The average daily attendance rate; Year-to-Date, derived from student attendance data recorded inEduPoint as at 30/07/2025 is 89%

Attendance Update

Every school day matters for your child’s education. Absences are only authorised for reasons such as being unwell or experiencing a significant event which impacts on your child’s ability to attend school. It is important to communicate to your child’s school about the length and reason for any absences. Your child’s school may request further evidence or information in some circumstances.

If your child needs to be away from school, it is important to tell the school as soon as possible. You can:

Send a note or email to the school through Schoolzine.
Telephone the school office.
Visit the school.

In alignment with DECYP attendance policy, we ask families to be aware of the following information we require to ensure we are supporting student attendance.

After your child has been absent for a total of more than 5 days in a school year families will be contacted by either the classroom teacher, member of the leadership team or our Admin staff and request a doctors certificate or to complete a Statutory Declaration (Stat Dec), to explain the nature of the absence. The Stat Dec. can be accessed by the following link or be collected from the school office https://www.justice.tas.gov.au/justice-system/statutory-declarations/statutory-declaration-form.

If there are barriers or extenuating circumstances which are affecting student attendance, please contact the office to make an appointment to meet with a member of the Leadership Team or Principal, we are more than happy to work with families to support students attend school more often.

Breakfast Club – Volunteers

We are seeking volunteers to support our Breakfast Club Program of a Monday and Tuesday. Each day of the week we provide breakfast for up to 35 students, toast, and a milo. We require a volunteer to support the program between 8:15am – 9.00am. If you are available, please contact the school office for more details. Volunteers will be required to have a current Working with Vulnerable Peoples Card and undertake a short Mandatory Reporting Module (15 minutes). More information regarding our Safeguarding requirements can be found with the following link.

Safeguarding checks for workers (including Registration to Work with Vulnerable People) - Department for Education, Children and Young People

Student Medication

If your child requires medication while they are at school, you must meet with your child’s teacher and/or principal to ensure that the school staff know how to give your child their medicine.

Medication should only be prescribed during school hours when necessary.

You and/or a doctor may authorise self-administration of some medication. This must be stated in the medical action and management plan.

You will be required to:

Complete a written request to the school to administer the medication. You can download and print the Authorisation for Administration of Student Medication form (PDF, 207KB).
Provide signed authorisation from your medical practitioner/pharmacist or practice nurse. This should give specific instructions for the administration of the medication.
Transfer the medication safely to the school and hand it to the office staff to sign in.
Provide the medication in the originally prescribed containers only.
Help prepare a Medical Action Plan and a Medical Management Plan for your child if they need ongoing medication.
Ensure to fill regular scripts on time and the school does not run out of medication.

NAPLAN

Distribution of NAPLAN Individual Student Reports for Students in Grades 3 and 5 (ISRs)

The National Assessment Program – Literacy & Numeracy (NAPLAN) reports for students in Grade 3 & 5 who sat the online test (paper-based writing test for Grade 3) this year will be sent this week. Your child’s report will show national information including how your child performed in relation to other students across Australia in their particular year group for each of the Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and Numeracy tests. Please contact your child’s teacher if you would like to discuss any aspect of the report. At Exeter Primary we use a range of assessments to find out how students are going with learning, and to guide learning programs. NAPLAN, which is an Australian-wide test, is one assessment that helps guide individual, school, and department planning.

2025 Athletics Tasmania/Little Athletics Tasmania State Cross Country Championship

Last week we had two students represent Exeter Primary School in the State Cross Country Championships and performed exceptionally well. I would like to congratulate both Asha and Molly on their excellent results.

Molly came first in the Under 8 Girls 1000m event. She managed to overcome all the Under 8 Boys as well and ran a very fast 4.22 min which was 17 seconds faster than last year’s winner.

Asha came 4^th in the Under 10 Girls 2000m in a quality field which included many of the top girls from the Primary Schools State event at Symmons Plains in June. Asha's result was remarkable in that she overcame a recent bout of illness to perform at a high level.

Merit Certificates Thursday 31 July, 2025

Grade 3/4 Atkinson	CJ, Oliver B, Milla
Grade 3/4 Duncan	Bradley, Hunter, Geoffrey
Grade 3/4 Zandavar	Riley, Abel, Chevy
Grade 4/5 DeHaan	Lilly, Daisy
Grade 5/6 Petrohilos	Whole class
Grade 5/6 Dunn/Gunson	Layla, Lachie
Grade 5/6 Wood	Emit, Heath

Merit Certificate

, 20

We will be offering another Pre Kinder session beginning next Friday 8^th, August 1.30-3:00pm.

If you have a child born in 2021, please bring them along. This can be in addition to attending the Monday session. The session will be led by Mrs Mel Eastley in Mrs Fisher’s room. Please call the office for any queries.

Thursday 21st August for Prep-Grade 1 will be our Book Week celebration assembly. Kinders will celebrate on Tuesday 19th August 9:15-10:15am for this year. All students are invited to appropriately dress up as a book character or in line with the theme. Our book week assemblies will be hosted by the Reading Leaders. Assembly times will be-

9.20 – 10.10am – Grades 3-6
10.15 - 10.55am – Prep – Grade 2

Costumes do not have to be purchased ones, perhaps you have something at home that can be adapted or made with a DIY project. Here are some ideas to get you thinking…. Happy reading and planning!!!

In 5-6 Sundra we have been working on improving our knowledge of the structure and language features of persuasive writing. We have been having lots of discussions based on current event topics, which lead us to having a debate on a controversial subject that is being discussed in the media currently.

Should YouTube be banned for people under the age of 16?

We brainstormed arguments against this proposed ban as well as arguments that would be in favour of the ban. We worked in small groups to capture our thinking and then organised two teams (Negative and an Affirmative team) to debate the topic, whilst the rest of the class were keen onlookers. Lots of fun and important learning discussions were had during our debating session.

Just a reminder to parents who have received a letter regarding students framed artwork for purchase, please contact the office by Friday 8th August if you wish to collect, as all artwork will be removed from frames on Monday 11th August.

Empowering Our Young Learners

At Exeter Primary we are committed to a safe and supportive environment for all our students.

Respectful Relationships and Consent Education (RRCE) is a key part of this and aims to give children the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy, respectful relationships.

What is RRCE?

RRCE is part of our educational program. It focuses on teaching children how to:

Build healthy friendships
Recognise and manage emotions
Understand consent and personal boundaries
Challenge gender stereotypes

We are fortunate to have Nurse Nettie to assist in delivering some of this vital content across our school. This week she has started sessions with our Kinder to Grade 2 students, with Grades 3-6 students beginning later this term.

More information

To find out more about what your child will be learning through RRCE, we will be having an information session later this term. More details will be provided soon.

You can also visit www.respectfulrelationships.education.tas.gov.au to view the teaching and learning packages in detail. Together we can build a brighter, safer future for all our students.

Get Involved

Families and the wider community play an important role in reinforcing what is taught in the classroom.

We encourage you to have conversations at home about respect. The Australian Government’s Conversation Guide is a useful resource to help support you with this.

By working together, we can create a culture of respect and responsibility, both at school and at home.

If you have any questions, please contact the school.

Registration and consent forms have been sent home for Kinder, Prep, Grade 1,2 and 6. Please complete and return to the school office. This program will be taking place at Exeter Primary School between Wednesday 22 October- Friday 7th November.

Do you have an hour to spare to help out with our Breakfast Club 8:30-9:30am. Any help would be greatly appreciated! If you would like further information, please contact the school office.

A reminder that Issue 5 of Book Club will close Thursday 7th August.

Orders can be brought to the school office, if ordering with cash by Wednesday 6th August. Please place orders in an envelope with the student's name and class on the front. Orders can also be placed online using the Book Club Loop App.

You may have heard your child talk at home about UFLI or Word Origins.

This is a new approach to literacy instruction that we are implementing as part of the Department’s commitment to the Lifting Literacy Implementation Plan.

UFLI Foundations- is an evidence-based phonics program for students to learn sound and letter patterns to build their skills in reading and spelling words. Each skill is taught systematically and students are supported to apply these skills with automaticity and confidence.

Word Origins- is an evidence-informed program that is designed to provide the next step in spelling, reading and vocabulary instruction for students. Word Origins teaches students the word parts and meanings of the English vocabulary, and the impact these elements have on spelling, reading, and word knowledge.

The Department will be providing further details for families about our approach to literacy in the next few months and we will share this with you once it becomes available.