With only 9 days of school left and this being the last edition of our 2020 SchoolZine newsletter I wanted to honour our leaders, our Grade 6 Class of 2020. This year has flown (for me anyway!) and together as a community of learners, we have achieved so much. Last night, we formally farewelled the Grade 6's at their Celebration Dinner, held at Mel's Kitchen where we enjoyed a wonderful night together. You could truly feel the connection and genuine bond of this very special group of young people. It really has been an absolute pleasure getting to know each of them. Last night, I thanked them for their contribution to SPS and for supporting and leading their peers this year - in what was a an "extraordinary" and "unprecedented" year.
I'd like to take this opportunity to once again thank Ms Calder and Mrs Wilson for their preparations leading up to the Celebration Dinner and for the work, they put in to make the night special and making memories for them to cherish.
A special thank you to Springvale - to Kellie and Tim Lyne for hosting us, preparing and providing a wonderfully decorated space for us to celebrate the end of Primary School for the Class of 2020 and a special evening to farewell to the Pearce, Greenhill and Rigg-Fox families.
Mrs Wilson asked me to share a poem and so I got thinking about this lovely bunch of students, my first year of Grade 6's, and thinking about the year behind us and the comradery and healthy competition that exists between this talented group, our Swan and Oyster reps. I pondered, Swans, Oysters hmmmm... not much to write about Swans or Oysters and then it dawned on me. When I left high school, the Leaver's song was 'Like an eagle' and so it was - an eagle, seemed close enough to a Swan! Here is the poem I wrote for the Grade 6's of 2020 which has been adapted from the lyrics of that song, Fly Like an Eagle.

Kristy Hay

Principal

Kinder/Prep

Swimming Goals 2020

Emmett:  My Courage Goal is to go in the deep end of the pool.

Lincoln: My Growth Goal is to get better at swimming and diving.  

  Zeb: My Courage Goal is to go in the deep end of the pool. 

Flora: My Growth Goal is to stay under the water for longer.  

Baily: My Courage Goal is to go in the deep end of the pool.  

Aleighna: My Courage Goal is to go under the water.

Ella: My Respect Goal is to listen well to the swimming teacher.  

Poppie: My Aspiration Goal is to go under the water.

Melody: My Growth Goal is to get better at going under the water.  

Felix:  My Growth Goal is to learn how to swim.

Georgina:  My Growth Goal is to get a toy from the bottom of the pool.  

In Grade 1/2/3, we have been focusing on including others.  We read Pete the Cat and the New Guy and enjoyed finding out how Pete included a new person into the friendship group.  We are being inclusive in our classroom by welcoming others into our games and activities.

As the year draws to an end, the 3/4/5/6 students have been working hard on finishing their class jobs in-between swimming and water safety lessons. 

Grade 5 and 6 students have been considering the effects of a hypothetical development in our local area.  The guiding question has been “How can we judge our support for developments in Tasmania and in what ways can we make our opinions known?”

There have been role play scenarios and think tanks about the positive and negative arguments for such a proposal.  All the students have been very engaged in the process.  Rigorous debate and discussions have been taking place as points of view are listened to and opinions are formed.  To formalise the process, students have written mock letters to councillors and parliamentarians to express their endorsement or opposition to the pretend scenario. 

“How can we judge our support for developments in Tasmania and in what ways can we make our opinions known?”

Ava: We should think about the environment and consider if a development is going to damage it or cause harm to animals.

Courntey: If you have an opinion about a development in our local area you can write a persuasive letter to the council.

Eva: We should consider the impact of the community such as the amount of jobs and whether the development will take business from other established businesses or if it will work with other businesses to help promote and support each other.

Lilly: Think about the environment and the animals that live in an area because you could be taking away the animal’s habitats.

Shyla: I don’t want the development to happen because it is beautiful at Freycinet National Park and if a hotel goes there it will look ugly.

Summa: I don’t think the proposed resort should go there because it would destroy the environment in that particular area which is not good because if would ruin animal homes.

Xearna: We should think about the habitat around an area and where it is placed.  If a development is placed somewhere that doesn’t get many people to stay there, it might not be worth doing. 

Kyeasha: We should consider Aboriginal Heritage because it could be very special and important to them and to us because of the history.

Lincoln: We can judge our support for developments by considering location, purpose of the development and how it will affect the wildlife in the area.

Gabriel: The government needs to approve it by thinking about the animals that might be killed and how much space it would take up.

Naoimh: Safety should be considered before approving a development because if it’s not safe people could get hurt which could downgrade the popularity of the company or the region where the development is.

Kade: We should consider the environment like the vegetation which has been untouched for thousands of years. Aboriginal history is also important.

Arcena: You can write letters to politicians to tell them if we want a development to go ahead.

Lewis: Location is important when deciding where a development should go and if it is in a National Park.

Blake: You should think about the environment and habitats of animals.

Lincoln: We can judge our support for developments by considering location, purpose of the development and how it will affect the wildlife in the area.

Grade 3 and 4 students have been guided by the question “What happened to the thylacine?”  They have researched the causes and effects of stress on the native population of Tasmanian Tigers that eventually brought about their extinction.  It has been interesting to find out the timeline of events for the thylacine.  

“What happened to the thylacine?” 

Ivy: A long time ago the Tassie tiger was hunted and then their habitat got destroyed and all of them were killed, except one that was called Benjamin and he died in a zoo where they were keeping him.  They thought he was the last thylacine.  There might still be some out there that haven’t been found yet.

Abby:  The thylacine went extinct because people were hunting them and they were cutting down trees, which meant that thylacines lost their homes.

Alex: The thylacine became extinct when people killed them because they wanted their coats for money.  I think it wasn’t fair for them to become extinct, because it wasn’t them that were killing sheep, it was wild dogs.

Josh: People hunted them and they became extinct.  I’m not sure if they are still out there or not but it would be pretty good if there are some there because they are an amazing animal.

Alice: People thought that the thylacine was a threat and that they ate livestock.  So, they started hunting them until extinction.  There are interesting aboriginal stories about the thylacine. 

Dear parents and carers,

Please be advised that there have been some changes to the Term 1 school holiday dates.

The end date for Term 1, 2021, has been brought forward to allow the school holiday period to commence immediately following Easter Tuesday.

This means that students will not have to return to school for three days between Easter break and Term 1 school holidays, which was previously the case.

The overarching reason behind this decision is to allow for greater learning continuity for students.

The new arrangements are as follows:

With the school holidays falling directly after Easter, it will be an ideal time for your family to take advantage of the extended holiday period!

All Term dates for 2021 can be found on the Department of Education website at www.education.tas.gov.au/about-us/term-dates/term-dates-2021/

Regards,

Principal