Wednesday 11 May 2022

Principal News

Dear TPS Families,

It’s with gratitude to the students and staff at Taroona Primary School that I write my first newsletter notes, after a very busy start to Term 2. While I’ve been on a huge learning curve in a new school, every cheery hello from students has been greatly appreciated, as has the willingness of staff across the school to share their expertise and welcome me onto the wonderful TPS team. I’m really looking forward to getting to know more members of the school community in the coming weeks.

COVID-19
While there has been some adjustment to the way we will respond to COVID-19, particularly around close contacts and a reduction in communication with home on this front, the pandemic will continue to have an impact at school and in the community. As always, I’d encourage everyone to maintain COVID-safe approaches at school (mask wearing on site for adults, diligent hand washing, social distancing etc.) and to err on the side of caution if/when students are experiencing symptoms that may be associated with COVID-19. We are well supplied with RATs, face masks etc., which can be accessed via admin if/when required. Changes to close contact requirements are outlined elsewhere in this newsletter.

NAPLAN
As well as students across the school continuing to Aim High in all aspects of their education experience, our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN this week (and next if catch-ups are required). Given the impact of COVID-19 during the 2020 school year, we’re in a unique situation this year where all participating students are undertaking NAPLAN for the first time. While it might be a daunting proposition for some, I’m sure TPS staff will continue to encourage and support all students through the four NAPLAN assessments, outcomes of which will provide a rich source of data for staff regarding student achievement and areas for continued focus within these cohorts of students, and in the broader context of school improvement planning.

Away from the classroom, we have the school cross-country carnival coming up in Week 4, along with the annual ‘Champions Carnival’ for athletics, at which TPS will be represented by 29 students. Adrian will have information coming home about both events in the coming days. In line with current COVID-19 safety planning, parents and spectators won’t be able to attend either event, but we will certainly let everyone know if that advice changes in the next couple of weeks

Best wishes

Stu Warren

Acting Principal  

COVID-19 Information

Changes to close contact requirements

Public Health has recently changed the rules for close contacts of COVID-19 cases so that they no longer need to isolate.

This means that if your child is a close contact – and importantly, symptom-free – they can attend school (except for support schools).

They would however need to pass a daily rapid antigen test before leaving home each day, for a seven-day period. Advice for close contacts is available on the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website.

You will only need to let us know if your child is a close contact if they’re not attending school.

Close contacts should practise COVID-safe behaviours including good hand hygiene, physically distancing from others when they can and staying away from school if they have any symptoms.

While primary aged close contacts are not obliged to wear a mask in school, they can still choose to if it is practicable for them and they are happy to do so.

If your child is medically vulnerable and you have concerns with the changes to close contacts, then you may wish to work with your child’s medical practitioner to identify further options to reduce the risk of COVID-19 to them. If you have any concerns, please talk to us about alternative learning options.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our school office.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

1-2 B

1-2B have been focusing on properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects in Maths. Please see image below for more information. 

3-4 B

Highlights from 3-4B!

The Year 3-4 class reflected on Term 1 and came up with some of their highlights.

They were:

• The Swimming and Water Safety Program – improving our swimming abilities and playing games in the water.
• The Athletics Carnival – it was such an enjoying day, and we all loved the tug-o-war.
• Playing games at lunch time – Soccer was very popular during our free time.
• Our assembly item – preparing our mini-people as well as seeing ourselves on the ‘big screen’.
• Science experiments – we particularly enjoyed getting our hands dirty when completing the shaving cream experiment. Making the oobleck the correct consistency was challenging.
• Nature Play – experiencing nature at its best by appreciating Taroona’s surroundings and building huts!
• HASS – we learnt about some amazing explorers and their voyages.
• Our novel ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell was so exciting, especially when the children had to try and survive in the Amazon!
• Beep Test – we pushed ourselves! It was tiring, but lots of fun!
• Numeracy – tackling complicated problems and working as a team when completing the 2022 Maths Challenge.
• Narrative writing – crafting a piece of text that follows a narrative structure, especially focusing on a PROBLEM that needs to be resolved. We also wrote a ‘6 Sentence Story’. It was hard to get all the details into only 6 sentences!
• Art - enjoying all the art we completed with Mrs Nuttall!

Written by the students in 3-4B!

School Health Nurse

Hello everyone,

My name is Deirdre and I’m writing to introduce myself and the role of the School Health Nurse. The Tasmanian school nurse program started back in 2015 although 2022 is the first year Taroona Primary School has a nurse. In addition to working at TPS, I also work at Taroona High School five days a fortnight. I really enjoy working in schools and building relationships with students and their families.

School nurses work quite differently to what is often expected. Many people think we are here to provide first aid, but the purpose of the School Health Nurse is to provide health education and health promotion to students, families, and the wider school community.

Originally from Canada, I moved to Tasmania in 2008. Prior to joining the School Health Nurse program, I worked in a variety of areas including emergency, maternity, cardiology and in the community. When I’m not at work, I spend most of my time chasing around my three school aged children. If I do have some spare time, I love spending time in my garden and bushwalking.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s health that may impact their learning, please feel free to email me at deirdre.cooper@education.tas.gov.au or contact me via the school office on Wednesdays. If I am unable to help you with your query, I will do my best to refer you to someone who can.

I look forward to meeting you and hope that your child/ren have had a positive start to the term.

Deirdre

Gumboots Needed!

Nut Allergy - Reminder

We have a growing number of students in our school who are allergic to nuts and nut products. Exposure to nuts can trigger an allergic reaction and be life-threatening for these students.

Please avoid sending nuts or nut based products to school. We are a nut aware school and do aim to keep our school as nut-free as possible to keep our students safe.

Launching into Learning Term 2

Launching into Learning is back on site in Term 2 and we are so excited! Please see the calendar below for further information. 

TPSA News

The term has started with planning for a TPSA BBQ on election day on Saturday 21 May. We aim to run the BBQ from 10am – 2pm (or until the food runs out). We are delighted that the Scouts will also be providing a cake stall alongside our BBQ.  

As with all events we need volunteers so if you think you can provide any support please could you complete the form here or email tpsaenquiry@gmail.com. We have split up the day into 1-hour time slots as we know weekends are often busy.

With the soccer season upon us, the TPSA still has a supply of soccer boots available to Taroona Primary students participating this season. They are $10 or FREE to swap a pair. Get in contact via tpsaenquiry@gmail.com to find out more.

Thank you for all your support.

TPSA 

Sushi

SUSHI HELP NEEDED!!!

If you are interested in volunteering your time to packing on a Friday morning or pack up Friday afternoon, please get in touch with Ally at allycgunton@gmail.com.Volunteers allow this program to continue to run and are greatly appreciated. This year volunteers need to be double vaccinated and have a WWVP card to be in the school.

Orders for Friday close Wednesday. Orders can be made weekly or termly through the School’s online ordering system, QKR!  https://qkr-store.qkrschool.com/store/#/home.

Zones of Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behaviour and your reactions to feelings and things happening around you. It includes being able to:

• regulate reactions to strong emotions like frustration, excitement, anger and embarrassment
• calm down after something exciting or upsetting
• focus on a task
• refocus attention on a new task
• control impulses
• behave in ways that help you get along with other people.

Self-regulation helps children:

• learn at school – self-regulation gives you the ability to sit and listen in the classroom
• behave in socially acceptable ways - self-regulation gives you the ability to control impulses
• make friends - self-regulation gives you the ability to take turns in games and conversation, share toys, and express emotions in appropriate ways
• become more independent - self-regulation gives you the ability to make appropriate decisions about behaviour and learn how to behave in new situations with less guidance from others

We teach the ZONES of Regulation, from Kindergarten to Year 6, to help our learners gain skills in self-regulation: to understand what’s expected of them, control their own wants and needs, imagine other people’s perspectives, and see both sides of a situation.  In higher year levels, we support our learners to become better at planning, sticking with difficult tasks, behaving in socially appropriate ways and considering how their behaviour affects other people.

Here are some practical ways that you can help your child learn and practice self-regulation:

1. Develop language for emotions – when you see your child showing a particular emotion, label it for them and talk about it e.g. “You have a big smile on your face. You must be happy to see the dog”.
2. Label the emotions your child sees in you and other people e.g. “Emma’s sad because she misses Poppy”.
3. Talk about the emotions that characters in books, TV shows or movies might be experiencing e.g. “Look at Ruby’s face. She looks excited”.
4. Show your child how you recognize your emotions and help them recognize theirs e.g. “When I was interrupted all the time, my heart began racing and I felt really hot. Does that happen to you when you are interrupted and feel angry?”
5. Help your child work out how their body feels when they’re experiencing and emotion e.g. “You look worried. Do you have a tight feeling in your tummy?”
6. Teach your child ways to calm down from strong emotions e.g. counting to 10 or taking 5 deep breaths
7. Work with your child to develop a list of things they could do when they notice strong emotions building up e.g. go for a run, listen to music or squeeze a pillow.

For more information and tips to help your child with managing emotions go to: https://raisingchildren.net.au  

Learn more about the Zones of Regulation in the article, All the Zones are OK! Tips for Managing the Zones You’re In or visit the Social Thinking Website for additional information: https://www.socialthinking.com/Products/zones-of-regulation-curriculum

WWVP and Vaccination Reminder

New requirements for record keeping have been in effect from August 2018 which specifies that all sites are required to keep visitor sign in registers. All volunteers, external providers, contractors and visitors (where appropriate) must sign in using the visitor register.

A DoE site must request the RWVP card and perform a status check via the DoJ website each time someone presents at or attends a site in their respective capacity. The status check will return current information and indicate any conditions applying to a registration.

If a search fails to return information, this indicates a change in registration has occurred. DoE staff at the worksite must sign off on the visitor register to confirm that RWVP verification has occurred.

The Department requirement is that you must present your RWVP card EVERY time you sign in.

All visitors who come to our school with the intention of volunteering are also required to be fully vaccinated and must be able to show proof of this EVERY time you sign in. 

2022 Bus Audit

Please complete the form below if your child will be catching a bus in 2022. 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=xzq-qWAMHkmLO6Mvj0auyMMfl9rjxzRNrr7dVXwJK1ZUMDQ0RDFHSzdQNEVTMlc2WFAyMTUzQ1lFVy4u

2023 Kinder Enrolments Open Now!

If you child was born in 2018, they are eligible for Kindergarten in 2023. Please complete the form below to place your child’s name on the 2023 Kindergarten enrolment list.

International Families: For those families enrolling on a Visa that requires an ‘Authority to Enrol’ from GETI. Please contact GETI at the end of Term 3 when they will be looking at Kindergarten 2023 enrolments and issuing Authority to Enrol letters before the commencement of the 2023 school year.

Accepted Student Bus Travel in 2022

School Information

Holidays/Family Events

If your family is going away on holiday during term time, please email taroona.primary@education.tas.gov.au with the details of your child's absence dates.

Signing Students in/out

To ensure we have an accurate record of student attendance, we ask that any student arriving at school later than 9:00am, or leaving for any reason during the school day, be signed in or out at the school office.

Messages to Students

If you need to get a message to your child, please contact the school before 2:15pm to ensure enough time for us to pass the message on.

Duty of Care

Please note that students are not to arrive before 8:30am. This is for the students’ protection and safety as there are no teachers on duty prior to 8:30am and classrooms remain locked until this time. Supervision is provided before and after school:

• Playground (EXCLUDING PLAY WEST & OVAL) 8:30 to 8:55am
• Car park & bus area 2:50 to 3:05pm

Students should leave promptly at the end of the school day and should not remain onsite unless accompanied by an adult. Families are requested to work with staff in encouraging respect for the school property and the environment, especially after school hours and on weekends. 

Student Absences

A reminder to parents/carers to advise the school office if their child is unable to attend school due to illness or any other reason.

• By phone (6227 8325)
• Email taroona.primary@education.tas.gov.au
• Schoolzine - click on the absentee tab

A medical certificate is required if a child is absent due to illness for 5 days or more.

Lady Gowrie

Lady Gowrie Taroona Before School Care operates from 7.00-8.30am Monday to Friday for Taroona families.

Due to decreasing numbers within the program we are unsure if this program will be able to continue. There will be a review at the end of Term 2.

We ask families who are planning to use the program to please book in as soon as possible.

If the program does not see an increase in bookings the program may be concluded.

Before School Care

Term Dates 2022

Move Well Eat Well