Richmond Primary School Newsletter 31st July 2024

Principal's Address

Dear Families,

Welcome back from the holiday break.

We started the term with our first Breakfast Club, and it was very warmly received by the students.

Some were a little apprehensive thinking they had to pay but once they realised it is a free and ongoing service, they were very excited.

I wish to thank the School Association for organising the army of volunteers who are making this happen for our students, and those companies and individuals who have so generously donated food items in support of the program.

If you do have a spare hour to volunteer, even once a month, the School Association would be very grateful.

Lifting Literacy - across the state

Literacy involves listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing, creating texts, and using language for different purposes in a range of contexts. Literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills needed to access, understand, analyse, and evaluate information, make meaning, express thoughts and emotions, present ideas, opinions and interact with others.

It involves a continuum of learning to enable students to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.

The DECYP goal for all students is that children and young people have the reading skills they need for life and we are implementing structured literacy instruction and a multi-tiered system of supports to help all learners to be engaged, learn and succeed.

To improve outcomes for all children we need to value literacy. Across the state in all DECYP schools the focus is to improve the reading outcomes for our students because reading is foundational to all other learning areas and a necessary skill for life.

Below are the reading outcomes from the recent NAPLAN testing for Year 3 and 5 students.

As you can see from both graphs, we have worked hard to move the students from the bottom quadrant, students that had needed additional support. Our current focus is to extend the number of students in the strong and exceeding quadrants, by challenging them and ensuring that the books they are reading, challenge their comprehension and develop their vocabulary, whilst continuing to develop them as fluent readers.

The Premier’s reading challenge has been running for a few weeks now, so I hope that you are encouraging your child to complete the challenge. This is one way that you can help lift the literacy levels in our school.

The 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge Champions aim to inspire children to dive into books and complete this year’s challenge.

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students can undertake.

As students’ progress through their school years, it is important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

The data became available to school during the first week of Term 3 and parents have now received the reports for students in Years 3 and 5 who sat the tests.

Our community can see information about the performance of schools over time at myschool.edu.au

Keeping our children safe online

Over the holidays, you may have seen or heard some very concerning reports of content being posted online. Keeping children safe online is paramount, so I thought it might be useful to share the recommendations from the e-Safety Commissioner about how to keep your children safe online.

• Keep the computer or device in an area of your home that can be supervised and check in regularly with your child to see what they are viewing.
• Explore the online world with them. Play games with them. Do a creative project together.
• Think about social media readiness. Most social media sites require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register, although some sites are created especially for children under 13.
• Encourage respect and empathy. Teach them to avoid sharing or posting things that may upset others.
• Encourage them to learn about online safety by exploring the e Safety Commissioner Kids website:  Kids – eSafety Commissioner
• Be clear about how much time they can spend online, the apps they can use, the websites they can visit and what they can share or post online. 
• Ensure your own devices are protected by a password or pin, so your child cannot accidentally come across inappropriate content.
• Use parental control tools appropriate for the age and experience of your child. Be upfront and get your child on board. Let them know that these can be reviewed and changed as they get older, and they continue to demonstrate responsible behaviour. Consider installing a ‘child-friendly’ search engine that will allow them to explore a limited number of sites.

COVID and INFLUENZA

As COVID and influenza is rampant in the community it is important that we continue to follow these basic principles to keep all people on our school site safe. Staffing remains an ongoing challenge for our school so keeping unwell children at home also helps to protect staff and others.

Hygiene - Do not come to school if unwell – this applies to staff, students, and visitors. Keep your hands clean by using soap and water or hand sanitiser. Cough and sneeze into your elbow if necessary.

Face masks - All students, staff and visitors are supported to wear masks should they choose. Consider wearing a face mask if you have covid and are symptom free to protect others.

Vaccination - Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines helps protect you from severe illness. Staff, students, and visitors are encouraged to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza (the flu).

Please remember if your child is unwell, keep them at home.

Regards

Clare McVilly

Principal

Digital Technologies

In Digital Technologies this term students are continuing to work on developing their IT skills. This includes basic word processing using familiar Microsoft 365 software including Word and Powerpoint.

Microsoft 365 is available for free for all DECYP students. Students can log on to any internet connected device using their username and password and access a suite of cloud-based applications that include Microsoft Office and other services such as email.

Communicating with School

We are no longer using Audiri - the Schoolbag App at Richmond Primary. To save confusion, please delete the app. 

If your child is absent from school, the school needs to be aware by 9.30am the morning of. It is the parents' responsibility to inform the school of any student absences, either via the Absentee Form on the Schoolzine (SZapp) App or by phoning the office on 6260 2191. If not, your child's absence will be recorded Unexplained - Unauthorised by parent/carer and you are likely to receive a letter from the Department for Education, Children and Young People asking you to explain the absences.

The below table shows what we use our Apps for. The office can help with passcodes and QR codes, if you are not signed up.

Brixhibition 2024

Brixhibition Kids Competition 2024

August 26^th – 30^th.

Richmond Primary School are excited to be offering two competitions for Brixhibition this year.

It will be displayed in week 6, August 26^th – 30^th.

Competition 1 BUILD (the original): Students are invited to build a Lego creation of their own design, without kits/instructions. It is to be no larger than four 32x32 lug Lego baseplates. 

Competition 2 DESIGN (NEW in 2024!) Some people are great builders, but there are great designers too. Each design should be of a real or preferably an imaginary item, that can be built from Lego (no scenes or dioramas). Designs are to be drawn in pencil, pen, or crayon on A4 size paper.  The four age group winning designs will be sent to the organisers who will select our overall winner and they will have their design built by a member of Tasmanian Brick Enthusiasts inc. It will be displayed at Brixhibition where 3 Grand Prize Winners will be selected and will win their built designs! Tip: the more imaginative the better!

Students are invited to have their BUILD and/or DESIGN, yes you can enter both, completed and ready for judging at Richmond Primary school in Week 6. Entries are to be brought to school Monday August 26^th and collected on Friday August 30th.

Only individual student entries can be submitted for prize consideration and there are 4 age groups, with prizes awarded for each:

• Kindergarten - Prep
• Grade 1-2
• Grade 3-4
• Grade 5-6

Judging will take place over the week with students, families and staff involved. Legos will be securely displayed in the library for the duration of the week.

Richmond Primary School’s overall winner will be invited to participate against other Southern Primary Schools at the Hobart Brixhibition on 12^th- 13th October 2024.

For inspiration and examples of previous winning builds and designs, please go to https://www.brixhibition.com/ 

For further information please contact Ben Johnston

Happy Building and Designing!

Science Expo at RPS

All families are invited to attend the Richmond Primary School Science expo on Tuesday August 13^th. Join your child as they wander and interact with the exhibits. Times are listed below.

Silent Disco

We are having a Silent Disco, run by the Kombi Krew next Wednesday 7th August. 

Students are welcome to wear free dress. 

The School Association will be running a sausage sizzle, order forms came home on Monday and are due in by next Monday 5th to the school office. 

Upcoming Dates to Remember

Auskick + Superkick Program

We are excited to welcome you to the Richmond After School Auskick + Superkick program

The sessions dates and times are: 

Monday 29^th July – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 1)

Monday 5^th August – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 2)

Monday 12^th August – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 3)

Monday 19^th August – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 4)

Monday 26^th August – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 5)

Monday 2^nd September – 3:30pm – 4:30pm (Week 6)

The program will run at Richmond memorial oval.

REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS: “Please note the roll will be called at the start of each session. Please note that if your child will be absent, you must contact AFL staff directly to advise. Please also let staff know should you have another family member planning to collect your child. Your child will not be released from the session until they can see you or relevant family member/ guardian.” 

If the session is cancelled, families will be contacted prior to it as early as possible.   

Please Note: We ask that your child remain within the program unless checked out by AFL staff.

In case of bad weather: Parents/guardians will be contacted Via Email for any obvious cancellations due to weather, however for any sudden changes to weather or cancelation you will receive either a Text or a call from a staff member. We will endeavour to fulfill the 6 x sessions so if any cancelations occur, we will reschedule.

Parent help: this program is Run entirely by experienced AFL Staff. However, we do know that within our other Centres our participants react positively to their parents being somewhat involved in the session. We encourage those who would like to be involved to let our staff know as we would like every kid to have a positive experience with lots of fun and skill involved.

What to bring  

Water bottle and comfortable clothes and shoes to be active  

We look forward to seeing your child/ren at the session and showing them all the skills to become a Tassie Devil.  

AFL Tas Team  

Jack Anders

0411962973