Newsletter - 29 May

Principal's Report

Building Fluent Readers at Mount Nelson Primary
Nurturing, Empowering, and Striving for Excellence—Together

At Mount Nelson Primary, our mission is to nurture every learner, empower them with essential skills, and strive for excellence in all we do—including how we teach reading. That’s why we’re inviting you to join us in one of the most powerful ways to support your child’s academic journey: reading at home.

Why reading at home still matters - Reading fluency is a cornerstone of confident, capable learning. It allows students to read smoothly, understand deeply, and enjoy the process. Like learning an instrument or sport, fluency takes practice—and that’s where home reading makes a big difference.

It’s important to remember, fluency takes practice! The first read is about decoding—figuring out the words. Fluency comes with re-reading, which helps the brain shift from decoding to understanding.

Fluency is often described as the bridge between decoding and comprehension. Even if your child already reads well, fluency isn’t just about saying the words correctly—it’s about reading smoothly, confidently, and with deep understanding.  

What we're doing at school - Every day, our teachers and teacher aides work with students to build fluency—from early readers learning to decode, to older students exploring rich, complex texts. Whether it’s a beginner reading simple sentences or an independent reader grappling with the challenges of complex text.

How you can help your child succeed - We know your time is precious—but even just 15 minutes of focused reading at home can make a meaningful difference. Here’s how you can help:

• Listen to your child read aloud, even if they’re older. Then ask them to re-read a section with smoother, more expressive reading. 
• Talk about what they are reading. Are there parts that are hard to understand, new words to explore, or things to make them curious.
• Check for understanding. If reading becomes halting or disjointed, it may be due to a tricky word or a loss of meaning. Pause and talk about it.
• Ask a quick question: "what was the most interesting part?" 

Celebrate effort and encourage your child to build the lifelong skill of being a reader.

Thank you for being a partner in your child’s learning. Together, we are nurturing confident readers, empowering them with skills for life, and striving for excellence—one book at a time. Reading together doesn’t have to take a lot of time—it’s not about doing more, it’s about doing what matters. A few minutes each day can have a lasting impact.

We’d love to hear how your home reading journey is going! Please feel free to share your stories or photos by emailing the school office—we’d be thrilled to celebrate your successes and insights.

Family Engagement

At Mount Nelson Primary, we are placing a strong focus on family engagement; recognising the vital role it plays in supporting student learning and wellbeing. We are actively raising the profile of family engagement by regularly featuring it in our newsletters and sharing updates and highlights on our Facebook page to keep our community informed and connected. Looking ahead, we are excited to host more events and bring families into the school and celebrate our shared commitment to student success. By creating more opportunities for families to participate, we’re strengthening the partnership between home and school.

Supporting your child at home and school

For a number of years now, we have been lucky enough to work with Lisa Ford, a Clinical Psychologist and expert on child and adolescent friendships and behaviour. Below are some examples of the language that Lisa encourages us to use with our students to support their understanding of bullying and to empower them to act when someone says something unkind. 

 We also need to remind our students that when they are out in the playground, there are lots of adults in fluro vests on duty, and it’s important to seek help from an adult if needed.

Every School Day Matters

 With a consistent education, anything can happen. By going to school every day, 
your child will increase their options in a big way. Below are some tips to help you set your child for up for success:

• Ensure Regular Attendance: Going to school every day gives your child the chance to learn, grow, and connect with peers and teachers. It's where bright futures begin.

• Get Them Excited: Show your excitement for school, and your child will mirror that positivity. School is where they make friends, create memories, find their interests, and explore future opportunities.

• Talk About School: Open conversations with your child about their school experiences. Showing interest helps them value education and boosts their confidence.

• Celebrate Milestones: Recognize all achievements, big or small. Whether it's surviving the first day or reaching a personal goal, every milestone matters.

• Seek Support: If you’re struggling to get your child to school, reach out to their teacher or principal for help. We’re here to support you. Talking to the school is the first step.

Reader of the Month

Gallery of Learning

National Simultaneous Storytime 2025

On Wednesday 21 May, Mount Nelson Primary participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime. NSS is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, childcare centres, bookshops and many other places around the country. This year the book was The Truck Cat, written by Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snel.

Last year, there were 2.3 million participants at over 21, 000 locations! We are excited to find out how many people participated this year.

Class Spotlight - 5/6 Green

In 5\6 green we have been focusing on many activities mainly around our science and English. In English we have been focusing on poems, novels and spelling matrixes.

For our spelling matrixes we have been looking at the base word of move, mote and mobe which all mean ‘to move’. We have also been looking at the word port which means ‘to carry’.

In science our class and 5/6 yellow have been focusing on chemical and physical changes, states of matter and making individual posters with examples of what we’ve learnt so far such as what is matter and how states change from being a solid to a liquid with examples.

From the media team - Yashi, Ariel, Tom, Brianna and Louis C

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Staff Spotlight - Jamie Tuckett

What is your current role at Mount Nelson Primary?

I teach Prep/1 with the wonderful Georgie. You will find me on class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and experience before coming here?

Mount Nelson Primary is the only school I have taught at (how lucky am I!) I have a background working in Childcare. After having a year off on maternity leave with my daughter, I wasn’t ready to leave her and decided to study teaching through UTAS online.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

You will find me up a rope, lifting weights and upside-down doing handstand push ups at a CrossFit gym. I also love a live music gig and spending time with my two children.

Do you have any pets?

I have a golden retriever called Olive.

Where is your favourite place to travel to?

Probably Queensland as I have spent a lot of time there with my family. I’ve visited some wonderful places in the world, but I think if I could return to one of them, it would be Positano on the Amalfi coast or Queenstown in New Zealand to ski.

If you weren’t in this role, what other career would you pursue?

I would be a midwife!

Mount Nelson's Green Thumbs

Last week, the house captains helped Mrs Fox and her class dig up the 4 garden beds at the front of the school. It was important because they need more manure so that there could be new growth in the veggie patches. Mrs Fox and the Preps are growing strawberries. We hope they grow well so everybody can enjoy them. 

Written by Kai

We would love some volunteer gardeners to help out with maintaining our garden beds. If you have a passion for gardening, fostering a sense of community and have any spare time, we would love to hear from you! Grandparents are also welcome to volunteer. You will, however, need to hold a WWVP card and the Mandatory Reporting certificate. 

Please get in touch with Chantal Fox via chantal.fox@decyp.tas.gov.au

City to Casino

Cross Country report

On Friday 16 May, the annual Cross Country carnival was held on our school oval. It was rewarding to see everyone try their best and show impressive resilience and determination. The vibe of the carnival was fantastic, and it was great to see so many parents and families in attendance. 

I would really like to thank those members of our school community who were able to give up their time and be on checkpoints around the course to make sure our runners were safe, and to offer some words of encouragement. 

Letters have been sent home with those students who were successful in making the Interschool Cross Country team.

Declan West - HPE Teacher

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Election Day Cake Stall update

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated items for our cake stall and to those who volunteered their time, and braved the awful weather for our School Association Cake Stall and BBQ fundraiser.

We raised over $2100 which will go directly towards our school.

School Association

Thank you to everyone who came along to the School Association AGM earlier this month. It was great to hear from a diverse range of voices on the issues that matter to our children and to our school.

We extend our gratitude to the 2024/25 committee for their contributions to the life of the school. As noted at the AGM, we bid farewell during the past year to Sonya, who served as Treasurer during 2024, Margaret Crosswell, our long-standing staff representative, and Gemma, a hard-working committee member and former Treasurer. Thank you for your support and contribution to the committee and to the school.

The Association Committee is here to represent all parent/carer/community voices across the school. We’d love to hear from you, in the playground, in a meeting, or by email at mnpsassocation@gmail.com

Our next meeting is this afternoon, from 2-3pm in the school staffroom.

Julie Preston - School Association

AED installed

• Defib - Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are now mandatory in relevant State Government owned buildings. We would like to make our community aware that the device is located outside our administration office and is available to access at all times.

Reminders

Calling for Volunteers - School Crossing Patrol

In the first week of Term 2, State Growth conducted a road crossing assessment. Unfortunately, the students’ crossing did not meet the criteria for their support, so we are not entitled to a school crossing guard.

To ensure our students' safety, we are seeking volunteers from our school community to join the School Crossing Patrol program. Your participation will help us patrol this section of the road and support our families.

If you are interested in volunteering, hold a Working with Vulnerable People card (WWVP) and have completed the Mandatory reporting requirements, and would like more information, please phone our school office on 6223 2879 or email mount.nelson.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au

State Growth will provide all necessary training and equipment. The schedule would be from 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM, and then from 2:45 PM to 3:15 PM, but it won't be every day if we're able to secure a few volunteers.

Together, we can make a difference in keeping our students safe!

Upcoming Events - School Calendar

Afterschool Chess Program

Dark Mofo & Winter Feast

Needing Help?