Student code of conduct for travel states; Eating or drinking, except for medical reasons or where the bus driver has given permission, is in breach of the code of conduct.

This kind of behaviour poses a serious safety issue for our drivers possibly causing them to be distracted and potentially cause an accident.

Could parents please talk to your child if they travel on the bus and reinforce the Code of Behaviour whilst travelling on school buses.

NETBALL

This year we have 4 netball teams – 1 in Div 2 and the other 3 in Div 3. All teams were very competitive and every team this year came away with some wins. What was even more pleasing to see was that all players displayed great sportsmanship towards the umpires and other teams. Receiving the roster and seeing the umpiring duties, I soon realised I could not be on 2 or 3 courts at the same time-so after a quick phone call to ex-student Jordan (Year 10 2020) she came straight away and helped out. The girls really thanked her for that- as without her, some of them were going to need to take the whistle- and they were not keen for that!

Best players were hard to choose across the day but Lily and Marissa were a definite stand out combination when working the circle together adding to that Kirra and Lily feeding into the circle, made for a flowing attack end which at times was hard to beat. I need to make mention of Kaitlyn as for the first time in 4 years- she wasn’t pulled for stepping every half, every game! That has to be the most improved surely?  The Year 7’s all enjoyed participating in their first NE Cup experience and we are all looking forward to Round 2 where we are trialling MIXED netball!

FOOTBALL

In heavy conditions our football team battled hard all day against some strong opposition. Whilst we did not get a win we were competitive in all 3 games and our worst result was a four goal loss. Our back line held on tenaciously with Brock and Seth the main protagonists.

Clearly our best player in all three games was Dominic who’s two way running and finesse with the ball was a beautiful thing to witness. Danyen, Joshua and Riley also provided some spark throughout the games.

SOCCER

Congratulations to the NE cup Soccer players on a terrific day. It was great to see the two Lilydale teams supporting each other and playing consistently throughout the day even when faced with strong competition.

Connor’s skilful goal keeping did us proud as did the field finesse of Jamie and Vicktor. Well done to all players for the wonderful way in which you represented our school.

Just letting families know that we have a few spots open up for the After School Care if any families need care. Every day (except Mondays which is currently full) has 1 or 2 spots available. 

Feel free to contact Julie Hemmings on 0422 488 083 or email: behaviourbiz@gmail.com to find out more information.

Or alternatively, contact the Adventure Patch Family Day Care service on 03 6331 7455.