Newsletter - 5 July 2024
- Principal's Highlights
- Afterschool Safety and Duty of Care
- Safeguarding Lead 2024
- Late Arrival Policy
- Student Voice
- Class Spotlight - Prep F
- The Fisherman's Wife Mini Musical
- 5/6 Botanical Gardens Excursion
- School Uniform
- Geode Making - 2/3B
- Nurturing Time
- Celebration of Learning Awards - Group B
- Launching into Learning
- Overdue Levy Payments
- Navigating Friendships - Lisa Ford
- Car Park Update
- Student Achievements
- From the School Association
- Chess Club - Term 3 + Holiday Program!
Principal's Highlights
Dear Families,
We greatly appreciate your active participation in our parent/carer meetings last week. We appreciate you making the time to visit and discuss your child’s progress. Please remember that you are always welcome to reach out and visit your child’s teacher whenever you feel the need; your input is highly valued.
A special thank you goes out to our dedicated teaching staff, who have invested countless hours in assessing and preparing reports and evidence of learnings to keep you informed about your children's learning journey. I extend my gratitude to all staff members whose collaborative efforts contribute to making our school a thriving learning community.
As we wrap up another successful term, we want to take a moment to wish everyone a relaxing and enjoyable school holiday. It has been a fantastic term filled with learning, growth, and memorable experiences.
As the winter chill sets in, please stay warm and safe during the holidays. We look forward to seeing everyone back in 2 weeks, refreshed and ready for another exciting term.
Kind regards
Catherine Grace
Principal
Swimming and Water Safety Program: Year 3-5
Mount Nelson Primary’s Swimming and Water Safety Program (SWSP) begins in Term 3 for students in Year 3-5. This program is led by professional AustSwim instructors. There's sure to be excitement and perhaps some nerves about the 10-day program. You may want to discuss with your child and reassure them that the program caters to all skill levels, from beginners to squad swimmers. Simple exercises like blowing bubbles or opening eyes underwater in the bath or shower can help ease any anxiety students may have.
These holidays are a good time to check and prepare swimsuits for fit and condition. A letter was sent home with students on Monday, please contact the school office if your child did not receive a letter.
Staffing Update
Mount Nelson Primary School would like to extend our thanks to Abbey Clark for stepping in and filling the role of our HPE teacher during Declan West's leave. Abbey has been an invaluable part of our team, and her contributions have truly made a difference.
From organising the School Cross Country and Interschool Cross Country events to ensuring our Swimming and Water Safety programs will run smoothly, Abbey's dedication and enthusiasm shone through in everything she has done.
We are excited to announce that Declan West will be returning to his role on the first day back of Term 3. We look forward to welcoming him back and are eager to see the new initiatives and programs he has planned for the rest of the year!
Rebecca Gould will be going on maternity leave starting from Week 2 of next term. We wish Rebecca and her family all the very best in this new chapter of her life.
We welcome Mrs Katie O'Keefe, who will be joining us at the beginning of Term 3. Katie will be working with the class on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. For the first two weeks, Rebecca will continue to teach the class on Thursdays and Fridays. This arrangement will allow our teachers to plan together and collaborate closely with the class.
Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Katie as she becomes part of our wonderful school community!
Afterschool Safety and Duty of Care
Thank you to all the parents who are choosing to park in the bottom carpark for pick up at 3 pm, this has reduced the traffic in our top carpark.
Please note, when organising your pick-up points after school, please remind your children that they need to be waiting, with their belongings and ready for pick up. A teacher is on duty in a fluro vest in the top carpark from 3 - 3.10 pm. This helps ensures the safety of all students and maintain smooth traffic flow.
If you have a meeting point in the playground and are unable to arrive at the designated meeting point by 3 pm, your child should wait with the duty teacher at the top carpark until you arrive. This is a standard practice to ensure the child's safety and supervision until they can be reunited with their parent or guardian. As you would understand we need to know who has duty for care of our students at all times.
To ensure the safety of our students, after 3 pm, students may only engage in activities on the ovals and school grounds if accompanied by a parent or carer. Staff are unable to supervise children in these areas beyond this time.
Please be reminded that there is no supervision provided before 8.30 am, and children should not arrive at school before this time. If you need to drop your child off before 8.30 am, please contact Lady Gowrie for Before School Care. Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring the safety and well-being of all students.
Kind regards
Catherine Grace
Safeguarding Lead 2024
Rachel Viney is our Safeguarding Lead in 2024.
Safeguarding Leads have been appointed in all Tasmanian state schools to help ensure all children and young people in Tasmania are known, safe, well and learning.
Rachel will support the wellbeing of all our students and help us all understand that keeping children and young people safe is everyone’s responsibility.
For further information on Safeguarding in Schools please click here
Late Arrival Policy
If your child arrives at school after 9.00 am without a parent or guardian, the office need mark their attendance as unexplained. Our procedure for late arrivals mirrors that of unexplained absences: office staff will contact parents or guardians to clarify why the student was late to school.
Did you know that if your child misses 10 days of school per year, by Grade 4 they can fall 1 term behind? Regular attendance is crucial for your child's future success.
Student Voice
Hi, this is the School Executives updating you on what been happening recently.
As you may know, Friday is the last day of term and in 2 weeks, we will be back at school on Monday 22nd of July. It will be term 3 when we come back. Next term on the 22nd of July the same day we come back from holidays is the first day of learn to swim. For 2 weeks years 3-5 will be doing learn to swim so that they can learn how to swim if they don’t know so they can use it as a life skill if they are ever in danger.
Next term, the Grade 5's and 6's are doing Winter Sports, it is where students can play footy or netball or both! We are versing other schools in those sports and on Wednesday we went to practice and work together.
On Thursday last week both year 5-6 classes went to the botanical gardens to learn about the physical habitats and adaptations. We learnt about the history of the botanical gardens and why it was built.
Thank you that is all for now, have a great holiday!
2024 School Executive
Class Spotlight - Prep F
Learning to write and realising others can read your writing is an exciting step for Prep children.
The Prep class has written, edited, and published their own books to share. The provocation was a box of interesting keys that unlocked a mysterious door!
The Fisherman's Wife Mini Musical
"Last week the Junior Choir performed a mini musical called The Fisherman’s Wife. It’s about a greedy wife who learned not to be greedy from a talking fish. Her fisherman husband would go out every day and catch the talking fish who granted him wishes. The wife was very greedy and demanded lots of things and learned her lesson. It was a really fun musical to perform, and we hope that the school community enjoyed our performances and hard work!"
By Ellie, Sophie and Violet
2/3B Students
5/6 Botanical Gardens Excursion
As a part of our journey for science around adaptation, last Thursday our class and Mick's went to the Botanical Gardens, the place of magical beautiful this for the flowers to the trees.
We were welcomed by the owner of the Botanical Gardens called Esta and we were told about the original people of this land and what they did on it and how it was taken from the Aboriginal people.
Our classes were spilt up which was sad for a lot of people, then we parted and took off with our guide Emily, she was amazing!
At the start, we were looking at some places and thinking how they could have adapted to their environment we started our first room at the conservatory, it was meant to be a hot house but because it was winter it was colder so they would have had to adapt to that being in Tasmania. We had our own map and in that there were boxes we had to fill some words in of what described that area of plants in that spot.
We were going to go into the Antarctic place but it was closed that day so we just closed our eyes and imagined what it would have looked like and how they would have adapted to that cold weather because at the end we were going to use all that information at the end.
We went to the Japanese garden just for fun because we missed out on the Antarctic one and it was exciting seeing all the water and the plants it was interesting about the different environment.
It says it in the name; the Resilient Garden it was full of cacti, and they do have to be resilient because their original home is really hot ad there is not enough water and really dry, so they keep moisture in them, and their spike protect them for things taking their moisture.
Then we conjoined again with the other class to have recess for about 15 minutes until we got back into the activities.
We went to our most iconic tree of Tasmania the gum tree. We were collecting some seed pods and what seeds they carry like a scavenger hunt in partners. When we got back, we were challenged to create a place for the gum trees in the Botanical Gardens to been seen and get a lot of interest but with a seed bank in it, displaying our seeds. Me and my group make a play tree house with a sea saw, swing, trampoline and tree to climb out of blocks, I found that the most interesting and fun one because I like designing the thing and looking at the different things.
We had our break for lunch, and we were rolling down the hills and it was so fun we were rolling down so fast. We split up again and said our goodbyes and headed off again.
We were doing this scavenger hunt with the cards of the plant on them, and we had to find it in that garden in partners, when we found them, we described their special things on them what type of plant they were like a small scrub or something then we drew a sketch of that plant. Everyone was racing up and down the roads to see who finished first. After that we had a talk about what was on the cards. There were either blue circles or yellow circles. We came to the conclusion that the yellow one meant dry, and the blue ones meant moist. We had some paddle pop sticks plant name on it we either put in the dry or the moist say if it had tall in it you would put it in the moist because moist environment are very small because there are so many plants so they would have to grow tall instead.
And that is what we did on our excursion at the Botanical Gardens!
Eliza S
5-6D Student
School Uniform
We kindly request parents to assist our staff and the School Association by ensuring students wear their Mount Nelson Primary School uniform every day. Lately, we've observed more students wearing non-approved clothing items.
We take pride in our uniform as it fosters unity, a sense of belonging, and promotes our school within the community. It also minimizes competition and is a cost-effective choice. During colder weather, please keep warm with coats and beanies outdoors, removing them inside classrooms, while ensuring our Mount Nelson Primary uniform is worn daily.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Geode Making - 2/3B
In 2/3B we have been investigating rocks and minerals through our reading Inquiry.
On Tuesday, we made our own geodes using a combination of rock salt, white sugar and raw sugar to create three different textures for our crystals. We started by moulding foil into realistic geode shapes, looking carefully at some of the geode specimens we had in the classroom. Then we painted the foil and made a paste of sugar and salt, watercolour and glue to form the crystal crust inside the foil. We are so proud of them and had heaps of fun!
Nurturing Time
We’ve been having an amazing time before school starts (8.30 - 9 am) with our Nurturing Time! It’s the perfect way to kick start the day with some fun and creativity. Here are some of the activities we’ve been up to:
🌪 Twister: Stretching, laughing, and trying not to fall over!
Chess: Sharpening our minds and strategizing. It’s incredible to see everyone’s skills improving and the friendly competition.
LEGO: Unleashing our creativity and building everything from towering castles to speedy race cars. The imagination and teamwork have been off the charts!
These activities are not only super fun but also a fantastic way to smooth the transition between home and school, as well as bond, learn, and grow together. Can’t wait to see what amazing creations and epic games we’ll come up with next!
Celebration of Learning Awards - Group B
Congratulations to the students who received a Celebration of Learning award at our last Assembly (Group B)!
| Prep F | |
| Theo K | for being a keen researcher who asks interesting questions, discussing and debating his discoveries with others. |
| Freddie M | for having a great knowledge of living things. Freddie has used this knowledge to connect and extend his new learning and thinking. |
| Violet G | for demonstrating her knowledge of living things through her art. Violet draws detailed diagrams with relevant explanations that connect to her drawing. |
| Ezra M-H | for his love of investigating animals. Ezra makes predictions about their habitat and asks relevant and interesting questions. |
| 1-2BC | |
| Luka F-P | showing care and kindness for others by being patient and allowing them the time they need to express their emotions in a respectful manner. |
| Lacey J | for her genuine love of reading. Lacey enjoys sharing the main points of the story with others through drama and discussions. |
| Taha U | for his wonderful enthusiasm when sharing his thoughts and engaging in discussions about the learning in a respectful way that allows others to also give back to the discussion. |
| Stephanie K | for being a wonderful helper to those around her, always making sure that no one is left out during activities, games or discussions. |
| 2-3G | |
| Siu K | for always being a focused learner who works co-operatively with others. |
| Bobby L | for consistently challenging himself in all curriculum areas, demonstrating initiative and independent work skills. |
| Leah J | for demonstrating a positive work ethic and her consistent effort in all areas of the curriculum. |
| Lara W | for being a helpful, polite class member who consistently tries her best in all areas of the curriculum. |
| 4-5-6S | |
| Ted F | for being supportive and caring role models to our Kinder buddies. |
| Louis Y | for being supportive and caring role models to our Kinder buddies. |
| Luke M | for his focused and diligent approach to completing his online coding course. |
| Louis C | for demonstrating the Learning Asset of ‘Communicator’ by offering his ideas during whole class discussions. |
| 5-6D | |
| Lachie M | for his investigation on misleading data in graphs, in Numeracy. Lachie has demonstrated great analysis of misleading graphs, and has been able to correct and produce corrected versions. |
| Claudia A | for demonstrating her understanding in Numeracy, we have been learning about data and misrepresenting data in graphs, Claudia has been a wonderful contributor in this area, sharing her knowledge and taking the opportunity to teach others. |
| Kyler W | for his exemplary writing skills in his work on ‘Night Noises’. Kyler produced an engaging character description of Lilly Laceby, showcasing effective word choice. |
| Billy J | for consistently demonstrating wonderful self-managing skills in our classroom, he is a active listener and actively contributes to conversation, adding his own ideas confidently and building on those of others, Billy is always reading for learning. |
Launching into Learning
This morning's Launching into Learning session in the Mount Nelson Primary Bush Area was absolutely wonderful!
The kids had a fantastic time exploring and learning in this lovely environment. Moments like these remind us how fortunate we are to have such a beautiful natural setting right at our doorstep! 🌳🌱🍃
Launching into Learning Calendar - Term 3
Overdue Levy Payments
The levies and charges we receive from families supports our school to deliver learning opportunities for all students.
Levies can be paid:
- At the school (by EFTPOS, cash or cheque)
- At Service Tasmania (by EFTPOS, cash or cheque)
- Through BPAY (using the Biller Code and Reference on your invoice)
- By mail, forward your cheque, money order or credit card details to the school, with the payment slip from your invoice attached (payable to the Department of Education)
- Using Centrepay, a service provided by Centrelink.
Thank you to parents who have paid levies and to those who are making regular payments. If you have any queries ore require a copy of the levy invoice, please contact the school office.
Navigating Friendships - Lisa Ford
Car Park Update
We are happy to report, the Hobart City Council has consented to install yellow lines and ‘No Standing’ signage along the right-hand side of Tangara Road.
This measure is designed to prevent parking on both sides of the street, thereby mitigating driveway blockages for residents and reducing overall congestion.
The implementation of these changes is scheduled to be completed by the commencement of Term 3.
BOTTOM CAR PARK
To control congestion in the front car park, we encourage families to utilize the bottom car park as an alternative parking option to help distribute traffic more evenly. This will ensure a smoother experience for all families and the Mount Nelson community during peak times.
We have now unlocked the bottom gates for easier access to collect students in the afternoon.
Student Achievements
Huge congratulations to Ava W for achieving her black belt and to Bonnie J for earning her brown belt in Kung Fu! 🥋
If your child has been selected to be part of a representative team, has won a prize in performing arts, has a part in a major stage production or any other significant achievement outside of school, let us know via the webform below so that we can share the news and celebrate the achievement in our school newsletter. Let's Celebrate!!
From the School Association
Chess Club - Term 3 + Holiday Program!
