23 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

We have been really excited about the developments in our new Library and Makerspace over the past fortnight. Heather and Dearne have worked with teacher Katie Heard to redesign our beautiful library into a place where curiosity can flourish. Not only can students swap books and listen to quality texts, they can explore, tinker and create with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) based resources. An Australian Government Chief Scientist report quotes: “International Research indicates that 75% of the fastest growing occupations now require STEM skills”.

On Wednesday night staff were invited to ‘play’ with these resources and see where they could boost engagement and interest in curriculum areas. We all agreed that digital tools can never replace quality teaching but were inspired about possibilities for our learners. Come and have a look, or join your child’s class when they are scheduled in for a Library/Makerspace session.

It has been wonderful to see our students wearing their full school uniform with pride. Uniform gives students a sense of belonging, ensures safety on excursions and is low cost and fuss free. A few reminders from our uniform policy that is endorsed by our school association:

• Footwear should be predominately black or white with covered toes.
• Longer hair should be tied back with small maroon or yellow accessories.
• Please name your child’s clothing

Please check our lost property regularly as we have a large number of un-named items.

Bonnie Jeffrey
Principal

Kath’s Spot

Someone recently asked how do you be the perfect parent?

Gee what a hard question? Especially when we all get tired sometimes, or worn down, and that can affect how we parent- despite our best intentions.

We recently had to make some hard decisions about one of the boys and his next steps for soccer. There were pros and cons to both sides, and it seemed really difficult to make a decision. That’s when I realised it was a hard decision, because we cared, and we wanted the best for our child.

Have you had moments like this, where you are just trying to work out what the best option is?

Sometimes to be a great parent, it involves holding boundaries firm with them, other times it is saying yes or no in order to keep them safe. It’s not just about giving them everything they want, or letting them do whatever they want, because that may not be the safest or best option. As parents it’s hard sometimes to hold that boundary but it’s important.

During the next week have a think about things that’ll help you to be a parent or career that is looking for the best for your child. Does that mean holding strong on a decision? Or saying yes or no to a sleepover?

Next week in our house we are starting some new technology rules. We have always had no technology on Mondays and Thursdays, and then limited times the other days. But we are switching to having homework, outside school activities and sports after school and then dinner and a short period after dinner some days on devices, before reading time, to see if this helps us in our parenting. We feel this will help us show more of what we think the priorities are. I’ll keep you posted on our success, technology is always a hard juggle, isn't it?

Many Blessings

Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Class in Focus – Year 6B

This year the new grade 6 team have been thinking about what our classroom should be like. We looked at some photos of other classrooms to find out which classroom we wanted to learn in. Once we had chosen a classroom, we brainstormed and inferred what the classroom sounded like, felt like, looked like and the physical structures of the classroom. Mr Mac made a Y - Chart of all the things that we liked about the classroom.

Then Miss Heard handed out the ‘Department of Education Strategic Plan’. We looked at the values of the plan and discussed what they meant. We then got the Snug Primary School Strategic Plan and thought about the differences and similarities of the two plans. We then came up with all of the values that our grade six team thought were important and we wrote them down. Here they are…

We are e Smart
We are a team
We challenge ourselves
We lead
We have a growth mindset
We care
We hope that if we follow our values it will allow us to be great learners and leaders through the school.
Charlotte and Jack S

School Association

The School Association (SA) is a group of parents and staff who collectively work together to ensure that all components of the school, outside of the curriculum, are developed and managed optimally for Snug Primary. This includes developing and reviewing school-specific policies such as the Digital Technologies and uniform policies. It also includes involvement in the school master plan which looks at the layout of the school and the expected development and growth of the school in terms of infrastructure (classrooms, gymnasium, playgrounds), environment (trees, outdoor learning space, grassy play areas) and movement (ability of children and staff to move appropriately around the school). The SA is also closely involved in fundraising (further details of this year's school fair to come) which is then used to support projects and purchases that are outside the Department of Education (DOE) budget. In 2018, look out for some new playground equipment and the three new marquees proudly displaying our Snug School logo. We also provide smaller amounts for requests that come through the Student Representative Council (SRC) or the teaching and support staff for specific school-based projects such as items for our shipping crate, cooking equipment for the kitchen-garden program or additional educational materials. We also run community events such as Snug Jingles at Christmas which involves school families and members of the community.

The SA also sends representatives with teaching staff to some district and state DOE information sessions and think tanks, as well as being the overseeing body for our outside school hours care (OSHC) service.

Every parent and carer is a member of the School Association and is welcome to attend the monthly meetings. There is an elected committee who will also represent your views, should you wish to discuss any issues or raise any ideas. The current executive are:

Chair: Brendan Coad
Vice Chair: Stephanie Semmens
Secretary: Ali Nichols Howe
Treasurer: Lorna Barrett
Committee Members: Catherine Coad, Katrina Graham, Sandra Sorgi, Alice Godfrey, Andrew Watkins and Michelle Rathbone.

To make contact with any of the committee, feel free to approach us in the playground or you can contact us via our email address snugschoolassoc@gmail.com.

Outside School Hours Care

Please see advertisement below looking for educators to join our OSHC team.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

Volunteers are needed! Please return the form below or see the office if you are able to help out or contact us via our website (snugps.schoolzineplus.com) or email (snug.primary@education.tas.gov.au).

‘Little Sprouts’ and ‘Branching Out’

Little Sprouts and Branching Out sessions have started!

Please see below for our Term 1 activity programs:

Election Day Cake Stall

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.

New Bankers are very welcome

for every new banker, the school receives a $5.00 commission and then 5% of every deposit made thereafter. Just head to any Commonwealth Bank with some ID for yourself and your child (a drivers licence and birth certificate, for example) and ask to open a Youthsaver Account for School Banking. You’ll be given a deposit book and Dollarmites wallet on the spot and will be able to begin banking the next business day - it’s that easy!

Rewards Program

For every deposit your child makes, they will receive a silver Dollarmite token. Once they have received 10 tokens then will then receive a gold Dollarmite token which they can redeem for an exclusive Dollarmite reward item (see below).

Book Club

The current Book Club order forms are due back on Tuesday 27 February. Please include the correct money in your orders as the office can’t provide change.

Sports For Schools 2018

Registration to Work with Vulnerable People

If you volunteer at Snug, you will be are required to register for “Registration to Work with Vulnerable People”. Please see information below.

Bushfire Season

We have been told we are at high risk for bushfires this season. Please see below for information and a ‘parent release’ form. Please return this form (one per child) to the school office ASAP if you haven’t already. Thank you very much to those of you that have returned the forms already.

Kids Matter eNewsletter

Facebook

Our Facebook page is one of our communication methods that give instant information about school events and celebrations. Please like our page and check regularly for all the brilliant learning opportunities at our school.

Coming Events

For more information please see our school calendar by clicking the link below:

Term Dates for 2018