Tuning into learning at BPS – Priority Number One Focus – Reading 

Dear families, students and friends,  

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the importance of learning, especially the joy and benefits of reading.   

Learning is a wonderful journey that opens up endless possibilities for our children. Through learning, our students develop critical thinking skills, creativity and a love of learning that will inspire them throughout their lives. Reading, in particular, plays a vital role in nurturing these skills and expands the horizons of our learners.  

Reading is not just about decoding the words on a page; it is about exploring new worlds, sparking the imagination, and building a strong foundation for academic success. When children read regularly, they enhance their vocabulary, improve their comprehension skills and develop a love of storytelling that can last for a life time.  

By encouraging our children to read, we are equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in school and beyond. Reading opens the doors to new ideas, cultures, experiences, fostering empathy, understanding and a sense of curiosity about the world around them.  

As parents and carers, your support and involvement in your child’s reading journey is invaluable. By reading together, discussing books, and creating a culture of reading at home, you are instilling a lifelong love of learning in your child that will benefit them in every aspect of their lives.  

I invite you to partner with us in celebrate the joy of reading. Further down in today's edition you will find more information about how you can support your children with their reading journey.  As always, if you have any questions, or concerns, please contact us. Together, we inspire our students to be avid readers and lifelong learners.  

Staffing Update: 

Principal and Assistant Principal Roles  

I am excited to announce that I will continue in the role of Principal and Mrs Louise Rawlings will continue in the role of Assistant Principal at BPS through to the end of term 2.   

Communicating with families Information 

On Wednesday the 27th of March our Term 1 ‘Application to Learning Reports’ will be sent home. This report provides families with a summary of each child’s learning habits and engagement in their class so far this year.  

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this report, please make contact with your child's classroom teacher via seesaw.  We value regular, meaningful conversations about learning achievement, progress and student wellbeing because we know this is key to support and grow our partnerships with all families. 

NWPSSA SuperStars!  

On Wednesday the 6th of March a group of grade 3/4 students attended the NWPSSA Athletics Carnival in Penguin. Students ran in races against other students from North West schools, and 2 of our grade 4’s participated in the long jump. We also had select students from our group run in relay teams.

On Thursday the 7th of March 5/6 students attended their carnival and ran in short and long distances races. Selected students participated in relays, long jump, and shot-put events across the day. Both Wednesday and Thursday were hot and sunny conditions, and all our student representatives represented our school with pride, demonstrating sportsmanship and best efforts across both days. We are proud of all their efforts on the two days of competition, and are excited to announce to the school community that we won the Division A shield! The shield, once delivered to the school, will be displayed until the 2026 carnival. Congratulations to the following students who will represent our school at the Twilight Finals Carnival, following their outstanding performances: Thea M, Amy L, Micah D, Ivy W, Isaiah P, Kaden R, Murphie B, Louis S, Lucy R, and Lucas H. We wish our twilight participants all the best this evening.  

School Association AGM 

The Burnie Primary School Association is a group of parents, school staff and members of the broader community. The primary role of this group is to support staff with the development of directions and values of the school, through communication and providing feedback on policy and priorities. It is a great opportunity to work together for the benefit of all children who attend our school. 

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Association is to be held on Wednesday, 20th March commencing at 6 pm. All school community members are invited to attend, even if you are not interested in joining the committee. 

If you would like to attend, please phone the school office to let them know by Friday, 15th March  to register your interest.  

In partnership,  

Susan Barnard – Principal 

Our Prep to Year Two team, together have 144 combined years of teaching experience!  These dedicated and hard-working teachers are committed to providing the very best experiences for our students.  This term, they are focusing on the explicit and direct teaching of phonics and completing professional learning to ensure our practice is evidence informed to improve our students reading outcomes.

Here are some Snapshots of our summer holidays. We were practising our letter writing, by addressing our postcard to our teacher and remembering to use the conventions of languages; writing in sentences, using capital letters and full stops. Read about all the exciting things some of us got up to!

The following art work is a bird’s eye view of us doing survival backstroke in the pool, during the Swimming and Water Safety Program. Don’t we look great!!

On Monday the 26th of February the students in 3-4B participated in a series of running trials.  The students in 3-4B encouraged each other to aspire to put in their best effort and supported each other by cheering on their classmates and friends.

Last week we held our first assembly for 2024. We would like to acknowledge our student Representative Council for leading us through the assembly in what was their first official role. Our Prep to Year 2 students shared some of their learning. It was fantastic to see so families come along to acknowledge our students Our value focus for term one is 'Respect'. We are very proud of our students who received value certificates. Our year 3 – 6 assembly will be held in week 9 on Thursday the 4th of April. Please save this date!  

We are very proud of our value token recipients for showing RESPECT this fortnight. We have seen many of our students respecting each other by respecting our gardens and learning spaces, respecting each other’s emotions and respecting others’ opinions. 

SORA  

Did you know your child can get eBooks, eAudiobooks, comics and graphic novels for free? Ask us how!  

Try something new for Tasmania Reads Week, 17 to 23 March 2024! 

Discover and rediscover the joy of reading. 

Libraries Tasmania is excited to be celebrating Tasmania Reads Week in 2024! 

About Tasmania Reads 

Tasmania Reads is an annual week-long celebration filled with fun reading inspired events and activities for all ages across libraries and businesses statewide. Whether you read novels, recipes, newspapers, poetry, comic books or anything else, join the fun! 

This year we invite you to try something new. That might be reading a new genre, a different author or trying a new library program. 

Get involved 

Explore the Tasmania Reads program to find what’s on near you! 

Events and activities will be held from Sunday 17 March to Saturday 23 March 2024. 

Ready to try something new? Get started now by: 

• Sharing a photo of your favourite reading place on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #WhereDoYouRead 
• Becoming a library member 
• Starting a Book Group 
• Downloading an eBook or eAudiobook 
• Reading a book by a Tasmanian author 
• Researching your family history 
• Making your own Australia Reads logo 

National NAPLAN testing is in progress  for students in grades 3 and 5.  These Australia-wide, online assessments cover reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and mathematics.  Please talk with your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns about this. 

In weeks 5 and 6 during physical education lessons students in prep to grade 2 have enjoyed basketball clinics with guest coach Scott Knight. Scott is from the Burnie Tigers and visits Burnie Primary to teach basketball skills to students and discuss opportunities to play basketball in the local community. Students learn hand eye coordination skills, they learn to dribble, shoot a basket and pass a ball to a teammate using different types of passes. Our students had a lot of fun during their clinics! Below is some information for families if students would like to continue playing. On behalf of Burnie Primary, I would like to thank Scott Knight for volunteering his time to teach our students and talk to them about local basketball.

On Friday 8th March students in grade 3/4 and 5/6 participated in a 40-minute boat safety session, these sessions were run by MAST presenter Tony French. He discussed with our students how to be safe around water, boats and how to be prepared when planning to participate in aquatic activities. This session built on the knowledge gained on the final day of our recent Swimming and Water Safety Program in weeks 2 and 3, Tony French also instructed the session at the swimming program. On behalf of Burnie Primary, I would like to thank Tony French for his presentations to our students this term.

We had a great number of students who have signed up to play netball this year. Thank you to all the parents who have indicated that they were able to coach our netball teams. However we still require a netta coach for one of our netball teams. If you would like to coach a netta team can you please contact the schoool office on (03) 6433 3655.