17 August 2023

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From School Principal – Cathy Bester

What a fabulous way to acknowledge Country with a Smoking ceremony conducted by Chalky Grey last Monday.  Chalky explained to students the purpose and meaning of a smoking ceremony with our whole school having the opportunity to be cleansed by the smoke.  Chalky works closely with our Aboriginal Education Worker Charna to provide advice and support to our school to raise awareness and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.

 Our 5/6 students had a fantastic time at the NWPSAA Sports Day.  A big congratulations to all our 5/6 students on the way they participated, their behaviour and true sportsmanship on the day, this is wonderful to see.  Thank you to our 5/6 teachers who are always putting in the extra effort to ensure our students have these opportunities and to Miss Clarke for the organisation of the day.

 Our school was awash in green and gold to support the Matilda’s on Wednesday.  Go MATILDA’S!!

I would like to welcome some new staff memebers to our Ulverstone Primary Team and farewell Mrs Emily Rataj.  We will certainly miss Mrs Rataj as she moves into an Assistant Principal role at East Ulverstone Primary.  We wish her all the very best in her new role.  We are welcoming Mrs Allison Pegus and Mrs Glyniss Martin who will be team teaching on 5/6B and Mrs Emmie Gee who will be teaching 3/4 C on Friday’s.  We are excited to get to know our new teachers as they start with us next week.

Our focus value this term is Reaching for the Stars.  What this means to us at  UPS is daring to dream and striving to do our best.  We can do this by staying positive and keep trying even when it’s hard, we know that sometimes learning is hard and that’s ok because it means we are stretching our brains and learning new things.  We Reach for the Stars by taking our time and showing pride in our work, we take risks and we set goals for ourselves to improve.  When we are Reaching for the Stars we are listening to and trying to follow advice.  Our staff have high expectations and provide opportunites to share achevements and offer constructive feedback to one another.  We continualy challenge and support each other with best practice, collaboratively planning engaging differentiated learning tasks for our students. 

Thank you to families who are supporting us by ensuring your child is in the full school uniform, it is wonderful to see our students wearing their uniform with pride.  Our winter beanies continue to be popular keeping little heads warm on these cold frosty mornings.

Once again I would like to remind families for the safety of our children to please not use the staff car park or visitor parking as drop off/pick up zones.  The car park is a busy congested area and visibility is limited when vehicles are entering and exiting this space.  Thank you for your help to keep our children safe.

We are all very much looking forward to our Book Week Dress Up parade next Thursday 24, I am so very dissapointed that I will not be able to attend our dress up day due to principal commitments outside of the school.  We encourage families to come along to our parade at 10 am to see all of the amazing costumes and to help celebrate our love for reading and books.  Mrs Vicki White will be holding a morning tea for parents/carers after the parade and sharing a short video and information session about reading to your child.  We would love to see you there!

In Partnership
Cathy

Staff Profile

Class News – Prep B

In Prep B we have been counting how many days we have been at school since our first day. Last week we celebrated 100 days of learning with some cooking, craft and fun with our friends.

We also discussed what we thought was the most important things we have learned in 100 days of Prep. These are our responses:

Abbie “how to write words”
Adela “about counting to 100”
Adelyn “to read and write”
Amber “to read and counting”
Ariella “how to write sentences”
Ayden “how to write sentences”
Aris “about how to do maths”
Bently “to count to 100”
Dakota “how to write sentences”
Eli “to write sentences”
Eloise “how to count to 100”
Eva “to write and read”
Freya “about counting”
Grayson “how to read”
Kayson “to read and I can count”
Leo “how to read”
Lily “how to count in 10s”
Mia “how to blend sounds together”
Obie “about numbers and sentences”
Zailey “to write and count to 100”

Book Week Parade, Book Exchange and parent/community morning Tea Invitation

Book Week Parade and Parent/Community Morning Tea

Please join us for our 2023 Book Week Parade on Thursday 24^th August at 10 am on the basketball courts.  Following this we invite you to share morning tea and watch a short video presentation about reading, in the hall.

Please RSVP by calling the office or via the following email for catering purposes:
Ulverstone.Primary@education.tas.gov.au

Book Exchange

To celebrate book week and support student’s reading development we are conducting a book exchange event throughout Book Week. We would like to ask as many families as possible to donate 1 or more books that are no longer used.  Students can place these into the basket outside Mrs White’s office anytime from now onwards.  During Book Week we will be inviting students to choose a different book to take home. 

Vicki White
Quality Teaching Coach
Ulverstone Primary School

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is run by our wonderful Teacher Assistants and Breakfast Club Leaders, five mornings a week, in our school hall and is well attended by students.

We are seeking donations from our school community to support this valuable program. Donations of long-life milk, jam and Milo would be greatly appreciated and can be dropped off at our school office.

Art - Items wanted

If anyone has the following items available the Art teacher would greatly appreciate them: Newspapers and magazines, cylinders from cling wrap rolls etc (NO toilet rolls), cereal boxes, bubble wrap, used gift wrap paper, fabric offcuts, wool and any old art canvasses as they will be painted over.

Items can be left outside the STEAM room. Thank you.

School Health Nurse

Sleep and Children

Sleep is so important to a child’s wellbeing. Helping your child to get enough quality sleep will ensure that their brain and body are ready for school each day.  

One way to help children get a good sleep, is to avoid screens at least one hour before bed. This also includes any time during the night. This may require you to hide or lock away devices, switch them off or take out the battery to deter children from waking up and playing games and watching their devices while the family sleeps.

Did you know, The Raising Children’s Network recommends young children have between 11-13 hours of sleep per night and secondary school-aged children to have 8-10 hours of sleep per night.

Here are some ideas to help promote good sleeping habits in your home.

• Create a bedtime routine to help children feel ready for sleep.
• Relax before bedtime with quiet activities like reading or drawing.
• Avoid screen time for at least 1 hour prior to bed.
• Keep regular sleep and wake times.
• Make sure your child feels safe at night.
• Check for noise and light in your child’s bedroom.
• Eat well and exercise regularly, sleep likes a relaxed body and a calm nervous system.

For more information on sleeping habits, problems or concerns visit the Raising Children website - Raising Children Network www.raisingchildren.net.au

Premier’s Reading Challenge

We are halfway through the challenge! Congratulations to the students who have returned their reading logs. It's not too late! Students have till 1 September to return their reading logs.  

Community Notices