26 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Term 3! I trust that all our families have had an enjoyable break and your children are well rested and enthusiastic about starting the new school term. It was certainly a pleasure to greet the students this morning when they arrived at school and hear their holiday stories. After many years of teaching the start of a new term remains one of my favourite times of the year and our Exeter students are a joy with their great big smiles and their friendly greetings.

Festival of Voices

The highlight of Term 2 was without a doubt the Exeter Primary School Choir’s participation in the Festival of Voices in Hobart. For those of you who follow us on Facebook you will have seen film footage of our amazing students practising and performing. The teachers who accompanied the students were tremendously impressed with how well our students coped with the long and rigorous practice sessions and with how beautifully they sang. I have no doubt that the students involved will remember this experience fondly for a long time. This experience was the direct result of Mrs Christine Alcock’s expertise and high standing within the music fraternity and we are very grateful for the amazing work she does in teaching our choir. I would like to acknowledge Mrs Kate Emms for organising the trip to Hobart and Mrs Susan O’Leary and Mrs Helen Peart for travelling with the group. A special acknowledgment also goes to our dedicated families who had their children at school by 5.30 am and were there to pick them up at midnight on their return. It was a highly successful event for all concerned.

Professional Learning Day

On Monday our teachers where involved in professional learning here at school. A good part of the day was spent working on Reading Instruction, learning about current research and practices and interrogating our school data. At Exeter Primary teachers are committed to providing students with high quality educational opportunities and professional learning days are invaluable in supporting improved practice and in adding to development of whole-school approaches to teaching and learning. Over the course of the term we will share with you some of the new work that is being done in reading instruction.

Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations

I would like to acknowledge all of our families who attended our Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations during the last week of Term 2. Teachers were very pleased to have so many families take up the opportunity to discuss their child’s learning and it was the best attended session to date. It was also pleasing to see families who were unable to attend make arrangements for phone interviews or schedule a meeting for a later date. This term our booking system will remain open for the first 6 weeks of term to allow any families that would like an appointment to do so. Teachers will be available after school on Wednesdays for appointments. Please use the code below to make an appointment. Thank you to everyone who completed a survey about the process we appreciate your feedback and are keen to find ways to make the process more accessible for families.

Personal Growth and Development Program

During Term 3 age appropriate Personal Growth and Development classes will be facilitated by our School Nurse, Juanita Du Vergier, for all students from Prep to Grade 6 as part of our Health and Wellbeing program. A parent session was held on Tuesday morning to provide an outline of the program and answer any questions parents may have had about the program. If you missed the meeting and would like more information about the program Juanita is happy to answer any question. She can be contacted via the school office every Tuesday.

Esk Band Program

We hope you enjoy the photos and video footage that Kate Emms has put together to showcase our Esk Band Program. This Program has been running for many year at Exeter Primary and has produced many fine musicians, some of whom are returning from the High School to help tutor our current students. The Esk Band Program is part of the Launceston College Band Program and provides expert music tuition to primary age students for a minimal cost. At Exeter Primary School we are very proud of the many Arts opportunities that our students have and place a high value on learning a musical instrument. We look forward to hearing some of the band members perform at next week’s Achievement Assembly.

Achievement Assembly

Next Thursday we will hold our first Achievement Assembly. The purpose of this assembly is to acknowledge those students who have made significant achievement in the first half of the year. This may be demonstrated by achieving an A in their Mid-Year Report, making a significant improvement in learning as a result of consistent effort by adapting a Growth Mindset or being at school every day and ready for learning. At the assembly these students will receive commendation for their achievement. Parents of those children who will be receiving a commendation will be notified and invited to the assembly to share in their child’s achievement.

Parents and Friends Ladies’ Night

This Friday, July 28, is our Parents and Friends Annual Ladies’ Night so get your friends and family members together and make a night of it. With over 40 stall holders this is always a great night’s shopping, along with lucky door prizes, nibbles and snacks and lucky balloons. I look forward to seeing you there!

Kind regards

Esk Band at Exeter Primary

Look at our wonderful Esk Band Program which is run here at Exeter Primary School. Students from Beaconsfield Primary School join us each week to learn instruments and prepare for a performance at the Princess Theatre at the end of the year. We all work continuously hard to learn to play our instruments and read our music. It is lots of hard work, but we all love to do it.

Festival of Voices

Canteen

Visual Arts

WOOL DONATIONS

As part of our National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day Art activity this year we are seeking wool for a whole school joint art/ weaving installation. As a school we are looking for any spare wool that you might have lying around the place.

If you are able to help us out with any donations that would be greatly appreciated. We have placed a collection tub in the main foyer at the school office, as shown in the images. We look forward to sharing with you our final art installation.

Parents

Earn and Learn Program

From today, July 26th, the Earn and Learns program is back. Anyone who shops at Woolworths can collect stickers for our school. We have a collection bin the main foyer for students and families to deposit stickers / or sheets filled with stickers in. We also have a collection bin at Legana Woolworths, just make sure you pop it in the right school bin.

Thanks to Woolworths, it was a successful and rewarding partnership for our school.