Franklin Primary School Newsletter – Principal’s Update

Dear Franklin Families,

As we move through Term 4, I’m delighted to share some of the exciting learning and community events happening across our school.

Celebrating Student Growth: DIBELS & PAT Assessments

Over the last two weeks, students have been engaging in the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) and PAT (Progressive Achievement Tests) assessments. These tools help us understand each learner’s progress in Literacy and Numeracy, and guide our teaching to meet individual needs. We’re proud of the effort and focus our students have shown—these assessments are a valuable part of our commitment to evidence-informed teaching.

Curriculum Overviews Shared

Each class has now shared their Term 4 Curriculum Overview, outlining the key learning areas and focus topics for the term. These overviews provide families with a clear picture of what students will be exploring, and how they can support learning at home. Thank you to our dedicated teaching team for making these plans visible and accessible.

Whole School Swimming Carnival – Team Rivers Triumphs!

Our recent Swimming Carnival was a fantastic celebration of school spirit, teamwork, and aquatic skill. Congratulations to River Blue for taking out the win! The cheering, sportsmanship, and participation from all students made it a memorable day. A big thank you to staff and volunteers who helped make the event run smoothly and parents and community for their amazing support on the day.

On the Water: Rowing on the Huon River

Our Grade 5 students have begun their On the Water rowing program, taking to the beautiful Huon River to learn the fundamentals of rowing and boat safety. This program not only builds physical skills but also fosters resilience, teamwork, and a connection to our local environment. We’re grateful for the support of our community partners of the Living Boat Trust in making this opportunity possible.

Thank you for your continued support of our school. We look forward to sharing more highlights as the term progresses.

Warm regards,
James Milne
Principal – Franklin Primary School

It's been a busy 2 weeks in the kitchen and garden.

Another fortnight has passed us by, and we only have 18 days left of Kinder! We have been enjoying making our way to the big playground sometimes to get used to being out there with all the other students. The playground there is lots of fun, with the slides being a firm favourite.

In class we have continued to observe our pea seeds and have been recording the changes. We have been learning some topic specific vocabulary for what has been happening to our seeds, such as germination, roots, shoots, stem. We had a germinated seed that was preserved to look at.

We have completed our noticing about how our body feels in different zones of regulation and have begun to create our personal toolboxes of strategies we can use to make ourselves feel better.

When exploring garden bugs we watched a video showing how ladybugs fold up their wings in a ‘z’ shape under their protective shell. We made our own ladybugs to show how this works.

It’s been a full and rewarding fortnight in our Year 2/3 classroom! We ventured out on our Sea to Country excursion, exploring Aboriginal cultural practices with guidance and support from members of the local community. It was a wonderful opportunity to deepen our understanding of Country and learn how traditional knowledge connects to the land and sea.

We made a splash at the swimming carnival, where students showed amazing effort, team spirit, and courage in the pool. We have also completed our PAT testing, where everyone worked hard to show just how much they’ve grown this year

In the classroom, we have been rounding out our work on fractions, continuing to build confidence with numerators, denominators, and equal parts. In English, we’ve been strengthening our understanding of nouns and improving our longer format writing. Students have been working on structuring clear information reports and using time connectives to organise recounts about our excursion.

Our UFLI work has continued to stretch our thinking as we explore longer, more complex words. Studying prefixes and suffixes has helped us discover how morphemes shape meaning. It’s been wonderful to see curiosity and confidence growing across all areas of learning!

Sea to Country Excursion

Last week our students braved a full spectrum of weather — rain, hail, strong winds and sunshine, all in one day! Despite the conditions, the trip was a tremendous success. A particularly meaningful moment was when we were welcomed to Country by Ryan, which was so special for the children and our community.

As part of that Welcome, Ryan led a smoking ceremony. These ceremonies are a First Nations practice where native plants are smouldered to produce smoke, which is believed to cleanse people and places of negative energy and connect us to Country and our ancestors. The smoke invites the spirits of ancestors — who are believed to rest within the land and trees — to return and walk among the people once more. Through this ceremony, the students gained a deeper understanding of how Indigenous cultures have long honoured Country, ancestors and the natural world.

During the excursion, students also had the opportunity to make kelp baskets, participate in a scavenger hunt, and explore the shore and bush environments. It was a beautiful day of learning, laughter, and resilience — even if we had a few green faces on the bus ride there (a little bit of motion sickness for some!) and a few sleepy heads on the way home — including Mrs Cherry, who may have been caught “nodding off” mid-conversation!

Swimming Carnival

On Friday we held our swimming carnival and I’m pleased to say the behaviour and support of our students were outstanding. Everyone cheered each other on, showed great sportsmanship and truly embodied our school values. It was wonderful to see so much encouragement and positivity from the sidelines.

On-the-Water Program

Our on-the-water program continues to be a great success! The students are really enjoying rowing, learning new skills, and developing teamwork, coordination and water-safety awareness. There’s been plenty of laughter (and the occasional splash). A special mention must go to the students who had Ryan in their group this week — they were rowed around like they were on the River Thames! Needless to say, Ryan might be swapping groups next week…

I apologise for the lack of photos — it’s been such a hands-on, fast-paced few weeks that it’s been tricky to stop in the moment and capture it all.

This week crafters enjoyed a burst of colour and creativity as everyone got busy making masks.  There was plenty of cutting, sticking, and choosing bright materials, and the room was filled with conversation and laughter as masks slowly came to life.

See you next week Issy and Michelle 

Colouring In Lunchtime Sessions 

This week some students added a little friendly competition - colouring in the same picture, and it was wonderful to see just how unique each finished artwork turned out!! Come along for some colouring-in, quiet reading or play with some LEGO, lunchtime Tuesday/Wednesday.

Issy 

Emma Middleton

Primary School Health Nurse

Learning Services – Southern Region 
Department for Education, Children and Young People

Based at Huonville Primary School- Tuesday | 74 Wilmot Road, Huonville

(03) 6264 1064  | Cygnet Primary- Monday (03) 6295 1241 |

Franklin Primary- Wednesday (03) 6266 3216

Glen Huon Primary- Thursday (03) 6266 6240

www.decyp.tas.gov.au