Dear Families, Students and Friends, 

We are so grateful for the community support at our recent Welcome BBQ.  It was a fabulous afternoon to welcome so many familiar and new people to our beautiful school space.  We were truly overwhelmed with the number of families (as evidenced by not taking one photo of the event!)  Thank you for joining us for an afternoon of celebration and connection.  The past four weeks have seen our learners settle into new classroom routines and I have been very impressed with the high-quality learning and wellbeing opportunities provided for our students. 

Last week we hosted our 3-6 Running Carnival (please see more information from Miss G later in the newsletter). The word in the playground is one of success and everyone enjoyed participating in the various events.  Next week, some of our students will represent our school at the North-West Primary Schools Sports Association Running Carnvial. If your child has been selected to represent our school, you will receive information about this in the very near future.  I thank Miss G and Miss Smith for the planning and preparation required to ensure that our students can participate successfully.  

Everyday Counts 

Start the year right by making every school day count. 

There are lots of things you can do to set your child up for success: 

• Make sure your child goes to school, every day 

Going to school every day gives your child every chance to learn and grow and connect with their mates and teachers. Its where bright futures start and where they’ll benefit the most. 

• Get them excited for school 

If you show a positive attitude and excitement towards school, your child will pick up on that. 

The most common thing we hear from students, of all ages, is that school is where they can:  

» spend time with their friends and teachers 

» create new and fun experiences 

» find their interests 

» learn new things 

» open up their options – for whatever future they want (whether that’s their dream job or to travel around the world). 

Share these positives with your child. 

• Talk to your child about school 

Open up a conversation with your child about what’s happening at school. It will help you to better support their interests and confidence in learning. If you show an interest in school, they’ll know that getting an education is important and valued. 

• Celebrate the milestones 

Big and small! Celebrate milestones such as making it through the first day or week of school. And remember: all milestones look different. If it’s a big achievement for your child, it’s important to recognise it. 

• Set up a time to talk to your child’s teacher or principal 

If you’re struggling to get your child to school, help is available. Please talk to us at school about your situation. We’ll support you in whatever way we can. Know when to seek help. There is no weakness in admitting you need help. If your child has completely disengaged with school, and not attending at all, there is support to help you. In the first instance, talk to us at school. 

At Burnie Primary all staff are committed to work in strong partnerships with families to ensure regular daily student attendance.  Please discuss with your child’s teacher or a member of our Leadership Team if you require further support with your child’s coming to school. 

“One of the most important things you can do to ensure your child has a bright future is to make sure he or she goes to school every day—and gets here on time.  It sounds simple, but it’s true. 

The correlation between school attendance and children’s achievement levels is well-established. The more time kids spend at school, the more likely they are to experience school success. 

As parents we need to make a commitment that our kids make the most of their precious time at school. That means that we send them to school every day, on time and ready to make the most of the school day. Of course, there will be times, such as illness or genuinely extenuating family circumstances, when kids should be away. But these need to be a rarity rather than the norm.” (Parenting Educator, Michael Grose) 

Thank you to the efforts of families in also getting ready for school and particularly with the strong support of wearing our school uniform (especially ensuring we have hats for play);  

Some mid-term reminders  

• Newsletters – will be published fortnightly on a Thursday. 
  We will regularly update important dates and school events to assist with organisation at home. This newsletter will be emailed to parents to the address provided on validation forms.

• Facebook – please like our school Facebook page ‘Burnie Primary School’’ for regular updates and news from school. 
• Seesaw- Are you connected? Please speak to your child’s classroom teacher if you are not connected to our major communication app. You should see some of your child’s evidences of learning and other important information on the app. 

• Duty of care – A reminder that our duty of care for students commences at 8:30am each day and concludes at 3:15pm. We thank you for your support to ensure you drop off and collect your children between these times. 
  If you require times outside of these times, please contact OSCC on 6430 5773 to find out about their before and after school care service. 

Susan Barnard
Acting Principal

Todd Rogers is looking for a few more orders for long sleeve polos, before they can place the order. If you would like a long sleeve polo please fill in the order form and send back to the office by Monday 6th March.

On Friday the 24^th of February 2023 Burnie Primary School held a 3-6 Running Carnival. The weather was hot and windy and students were excited to get up to the oval for the afternoon’s events. Students across the grades competed in long distance and short distance races with all students demonstrating their best efforts in all events. Our sports captains showed courage and leadership skills running two novelty throwing events. Leaders learnt two different throwing techniques in PE and were able to teach these skills to other students on the day. I would like to thank all the students for doing their best in all the events, staff for helping with recording, marshalling, and judging races, our groundsman Mick for marking the tracks on the oval and helping set up and pack up, and the sports leaders for running the novelty activities and helping set up and pack up. I would also like to extend our thanks to parents, carers and the community for coming along to support the students. In term 4 we are planning to hold a whole school novelties carnival similar to the one held in Term 4 2022. We hope to see many families attend this event as well.

Burnie Primary is please to be continuing our work with the Burnie Counts cluster of school (Somerset, Burnie High, Natone and Cooee). The aim of Burnie Counts is to build consistency of practice in teaching and learning for students entering Burnie High School. Please like the Burnie Counts Facebook page to keep up to date with tips and activities to support your student in mathematics.

Here are some simple ways to support their learning in maths.