Dear families,  

I would like to start by formally letting you all know that unfortunately Mrs Jennifer Grey will be on leave until at least the 29th March and during this time I (Mrs Bella Mitchell) will be acting principal. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead our wonderful school again. If there is anything that Jen was following up, please let me know and I can continue with it. Likewise, if there is anything that you need throughout this time, please let me know or make a time via the office to meet with me. The fabulous Mrs Jocelyn McClean will be undertaking some of my AST role; increasing to four days a week M-Th. I have also increased teacher assistant (TA) hours to provide more support to implement intervention for our DECYP priority area of reading and the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). This will ensure high growth in reading through identifying students for tier two and tier three intervention in specific areas, whilst implementing high quality tier one teaching instruction for all students. I will provide more information throughout the year and share the school improvement plan in this area when it is finalised.  

P-6 teachers are preparing Primary Progress Reports (PPR) to inform you of how your child is settling into school this year based on their current learning behaviours. We have also included a rating based on how students interact with others socially in the playground as we felt that the other ratings were heavily based on learning (in the classroom). This will be worded as “Interacts respectfully in the playground”. We find that outside play, interactions and respectful behaviour can be different in the playground environment for some students, due to a variety of factors. If you would like any follow up conversations with teachers or myself after you receive your child’s report on Friday 23rd March, please make a time during the following week; either over the phone or face to face. Teachers are of course available anytime you’d like an update on your child’s progress. We look forward to working in close partnership with you throughout the year! 

NAPLAN is underway with Years 3 and 5 from Wednesday through until the 25th March. Please ensure your child is at school throughout this time to keep up with the schedule of assessments. We will undertake ‘catch up’ assessments throughout the testing window. If your child is away for an extended period due to illness, then we may be able to request an extension. NAPLAN is a snapshot of what a student can do at that point in time, there are many other formative assessments that teachers implement regularly. There are many other facets of a child that are important and not measured on NAPLAN. We will use NAPLAN to inform teaching and learning programs, monitor school progress and identify areas of strength and challenge for student’s and the whole school this year. Please contact your teacher to find out how we are steadily preparing our students. 

Thank you to the people that are continuing in their role or considering a nomination for School Association AGM and Vacancies for our SA Committee 2024. Completed nomination forms can be dropped off at the office to our returning officer, Naomi Shelton ASAP. Our AGM and first committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, 20 March in our Learning Support Room at School (olive door) starting at 3:30pm.  All parents are always invited to attend and observe the process. 

Our School Association Committee has vacancies this year in the following categories 

• 2 parent representatives 
• 2 community representatives 
• 1 staff representative 

3-4 & 4-5-6 walk to Glover 

3-4 & 4-5-6 will be going on a walking excursion to view the artworks at the Glover Prize Exhibition on Friday at 1:40-2:55pm. If you would like to attend with the 3-6 group on Friday, please let your child’s teacher know.  

Please remember all volunteers/parent help require RWVP and to have completed the Safeguarding module for volunteers. Please see the office staff if you require support with either of these. Volunteers must also sign in at the office where your card and certificate must be sighted.

Safeguarding Training - Department for Education, Children and Young People (decyp.tas.gov.au)

Apply for registration to work with vulnerable people | Service Tasmania

Kind regards,

Bella Mitchell

ACTING PRINCIPAL

Prep/1 were very lucky to have a special visitor last week. We loved giving Minnie the foster kitten lots of cuddles and we are pleased to hear that she has been adopted and is now known as Maggie!

Minnie "looks cute" -Tyler

"Minnie is cute and soft" - Freya

"She is tiny, with tiny feet" - Oliver

On Monday, 4th March students from Evandale Primary School participated in Clean Up Australia Day by cleaning up the school grounds and Morven Park. A couple of facts about Clean Up Australia Day are:

• Clean Up Australia Day started on 8th of November 1989
• 78 year old, Ian Kiernan AO was the founder of this important event

All or our classes went to different areas to clean up and we found some very interesting things like an asthma puffer and a painted rock. This year there were over 10,000 clean up sites and over 750,000 Australians got involved. 

By Rosie - Gr 3-4

Launching into Learning- Gumnuts 

Remember that our Gumnuts sessions commence again next

Monday 18th March.

We look forward to supporting your child’s development throughout the year.  Please reach out at anytime if there is anything that we can do to support you,  or anything that you would like us to offer for our birth to four families. 

Next Friday 22nd March is Ride to School Day. We encourage everyone to ride, skate or scoot all or part of the way to school.

The SLC will be giving out stickers to students upon arrival to school.

Remember there is a bike rack at the teardrop for safely leaving bikes etc throughout the school day. Everyone must be safe on the roads and where a helmet. 

On the 8^th of March we had our annual Northern Midlands Athletics Carnival at the St Leonards Athletics Centre.

This is an event where our school and other schools compete against each other in running and field events.  Some of the races and events are 1500m, 800m, Long jump, 100m, 200m, shotput, vortex and 400m.

Everyone tried their best and did an amazing job representing our school at this event. It was close to 30 degrees so it was very hot, but we all managed to perform to our best.

A big thank you to Mr Moore and Mrs Shelton for coming to help with organising and making sure everyone got to their race in time, they also helped look after the students and gave us a few lollies to keep us going!

Thank you to all our students that were following the expectations on the day, and well done to every student who participated in the Northen Midlands athletics carnival.

By Bonnie & Lacey

IPADS FOR SALE (refurbished)

We still have a few refurbished Generation 6 iPads for sale. They will be completely wiped, IT checked and sold in “as is” condition for $150.00 each. Please note that they will not come with a charger but these are easy to come by if you don’t have some apple chargers at home already.

These iPads have absolutely nothing wrong with them, they are just over 5 years old now and DECYP has a policy that learners will have access to devices that are current and no more than 5 years old.  

The devices are available from the office.

 NB: we are unable to hold devices and would prefer you come in person to the office to pay for and collect the iPads rather than sending them home with students. Payments can be made by eftpos or cash.