29 July 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Dear Families,

A warm welcome back to all our students and families. Term 3 presents us with the wildest weather and the most uninterrupted term for learning. I think of it as the most hardworking term where learning progresses rapidly as students consolidate knowledge and understandings and make connections to new information. We know students learn best when home and school work together, so please approach your child's teacher to see where you can be a part of the fascinating learning going on in our school.

Our Fair committee have been working hard to prepare for Saturday 29th of October. We are now looking for one parent per class to help co-ordinate their child's class stall. This parent will be the communication channel for the class – they won't have to be running the stall for the whole fair! If you are available to help co-ordinate your child's stall please approach the class teacher.

A reminder to keep an eye on our Snug Facebook page and the Department of Education's Facebook page for information regarding school closure during heavy snow or power outages. Our Schoolzine messaging system and email are also part of our communication plan so if you are not receiving this message electronically, please contact our administration team.

All parents and carers are warmly invited to attend a Cyber Safety and Awareness night on Tuesday August 23rd at 6:30 -7:30pm in the staffroom. Please see the flyer below for more information. Our School Association meeting will follow and this will be an opportunity to look at a first draft of our new IT policy for the school.

Bonnie Jeffrey
Principal

Kath's Spot

Have you ever been just about to leave the house and then all of a sudden your child comes out dressed in something absolutely random?

I distinctly remember seeing my mother walking down the street with my niece who was dressed up to the hills. She had bright pink stockings, red shoes, yellow and orange tulle shirt with a fur hat and a black shiny ladies handbag. She was aged 3.

That's what I love about little people so much; they don't have the inhibitions that us older people have. They want to wear what makes them feel good, not what others tell them to wear.

I know as a parent there have been moments though when we have been going out for a wedding or the like and I have got two outfits out for the boys to choose from. This way they felt like they were the ones making the decisions, and I felt like in moments when it really mattered, they were dressed appropriately.

Sometimes I wonder though, how do I encourage our children not to fear what others may say, instead to embrace their individuality? It's a tough call, but I am trying to encourage independence, making positive choices and yet still be able to care for others the way they would wish to be treated. For the moment though, I may have to learn to live with my 12 year old only ever wearing trackies, because jeans are cold on his legs, and my 9 year old only wearing soccer gear, and my 6 year old wearing whatever he feels like that day!

Little people bring so much joy don't they! I'd love to hear if you have had a win with this!! I'm always keen for new fresh ideas to pass on to the upcoming new parents. We might as well help them by not letting them make the same mistakes as we have! Parenting is a tough gig, I think we need all the support we can get, whatever the ages of the children we care for.

Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Class in Focus – Grade 2A

Grade 2A has had a busy start to Term 3. We are looking forward to continuing our Buddy time with Grade 5A. As you can see we have shared some productive and fun activities with them.

Our Maths focus for Term 3 in number work will be looking at representing repeated addition, groups and arrays. We will also be using informal units of measurement by comparing masses of objects, capacity, volume and area. During English we will continue to edit work. As always, consistent reading is expected. We will also be writing some narratives, information texts and continue with recount. The focus in Science will be on Living Things and in History we will be looking at Time Through the Ages. Our Geography focus will be on the continents and local maps which ties in with Maths.

Snug Chess Club

All students are welcome to come and join the Snug Chess Club on Tuesday lunchtimes (12.50pm – 1.30pm) in the library. A big thank you to Alex, a community member, who will be volunteering his time to tutor.

Fire Safety Week

A Fire Fighter from the Tasmania Fire Service is visiting our school this coming week to present a Fire Safety Program to our students.

The program is an initiative of the Tasmania Fire Service which aims to deliver appropriate fire safety education to every primary school child in Tasmania. The program is part of the Tasmania Fire Services ongoing commitment to educate the public for a fire safe Tasmania

Activity Books will be handed out to children from grades 1 to 4. After the conclusion of the program the activity book can be taken home and we encourage other members of your family to participate in the activities to ensure your home is fire safe.

Cyber Safety Information

On Tuesday 23rd August, from 6.30pm – 7.30pm at the Snug Primary School Multipurpose Room, Senior Constable Stephen Rose from Southern District Community Policing will be speaking about Cyber Safety. Topics will include Technology and Youth, Privacy Management, Inappropriate Content, Relationship and Reputation Management and Reporting.

Kingborough Gymnastics Competition

Kirsten, Makayla, Mia, Charlotte and Rachael participated in the Kingborough Gymnastics Invitational competition on Sunday 17th July at the Kingborough Sports Centre. All girls displayed our value of excellence in giving it their very best. Congratulations girls!

Snug Primary School Association Report

The School Association meets monthly and is made up of staff and parents within the school. Although we follow general guidelines for meetings it is a relatively informal affair where everyone is given the opportunity to express their view on various aspects of the school. This may range from the nitty gritty of getting something on site fixed (for example, the top car park boom gate is under review after concerns were raised), to planning for large events such as the school fair through to having input into the school's long term strategic plan. The School Association has an elected committee, but every parent and carer within the school is a general member of the Association. Everyone is invited to attend meetings or to express their ideas or concerns with a member of the Association. The current parent members of the committee are Brendan Coad, Lorna Barrett, Chris Cleary, Sandra Sorgi, Ali Nichols-Howe, Catherine Coad and Steph Semmens.

During the July meeting, we invited a guest speaker. Angela Bird, the principal of Kingston High School, attended the meeting to speak about the transition of children from Snug to high school. Angela spoke about the pod system in place at Kingston High School and how they have timetabled the classes within the pod so that for the majority of time only 3 classes are in the pod at a time. Angela also spoke about how the pod system and the co-teaching within the pod allowed for improved continuity within the learning environment as relief teachers or short-term contract or relief teachers could fit in seamlessly with the other teachers in that pod to continue with the current curriculum activities. Angela also invited all grade 6 parents and students to participate in a school tour (currently held each Tuesday at 9.30am) to see what the school had to offer. Contact the Kingston High School office if you are interested in taking a tour.

Some members of our School Association attended a Community Empowered Schools forum at the end of last term and reported back this month. Community Empowered Schools is a model for increasing effective parental and community involvement is school governance and decision making to support the school improvement process and ultimately children's learning. At Snug we already do this extremely well. Our school community and parent engagement are some of the key strengths of our school. There is a grant available to School Associations to help them develop a toolkit for working with the model; our view is that as a leader in this field, we may be able to use the grant for assisting other School Associations in our wider community.

The School Association often uses the monthly meetings to workshop ideas around updating or creating policies. The IT Policy is currently under review. The key components that are now being included in the updated policy are:

• That the policy needs to be written in language which is understandable by the children
• That the needs of children in relation to IT change over the course of their primary school years and that the policy needs to reflect those needs
• That children in the early years, need to be given access only to applications which directly support their learning goals under strict supervision
• That children towards the end of their primary schooling need to have been taught the skills to self-moderate their behaviour towards IT use, in particular in relation to accessing the huge range of material made available by the internet
• That the IT Policy needs to be reviewed annually to take into account the fast developments within technology

OSHC Contact Information

Kingston High School Tours

Do you have flair for our Fair?

Our next Fair Meeting is Thursday 11th August, 2.00pm in the Dining Room at Snug Primary School. All welcome!

Kinder 2017

If your child will be ready for Kinder in 2017 (turning 4 in 2016) please pop into the school office and register his/her name, pick up an enrolment package and start the enrolment process. It helps us immensely in our planning for how Kinder will operate in 2017.

From The Admin Team.

School Banking

Wednesday is school banking day. Please remember to write your student number on the deposit slips. Replacement Dollarmite wallets are available from the office.

Schoolzine App

Entertainment Book 2016-2017

We have nearly sold out and only have a couple of books left! 20% of every membership sold contributes to fundraising for our school. Help us achieve our goal by sharing this link with your Friends and Family. Thanks for your support!

Facebook

Like us on Facebook and keep up-to-date with all the fabulous happenings at our wonderful school.

Coming Events

Community Notices

Kingborough Lions

Kingborough Huon Basketball Association (KHBA)

Term Dates for 2016