Principal's Report to the Assembly

20I9 has been a fantastic year of learning for Burnie Primary School. It has been the third year of our 4 year school improvement plan to enact our vision of a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community. This strategic planning looks far beyond the year 2020, but also lays the foundation for our incoming Kinder students next year to be prepared in the year 2033, the year when they will complete year I2, for not only a life of work but a life of worth. We are equipping our students with the skills, attributes, understandings and habits of mind not just to prepare them for a future job, but to have the abilities to create their own jobs and influence their own futures.  Our mission to provide engaging learning environments which develop lifelong learners who will contribute positively to communities captures this.

The foundations of innovation lie in the ability to be able to collaborate in a wide variety of situations, and to acknowledge and develop the creativity we all possess to be able to solve problems. Innovation is then bringing those ideas and thoughts to life, and producing actions that solve problems.

In this the third year of our School Improvement Plan, we declared it the year of collaboration. We have seen not just students but teachers working productively together to improve student outcomes. We know that when we learn and reflect on that learning together, and provide productive feedback, that results, outcomes and practice improve.

As we reflect on our School Improvement Plan this year, it is going to be a really exciting year for Burnie Primary School in 2020! It will be declared the year of Inquiry. An inquiry mindset encompasses all areas of the curriculum and our lives. To inquire allows us to solve problems, and this will be a key to the success of not only our year next year, but for students’ success in 2025 when our current Grade 6 students finish their year 12 year. 

We will be facilitating inquiry through the whole school in a number of different ways. When it becomes a habit of mind, harnessing an inquiring mind can become a powerful thinking and learning tool that facilitates thinking of a higher order, and results in actions with purpose.

Our school vision for a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community, relates strongly with the Department of Education’s commitment to inspire and support all learners to succeed as connected, resilient, creative and curious thinkers.

Any plan is only as good as the people who enact it, and we are blessed to have such a talented team of adults here at Burnie Primary School that care for and nurture your children. My thanks goes out to all the staff here for their commitment to ensuring that student learning is maximised, and for their genuine care and concern for each and every child here as a person.

Of course teams change and evolve and this year we farewell Miss Andrea Jacobson and thank her for her fine contribution to the lives of so many students here at Burnie Primary School and wish her well as she takes on new educational challenges at Hagley Farm School. At the same time we welcome Mr Thomas Mansfield to our talented team in 2020. We would also like to acknowledge Mrs Larissa Best who will be on long service leave for the first half of 2020, for her passion and leadership in our school community.

I would finally like to acknowledge the whole Burnie Primary School community for their support of the highest quality learning for the most important people in the world – the fine students.

Seasons greetings to you all.    

Today marks 45 years of teaching for Miss Tevelein. For more than half of these years have been as the infamous 2T at Burnie Primary.

Previously, from 1996 Miss T taught at West Somerset Primary for 15 years, and she was based at Smithton Primary School from 1975-1980.

If Miss T's classes have averaged 25 students per year, Miss T has personally taught at least 1,125 local students, and we are sure has influenced  many, many more.

Congratulations Rae on this incredible milestone, you are an inspiration!

Week 2, Term 4 both Grade 5 classes were informed that we would be doing a big project on a country from either North America or Europe. A couple of days later we got to decide what country we would do research on.

We started off with our rough copies in our HASS books, finding lots of research the more we went on. We all learned a lot from this experience. After working really hard to find the answers we needed, we were able to write a good copy in our neatest handwriting.

We spent about 6 weeks on them including sticking our good copy onto a piece of coloured card of our choice. We printed out some pictures to represent the country we chose. When we had finished our outstanding posters we then got to prepare a food that was traditional or originally made in our country. We all cooked some amazing dishes, to be honest we were all better cooks than Gordon Ramsay. (Just less mean and rude )

Then finally on the 5^th of December 2019 we held the Grade 5 Country Expo. All the posters were set up and ready to be viewed. We brought in a bunch of different and delicious looking foods. When the morning block started we were all pumped up and ready to explain our posters to Preps, Grade 1’s, Grade 3’s, Grade 4’s and Grade 6’s. We all did a great job representing our posters and explaining lots of different things about our country and the differences between our country and Australia.

We had classes visiting us and even some parents that came to see our great work until the last block when we presented our foods to others and had a bit of a feast. We got to taste lots of different things that we had never tried before. All the dishes were very different. Finally we were ready to pack up and get the classroom clean again.

After all that we were all really proud of ourselves and each other for the great work we had done.

• Written by Mia Styles.

SWIMMING LESSONS 2019

TLC AQUATICS

Infants, Toddlers, School-age, Stroke

1^st Term 2019 Commences 3^rd February

School Holiday Program 6-10 January!

*Private Lessons, Family Swim, Group Hire and Birthday Parties*

Austswim Qualified Instructors

0459 333 550 Or swim@tlcaquatics.com.au