Dear Families, Students and Friends,

Goodbye and Best Wishes

Mrs Carol Roberts, Mrs Kayla Farran, Mrs Trudy Owen, Mrs Ruth Holt and Mr Nathan Guy will be transferring to new positions in 2021.  What an honour and privilege to have met and worked with this incredible team of teachers in recent years.  Carol, Kayla, Trudy, Ruth and Nathan have made an outstanding contribution to the Longford Learning Community.  Congratulations on your new positions for 2021, I sincerely wish you continued growth and happiness.   

Mrs Carol Roberts has had an incredible impact on many children and families of Longford over 18 years.  Carol approaches all that she does with her whole heart.  She is dedicated, kind and deeply compassionate.  The students, families and staff of LPS will miss Carol’s gentle smile and warm reassurances.  Norwood Primary School are extremely lucky to have Carol as part of their team from next year.

Mrs Kayla Farran has been teaching at Longford Primary School since 2011. Kayla is hardworking, dedicated, kind and driven. She is an incredible advocate for every student in her care and works tirelessly to ensure every student and parent work together in partnership to achieve learning and wellbeing growth and success.  Kayla’s work ethic and advocacy for every child will be missed by all who have learnt from her or worked with her.  Congratulations on your transfer to Norwood in 2021.

Mrs Trudy Owen has been at Longford Primary School for 5 years.  Trudy is imaginative and creative in her lesson planning and organisation of her learning environments.  Trudy always has the ability to ‘think outside the square’ and aims to authentically engage every learner every day.  Trudy will be moving to East Tamar Primary School in the new year. Trudy is a deep thinker and reflective; she can always be counted on for leading thought provoking discussions during Staff Professional Learning.  Enjoy the next journey Trudy!

Mrs Ruth Holt has been with us at Longford for 4 years.  In this time, Ruth has warmly welcomed many children and families to Longford Primary School as a Kindergarten and LiL teacher.  Ruth has worked to ensure all families enter their school life in a positive and supportive way.  She is caring and kind and has made a significant contribution as a teacher of the Department of Education over many years.   Ruth has initiative and drive and is an incredible advocate for all learners.  Congratulations on your position in the private sector for 2021 and beyond.

Mr Nathan Guy has worked at our school for the past 2 years.  In this time Nathan has had a rippling effect of positive impact across our learning community.  Nathan is honest, approachable, and always prepared to go the extra mile for anyone within our school.  Nathan has supported many students in accessing and participating at school at many levels.  Nathan is always solution focused; he is reflective and considered with this words and actions.  Nathan will be missed for his innovation and proactive mindset.  Congratulations on your position at Launceston Christian School for next year.

I wish you all joy, happiness and growth in your new learning environments in 2021.  May Longford always hold a piece of your heart.

Welcome

In 2021 we welcome, Ms Roxy Walls, Ms Jane Archer, Mrs Jo Bent, Mrs Shanley Freeman, Miss Kayla Quin, Mrs Eerin Hardman and Mr Alex Payne to our teaching team.  

Long Service Leave

We wish Mrs Courtney Baker a restful Long Service break for Term 1 of 2021.

2021 Classes

A sincere thank you to all families for your support and consideration as we have worked through the process of class placements for 2021.  Thank you for working with us to best support your child as they prepare for their transition into the new school year.

Grade 6 Events

Our Grade 6 Students have enjoyed two special events to celebrate their end to Primary School.  Congratulations and thank you to the School Association members and Grade 6 parents for working tirelessly to ensure our Grade 6 students have had such memorable experiences over the past weeks.  Thank you to Cathy Cloudsdale for working with our Grade 6 students to plant their leaving sunflowers last week.  These will bloom in 2021 to remind us of the 2020 school leavers.  These seeds were harvested earlier in the year from the sunflowers that were planted by the 2019 group.  This cycle continues each year.

Earlier this week we celebrated a fantastic leavers dinner with our Grade 6 students.  The event was just perfect! Sincere thanks to the Grade 6 parents for helping to create such a memorable and special occasion for our Grade 6 leavers.  Thanks also to the staff that worked to make the night so special, including Miss Doran, Marg and Mr Collighan.

To our Grade 6 Students – what an incredible group you are! Remember to Dream Big and Work Hard.  You will be sincerely missed and we hope you return to visit us over the coming years.

Celebration Assemblies

Congratulations to all who have contributed to our recent celebration assemblies.  To the teams of people that worked together to make these events so successful – we offer our sincere thanks and appreciation.

Congratulations to all award recipients for a year of fantastic learning and growth across all curriculum areas.  To our Care for People Award recipients – thank you for being outstanding role models to all of our Learning Community. 

Thank you to the very generous sponsors for their ongoing support of our students at Longford Primary School.

School Association

This team of incredibly dedicated volunteers have made an incredible contribution to our work of 2020.  Thanks to our retiring member Mr Nick McKinnon.  Please consider nominating yourself or a friend for our School Association committee of 2021.

MND Challenge

Congratulations to Longford Community for your ongoing support of our fundraising for MND 2020! We are so excited to share that we exceeded our $1500, raising $1800.

Fun Day

We had a fantastic day on Friday.  Every student participated and engaged in the incredible activities that were running on the day.  Thank you to all staff for your organisation and running of such an incredible event, and to Marg and Lynton for cooking the BBQ.  Students gave us overwhelming feedback of support for the event to become an annualised part of our end of year celebrations.  We hope you enjoy the photos of our Fun Day!

Save the Dates 2021

• The school office is open on Thursday 28th January and Friday 29th January for book collection and uniform purchases.
• Week 1:  All students and families of Grade 5/6 students in 2021 are asked to attend an Information Session in the School GP room on Thursday the 4th of February from 4:30-5:30pm.  Please pop this date in your diary – it will be a critical meeting and your attendance would be appreciated.  
• Week 2: On Thursday the 11th of February all families of students in Prep-2 and 3-4 will be invited to hear our 2021 messages.  These will be spaced sessions that run over the afternoon.
• Week 3: On Tuesday the 16th of February all LiL and Kinder families are invited to an afternoon picnic to hear some welcoming messages for 2021.

Students Last day of Term

The final day for students this year is tomorrow, Thursday the 17th of December.  School will conclude at 2:00pm. Students in Prep-6 return to school on Wednesday the 3rd of February.  Keep a look out for any Facebook updates regarding the new year that will come out late January.

And finally,

To all of our students, families, staff and community, it has been an incredibly challenging year for so many.  Please take some time to rest, relax and rejuvenate with your families over the holiday break.  Merry Christmas and best wishes for a safe and healthy 2021!

Carolyn Sutton
Principal

Grade 6 Award Recipients

Thank you to the following Members of Parliament and Local Government, community organisations and patrons for their continued support and sponsorship of our Grade 6 and Class Awards.

 Anglican Christ Church
Brian Mitchell MP
Guy Barnett MP
Jeff Carins
Jen Butler MP
Jock Bryan
John Tucker MP
Link Technologies Tasmania
Lions Club of Perth
Longford Primary School Association
Longford Senior Citizens
Masonic Lodge Longford
Minister for Education & Training - Hon Jeremy Rockliff MP
Mark Shelton MP
Northern Midlands Council
Northern Midlands Councillor - Dick Adams
Northern Midlands Councillor - Janet Lambert
Northern Midlands Councillor - Mayor Mary Knowles
Northern Midlands RSL Sub Branch
Probus Mens Club of Longford
PSST/NMPSSA
Rebecca White MP
Rotary Club of Longford
Senator Claire Chandler
Tania Rattray MLC

Kinder Ms Roxy Walls

PrepA Mrs Amelia Crawford and Mrs Jemma Duncan

PrepB Mrs Eerin Hardman

1/2A Mrs Shanley Freeman

1/2B Mrs Jo Brady

1/2C Mrs Rebecca Viney

3/4A Mr Alex Payne

3/4B Miss Ellie Kearns

3/4C Miss Kayla Quin

5/6A Mrs Deb Spangaro and Miss Jacinta Doran

5/6B Mr Chris Tantari

PE Mrs Jo Bent

Thank you to families for supporting our Christmas raffle, we raised $962! Congratulations to the winners: Levi Doddy, Ruby Quillerat, Marg Allen, Greg Perkins, Erin Boyes, Patty Hateley, Brae-lee Thomas, Ruby Quillerat, Maree Denne, Marg Allen, Dylan Lockwood, Greg Donohue and Adam Hodgetts.

The School Association wishes our school community a Happy Christmas and a safe relaxing holiday!

Books for Life

All Kindergarten students were fortunate to have a visit from members of Rotary on Wednesday 2nd and Friday 4th of December. Each student was presented with a quality book to take home and spent time enjoying reading with the Rotarians. A highlight of the afternoon was the Kindergarten students performing a song under the gazebo for their audience. Books for Life is one of the connections Longford Primary has had with Longford Rotary in 2020.

We appreciate the ongoing kindness, generosity and support given to Longford Primary School during this challenging year. The soup and bread was enjoyed and welcomed by our families during the COVID19 period. The teachers valued the gift of a coffee and cake voucher from Banjos and we are thankful for the multiple contributions to our MND fundraiser.

Through the Covid period Bec Cameron worked with a group of students to create a mural reflective of the time. Have you checked it out, it looks fantastic!

Thank you to Wattyl Paint Centre for their contribution of paint.

Inquiry Teaching at Longford

During 2019/2020 Early Childhood teachers have been part of the Refocus Teaching and Learning in the Early Years Initiative.  This work allowed us, as a team to develop an understanding of using an Inquiry approach to teaching and learning.  Building independence and developing the learning assets of collaboration, communication, researching, thinking, and self-managing was a focus for students. Looking at how Play and Learning Environments could be used to spark curiosity allowed students opportunities to drive the direction of their learning. They created questions and ways to answer those questions, and this lead the inquiries.

2 Morrison/Doran

Below is a report written by the students and Mrs Morrison from Grade 2, outlining the process that was undertaken throughout their recent Inquiry into “Water’.

We began our learning all about water 8 weeks ago.

We started in the tune in phase, where we played with water, and brainstormed lots of questions we wanted to know more about.

Next was the find out phase. We grouped our questions and created six teams. We used the learning assets of collaboration, researching, communicating and thinking to help us find the answers to our questions. Next was the sorting out phase, We thought about the ways we could become researchers and used lots of different ways to build our understanding including, books, the internet, special guest experts including our school nurse, Mr Seen’s scientist husband and Mrs Morrison’s old high school teacher who is an expert on weather.

We then moved to the going further stage and used all this information to put together a final product that would demonstrate our understanding and answer our original questions.

Please take a look at the attached slideshow which outlines our journey. Attached are photos of our final products as well.

2020 Grade 6 Memories

2021

Leadership Staff

Support Staff