Dear Families,

We’ve had a fun, but busy fortnight here at our lovely little school. Firstly our “Meet the Teacher’ event last Wednesday. It was great to see so many families attend on this warm afternoon, it’s a great way for families and school staff to connect in an informal way. 

Last Tuesday we had our annual School Athletics Carnival. This was the first year of our new colours – Derwent - blue and Bowen – green. Thank you to all parents for  supporting this change; it was embraced by students and staff with enthusiasm!! Congratulations to all students who participated; showed courage and growth and worked as a team to support their respective house. It was a close contest between the two houses, but in the end Bowen were the victors!!! Thank you to Mrs Bushby for her slick organisation and to our newly minted house captains for their leadership of their respective houses

BOWEN - House Captains Daniel and Matilda - Vice Captains Zara and Rahni

DERWENT - House Captains Natalia and Kayden - Vice Captains Hamish and Taz

Last Wednesday our year 3-6 students attended the 24 Carrot Gardens Carnival.  It was an energetic and colourful event which celebrated the community of 24 Carrot Gardens around our area, with a focus on sustainability and story telling. Thank you to Mona for their continued support of our school and community. 

In the next couple of weeks teachers will be dedicating time to prepare our Term 1 communication for families of children in Prep to Year 6. This will share information with you on your child’s application to learning within their classroom. These will be sent out at the end of week 8. Miss Lilley will also be meeting with families in Kindergarten to discuss how our youngest learners have settled into the beginning of their education journey.

School Association

All schools have a School Association – this is an association who work together for the benefit of the school.  It includes parents, school staff and the community along with myself to achieve shared outcomes for our leaners. There are opportunities to develop/revise school policies, provide input into our school improvement plan along with raising funds for the benefit of the school.

We are always on the look out for new members who could come along to meetings – this is not an onerous task, with meetings once a term.  This term we will be having our Annual General Meeting on a date yet to be advised. This will be a time for new members to come along and we will also be electing new officer bearers.

Kind Regards,

Jaime Allen

Principal

On Tuesday 5th March we had our whole school Athletics Carnival. It was such a fun day with so many students demonstrating courage to do their best and have a go. 

It was a great competition between our 2 Houses Bowen and Derwent with Bowen coming away with the win!

It was fantastic to see people dressing up in their house colours and being a part of their house team.

Here are some photos of our fantastic day.

Christie Crow

We wish to inform our school and broader community that we are having quite significant damage caused by the rabbit's infestation throughout our school grounds. 

Can all visitors to our school site to be advised to watch for uneven surfaces and holes.

We are working with DECYP Facilities for advice to find a solution.

If you would like to follow our progress in the garden, please scan the QR code below to check out our photos on Goodwood Primary Kitchen Garden Instagram page.

This week all students participated in the School Fire Education Program with the Tasmania Fire Service.

Students have 3 sessions through the week to help build their knowledge of fire safety.   

Fire Officer Drew is a familiar face to our students as he has visited our school before. 

He is a lot of fun!

But the importance of the program is to teach children from Prep to Grade 6 about basic home fire safety.

Congratulations to the following students who received Class Awards at the Assembly held on Thursday 22nd February 2024:-

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 13 and 25 March 2024.

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

This is the second year NAPLAN has been held in March, having previously taken place in May. This change was made so school systems would have access to results earlier in the school year. These can then be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online

NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results.

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. The questions a student receives depends on their answers to previous questions. This means that students answer questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN.

Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging. Please note that students in Year 3 complete the Writing Test on paper.

Parent information brochures and other resources

A parent information brochure and questions answered on NAPLAN and what it means for your child can be found at: NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers

The link will take you to the official National Assessment Program (NAP) website and covers a variety of topics such as the timing of the tests and how results from the assessments should be understood.

It also allows access to a Public Demonstration Site which shows the types of questions students will answer and the functionalities that are available in NAPLAN tests.

Please contact the school if you have any further queries.

At our Meet and Greet Assemblies we celebrate the students who have been caught following our Goodwood Primary School Values. If an adult or student observes someone doing something that is Safe, Caring or shows that they are Learning they fill out a Positive Detective slip. The student is shown the slip as immediate feedback and positive reinforcement. The slip is then placed into a big bucket and we draw names out of the bucket like a raffle and then whoever gets drawn out wins a small prize.

Some of our recent Positive Detective Winners!

• Simani - for displaying the value of We Learn when he came straight to class and read a book
• Caleb - for displaying the value of We Learn by being focused and sitting quietly
• Deegan - for displaying the value of We Learn by sitting quietly and following class rules
• Savannah - for displaying the value of We Learn by following instructions
• Haylie - for displaying the value of We Learn coming straight to class and reading a book

Happy Harmony Day! It is Harmony Day on Thursday 21st March. It is a time to celebrate Australian multilculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it.

Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country - from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation. Let's show our support for living in harmony by wearing an orange accessory next Thursday 21st March.  

Jess Walter

School Health Nurse

To all our volunteers – have you completed your safeguarding training yet?

You will need to finish it before working with any children or young people this year.

If you are a parent and are thinking about volunteering for us, you can also do the training. You will need this to work with children and young people. Make sure you save the certificate to show you have completed it.

The training is compulsory under new laws designed to better safeguard children and young people in Tasmania. It will help you understand what to do if you believe a child or young person is or may be being harmed, and to make sure you are doing all you can to prevent this from happening. The training will also tell you what you must report under the new laws.  

To complete your training, visit Safeguarding Training. Or ask at the school front office

Thank you for leading the way in caring for our children and young people safe so that they can focus on living bright lives with positive futures.  

Hugo Luttmer                                                 

Safeguarding Lead / AST

Jaime Allen

Principal

If you meet the below criteria and would like to express your interest in the Learning for Life Program, please complete a form that you can pick up at the school office.  For more information you can contact Ashlee Bartels, Family Partnership Coordinator.

Join a Learning Club and learn together in a safe and supportive learning environment, outside of school hours.

Students moving to another school in 2024

Please contact the school office if your child will be leaving Goodwood Primary School at any time during 2024. It is now the responsibility of the parent/guardian to notify the school in writing when their child is leaving to attend another school. This is a Department of Education requirement and verbal confirmation is not enough. Once the school has received this notification in writing the enrolment can be closed so the student can then be enrolled at the new school.

Levies 2024

There will be no increase in Levies for 2024.

Families who are supported through the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) do not need to pay levies. Applications for the Student Assistance Scheme may be made online, or paper forms can be provided at the school office. 

A reminder that if your child is absent from school for any reason that you notify the school office by 9:30 am of that day.  You can either contact the school office on 6272 9100 or email goodwood.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au

Did you know if your child has 10 days off school per year, that by Grade 4 they are 1 year behind?

The best thing for your child's future is to come to school every day.

Student Medication

Please advise office staff and your child’s class teacher if your child needs to take medication during school hours so arrangements can be made for the medication to be administered.

It is a Department of Education requirement that the following forms must be completed and signed before the commencement of dispensing medication to students: ‘Administration of Routine Medication Authorisation Form for Parent/ Guardian’; and ‘Administration of Prescribed Medication Authorisation Form for Doctors’. The administration of medication to students is undertaken by Admin staff who will ensure it is taken correctly, details (e.g. date, time, dose etc) entered on the student’s personal medication sheet, and signed by a staff member and witness.

Medication is kept locked in the school safe or safe room. Students should not have any types of medication in their school bags.

School and Office Hours

A reminder that our gates open at 8:30am. Students are not to be left unsupervised by parents until 8:30am when staff are on duty. The office also opens at 8:30am. Students are to be collected promptly at 2:50pm. If you will be late collecting your child at the end of the day you will need to notify the office on 6272 9100.

Late Arrivals

If your child arrives at school after 8:50am unaccompanied by a parent/guardian the office will be marking their attendance as unexplained other. The procedure for late arrivals will be as is for unexplained absences in that office staff will be calling the parent/guardian to clarify the reason the student was late arriving to school.

Student Long Absence in 2024

Volunteers and visitors are welcomed into the school environment as valued school members and role models.

This includes parents and carers, and friends of the school.

• All Department for Education, Children and Young People employees, volunteers (including the School Association Committee), contractors and external providers are required to maintain a current Tasmanian RWVP.
• You will need proof of a current Tasmanian RWVP to be a volunteer at your child’s school or school activities.
• If you are simply visiting your child’s school (i.e. are invited to attend particular school events or activities at your child’s school) you will not require a RWVP.
• You do NOT require a RWVP to:
• Drop off or collect your child, including a short period of settling your child in class where the teacher is present.
• Attend school events such as assemblies, school sports carnivals, plays and concerts, whole-school events (where you are not a direct participant and/or do not assist in the organisation or operation of the event).
• Attend school activities for parents or public events such as a parent information evening, parent/teacher meetings, school fairs, opening of new school facilities or programs, or to hear a guest speaker (where you do not assist in the organisation or operation of the activity).

REMINDER

Our carpark has become quite congested due to increased staff at both Goodwood Primary School and Tas eSchool. We are again asking parents/carers to not enter the staff carpark when dropping off and collecting students. The carpark is for school staff of Goodwood Primary School and Tas eSchool and can be dangerous for students. The exception is for those parents whose child/children have a disabled parking permit.

To ensure the safety of our students and staff please follow the information below:

Students are to be dropped off and collected via the Elmsleigh Road carpark.

We thank you in advance for keeping our students safe!

Our school will be switching over to a new messaging platform for communicating with you.  

The new platform, called EdSmart is an Australian platform which is designed to improve communication in school communities by allowing electronic messaging i.e. SMS and emails. For now, it will be used to manage absences messages i.e. you will receive a SMS or email alert if your child is absent from school requesting a response.  It will also allow us to send a communication message to all parent/guardians.

You will receive a text message and/or an email with further details.  Note, the text message sender will be a shortened version of our school’s name - Please keep an eye out for it!

Further information is available on the Department’s website

Communicating with your child's school - Department for Education, Children and Young People (decyp.tas.gov.au)

Please remember that school hats are required to be worn in Term 1 2024.

Hats can be purchased from the school office for $9.00.

(Don't forget to put your child's name in it)

Please find below the Launching into Learning Schedule for Term 1:-

Do you have a Health Care Card?

You may be eligible for a school levy exemption

STAS provides financial assistance to families. Families who are eligible do not need to pay school levies. Levies contribute towards costs of your child's education program and includes items such as learning materials and school excursions.

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under STAS.

Services Australia - Centrelink Health Care Card

Services Australia - Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card

Services Australia - Pensioner Concession Card

Department of Veteran Affairs - Pensioner Concession Card

Please note that if you received student assistance in 2023 you do not need to reapply.

A new online form is available to assist with processing applications for new applicants. The online form can be completed here:

Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) (decyp.tas.gov.au)

Once a validated form is completed the Department of Education, Children & Young People will confirm the outcome of your application in writing, this process takes approximately 14 days. 

We understand that the online option may not be possible for all families, so if you require a hard copy form please contact the school office or the Financial Assistance Unit on stas@decyp.tas.gov.au or phone 1800 827 077.