Welcome back to what promises to be a Term packed with quality learning opportunities!

Next Wednesday Grade 5&6 students are being offered one such valuable  opportunity when Susan McLean, one of Australia’s leading experts in cyber-safety, will make a presentation to their classes.  

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that ALL PARENTS and CARERS attend the parent session next Wednesday 30^th October 6:30pm in the Makers Space. As parents and carers today, it is important to be informed about the risks for children while online, especially considering the high number of Burnie Primary students we know are accessing social media sites outside of school. This will be an adults only session due to the content discussed.   Thanks to the Parents & Friends who have organised this event for our school community, and who have covered the costs for this through accessing a grant, so there will be no cost to the school.

Transition to 2020 classes is a focus for us this term. We know that this helps start learning on a positive pathway. Our Pre-Kinder sessions start on Friday 8^th November, and provide parents and children starting kinder next year, with a taste of what to expect in their kindergarten year. Our Grade 6 students start their transition to Burnie High School throughout November in the lead up to their Orientation Day in December. We are planning for transitioning students here at BPS as well into next year’s classes. To help us with this planning process, one consideration we make as we undertake this complex process of constructing classes, is parent requests. If you have any information that may help us in this process, please put it down in writing or email burnie.primary@education.tas.gov.au, addressed to the Principal, by November 8, so that we can consider your requests when constructing 2020 classes. Teaching staff will not be finalised until later in the year so information about preferred teachers cannot be accepted, however we are aware that due to the learning needs of some students, consistency is important and we will take measures to ensure these needs are met. 

Obviously our car parking area is a busy place, especially at the beginning and end of the school day where students are being picked up and dropped off. A reminder to parents, grandparents and carers that this is a drop off and pick up area only, and if students are not in line then we ask you to either park or drive around to keep the flow of traffic moving. We are always looking at student safety when in and around vehicles and one way we have identified that may assist in this is by reverse parking in all school car parks.  Another way is to ensure we always use the zebra crossing. Please keep this in mind when accessing our school car parks for the safety of all. 

A reminder that next Friday,  November 1st, is a student free professional learning day. We will be continuing our learning and understanding of Inquiry based learning, and will also be reviewing our 2019 Operational Plan and planning for a successful 2020 school year, the last year of our School Improvement Plan 2017 – 20, and building on our vision as a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community.

Kinder S have been exploring their creative side by completing still life pieces of art.

The children have enjoyed looking and talking about the characteristics of daffodils and blossoms, then painting and collaging what they see.

Kinder S then went on a nature walk around the school and collected a selection of items from the environment to bring back to class and create beautiful nature collages. These experiences have engaged us in whole group discussions about how important it is to care for our environment. We have researched what happens when rubbish ends up in our oceans, and how we can do our best to try and make a difference, for instance, everyone did a fabulous job on our school incentive ‘Nude Food Wednesdays’. We were very proud to show how we remembered to eliminate 1 use plastic from our lunch boxes. Our interest in the environment will continue throughout term 4 as we begin learning about living and non-living things.

Congratulations to the followng students for their achievements in the Tasmanian Science Talent Search 2019. Makenzie Muir, Shakeeb Chapri and James Hyland have all been awarded a Merit Award.

Sianna Bester, Kinley Booth, Ava Crisp, Savannah Dynan Maya Hales, Max Hay and Lewis Rattray have received Encouragement Awards.

All these students will be invited to an awards ceremony at U-Tas Launceston next month.

Our P&F are conducting a Major Raffle this term. We have been offered donations from 20 businesses and indivuals resulting in a long list of prizes!

First prize is a Travel Voucher from RACT Travel Burnie valued at $2000. Ticket books are available at the school office, please call in collect as many as you feel you will be able to on-sell on the P&F's behalf.

Good luck!

Burnie Primary School Play Pod

At Burnie Primary School we are establishing a Play Pod in our school playground.

A Play Pod is a collection of loose parts that children use to play, create, invent and construct with at playtimes.

Loose parts are items that can be used in a multitude of ways and are not specific for their purpose. These include pallets, pipes, planks of wood, cable reels, rope, netting, buckets, tyres …. The list is endless.

This type of play experience is a core component of the Australian Curriculum and is a major focus for our STEAM curriculum in our school. Loose Parts play allows our students to develop essential life skills such as problem solving, innovation, hand-eye co-ordination, creativity, collaboration and leadership. Play using recycled and reusable items also helps our students to understand important concepts such as recycling and sustainability.

We are being supported in establishing the Play Pod by our school Parents and Friends. However, we are also seeking support from our school community in order to provide the resources for this exciting new learning opportunity. 

We would sincerely appreciate your support via a donation of any of the following items:

Any of these items can be delivered to school in the sealed area outside Grade 2 before school. Please see the office if delivering a big load.

Please contact Larissa Best at Burnie Primary School with any questions regarding donation to our Play Pod.

 Thank you in advance,

 Larissa Best

Burnie Primary School.