14 December 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal Report

Hello everyone,

As I write this, our last official newsletter for the year, it is difficult to remember all the amazing things that have been achieved this year. Some new initiatives we have introduced include the Grip Leadership Conference for our Grade 6 Students, our work with Bitlink and the establishment of our STEAM program and Coding classes. Our participation, and first place achievement in The Exeter Science and Engineering Discovery Day and entry into the Tasmanian Science Talent Search. This year we introduced Grade 5/6 Options Afternoons which saw students involved in specialty lessons such as Minecraft, Maths Olympics, and Design Art and Publishing.

All of this was in addition to established programs such as Grade 6 Hobart Camp, excursions and performances, Gala Sports Days, All Schools Triathlon, Country Gold Carnivals and visiting sports clinics. The Esk Band program, Choir performances and the Eisteddfods, Local Art projects, the Arts Afternoon, Dance Fever and Readers’ Cup, cooking and garden programs.

End of Year Reports

End of Year Reports will be sent home next Monday 18 December. The End of Year Report is a summative report which gives assessment ratings for English, Mathematics, Science and History. The report also includes a general comment giving an overall assessment of your child’s year and highlights any points for future consideration. With the report you will also receive information about your child’s class placement for 2017. Please be assured that this placement has been made after due consideration and with the best interests of your child in mind. I would like to thank all the families who made valuable contributions to this process.

2017 Classes

2017 class placement letters will be sent home with End of Year Reports next week. We have made some significant changes to our class configurations for next year in order to create more balanced classes and keep class sizes manageable. All classes from Grade 1 through to Grade 6 will be composite groupings. Many of you may have reservations about composite class groupings and I would like to reassure you that rather than disadvantaging any child the research is clear that there are many positive outcomes to composite classes. The first of these is in the area of social indicators like tolerance, empathy, adaptability and problem solving. Secondly it ensures that the teacher focusses on where the student is at, rather than on the age or grade they are. Composite classes have been around for over 80 years in Australia and currently about 70% of classes Australia wide are multi-age groupings. Research clearly shows that the quality of the teacher has the most significant impact on student learning outcomes and with this in mind we continue our significant commitment to the on-going professional development of teachers and the development of robust curriculum planning teams.

Transition

Transition to a new class can sometimes cause anxiety for a small number of children so it is important that we all support a smooth transition by remaining positive and helping children focus on all the things they have to look forward to in the coming year. Children quickly pick up on parental concerns and this can often negatively impact the start to a new school year. If you have concerns please talk with your child’s class teacher while keeping your conversation with your child positive and encouraging. Students will visit their 2017 classes next Wednesday morning.

Transition supports for high and additional needs students are currently being put in place and families will receive information in relation to this process early next week.

Staffing 2016

As the year comes to an end we inevitably have to welcome and farewell some staff members. This year Julie Keddie Gray will be transferring to a new school after 9 years at Exeter Primary. Julie is a highly skilled educator who has made a valuable contribution to Exeter Primary and will be fondly remembered by the many students she has taught in her time here. We are particularly grateful for the passion Julie has shown for our outdoor environment and her legacy will be wonderful improvements to our courtyard gardens. We wish Julie all the very best at her new school.

This year we also farewell Carolyn Cunningham. Carolyn came to us from Exeter High School, so already had strong connections with our school. During her year with us Carolyn has continued to strengthen the connections between the primary and high school and our students have benefitted from the frequent visits to the high school science department. Carolyn is a highly skilled leader and we are grateful for her contribution to Exeter Primary School this year.

Thank you and farewell to Karen Dawber, Liam Fox and Jo Nas. These teachers will conclude their contracts with us at the end of the school year. They have each had a significant impact and made positive contributions to the life of our school. We wish them all the best for 2017.

We welcome Kate Emms as AST and David Duncan as Grade 3/4 teacher. Kate comes to us from Ravenswood Heights Primary School and is a highly skilled educator and leader. David has been working at Port Dalrymple School and is very excited to be joining our teaching team. We are looking forward to welcoming Kate and David to the Exeter Primary School Community.

Kinder Orientation

It was a pleasure to attend our Kindergarten Orientation this year. I very much enjoyed meeting with our new and continuing families and seeing our 2017 Kindergarten students looking comfortable and relaxed in the Kindergarten setting. As parents of these children you can be very proud of the wonderful job you have done in preparing your child for the significant transition into formal schooling. At Exeter Primary we understand that your child’s first year of school must be a positive and enriching experience. To support this process our teachers and teacher assistants work hard to ensure that all families and their children have a positive introduction to our school and this is supported by the number of excellent pre-kinder programs that are offered. These programs not only provide fun and educative opportunities for children, but also serve to help families feel connected to our school and provide opportunities for families to interact and build relationships with one another. I look forward to working with these families and their children next year and for many years to come.

Dance Fever

Congratulations to all our fabulous dancers who participated in Launceston College’s Dance Fever. This year marked the 10th Anniversary of this program and I think one of the best performances yet! Thank you to Ms Jory for supporting this group over the last couple of months during practices and ensuring that our performance was of such a high quality. This is definitely a highlight of our school year. Well done everyone!

Thank you Everyone!

At last week’s Volunteers Morning Tea I was again reminded of how lucky we are here at Exeter Primary School to be supported by such a generous and capable community. On behalf of Exeter Primary School I would like to pass on our sincere gratitude for all the people who support us in so many different ways. Our school would not be the wonderful place it is without you. I would like to particularly thank the members of our School Association and Parents and Friends. These dedicated individuals volunteer their time on a regular basis to support, fundraise and advocate on behalf of our school. A special acknowledgement of the dedication of Cindy Dunn, chairperson of the School Association and Amanda McEvoy for her drive on fundraising and all the people who pitch in to help.

I would also like to thank the Exeter Primary School staff; our dedicated team of teachers and teacher assistants who work consistently every day to provide challenging and rigorous learning environments, our facility attendants who keep our physical environment looking beautiful and our wonderful office staff for the high quality work they do in attending to all our administrative needs and being the welcoming face of our school. Finally I wish to thank all our wonderful students for their positive approach to learning and support of their fellow students.

Lift

Steve Biddulph

We now have copies of the Steve’s book Raising Girls for sale at our school office. The books are $20-00 each and must be purchased by cash.

A reminder for our parents and school community that Steve Biddulph will be presenting his Raising Boys talk on Tuesday 7 March, 2017 and his talk The Secret of Raising Happy Children on Thursday 8 June, 2017. Mark these dates in your diary now! Tickets for Raising Boys will be available at the commencement of school in 2017.

Starting School

Starting school involves a big change for your child and family. It can be a time of great excitement, but also a time of potential challenge and stress.

Families play an important role in supporting children to manage the transition to primary school. The series of video clips from Kids Matter, below will give you some practical ideas and strategies to help your child make a successful start to school, whether they are commencing Kindergarten or feeling anxious about moving to a new class and teacher.

Starting School

Getting Ready for School

Understanding Behaviour

Problem Solving

Coping Skills for children

A Change for the Whole Family

Respectful School

Growth Mindset

We are continuing to inform parents and families about the social and emotional learning we are undertaking as a whole school. We have been working on developing Growth Mindsets with our students for some time and so are sharing some informative youtube clips that have already been shared with our students. This clip is the last in the series and the topic is Mojo Puts It All Together.

We hope these clips will be the catalyst of some discussions on building Growth Mindsets with our students and members of their families.

Social and Emotional Learning

With the school holidays nearly here, we are sharing some ideas from the Kids Matter web site that will help families develop their children’s Social and Emotional Well Being during the break.

What families of young children can do:

Families can support children’s developing social and emotional skills by:

• being affectionate and warm
• providing security for children by being consistent and predictable
• having frequent face-to-face interactions, including making eye contact, smiling and laughing together
• responding to your child’s signals and preferences (e.g., knowing when to stop playing when your baby turns away signalling they have had enough for now)
• talking with children about what is happening and what will happen next
• being comforting and helping children to manage their feelings
• encouraging children to explore, play and try new things
• using social and emotional skills yourself and showing children how they work (e.g., by talking with children about your own mistakes, saying sorry and trying to make things better for the child you show them that these are a part of life and can be learning opportunities for everyone)
• describing and labelling emotions (e.g., "I enjoyed doing the puzzle together with you. It was fun!"; or "Are you feeling sad today because your friend is not here?")
• storytelling, playing games, singing, dancing, and imaginary play
• supporting children to make choices and solve problems as appropriate for their developmental level (e.g., "Do you want to wear your red dress or your blue dress?")
• providing opportunities for interactions with others (e.g., going to play groups with other children, inviting a child to your home for a play, going to the park where there are other children playing).

Parents and carers have a critical role to play in guiding and supporting children’s social and emotional learning. Social and emotional skills develop with practice. Everyday situations present lots of opportunities for children to learn and practise skills for coping with emotions, managing relationships and solving problems. You can help children build the skills they need by providing effective coaching.

Supporting social and emotional development through relationships:

Relationships are strengthened and social and emotional skills developed through repeated experiences of ‘give and take’, for example, when a baby’s coos and babbles are imitated by a caregiver with similar sounds and noises. Having conversations with children as they get older about these ‘give and take’ interactions helps children to develop their social and emotional skills further. ‘Give and take’ becomes sharing, cooperating and taking turns and developing friendships with other children. This helps children to understand the feelings of others and how to think things through before acting.

Taking time

Take time to really get to know your child through playing with them, observing their patterns and preferences and sharing everyday conversations with them. Being aware of your child’s needs, likes, and interests can help you to be more responsive and ‘in tune’ and also appreciate what is special about them. For example:

• being aware of how your baby communicates when they are tired, such as by yawning, tugging their ear, becoming irritable or less involved in play, means you can help them to get the rest they need
• recognising when your child is happy and enjoying themselves means that you are able to give them more space and time to do the things they like and be sensitive not to intervene too early or try to control your child’s experiences.

Tuning in

Understanding the meaning behind your child’s behaviour will help you to respond appropriately with encouragement, comfort and support (e.g., snuggling together and quietly reading a book to allow an irritable child to have some rest). Whilst it is not possible to understand your child perfectly all of the time, snuggling and having cosy moments together provides security and comfort that are important for your child’s mental health and wellbeing.

Being there

• Encouraging and supporting your child to try out new things for themselves and knowing when to encourage and not step in too soon will help to build their confidence and independence.
• Having conversations with your child to help build relationship skills, such as negotiation and compromise (e.g., deciding together what to have for lunch).
• Sharing experiences
• Joining in with children’s experiences, celebrating their achievements and sharing joy helps them to know that they are special to you and builds their confidence in forming relationships with others.
• Providing ‘teamwork’ experiences where each person in the family has a role and can share jobs, such as preparing dinner or tidying up, helps children to cooperate and develop a sense of independence.

How parents and carers can help older children:

Encourage discussion of feelings

Encourage children to talk about how they are feeling. Listen with empathy so they feel understood. Help them see that feelings are normal and that all feelings are okay, it is important to understand them, and that understanding and talking about feelings helps you to manage them.

Support children’s confidence

Help children identify and develop their strengths by encouraging them to have a go at things and find activities they enjoy. Praise their efforts, celebrate their successes and encourage them to keep trying and learning.

Provide opportunities to play with others

Playing with other children provides practice in important social skills such as sharing, taking turns and cooperation. Help children develop their skills by praising their appropriate play behaviour, for example: “I noticed how nicely you shared your toys. That made it fun for both of you.”

Lead by example

Parents and carers are important role models. Children learn how to behave by observing and imitating the behaviour of those around them, particularly adults. When you model positive ways of coping with strong feelings like anger, it helps children feel safe and shows them ways that they can manage strong feelings too.

Give children choices

To develop responsibility children need practise in making choices that are appropriate for their age and experience level. You can help children build decision making skills by encouraging them to explore options and helping them think through the reasons for their choices. Involving children in family decision making (that you are in charge of) helps them develop skills for responsible decision making and encourages cooperative family relationships.

Encourage creative problem solving

Asking questions that help children think of alternative solutions supports their thinking and problem solving skills. When problems arise you can explore them together by asking questions, such as: “What could you do about that?” or “What do you think might happen if you try that?”

Teach children to use assertive communication skills

Show children how to confidently and respectfully communicate their thoughts, feelings and needs to others in an assertive way. For example, “I really don’t want to play that game. It’s too dangerous. Let’s play a different game instead.”

Some possibilities for parents and carers:

Parent or carer says: “I’m getting too angry. I need some time out to think about this.”

Parent or carer says: “I’m feeling really tense. I need to take some deep breaths to calm down.”

Admitting to having difficult feelings is not a sign of weakness or failure. It sets a good example for children by showing them that everyone has difficult feelings at times and that they are manageable.

Reference: https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/mental-health-matters/social-and-emotional-learning/suggestions-for-families

Birthdays

Launching into Learning

Thank you to those families who were able to make it to our end of year celebration at the Gravelly Beach Park this week. As the photos suggest, we were very fortunate to have beautiful weather as well as lots of happy, smiling faces! This celebration brings to an end another exciting year for Launching into Learning. I hope that you all have a lovely break, enjoy the festive season and will be ready for another exciting Launching into Learning year in 2017.

Our Learning Community
Sport

Country Gold Cricket Challenge

Tamar was runner-up in the Country Gold Cricket Carnival held last Monday and Tuesday at Riverside with each team playing 4 games over the 2 days. The first 3 were round robin with the last match a playoff for position based on a run/wicket quotient from the previous matches. Exeter had 4 representatives in Josh Beams, Ryan Geale, Liam Older and Daniel Jordan and they all contributed well to the success.

Each match is 30 overs per team or 90 mins and after winning our 3 round robin matches we finished on top of the ladder and were able to play-off for 1st against East Coast in the final. East Coast proved too strong in the final as our boys tired in the field with a lot of fielding errors and short pitched bowling.

All 4 Exeter boys were selected to try out for the Emerging Tigers Team based on their performances.

Results:

Game 1 Tamar 9/124 Def North East 9/62
Josh Beams 27 n/o Josh Beams 2/11
Daniel Jordan 16 Ryan Geale 1/9

Game 2 Tamar 6/155 Def Northern Midlands 9/150
Josh Beams 41 n/o Josh Beams 2/11
Daniel Jordan 31 n/o Daniel Jordan 2/17
Liam Older 29 Ryan Geale 1/13
Ryan Geale 20 n/o Liam Older 1/13

Game 3 Tamar 5/134 Def Circular Head 8/97
Josh Beams 25 n/o Liam Older 2/17
Daniel Jordan 21 n/o Daniel Jordan 1/3
Liam Older 20 n/o Ryan Geale 1/1

Final Tamar 6/93 Lost to East Coast 5/189
Daniel Jordan 19 Ryan Geale 2/15
Ryan Geale 13 n/o Liam Older 1/23
Peter Habel

Parents

Important news for parents about the Asthma & Anaphylaxis Schools Program

Students with asthma – no matter how mild

If your child has asthma – even if it is quite mild – please let us know if you haven’t already.

We require an up to date written Asthma Action Plan completed by the students doctor.

We just completed training with the Asthma Foundation of Tasmania. They told us that there is no way of predicting if a student may suddenly have a major flare up, even if it has not happened before.

So please let us know so we can fulfil our duty of care and keep an eye on them.

Students with anaphylaxis

Please make sure that we have your child’s most recent Anaphylaxis Action Plan.

The plan that we are referring to is the one that has the patient’s photo attached and signed off by a doctor.

According to ASCIA, Australia’s authority on anaphylaxis, the plans should be renewed by your doctor at least once a year.

Any questions on asthma or anaphylaxis

If you have any queries, talk to the Asthma Foundation of Tasmania, the Organisers of the Schools Program, by visiting the link belowor calling 1800 278 462.

Term Dates 2017

Term 1

Wednesday 8 February to Wednesday 12 April 2017
Student Free Day - Thursday 13 April 2017
Easter – Good Friday 14 April – Tuesday 18 April

Term 2

Tuesday 1 May to Friday 7 July 2017

Term 3

Tuesday 25 July to Friday 29 September 2017
Student Free Day - Monday 24 July

Term 4

Monday 16 October to Thursday 21 December
Student Free Day - Friday 3 November 2017

School Association

Uniform Shop

The Uniform Shop will have its last day of trade on Thursday 15/12, 2.30-3.30pm

We will be closed on Tuesday 20/12 for stocktake.

We re-open for Book Sales Days – 1st & 2nd February 2017.

I would like to make special mention of Kimberley Young, who leaves us at the end of this year. Kimberley has volunteered her time at the shop since 2013. Her friendly, helpful and quiet manner has been a great asset to the shop and she will be greatly missed. Thank you also to her daughters Elise and Sarah, who regularly helped with setting up and counting stock. I would like express our sincere thanks and appreciation and wish Kimberley and her family every success and happiness in the future.

Thank you also to the other fantastic volunteers at the Shop – Lisa, Alexandra and Matthew. Without their time and energy the school would not be able to provide such a wonderful service to the community. I greatly appreciate their ongoing support and friendship.

Thank you to all the parents, grandparents and carers who supported the Shop during 2016. We look forward to seeing you in 2017.

On behalf of Kimberley, Alexandra, Matthew, Lisa and I, we wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Susan O’Leary

Community News