My goodness me, what wintery weather we are having!  Thank you so very much for ensuring your children are coming to school in school uniform.  We know it can be sometimes tricky to get clothes dry, so if you need to borrow uniform items, just ask your child to pop into the office and we will help.

As write this, I am watching groups of children playing happily and cooperatively outside.  It's great to see children developing the skills to cooperate, negotiate, communicate, share and to engage in safe and fun play together.  Play is so important – it’s how we develop the skills to be happy and functioning adults. 

Did you know that having days away really makes it hard for children to make and keep friends?  Having days away from school also makes it hard for children to 'keep up' with their learning. 

Here’s what I can see on my computer today.  I worry that half of our students have missed more than 10% of school. I also note that we have a number of unexplained absences and I ask that you contact the office if you child is going to be away. It is government policy that all absences need to be explained.  

We do understand that children get sick, and obviously if they are unwell, home is the best place for them. We are grateful that in this time of increased respiratory infections you are keeping sick children home but if there are any other factors which are getting in the way of your child attending every day, please give us a ring and we will see if we can help. If you would like a report on your child’s attendance to date, please contact us or ask your child’s teacher.

As Book Week draws to a close I would like to thank Mrs Badger for the library displays that have 'enchanted' children during the week.

Kind regards

Last week we set off on a walk into the Glenorchy community. We walked past the Hungry Jacks site which is being demolished after the big fire. We saw lots of burnt rubble where the building used to be and we watched as an excavator was scooping it up and dropping it into a dump truck. 

We walked along Main Road. Everyone walked beautifully and enjoyed looking into the different shops. We were friendly and waved, saying “Good morning” and “Hello” to people we passed. We posted our letters into the big red post box. It was a very high stretch.

Our two kinder classes came together at the Council Chambers. The people were lovely and invited us into the council building! We went up some spiral stairs that went around in a circle and up into a special boardroom. We sat on fancy chairs and had a fruit box while the General Manager welcomed us and talked to us about some of the things they do, like upgrading the parks in Glenorchy! They even gave us some gift bags to take home - thank you Glenorchy Council!

Next stop was the Glenorchy Library where we were treated to a wonderful reading of 'The Magic Hat' by Mem Fox for Book Week. As we walked around the library we heard the story again and characters from the story were all there! What a great  way to start Book Week!

From the library we walked across the front of the Council and stopped to sing '[Hickory Dickory Dock' under the big clock. We walked back along the main road, past the shops, past Hungry Jack’s and back to school where we saw the new Child and Family Centre at the end of our playground from a different angle.

Did you know there is a game called Blind Cricket and that it has been played in Australia for over 100 years?

Blind Cricket is played by bowling underarm using an 'audio ball' which is a hard white ball filled with bells so vision impaired people 'hear' the ball. Bowlers call "Batter ready?" and must wait for the "Yes" reply before calling "Play" and bowling the ball.

This week our grade 5/6 classes were able to experience the game with help from Sunny and Dylan from Blind Cricket Tasmania. Dylan is part of the Tigers state representative squad of Blind Cricket and is set to play at the national level.

During the game the students on the batting team wore glasses that altered their vision, some glasses blurred their vision and others had only tiny pin pricks so their vision was very limited, giving them some idea of the vision of players like Dylan.

Everyone got the chance to bat and field as well as having the opportunity to bowl to a state cricketer!

At Glenorchy Primary we love to celebrate Book Week with BOOKS! - so Prep Morrisby and Prep-1 Walters ventured off on a walk to the Glenorchy Library.

Of course our walk took us past the Hungry Jacks site and there was much excitement from the children as the watched the diggers and trucks cleaning up the site.

At the library we listened to the story 'The Magic Hat' by Mem Fox. Our children were very excited to find characters from the book hiding in the library shelves!

Our students from 4 Reid and 4-5 Watson were excited to head off on an excursion to the city to take part in the STEM (science/technology/engineering/maths) activities at the Festival of Bright Ideas. This annual festival celebrates the important role STEM plays in our everyday lives and aims to cultivate the curiosity of life-long learners of all ages!

It certainly is a festival with a difference - our students were able to experience activities and exhibits that would whiz, bang, fly, crawl, swim or maybe even explode. 

Every Monday and Tuesday afternoon for the rest of term the Hull Street car park boom gate will be closed to cars entering or leaving from 1:45 - 2:20pm. This is to ensure the safety of our students as they make use of the bike track as part of their Wheelie Workshop session.

It is survey time again! Each year we ask you to complete a survey telling us what you think about our school. Please follow this Link to complete your survey.

This term our Gross Motor session has moved from Thursday morning to Tuesday 8:45am - 9:30am. All of our other sessions are remaining the same.

Do you have a little one that will be joining us in Kinder in 2025? Our Pre Kinder session have started every Thursday - 9:30 - 11:00am in our Kinder Blue room. These sessions are facilitated by one of our Kinder teachers, Mrs Robins, and is a great opportunity to begin the transition to school.

If your child was born in 2020 please complete an enrolment form for Kindergarten next year and bring it along to the office with ID documents. Forms are available from LiL sessions or the school office.