Welcome back to Term 4!  We have had such a wonderful return to school.  Students have returned to school ready to learn, displaying excellent work habits and positive behaviours in our learning and play spaces.  Students can now return to their summer uniform if they choose.  It is essential that all students now have a hat for Term 4 playtimes.

Welcome

I extend a very warm welcome to the ten new students and their families who joined our Longford Primary School Learning at the beginning of this term!  Longford Primary School is an exceptional school and we are so happy to have you join our team!  We also welcome Miss Canning student teacher to Mrs Farran and Mrs Duncan’s room.  Miss Canning will be with us for the first five weeks of Term 4.

We did farewell Ms Sarah Elliott at the end of Term 3 and I wish to thank her for her support to small group programs in Term 3.  I wish Ms Elliott well for the future.  

Holiday Works

We were excited to return to school and see how busy Mr Roberts and Mr Collighan had been over the break.  We have some amazing swings sets in both early childhood playgrounds for our younger students to enjoy.  The swing sets have been a great hit for our students at playtime and are being well utilised each break time.  Our early childhood classrooms also received some new doors over the school break.  The doors are allowing for greater visibility, increased safety and more light to shine into classrooms –they look great!  Our GP entry also received new doors and our primary classrooms had a glass panel put into each door to increase light into the learning space.  The students and teachers have provided overwhelming feedback about the difference this has made to the learning environments.  Mr Roberts has our grounds looking incredible and it is so wonderful to watch students playing creatively in our beautiful spaces.  The building of the tyre play construction is well underway in the Kindergarten yard and we look forward to seeing this become a fun climbing space in the future. 

Tree Planting

An enormous thank you to Cathy Cloudsdale and Mr Roberts for supporting our Tree Planting day at the end of Term 3.  Unfortunately the day was very wet which left us a little restricted for tree planting on the day!  However, Cathy and Mr Roberts completed the enormous job of planting 150 trees and shrubs over the holiday break. It will be wonderful to watch over Kinder forest growth over the coming years.

Thank you to our incredible SRC team for planting in the rain and getting the job started for us. 

Letters Home

Last week you will have received two letters home from the school.  The first letter from the Minister of Education reminds us of the need to stay vigilant to the Public Health guidelines and regulations around adhering to COVID-19 safety advice, DoE guidelines and school safety plans.  Thank you for continuing to socially distance whilst on school grounds and remembering to sign in when planning on being on site beyond a few minutes.  Stringent cleaning and sanitising protocols will remain in place until further notice.

Please remember that our White Zone on William Street is still functioning as a drop and go area.  If cars could not park in this area to allow for flow within this space, this would be appreciated.

A second letter was sent home on Friday with some brief information on plans for end of year celebration events.  We will continue to monitor Public Health safety advice on holding such events and will change plans if required.  We are really excited to trial some new ways of celebrating together at the end of the school year and we look forward to your feedback around the changes we will trial this year.

COVID-19 Update

Following on from the letter provided by the Minister of Education last week, we have been informed that hay fever symptoms present similarly to COVID-19 symptoms.  Students experiencing symptoms of hay fever should get tested. They should stay home until they get their results. Please remember that students cannot be at school if they are experiencing cold or flu like symptoms.

School Association

An important School Association meeting will be held in the Board Room on Tuesday the 27th of October at 9:15am  Some agenda items for this meeting with include an update to the Levy Policy for 2021, end of year event planning and fundraising and reporting stage 2 feedback.  All members of our learning community are welcome to attend our Association meeting.  Please remember to sign in and complete the Coronavirus health safety screening paper work on arrival.

Wellbeing Team

Congratulations to the Wellbeing Team as they continue to lead our school work on the Behaviour Matrix and the Zones of Regulation.  Last week we took part in some filming of our matrix and we look forward to sharing the incredible end product with you all soon.

Have you seen staff wearing their Zones of regulation lanyard at school?  We are continuing to embed the language of zones in all that we do at LPS.  Over the coming term we will share some Zones updates with families to support your understanding of this work and give you some tools that may help us communicate about our ‘feelings’ at home.

2021 Enrolments for Kinder

We are now well underway for our 2021 school year planning.  Kindergarten enrolments are now open and we encourage you to attend our Pre-Kinder sessions with Ms Roxy Walls.  Please join our Longford Primary School LiL facebook page or visit the office for more information.

2021 Planning

If your child will not be at Longford Primary School in 2021 due to a move, please let the office know and this will help us with our forward planning.

We do not accept specific teacher requests in our planning for 2021.  We do however invite families to contact your child’s team leader for a chat around any other specific consideration that you feel may be vital/critical for us to know for our future planning.  If you have a child in K-2 in 2021, please contact Mrs Jen Copeland or if you have child in 3-6, please contact Miss Jacinta Doran.  We will leave time for this consultation to occur from the 26th of October until the 4th of November.

K-6 Fun Run Fundraiser

We will have a K-6 Fun Run fundraising event on Thursday 29th of October, please bring a gold coin donation.  Grade 3-6 students are asked to wear their house colours for this event as participation points will be awarded.  Students will receive an icy pole after their run/walk.  Kindergarten students that do not attend school on a Thursday are invited to take part in the event.  A separate letter with Kinder specific information will be sent out separately.  Unfortunately we are unable to have spectators at this event.  

Base Testing

All of our Prep students will start their second round of BASE testing (formerly PIPS) this week.  Testing will occur over a two week period. 

NDIS

Olivia Barnard (NDIS Coordinator) will now be based at Longford Primary school every Friday fortnight.  Her next visit will be on the 30th of October.  No appointment necessary, but please sign in at the office on arrival.

Student Free Day

All state schools in the North have a Professional Learning/Student Free Day on Friday the 30th of October.  The following Monday, 2nd of November is a public holiday.  Students will return to school on Tuesday the 3rd of November.

STAS Changes 2021

The Tasmanian Government has announced the expansion of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), which waives the cost of Tasmanian Government levies for eligible students, for the 2021 school year onwards.

The eligibility for STAS will move to using the Health Care Card or equivalent as the assessment mechanism, replacing previous income thresholds that applied.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions has been developed to assist with any questions you may have. 

Further questions about STAS or Levies and Charges in general can be sent to the Department of Education’s Financial Services Unit at stas@education.tas.gov.au or by calling 1800 827 055

Mural

Congratulations to Bec Cameron and the students who participated in the design and painting of our new mural.  Our Kindness mural looks fantastic and we can’t wait to see it up on the side of our Hub building soon!

Very sadly, Mrs Deb Spangaro lost her father last week.  She is taking some time to be with her family and will return to us next week.  We pass on our love and deepest sympathy to Deb and her family.

Term 4 is always a very busy and exciting term.  I look forward to enjoying many wonderful learning and celebration moments with you across the coming months,

Carolyn Sutton
Principal