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Staffing
As most of you would be aware, Mr. Youd is currently on Long Service leave until Friday October 22nd. Mr. Youd has since notified the Department of Education of his intention to retire once his leave is complete. This means he will not be returning to East Devonport Primary School. The process to appoint a new Principal will begin in term 4 with the advertisement of the position. A new Principal will be in place once this process has been completed. Mrs. Youd will remain Acting Principal until this process is complete and a new Principal is appointed. Miss Simmonds will continue as Acting AST while Mrs. Youd undertakes the Principal role. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Youd for all the work he has done over his 8+ years as Principal of our school. Over his time at EDPS Mr. Youd has made a significant contribution to our school. He has provided strong leadership, developed and maintained a strong whole school focus on learning, been child centred in his approach to everything, and worked tirelessly to ensure that we continue to grow and improve. We wish Mr. Youd well in his retirement.
End of Term Acknowledgement
Terms 2 and 3 have been difficult ones this year due to the many changes associated with Covid 19 and we have been particularly proud of the way in which our students have managed this and continued to uphold the expectations and values of our school as the same time. To recognize this, staff are providing an acknowledgement to all those students this Friday, September 25th at Reading Cinema. The early childhood classes and students up to Grade 2 will view the film ‘Trolls World Tour’ (G Rated). Primary classes and students in Grade 3 upwards will view the film ‘Cats and Dogs 3: Paws Unite’ (G Rated). Buses will take students to and from the cinema and leave school at 9.50 am and return at around 12.30 pm. There is no cost to this acknowledgement for students who choose to attend. Given the large number of students attending on the day, students will not be allowed to purchase food or drink at the cinema.
Because it is an acknowledgement of students who uphold the values and expectations of East Devonport Primary School, students who have been suspended or have regular unacceptable behaviours, and high level defiance of class and school expectations (this includes not wearing of our school uniform) will obviously have shown themselves not to be upholding our school’s values and expectations. The consequence of such behaviour is that these students have not been invited to attend the cinema on that day. They will remain at school supervised by teachers and participate in their usual learning program.
School Socials
This Thursday, September 24th we will be holding two socials for our students, an ECE social (K – 2) from 12.00 to 1.00 pm and a Primary social from 1.30 – 2.45 pm. The socials will be run by the SRC with the help of staff. Students may wear plain clothes to school for the social. Just a reminder that make up, heels, tank tops, etc are not permitted at school.
Breakfast Club
Next term Breakfast Club will move from classrooms back to the canteen area. That means students and parents/carers can access breakfast from this area from 8.30 to 8.45 am each morning. A reminder that toast and drinks will need to be consumed in the area in front of the canteen before moving to the playground or classroom.
We also require more helpers for our Breakfast Club.If you are able to help between 8 - 9 anyday, please contact the school office and let us know.
Hats
A reminder that in accordance with our Sun Protection Policy all students are required to wear school hats in term 4. Students who do not have a sun safe hat will be required to play in designated shade areas. Teachers will wash and return hats kept in storage from term 1. New hats can be purchased from the school office at a cost of $10.
Sun Protection Policy
This year, the Department of Education reviewed and updated their Sun Protection Policy for all public schools throughout Tasmania. To ensure we have an up to date Sun Protection Policy at EDPS, last week our School Association developed a new policy which will take effect from Term 4. A copy will be sent home to all our parents and carers to read. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Debbie Youd during school hours.
Library news - Book Week 2020
Yes! It’s coming up to that time of the year again! Book Week! 17th – 23rd October, with winners announced on Friday the 16th. This year’s theme is “Curious creatures, wild minds”.
Here’s a link to the shortlisted books. If you are looking for some great reading suggestions this is the list for you.
https://cbca.org.au/shortlist-2020
How will we be celebrating? Our school will be celebrating Book Week from Monday 19th to Friday 23rd October with competitions and guest readers, and with our annual Book Week Parade that will take place at 9am on Thursday 22nd October in the school courtyard if the weather is fine. If not, it will be in the Hall. ALL students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character, or as a curious creature.
Please note: This year our parade will be a little different due to current COVID restrictions!! So sorry, but parents will not be able to attend the parade. We will however post lots of photos on Facebook for you to enjoy.
Here are some easy ideas for dress-ups. Please don’t buy costumes but use what you have at home and have some fun coming up with some creative, simple costumes.
https://www.bountyparents.com.au/expert-advice/20-easy-book-week-costumes/
JOHN MARSDEN’S TIPS FOR PARENTS
- Give children space. Back off. Let them roam. Let them be bored. Don't over-plan their lives. Cut way back on the after-school activities programs.
- Keep away from all those ghastly, soulless, sterile playgrounds. Keep away from shopping malls. Look for real places. Wild places.
- Be an adult. Say no to your children at least once a day. If the role of Adult in your family is vacant, then one of your children will fill it. And it won't be pretty.
- Don't take up all the space. If you are dominating, loud, forceful, your children are highly likely to become passive, lacking spirit and personality … and/or sullen.
- Believe about 40 per cent of the dramatic stories your children tell you of the injustices, corruption and satanic practices happening at school.
- Teach them empathy. For example, after their jubilant victory celebrations when they win a sporting match, remind them that their jubilation was only possible because someone else – the losers – have been made to feel awful.
- Help them develop language skills. Don't finish their sentences for them. Don't correct them when they mispronounce a word – they'll work it out sooner or later. Ask them open-ended questions,that need a detailed answer, not Yes/No questions.
- Make sure they have regular jobs/duties at home and that those jobs are done to a consistently high standard.
- Don't whinge endlessly about the miseries of your adult life. A lot of children now are fearful about growing up because their parents paint such a grim picture of the awfulness ahead.
- Teach them to be very wary of people who Absolutely Know the Absolute Truth about Absolutely Everything! The colour of truth is always grey. Extreme positions are for the ignorant. Every creature, every person and every situation is complex. The universe is a wonderful mystery.”
Day for Daniel and the SRC
Day for Daniel is Australia’s largest day of action for child safety awareness. Our SRC would like to support his important fundraiser by encouraging students and staff to dress in red on Friday 30th October. We are asking for a gold coin donation. All money raised will go to support the Daniel Marcombe Foundation.
Community Garden
Groups are up and running helping Mrs Clinton in planting and maintaining the garden. They have enjoyed the novelty of wearing gardening gloves and watering the plants. At the moment the groups aim is to fill up the garden beds with soil.
Music with Alex
The Tuesday group of kindergarten children have been fortunate to have had some music sessions with music therapist Alex Morse.
Fire Education
The kindergarten children went to see Firefighter Craig in the GP hall. They showed amazing listening skills and were fascinated with Firefighter Craig’s equipment.
Cubby House
The children have been involved in making a cubby house out of boxes. They planned their building with Mrs Buckley and decided they wanted their cubby to be colourful and have pillows inside. They wanted a pet door in the main doorway as well. On Monday, we finally put the finishing touches onto the cubby including different shaped windows and started making it colourful with textas.
Year 1s Digital Technology – Happy Maps
In Prep-1 Morice we had an unplugged lesson (digital technology offline). Students worked in small groups and had different maps with a simple task: get “flurb” to the fruit. Students had to work together and practice different instructions as they work to translate instructions into the symbols.
The purpose of this lesson explored the bridge from algorithms to programming can be a short one if students understand the difference between planning out a sequence into the appropriate language.
We also looked at expanding our vocabulary:
- Algorithm - A list of steps to finish a task.
- Debugging - Finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program.
- Program - An algorithm that has been coded into something that can be run by a machine.
Below are some photos of students developing an algorithm to the different maps.
We ended the lesson finishing off with a Friends of Ten game on Kahoot! A great afternoon of digital learning.
Maths - Problem Solving
I wonder how many pencils will I need to construct my first name?
Students firstly estimated how many pencils. Students then discovered they had to use capital letters to construct the letters. Below are some photos of the students work.
Students then counted how many pencils it took and recorded the data.
We would like to say a big thank you to the following businesses for sponsoring our 2020 walkathon! We appreciate and value your support. A final tally of funds raised will be announced on Friday along with the winners of the prize draws.
A Cut Above Quality Meats
East Devonport Football Club
Devonport Bookshop
Mersey Pharmacy
East Devonport News & Lotto
Forth Football Club
IGA X-press East Devonport
On Thursday 10 September our students had a slightly different cross country experience from previous years. We travelled in two groups to the Ulverstone Football Ground to participate in the NWPSSA Interschool Cross Country
