22 November 2018
Newsletter Articles
- Key Dates
- Principal’s Report
- 2018 Arts Concert
- A Focus on our School Values
- Athletics Carnival
- Cambodia
- China Trip – Brooke Foster
- Cooking Sessions
- Kindergarten 2019
- LiL – Railton
- Railton Canteen
- Railton Campus
- Railton Pool
- School Canteen
- School Closure
- School Levies – 2019
- School Nurse
- Swimming Programs
- Year 7 – 10 iPads
- Year 10 End of Year Celebration
- Community Notices
Key Dates
Friday 23 November: Aquatic Centre (LAC & HPE)
Monday 26 November: Tour de Cure Visiting Railton Campus
Monday 26 November - Friday 7 December: Swimming & Water Safety Program (Years 3 – 5)
Tuesday 27 November: Parent Information Evening (Year 7)
Tuesday 27 November: LiL (Railton) Learn to Swim (Railton Pool)
Tuesday 27 November – Wednesday 28 November: Kinder Learn to Swim (Railton Pool)
Tuesday 27 November – Thursday 29 November: Exams (Year 10)
Thursday 29 November: LiL (Sheffield) Learn to Swim (Railton Pool)
Friday 30 November: Devonport Show Day Public Holiday
Monday 3 December: Inter-High Athletics Carnival
Tuesday 4 December: Don College Start Day (Year 10)
Tuesday 4 December: Orientation Day (Year 7)
Thursday 6 December: Arts Concert
Thursday 6 December: Foodie Experience - Anvers
Friday 7 December: Hagley Farm School visit
Friday 7 December: Ulverstone Dinosaur Park (Kinder/Prep)
Friday 7 December: Airtime & Launceston Aquatic Centre
Tuesday 11 December: Presentation Day (11.30am)
Wednesday 12 December: Picnic - SPLASH Aquatic Centre (Years 1 – 6)
Thursday 13 December: Celebration Dinner (Year 10)
Tuesday 18 December: Railton Christmas Assembly
Wednesday 19 December: Christmas Assembly (K – 6: 9.30am)
Wednesday 19 December: End of Year Picnic (Secondary) – The Bluff
Thursday 20 December: End of Year Assembly
Thursday 20 December: Last Day of School 2018 (Students)
Principal’s Report
The Athletics Carnival was a successful day with encouraging participation and a great sense of team spirit between Kentish, Roland and Don houses. This event is a great opportunity to come together as a whole school and it was wonderful to see so many parents, grandparents and family friends there supporting. Students are eagerly awaiting to find out who is the winning house! It is great to see those students who excel in athletics have an opportunity to showcase their talent. Thank you to our enthusiastic and dedicated HPE team for coordinating this event.
Schools are a place of learning, not just for children but also for adults. This term we have welcomed a number of teachers in training from the University of Tasmania who have been completing their placements under the guidance of our more experienced teachers. This is a valuable part of ensuring beginning teachers have adequate experience and opportunity to learn and be better prepared for their first teaching appointment. Miss Powell and Miss Swan have recently completed their final placements in the primary section and we wish them well for their future careers. The HPE department have been supporting Mr Wright and Miss Geard for two weeks including the ‘Learn to Swim Program’. Miss Brown and Mr Winwood have been volunteering on a regular basis to gain additional experience in a school setting. We appreciate their assistance and are encouraged by their enthusiasm.
Last week I attended our Sheffield Campus assemblies. I really look forward to these gatherings and I am always impressed by the diversity of learning experiences on display. Students shared some wonderful pieces of fiction writing, art work and poetry. Our Cambodia team gave a talk about their experience and this made us all feel a real sense of gratitude for what we have in our own community. It was great to see the increased confidence displayed by our performers in their musical performances and it is always wonderful to see the pride our children display during the class awards section when they are called to the stage to be recognised. Our Kindergarten children attended their first assembly and it was certainly a long one for them to sit through but they did a fantastic job. Well done, Kinders!
Our Presentation Day Assembly is a time to reflect on the year and celebrate the learning and achievement for our students. I would like to extend an invitation to parents and the community to attend Presentation Day Assembly on Tuesday 11 December beginning at 11:30am.
Jamie Skirving
Acting Principal
2018 Arts Concert
A Focus on our School Values
Throughout the course of the year, we have consulted and worked with our students, staff and School Association committee to develop a matrix of our school values which outlines behavioural commitments from each of these groups. The final matrix is included below.
Following this, teachers have been working in teams this term to develop a series of lessons, which will be delivered across the school throughout the term. This term, our focus is on Respect for Others.
Some of the work being completed in classrooms is featured below.
The 5/6 team have focused on “Treating others as we would like to be treated” and students from 5/6 Hinrichsen used magazine cut-outs to create a graffiti wall of messages about respect.
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Year 8 students have looked at the element “Support, help and encourage others” through the lens of Athletics Carnival preparations. They viewed videos which demonstrated ways in which people support, help and encourage others and then reflected on not only their performance after the lesson, but also how they supported or encouraged others.
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Year 7 students used the story “The Girl who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Temple Grandin” as their ‘hook’ to explore “embracing differences and diversity”. Through this lens they looked at acceptance and difference and then reflected on their qualities that make them different or unique.
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Rant –a poem by Kasey Woods (Year 10)
Athletics Carnival
The Sheffield School Athletics Carnival was held on Friday 16 November. The conditions on the day were challenging, yet it was heartening to see a large number of students attend and participate with great enthusiasm.
Congratulations to Joven Gyemore who battled with Bryce Colgan to win the Year 8 Boys triple jump and set a new school record of 10.74m! Joven also ran extremely well in the 100m completing a time of 12.03sec and once again setting a new school record.
The primary carnival was once again full of action and excitement with many of the students dressed to support their house. The poor weather did not subdue enthusiasm and students, parents and teachers enjoyed the great atmosphere of the event. With participation the main focus, the students had a successful day of competing in many different events.
At the time of writing the final points tally has not yet been revealed to the school body - this will be done at our next whole school assembly. Fair to say an upset may be on the cards as the points tally was extremely tight.
Thank you to Mr Bakes, Mrs Temple, Mr Gardiner, Mrs Aylett and the SRC who worked hard to prepare the BBQ lunch for all students and to everyone else who helped out on the day. Special thanks to Mr Von Stieglitz, Mrs van Tienan and Mr Penney for their extra hard work in the weeks leading up to the event.
After many years of disappointment the staff relay team of Mr Allen, Mr Penney, Miss Brown, and Mrs Eustace finally secured a victory in an extremely tight finish in the Staff vs Students relay event. Congratulations to all the student’s teams for putting on a great final race for the day.
Tony Hays, Health & Physical Education (HPE)
Cambodia
When you return from being away there is always that horrible feeling like it never happened. And sure enough that was the case with the recent Cambodia trip. Luckily, many photos were taken as well as some really funny videos to refresh our memories of what an amazing trip it was.
Saturday 20 October six students (Chloe Currie, Alex Diprose, Caitlyn Loane, Breona Roetz, Alannah Jones and Ethan Duff) together with Anna Maddick, Jake Tammens and myself left Launceston. Over 24 hours later we arrived at our accommodation in Phnom Penh – Cambodia’s capital. We were thrown in the deep end to experience the Cambodia lifestyle head first and buy supplies for our stay at the Samrong Children’s Farm. The traffic, the smells and the amount of people was just the start of what would become an amazing trip with a great group of young adults – lots of laughs, a few tears, some pranks, bad singing and memories to last a life time.
Samrong Children’s Farm is a farm based orphanage for currently 70 children from 7-18 years of age. These children are orphaned, street kids, from impoverished families and/or unwanted. The farm provides these children with food, shelter, clothing and most importantly, love. This was a new addition to the Sheffield School Cambodia trip and I think we can all agree it was the making of the trip. When our $5000 fundraised money was gifted to the farm, we could see that they were incredibly grateful and spoke about how they recently had to sell their cows due to not having someone to look after them and not having any working computers for the children – the money will definitely benefit the children and the farm and I can’t wait to hear how it was utilised.
We stayed at the farm for 5 days which were filled with lasting memories – teaching English, Maths, football skills, craft, friendship hearts and having conversations in English all day long. While the focus for the Cambodian children was to continue their learning of the English language, soon after our arrival, we were given an assignment. To learn 10 Khmer words…somehow that soon turned in to 10 Khmer sentences. Being a very competitive group we were seen carrying around our pens and paper and taking children aside to ensure we were learning as much of their language as possible, in the hope to win the title. Mr Tammens took this assignment extremely seriously and came out as the title holder on our last night – it was his Cambodian accent which I think got him over the line!
In between holding our classes and learning the Khmer language we embraced their culture as much as we could. This involved bathing outside, hand washing our clothes and bedding, helping prepare meals on the open fire, harvesting fruit and vegetables, sweeping and cleaning the common areas, helping with university assignments, learning songs and playing many games of basketball, soccer or volleyball.
While it sounds like staying at the farm was a ‘holiday’, at times it was, it was also challenging. The temperatures were 38 each day, we were drinking 4-5 litres of water a day and we had to make sure we had a rest to ensure we could last the day. Our rooms didn’t have air conditioning, we had a fan and big mosquito nets over our beds to keep the bugs out, there were even a few little mice nibbling at some treats in bags. We all embraced this and knew at the end of each day our hearts were full and we had given all we could in the time we had with them.
It was really hard saying goodbye on our last day. There were many tears from both us and the Cambodian children. I found it incredibly hard saying goodbye to Neang – a beautiful girl whom I spent 3-4 hours a day on two occasions writing all the words I knew, Neang copying them, saying them and finally writing them in to sentences. My brain was fried but my heart was bursting. There was little conversation in our tuk tuk rides back to our accommodation that afternoon. We were all processing the last 5 days and the emotions we were all experiencing.
The remainder of our trip was spent visiting many tourist attractions, bargaining at the markets for the lower prices and tasting the local cuisine. Although this part of the trip was physically more relaxing as we were swimming rather than playing basketball or dancing for hours of a night, it was still as mentally exhausting as we were being educated on why the country is the way it is and how it got that way. Comprehending that only 40 years ago 2 million people were killed, a high school was turned in to a torture prison and the brutality of the way babies and children were killed was horrific. It makes the experience of Samrong Farm even more important. After a 6 hour bus trip to Siem Reap we were able to visit the amazing 12th century temples of Angkor Wat, be educated on landmines and the importance of rats in the clearing of these, and relax while floating around a village living on the Tonle Sap Lake.
On Thursday 29 November we are hosting a night to thank the sponsors and those who supported the trip and made this opportunity available to the Sheffield School community. I look forward to our students recounting their stories to the guests and we are all more than happy to speak to any students who think they may be interested in being a part of the next Global Volunteering trip.
Katharine Bransden, Cambodia Team
China Trip – Brooke Foster
As you may know I recently returned from China where I was representing Australia.
I was selected to represent Australia by the Australian Pony Club. During my time in China I was asked to instruct the riders of Cabellero Pony Club helping them to gain their Level C Competence Badge. Throughout the 12 days we visited local attractions and often instructed in the evening.
There were 10 girls selected from Australia and 3 of those girls were from Tasmania which is amazing!
We used Chinese horses, they were treated well but very different to how we treat ours. The horses live on the 3rd floor of a shopping centre and for them to get outside they need to use the elevator. I was lucky enough to be able to take a horse down the elevator with a Cabellero rider which can be very dangerous.
Some of the places we got to see were amazing – we visited caves, temples and local schools.
The competition I competed in was on the last day and I’m pleased to say I placed 2nd overall. I’d recommend this trip to anyone, it was an amazing experience for me. The food that I was offered (though didn’t eat) was very different, for example I was offered pig brains, chook feet, blood, intestines, 100 year old egg, donkey and dog.
I made some great friends and great memories.
Brooke Foster
Cooking Sessions
Kindergarten 2019
We are now taking enrolments for students who reside within the Sheffield and Railton zone.
All children who were born in 2014 are eligible.
Enrolment forms are available at the school office.
Railton Canteen
For many years at the Railton Campus there has been a canteen once a week. This has been run by a lovely group of volunteer parents. Many of our children regularly use this service. As we begin our planning for 2019, however our ability to continue to provide this service is at risk.
Our current volunteers’ children are moving on to the Sheffield campus and they will be stepping down from this role. To continue to provide this service to our children and families, we will require new volunteers in 2019.
To assist in the canteen, you need:
- a current Working with Vulnerable People Registration, which the school is able to assist you in acquiring,
- to be able to spend a few hours at school once a week. If we are fortunate enough to receive a few expressions of interest, a rotational/roster basis could be an option.
Currently the canteen operates on a Tuesday, but this is flexible, depending on any new volunteers’ availability. Our school health nurse is also interested in supporting any new volunteers’ meet the Move Well Eat Well guidelines and training will be provided.
The Railton campus also operates a very well utilised Breakfast Club, which currently operates every morning between 8.30 am and 9:00 am. We also require new volunteers for this service to continue.
If you are interested or know someone who might be able to assist us with either School Canteen or Breakfast Club, please contact Alison Last at the Railton Campus.
Railton Campus
The Tour de Cure is visiting the Railton Campus
On Monday 26 November the Tour de Cure will be visiting the Railton campus. The Tour de Cure are an organisation that raise money to find a cure for cancer and to help raise awareness about cancer prevention and encourage kids to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Tour de Cure members will be on a cycling tour of Tasmania and visit our Railton students to promote their healthy lifestyle message. For more information visit their website.
https://tourdecure.com.au/
Railton Pool
The Railton Pool season is underway and there are still spaces available (term time and in the school holidays). A current CPR certificate is required if you wish to hire the pool.
To book the pool please contact the school office on 6491 8222.
School Canteen
Railton Canteen Term 4 Menu
Sheffield Canteen Term 4 Menu
New at Sheffield Campus – purchase from the canteen only (no pre-orders)
Note: The selling of slushies has been approved with the School Canteen Association and falls within the guidelines of our Silver Accreditation.
School Closure
Due to the stop work action scheduled for Tuesday 27 November our school will not open until 10:30am on this day.
This decision has been made in the interests of student safety as we will not be able to provide appropriate supervision for children until 10:30am.
The following arrangements have been made for the day:
- Sheffield School (including Railton campus) will be closed until 10:30am.
- From 10:30am students can begin to arrive at school.
- Buses will operate 2 hours later than the normal scheduled times.
- Before school teacher supervision will be provided from 10:30am.
- Classes will begin at 11am and our normal timetable will resume for the remainder of the day.
School Levies – 2019
The levy you pay contributes to the cost of your child’s education program, and includes:
* Items your child uses during the school year such as learning materials and stationery.
* Services, such as school excursions, attending performances and school camps that are part of your child’s educational program.
Financial Assistance
If you would like to apply for STAS, please either ring our school office on 6491 8222 or call in to collect an application form.
Below are our school levies for 2019.
|
Kinder |
$190 |
|
Pre – Year 2 |
$230 |
|
Year 3 – Year 6 |
$260 |
|
Year 7 – Year 12 |
$460 |
Swimming Programs
This week is the start of three weeks of Swimming and Water Safety Programs. Students will be learning valuable skills that will encourage them to stay safe around water so they can enjoy participating in water based activities. Our Prep to Year 2 students have their swimming program this week at the Railton pool and our Kinder and LiL students will participate next week. A two week Year 3-5 Swimming and Water Safety Program will begin Monday 26 November and this will be held at the Latrobe Pool.
Year 7 – 10 iPads
Students in Years 7-9 will need to return their iPad in its case and with its charger to their class coordinator by Friday 14 December. The iPads will be checked by our IT Department and maintenance or repairs carried out as required. Please make sure there is a backup copy of any files you want to keep. iPads with broken screens will be repaired and invoices for these cost will be passed on. Students will be issued with their same device again in 2019. Year 10 students have the opportunity to purchase their device outright. A separate letter will be sent to year 10 students outlining this process.
Community Notices
Crescendo Choir – Saturday 24 November
Day of Disability – Wednesday 28 November
Devon Netball Association
Primary Spring Roster
Secondary Spring Roster
Employability @ Work – Monday 3 December
Kentish Community Carols – Art Competition
Kentish Family Support House
Christmas Celebration
Men of Kentish
Parklands High School
Railton Christmas Party
Reading to Your Child
Did you know that reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do?
Children perform better at school if their parents read to them and help them with their learning. That’s why building skills in parents and carers benefits the whole school community.
If you or someone you know would like some help so you can enjoy reading to your child, you can get help from your local library or by calling 26TEN on 1300 002 610.
Splash – Devonport Aquatic & Leisure Centre
