Grandparent's Day and our Volunteers Assembly is one of my favourite days on the school calendar.  It is a day where students and staff can collectively thank the role models our students have who so dearly watch on and celebrate the success of our students from near and far.  Thank you again to all of the volunteers who have supported our educational and community intiatives this year, there have been so many and without you, they wouldn't have been such a success.  

Today, I had the pleasure of honouring Mr Wayne Kean and thank him for his contribution to SPS over the past 13 years.  Wayne for those of you who don’t know – has been our EFA – or groundsman/cleaner/handyman around the place for over a decade and during his time at the school he has been there whenever any of us have needed him,  from providing us with scones and a good laugh to responding to our “Waaaaaaaaaaynnnnnnnne” scretches for help.  We miss him dearly, but, wish him well in his new chapter.  Melissa shared a lovely speech and we presented Wayne with a small token of our appreciation from the School Association. Wayne and the "fishing group"  planted a tree in the front garden after the assembly.

Here is a little video we have made to thank Wayne for his service over the years.

Have a great fortnight!

Kristy Hay

Principal

The formation of class structures is a complex and detailed process that takes much time and consideration. These important decisions are holistic in approach and are carried out with extreme care over many weeks.

Firstly, we consider student enrolments, as this determines our staffing allocation from the Department. From year to year, there are variations on our student population. Next year, we have identified that there will be limited fluctuation in our current student enrolments, which is an exciting prospect. As a result, it is my aspirational goal to reconfigure the class structures for 2023 with four classes. Although, this is a costly approach, I strongly believe that smaller class sizes make a positive impact on student outcomes and is best practise, if we can make it work. This ambitious configuration will allow us to work towards our vision of providing quality teaching and learning at SPS. According to Hattie (2012), the effect size of reducing class sizes from 25 to 15 is 0.10-0.20 (approximately 3 months growth), because students are likely to learn better in small classes.

At the end of 2022, we will be farewelling Mrs Joanne Calder who has accepted a permanent transfer to Learning Services North and will be working at Bicheno Primary School again next year.

Miss Anna Heath will be joining us on a more regular basis and is a highly accomplished and lead teacher whose experience includes extensive classroom practice.  She has been teaching for 13 years and worked at Snug and Riverside Primary Schools before transferring to Swansea. She has had experience teaching from K-6 with a particular interest in early childhood education, inquiry-based pedagogy, Aboriginal Education and supporting students with additional needs. Anna is moving with her partner and son to Bicheno. Miss Heath has relocated to Bicheno.

I am excited to announce our class structure and class teachers for 2023. *Please note, if there is a significant reduction in student enrolment numbers this is likely to change.

Kindergarten/Prep

Miss Anna Heath - Kinder/Prep Teacher (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)

Mrs Claire Wood - Prep (Monday, Tuesday) *Mrs Wood will also be working in the KP on Wednesdays to provide planning time for Mrs. Heath.

Grade 1/2 - Miss Kate Pearce - Full Time

Grade 3/4 - Mrs Saskia Sparshott - Full Time 

Grade 5/6 - Miss Emily Van Galen - Full Time

Mrs Sophie Wilson will be teaching HASS in the Grade 5/6 and also work as Class Teacher Mentor for our new graduate teacher Miss Van Galen.  Mrs Wilson is to be congratulated on undertaking Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) roles including our Swansea Primary School Safeguarding Children and Wellbeing Lead, and Behaviour and Learning Support Teacher. I look forward to working closely with Mrs Wilson on the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP - “dee-sip”) guiding mission to ensure all children and young people in Tasmania are known, safe, well and learning.

Mrs Elise Wells will continue as our School Chaplain, Specialist Science Teacher and Sustainable Learning Teacher.

Miss Sophie Walch will continue to be our Health and Physical Education Teacher, Wellbeing Teacher and Grow Your Mind Facilitator.

And last but not least I am excited to report that our class teachers will continue to have the support of our experienced Teacher Aides (TA's) including Beth Rowlings (Speech and General TA), Mrs Janine Gadd (Kinder/Prep TA), Mr Green (Student Support TA), Hayley Belbin (Student Support TA) and Mrs. Joanne McLean (Literacy Support Specialist).

As the term progresses, I will keep you up to date with further details for 2023.

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts,

Kristy Hay

Principal

Early Primary Assembly Item:  The Grandparent Song

https://youtu.be/79Px6YsSkug

Please click on the link above to view the video our Early Primary learners enjoyed creating artworks for and singing along to at our Assembly today. 

Special thanks to Mrs. Wells for creating the video.

As part of our surfing excursion to Bicheno, Grade 3's also experienced a lovely added extra to their day.  We decided on a little adventure to the southern end of Waub's Bay beach to go rock hopping to visit the Kelp Forests.  In the lead up to this, students had been introduced to Sea Country - a resource to allow children an insight into how the Aboriginal people of Tasmania (lutruwita) made use of many natural resources on the beach and in the ocean.  We experienced how water carriers were made of kelp through a series of videos made by a Tasmanian Aboriginal elder, Aunty Verna.  We also shared a beautiful book, The Hidden Forest by Jeannie Baker, during our library time earlier in the week. It shares the experience of Ben, a young fisherman who comes to realise that the creatures in the ocean are best left to their habitat. The Hidden Forest was so lovely that it joined us on our trip, and we shared it again in the most wonderful outdoor learning space.  Grade 3 students let their legs feel the swirling of the kelp, their fingers gently touch the bright red sea anenomes and their toes carefully experience the granite and barnacles underfoot.  The Kelp Forests were a wonderful addition to our Bicheno visit.

The sun was shining brightly, the breeze was still and the surf was... well, rather calm. 

But that didn't matter to the 24 grade 3/4/5/6 students who arrived eagerly at Waub's Bay beach on Wednesday morning.  After a quick recess, we met Gary and Felix from 42 Degrees South Surf School, gathered our wetsuits and rashies, and suited up ready to surf!  Splitting into two groups, the grade 3's plus a couple of extras headed to the Kelp Forests on the southern end of the beach.  The remaining Grade 4/5/6 class grabbed their boards and gathered to learn a few handy surfing skills to make their experience amazing!  

Come along for a journey through our photo galleries to share the joy of our day!

The Upper Primary class have their camp at Camp Clayton approaching in Week 8 – Wednesday the 7^th of December to Friday the 9^th of December.  Please return excursion notices ASAP.

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