We have had a wonderful start to Term 2 and warmly welcome the addition of two new families to SPS.  In Week 1, we welcomed Oliver and Elliott.  Oliver is in Year 5 and Elliott is in Year 2. This week, we welcomed new students Lachlan and Lucas who have relocated to Swansea from Orford Primary School.  Lachie is in Year 3 and Lucas is in Prep.  This make our total enrolments sixty-six, the highest they have been since 2018 - with 68 enrolments.  This growth is exciting for SPS and our little community and something worth celebrating.  Incase you missed it in my communication earlier this week, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with a staffing update.

• Mrs Gadd will be taking leave this term and Miss Van Galen will cover her full time position.
• We welcome Mrs Claire Wood to the Kinder/Prep teaching team, teaching on Kinder days under the leadership of Miss Pearce, our Early Years expert.
• We would also like to welcome Mr Chris Green, our new Teacher Assistant. Mr Green will be working as the Kinder TA and in the 456.
• Mrs Sliskovic has taken a reduction in hours for the remainder of the school year. Mrs Sliskovic will be teaching the 123 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Mrs Sparshott will be teaching 123 on Thursdays and Fridays. 
• Rachael Stewart, our new Admin Clerk has increased her hours, so Beth can take on the role of TA on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
• Mrs Wilson has taken a reduction for the remainder of the school year. She remains the School Support Teacher and also teaches 456.  Sophie will not be onsite on Wednesdays.
• Miss Walch will be teaching 456 on Wednesdays.
• Mrs Hay will be teaching the 456 on Thursdays until recess time.  

This term we will being preparing for our Term 3 Production of "Moana Junior".  Mrs Wood will also be teaching Production Art/Set Design and Props on Tuesdays and working with all classes. Moana will be amazing and I am excited to announce that Mrs Wilson is the Production Director, Miss Pearce is the Musical Director, Mrs Hay and Miss Van Galen will be teaching the choreography and Bernadette Haneveer will be on costume design and creation.  We welcome your support of this wonderful intiative so please email me kristy.hay@education.tas.gov.au if you can help in anyway.  We'd love to hear from you.  

Our Early Years learners have settled into their Term 2 learning program very well!  During the first week of term we enjoyed preparing for Mother's Day and working with our newest addition to the Early Years learning team: Mrs. Wood.  This week we have also enjoyed welcoming and getting to know our wonderful new student, Lucas.  Below are some photographs of our preparations for Mother's Day, the beginning of our Learner Identity & Courage Inquiry, some word building and LEGO play.

On Thursday 12th May, we set up the incubator.  Starting our Biological Sciences inquiry into the lifecycle of a chicken, oviporous animals and learning about the differences between, producers, consumers and decomposers.

Miss Walch collected 36 "hopefully" fertile eggs from the Amos family farm in Cranbrook.  The eggs are a variety of breeds and we are excited for thier expected birthday - "hatching day" on Thursday 2nd June.

We will be learning about:

• how living things depend on each other and the environment to survive (ACSSU073),
• the roles and interactions of consumers, producers and decomposers within a habitat and how food chains represent feeding relationships (AC9S4U01)
• the lifecycle of a chicken? (ACSSU030) (ACSHE034) (ACSHE035) (ACSIS037) (ACSIS038) (ACSIS039)
• how and what we need to conduct an experiment to hatch chicks and how can we hatch them in the classroom? (ACSHE035) (ACSIS037) (ACSIS039)

LONG BOXES NEEDED! Swansea Primary are putting on a school production later in the year and we are collecting items for scenery, props and costumes. If you have any large boxes (over 1m long) from eg white goods or flatpack furniture delivery, we would love them! Please drop to the school during working hours, by end of May. With thanks from the School Production Team!

Swansea Primary is also happy to take any unwanted produce you may have in your garden that is surplus to your needs for our Sustainable Lunch Program.