This time of year gives us all a chance to reflect on the achievements in learning for the students and for us as a school. Student summary reports go home tomorrow, and as mentioned in the last newsletter, they will be without the comments, as directed by the AEU to highlight the need for more support staff and teachers to reduce our class sizes. I have been impressed with the high levels of student achievement and development within their grades, and within themselves as young people in our school community. I have also been so impressed with our Grade 6 students this year and the way they have conducted themselves as student leaders in our community. I feel strongly that every Grade 6 student is set up for success not only in High School but for life with their strong grounding from Burnie Primary School. We look forward to seeing many of you at our Celebration Assemblies on Tuesday 18^th December.

Next Thursday (last day for students) we celebrate this learning with our ‘Big Day In’ where students will  choose from the vast array of activities available to them. We have a splash zone on the oval with waterslide and sprinkler action, an adventure zone including bush bank play, Archery, Reptile Rescue display, and various games as well as displays from Tasmanian Ambulance Service, Tasmanian Fire Service and Tasmania Police. There will also be a chill out zone with art, craft, sensory activities, sing star, dance just to name a few. Thanks to all those parents that have offered to help. We ask for students to be dressed appropriately with shoulders covered. 

We are catering for a smooth transition into the 2019 school year. Our transition day is on the second last day of term, Wednesday 19^th December. Students will spend the day with their 2019 class in the classroom they will be in, and where possible, with their 2019 teacher. This will allow time for not only practical and organisational things like knowing where my bag goes at the beginning of the new school year, but also will provide a start to building those quality learning relationships that enhance learning and allow classes and teachers to hit the ground running in the 2019 school year.

Our 2019 Teachers will be;

Kinder                 Mrs Amanda Hyland         Ms Anita Snooks

Prep                    Mrs Rachel Sykes            Mrs Clare Smith / Mrs Rachael Johnson

Grade 1               Mrs Diane Williams          Ms Kendall Hall / Mrs Larissa Best (AST)

Grade 2               Miss Rae Tevelein            Mrs Cathryn Parke

Grade 3               Mrs Susan Woodward       Mrs Liz Fidler

Grade 4               Miss Andrea Jacobson   Mr Ben Johnston (AST) / Mrs Chenoa Hill

Grade 5               Miss Stephanie Hanson Mrs Megan Naylor

Grade 6               Mrs Corina Van Essen    Mrs Sue Smith

Flying Start Team  Mrs Rachael Johnson, Mrs Emma Constantine, Mrs Gayle Groom                                            

Physical Education   Mr Stephen Dome (AST)

Music                     Ms Kathleen Mathews

Assistant Principal   Mr Andrew Woodard

Principal                 Mr Andrew Starick

We have had a number of staff changes for next year. Mr Andrew Woodard returns as Assistant Principal next year, Mr Stephen Dome continues at BPS in an AST role and PE, and Mrs Clare Smith, Mrs Cathryn Parke, Mrs Megan Naylor and Mrs Sue Smith have transferred into our school community.  We would like to express our thanks and best wishes to Mrs Pietta Nicholls who will be transferring to Penguin District School, after an extended period of dedicated service to Burnie Primary School and Mrs Tameika Munday, who has won a state-wide role in the ‘Blended Learning’ curriculum team for 2019. Miss Clair Jones is transferring to Hobart and we wish her well in her new adventures. Mrs Maree McCall has accepted a transfer to Parklands High School and Mr Klay Naylor is awaiting the news of his next teaching appointment. I am certainly looking forward to our 2019 School year, to enact our school expectations of Best Effort, Positive and Safe, so that we achieve our vision of a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community.

Season’s greetings to all over the break and I look forward to catching up in the New Year!  

Andrew Starick 

Two BPS Basketball representative teams were selected to participate in State Champs in Launceston on the 1^st & 2^nd of December. Both teams went extremely well, and whilst missing out on the grand final game, both teams came 3^rd overall.

The 5/6 boys coached by Stuart Rattray entered the State Basketball Championships in Launceston undefeated after winning two tournaments throughout the year although they knew that this was going to be their biggest test.

The team of Samuel Plapp, Emig French, Donavon Taylor, Jonty Hayes, Lewis Rattray, Maguiar Burns, Tate Young and Oliver Rattray started very well defeating Holy Rosary 51 to 37.  They backed this up with another good win against Sacred Heart Ulverstone 40 to 27.  Their final pool game was against Sacred Heart Launceston for top spot in pool B.  Despite the boys playing a fantastic and highly skilled game they went down 51 to 58.  This meant they finished second in pool B and would play the winner of pool A in their semi-final on Sunday.

Riverside was their opponent in the semi-final and they quickly took a double figure lead which despite Burnie showing great determination and perseverance we were not able to catch up eventually going down 33 to 53.  This result meant that we were now playing off for 3^rd spot against Stella Maris.

Again our boys showed great resilience and continued to play as a TEAM which was important to their success and finished the tournament with an impressive 50 to 35 win meaning that we finished 3^rd in the state which is an outstanding effort. Well done to all team members! You should be proud of your achievements on the court both in the skill you display and the respectful way you conduct yourselves.

Some of the high scorers for the tournament were Emig French 93pts, Samuel Plapp 71pts, Lewis Rattray 31pts and Jonty Hayes 19pts. Special mention to Oliver Rattray who filled in for this tournament scoring 7pts including a great 3 pointer!

Huge thank you to Stuart Rattray who has coached the team through three tournaments this year and developed both their basketball and Sportsmanship skills.

Clair Jones coached the Girls Team and was thrilled with the sportsmanship and hard work the team demonstrated. The students represented Burnie Primary School extremely well and overall the weekend was very enjoyable.

 Results for the girls were (our score first):

59 – 24 vs Sacred Heart Launceston

41 – 27 Vs Mt Carmel

33 – 40 vs OLOL

50 – 30 vs Riverside

The top scorers for BPS girls were:

Charli Davis – 93 points

Abbie Weller – 31 points

Aviva Ross – 24 points

Lottee Rolls – 20 points

Friday the 30^th of November saw a nervous but eager bunch of talented cricketers board the bus at Burnie Primary at 7.45 to head to Launceston for the Woolworths Cricket Blast School Cup State Final.

The team was comprised of Emig French, Samuel Plapp, Cooper Pilgrim, Lachlan Jones, Kane Walsh, Ella Scolyer, Max Hay and Brodie Dick with emergencies Maguiar Burns, Aayush Timalsina and Lachlan Burgess.  Unfortunately Jonti Dolting was unable to participate due to a fractured radius. 

The Woolworths Cricket Blast School Cup is a very fast and entertaining style of cricket of 8 overs per side.  Every player bowling 1 over each and batters batting in pairs for two overs, if a batter is out they continue to bat for their 2 overs however the fielding team is awarded 5 runs.  There are also free hits for no balls and wides and designated scoring zones in which the runs scored are doubled.

Our first game was against St Finn Barr’s. The team batted and fielded very well and we all stuck to our game plans. In the end the runs scored of the bat were very even however we took about 10 more wickets which enabled us to progress to the semi-final against Corpus Christi.

The semi-final was definitely a step up in standard. We batted first and found it challenging to score as freely as we were able to in the first game however all batsmen persevered and with some terrific late hitting we scored a competitive total.  Corpus Christi started their innings very well and I think they passed our score however our players showed great resilience and determination which resulted in us taking 8 wickets in the last 12 balls which gave us 40 runs enabling Burnie to record a 15 run win!!

The Grand Final was against Launceston Grammar. Again we batted first and made a very quick start. Despite their bowlers getting on top in the later part of our innings we batted very sensibly and only lost 2 wickets.  Three quick wickets early in our bowling innings saw us get off to a very good start however they had some very talented big hitting batsmen who managed to push their score past ours.

I would like to congratulate our students on a terrific achievement, being 2^nd in the state is an outstanding effort.  Whilst our skills were of a high standard it was their behaviour and their attitude of support and encouragement towards one another, their sportsmanship and humility when winning that made it a pleasure to coach this group.

As part of our Swimming and Water Safety Programs this term we had Surf Lifesaving Tasmania and Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) come in and talk to some of our students.

 Surf Lifesaving Tasmania spoke to Grade 1 and 2 students about being safe at the beach, sun safety and recognising signs that may be displayed on beaches. They spoke about rips and what to do if you get caught one. They also talked about general safety in other aquatic environments such as rivers, dams, lakes and pools.

 MAST worked with Grade 5 and 6 students. Students learnt what things they need to do when preparing for a boat trip (e.g. checking the weather, boat check, equipment to take and telling someone where you are going and when you will be back). Chris showed students how to use a range of safety equipment including life jackets, flares and an EPIRB.

 If you would like more information on MAST you can go to their website www.mast.tas.gov.au. Surf Lifesaving also have a website www.slst.asn.au.

Our first game of cricket was a rescheduled game away against Somerset on Thursday the 15^th of November.  Batting first with a lush outfield made scoring a challenge however with some late order hitting from Samuel Plapp we were able to make 7/81 with Jonti Dolting 10 retired, Samuel Plapp 18 retired being our highest scorers.  Our bowling and fielding were terrific and we restricted Somerset to a score of 64 all out with Max Hay 1/6, Brodie Dick 1/14, Lachlan Jones 1/15, Maguiar Burns 3/6 and Jonti Dolting 2/3 leading the way with the ball.

Our first home game for term 4 was against Cooee.  We fielded first this time and put in an awesome bowling performance dismissing Cooee for 36, this included a hat trick!! (3 wickets in 3 balls) by Lachlan Burgess. The best bowling performances were Lachlan Burgess 3/1, Emig French 3/7, Jonti Dolting 1/1, Lachlan Jones 1/1 and Cooper Pilgrim 1/1.  In reply we again batted well scoring 6/78.  The best batting came from Lachlan Burgess 8 retired and Lachlan Jones 6 retired.

Our third game was away against Stella Marist 1. This time we were in the field first and again we put in another excellent effort with the ball restricting Stella Marist to 5/37 off their 20 overs. Brodie Dick 1/1, Emig French 1/5, Samuel Plapp 1/0, Lachlan Jones 1/2 and Lachlan Burgess 1/2 sharing the wickets.  In reply Burnie made 4/81 with Emig French 17 retired, Max Hay 7 retired and Samuel Plapp 6 retired being our leading run scorers.

Our final game of the year was a home game against Stella Maris 2.  We won the toss and put them into bat. They made some quick runs early however with some good bowling and terrific fielding we managed to restrict them to 5/64 off their 20 overs.  Our wicket takers were Emig French 2/7 and Lachlan Jones 1/5.  There were also two run outs both well fielded by Cooper Pilgrim and thrown to Kane Walsh.  In reply our batsmen managed to pass the 100 mark for the first time this term scoring 9/111.  The leading run scorers were Samuel Plapp 27 (including two 6’s), Emig French 18, Aayush Timalsina 9 and Max Hay 9.

Congratulations have been extended to our school for our exceptional participation in this year's kids' race. A total of 28% of our schools' students ran in the annual 5km race held in October. Intersport have sent the school a handsome voucher as a result of this high participation success.

We wish you all a happy and safe holiday break and look forward to seeing you again in 2019.