Dear Parents/Carers

Mid-year reports and 3 Way Interviews this term

A reminder to families that mid-year reports will be distributed on Friday 16th June.

The report will show your child’s learning achievement on a 9-point visual scale for students in Years 1 to 10 (and for Prep students at the end of the year).

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

There will be no teacher comments in the report. This term parent/teacher/student 3 way conferences will be offered in Weeks 10-11.  These are a great opportunity to discuss how your child is progressing with their learning. During these interviews teachers will be sharing samples of your child's English and Maths work together with their assessment and the next steps for their learning.  Students will be explaining their progress towards their personal reading and maths goals. Bookings for interview times will be done again via Schoolzine and we will share the link shortly. Interviews will be 15 minutes this year and there will be some before school time slots too.

For more information about reports: · School Reports FAQs · Understanding the 9-point scale · Visit the Department’s website at: https://www.decyp.tas.gov.au/parents-carers/parent-fact-sheets/reporting/

Drop Offs and Pick Ups – Keeping our Kids Safe

Please make sure you are dropping off or collecting your child in the correct areas. It has been brought to my attention that students are sometimes being dropped off in the middle of the crosswalk during peak times. This is a very unsafe practice and is unlawful. Thank you everyone for working together to keep our kids safe.

After School Collecting

If you are waiting to collet your child on site after school, we ask that you please wait outside rather than in the corridor. This is because it is becoming a very congested space particularly between 2:45-3:00pm, particularly with students trying to get through to the bus. It has also become quite a distraction for students when lots of conversations are occurring in the corridor.

Assembly

Don’t forget our next assembly, being hosted by Prep-1 will be held at 2.00pm on Monday 29th May – all community members are welcome to come along.  Our small choir will also be performing at this assembly with Rev Chis Duxbury and her volunteer accompanist.

PCYC

We are very excited to have 6 weeks of PCYC lunchtime activities for our students. We kicked off on Tuesday with some Taiko drumming which was amazing. Thanks Nurse Lou for finding some special funding to get this happening again for our students.

Reading Parent Survey

Staff at Evandale Primary are leading an inquiring into innovative ways that we can promote reading and particularly home reading. This supports our School Improvement Priority about reading that was shared in our last newsletter.  We have noticed a pattern of only a small number of children across our school are recording their nights of reading and informing their teacher. As a result, we would like to provide relevant and motivating rewards as an incentive for student’s efforts in this important aspect of learning. Please look out for a copy of a survey that we would really like you to complete with your child and return to school. This will help us understand better what we could do to encourage more reading to happen.

National Simultaneous Read

Next Wednesday will be joining thousands of schools across the country to read the book ‘The Speedy Sloth” all at the same time. This is a great way to highlight reading and literacy. Hooray for reading!!

Thank you

Thanks you to Angus F for putting our school flag up and down over the weekend of the Kings Coronation.  Much appreciated Angus.

Staffing Update

We have been incredibly fortunate to have very little staff change over recently but I do have some news to share with you today. Whilst we will be sad to see these staff leaving our school I am sure you will join me in congratulating them.

Mrs Tarrin Kemp will be leaving at the beginning of September to have her baby – congratulations to Mrs Kemp and her family on this exciting news.  We are currently still seeking a replacement teacher for the 1-2-3 class.

Mrs Emily Webb is also having another baby and will be finishing up with us at the end of September and again we are looking for a new teacher to take on the Thursday Kindergarten role and the specialist roles that Mrs Webb had on Fridays.

Finally, Mrs Kristy Power, our amazing School Business Manager, has won a promotable position as the new SBM at Summerdale Primary. Whilst we are all very proud of Kristy’s achievements, I am sure we are equally sad that she will be leaving us. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to advertise for a new SBM until the end of this month and Kristy will be leaving us at this time, but I am very pleased to let you know that Mrs Bronwyn Carroll (former SBM here) will be returning to work with us until the end of this term. I am confident there will be lots of smiling faces to see Bronnie back on Evandale soil again even if it's only for a few weeks.

Regards,

Jennifer Gray

PRINCIPAL

PJ Day and Movie Tickets

Next Thursday 25th May the SLC are running their next fundraiser where we can all wear our pyjamas to school for the day. A gold coin donation would be greatly appreciated. As an extra special treat and for just an additional $2, students can buy a movie ticket. This will give students entry to the lunchtime movie screening, a cup of milo and a packet of popcorn. Movie tickets will be on sale from Monday. Money raised will be going towards the cubby house fundraising.

City Mission Winter Appeal 

The SLC are organising for us to support the City Mission in their Winter Appeal this term. We will have a collection tin located at the front office for any money donations, we are organising a gold coin special day soon and will share with you a list of commonly needed items to help support those in need, particularly through the winter months. City Mission also funds the Inside Out for Kids programs that we regularly access for our learners – it’s a great community group for us to support and I congratulate the SLC on their initiative.

On Wednesday 17^th May, we had our school Cross Country carnival.

It was a chilly day, but the sun was shining, and everyone was excited and nervous before their event. The Grade 2s got the day underway and they all did an amazing job. One of the highlights of the day was our Kinder kids competing in their race. They were so keen and happy with everyone lining up with a smile on their face.

After lunch it was the Grade 3 to 6 races over the longer distance. Everyone had a go, even if long distance running isn’t their favourite sport. Well done to all those who finished in the top few in their race and the Northern Midlands team will be announced shortly.

The competition between Logan and Barclay was tight all day, and it came down to the very last race to decide the winner. Barclay managed to get home by just 8 points!!!! Well done Barclay.

Thank you to Mr Lynch for running a great carnival in his first year at Evandale Primary. It was a great day and everyone should be proud of themselves for having a go

Zarli & Eva

P/1 Bovill had a great time creating in their first science STEM challenge last week. We are focusing on materials and their properties in science this term, so the challenge was to design a shoe for the shoemaker. (From the story The Elves and the Shoemaker). They worked individually drawing their ideas, then making a shoe that could be removeable and stay on as they walked across the room. This week we will revisit them and discuss features and choices that worked or didn’t work, including how we can improve our design. Their wonderful examples provided a great opportunity for critical thinking and deep discussions from the 3-4 class as they examined the shoes and discussed the merit and implications of the designs and materials, and if they met the success criteria for the challenge. They were very supportive in their comments!

Our new style of school jumper is now in stock at the office.  Sizes 4 to 16 are $23.00 and sizes Small to Large are $29.00.  Orders can be made on the Qkr app or in person at the school office with eftpos or cash. 

We do have a few of the larger sizes in the rugby jumper left in stock.  They are now priced at $20.00 and can only be purchased at the school office.

Inside Out 4 Kids will be delivering their Early Childhood and Primary Emotional Literacy Programs in Term 3. These engaging whole class programs runs over 5 consecutive weeks in our P-1, 3,4 and 1,2,3 classes. Some of the areas of focus will be on understanding how to identify, describe and express emotions which can be helpful for self-expression, language and stress management. More details and permission forms will be sent home in week 8. It is a wonderful opportunity that staff and students find very engaging.

I hope you found the message about Executive Functioning interesting in the last newsletter as those skills of planning, organisation, time management, metacognition, working memory, self-control, attention, flexibility, and perseverance can be explicitly taught or practiced. Please see document below expanding on the areas if you want to find out more.

The 2023 Tasmanian Primary All Schools and Tasmanian Secondary All Schools cross country events are almost here! Get your entries in now!

Primary All Schools XC: Tuesday 27 June 2023 – entries close at noon, Wednesday 22 June

The Primary All Schools registration portal is open. Registration, event information and regular updates can be found here:

PIANO LESSONS

Sandra Harvey is available again in 2023 for piano tutoring. If your child is interested in lessons please contact Sandra on 63981001 or sharvey_music@hotmail.com

Do you know of anyone who would be great for this part time position?? If you can think of anyone, please pass these details on! 

The rising number of children and young people vaping is a growing issue of concern in our community.  

Electronic cigarettes (vapes) can be appealing to young people due to bright colours and flavours. But no vapes are safe as they are often full of harmful chemicals and nicotine.  For this reason, vapes can be addictive and harmful for lungs, brain development and general health.  

It is important to talk to your children about vaping. Try to be understanding, compassionate and non-judgemental as you support them to learn more about the dangers of vaping or in seeking support to quit. 

Information on what vaping is, the impacts and how to support your child is available on the new Department for Education, Children and Young People webpage on vaping, which can be accessed here: 

https://www.decyp.tas.gov.au/about-us/projects/child-student-wellbeing/vaping/  

The Commissioner for Children and Young People is excited to announce that our YEP! program is officially launching on 9 May 2023. Your Engagement Place (YEP!) is a place where children and young people under the age of 18 can find ways to engage with CCYP and other organisations around Tasmania to have a voice on things that matter to them. Any child and young person aged under 18 who registers before 9 June enters the membership draw for a chance to win an iPad. Children and young people can register here.

You can check out our YEP! hub now by visiting our new CCYP website. If you are an adult and would like to keep up to date with current engagement opportunities available to children and young people in Tasmania, fill out our adult subscription form.

Should you have any questions at all about the new program or wish to promote an ethical engagement opportunity open to young Tasmanians, please do not hesitate to email us at childcomm@childcomm.tas.gov.au or call us on (03) 6166 1366.