Welcome back to Term 3. I hope you have had a rejuvenating holiday and ready for a huge term of learning. This term will focus around the DoE value of Growth.

Thank you to all teaching staff and parents for participating in our recent Parent/Carer Teacher Interviews. This opportunity is very important in your child’s learning journey and helps to build strong connections, celebrate achievement and  communicate student goals. As per the new DoE reporting schedule, we will welcome you again later this term to participate in your child’s  Student Led Conference/Conversation. This is a very special time to connect with your child to celebrate and revisit their personal goals.

Schools National Tree Day was held on Friday 29th July and I’m ecstatic to say we planted 352 trees and completed Stage 1 of our new Nature Play Area. Special thanks to The Glamorgan Spring Bay Council and Mandy, Jarrod and Nona for helping us to learn more about planting and to Wayne, Tracey, Stuart and Josh for their hard work. The grounds are looking fabulous!

Dates for our production of Disney’s Moana Junior has been scheduled for Week 10 a Wednesday 28th September and Thursday 29th September. There will be a matinee at 11am and an evening performance at 6pm both days.

We are exploring options to hold a Friday Night Family Moana Movie Night on Friday 30th  September for friends and family who cannot attend the live show and watch a screening of our show via the big screen in the school gym.

Tickets will be on sale soon!

Today we created a vibe with a team of chefs and front of house staff.  Coming up with a name for a restaurant along with a menu. 

Front of house staff had the job of setting the scene along with setting the tables and coming up with a creation for the napkins.    

The dining style had students sitting waiting for the waiters to deliver their lunch, the chatting whilst eating lunch and waiting for the dessert to be served was pure excitement.

Thankyou to our special helper today David Quinn he had the potato crew peeling 8kg's of potatoes ready to mash!

Launching into learning had a great time row row rowing the boat today while we were learning about the ocean. We learnt a rhyme about fish and made our very own rainbow fish to take home.

This week Swansea Primary School participated in the Hydro Tasmania Community Cricket Blitz. The Blitz is where Cricket Tasmania brings Hobart Hurricanes and Tassie Tigers players to schools to run short cricket activities for students to enjoy and learn new skills. Each session focused on skills such as throwing and catching. Students enjoyed having the opportunity to meet the players and participate in different activities. Below are some photos captured during these sessions.  

Add this wonderful event to your calendar and start thinking of your creative costumes!

The Book Fair is coming to Swansea Primary School!

It will be arriving on Tuesday 16th August and will be here until 25th August.

Students will have the opportunity to complete a wish list during the first week of the fair.

Every purchase you make earns learning and literacy resources for our school.

Come by and support our school whilst getting your hands on the best new children’s books!

Design a bookmark and go into the draw to have your artwork professionally printed!

Celebrate the 2022 Children's Book Council of Australia Book Week by designing a bookmark that explores this year's theme, "Dreaming with eyes open..."

The competition is open to all school age young people in Tasmania.  Pick up an entry form at your local library or download a copy Libraries Tasmania Bookmark Competition

Entries open Monday 25 July and close Friday 26 August 2022.

Scholastic Book Fair in the Library from August 16th - 25th 

Swansea Primary School Association received very exciting news in regards to the grant application  to the Premier's Fund for Children and Young People.  Swansea Primary School Association was lucky to be one of the succesful grant applications receiving an amazing $50000.00 towards our Nature Play Area for Rural Families.

Watch this space and the works coming in the school holiday periods.

Tree Inquiry

Some questions that have guided our learning...

Are trees important?

As thinkers, how do we know and how might we communicate our ideas with others?

What grows on trees? As researchers, how can we find out?

Is wood a useful material?  What can it be used for? 

What might 276 holes in our new playground look like? What is the easiest way to count these holes? As collaboarators, how can we work together to find out?

As a self-manager, how did planting your own plants in our school garden make you feel?  Would you do it again?  Why?

Ask an Early Years Learner to tell you about the photographs above and you might find some answers to some of their guiding questions. 

Grade 1-2-3 Inquiry learning in Mathematics

We have been exploring the idea of a ‘handful’. We are working on a Number & Algebra mathematical inquiry exploring different ways of measuring an ingredients in a soup recipe. One of the ingredients is a ‘handful’ of pasta.

First we traced around our hands, then measured both the length of our hand and our hand span using rulers and tape measures. We also estimated how many pasta pieces we could hold in our hands.

On Tuesday we each took a ‘handful’ of pasta. We then decided on a way to count our collection. There were a variety of efficient strategies used; counting in 5s and 10s were the most common. Some students chose to group their pasta pieces in 2s, 20s and 4s.

In the next session our learning question is:

Do larger hands hold the most?

We’ll be applying our findings to how informal measurements, such as a ‘handful’ vary. We’ll also explore other measurements used in procedures, such as recipes, e.g. millilitres, grams and ¼ and ½ cups.

We’ll continue this inquiry by exploring efficient grouping strategies, arrays, graphing and ordering numbers.

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We are also working on an inquiry about measuring and comparing jumps.

We have measured how far we can jump in several different jumps. Next we will consider how far we could jump if we were different animals.

Triabunna District School Association AGM and General Meeting will be on Tuesday the 16th of August at 4.30pm at Triabunna District School.  Parents with a child attending Triabunna are welcome to attend any parents wishing to attend please let the office know 62573199.