Dear Families

External School Review

This week, our school took part in an external review. The review helps us understand how we are going with our school improvement goals and gives us advice for future planning. While we are still waiting for the final report, early feedback shows that students, staff, and families feel supported and connected to our school. Students are enjoying their learning, and staff are working together to help every child grow. Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts during the review. I will include a summary of the report in our next newsletter.

Planning for 2026

We have started planning for next year. If your family is moving schools, or if you know someone who wants to enrol at Longford Primary School in 2026, please contact the school office as soon as possible.

Book Week – August 25–29

Book Week is coming up in Week 6 (August 25–29). Students will take part in fun activities to celebrate reading. Our Book Parade and Readers’ Picnic will be held on Thursday 28th. More details are included later in the newsletter.

Every School Day Matters

At Longford Primary School, we want every child to feel safe, supported, and ready to learn. Coming to school every day helps make this happen. If your child is finding it hard to come to school, please reach out—we are here to help.
Our students have recently created some videos about why they enjoy coming to school. You can check them out on our Facebook page.

In partnership
Candice Burnett

This term our Values Certificates are for Courage and Growth. Congratulations to students on receiving their Certificate.

Rosie, Summa, Harley, Toby, Henli, Callum, Pacey, Hunter, Tobias, Ashley and Carma

Azaleia, Finn, Darcy, Oscar, Henlee, Riley, Carmilla, Jude, Bronty, Kiara and Bibi

Our Longford Primary School community would like to extend our condelences to the families of Ralph Marshall and Angela Archer. These two former staff passed away this month.

Mr Ralph Marshall - Principal 1983-1989

During his time as Principal the Education Department granted a redevelopment at Longford Primary. The infant block was built (currently Prep and 1/2s) with infant classes beginning in 1985. Block B - library, canteen, multi-purpose hall, store rooms and office spaces - were finished in 1986. The multi-purpose hall was refurbished and extended in 2009 to as we know it now. In 1987 A block (currently admin, staff room and classrooms) was redeveloped with what money was left from the grant.

Mrs Angela Archer - Kindergarten Teacher 1970-1987

You may have noticed some changes in the way we are teaching reading in our school. These changes are part of a statewide commitment to ensure every student develops strong reading skills that will support them throughout school and beyond.

Learning to read is a skill that must be taught—it is not something we are born knowing how to do. That is why our teachers are using high-quality, evidence-based strategies to help every child become a confident reader.

Our students are learning to read through structured and explicit literacy teaching. This means they are building foundational literacy skills step by step, with each new skill reinforcing the last. This approach helps students grow into capable, independent readers.

We are proud to be part of this statewide effort to provide structured literacy lessons that are proven to work. Thank you for your ongoing support as we help every student succeed.

This term grade 1/2 students are map making. We search the garden for patterns and make maps from nature. Each pattern has an important message. Branching patterns tell us that things are moving, flowing or growing. We found the branching pattern in leaves, trees and the veins in our arms.

A small group of 3 /4 artists are working on a mural for the outdoor classroom. We thank Kira from Bunnings for donating the mural materials. The mural will have a circular blackboard at its centre. This is the story circle, and it is designed to showcase the current garden learning. Student artists are designing animal characters to surround the blackboard. These are local creatures who interact with us in the garden. Behind the animals there will be the Tasmanian rainforest greenery. With this artwork we want to communicate who we are as a community of living creatures sustained by the land, water and air of this place. 

Over the weekend, volunteer gardeners were hard at work pruning the school orchard, weeding, and mounting bird boxes made by the 5 /6 students. Keep your eyes open for pardalotes as they discover these new tree havens! Thanks to all involved.

Tree Club

Tree Club members have completed a survey of the school’s environmental strengths and weaknesses. Thanks to those involved! Among their findings they discovered that we were good at saving water, but not with reducing litter. They have decided to focus on: Energy and Climate, Litter and Waterways and Fair Go, Global Citizenship.

To observe the connection between tree cover and climate, the club made a visit to the Kinder forest yesterday, measuring temperature and hearing how the kinder students use the forest. Kinders like finding sticks in the forest, watching the bird box, playing hide and seek and having fun.

Term 3 Fowl Friends

Dylan, Lizzy, Abel, Jade, Olivia and Drake

As part of our phonics program the Prep students have been introduced to characters from a story called Milo's Birthday Surprise. In the story Milo (the main character) invites all his friends to his birthday party. Each character corresponds to the sounds of the letters such as Sally the Snake for the letter s. Having met all of Milo’s friends and learning the first 26 sounds Mrs Crawford organised a surprise party for Milo and the Preps were all invited! With 26 activities and 26 types of food to eat (A-Z) we had a busy morning and our tummies were full.

Prep Crawford/Jackson are looking for some mini shop items that Coles did a few years ago.

If you have any, and no longer have a use, Prep would appreciate them. Thank you.

The wellbeing of our students is important to us - we want to hear how students feel, and think, about different things going on in their lives.

Those in Years 4, 5, and 6 at Longford Primary School will be taking part in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey. The results from this survey will help us get a picture of the current wellbeing of our students, and what we can do to improve future wellbeing for learning. The more students who take part, the clearer our picture will be. 

The Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey is part of the Department’s Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy .

The details for the survey are:
When: From Monday 25^th August
Who: Years 4, 5 and 6
What do I need to do: You and your child don’t need to do anything. The survey will be done in class time and will not require your child to prepare in any way.

A letter with more information will be sent home with all students, including Frequently Asked Questions and a form to sign and return to the school if you do not want your child to participate in the survey.   

If you would like further information, please contact the school office.  

Thank you for supporting us to ensure that all our learners are safe, feel supported and are able to flourish, so they can engage in learning.

We are excited to host our Dad's Night evening with our Dads/Grandads/Uncles and significant others on Thursday 4th September.  Dad's Night is a valued tradition at Longford Primary School, it allows us to share some of our learning and class activities with you all. 

Dad’s Night is open to all families of our learning community from LiL – Grade 6.  The event is from 4:30-6:00pm and will include opportunities for families to engage in some fun challenges and games together. 

On the night we will have a free Sausage Sizzle. Soft drink will be available for $2 and water for free. Thank you to our School Association for organising the Sausage Sizzle. Volunteers are needed for serving, please leave your name with the school office if you are able to help.

Leadership Staff

Support Staff