Over the past few weeks, a significant amount of time has been spent on building and embedding school culture. You may have noticed values stickers coming home with your child and we are very pleased to see the message filtering home to families and have seen the positive impact of these behaviours already.  There really has been a noticable change in just a few short weeks.

If you missed it, we are (staff and students collectively) working really hard to change from a reactive approach to behaviour management to the visionary – what is it that we want to see here at Swansea Primary School?  And so, we have worked for several weeks on developing our vision and mission statements. From the moment students walk through the front door we hope and expect them to uphold the values of aspiration, growth, courage and respect.

SPS Vision (who we are/want to be)

Working together to grow through quality teaching and learning. 

Our Mission: (how will we achieve our vision?)

Promote aspiration by setting high expectations and encouraging life- long learning.

Nurture growth by reflecting on the progress of our learning and planning for improvement.

Develop courage by building resilience and embracing a growth mindset.

Show respect by fostering positive relationships and valuing differences.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these values being embedded further at SPS and your support at home would be very much appreciated. 

Planning is well underway for Learn to Swim for Term 4 – this will be occuring in Monday 30th November - Thursday 10th Decmeber in Weeks 8 and 9.  Friday 11th will be the deep water testing in Cambpell Town for the Grade 3-6 students.  Due to COVID-19, unfortunately there will be no parent viewing at any of these events.

Staff / Parent satisfaction surveys have now been completed but the turn around of data will not be available to mid Term 4. This year the student wellbeing survey has superseded the student satisfaction survey from previous years.

The Pump Track – wonderful achievement of $15811 in revenue (less expenses) and we are still needing to raise $35K for this initiative.  So any ideas would be very much appreciated.

I would like to thank all of the staff for their contribution to learning this term – and I would like to welcome back Mrs Diana Nunn 2 days per week next term. Mrs Nunn will remain on KP on Mondays while Miss Pearce facilitates our Music program and on Tuesdays for extension and enrichment group work.

I'm excited to be planning and looking forward to our End of Year Celebration Assembly scheduled for Monday 14th December from 11am.  Kinder and Grade 6 families are invited to remain afterwards for a tree and time capsule planting.  The class of 2020 Kinders will open it at the end of Grade 6 in 2027.  We are hoping for fine weather for the event and I hope to see you all there.  Thank you all for a wonderful term and happy holidays!

Courageous Kinder/Preps

On Wednesday afternoon, the Kinder/Prep Class wore their imaginary courage hats and presented a musical item at the end of Term 3 Assembly! 

The Kinder/Prep Class put their unique stamp on a well-known alphabet song by adding the names of significant people, to their classroom community, and linking them with the relevant letters of the alphabet e.g ‘B’ is for Beth and Baily too.

Rather than just clapping to the beat during the many musical breaks throughout the song, Prep student Felix Templar suggested that the class ‘stomp, stomp clap’ instead!  The class embraced the new idea with enthusiasm and ease!

For many viewers, the highlight of the performance was the inclusion of Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) handshapes, which the students have been learning throughout the year with their AUSLAN teacher, Mrs. Sparshott.

We are so proud of our Kinder/Prep students for participating in the class item.  It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of an audience.  To acknowledge and celebrate this achievement, each student was awarded a courage sticker at the end of the day.  Well done, everyone!

To view a video recording of a performance of the class song, please click the link below. 

Gold Rush and the Eureka Stockade

3/4/5/6 have been studying the Gold Rush and the Eureka Stockade in HASS.  We’ve learnt about life in the goldfields and how the miners felt unsupported by the government, the Queen’s exorbitant licence fees and brutality of the miners by the troupers.  This led to the Eureka Stockade rebellion.  We’ve discovered life in the goldfields through the following game. 

https://www.nma.gov.au/av/goldrush/intro.html

Some of us struck gold, while others used up our money and had to return to the city.  Will you strike it rich in the Gold Rush?

The Australian gold rush started in 1851. People quit their jobs by the idea of becoming rich quick. People came from all over to start mining. The miners either panned for gold in the rivers or surface dirt or took the risker option and built a mine shaft. Although a mine shaft takes longer to build miners thought there was a greater opportunity to find gold. Then the Queen found out about the gold rush and put a cost on mining, she made miners buy a monthly licence for their rights to mine. This licence cost 30 shillings a month. Police were then instructed to arrest anyone who did not have the licence. By that point the miners weren’t feeling supported by the government then James Scobie got killed in a hotel. When the murderer James Bentley got called innocent, the miners were furious. The miners burnt down the town and their licences in protest to the government. Then the miners built a stockade to protect themselves from the troopers this became known as the Eureka Stockade. Peter Lalor was the leader of the rebellion. Many people were killed but the government soon saw that the miner’s opinion mattered and they needed a passionate leader like Peter Lalor in government. Peter Lalor later became a politician in the Victorian legislative assembly. 

By Eva

The Gold Rush

In 1848 the gold was discovered in America by James Wilson Marshall at an American river at the base of Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California.

Close to the end of August 1851, James Reagan and John Dunlop discovered the richest gold field the world has ever seen. In a place called Ballarat, which means ‘camping place’, now the city of Ballarat. Thousands of people left their homes and jobs and set off to the gold rush, there were no roads, no shops and no houses around the gold fields. People had to carry everything they needed. They travelled by horse or bullock, or by walking.

 The Eureka Stockade

There was gold fields and when the queen found out, she didn’t like that she wasn’t getting any of the gold, so she made a licence to mine. These licences were extremely expensive! The miners were unhappy, some still mined but the police caught them and some were arrested.

James Scobie had gone into a hotel after hours and he got murdered by James Bentley, William Hance and Thomas Farrel. They were all found guilt and sentenced 3 years of hard labour.

Now the miners were really mad because they thought it was unfair and that they were treated poorly. The miners had enough so they created the Eureka Stockade! They fought the soldiers and it lasted 15 minutes. At least22 miners were killed, many were hurt and injured. Six soldiers died.

By Ava

Wave Creative Writing

Our grade 3/4/5/6 class have been working hard using their creativity in their writing.  Students were given a stimulus picture of a wave, taken locally on one of our East Coast beaches.  We discussed what we could see, how it would feel to be in amongst the waves and use of our other senses.  We focused on creating mental images using adjectives and felt very calm after this writing activity.

The Wave

I was swimming at the beach at Seymour and I realized how beautiful and amazing it was -   crystal clear and bubbles on every wave. There was no seaweed in sight; it was like a dream. The waves were crashing so gently on the sand. There was no sound but the sound of my breath and the seagulls flying above my head.

By Courtney Atkins

The Wave

I was swimming at the beach the other day. I was amazed how beautiful it looked; the waves were building up then crashing. The water had so much texture. The ocean was crystal clear. As I got in, the waves pushed along onto the sand. The ocean was sparkling, the sand had track marks from cars being on the beach. The waves were so foamy. Then it was time to leave the beach - the sparkling aqua beach.

 By Summa.

The Wave

There is a beautiful aqua ocean on the east coast of Tasmania, with so many waves breaking and crashing every minute. It’s so cold but you wish you could get in. The water is so crystal clear you could see your own feet when you’re standing in it. Many people go there every day to see the beautiful waves and water.

 By Xearna