Welcome to the 2021 new school year.  This year marks the hundredth year of Swansea Primary School, as it stands, at 25 Franklin Street, Swansea. This year has started with a bang for us, with 13 new students comprised of 11 Kindergarten children and 2 new enrolments, which takes our total enrolments to 59. A very special welcome to all of our new families and students, it is great to have you here!

This is the year of Mathematics. On Monday 1st February our staff started 2021 with our first shared Professional Learning Day with the southern, East Coast Cluster Schools. The day was held at The Spring Bay Mill, and what a wonderful venue it was. Triabunna District School, Orford Primary School and SPS primary teachers, TAs and principals, united for a day of Mathematics Education facilitated by Rob Vingerhoets, a Mathematics educational consultant. I have seen and heard the spark and excitement of learning Maths in our classrooms this week and look forward to building upon our knowledge, and working more closely with our East Coast cluster schools.

As well as Maths, 2021 has been shared with staff as ‘looking through the lens of cleanse’. A significant amount of work has been done over the break, in preparation for our students to return to new, fresh, learning environments and our spaces are looking fantastic. The 456 class have received $6000 of new furniture and they seem to be enjoying their new seating options. 

We are looking forward to celebrating our 100^th Birthday on Wednesday 31^st March.  As part of the celebrations we will be hosting a Heritage Fete onsite between 3pm-8pm. There will be a horse and cart, spit roast, Petting Zoo, Jumping Castle, Mini Jeeps, Salvation Army - Fairy Floss, Toffee Apples, a BBQ, age old games, entertainment and some good old country music by our very talented and very own Ange Boxall! We are in need of some donations of wine barrels, meat for the spit roast and volunteers to help on the evening. If you can contribute to the event in anyway - please make contact with us.  It is going to be a historic and fun evening. 

The day will be filled with lots of fun activities for the students. With guest speakers being past students and staff and our students will be hosting a special assembly ceremony, reflecting on the past hundred years.  Due to COVID restrictions this will be an educational event for our current students and past staff. There will have a cake cutting ceremony to mark this moment in history.  If you know someone who should be invited or if you think that you are someone who could contribute to our special event, or if there is someone in your family or a neighbour close-by, we would love to hear from you!  We are looking forward to dressing up in old fashioned clothing and professional photographs will be available to create memories that will last forever. Over the next few weeks, we will be creating a 100th year reflections magazine to be distributed at the event. We are hoping that there are people out there with artefacts they might like to share with us for this magazine. We would also like to make a display in the foyer of Swan Hall with photographs and old uniform or memorabilia and we welcome any contribution you may have floating around at home. 

We are looking forward to seeing you at our welcome back barbecue on Wednesday the 10th of February from 5 o’clock to 6:30pm. We will gather in Swan Hall for a yearly overview before visiting classrooms to meet with the class teacher for a quick introduction and plan for the year ahead before finishing with a free BBQ and time to mingle. 

It is a very significant year in the history of our community and in our school and we are looking forward to sharing it with you all. 

Kristy Hay

Principal