3 April 2019

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

What a great day we had last Thursday! Our students participated in dance workshops with the Billy Tea Bush Band, throughout the day and then families joined us in the evening for a BBQ with our School Association and then danced into the evening. It was wonderful to see our community enjoying such a great night together. Thanks to our School Association, our Student Leaders and all our families who supported us in making this evening such a success and to the Stockers for their organisation of the very busy BBQ! Also last week a team of our teachers’ continued their Professional Learning with the Australian Research Council project we have participated in for the last 3 years. Thursday saw a large group of teachers, university professors and researchers visiting Exeter Primary to see the changes we have made to the way our 5/6 teachers are teaching Math’s and our student wellbeing work. Our Student Leaders assisted in escorting the groups on a tour of our school and truly made us proud in the way they conducted themselves and were able to talk about their learning and our school. As this is the final newsletter for the term I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge what a productive term it has been. Term 1 is always busy as students and teachers settle into their new classes and begin the important process of accessing and planning for the learning program. We have had an extremely calm and settled start to our year. Our teachers meet regularly in their grade teams to plan meaningful and engaging learning experiences for students. Through grade team planning the learning experiences are aligned and student learning is continually assessed to provide information on where to next in the learning journey. We place a greater emphasis on student voice, and in many classes students are now involved in setting personal learning goals in literacy and numeracy. Thank you to all our parents who have taken the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher and who support their child’s learning at home by encouraging daily reading. Interim Reports will be sent home on Friday 5 April. If you have not done so already I urge you to make contact with your child’s class teacher and to discuss your child’s progress at school.

Moderation Day

Friday 12 April (last day of term) is a student free day. This is an important day where our teachers meet with teachers from other schools to moderate student work to ensure we are making consistent judgements of what students are achieving and what the next step in their learning is.

Athletics Carnivals

A big thank to Mr Habel for his exceptional organisation of this year’s athletics carnivals. As usual we had a strong turnout of families as they support their children at the K-2 Fun Day and at our 3-6 Athletic Carnival and were lucky with the weather. Participation and sportsmanship was commendable and it was great to see everyone having a go to support their house and test their own personal goals. This year Dalrymple were triumphant and wrested the shield from Brady with Batman finishing closely. Mr Habel is now preparing the team to compete in the TPSSA Carnival on Monday 8 April at St Leonard’s Athletics Centre.

ANZAC Assemblies

Commemorating ANZAC day is a significant Exeter Primary School tradition. As ANZAC Day falls in the school holidays we will be holding our school ANZAC Assembly on Thursday 2 May, at 10.30am in the Performing Arts Centre. Parents and community members are invited to attend. Our choir will also be performing at Exeter High School’s assembly next Thursday 11 April at 11.10am.

On ANZAC Day our school choir will be performing at the Exeter RSL as it has done for many years and as a school we will be laying wreaths at both the Beaconsfield and Exeter 11.00 am services. We look forward to seeing many of our families at these venues.

Exeter’s Got Talent

It is that exciting time of year when our students are polishing their artistic talents ready for Exeter’s Got Talent! Students have been practicing and auditioning for this year’s show and we are all waiting excitedly to see the successful contestants perform on Thursday 11 April at 1.45pm in the Performing Arts Centre. We invite parents and family members to join us for this entertaining afternoon. A special thank you to Mrs Emms for organising the event again this year. Congratulations to all the students who have auditioned and to those who have made it through to the finals. A special congratulations to all the students who auditioned, enjoyed the process and learned new skills as a result.

I wish you all a safe and relaxing holiday break and look forward to a great Term 2!

Kind regards,
Helen

Assembly Awards

Growth Mindset Award

Recipient: Deklyn Walters

Class Awards

We congratulate the following students:

Parents

Skills for Life First Aid Course

Earn & Learn

We are excited to be taking part in the 2019 Woolworths Earn & Learn program.

During the previous campaign, we were able to purchase some great resources with the points we earned, thanks to you.

From 1 May until 25 June 2019, you can collect stickers at Woolworths that go towards Earn & Learn points. For every $10 you spend at Woolworths (excluding the purchase of tobacco, liquor and gift cards), you will receive a sticker. These stickers can then be given to your children to collect on a special sticker sheet. Once it is completed, they can simply bring it back here to school or you can drop them into the Exeter Primary School collection box at Woolworths.

The more points we earn, the more we can redeem from a choice of over 10,000 educational resources including numeracy and literacy resources, art & crafts materials and much, much more!

We are grateful for your support and look forward to a successful program. If you have any questions, please ask at School.

Parent Forums

Parents and families are invited to attend a forum to provide information about and discuss Educational Adjustments.

From 2020, there will be a new approach in Department of Education schools to assisting students with disability to access, participate and engage in quality educational programs.

Forums are scheduled for Term 2. Light refreshments will be provided.

See details of locations and timing and how to register at:

ARC Research Project visits EPS

Since 2017 members of the Grade 5/6 teaching team have been participating in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Project which has seen Deakin University, La Trobe University and the UTAS collaborate with schools both here in Tasmania and in Victoria on five critical areas of teaching and learning that are transforming education:

• Personalised Learning
• Team Teaching
• Flexible Learning Environments
• Wellbeing
• Use of Digital Technologies

Thursday 28 March saw 36 local and interstate principals, teachers and researchers visit Exeter Primary School. While here we were able to showcase the work Exeter Primary is doing in Wellbeing (Zones of Regulation), Team Teaching (Grade 5/6 PAC Maths and Grade 3-6 PAT-Reading groups), Learning Spaces (5/6 Geale-Clark & 5/6 Alcock, STEAM Room and the PAC) and the Use of Digital Technologies (STEAM Room). Thank you to the Grade 6 Leaders who helped organise, greet and escort our guests around our school.

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence

Brixhibition

Exeter Primary School’s Brixhibition 2019 saw 36 cool, clever and creative entries entered into the competition. Each class, with the support of the Grade 6 STEAM Leaders, had the opportunity to vote for their favourite entry in their age group, plus vote for their favourite LEGO entry overall. The Prep-2 age group winner was Misha from 1/2 Emms-Gee, the Grade 3/4 age group winner was Freddie from 3/4 Wheatley and the Grade 5/6 age group winner was Atlan from 5/6 Geale-Clark. The Silo Hotel also won the most overall votes and will be displayed in Brixhibition. Well done to everyone who entered!

Brixhibition Launceston 2019 will be held in the Albert Hall, Tamar Street – Launceston. Details below:

Billy Tea Bush Band

On Thursday 28 March we enjoyed a visit from The Billy Tea Bush Band, with Michael and Phil. They came along and shared a True Blue Australian Bush Dance and Sing-along with all the children from Kinder to Grade 6. On Thursday evening our students invited their families and friends to come and have a BBQ tea and dance the night away. Everyone had a great time teaching their family the dances and having a fun time playing the sideshow alley games.

The night was organised by the School Association and supported by EPS staff through our LIFT (Learning in Families Together) program. Thanks to everyone who came along and made the night a huge success.

LiL Programs

Arts

Exeter’s Got Talent

Outdoor Classroom

Help needed

Are you able to help us with items for our outdoor classroom?

If anyone has any stockings, preferably natural colour (for grass heads project) or tea cups (preferably) or small pots/vases etc (which can be used for planting succulents for mother’s day) could they please drop any of these items to office ASAP. Your help is very much appreciated.

Sport

K-2 Athletics Carnival

The K-2 Athletic Carnival was very successful with the students enjoying a range of activities in good conditions. In just over an hour and a half students gave their best in 9 activities often competing many times at each station. It was good to see so many spectators able to follow their children around the oval.

A big thank you goes out to the students on their performance, teachers on their organisation of classes and the Grade 6 Sports Leaders and additional helpers for their assistance at the stations.

Peter Habel

3-6 Athletics Carnival 1500 m and Field Events

Congratulations to Dalrymple on winning the Grades 3-6 Athletic Carnival on Friday in warm conditions. The scores were close all day with each team holding slender leads at some stage before Dalrymple finally won with a total of 857 points to Brady 813 and Batman 785. It was a pleasure to see the participation of nearly every student and the friendly rivalry and camaraderie amongst Houses. The cheering and barracking was a highlight with Mrs Sims encouraging support on the microphone and the sportsmanship from all competitors was fantastic.

Congratulations to all students on your performances and behaviour. Thanks to parents, friends, staff and students for their support of the Carnival and to the Exeter High School students who helped officiate. Thank you to Mr Chesshire on the preparation of the oval for both Carnivals.

In Division 1 events the standout performers were:

Grade 3: Cammi, Kasey, Noah, Jack
Grade 4: Isabella, Stella, Elliot, Max, Jaxan
Grade 5: Lucy, Keona, Ryder, Flynn, Jack
Grade 6: Jessica, Ciara, Milly, Quinn, Avery, Damon

Tamar Carnival is Monday 8 April at St Leonards, 10am-1.45pm.

Peter Habel

Community News