Term 4 - Issue 2
Principals Report
Our students have not been still the past few weeks! We have had a lot of excursions, events and of course learning going on around our school. As we get to the end of the year, we do a lot of different assessments to see how our kids have gone over the school year. Good news is they are learning, which is what we want.
Initial results are showing some great improvement for our kids, particularly in reading and spelling. Many students who have been working with Ms Harback and Ms Leaman in the Learning Hub have made some fantastic progress. To help further support this please make sure you are reading with and to your kids as much as possible, no matter how old they are. Parents reading to their kids and with them teaches them so many great skills such as expression, ways to solve unknown words, speed in which we read, and the list goes on.
Staffing 2025 and Room Locations
Our staffing for 2025 has been pretty much finalised, with only a few minor bits and pieces to sort out. As you can see pretty well everyone is back in 2025, however some of our staff will be taking different grades to what they normally might take. To go along with some staff moving around we will also be moving a few rooms around. Included with the newsletter is a really poorly drawn map that I attempted. It should hopefully make sense!
Our staffing for 2025 is as follows:
- Kinder Quolls and Roos – Chelsea Matthews (Wednesday Kristy Abbott ESS)
- Kinder PE – Chris Lewinski
- Kinder Music – Karina Harback
- Prep Bandicoots – Rachel Shephard
- 1/2 Koalas – Amrita Sarker
- 1/2 Joeys – Oliver Balzer
- 3/4 – Phoebe Williams
- 4/5 – Frazer Wood (Monday to Thursday)
- 4/5 – Lleander Creese (Fridays)
- 5/6 – Laura Stokes
- Music – Frazer Wood (Fridays)
- PE and Art – Tamara Arthur
- Other Specialist Subject – TBC
- Launching into Learning (LiL) – Chris Lewinski
- Support Teacher/AST – Chris Lewinski
- Instructional Specialist/AST – Lleander Creese
- Literacy Intervention – Karina Harback
- Principal – Phil Novak
- Admin – Tania Kay
- School Business Manager – Tania Oates
- Teacher Assistants – Nicole Bean (Kinder), Jess Vanderdoes, Leeza Walker, Rose Coulson, Michelle Oakley, Teena Wheeler and Diana Cowen.
- Library Technician - Michelle Oakley.
- School Psychologist – Row Ward
- Educational Facility Attendants – Sandra Alderton and Tom Glascott
School Lunch Program 2025
We have been lucky enough to have been selected to be part of the School Lunch Program in 2025. This program is a great opportunity for our students to try new foods and sit with their friends to enjoy a meal twice a week.
As with anything like this it will be a gradual roll out across the school beginning with students in Year 3 to Year 6. This allows us time to figure out how to get lunch served twice a week for 80-ish kids. Once our older students are all under control, we will slowly start getting our younger students involved in the program. More information to come in early in 2025.
Celebration Assembly – Tuesday 10th December – 9:30am
Our end of year Celebration Assembly will be held in week 9 of term on Tuesday 10th December. This event is to celebrate the achievement of our students and to farewell our Year 6 students.
This year our Celebration Assembly will be held at Brighton Football Club in the Robin’s Nest Restaurant and Function Centre (325 Brighton Road, Pontville Tasmania 7030). This space will be able to accommodate a lot more people than our school hall!
Families of our Year 6 Students and families of award winners are more than welcome to the event. If you child is getting an award our office will notify you prior to the date. There are no limitations on guests attending, however please be aware that there is only so much seating we can provide, however there will be plenty of standing room.
Information has gone out last week to our Year 6 families regarding this assembly, as well as information regarding all Year 6 end of year events.
Reports and Evidence of Learning
Reports will be going home for our Prep to Year 6 students on Thursday 12th December. The reports will include the following:
- Cover letter
- Student ratings for the year against the 9-point scale.
- Evidence of learning for writing and for specialist subjects.
Evidence of Learning for the end of the year will include:
- Evidence for PE, STEM, Art, and Music (1 piece each)
- Teachers are available for you to talk to personally about looking at your child’s work anytime, please organise a time to speak with them if you wish.
Kinder students will receive the following this year:
- Kinder Development Check (KDC) Assessment 2 report.
- Celebration of Learning folder showing how students have progressed in 2024.
- This will all be sent home to families in Week 9 of term 4.
Salvation Army – Christmas Donations (December 9th Pick Up)
Like with previous years we are collecting items for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. We are asking you our wonderful community for:
- Toys – Items for children ranging from birth to early teens would be appreciated. Please do not bring in secondhand items as this isn’t the way to clean out your house before Christmas.
- Food items – Non-perishable items that will be bundled up.
As with previous years please do not wrap the presents, and all items can be taken directly to our office. The collection date will be Friday December 9th to allow time to sort the items and get them out to those who need it.
Lollies – A Few Concerns…
There have been a very few students with lollies galore in their bags each day lately. Some kids have been eating lollies as they enter the school gates, often with some for their friends. This is definitely not a good way to start the day.
A reminder we are a Move Well Eat Well School, which means we promote healthy eating. Lollies are definitely a sometimes food and are not something that our students need to be eating morning, recess and lunch.
We are more than happy for kids to eat fruit or vegetables as much as they want throughout the school day, as well we offer breakfast club 5 mornings a week. There is definitely no shortage of food for students at our school.
If you are having trouble providing fruit or vegetables for a snack, please let us know and we will organise something.
Carols on the Oval – Friday 13th December
Back by popular demand is our Bagdad Primary School Carols on the Oval. We are hoping that this year for the first time ever it doesn’t rain! A few bits and pieces about the event include:
- Event will be held on the oval.
- Food vans are back with a wider selection.
- Food vans will be parked up on the road again and then people can walk down the driveway next to kinder to the oval
- Better audio equipment so you can hear the kids better. This is code for more speakers!
- More items (2 items per class plus a few numbers by our choir).
- Food sales start from 4:30.
- Carols start at 5:30.
- Intermission for you to get more food.
A program will be released closer to the date. We also ask that you bring all your family and friends along to the event, the more the merrier!
A reminder that this event acts as our whole school celebration and give you the opportunity to see you children perform at the end of the school year.
Kind Regards,
Phil Novak
Principal
School Map
Art with Mrs Arthur
In Art we have been inspired by artist Paul Klee and his village of shapes. Students in grade 1/2 used oil pastels & grade 3/4 used watercolours to produce unique pictures of villages using different shapes.
Interschool Swimming Carnival
Last Thursday 20 students competed in the Div D swimming carnival at the Hobart Aquatic Centre and swam their little hearts out race after race. We were so impressed by everyone's willingness to participate and have a go. Supporting each other as a team is what we do best and I'm so proud of each and every student who swam and put in the effort to come 4th place overall. A huge achievement considering we didn't have the numbers to compete in each race. Well done!
An extra congratulations to the following students who made it through to Champions: Nick, Leah, Mollie, Mila, Ava, Mackenzie, Willow, Sophie & Jake. We wish them the best on Nov 26th.
Aussie of the Month
Amber is our Aussie of the Month for showing Courage and Connection in her role as fitness leader. Amber shows kindness to the younger students by explaining and demonstrating how the activities work. Well done Amber!
Salvation Army Christmas Appeal
House Reward Afternoon
Christmas Pageant
