19 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

External School Review

As part of our continuous school improvement, we will be involved in an External School Review with a Review Team. The purpose of External School Reviews is to support schools to raise achievement, sustain high performance and provide quality assurance to build public confidence in government schools.

All Tasmanian Government Schools are externally reviewed every four years. The focus of the review is to evaluate school performance. The Review Team consists of a Review Chair and at least one trained Review Principal. The review will occur on March 16, 17, and 18 of this year.

During the External School Review, some students, parents, School Association members and staff will be asked to provide information to the Review Team in a number of ways. These include:

• individual interviews
• group discussions (with students or staff or parents)
• meetings (usually School Association, staff meeting)
• visits into classrooms.

The team will provide the school with a report summarising their findings and recommended improvement strategies to maximise student outcomes.

Parents and community members are encouraged to participate in the review. Parents and community members interested in participating in the school review are asked to contact their principal.

We appreciate your support and time in helping us with this External School Review process.

Legana Primary School

The Tasmanian Government is committed to building a new $20 million primary school at Legana, providing state-of-the-art learning spaces for 350 students and has partnered with the West Tamar Council to include a sporting precinct around the new primary school to enhance school and community facilities.

In February 2020 we are encouraging school communities, residents and businesses from the West Tamar area to get involved and contribute their ideas for the construction of the new school. Consultation will be open from 17 February to 27 March 2020.

The whole community will be encouraged to participate in our Get Involved campaign which will be communicated widely via advertising, direct mail-outs, social media and newspapers. This is a unique way for you to be part of shaping the new school.

Submissions can be made by:

• filling out the online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Leganaps
• coming along to the community workshop on 5 March 2020 at 6.30pm to 8.00pm – registrations can be completed at education.tas.gov.au/leganaps
• emailing the Get Involved team at getinvolved@education.tas.gov.au
• writing to us at Get Involved, GPO Box 169, and Hobart 7001.

Duty of Care

• Duty of care at the beginning of the day begins at 8:35am. Students should not be at school unattended by an adult before this time.
• We are an Allergy Aware School. We ask families to mindful of the types of foods which students bring to school. Last week we had an incident where a student had a reaction to something that they had eaten and medical assistance had to be provided by Ambulance Tasmania.

Welcome Back BBQ

Families are invited to our Welcome Back BBQ on Tuesday 25 February. Classrooms will be open between 5.00pm – 5.30pm for families to visit. There will be a free BBQ on offer between 5.30pm – 7.00pm, during this time there will be a Staff/ Parent versus Students netball game to officially open our resurfaced courts.

Netball and Basketball Courts

As mentioned in our previous newsletter, during the holiday period we undertook some renovations throughout the school. One noticeable improvement is our netball and basketball courts. The surfaces look amazing and provide a much safer and even surface for students to play on.

Dates to Remember

Student Free Day Reminder

Forms are Due Back

Support Staff

Introducing our Support Staff for 2020

We are very pleased to let you know our support staff for 2020 and welcome them to Exeter Primary.

Speech and Language Pathologist – Terri Walker works Monday and Tuesday.
Social Worker – Lauren Brown works Thursday and Friday.
Psychologist – Richard McMinn works Monday and Friday.
School Health Nurse – Bec Beeston works every Wednesday.

Should you need to contact any of our support staff, please do so through our school office or by contacting Helen Peart, Assistant Principal, who co-ordinates our support caseloads.

The Zones of Regulation

At Exeter Primary School we support our student’s social and emotional wellbeing with The Zones of Regulation program.

The Zones of Regulation highlight the following areas of learning for our students:

• Emotional self-understanding and emotional self-regulation. Students are supported to learn to understand the connection between their sensory systems, their emotions and their ability to relate to the world in ways that make others feel comfortable relating to them.
• Sensory integration and regulation helps students learn to manage sensory input from the environment so they can process and respond in ways in which they are expected to function.
• Students learn about brain-based skills such as impulse control, sustaining attention, planning, problem solving and self-talk as the foundation to manage their behaviours and overcome the hurdles that stand in the way of them reaching their goals.

Just to remind you the Zones are:

We encourage purposeful discussions at home regarding how your children are using The Zones of Regulation and ask you to contact your class teacher if you require any further information. Should like a copy of the poster above to support your children at home, please contact our school office.

Body and Mind Program

We are pleased to welcome back Shikara from Dance Fever Mulitsports. Our students are again participating in our Body and Mind Wellbeing Program during Term 1. Watch this clip to get a snippet of the program.

Shikara has been really impressed in how well our students have participated in the program and loves working with our students at Exeter. Ask your children if they participated today and what they learnt. This program will continue weekly for the duration of Term 1.

Hats for Term 1

Term 1 will see Exeter Primary students and staff wearing hats and being Sunsafe for all outside activities. If a student does not have a hat, a new one can be purchased from the Uniform Shop which is open on Tuesdays from 8:30 am until 10.00 am or Thursdays from 2:30 pm until 3:30 pm. Hats cost $9:00.

Please help us keep our students safe by providing them with a school hat for outside activities and play. If you are having difficulties in doing this, contact Helen Peart, Assistant Principal.

Pre Kinder

Prep Parents

Book Club

Issue 1 of Book Club has been sent home. All orders will need to be into the School office by Monday 24 February in an envelope with your child’s name and class on the front. Spare copies are available at the office.

If you wish to have a “Secret Order” order please put your name and phone number on the order form with the class – Staff.

Student Banking

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence 2020

On Friday 20 March, Exeter Primary School will again be participating in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. To show our schools commitment to standing up and saying no to bullying and violence, we are asking all students to wear something GREEN for the day. All classes will be participating in activities throughout the day with this year’s theme being ‘Empowering Student Voice’.

Dogs in Schools

At Exeter Primary School we have a number of dogs who visit our school. These dogs have undergone training, are kept under the management of their owners and meet all our safety requirements

Animals assist children to develop empathy, interpersonal and social skills and can be calming when children become distressed, assisting them to regulate their emotions and reengage in their learning quicker.

Could you please advise you class teacher if your child is allergic to or has any issues concerning dogs?

Helen Peart, Assistant Principal

Dental Care

Meet Nurse Bec

Welcome to a new school year! My name is Bec and I am your School Health Nurse again in 2020. I will be working each Wednesday at Exeter Primary. The role of the Primary School Nurse is to provide health education and health promotion to students and the school community. Along with health assessments for kindergarten students, I will be engaging all grades in lessons and group activities surrounding health and wellbeing. Some of these lessons will include education on nutrition, personal hygiene, oral care, sun safety, growth and development and mindfulness.

Vision and hearing screens for all primary students are also available on request if there is a specific concern. Consent forms must be signed by a parent/guardian prior to all assessments, including kindergarten health assessments.

My office door will be open to parents for a chat on a Wednesday morning between 8:45 and 9am. Please feel free to visit or contact me via the school office on a Wednesday if you have any concerns or questions regarding your child’s health or the role of the School Nurse. Alternatively you may email at your convenience bec.beeston@education.tas.gov.au

I hope that your child/ren have had a positive start to the year!

Kind Regards,
Nurse Bec

Brixhibition 2020

Brixhibition Kids Competition 2020

Brixhibition entry forms and details are now available from the school Office. If you have any further queries, please contact Mr Clark. Happy building!

Exeter Show

Exeter Show 2020

What a supportive community our school has! The Exeter Show Society has donated 10 tickets for our students to enter the show. The holders of the tickets will be treated to riding in a car in the grand parade. In order to allow all students, the opportunity to win a ticket we will have a raffle of all student’s names. Parents will be contacted to ensure families are able to use the ticket before they are sent home. Thank you to the Exeter Show Society.

Class in Focus

Grade 3 – 4 Gee

We are discovering ways that will help us to work together and fit together as a group. We have each completed a jigsaw piece to represent this and will brainstorm ways to make us closer together and more respectful of each other’s opinions.

5-6 Petrohilos

SLT

Congratulations to our 2020 Student Leaders

Please follow the link below:

We will formally recognise our new leaders in our assembly on Thursday.

School Association

Uniform Shop

Welcome back to school for 2020!

It was great to see so many people at the shop during Book/Uniform Sales Days. I would especially like to thank Alex Swain, Lisa Dentler & Matthew Crowden for volunteering their time during the holidays to work in the shop.

I have put together an order for any outstanding items and will be in touch when they arrive.

We sold quite a lot of our consignment stock, and I will be collating that payment report very soon, so keep an eye out for a cheque in mail in the next month. If you have pre-loved uniforms that you would like to sell on consignment, please drop them into the office or to us at the shop. We are grateful for all the parents, grandparents and carers that donated secondhand items for our $2 bins.

If you have any questions regarding sizes or fit and options available, please come in and see us on Tuesday mornings 8.30-10am or Thursday afternoons 2.30-3.30pm, or give us a call

Susan O’Leary

Community News