We are quickly approaching being halfway through the school year and it is this time where our students really start to shine in a diverse range of areas across the school. When you ask staff in schools why they choose a profession working with children, you will often hear responses about supporting students and helping them to achieve their best, in particular the joy it brings to witness the ‘aha’ or lightbulb moment students have when learning occurs. There has been a huge amount of joy and pride felt around our school recently as we have had many reasons to celebrate the success and achievement of our students.

A huge amount of our recent student achievement has been in the area of sport. We have had teams of students represent our school in both the Interschool Cross Country and Champions Cross Country Carnival. Our netball teams entered into the outside of school roster have done exceptionally well and quite a number of our students played in the Launceston Classic basketball competition and shared some great successes over the weekend. It is wonderful to see the diversity of the activities our students are engaging in, both in and outside of school.

Our Grade 5/6 football and netball teams have been showing up to training practice each week, despite the wet weather preventing us from playing against our competitors on game days. Each training, we see players eager to be there to refine skills and build the feeling of cooperation and team work amongst the group. These actions embody our Department value of Growth and we look forward to the next time we can play against our neighbouring schools.

The Swimming and Water Safety (SAWS) program for students in Grades 3-5 has had its first week and is going swimmingly (I absolutely could not resist!). Students have come prepared with all required gear to participate and have had a great week of lessons with swimming instructors. Our students have been an excellent representation of our school and have demonstrated the value of respect as they learn in a different environment. The program continues for a second week next week.

Some of our Library Legends performing duties in the library during a wet recess.

Our wonderful teacher assistant librarian, Sam, has recently spoken with all Grade 5/6 students advertising the role of Library Legends. Sam received a great amount of interest from students, and I was lucky enough to read the applications. We have some very persuasive students when it comes to demonstrating how legendary they all are! We will be seeing contributions from this group of leaders over the remainder of the year. Some of their main roles will include organising and storing books, listening to younger students read at Reader’s Club and contributing ideas and plans associated with the constant improvement of our library space. Currently, our Library Legends are working to create their personalised hi vis vests that let everyone know just how legendary they are, stay posted for updates on the final design!

So many of our students are reaching reading 100 nights for home reading and are choosing a fantastic book as a reward for their achievement. It is a great achievement for students to dedicate themselves to reading frequently and recording down their reading, evidence has shown strong links between reading daily and improved reading outcomes for students and it is something we value as a school. To support students with achieving this, we host Reader’s Club on Wednesday and Thursday mornings and are always welcoming of new volunteers to allow students to read aloud. My absolute favourite part of students reaching home reading goals is seeing the excitement and pride in students when the books are awarded in front of their class and the support that their classmates show in recognising them. It demonstrates the passionate and connected learners we have at our school and is a reminder of how fortunate we are to witness student success.

Sophie Sheehan
AST