As staff have begun to gather and unpack the data and measure growth for each student across the school, it has been both exciting and obvious that our curriculum priority of developing student’s mathematical thinking skills and understanding of the number system has been worthwhile and positive. 

On Friday, we held the School Association Parent Trivia Night.  It was a huge success.  We raised  $7000. The funds will go towards our new nature play area to accompany the new bike and scooter track, we are getting ready to install. 

This month students from 3-6 have participated in the SPSSA Swimming Carnival and our Squad training is going well for the Champions carnival on Tuesday.  A very special thanks to our resident SBM and AustSwim instructor Melissa.  A special thanks to Camilla and Andrew – our wonderful doctors for allowing us to use their private pool.

I am looking forward to Grand Parents Day on Friday and Learn to Swim coming up in Weeks 8 & 9.  Let’s hope the snow stays away and the sun comes out!

Kristy Hay

Principal

This week the Pre Kinders enjoyed getting to know each other, exploring some exciting new additions to the water tray, badazzling the lemon playdough and revisiting favourite things and people to play with from their previous session.  The Pre Kinders also had the very important job of decorating their personal bag hook lables in readiness for next year.  Our brave Pre Kinder parents parted with their children and spent the morning with Mrs. Hay, where they had the oppotunity to ask questions and learn more about Swansea Primary School.  

On Friday the 12th of November, the Kinder/Prep/One students travelled on a bus to Bicheno to explore the East Coast Natureworld Wildlife Sanctuary.  We had a fantastic day and were delighted to hear students asking when they could come back to Natureworld.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Michaela, Joanie, Linda and Steve for volunteering their time to join us. Please take some time to view the video above, created by Mrs. Wells, for a great insight into what learning looked like for our students.        

Prep One Literacy

Our class has recently been working through several whole school literacy assessments. The data collected from these, helps inform class teachers about where your child sits on the National Literacy Learning Progression created by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).  Our class data showed that all students are making progress in literacy and are beginning to create texts for a variety of different purposes.

As we move towards creating texts for different purposes, we will be learning to use adjectives in order to add interest to our writing. We have had a lot of fun this week using adjectives to describe our favourite animals and the animals that we saw on our excursion to Natureworld. Mrs Wells was very impressed with the adjectives we used in our projects shown in the photo gallery. You might like to help you child’s progression in this area by playing ‘Guess the Animal’ with them at home. 

Coding in the 2/3 Class

During our weekly Community Inquiry session, the Grade 2/3 class have been using a program called CodeSpark to develop their skills in computer science and the basics of coding. We have been learning the terms related to basic computer coding as well as creating our own games and digital stories. We have been reviewing each other’s games and using this feedback to make them even better.

The students have shown a significant improvement in their confidence and independence over the term and are now teaching these skills and understandings, not only each other, but also Mrs. Brown and the other teachers.

Why should students be learning about coding and computer science?

Computer science is not just about learning technology. It also helps students to learn about logic, problem solving and creativity. Learning about computer coding teaches kids how to CREATE new technologies instead of just being consumers of technology.

Careers that involve computer science are becoming much more prevalent in our society and this will only increase in the future. Having these skills opens students up to an immeasurable number of opportunities for future jobs (and it’s also a lot of fun!)

Computer coding doesn’t need to be intimidating. It is something everyone can do and enjoy!

With the end of term fast approaching please remember to return all your library books.

If you have any questions please email swansea.library@education.tas.gov.au or phone 62 578 607 (Tues & Thurs)

You've got mail!

Some 4/5/6 students were very excited to find that they had a letter addressed to them from the write4fun competition!  Envelopes were excitedly opened to find out that short story entries have made it through the first round of judging.  We eagerly await any further news! There is an option for all the students who received the letter to give permission for their work to be published in a book which is a compilation of all the entries of short stories and poems from children across Australia.  If familes would like to, they can place an order to purchase the book once it has been printed.  The school will buy a copy for the library too.  Well done budding young authors!

School Banking update from Commonwealth Bank

For 90 years, our School Banking program has helped children learn about money, reinforced the importance of regular savings and provided structure for parents to support their children to save.

Though the program continues to have strong support from schools, parents and teachers, recent decisions by some state and territory governments because of a review by the corporate regulator mean we are unable to continue providing programs in schools, and we have had to make a difficult decision to close our School Banking program for all government and non-government schools across the country.

Our School Banking program was established in 1931 at a time when having a bank account was not commonplace, and since then we have helped more than 15 million Australians take their first financial steps. This would not have been possible without the wonderful support we have received from schools like yours, including all the parents and volunteers, and for this we are deeply grateful. Thank you.

Even though this is a sad time, School Banking has taught so many young Australians, past and present, the value of money and we believe this should be celebrated. We have created a place for you to share your stories, fondest memories and lessons learnt through the program. To share your story and access our financial education resources, please visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking 

Even though the CommBank School Banking program will not be returning to your school after this year, you can continue to make deposits into your child’s Youthsaver account through online transfers or at any CommBank branch. If you need further information please phone 132 221 or visit your local CommBank branch.