Welcome to our 2024 School Year!

It was truly exciting to welcome everyone back to school last week on Thursday 8 February (and for some Kinders, on their first day on Tuesday 13 February) … including both our familiar faces of TCPS children and families, along with children, families and staff who have joined our school community for the very first time!

I do hope that the holiday break included some enjoyable and restful times with my best wishes extended for a great year ahead for all at Table Cape Primary!

Starting a new school year is both exciting … and a lot of work. Thank you to all Staff for the tremendous effort in preparing our school and school community for the year ahead – so many fresh new opportunities for students and staff!

Thank you in advance to all families for your preparation in sending children every day in uniform, with their hats and with everything they need to make successful ‘connections’ in their new class.

Good attendance habits can sometimes be hard to stick. But creating a solid routine, from the start of Term 1, can set your child up for success for the year ahead.

Check out these tips for starting the year off right.

⭐ Make every school day count

⭐ Get your child excited for school

⭐ Talk to your child about school

⭐ Celebrate the milestones

⭐ Talk to your child’s teacher or principal

⭐ Know when to seek help.

Find out more here: anything.tas.gov.au/schools

#BrightLivesPositiveFutures #EverySchoolDayMatters

Summary of our ‘Back-to-School’ Practices for our Safety & Wellbeing:

1. Classroom external doors are the main entry and exit points for all children and parents/carers for drop-off and pick-up times at school. No internal use of corridors before and after school remains in place for all people except Staff

2. Classroom doors open from 8:30am and the learning day starts at 9am. The end of our student's school day is 2:45pm (All late arrivals or early departures must go to the school office)

3. ALL children and adults who are unwell are NOT to come to school – please inform the school office about the reason for a student absence

4. HATS on for Terms 1 & 4 - please ensure you have labelled your child's hat

5. Canteen is OPEN Tuesdays to Fridays (4 days this year) and is closed Mondays

6. We are really encouraged to see so many students choosing to walk, scoot and ride to school (where possible and age appropriate) – all healthy lifestyle choices. With each of these ways of travelling to school there are also safety considerations to discuss and follow to ensure your child’s safety and to minimise risks.  We ask that all students using scooters, skateboards (and board variations) and bikes wear a helmet to and from school.  Once students enter our school grounds, we ask that they get off their mode of transport and walk into school to avoid collisions on our pathways.  Bikes should then be secured in the bike rack and other devices can be carried to classroom storage areas – these are not used again during the school day.                                  A reminder also to students that whilst waiting to enter the school buildings or when leaving at the end of the day we ask that they do not share their bikes or boards with friends on our school grounds to avoid any accidents or issues.  This also helps keep everyone safe when they are walking to and from school.

7. Walking pathways around our school are defined by our white concrete areas (mostly around all buildings). This simple concept of ‘walk’ on the white zones (pathways) and run on the black asphalt and grassed areas (play areas) is a way to help avoid any unnecessary accidental collisions with all members of the school community. Please encourage this schoolwide safety practice when on the school grounds with your child/ren.

What are our DECYP Values?

In early 2023, DECYP Staff, children and young people were asked ‘who do we need to be’ to ensure our children and young people have bright lives and positive futures, and what are the values that we need to be guided by.

More than 5,700 responses came through, and these responses directly informed the development of our DECYP Values. “Our values represent the foundation of our department’s culture and guide us in all that we do. They have been decided by us, and we are all responsible for embedding them in our ways of working.”

At Table Cape, we have commenced our ‘monthly spotlight focus’ on a DECYP Value to ensure we develop our awareness and embrace our new values across 2024 in all that we do at school. “Having a consistent set of values across all DECYP sites will help to provide surety for our children and young people, as well as our staff. It will also help provide a strong foundation for the values-based culture we are aiming to build.”

Our school focus Values for Term 1 are Connection and Courage.

What does the Connection icon mean? 

The Connection icon was drawn for DECYP by local Palawa artist, Tanya Harper.  

The outer circles on the icon represent the Aboriginal nations of Lutruwita and other living things, the land, and waterways.  

The design depicts the interconnection between these elements. It shows that, although we may have different backgrounds, experiences and diversity, everything is connected and what we do impacts others. Together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  

In response to the DECYP consultation question of ‘who do we need to be?’, some of the strongest themes from our staff and students related to teamwork, working together, building relationships, and growing our sense of belonging. Tanya’s artwork speaks strongly to these themes, as well as the importance of strong cultural connection. 

Over each term, Values - Student Group Meetings occur fortnightly for Prep to 2/3 and weekly for classes 4 to 6. At each meeting, class teachers will present their Values award to a student recognised for being a positive role model to others for ‘living the focus Value’ in their daily school life.

Prep to 2/3 Playground Update

Families will have noticed that some areas of the early years’ playground has bunting around it to restrict use and play. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming soon…

We are an Anaphylaxis ‘Aware School’

Our school community plans and provides a ‘duty of care’ for all students who require additional support for anaphylaxis - for all students who have a life-threatening allergic reaction to identified foods, medications or stings, and requiring an immediate treatment of an EpiPen medication.

We have a number of children from Kinder to Grade 6 who have a life-threatening allergic reaction to foods containing either nuts, eggs, specific fruits, milk, shellfish, seafood, or salmon.  We have in place some key management strategies and protective practices to ensure that we can minimize the risks to keep our students safe at all times.

These include:

• Anaphylaxis Aware Posters/Signs clearly visible in and around all classrooms and our school
• Anaphylaxis awareness information sharing with all families
• All students washing their hands before and after eating morning tea and lunch
• Students eating in their classrooms prior to recess and lunch; with exception for any ‘finishing off’ eaters to move to seats on our hard surface areas of the playtime
• Students do not share food from each other’s lunch boxes
• Our classroom eating areas are cleaned after eating recess and lunch each day
• Table Cape Primary staff have been trained to administer an EpiPen in case of an emergency

We request the support of our entire parent community to make careful choices about the foods placed in every child’s lunchbox.  Please help us to minimise the risk of harm from school lunchboxes where possible, by not including foods in sandwiches or snacks that have nut or nut related products (nuts (peanuts, cashews, pecans, walnuts), Nutella, peanut butter, fruit & nut mixes, ...)  but rather save these for when children are at home.  If any of these foods are the only choice for your child, then please discuss with them about safe eating practices at school (i.e. not sharing foods and leaving crumbs etc).

We also have a number of children in our school who have been diagnosed with a severe life-threatening reaction to all nuts and nut products – from either taste or contact with the food. Our students’ families feel very reassured that we have established school wide awareness program/practices in place for severe allergy conditions.

If you would like to have more information on how you may be able to support us in keeping all our students safe or some alternative products available, please feel welcome to discuss this with myself or your child’s class teacher. Keeping all students safe at all times is a priority for every member of our school community and we appreciate your support in this important wellbeing matter.

2024 Staffing Update

All staff look forward to fostering and developing strong and positive relationships with our families. This year we also welcome the following new staff joining our school community:

• Anna Davis – teaching Kinder A
• Jennifer Golledge – teaching Prep B
• Pippa Mills & Laura Willcox – teaching 6A
• Georgie Smedley – teaching Visual Arts
• Imogen Beswick – UTAS Teaching Intern in 1A
• Catherine Grining – Social Worker
• Nathan Langley – School Psychologist
• Emma Green – continuing appointment as School Business Manager

Celebrating Student Success…

Waratah-Wynyard Council - Australia Day Awards

“Paityn has been named Young Citizen of the Year. Her participation in the Great Cycle Challenge, a nationwide event organised by the Children’s Medical Research Institute for Childhood Cancer Research, saw her ride over 400km and raise over $2000 for the charity. Her achievement a testament to her determination and altruistic spirit.”  Congratulations Paityn!

It is particularly pleasing for me to hear of the many outside achievements of our students – so please either encourage your child to let me know about their achievements or parents, please send me a brief note about their successes so they can be shared with our whole school community in our newsletter.

NAPLAN 2024 – Grades 3 & 5

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 13 and 25 March 2024.

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

NAPLAN is now held in March so schools can have access to results earlier in the school year; and so they can be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online

NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results. One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN.

Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging. Please note that students in Year 3 complete the Writing Test on paper.

A Parent/carer information brochure will be sent home to families this week.

Please contact the school (either class teacher/s or Jessie Type-Farrell, who is our NAPLAN Coordinator) if you have any further queries about your child’s participation.

Finally today, a couple of reminders for all families...

• Breakfast Club operates daily from 8:30am to 8:55am in the Large Multi Area
• Our School’s Staff and Accessible parking is not for any drive-through ‘drop-off’ or’ pick-up’ or for family parking. Please use the allocated parking spaces on either side of Gibbons Street and ensure everyone uses the School Crossing
• Please remember that the school staff assume duty of care of your children from 8:30am each school morning. If you are transporting your child/ren to school, we ask that you please arrive between 8:30am and 9:00am
• Grades 3 to 6 Swimming and Water Safety Program – 10 days commencing from Monday 26 February to Friday 8 March
• Our School Photo Day is next TUESDAY, 20 February!
  All students will have an individual photo taken on our Photo Day regardless of if they are ordering or not

Once again welcome to our 2024 school year …. are we are really looking forward to a positive and rewarding year for all students!

Lynette Grundy Principal

Book Club

Issue 1 of Book Club has been distributed Wednesday. Please bring your order and money to office by Friday 23 Feb, or order online at www.scholastic.com.au.

If you have any questions around Book Club please contact the school office on 6442 3377 or table.cape.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Bek Targett and Kristie Poke for their many years of service,  assisting with Book Club, your time and dedication is much appreciated.