28 April 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Hi Parents, Families and Community

It has been a wonderfully settled start into term 2, after our very decent Easter break! I hope you managed to enjoy the time with your families – Autumn (despite some rain!) is always such a wonderful season here in Tasmania.

Teaching and Learning

Our teachers are working hard to focus on a deeper understanding of assessment, and how to use assessment to improve our learner outcomes. A core focus is to ensure that as a school, we know where every child is in there learning across the curriculum, and provide a learning program to cater for them at their points of need. This can be challenging work, due to the large variance of ability in a classroom, and in each subject, but our teachers do work extremely hard to try and achieve this challenging goal.

Reporting

In line with new reporting guidelines from the Department of Education, Children and Young People, our teachers will be providing you with information about your child’s learning outside of the usual reporting timeline of mid and end of year. Expect contact (likely by Seesaw) updating you about progress in a particular area during the term. Please always feel free to make a time to meet with your child’s teacher should there be anything you wish to discuss, or find out more about.

Student Representative Council

The student SRC is now up and running. The group for students, 3-6, acts as a broader voice for their classes and other students in the school, and share back ideas about what we can do to make our school better for them. Regularly meetings will be conducted throughout the year, with small projects planned as they arise.

Outdoor Learning Area

You may have noticed some landscaping occurring out the back of the school, near the orchard. We are building an outdoor learning area there, a lovely space to support engagement in our school. There will be seating, a lovely walkway, and a circular area in which the learning will occur.

Kind Regards,
Blair Curtis
Principal

Kath’s Spot

Welcome back! Well school holidays have flown by, and what a wonderful time for families to come together, spend time, go for a walk, have a laugh together and maybe do things we all don’t have much time to do during the school term. However, for children, the return to school after the break can be a challenging transition. They may have grown accustomed to a different routine, stayed up later than usual, and indulged in more screen time and sugary treats. As a parent, I guess our role is to help ease the transition back into school after the holiday break.

One of the most important factors in preparing your child for re-entering school after the holiday break is establishing a consistent sleep schedule. During the holiday break, if your children are anything like my kids, yours may have stayed up late and slept in later than usual. Even as we have had a week back into Term 2, I encourage you to be working hard to get them back into a regular sleep schedule to match their school schedule. This will help improve their mood, attention span, and academic performance. Eating habits can be a bit similar. Often you end up during holidays indulging in treats and foods that are not part of your child's usual diet. Re-establishing healthy eating habits will help them to stay energised and focused throughout the school day. Involving the kids in meal planning and preparation, can also help them develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them in the long term.

I distinctly remember when the kids were little that it was tricky after the holidays to come down from the high of all the free time and special events, catch ups and special treats, but they were so excited to see friends again…..just not so much in the mornings when I seemed to be dragging them out of bed. We all know as parents in can be an exciting time at the start of term, and almost feels sometimes like starting a fresh with a re-energised student ready for learning. We as staff here at Snug Primary, want to help all students to be at their best so they can engage and take in all the learning that will help them in their long term journey. I want to acknowledge too that while most students are excited at the start of term, and are fortunate to ease back in comfortably, some students can find it challenging with anxieties high and overwhelming feelings that come along with that . We are here to help with that journey too, so feel free to touch base with Senior Staff or the like, and we can set up a support structure so your child can feel settled and ready to learn.

As we welcome back everyone to Term 2 we encourage our school to be reminded of our Snug CARES Values of: Community, Acceptance, Respect, Excellence and Safety that help guide our decisions, choices and the way in which we act. Together we can help build these values into the core of our school and community in order that everyone is cared for, because Snug CARES.

Many Blessings

Kath Dolliver
Chaplain

Class in Focus – Prep A

Prep A enjoyed a variety of multicultural activities in Harmony Week. We had several areas devoted to play, exploring our world in different ways. Our dollhouse welcomed visitors from other countries. Our small world table contained a globe, dolls in traditional costumes and flags, offering an invitation to find countries on the globe and match up with relevant dolls and flags. We drew story pictures from First Nations people in sand. Our home corner was a favourite area, with the children serving sushi to their friends and eating with chopsticks. We made handprint decorations in orange media. Our puzzles contained children from around the world. We discussed the countries our families came from, and mapped these, discussing our families and sharing photos. The children also enjoyed opportunities to dress up, replicating costumes from other countries. Each day, we said hello in a different language while marking the register. I wonder if you know which country we were thinking of as we said, “Bonjour”, “Yah”, “Konnitchiwa”, “Ciao” or “Namaste”?

We would like to thank all the families who helped us collect farm bricks recently. We learnt all about the sound “f”, and had an amazing day making farms. We sorted bricks, built farmhouses with classroom equipment, then made farms with paddocks and fences. We mapped our farms and labelled them with initial sounds, consolidating our learning in phonics. We love phonics in Prep!

Prep A

Kitchen-Garden News

Kitchen

Lunch Provision options for next Wednesday:

Garden

TERM 2 ROSTER

Volunteers always welcome, classes start at 2.00pm.

REGISTRATION TO WORK WITH VULNERABLE PEOPLE (RWVP)

A reminder that volunteers will need a Registration to Work with Vulnerable People (RWVP). Details are here if you need to apply:

Little Sprouts and Little Movers

Book Club

Book Club orders are submitted and paid for online via the Book Clubs Loop. Please go to the link below. It’s a very straightforward process to sign up and then super quick and easy to place orders. The Loop for the current book issue will be closed off on Wednesday 10th May so ensure you have your orders in by then. Books will arrive to school and be distributed to students a few weeks later.

Snug Primary School Website

If you haven’t already, please take the time to check out our website:

You will find many helpful links including:

“Our School Calendar”

“How to Report an Absence”

“Newsletter Archive”

Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) information and enrolment forms, Early Learning (Little Sprouts Movers and Little Sprouts Explorers) term plans and contact forms, Health information and various enrolment forms and documents (Travel, Medical and Asthma forms, Uniform policy etc) and lots more!

Outside School Hours Care

2023 Information and Enrolment (Including Re-Enrolment)

2023 Enrolment and Re-Enrolment information is now available from the office and OSHC. There is new and important information that families need in these packs, so please be sure to collect one ASAP. Thanks!

Be You

Kingston Library

Coming Events

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

Community Notices

Million Paws Walk

Kingborough Council Youth Services

2023 TERM DATES