Dear Families, Students and Friends,

Welcome back to learning!  I hope these two shorter learning weeks have allowed everyone to take a mini break and reset ready for a busy next few months.

National Volunteers Week

It is national volunteers week!  A sincere thank you to the many volunteers that continue to support Longford Primary School in so many ways.  Our wonderful Breakfast Club, Garden Club, Parent Helpers and Mates volunteers to name just a few! Each of you makes our school the supportive, inclusive, beautiful learning and working space it is – our thanks and gratitude goes out to each of you.

If you are interested in volunteering at our school, please have a chat with a member of our leadership team.

Celebrations

Longford Primary has enjoyed so many wonderful celebrations over recent weeks.

Book Week

We ended a fantastic week of celebrating Book Week with our parade on Friday the 23rd of October.  Congratulations to all students, staff and families for making this such a wonderful week of celebrating ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds.’ 

Fun Run

On Thursday the 29th of October, we hosted our ‘Fun Run for MND.’  This event was an outstanding success.  All students had a fantastic time navigating the many obstacles on the course. Thank you to Mr Tantari and Mr Roberts for organising and coordinating such a wonderful event.  The feedback from students was overwhelming in their support of the Fun Run, and so we will aim to make this an ongoing event in our school calendar. 

The MND Fun Run raised $265 toward our MDN fundraising target of $1500 – we only have $200 left to reach our goal!!!  Well done LPS!

Enjoy the Book Week and Fun Run galleries further in the newsletter.

World Teachers Day

On Friday we celebrated World Teachers Day.  I am grateful to work with so many incredible educators at Longford Primary School and I thank them for their impact on every student, every day.  Longford Primary School is a wonderful place to learn and work, because of the dedicated and committed team of teachers we have – thank you!

Student Free Day

On Friday the 30th of October, teachers had a successful Professional Learning Day.  Teachers engaged in many collaborative learning and planning sessions throughout the day.  The student free day also gave staff an opportunity to reflect on our School Improvement Plan priorities, celebrate our successes and plan forward in 2021. 

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is back!  Thanks to Bec and the wonderful volunteers who work hard each week to make Breakfast Club such a great place to ‘fuel up’ for the learning day.  Breakfast Club is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:30am.

Learning Celebrations

In lieu of assemblies this term, teachers will be sharing 'Learning Celebrations' each fortnight.  We hope you enjoy the special celebrations we will share with you over the coming months.

Staffing Updates

As announced to our School Association last week, we have some staffing movements happening in 2021.  Mrs Carol Roberts, Mrs Kayla Farran and Mrs Trudy Owen will be transferring to new schools in 2021.  We look forward to celebrating later in the year the amazing contribution these three teachers have made to Longford Primary School over many years.

Mrs Cathy Parker will extend her leave in 2021 and hopes to return to LPS in 2022.

We warmly welcome Ms Shanley Freeman, Ms Jo Bent and Ms Jane Archer to Longford Primary School for 2021.

General

2021 Planning

Recently, we invited families to meet with Senior Staff if they had critical information for us to consider prior to finalising our 2021 classroom planning.
If you have missed this conversation window – please make an appointment to speak with Senior Staff as soon as possible to ensure that your information can be included in our planning.

Covid Update

As borders are now open, we are reminded to remain extra vigilant in regard to hand washing and sanitising.  Visitors to school are asked to sign in at the office on arrival and complete the necessary paperwork.  Families are reminded to keep children at home and have them COVID tested if they have any cold or flu like symptoms.

School Association Update

Our School Association are currently organising our Christmas Raffle.  If you are able to assist in anyway, please contact Leith, Judelle or the school office.

Upcoming meetings

10th November – Report Feedback Conversation.  If you would like to contribute to the Report Policy review, please come along on Tuesday the 10th at 9:15am in the School Boardroom.

1st December - Final School Association Meeting for 2020.  All welcome.

End of Year Events

Reports

End of year reports will go home on the 10th December.  Although the report is brief (ratings only), it will be accompanied by a portfolio and a teacher completed rubric.  If you would like to speak with your child’s teacher prior to the end of year, please make an appointment with them via Dojo.

Other Events Coming Up

• End of year Grade 6 Presentation Assembly, GP room, 9th December at 11:30am.  All Grade 6 students will receive a separate letter shortly to outline the process for inviting up to two guests each.  The School Association will provide a packaged lunch for our Grade 6 leavers following the presentation assembly.
• Grade 6 Celebration Dinner, GP room, 14th December.  Miss Doran and our Grade 6 families are currently organising this event.  Please let Miss Doran know if you can assist in anyway.  We suggest students wear smart, casual clothes for the dinner.
• Our Prep-5 School Award Presentation will happen in the school garden, 2nd December at 11:30am.  Families will be notified in advance if their child is receiving an award and will be invited to attend.
• End of year Fun day, K-6 will happen on the school grounds, 11th December from 10:00am-2:00pm.  A sausage will be available for lunch on this day.

Kinder 2021

Our orientation session for families will be held on Monday the 23rd of November from 5:00-6:00pm in the Kindergarten grounds.  Please ensure Kinder enrolment forms are in to the office if you haven’t already – thank you.

Carolyn Sutton
Principal

The School Association held a meeting yesterday inviting parents to be a part of the Parent Fundraising Group. Over the past two years fundraising for this group has supported new representative jackets and the primary and ECE swings. We need the support of parents to plan fundraising events and we thank the two parents who attended the meeting today.

We need your help with donations for the Christmas Raffle. Ways you can help:

• Ask your employer for a donation
• Donate something from your work
• If you are crafty make something
• Help sell tickets to the public.

Please let the office know how you can help as soon as possible.

The Department of Education recently announced that we would be expanding the Student Assistance Scheme for 2021.

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

• Services Australia - Centrelink Heath Care Card, Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card or
• Department of Veteran Affairs - Pensioner Concession Card.

Please note that if you are already receiving student assistance you do not need to complete a form. For 2021 a new on-line form has been developed to asist with processing applications for new applicants. The online form can be completed here: https://stasonlinesubmission.education.tas.gov.au/ 
The form will be available for public use from the 10th November.

Once a validated form is completed the Department of Education will confirm the outcome of your application in writing, this process takes approximately 14 days. We understand this online option may not be possible for all families, so if you require a hard copy form please contact your school or the Financial Assistance Unit on stas@education.tas.gov.au or 1800 827 077.

As we are still unable to hold assemblies at school, we would like to share some Learning Celebrations with you.

Each newsletter for the remainder of the year, classes will share learning that has been occurring in their classrooms.

This newsletter we celebrate the learning in P/1 Roberts, 2 Morrison/Doran and 4/5 Farran/Duncan.

Leadership Staff

Support Staff