Wednesday 24 September

Principal News

End of Term

And, just like that, Term 3 is over! 

In addition to the activities highlighted in the sections below, Swimming and Water Safety has been all-consuming throughout these last 2 weeks with all Year 1-6 students attending at various times throughout the fortnight. Thank you to our amazing educators for supporting our children to safely journey to and from the pool with all/majority of clothes & belongings coming back in the correct bags...Please check lost property if you are missing anything!

We know that after the holiday break, the Y3-6 students will be super-keen to demonstrate their high-level of swimming skills at our annual Y3-6 Swimming Carnival (Clarence Aquatic Centre 9:15 - 2:00pm), to be held in Week 1. It's a great day of fun and participation and is perfectly timed to start our action-packed Term 4!

Class Structures 2026 & Class Placement Process 2026

It's that time of year when school teams look at our projected numbers and determine class groupings for the next year. With a projected enrolment of 258 students, the school is planning for the following classes in 2026:

• Kindergarten
• Prep
• Prep-1
• 1-2
• Year 2
• 3 x 3-4
• 3 x 5-6

As outlined in our Family Handbook, decisions regarding class placements for the new school year are made in Term 4 using the following process:

• Teaching staff will place students into a class group, taking into consideration the educational needs of the child, the social & emotional needs of the child and the balance of students and abilities within the class group.
• In the first two weeks of Term 4 each school year, parents / carers will be given the opportunity to make a class placement request for their child for the following year. This should be communicated to the Principal either by email, phone call or a formal meeting. A class placement request will only be considered on educational grounds, not individual class teacher preferences.
• After teachers have initially placed students in a class group for the following year, the Principal will review class placements in light of any specific parental requests. Not all class placement requests can be met and ultimately the final decision rests with the Principal.
• Final class placements are announced in the last week of Term 4. No changes will be made unless an obvious error has occurred.

Given Week 2 of Term 4 is only 3 days long due to the show day holiday and student free day, class requests can be sent from now onwards and until Wednesday 22 October. Please contact Danielle directly on danielle.bresnehan@decyp.tas.gov.au or phone 6227 8325 to make an appointment. 

Outside School Hours Care & Vacation Care

Lady Gowrie is our provider for all outside school hours programs held onsite and have put together an exciting fortnight of vacation care activities, outlined in the flier below. Please register your interest early as there are limited spots available throughout the fortnight.

Also, a reminder to families who may be staying onsite to supervise their children playing after school to please keep your children separate from the OSHC programme children at all times to ensure duty of care obligations can be met by the Lady Gowrie team. Thank you for your support.

Staffing Changes Coming Up!

You may have noticed, or your children may have shared the news, that we have three staff members who are expecting new additions to their families in the coming months. This is such an exciting time for Amberley, Philly and Koby and we are very much looking forward to meeting their little people when they arrive.  Amberley will be finishing work at the end of Week 4, Koby the end of Week 9 and Philly at the end of Week 10. Sophia Bakonyi will increase her teaching load on 2-3A to full-time from Week 5 for Amberley, and Koby's AST position will be advertised and backfilled for 2026 via a selection process early in Term 4. Please note staffing for all 2026 classes, including backfill for Philly's leave, is still to be finalised and won't be announced to the community until much later in the year.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all of our community a restful end of term break and good luck to all of our students who are travelling interstate to participate in national competitions. We look forward to seeing everyone back on deck from 8:30am on Monday 13 October and hearing everyone's holiday news!

Take care,

Danielle 

B Kinder Summit

On Friday 12 September, TPS B Kinder Ambassadors and selected 5-6 student leaders had the privilege to attend the first ever Tasmanian B Kinder School Summit.

It was a fantastic day of high energy and passion for creating positive change in our school communities. Our team of student leaders were inspiring (and inspired) with ideas presented in the final session of the summit, returning to school eager to make a difference over the coming terms @ TPS.

Thank you to the B Kinder Foundation and Jess from Illuminate Education Australia for facilitating such an empowering day for all involved

Futsal

Exciting News! Eight of our Grade 4 boys competed in the Champion of Champions School Futsal competition on Friday 12 September, after being invited by Futsal Tasmania for winning their division earlier this year.

Playing in the U10 category, the team went undefeated in their group games and clinched the state title with a thrilling 6-5 golden goal win in extra time against St Thomas More from Launceston!

Huge congratulations to Lenny, Arlo, Yien, Wilfy, Jack, Julian, Axel, and Leander for their amazing teamwork and determination. The boys were thrilled to proudly deliver the trophy to the office on Friday afternoon!

Special shoutout to Arlo, Leonard, and Yien, who will be representing Tasmania at the National Schools Futsal Competition in Brisbane in two weeks. Go team! 

Interschool Chess Tournament

What an incredible day at Calvin Christian School on Friday, September 12!

Our students showed amazing skill, focus, and sportsmanship competing in the Interschool Chess Tournament.

It was inspiring to see so many young minds strategizing their way through every match. A huge congratulations to all participants for their hard work! Here’s to many more moments of learning and friendly competition.

Melaleuca Bake Sale

Our Student Parliament representatives have been working hard over the past weeks.

We are proud to announce that the Melaleuca Sweet Treats stall raised $950 – well done Melaleuca families!

In addition, the Student Parliament Hot Chocolate fundraiser supported children with additional needs to attend Circus Quirkus 2025.

Triathlon 2025!

We are now looking at the upcoming Year 3-6 Triathlon that will be held on Friday, November 28 at Bellerive Beach.

Please find attached a general information letter and entry form if your child does wish to participate. Please return this form to the front office with exact money ($25) as the office has limited change. Payment can also be made via EFTPOS. Please see attached information and consider all information carefully before submitting forms and payment, as there is no refund from Tasmania Schools Triathlon.

Please note that TPS will be providing teacher supervision on the day, BUT students will need to provide their own transport to and from the venue, including transportation of bikes.

Please refer to the Schools Triathlon Website for further information. www.schoolstriathlonchallenge.com

We ask that you return this form as soon as possible. All entry forms and payment must be returned to the office no later than Monday 13 October. No late entries will be accepted.

General_Info_2025.pdf

Entry_Form_2025.pdf

Volunteers Needed!

Taroona Primary School has been running our very successful ‘clubs’ program for a few years now.

We’ve offered lots of different activities, such as crafting, gardening, board games, indoor games, creative writing, Lego creations, and many more!

We are currently creating our clubs’ timetable for Term 4 and wanted to send out an invitation to our amazing community members to see if anyone would be interested in coming into the school to run an activity of their own.

You don’t need to be an expert, just passionate and keen to share your knowledge and skills! We run our clubs at recess (10:50-11:20am) and lunch (1:05-1:35pm) each day of the week.

Please email taroona.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au if you are interested - volunteers must have a WWVP card and have completed mandatory safeguarding training.

Thank you!

Classroom News

Kinder A

Kinder Wombats have been enjoying ‘Tasty Tuesdays’ this term with the introduction of cooking into our week! We have three cooking groups, The Baking Bears, Hungry Hippos and Cooking Kittens who take it in turns cooking for us each Tuesday.  We decorated our own placements and are enjoying sitting and eating together at our big table.  On our menu so far we have enjoyed crunchy potato wedges, fruit kebabs, banana pikelets, little apple cakes, blueberry muffins, fried rice, chocolate chip cookies and pizza pinwheels.

2-3A

Uniform City - School Hats

As a SunSmart accredited school, we’re committed to keeping our students safe from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Part of this commitment means students are required to now wear a hat whenever outside until 30 April.

We’re pleased to let you know that Uniform City now has bucket hats back in stock for purchase, at $17.05 each. These hats offer great sun protection and are reversible, with the TPS House colours on the inside for TPS House Events. NB the slouch hat has now been phased out of production and families are asked to update to our new bucket hats if existing hats are torn, faded or damaged in any way. 

Hats are an important part of our school uniform during sunny days. Please ensure your child has a sun-safe hat to wear during outdoor activities to help protect them from the sun.

Possums Playcentre

Free Access to StoryBox Library

Free Access to StoryBox Library for Tasmanian Families!

Tasmanian primary school students now have free access to StoryBox Library - a fun and educational digital library you can enjoy at home!

StoryBox Library is a subscription-based website and app featuring Australian storytellers reading hundreds of much-loved children’s books. It’s a fantastic way to nurture your child’s love of reading and support their literacy development.

With features like Read-Along, Closed Captions, Auslan stories, and engaging audio-visual content, StoryBox Library is designed to be inclusive and accessible for all children.

How to Access:

1. Visit www.storyboxhub.com or search “Story Box Library” on your device’s app store.
2. Click LOG IN at the top right of the homepage.
3. Enter the school username and password (provided below)
4. Start exploring hundreds of stories - Anytime, anywhere!
   

School Login Details
Username: taroonaprimary
Password: lit2025

Please visit the DECYP website or StoryBox website for more information.

Chess

Safeguarding @ TPS

A copy of the 2025 Risk Management Plan for Safeguarding Risks at Taroona Primary School is available to download below.

TPS Safeguarding Risk Management Plan 2025 Term 1 update

A reminder that all people engaging with schools are required to watch a short 15-minute video about the obligations of a volunteer in DECYP and send their certificate to the school (taroona.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au). The training is valid for 12-months, prior to requiring to be viewed again.  

You can access the video via Safeguarding Training - Department for Education, Children and Young People.  

For more information go to the Safeguarding Training webpage, which includes frequently asked questions. 

School Health Padlet

There are some fantastic links in the Padlet below focusing on Mental Health and Wellbeing, Sleep, Online Safety, Nutrition, Friendships and more. Thank you to our wonderful School Health Nurse, Deirdre for creating this! 

Health and Wellbeing Information (padlet.com)

Lady Gowrie Vacation Care

2025 School Term Dates

Term 3: Monday 21 July to Friday 26 September

Term 4: Monday 13 October to Thursday 18 December

Student Free Days in 2025: Friday 24 October

Community News

Bushfire Ready Challenge

The new 2025 Tasmania Fire Service Bushfire-Ready Challenge is coming this Spring!

Register now and receive weekly challenges across a 4 week program, helping your household plan and prepare for bushfire season!

Join us at: https://bushfire.tas.gov.au/bushfire-challenge/bushfire-ready-challenge

Take it on. Be prepared.

Move Well Eat Well