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Dear Franklin Families,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the families who attended the assembly last Thursday morning. Despite the challenges the weather provided, students performed to their very best and overall the assembly was a great opportunity to showcase some wonderfully unique class performances. As with all school events there were many staff that worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure it was a success. Thank you to Ella and Katie for organising awards, Rob Hyde for his incredible efforts putting up marques and seating, all our wonderful support staff who helped teachers with their performances, and lastly, the amazing Pam Monk for yet again stepping in to make sure the assembly went ahead.
Staffing In 2022
This time of the year we welcome new staff and anticipate all that they bring to the school. But it is also mixed with some sadness as we farewell colleagues and friends who have contributed so much to the school community. Mrs Amy Stals is transferring to Cygnet Primary School. Amy has been an important member of our school community. She is well respected by her teaching colleagues and those students fortunate enough to have been part of the Year 4/5 classroom. We wish her all the best with her new role. We welcome Mrs Alexander Frusher and Mr Jeremy Marcotte who will be joining us at Franklin in 2022. Mrs Brooke Schiebel has been successful in winning the role of AST and Quality Coach.
I would also like to advise our school community that I will be taking long service leave in Term 1. As yet, Learning Services has not appointed a replacement for my role, but I am hoping to notify everyone soon.
Our Learning
This year all teaching staff has collaborated closely with Education Consultant, David Gilkes, to develop an Inquiry framework that supports learning across the school. We now have four conceptual lenses, or big ideas, that guide all planning and teaching: Change. Sustainability. Place in Space. Identity. Using this framework teachers are able to link learning to authentic contexts and purposes, focusing on helping students to become effective self-managers, researchers, collaborators, thinkers and communicators. We call these skills Learner Assets.
Our Inquiry framework is included in this newsletter and in 2022 we plan to communicate more regularly on how students demonstrate growth in their skills and understandings. In the interim, class teachers have shared examples of class inquiries and learner assets with the current end of year reports.
As this will be the final newsletter for the year, I would like to wish everyone a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas holiday break. We look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year.
Linda Heerey
Principal
This Friday, after a very early start, our Franklin triathlon team will participate in the annual
Schools Triathlon event at Bellerive Beach. The Triathlon aims to promote active and healthy
lifestyle choices to students and over 3,000 students from schools across Tasmania participate on
the day. We would like to thank Mrs Witts, Mrs Heerey, Mr Mitchell and Rob Hyde who are
supporting the team during the day. Thank you also to all parents for being prepared to assist
and support your children. The school's involvement in this event would not be possible without
your support. Good luck everyone.
We were busy at LiL this week with the children enjoying some different Christmas crafts. It was also great to get some time outside with the children enjoying spending time on the bikes and in the sandpit.
Reminder, we are meeting a Kingston Park next Monday 13th at 9:30.
Well, what an amazing year we have had in Kindergarten. I have been so fortunate to work with such amazing children and their families.
Thank you for making the year a good one filled with laughter, learning and curiosity.
Remember Kinders, that our kindness project doesn’t end at school. Continue to be your kind selves and spread happiness wherever you go.
Year one have been enjoying their new Inquiry unit “What is change”, currently students are exploring how technology has changed over time. After some interesting donations from the Huonville tip shop, we started on our wonderings for what these weird items might be. After making predictions of what might be inside, we started “tinkering”. Class one hope to make insects with all the parts they have collected inspired by Lance Balchin’s book Mechanica.
Following on with our ‘Why are there bubbles in the river/water?” we recorded our new thinking after listening to a few videos about bubbles in waterways and listening to each other in discussions.
We worked together to sort the pictures into a 3-way Venn diagram to show the comparison of the use of water in the past and present as best as we could - First Aboriginal people past, Early Settler Past and now. Then we worked in pairs to try and make our own 3-way Venn diagram to show our understanding in written form.
We have just finished the Reflect and Act stage where we look over all our learning, think about and record down all our new learning. We also have the chance to write about/draw/design what we would do/invent to help keep our waterways clean. After learning how to structure an informative text, we were finally able to do our own personal interest projects.
We learned how to research for facts and linked it to our water inquiry by finding out how water is important for whatever we were researching about. We went through the writing process by sorting research and planning first, then writing our first draft and then publishing it with the medium of our own choice such as poster, pamphlet or in digital form using Power Point software. The very final thing is to present our learning to our class. ...AND THAT'S A WRAP of our Inquiry.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING OUR INQUIRY LEARNING JOURNEYS THROUGH THE SEESAW APP and for visiting our classroom during the year – connecting and sharing our learning with parents, students and teacher. A very happy Christmas to you all.
Katriona Morgan.
2/3 Yellow have been busily organising and preparing for our open afternoon, which we held this past Tuesday. Thankyou to all the families who were able to make it and support their child’s learning journey. Throughout the process the children have been able to develop and showcase their learner assets. The learner assets on display were collaboration, researching, communicating, self-managing and thinking. The richest part of our preparation that each child got to individualise how they wanted to share their thinking and were able to do so in a way that was meaningful and of interest to them.
Last week was our end of year assembly and although I unfortunately wasn’t there I am told that the children did an amazing job!
With the year almost at an end I would like to thank the families for their support. We have had a busy but wonderful year and I am just so proud of the growth I have seen in each and every child. Please keep safe and have a happy holiday!!
4/5 have been focusing on strengthening our teamwork and collaboration skills by doing group tasks and challenges. Students have worked together to solve problems and complete challenges such as making a team Christmas tree out of recycled cardboard using precise measurements and working in pairs using their Math and Geography skills to plan a Tasmania family holiday. Students have also been working on their individual ‘passion projects,’ which they will be presenting to the class next week.
We had a blast showcasing our upcycled items at the end of year assembly. Well done to all of the Grade 4/5 students for turning trash into treasure and congratulations to our end of year award winners, Kiraz, James, Sofia, Chase and Oliver.
We’ve had an extremely busy couple of weeks as we come to the end of the year in our 5/6 class. The class has been doing an amazing job finishing off their timelines in connection with our colonisation Inquiry. We’ve also pursued STEM activities including building 3D shapes and rockets. Planning, rehearsing and performing our song for the end of year assembly was a lot of fun and for our Year 6 leavers, our Big Day Out was a definite highlight. We are also looking forward to our Leavers Dinner to be held on Monday evening.
This is a poignant time for me as I prepare to farewell my Year 6 students. They are an awesome group and we’ve shared quite a journey together. My thoughts and best wishes go with them as they leave Franklin Primary and on to the next stage of their lives. For my grade 5 students, I look forward with great anticipation, to sharing 2022 with them.
Mr Holmstrom
This week in Art we experimented with shaving cream marbling. This was a fantastic process with some really striking results. To finish the year, we worked on some Summer-themed watercolours, using salt to enhance the appearance of sand.
This has been a great year in the Art room. We have explored so many different techniques and types of medium and learnt about a wide variety of cultural modes of expression from around the world. Thanks to all my hardworking students for their creative endeavours throughout the year.
Mr Holmstrom
FRANKLIN PRIMARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
As always, if you have any ideas, concerns, or feedback, please feel free to contact me at jess_watson82@yahoo.com.au and I would be happy to discuss.
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 have gone home, and more are available at the school office. Tickets are $2.00.
The prizes will be draw on the last day of term 4 being Thursday 16th November!
ANNUAL GENERAL MEEETING 2022:
The Annual General Meeting for the Franklin Primary School Association will be held on Monday 21st March 2022 at 3:15pm at the School Library.
This meeting will include committee member elections for the 2022 Association.
THANKYOU:
As your 2021 President of the School Association, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow committee members, Linda, Ella, staff, students, parents and guardians for their support in what can only be described as a mammoth year of events and experiences for Franklin Primary School. It has been my pleasure to be involved in a wonderful school community and contribute to the needs of our students.
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 jess_watson82@yahoo.com.au to arrange collection of your donation.
Jessica Watson
President of the FPSA
THE STAFF AT FRANKLIN PRIMARY WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU ALL A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL IN 2022.