Congratulations to our students who are part of the Moana Jr production.  The feedback from staff and students was that you were all phenomenal! Also, congratulations to all our students for how you represented our school values and expectations whilst at the performance, the community can see we are a respectful school whose students all give their best effort!

Parents and Friends BBQ

The Parents and Friends are helping us celebrate the end of the year with a BBQ lunch on Wednesday 24 November. There will be sausages and vegie burgers available. An order form will be sent home to each student next week.

Class placements 2022

In the coming weeks our teachers will be meeting to organise class groups for 2022. Our goal is to create equitable classes, by balancing gender, learning ability and social and emotional well-being. We have dedicated hard-working teachers who are collectively responsible for over 350 students, so decisions on class placement need to be suitable for the majority. No matter what grade or class your child is in, they will be taught by quality teachers in a school that expects all to givevtheir best effort.

Your child’s current teacher is best placed to makes decisions on class placements and they will make the best decision for all children at Burnie Primary. Due to this, we are unable to accommodate personal requests as accommodating everyone's personal wishes will not be in the best interest of all children.

Students will be able to nominate friends who they would like to be placed with and we will ensure that all students have at least one friend in their 2022 class.

However, if you feel there is special information that is important for us to consider, please put it in writing to the Principal by Friday 19 November. 

Remembrance Day

Students remembered fallen service men and women with a message from the SRC and a minute silence on the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day of the 11^th month.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

Lest we Forget. 

End of Year Assemblies

Tickets for our end of year assemblies are available to be reserved via links in this newsletter. If you are having difficulties accessing the tickets, please contact the office.

Independent Inquiry

Independent Inquiry into the Tasmanian Department of Education’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. I am writing to advise that a copy of the full Inquiry Report, with some protected information removed, has today been tabled in Parliament.

The contents of this communique may raise concerns and questions, or cause distress. If this is the case, you can seek advice and support from one of the options listed below.

• 1800 Respect – Call 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au for 24/7 phone and online crisis support, information and immediate referral to specialist counselling for anyone who has experienced or been impacted by sexual assault, or domestic or family violence
• Lifeline – Call 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au for 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention
• Sexual Assault Support Service Inc – 03 6231 1811/03 6231 0044 Community based service committed to providing high quality support and information services to survivors of sexual assault

As you may be aware, the State Government recently released findings and recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into the Tasmanian Department of Education’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. I am writing to advise that a copy of the full Inquiry Report, with some protected information removed, has today been tabled in Parliament.

It is important to note that the State Government previously determined that much of the information in the full report should not be released, for several reasons. This includes the fact that many people spoke to the authors of the report in confidence and did not necessarily give permission for their information to be shared or made public.

As many of them have legal protections that prevent the publication of their experiences without their express consent, the State Government chose to respect their privacy and protect their right to share their experiences only if they wish to.

It is also worth noting that the report contains information about schools that dates back as far as the 1960s. Some of this information was based on internal Departmental working documents. Not all of this relates to maters of child sexual abuse.

As a result, information in the report is not entirely accurate or reliable and could at times be misleading. It may raise individual issues and concerns for you or your family. Please rest assured that all our schools across the Department take the safety of all children and young people in their care seriously.

That said, we do not shy away from the fact that there is more we can do to ensure children and young people in all our settings are safe from the harm of abuse. We are committed to providing environments that protect children and young people in our schools.

We are deeply sorry for the historical abuse that happened in our schools, and apologise unreservedly to the victims and survivors. As an organisation, we have welcomed the findings of the inquiry, and we accept all 20 recommendations. It will help us to build on the strong practices we already have in place to better protect children and young people from the future harm of abuse.

This year, the Office of Safeguarding Children and Young People has been set up within DoE in recognition of the importance of safety and wellbeing for all children and young people in our care. We are committed to ensuring that we are an exemplary child safe organisation, across all our settings. We will all continue to work hard to correct the wrongs of the past and put in place measures to keep safe the children in our care. The views and voices of our children and young people will be front and centre in this.

Further information about the Department’s response to the Inquiry can be found on our website.

Supporting children and young people is our number one priority. If you or your child need support in relation to this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact me, or go directly to the Department’s Executive Director Safeguarding Children and Young People, Liz Jack, at safeguarding@education.tas.gov.au or on 6165 5570

If anyone has information in relation to child sexual abuse, they should immediately contact Tasmania Police on 131 444.

Tim Bullard - Deputy Secretary

Rochelle Cunningham

Acting Principal

Nurse Rob joins us every Friday at Burnie Primary

Did you know?

School health nurses work with the support teams of both primary and secondary schools and the Tasmanian Health Service.

School health nurses support schools to create a physical and social environment that promotes health and wellbeing and assists to improve the health and education outcomes for children and young people in Tasmania.

Focus for Primary Schools

• Vision and hearing checks.
• Health assessments.
• Providing advice and information to students, parents and school staff on children’s health, physical activity and nutrition.
• Local, state and national health promotion initiatives.
• Health education aligned with the Australian Curriculum including healthy relationships, body esteem, resilience and mental wellbeing, and drugs and alcohol.
• Assisting schools with the management of complex medical conditions.
• Addressing any medical issues that may be impacting learning.

Swimming and water safety is an exciting time of the year for both children and parents. Children not only learn invaluable water safety skills, they also learn to be independent when dressing, organised with their belongings and courageous when trying out a new skill. We ask that if parents wish to watch their child swim that you encourage these skills as well.

Please contact your child’s class teacher if you will be attending any of the swimming sessions.

Parents will not be able to enter the change rooms.

Attached are the recently distributed forms for the swimming program. We ask you to complete them at your earliest if not done so already.

Our school Breakfast Club commenced Monday 18 October and is helping 20-30 students each morning get a great start to their day of learning.

A special thank you to Ashgrove for donating the milk each week, and to Ms Franks for her donation of cereals and spreads.

We wish to invite volunteers to assist with our club. If you are available school mornings from 8.15am - 9.15am to help with set-up, serving and pack-up, please pass your name and availability onto the front office.

You will need to use the Check-in TAS app, and also sign in via our Kiosk.  There is a requirement to enter your WWVP card so please bring with you each time.

Georgette, Liz and volunteer Amina setting up for the morning !

Please select this link to book for the event.

Burnie Primary School - The Fathering Project (Dads Bowls Night) Tickets, Thu 18/11/2021 at 6:30 pm | Eventbrite

For 90 years, our School Banking program has helped children learn about money, reinforced the importance of regular savings and provided structure for parents to support their children to save.

Though the program continues to have strong support from schools, parents and teachers, recent decisions by some state and territory governments because of a review by the corporate regulator mean we are unable to continue providing programs in schools, and we have had to make a difficult decision to close our School Banking program for all government and non-government schools across the country.

Our School Banking program was established in 1931 at a time when having a bank account was not commonplace, and since then we have helped more than 15 million Australians take their first financial steps. This would not have been possible without the wonderful support we have received from schools like yours, including all the parents and volunteers, and for this we are deeply grateful. Thank you.

Even though this is a sad time, School Banking has taught so many young Australians, past and present, the value of money and we believe this should be celebrated. We have created a place for you to share your stories, fondest memories and lessons learnt through the program. To share your story and access our financial education resources, please visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking 

Even though the CommBank School Banking program will not be returning to your school after this year, you can continue to make deposits into your child’s Youthsaver account through online transfers or at any CommBank branch. If you need further information please phone 132 221 or visit your local CommBank branch.

• As the School banking program is closing, the last day for students to bring their banking to school will be Tuesday 30 November 2021.
• The final date for rewards will be on banking day - Tuesday 16 November 2021

Please advise the school office in writing : burnie.primary@education.tas.gov.au if your child/ren are not returning for 2022 academic yearr  This will allow us time to complete school/class planning for 2022 in Prep - Grade 6.

Do not hesitate in calling the school should you have any questions.

We are currently in the administration process for end of year correspondence, therefore ask if any parent/guardian has moved home address and not advised the school office, could you do so at your earliest convenience. 

Preferably by email burnie.primary@education.tas.gov.au

Congratulations to the following students for reaching:

25 nights reading

50 nights reading

PS - Heath

1W - Lachlan, Mackenzie

75 nights reading

PSJ - Billie

PS - Lenny, Marlee

1W - Jaxon, Nydin

5M - Max

100 nights reading

PSJ - Thea

1W - Ryan, Kenzie, Rafferty, Alexis

5M - Jem, Isabella

125 nights reading

PS - Marli

1W - Ryan, Kenzie

2T - Chelsea, Luka

150 nights reading

2T - Charlotte

5M - Ruby, Sienna, Hannah

175 nights reading

PSJ - Ashton

PS - Max, Ollie

4H - Imogen

200 nights reading

PS - Harry

2T - Willow, Eden

4H - Romilly, Ella

5M - Layla

225 nights reading

2T - Nikil, Sana

250 nights reading

2T - Matilda

275 nights reading

2T - Murphie