25 July 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear families,

Welcome to Term 3! It was a pleasure to greet our students on Tuesday morning as they returned to school full of enthusiasm and energy ready for the new school term. Term 3 promises a range of excellent programs, excursions and experiences to excite and engage students. This term there will be a major focus on the Arts in the lead up to our Arts Afternoon and Art Gallery Opening in September. Students will be participating in dance classes, Art and STEAM lessons and Mrs Sims is putting a team of keen designers together to participate in the REMADE Fashion event again this year. Over the break we welcomed some new students and we warmly welcome Jordan and welcome back Nakeisha and Aliyah.

Parent Teacher Conversations

I would like to extend a special thank you to all the families who attended our Parent Teacher Conversations at the end of last term. Personally I appreciated the opportunity to catch up with families and find out ways in which we can further support the education and welfare of our students. The feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive and they felt that every conversation was productive and purposeful and helped to strengthen the home school partnership. With over 200 appointments the Exeter Primary community has proven its commitment to improving educational outcomes for their children. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher to arrange an appointment if you were not able to attend one last term.

Student Free Day

On Monday teachers and teacher assistants participated in professional learning. The focus for our learning was School Improvement. Teachers worked together to improve their understanding of educational planning in order to better deliver targeted lessons for every student. Part of this included planning for our reading and writing program, Scaffolded Literacy. We have also been building our understanding of Professional Learning Communities. This is a way of working that demands that teachers work closely together to plan and implement common learning experiences in response to student data. Each of our Grade Teams has regular timetabled sessions to meet and plan and as a result we are seeing an increased consistency of practice and a clear focus on student learning progress. This year we have had a strong focus on improving our teaching of reading and ensuring that all students reach their grade appropriate benchmark by the end of the year.

Celebration Assembly

Next Thursday we will be holding our annual Celebration Assembly to acknowledge and celebrate student learning. All students who achieved an A rating in their Mid-Year Report, made significant progress in their learning as a result of adopting a Growth Mindset or had 100 percent attendance up until Mid Year reporting will receive a letter of commendation. At Exeter Primary School we are keen to reward good learning habits such as persistence, and the ability to keep on trying even when things get difficult. We hope you can join us for this very special assembly.

ACARA Item Trial

This year Exeter Primary School has been selected to participate in the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) NAPLAN Item Trial. The purpose of this trial is to trial and evaluate future NAPLAN questions. This will take place next week and involves a randomly selected group of Year 3 and Year 5 students. Parents will be notified if their child is involved in the trial.

Straw No More

Congratulations to the students of 3/4 Duncan who have taken on a special project. They have all taken a pledge to go plastic straw free. The students researched the detrimental effects of plastic straws, made posters and wrote persuasive speeches to share the information. A group of these enthusiastic students presented their speeches to West Tamar Councillors last Tuesday. They did such a convincing job that most of the councillors signed up for the pledge. If you would like to find out more about this project and sign the pledge yourself visit the website.

Regards
Alison

Canteen

Wanted: Cardboard drink trays

Literacy

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2018

This year all classes Kinder-Grade 6 have focussed on reading and providing opportunities to engage in reading. We celebrated Simultaneous Story Time where families were welcomed into classrooms and our LiFT program provided every child a ‘take home book’. We have enjoyed Milo Monday where children have come along, read with a Peer Support Leader or parent and has enjoyed a milo before school. Our Reading Ambassadors have shared stories in classrooms as ‘guest readers’ and videoed the reading of fun picture books for families to enjoy on our Facebook page. Children have used the Reading Log to record the books read at home and teachers have used a class list to record the books read at school. We are proud to say every child in our school has participated in the reading of 10 books in 10 weeks program, with many children reading so much more. Students had the opportunity to complete an informative book review, with the winners being displayed in the front foyer at school. We look forward to recognising the top readers in the coming weeks as children count the books they have read during the 10 week Premier’s Reading Challenge. Congratulations to everyone for their participation in the reading challenge, every student who completed the challenge will receive a certificate to recognise their reading dedication.

Scholastic Bookclub Issue 5

Sport

Tasmanian Primary Schools Cross Country Championships

Tuesday 26th June

Congratulations to the 22 Exeter students from Grades 3-6 who took up the challenge to run in this State Event. Running in age groups, our athletes had to run 2km (9 & 10 yrs) or 3km (11 & 12 yrs) against fields which contained on average 275 of the State’s best long distance runners.

For detailed race results and photos you can check out the web page by putting in Athletics Tasmania.

Results with position and time alongside name. Winning time under age group.

Thanks to all attending parents for your help and support.
Peter Habel

In Our Classrooms

Focus on Kinder Freeman

Kinder Freeman has been busy constructing.

Look at some of our fabulous creations.

Community News

Get into Hockey

First Aid for Carers

Launceston Session- Monday 3rd September from 10:00am- 1:00pm at Amy Road, St Giles office.

Beaconsfield Youth Centre