17 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

Key Dates

Friday 18 August – Kinder/Prep Railton Excursion to Devonport
Monday 21 August – Friday 25 August – Book Week
Tuesday 22 August – The Magical World of Crazy Science. Prep – Year 4 (11.30am).
Tuesday 22 August – Wild Weather: The Crazy Scientist Strikes Back! Years 5 – 10 (1.30pm).
Thursday 24 August – Book Week Assembly.
Friday 25 August – Health Careers Expo. Year 9.
Friday 25 - Daffodil Day.
Thursday 31 August – Secondary Sports with Mountain Heights School.
Friday 1 September – Hagley Farm visit. Year 1-2.
Friday 1 September – SRC Fundraiser (Secondary Beanie Day)
Monday 4 September - SRC Fundraiser (Early Childhood Education Grassheads Day)
Tuesday 5 September – Don College Taster Day. Year 10.
Wednesday 13 September – Assembly. Prep – Year 6 (1.30-2.15pm).
Friday 15 September – Assembly Whole School (12 noon)
Friday 15 September – SRC Fundraiser (Whole School Crazy Hair Day)
Tuesday 19 September – Trade Skills Day.
Thursday 21 September – Vaccinations Year 7 (Gardasil) / Years 10 – 12 (Meningococcal).
Friday 22 September – Snow Queen (Burnie High School Production).
Tuesday 26 September – Friday 29 September – Year 5 Camp (Roches Beach).
Friday 29 September – Last day of term.
Monday 2 October – Friday 13 October – School holidays.
Monday 16 October – Term 4 commences.

Principal’s Report

New Education Act Update

Working Together for 3 Year Olds

This week you may have seen or heard Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff in the media, explaining his decision not to lower the school starting age for Tasmanian schoolchildren.

The proposal to lower the voluntary starting age for Kinder from four years to three and a half was part of reforms made to Tasmania’s Education Act, and would have come into effect in 2020.

After receiving a report on the likely economic and social impacts of such changes on the state’s early childhood education and care sector, the Minister accepted the report’s advice not to proceed with the lower starting age.

However, in recognition that access to high-quality early learning sooner is best for all Tasmanian children, the Working Together for 3 Year Olds – targeted pre-school initiative will be implemented.

This will provide government-subsidised participation in quality and accredited pre-school programs for eligible three year old children, for 10 hours a week (400 hours per year). The initiative will be delivered primarily through the early childhood education and care sector and will begin in 2020.

To find out more about this initiative visit the Department website.

Support Staff

We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated and committed group of adults in our school working tirelessly to ensure a positive and inviting learning environment and supported learning programs for our students. Today we held a morning tea for support staff as a way of recognising their tremendous contributions to our school community.

NAPLAN Results 2017

Parents of year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students should have received their child’s individual results for the National testing in literacy and numeracy. These were sent home to parents earlier this week. A summary of results for all students who sat the tests is included in the following table. Each number shows the percentage of students who have achieved or exceeded the benchmark.

What this table doesn’t show is the gains made by students in their learning across the 5 components of the testing. In the most these gains compared favourably against State averages. There is a range of information that can be taken from the testing that assists us with our planning on a school, class and individual level.

NAPLAN Online – Trial of the new online assessment platform

You may have heard that NAPLAN online is being introduced across Australia over three years from 2017. Tasmanian Government schools will be administering NAPLAN online from 2019. NAPLAN online will provide better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information.

Our school has opted to trial the new assessment platform (the computer system the test will be taken on) and assess our readiness to participate in NAPLAN Online from 2019. This trial is called the School Readiness Test (SRT).

The SRT is not a test of student achievement and results will not form part of a student’s overall assessment.

Participating in this trial is important as it will help us ensure we have adequate internet connectivity, and whether students have access to sufficient number of devices for NAPLAN testing. During the trial, our school will have the opportunity to practice managing the classroom logistics for an online assessment and the new test administration processes.

Feedback from schools participating in the trial will inform transition to the online assessment as well as provide valuable feedback to shape the final development of the NAPLAN online platform.

The SRT has not been constructed to assess curriculum knowledge, but rather to provide students an opportunity to experience the types of questions that will be included in the new online assessment.

During the last week of term 3, students in Years 4 and 6 will participate in the trial of the assessment platform, by undertaking two online tests that include examples of the new NAPLAN online questions. Each test will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

Participation in this trial is a key step to ensuring a successful NAPLAN online experience.

If you have further questions, please contact the school.

Years 11 & 12 at Sheffield

At Sheffield our Year 10 students have started investigating what 2018 will look like for them. Our goal is for the majority of our students to transition to Don College, with the aim of completing Year 12 in 2019. Sheffield School is working closely with Don College to make sure that our students are well informed about the course options available to them, so their transition is as smooth as possible.

Last week, Don College staff and past Sheffield students currently attending Don College spoke to our Year 10 students to provide them with an insight of what to expect at Don. This is the first step in the transition process. Mr Ashby then spoke to the students regarding the 11/12 program at Sheffield again to provide some insight into the possible course options at Sheffield for 2018, should students feel this is a valid option for them. It is important that students are well informed when making decisions about their future pathways. Below is a list of events that Don College will be providing as a part of the transition/enrolment process. I would encourage parents and students to engage with these opportunities.

Don College Events

Tuesday 5 September - Don TASTER Day
Wednesday 18 October - Parent Information Evening (Don College)
Wednesday 15 November - Don College Preliminary Enrolments
Tuesday 5 December - START day at Don College (Orientation)

In addition to these opportunities both Mr Ashby and Mr Barber are also available to discuss the 11/12 program at Sheffield and the VET Agriculture course respectively. If you would like to speak with either Mr Ashby or Mr Barber please make an appointment through the school office on 6491 8222.

Meningococcal Disease

A student from our school has recently been diagnosed and treated for meningococcal infection. Fortunately he is expected to make a full recovery. The Public Health Services have confirmed this does not pose a risk to the general public. Appropriate public health measures have been taken for people in contact with the case. A letter from the Department of Health and Human Services was sent home yesterday, a copy is below.

RON DALY
PRINCIPAL

5/6 Sports Day

On Tuesday 8 August our 5/6 students participated in the NWPSSA Sports Expo in a number of locations in and around Devonport.

Students elected to do basketball at Forbes Street Stadium, netball at Spreyton, football at Byard Park, hockey or soccer at Meercroft Park or tennis at the Tennis Centre in Devonport.

Pleasingly, our students represented our school very well and staff reported being very proud of our students and their behaviour and levels of participation in the event.

A special thank you to the following LAC students who were a wonderful help in supporting at each of the sports. Ebony Sims, Abbey Boutcher, Chloe Currie, Oskar Keen, Kasey Woods, Samantha Denby, and Eliza Keen.

A great day was had by all!

Book Fair (Monday 21 –Friday 25 August)

Book Week Assembly (Thursday 24 August)

As part of our celebration for Book Week students and staff will dress up as a character from a book. The assembly will be held at 11.30am at the Sheffield Campus and parents are invited to attend.

Railton students will bus to the Sheffield Campus and all students will parade in costume at the beginning of the assembly. Students are encouraged to wear an existing costume from home or make their own. There is no expectation to purchase a costume to wear. Please speak to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or would like assistance in providing your child with a costume.

Food Technology

The Grade 8, 9 and 10 Hospitality class have been doing a unit on cake decorating.

The sponge cakes were delicious and allowed us to practise piping cream and using fruit to add interest. We learnt that less is more when decorating and will practice showing restraint.

We made cupcakes in the next lesson and experimented with different types of icing tips and food colours.

Last week we made novelty cakes and had lots of fun colouring buttercream, piping, spreading and used some fondant embellishments.

Kids and Parents Cooking

Launching Into Learning (LiL)

Learning in Families Together (LiFT)

Family Maths

We have had a fantastic response to the Lift Family Maths that was sent home in early August. We are in the process of making a display of all our entries ready for Literacy and Numeracy week assembly which is on Thursday 24 August at 11.30am in the school gym. Prizes and bonus prizes will be handed out on this day. Please send any late entries to sheffieldlift@mail.com and hand Entry Tickets to your child’s teacher ASAP to ensure your child gets a prize.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Challenge ends on Friday 18 August. Make sure all logs are returned to teachers so that participants receive their certificate.

Have You Got A Great Idea?

Tell us what activities or events you’d like to see happen in our school. Write it down and place it the LiFT suggestion box in the Flying Start room at Sheffield and the office at Railton, or you can email us: carly.sullivan@education.tas.gov.au

Board Game Library

A reminder that board games are to be returned every Tuesday at Sheffield and Railton on Thursdays with all of their bits.

Snap a photo of your family using a board game and send it in for your chance to feature in the newsletter. Email photos to carly.sullivan@education.tas.gov.au

Community Notices

Apex Teenage Fashion Awards (State)

Australian Defence Force Expo

23 August 2017, 6pm – Army Reserve Information Session. Kokoda Barracks. Devonport.

Free Personal Tutorials

Music: Recorder and piano or both.
Literacy: Help with improving reading and comprehension
Experience: 15 years as a school volunteer
Conditions: My home or yours but an adult from your family must be present at all times – transport available.

Please call me on 0459 155 246 to arrange.
Martin Corke

Shimjang Taekwondo

Splash (Devonport Aquatic and Leisure Centre)