Welcome back to Term 2, and what has been a very different start to the Term. I would like to thank all in our Burnie Primary School Community for supporting us and continuing to keep our community safe by where possible, keeping children learning at home. This Government and Public Health request is to help limit the movement of people in our community to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. This will continue until the Premier announces otherwise.

I have been so proud of all in our Burnie Primary School community in the way they have responded to these challenges placed before us. We are certainly living our vision for our school to be a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community.  As a teaching team, we have developed a mode of learning delivery that caters for the huge scope of different contexts that our learners and families face. We have a mode that uses the Seesaw app to be the communication tool for learning and communicating the ‘Weekly Learning Plan’. You would have noticed that our plans do not require the internet or the reliance on a dedicated device, and I would like to reassure families that the learning at home is the same as the learning that is occurring at school.

Next week, by 9:00am Monday, the week 2 ‘Weekly Learning Plan’ will be sent out via Seesaw. Students will also continue to be receiving feedback on their learning from their teachers who are looking forward to interacting with students.

I am pleased to say that Burnie Primary School's innovative mode of student learning delivery has been recognised especially for not being reliant on web based activity. As a school we also care for all of you, and part of our focus next week will be on the wellbeing of our students and families as we work together to move student learning forward. We have always acknowledged the value we place on the partnership we have in your child’s learning, and as we step through the recovery phases, I am looking forward to reflecting on this time on how we have worked together to improve our learning.

Finally we would like to remind you that your child’s teacher is still their teacher and is there to support the learning for your child, and I still continue to be their proud Principal of a strong resilient learning community that is well placed to move forward from these current restrictions with student learning at the centre of what we do.  

Andrew Starick
Principal

SCHOOL TERM DATES

Welcome back to Term two. Some words for the adults in our community asking how to ‘best’ support a child’s mathematics learning.

The way your child learns at home may be different from how they have been learning at school. As a parent or carer your role is not to replace the teacher. It is to support your child or young person’s learning provided by the school. We want you to know that you are an important partner in your child’s mathematics education. When you find ways to engage your child in thinking and talking about mathematics, you are providing an important key for unlocking their future success. Critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning ability and communicating mathematically are essential skills. Your children are familiar with these processes as they are planned for across all math lessons here at Burnie Primary School.

Some practical tips for parents (Taken from Doing Mathematics with Your Child, Kindergarten to Grade 6, 2019).

• Build strong, positive attitudes about math. When children feel positively engaged and successful, they are more likely to stick with an activity or a problem to find a solution.
• Begin with the planned activities that meet your child’s level of mathematical understanding. Early success in solving problems will build your child’s confidence. Gradually move to activities that provide more challenge for your child.
• If you and your child are more comfortable in a language other than English, use it. Your child will understand concepts better in the language that he or she knows best.

If you or your child require additional support to engage with the maths tasks in your Learning at Home packs, please do not hesitate to contact your classroom teacher.

MATHS CHALLENGE

Challenge: this weeks Maths Challenge can be sent back as a photo via email to Mr Johnston (E: ben.johnston@education.tas.gov.au).

Yin and Yang have been around since 200BCE, they come from ancient Chinese religion and philosophy. The dark and the light parts of the yin-yang symbol are opposites that complement each other. They have equal areas and the two bring balance.

We used drawing compasses to create our symbols and looked at elements that complement and balance, such as night & day and summer & winter.

Our staff want to say a massive thank you for the positive support we have recieved from our school community. The kind words, yummy food and respect given/shown towards our staff has been appreciated.

It has certainly made us proud to be a part of the Burnie Primary School Community.