Being at school is important, not only for learning, but also for the wellbeing of our children. Feeling connected to school, being connected to other students and staff, feeling a sense of belonging, all come from being at school regularly.

As a school we have a priority of improving our attendance. Our target is to improve the number of students who have attendance of 90% or more of the time – this means an average of 9 out of 10 days. We know that this is not always possible and there will be reasons such as sickness that can have an effect on attendance. But we ask all families that attending school is prioritied.

In your child’s mid-year report you will see a sentence informing you of your child’s current attendance rate for the year. Here is an example of what it will look like:

Our hope is that this report provides you with the information you need to consider your child’s attendance for the first half of the year and to have a talk to your child’s teacher if you have any concerns about this. We are here to help and to work together to ensure all of our children are attending school regularly.

Two/three way Learning Conversations

Our learning conversations are being held throughout THIS week. It is not too late to book in for an appointment online, or speak with your child’s teacher about a suitable time to discuss and celebrate growth and learning. Mid-Year reports and Evidences of Learning will be given out during this conversation.

Premiers Reading Challenge

As a whole school we are participating in the Premiers Reading Challenge over the next 10 weeks. The aim for each child is to read as many books as they can! They can be individual reading books, books read to them, audio books listened to, library books that have been bought home and shared together – the possibilities are endless. Mrs McGuire will have the library open and warm every Wednesday morning for you to pop into and enjoy a quick "before school" book with your child to help them achieve their challenge goals.

Kind Regards,

Jaime Allen

Principal

Students in Year 1/2 enjoyed a visit to the Moonah Arts Centre (MAC). Children walked through exhibitions on display such as sketches, paintings, photography, and pottery.

Margaret Woodward, the sister of the late Tony Woodward, generously met us to talk about Tony's artwork. Tony Woodward was the artist who created the mosaic sculpture at the front of Goodwood Primary School.

Our plan was to walk along the Montrose Foreshore to see up close other mosaic sculptures by Tony, but the weather made us cancel the morning walk. If you are driving by you can see his creations next to Montrose High School. Take a stop and stroll by!

Margaret was able to answer many of the student wonderings and questions about Tony's creations. From visiting the MAC and meeting Margaret, students enriched their inquiry into significant people and features in their local surroundsings. Also took the opportunity to appreciate artwork and explore different materials. 

Students are now enthusiastically taking action and thinking of ways we can look after our "People" sculpture. We have collected a few fallen tiles and look forward to Margaret being able to come to Goodwood Primary soon to show us how she looks after Tony's sculptures and reapply the mosaic tiles.

Ask us about Jerry! We can tell you where to look out for this magnificent mosaic sculpture!

Congratulations to Hamish Foster who came 71st out of 237 participants for this Statewide event! We are very proud of him.  

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!

• Ava - for displaying the value of We Care by making sure all the Ipads are plugged in.
• Savannah - for displaying the value of We Learn and We Care by always striving to do her best with her work.
• Hriten - for displaying the value of We Care by picking up bottle caps left on the ground after our experiment.
• Jake W - for displaying the value of We Learn and We Care  by stepping up every day, in all situations.
• Chase M - for displaying the value of We Learn and We Care by reading well and doing his program every day.
• Hudson - for displaying the value of We Care by being a good friend to Chase.
• Sam - for displaying the value of We Learn by getting all his jobs done in 4/5.
• Mesandi - for displaying the value of We are Safe, We Care and We Learn in the classroom every day.
• Carson - for displaying the value of We Care by helping tidy the classrooms and pushed in chairs without being asked. 
• Kayden - for displaying the value of We Care by helping with Chase when reading a book on the Ipad.

On Thursday 6 June it was our Interschool Cross Country Day

Grade 4 Girls started brilliantly placing 7 (Rejoice ) 23 (Rosie) and 24 (Han) placing them in 5^th team spot.

Grade 4 boys finished 31(Jamal) and 46 (Jordan) placing them 16^th in team spots.

Grade 3 girls continued with an amazing 1st place (Haylie) 19 (Liv) 39 (Savannah) 40 (Charlotte) and 49 (Indie) placing them in 5^th  team spot.

Grade 3 boys finished 23 (Jett) 30 (Viliami) 31 (Ayden) 33 (Caleb) 46 (Ronan) 57 (Hriten) securing 8^th team spot.

Grade 5 Girls finished 11 (Aisha) 20 (Ruby) and 33 (Elvie) finishing in 5^th spot. What is truly incredible is both Ruby and Elvie are grade 4 and took up the challenge to go up a grade to make a team of 3 and give us team points. Very courageous girls and such brave running.

Grade 5 Boys finished with a strong 2^nd place (Hamish) 29 (Tayte) and 53 (Owen) finishing in 8^th spot. Our awesome Grade 6 girls were a leading example with 5 runners finishing 14 (Mesandi) 27 (Rani) 33 (Matilda) 52 (Taylah) and 55( Zara) finishing in 8^th spot.

Grade 6 boys were represented by Jake and he finished 31^st spot placing 14^th.

Out of the 19 schools, Risdon Vale won the carnival and we placed 7^th which is fabulous. We came 8^th last year and 10^th the year before. We are improving and bravely taking up challenges. The free sausages we got from the BBQ were pretty fabulous too. Special thanks to Cheryl Siberas who was our fabulous official on the day.

We have had so much fun doing Cross Country with our students in Daily PE and Physical Education. My favourite Dory quote "Just keep swimming!" so we have used this doing the hill challenge, which involves running up a really big hill talking positively to yourself.

Falling and tripping however are a part of cross country and someone always falls. We practiced our resilience and kept going. We should be startled and panicked. We got up and ran faster. Cross Country running teaches us how resilient we are and how much courage we have. 

Your race is against yourself. Your positive self-talk. Is it keeping you going? Are you giving up? You can practise being brave and courageous.

No one else can run it for you. You have to do it yourself. Sometimes your mood is great, your energy is great, and the weather is lovely. Sometimes it's not. Setbacks happen, you have a cold, a knee injury or you get the stitch. Setbacks and sub-par performance are inevitable and temporary - from running we learn resilience and we use our growth mindset to front up and have another go. 

Running is about getting used to being uncomfortable, pushing yourself to your limits. The winner pushes themselves to their limits. They finish red and sweaty. There is a reward for effort and if you put in little effort, you will get a poor result.  Push yourself until it's over and enjoy the result. Running teaches us to be tough. Don't compare yourself to others - celebrate their efforts and they will celebrate yours.

Good runners train - all running gets you better at running. Just like good readers read and get better. We were all fitter having done many laps around our school. We learnt to set your goals and break everything down to achievable chunks, the next hill or first lap. We talked nicely to ourselves, like a best friend or teacher. 

We found a rhythm to our run - we started slower than a sprint - lap one is always the hardest. Friends can help us do better, practising encouraging others or running with a friend. Friends make all our tasks more pleasant.

Our Cross Country Carnival was a great example of how well we are doing. We are loving finding our school spirit, dressing up in our Blue for Derwent and Green for Bowen.  Derwent were the victors on this occasion by 10 points (135 to 125).

During the colder months when fires are going here is some information regarding safety around wood heaters. 

Congratulations to the following students who received Class Awards at the Assembly held on Thursday 13 June 2024:-

Levies 2024

A reminder that school levies are now overdue and payable at the school office. Flexible payment arrangements for families may be organised with the School Business Manager if required.

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.

DONT FORGET PHOTO DAY IS NEXT WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE 2024!!

This year school photo ordering will be the same as last year in that it will be done online.  

To order your school photos:

• Go to www.leadingimage.com.au
• Click on Order Your School Photos
• Select your State
• Enter your Access Key which is - M3PCGSWX

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!

Please find below the Launching into Learning Schedule for Term 2:-

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.

Enrolments are now being accepted for students commencing in Kindergarten in 2025. If you have a child that was born in 2020 who will be commencing at  Goodwood Primary next year, please collect an enrolment form from the office.

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.

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.

Support your child’s online learning at home

Digital skills are critical to every child’s success, but supporting online learning can be overwhelming.

The Digital skills for families team are delivering a program to help Tasmanian families support online learning at home. Spending time online at home gives children an opportunity to practice what they are learning at school. Positive home environments help children develop the skills and independence they need to succeed in a digital future.

Learn about communicating online with schools, digital education at school and how to support online learning at home.

Digital skills for families is offering free:

· information sessions

· workshops

· one-to-one help

In libraries, schools and community locations statewide. Email the team at digitalskillsforfamilies@libraries.tas.gov.auto find out more and book a free session.