Week 4 is testing week here at SPS! Our end of year, Progressive Achievement Testing – or PAT testing is underway – next year they are becoming compulsory across all DoE schools in Tasmania.  PAT provides us with detailed data to investigate and diagnose student learning and to monitor progress over time, it supports targeted teaching, increased levels of student engagement and improved learning outcomes and goals. I have been excited to learn about theof our students over the year and look forward to celebrating their achievements with you in their upcoming reports.  

As previously communicated, I am very proud of our 2nd place award in the recent online Tasmanian Infinite Spirit Cheerleading competition.  What an amazing achievement!  Congratulations and thank you all, for representing our school so well.

Pre-Kinder started with much excitement this week and what a delight it was to welcome our 2021 Kinder students. They all showed so much ! We are excited to have 10 confirmed Kinder enrolments for next year. We have also had two new enrolments this term, one into Prep and the other into Grade 5 which brings our numbers up to fifty-eight students for 2021.

Staffing for 2021 is underway and still being finalised, however, we are excited to share that at the moment it currently looks like the below. Please note, and , this line up is subject to change at any time before the commencement of 2021.

Prep / 1 - 12 students (Mondays, Tuesdays) Mrs Diana Nunn

Kinder/Prep/1 – 22 students (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) Miss Kate Pearce.  KP1 will have a full time TA (TBC).

2/3 – 19 students Mrs Bronwyn Brown, full time.

4/5/6 – 17 students with Mrs Sophie Wilson 4 days and Ms Jo Calder 1 day.

We will have 4 specialist classes next year.  We will have Music, PE, Sustainable Learning and the “free canteen” (this will be on a Friday in 2021) and Art.  We are hoping to receive a languages grant for 2021 and if successful, we will also teach a language in 2021.

Have a wonderful fortnight!

Kristy Hay

Principal

On Tuesday 3rd November Miss Pearce met her 2021 Kindergarten children.  They were excited to be given thier very first peice of SPS uniform and wore it with pride.  WE are all looking forward to Week 2 next week and watching thier confidence and resillience blossom.

The SRC approached Mrs Hay about the potential of holding something fun for the students post COVID-19 and they asked if they could hold a disco - out of school hours!  The answer was yes and with planning in full swing with the help of our Chaplain Elise and the remaining grade 6 students, the event was a very fun and successful evening. 

We are excited to share that our Swansea Primary School Cheerleaders - The Swansea Swan All Stars were awarded 2nd place in the Tasmanian Infinite Spirit Virtual Finals Competition online on Sunday.  We entered into the Junior Level 1 category with this video below and we hope you like it as much as the judges.

Congratulations to all of the competitors. Thank you to our very talented and dedicated coach, Loren Russell. 

Well done, team!

https://vimeo.com/474304754

Thank you to everyone who supported our annual book fair.  

We sold a total of $1613.79 which gave us a total of $485 of new books to add to our school library collection.

As part of this year's local Remembrance Day service, Swansea Primary are teaming up with the Swansea RSL and volunteers from the East Coast Heritage Museum.

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty.

This year all students will read out the name of a person of significance to them who has served in any capacity.  This person may have served in combat or as a nurse in any war.  Please email the school with the name your child is to read out and we will endeavour to research this person in our upcoming excursion.  If you do not provide us with a name, your child will be allocated a local RSL member to read aloud.

We hope you can join us at the Lone Pine at Jubilee beach on Wednesday 11th November from 10.45am for this special occasion. 

Regards,
Mrs Kristy Hay
Principal

The Department of Education recently announced that we would be expanding the Student Assistance Scheme for 2021.

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

• Services Australia – Centrelink Health Care Card
• Service Australia – Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card
• Services Australia – Pensioner Concession Card or
• Department of Veteran Affairs – Pensioner Concession Card.

Please note that if you are already receiving student assistance you do not need to complete a form.

For 2021 a new on-line form has been developed to assist with processing applications for new applicants.

The online form can be completed here:  https://stasonlinesubmission.education.tas.gov.au/ 

The form will be available for public use from the 10 November. 

Once a validated form is completed the Department of Education will confirm the outcome of your application in writing, this process takes approximately 14 days.

We understand this online option may not be possible for all families, so if you require a hard copy form please contact your school or stas@education.tas.gov.au or 1800 827 055.

New items available in 2021