At our K-6 assembly we were a respectful audience as our student leaders led us through a Remembrance Day Service. The leaders shared the origins of Remembrance Day, the ode, a reading of the poem 'On Flanders Field', laying of a wreath and a minutes silence.

3-4 Dean shared some artwork they had completed and 3-4 Brown shared some artwork and a play based on a story they had read about Remembrance Day.

Lilydale Cenotaph

Our Year 6 School Leaders attended a solemn Remembrance Day service at the Lilydale cenotaph on Remembrance Day, showing great respect for those who have lost their lives whilst serving during conflicts around the world.

The students laid a wreath at the cenotaph on behalf of our school and respectfully observed a minute's silence. This was followed by a reading of "In Flanders Fields" by Addison Davey. We thank these school leaders for representing their school on this important occasion. 

On Tuesday, 15 November, Kindergarten students went on an excursion to Windy Park Alpaca Farm.

When we arrived, we were greeted by two young alpacas called April and Jack, who were keen to investigate what we were eating for morning tea! We were also entertained by a peacock showing off his beautiful tail feathers.

After morning tea, we set about exploring the farm. We got to feed and interact with a variety of different animals including chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, goats, and sheep. We also did some “pig fishing” with Ollie the Pig and saw some one-day old baby guinea pigs. Lastly, we walked down to the alpaca paddock with our feed bowls calling out “c’mon girls” to let the alpacas know that it was feeding time.

Along with a multitude of hungry alpacas, we got to meet Pablo the llama and look at what makes llamas different to alpacas. We had fun feeding the alpacas, along with a couple of cheeky sheep who were trying to nudge the alpacas out of the way to get to the food! At the end of our visit we each got to choose a finger-puppet made from alpaca fleece to take home.

On Thursday the 17th November saw the Secondary Inter High team compete at St Leonards. Not having a school carnival this year made it challenging to pick a team, but I think we did pretty well in the end. We came away with the Senior Shield and Runner Up in the Junior Shield.

There were many brilliant displays of sportsmanship along with some great results across the grades. Due to having too many to mention, we have just put up the 1st place getters.

We would also like to mention Danyen and Rochelle who stepped up to participate in events where we didn’t have anyone wanting to do it.

Thanks to all who gave it their all on Thursday - we appreciate your efforts.

Ms McNear and Mr Bolton

Thank you to our school community for your understanding and overwhelming support with the strike action that occurred almost a fortnight ago. With schools closing for educational instruction on Wednesday the 9th November it was very reassuring to have such a steady flow of parents/grandparents and carers coming in to collect students at the agreed time. The collaboration between families to help one another with supervision and care, balanced against work commitments, was fantastic.

We were able to represent our school at three Remembrance Services at the end of our Week 4. We held a special assembly on Thursday 10th November for our students, who were travelling to the Scottsdale Show. We also had our Junior Leaders, supported by Mrs Garrett, attend the service at the Lilydale cenotaph and Senior Leaders and Mrs Green represented the school in at the Launceston service. This was a special way for us to be involved with our community and demonstrate our appreciation for those who served for our freedoms.

Scottsdale Show proved a great venue for our P-4 students who travelled on 11th November. We had strong representation in a number of show categories and several students were successful in their sections, winning ribbons, and in some cases, money for their efforts. Our cattle handling team were able to put hours of practice into place with our stud cattle winning several prizes too. This team headed off last Friday to Sheffield Show and did another outstanding job.

Unfortunately the weather conspired against us with our school athletics carnivals last week. For our primary students a realignment of carnivals in 2023 has eliminated the need for us to try to fit the carnival in for selection purposes this year. Whilst disappointing it is a consequence of a very tumultuous spring. Our Inter high students did an outstanding job at St Leonards last Thursday taking second place in the junior shield and winning the senior shield. This put us in a close second place overall which is really encouraging. Pleasingly our participation rate was very high and obviously the efforts and achievements of our team members was of a very high level. Congratulations to all involved and thank you to our staff for knowing students so well to make the appropriate selections.

Similarly our Primary Swimming team did a great job in windy conditions at George Town the day before. We had great results with almost all relay teams winning podium finishes and our Year 4 boys capturing first place. Thanks to our staff and families for the organisation and support.

We are currently undertaking school wide testing in our reading and numeracy spaces to measure our student’s growth and achievements. Once complete we will be able to share with our community and celebrate with students. It is fantastic to see so many students using our library and utilising the fantastic resources available.

As another way of supporting students to access literature the Department for Education, Children and Young People have secured access for students from Prep to Year 12 who can now access thousands of eBooks, audiobooks, digital magazines, graphic novels and levelled readers using an eBooks platform. For the first time in Australia, there is one licence for all government schools in a single state. Meaning - students can browse both their school library and public library collections at the same time! Simply download the Sora App and select the books you wish to view. You will need your school email and password for this to work at home. eBook platform for schools (sharepoint.com)

Principal - Colin Pearson

We have been cooking up a storm.

Learning new skills and creating new flavours as students become more adventurous in tasting their food to discover flavour.

From making their own pastry, pasta and pizza dough, to creating hearty curries, pasties, burgers, profiteroles, meringue and cakes.

Stay tuned for yummy Christmas treats over the next few weeks as we get into the holiday spirit!!

A reminder to families that end of year reports will be distributed on Friday, 9 December.

The report will show your child’s learning achievement on a 9-point visual scale which replaces A-E ratings for students in Prep to Year 10.

The 9-point scale shows more specifically where your child’s learning achievement is against the expected standard for their year level.

There will be no teacher comments on the report.

For more information about the changes to reports:

• School Reports FAQs
• Understanding the 9-point scale
• Reporting - The Department for Education, Children and Young People Tasmania (decyp.tas.gov.au)

On the 31st of October and 1st November the Lego competition was held.  There were over 40 entries across the 5 divisions, with the Year 1-2 division having the most entries.  It was great to see so many family entries as well.  The students voting did an excellent job inspecting carefully and respecting other peoples creations.

A huge congratulations to our winners who we will announce at the next assembly.  Thank you to Mrs Gilmartin and the junior leaders for their assistance in making sure the event ran smoothly.

On the 11th and 12th of November a group of Lilydale students participated in the Scottsdale show. On Friday, Lilydale Antoinette was shown in the Murray Grey classes. Bellbrook Cora, Bellbrook Tank and Jamena Madelon were shown in the Poll Hereford classes. Madelon won the Poll Hereford Championship with Cora reserve. In the calf classes on Saturday morning Tank placed first in the best educated, and third in the best presented. The show was a great learning opportunity for our students in preparing and presenting beef cattle.

This year students from Kinder to Year 4 entered artwork, models, hand writing and sewing in the Scottsdale show. Our entries were successful with several children winning prizes.

On Friday the 11th, students from Prep to Year 4 travelled to scottsdale by bus to visit the scottsdale show and view their entries. Several children were very excited when they saw they had won a prize.

We split into class groups and wandered around the showgrounds and looked at the cattle, home crafts, the industrial pavillion and the animal nursery. Some children had their faces painted.

We had a great day out and thank you to all the staff that came along and helped on the day.

Our School Association usually meets on the second Monday of each month in the Kinder space. Our next meeting will be on Monday, 5 December at 7:00pm. We would love to see more people at the meetings and invite you to attend.

About Saver Plus

Saver Plus is a free matched savings and financial education program that matches participants’ savings, dollar for dollar, up to $500, for education costs such as uniforms, books, excursions and camps, sports fees, laptops and more.

Already more than 5000 Tasmanian families have benefitted!

Participants set a savings goal for education costs, are supported to make regular deposits into a savings account over 10 months, and attend online financial skills workshops. At the end of the program their savings are matched, dollar for dollar, up to $500, to be used for education costs such as uniforms, books, excursions, sports fees and laptops.

Saver Plus was developed by Brotherhood of St Laurence and ANZ in 2003 and is delivered in Tasmania by The Smith Family. It is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and ANZ. 

To be eligible to join Saver Plus, parents must:

• be over 18 years old;
• have a Centrelink Health Care or Pensioner Concession card;
• be in receipt of an eligible Commonwealth social security benefit, allowance or payment;
• themselves or their partner have some regular income from work (including casual, part-time, full-time, informal/cash or seasonal employment), or from Child Support payments or Carer’s Allowance; and
• have a child enrolled at school (or enrolled to start school), or attend vocational education themselves.