End of Year Assemblies

Thank you to parents and family members that attended our end of year assemblies last Friday, your effort to attend allowed our students to feel connected and valued.  These assemblies allowed us to celebrate every student, recognise outstanding achievements, and reflect on the 2023 school year.  I loved the way our school community came together to support our students, we are so very fortunate to live in the environment that we do. Our students had an opportunity to shine and showcase their creativity.  Below are students that received our values awards from each class:

2024

In 2024, the structure across our school with classes will change a little compared to previous years.  We will have one Kinder, Prep, Grade 1, Grade 2, two Grade 3 classes, two Grade 4 classes and three Grade 5/6 classes.  We are fortunate to be keeping the majority of our staff, with students finding out last Friday their teacher for 2024.  Two significant changes across our school will be felt deeply, with both Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Matic leaving at the end of the year.  Mrs Wilkinson is transferring to Wynyard High School, where it has always been an ambition of hers to teach older students.  I would like to thank Rachelle for her commitment and drive at our school, and for always being willing to take on a challenge and to help in any way that she can.  Mrs Matic celebrated at the final assembly by playing the Final Countdown with the school band.  Every student at Boat Harbour Primary School has benefitted from Janet’s musical talent, and I thank her for being so passionately committed to the learning of so many.  I wish her only the very best in retirement.

Reports

Your child’s school report came home with them on Friday.  This report is designed to provide you with feedback encompassing your child’s learning.  In recent reports, you have been provided with a rating for your child’s achievement across Maths, English, and Science on a 9 point scale. This will continue, including the tick boxes for Behaviour, Attitude, Effort and Organisation.  This element of the report provides you with an informed assessment of your child’s learning throughout the school year. Your child’s teacher continuously collects evidence during the year to track their progress and achievement against the Australian Curriculum.

The Evidence of Learning documents for English and Math include feedback from their teacher in regards to the Australian Curriculum year level achievement standards. The purpose of the task is outlined with the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. The child is involved in this process to give them an understanding of what they are working towards. The 'Observable Features Rubric' highlights what skills your child has shown in their completed piece of work.  It is important to remember that this particular work sample is just one of many collected throughout the year and the overall assessment is based on a range of evidence. 

Please feel welcome to discuss your child’s report with me or your child’s teacher.

Fun Day – Free Dress!

Our Fun Day will be held at school on Tuesday 19^th December.  This is an opportunity for our students to have fun together, celebrating another successful school year.  Students have some colourful, slimy and slippery activities to look forward to.  It is a Free Dress day, but don’t forget to bring a change of clothes to get wet and colourful in, and bathers as well for Kinder to Grade 2 students.

Levies

There will be a change in school levies in 2024.  All costs for the school year will be included in the levies at the start of the year.  For example, school camps and swimming will be a part of the levies, and not costs you would expect during the school year.  This will hopefully prevent any unexpected costs to families as the year progresses.  While this initially will look like the levies are much larger, they are actually just inclusive of the normal yearly costs.  Payment plans for levies will still be available as required.

We had the pleasure of celebrating our Grade 6 students today and wish them the best for the future. Please enjoy the picture slideshow that was shared at our assembly today. 

Grade 6 Presentation for Newsletter.mp4

The elves of 5/6S have been busy with all things Christmas! Making decorations, creating artwork, and reporting on current events believed to be happening in the North Pole. Check out some of the artwork and articles below.

Students have also written about what they would like to gift all children this Christmas. Some student’s responses to the prompt ‘If you could give every child in the world a gift for Christmas, what would it be?’ are below.

If I could give every one of the children in the world a gift, it would be the gift of everlasting physical protection. This would be a good idea since it would protect children from pain and broken bones. People would not be able to intentionally or accidentally hurt kids. The children of the world would be protected from most of the dangers that the world contains. They would not have to worry as much about their siblings, being sunburnt or learning self-defence. All-in-all this gift is as I believe, one of the best gifts for children of the world.

Zach McLean

I would give children love because most children don't have love, or they don't feel love most children's parents work away so they don't get to spend time with them I strongly believe that every child deserves love … if you see a child said you should be kind and say hi or try to brighten their day no children deserve to be sad or not loved so please love children.

Dylan Beattie-Berne

If I could give every child a gift, then I would give them health. I would give them health because those who are troubled physically or mentally won't have to worry about not living their life the fullest and the troubles that their illness gives them. If the child does not have an illness, then they could use the gift to give to another grown up or someone that doesn’t have perfect health. If every child was gifted health, then their parents wouldn't have to worry about hospital bills and expenses therefore this would help them save money that they could put towards other things. with this gift children who are sick and have an illness could just play and experience what it is like to be kids.

By Matilda

I would give every child in the world the gift of safety. If this was possible, it would be an amazing gift because if every child was safe, they could live their lives to the fullest without fear. For example, in Israel many children and adults have been taken captive or even killed, but if everyone had the gift of safety and the inability to be harmed, they would not have to suffer through these traumatic events. Children could also walk about unattended, like walking to school or to the grocery store, without fear of being kidnaped or brutally murdered. Every child deserves to be safe.

Charlotte Weeks