On Tuesday, we had a visit from Her Excellency Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, and her husband Dick, who were really impressed by the high standards and quality of the educational provisions provided here at Burnie Primary School. We were selected for a visit on recommendation from our Secretary of Education as recognition of excellence and innovation in educational provision, before, during and after the restrictions were put in place for Covid-19 last term. We were able to showcase to her our coding and robotics program in the Makers Space, Tasmanian Aboriginal culture and history from Grade 4s and a Q & A with Grade 3FH, before finishing with a visit to Kindergarten where she enjoyed a game of hopscotch. She was suitably impressed with Burnie Primary School’s vision for our learners and how it reflects the skills and capabilities that are required for learners as they move through their educational journey and into the workforce.

With camps off the agenda for the rest of the year, we are still able to go on excursions. Grade 4 will start this with our on-country visits to Pinmatik / Rocky Cape and a follow-up excursion to the Arthur River/Kings Run and Preminghana next month. These on-country visits are a truly valuable way of taking the learning further as we learn from our Aboriginal guides the true history of Tasmania and the rich cultural heritage of our Tasmanian Aboriginal communities which is one of the oldest living cultures in the world.

Our School Association met again Tuesday evening and one major discussion point was our need for more classroom space as we look forward into the future to cater for our already ‘full’ school that will have to cater for the expected increase in ‘in area’ enrolments as our ‘intake area’ has been increased to Cooee Creek from next year, and takes in five new subdivisions. We have again submitted our proposal to the Department of Education, with support from Discovery Early Learning who run the day long and after school care, and the Burnie City Council who were able to provide some demographic projections for the new and proposed subdivisions in our intake areas. We are hoping in the current climate where stimulus packages are being proposed, that our genuine need for an upgrade of classrooms will be considered favourably by our Government.     

Being Safe is one of our school expectations. We have been concerned that during pick up times at the end of the school day, some parents are getting their children to jump in their cars whilst still on Van Diemens Crescent, or on the move in the school car park. We have a designated student pick up and drop off zone in our carpark to minimise risks during these times and we would appreciate your support in using this zone at the beginning and end of the school day. We appreciate the congestion during this time and thank you for your patience, especially during pickup but we believe it’s worth it! Also, we have seen an increasing number of students being dropped off to school before 8:30am in the mornings. Supervision of students does not begin here at school until 8:30am and we would appreciate it if students could be dropped off after 8:30am of a morning.

Andrew Starick
Principal

Assemblies Term 3
This term we are able to return to whole school assemblies for teachers and students. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions/requirements parents and carers are unable to attend. We apologise for this and hope that parents can attend assemblies again soon.

Launching into Learning
If you would like to join us please ring the Burnie Primary School office on 6433 3655 to book. Bookings must be made by 4pm Thursdays and families will need to book in each week due to physical distancing requirements.

Enrolment forms can be obtained by calling or emailing the school office or by visiting the 'Forms and Documents' tab on our Burnie Primary website and downloading the forms.

Please note: DoE Tasmania Intake Areas for 2021 have changed. Please contact office staff to confirm you are in Burnie Primary School Intake Area prior to filling in an enrolment form.

ScienceXart: Spot the Maths - Photography Competition

Be creative, spot the maths that is all around you….

To coincide with National Science week (August 15-23) and to celebrate mathematics and its prominence in science and society, the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Mathematical Sciences is hosting scienceXart: spot the maths, a photographic competition for school students of all ages.

Students at Burnie Primary school are invited to submit a photo entry for our in-house competition with all entries being submitted to the national competition.

Aim: To spot the maths in everyday life. Take a photograph of the maths and in 240 characters give a quick description of the maths that you have spotted.

How to enter:  Submit a photo and a 240-character description explaining the maths that is spotted in the picture to ben.johnston@education.tas.gov.au. Individual entries only, up to a maximum of three entries per individual.

Photos can be set up in advance, but you might also spot some maths on your way to school or around your house. Entries will be judged on creativity, mathematic merit, and demonstration of math/science through image and description.

Winners will be selected in the categories of Prep-2 and 3-6. All entries will be submitted to the national competition where prizes are available for the individual and their class.

For more information on the national competition please go to: https://www.science.org.au/sciencexart/spot-the-maths

School entries are open now and close August 31^st, 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr Ben Johnston
E: ben.johnston@education.tas.gov.au

Ideas for describing your picture: What is obvious in the photograph that does not need an explanation?  What is more abstract and may need an explanation? What is the important mathematics in the photograph? What are the different parts of the photograph that show mathematics? What is especially smart or creative about mathematics?

Ben Johnston
AST/Numeracy

We are excited to be partnering with Burnie Primary School. Subway Lunches will be available every Friday of Term 1, beginning Friday, 12 February 2021.

In three easy steps you can order your child’s lunch:

1. Sign Up at www.subsforyou.com
2. Register your child
3. Order lunch by 4pm every Thursday

Your student’s lunch will be delivered to the school at lunchtime.

Below are further instructions on how to order your child/s lunch. 

If you have any questions or queries regarding your account or placing an order please email contact@subsforyou.com or call Subway Burnie on  03 6431 2342.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge was extended this year until 14^th August 2020. Can students who have participated please return their forms ASAP to the Library so that their participation can be logged. Certificates and completion prizes will be sent out mid-September.

Wendy Crabtree
Library Technician

Grade 6 Leavers’ T-Shirts have now been sized and ordered. The winning t-shirt for 2020, voted by the students, was designed by Rhiannon Miles. Each t-shirt has screen printing on the front and the back including the individual names of all grade 6 students and your child’s name in a larger font on the back. 

Parents can pay for their child's t-shirt by sending cash to the school office or by calling the office on 6433 3655 and paying with Eftpos over the phone.

Due to the ongoing restrictions placed on the gathering of large groups of adults in schools Burnie High School has undertaken a transition video project so that we could still share with you the fabulous opportunities that are available at our school. Our priority for the project was to produce a genuine, unscripted and ‘real’ look inside our school, and for you to hear from some of our students and teachers about the BHS experience.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s transition to high school please do not hesitate to contact either Mr Kamil Douglas, Mr Daniel Warsing, Mr James Thompson or Mrs Fiona Gaby on 6431 2744. You can also reach them at the following email addresses;

kamil.douglas@education.tas.gov.au

daniel.warsing@education.tas.gov.au

james.thompson@education.tas.gov.au

fiona.gaby@education.tas.gov.au

Trudy Durkin
Principal
Burnie High School

BPS students have been very busy and nominated quite a few of our teachers for SeaFMs Apple for the Teacher. If you would like to vote for any of our nominated teachers, voting begins tomorrow, Friday, 14 August. Click the link below to vote.

Administration of medication MUST be authorised by a parent or guardian.

Non-prescribed medication, parents/guardians must complete the Authorisation for Administration of Student Medication Form A – non-prescribed.

For prescribed medication, parents/guardians must ensure that the Administration of Student Medication Form B – prescribed is completed by a doctor, pharmacist or practice nurse, and signed by the parent/guardian. Parents MUST ensure that the completed form is supplied to the school, or the school MUST NOT administer medication to the student. Form B is attached.

Medications supplied to a school MUST be in date (not expired), and in the original containers or in a Webster-pak prepared by a pharmacist. If medications are expired, or not in the original containers or Webster-pak, schools MUST NOT accept these medications.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting the school office.

Foster care is about providing a safe, secure, and stable environment for a child or young person when they are unsafe or unable to remain at home.

Baptcare operates a foster care program in Tasmania and we are in need of new foster carers to provide support to children and young people across the state.

There are lots of different options for providing foster care, depending on lifestyle and needs. Baptcare is here to support foster carers from the time of first call or email as well as providing training, answering questions, and offering ongoing support 24/7. Foster carers are required to be over 21 years of age, be an Australian resident/citizen, have adequate space in their home, no criminal record, and pass the police and relevant working with vulnerable persons/children check. There is no such thing as a typical foster care household and foster carers come from all walks of life.