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Dear Franklin Families,
It is hard to believe that we are already into week 7 of term 4, only 3 more weeks until the end of the year. This time of the year is always busy and productive with a focus on finishing key pieces of work and celebrating what we have achieved as a school. When visiting classrooms, I am always very impressed with the commitment to learning and the strength of perseverance shown by all of our students at this end of the term.
As we head towards the end of the school year and reflect of what has been achieved, we also start planning for 2022. However, it is important to acknowledge that there are some who will not be returning to Franklin next year and these are our Grade 6 students. This is often a time when Grade 6 students experience mixed emotions, being excited about what lies ahead in the future but also being a bit uncertain about what that future will provide. Many of our Grade 6 students have been with us since Kindergarten and we are very proud of the responsible, happy and respectful people they have become. On behalf of the school community, I wish them all a happy and productive last few weeks of their primary school and the very best for all their future achievements.
Reporting and communicating learning progress in 2022.
Communicating a child or young person’s learning progress with their family is an important part of ensuring that schools meet their commitment to inspire and support all learners to succeed as connected, resilient, creative and curious thinkers.
From Term 1, 2022 new reporting requirements for all Tasmanian Government schools will begin to be phased in. These include:
- A–E ratings will be replaced by a 9-point visual scale for English, Maths and Science
- There will be no written comments for mid-year and end of year reports
- Schools will provide opportunities to communicate with families at least 4 times a year on student learning progress.
- Evidence of learning will be shared regularly with parents and will include work samples, writing, artwork, video, photographs and test results.
- Evidence of learning will be shared in a face-to-face meeting, online platform- Seesaw, email, printed copies sent home.
- Students will be involved in learning conversations.
For those families with students starting Kindergarten next year, the reporting process will be slightly different as Kinder teachers use the Early Years Learning Framework to guide their programs. The focus will continue to be on conversations and discussions about:
- How your child has settled into Kindergarten
- Sharing of successes and evidence of learning
- The results of the Kindergarten Development Check.
Further communication on these changes will be made available to all families as they begin to be phased in next year.
A reminder that this year’s reports and class placements will be sent home Friday December 10.
School Policies
We are currently updating key Department policies, procedures and guidelines that were first published following the Education Act 2016. This will ensure that the information contained in these is up to date before they are uploaded to the school website.
Have a great week
Linda Heerey
It has been a busy fortnight at LiL with the children enjoying making banana muffins and getting some nice warm weather to enjoy the playground.
Bryn
Well, our Kinder Kindness Project is in its final stages. We went on a trip to big Roaring Beach to collect rocks for painting. We found rocks of all shapes and sizes!
We stopped off at Dover District High School to have a play in their playground and meet their Kindergarten students. I was so proud of our children; they are so resilient and just go with the flow.
Once back at school we designed our kindness rocks; the colours and what we want them to say. The end products are beautiful and they are bound to cheer people up if they are having a low day.
We delivered them around the town this week. Please, if you find one, get in contact with the Kindergarten children or me, to let us know how finding the rock made you feel. It would be great for them to have some feedback.
We have also popped some posters up on our windows that give you some ideas on how to be kind!
Finding the maths in our inquiry:
We have been thinking and reflecting on what we have learnt this term. Through experimentation with many different materials, our movement inquiry has allowed us to make the following mathematical understandings and connections:
- size and shape impact the way things move
- curved objects roll the best
- a ramp has to face downwards
- Weight impacts on movement
- heavy things fall faster than lighter things
Some of the Preps using words that describe position and movement:
“the cars roll down the ramp”
“when you drop a leaf, it floats down slowly”
“my breath can blow a party whistle and make it curl up”
“wind is a force”
Year 1 have been exploring: What doesn’t change? Many ideas have been explored including a student’s wondering if ‘letters and numbers have ever changed’. To explore this wondering we looked at how Aboriginal people recorded their stories overtime and how they communicated with each other. We discovered there were 250 Aboriginal languages and overtime some have been lost but 150 remain. We brainstormed and then researched how knowledge was/is passed down and found that it is shared through story-telling, deep listening, song, dance and artwork using symbols. We enjoyed learning about the dreaming and dreamtime stories. We wrote our own stories and presented them to our class in a chosen form. We have also enjoyed participating in the First Nations bedtime stories program this week practising using our deep listening whilst listening to Elders.
Bec Witts/Bridgette
Our display boards are now filled with learning evidence from our learning journey “How is water important?”. We have finished the "sorting out" stage. Because we have so many new wonderings, we worked in small groups to narrow it down to one that would lead us to digging further into new learning and understanding that relates to this inquiry.
The wonderings that we chose were from Miah and Thor- “Why do bubbles form in and on water?” This led to viewing digital media about natural bubbles/foam on water and doing an experiment on adding pollutants to a container of clean water such as paint, glue, plastics, foil, fertiliser, sheep droppings, car oil etc. and seeing what would happen to the water after a week or so.
Naomi Clark-Port came to show photos and talk to us about the importance of the Huon River in the past, especially for her family who have been in this area since Franklin was first settled. We drew and wrote our interpretations of what she shared with us. Now, we are discussing the significance of the Huon River (and water in general) before, during and after English settlement in Franklin as well as reading about Prices Creek being used to generate power for the community in those days for a short time.
Amongst all of this was the writing of our play reviews after seeing ‘Treasure Island’ at the Botanical Gardens”. We also mulched and watered our Bee Friendly Garden and some of us repainted the sign.
The 5/6 class are in the midst of finalising their Inquiry projects at the moment. Each student has selected their own topic around Tasmania’s colonisation to investigate and report upon. They have needed to come up with their own questions to guide their investigation, then conduct research to discover the answers. Their final project will form part of a whole class timeline, tracking events including Tasmanian Aboriginal life prior to settlement, the arrival of explorers and colonists, and the settlement of Van Dieman’s Land.
In Maths we have been learning about Order of Operations as well as squared and cubed numbers. We have also been busily preparing for the end of year and transitioning for our Year 6 students into High School next year. We enjoyed our trip to the Botanical Gardens to watch the Treasure Island performance, but then had to sadly farewell our classmate Mikayla, who moved interstate last week. Preparations are also in full swing for our End of Year Assembly, Big Day Out and Leaver’s Dinner… Exciting times!
We have been very busy (and messy) in Art lately. For the last two weeks we have been exploring the screen print medium to create our own screen-printed artworks. This process has involved a number of design strategies, including producing individual backgrounds using oil pastels on card, then creating and positioning our masking elements before using the paint and squeegee to create our finished product. I have been really impressed with all students’ enthusiasm for this medium and the great creative choices they have made.
FRANKLIN PRIMARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
That’s a wrap!!! Well almost…. A massive Term 4 of fundraising and events. With two more events to happen before the end of term, the School Association wants to thank staff, students, parents and guardians for their support in 2021.
As always, if you have any ideas, concerns, or feedback, please feel free to contact me at jesswatson82@yahoo.com.au and I would be happy to discuss.
HALLOWEEN BBQ:
What a massive success the Halloween BBQ was. Thanks to our volunteers, Tyler Watson, Virginia Newcombe, Katya Bauer, Rosie Hansen, Adam Millist and Heidi van der Reest for a successful event.
A massive $977.90 was raised!!!!
DISCO:
The students of Franklin Primary School sure know how to dance up a storm!!!! Over $400.00 was raised at this event!
Special mention to the SRC students, Jasper and Sienna who served food and drink on the night. Their leadership and initiative was a fantastic reflection on their role within the School Community and I look forward to working with the SRC students more.
As usual, the event would not have been made possible without volunteers and a big shout out to Jasmine Kiss, Nina Koops, Ella Heather, Cheyne Mason, Heidi van der Reest, Shane Burgess and Tyler Watson who helped on the night.
CHRSITMAS RAFFLE:
Would you like to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet, a voucher for food, maybe a painting, or a cushion? Or maybe a membership or book? These a just a few of the amazing prizes up for grabs with the School Association Christmas Raffle! Tickets and the prize list will go home with students on Monday 29th November 2021 and will be $2.00 per ticket. The prizes will be draw on the last day of term 4 being Thursday 16th November!
Next Meeting:
The last meeting is being held on Monday 29th November 2021 at 3:15pm.
This meeting we will be finalising the details for the Annual General Meeting.
Like always feel free to come along or contact a committee member if you have anything you would like to raise.
Please contact me either on the “school families and friends- Franklin” Facebook page or via email at jesswatson82@yahoo.com.au to arrange collection of your donation.
Jessica Watson
President of the FPSA