Richmond Primary School Newsletter 23rd October 2024

Principal's Address

Welcome back everyone.

It is great to report that we have had a very settled start to the term.

During the holidays Brixihibition held their southern competition at Sorell with a display of work from the school winners and they announced the overall winners. Very excitingly Gabe won with his design of “The Party Plane”. Using Gabès design, they created a replica Lego model for Gabe to keep, along with his trophy. Congratulations Gabe on a wonderful achievement.

This could inspire some great designs for our competition next year.

Mountains or Mole Hills

This term across the school we are focussing on our problems and working out if our problem is a mountainous one or whether it is just a mole hill.

The word ‘molehill’ refers to a small pile of earth created by moles while digging tunnels underground, whereas ‘mountain’ signifies something large and imposing. Thus, making mountains out of molehills implies magnifying minor issues into major problems

Our aim is to empower children to solve some of their ‘molehill’ problems particularly in the playground by having familiar conversations and asking the question "is it a molehill or is it a mountain problem” and then expecting children to start working through the “molehills” on their own with some adult support.

It would be great if families would use this terminology at home to support this resilience building.

And that leads onto an important reminder about the next Lisa Ford session.

Lisa Ford – Raising Resilient Kids

Lisa Ford - Clinical Psychologist will be discussing Raising Resilient Kids at her next session on Thursday 14^th November from 6 – 7.30 pm in the old schoolhouse here at Richmond.

Student wellbeing is one of the four pillars identified in the DoE Strategic Plan 2014 – 2030 with the expectation that all children will be “Known, Well, Safe and Learning. It is also clearly defined goal in our own school plan. So, this is a wonderful opportunity to hear a practical and down to earth speaker address what is a vital quality we must all work to nurture in our students.

Lisa will discuss resilience as a vital factor in children’s health and happiness and will provide simple and practical steps to help your children thrive. Lisa will explain ways to support resilience development through everyday interactions with your child.

So please put this date in your calendar.

Consent

With the busy term ahead and many assemblies to be held, I would like to remind parents/families that when attending assemblies and other school events, that you are not allowed to photograph or video anyone other than your child without the expressed permission of another child’s parent/guardian.

I thought it might be timely to remind our community of the guidelines around consent and the sharing of images and videos.

What is consent when it comes to sharing photos and videos - If you're going to share any images or videos online, it's best to make sure the people featured in the photos or videos are okay with it, too.

Ask yourself, 'Do I have consent or permission to share a photo or video of someone?' In the case of negative social media against other students/teachers- this would not be the case.  For more information, go to:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/consent-sharing-photos-videos 

• Content Control - Once you post or share something, you lose control of the content.  This can have devastating consequences or impact the mental health of people who may not have wanted the image to be shared in the first place.
• Follow your instincts - If students don't feel good about posting/sharing a photo or video or comments on someone or something, they should not post it. What is posted and transmitted online stays online forever. 
• Content inevitably forms part of a young person's digital footprint and can have long-lasting impacts on a student's online reputation. Down the track, this might impact job prospects, ability to rent housing and even travel. 
• Revictimization - Every time footage/post that is disrespectful is watched or shared, the person at the centre of it is re-victimised. The person inflicting the violence or negative commentary also gains further attention and notoriety. Even people who are sharing the content are saying this is okay. This is no different to an inactive bystander who is happy to watch and repeatedly let violence, bullying or disrespect of another happen.
• Online fights/bullying/derogatory comments may count as evidence - content shared online may be used by police as evidence in a dispute.

  Most social media sites require the user to be 13 years or older and as no primary aged students are 13 then these sites are not deemed suitable.

  The e-safety commissioner website is the best source for all relevant, trusted and up-to-date information to assist families in dealing with issues that arise.

  Regards

  Clare McVilly
  

Kitchen Garden

In Kitchen Garden we have been practising our knife skills throughout the year by preparing fresh produce grown in our garden. We have then created different dishes using this produce. With spring now in the air, we have had a great influx of greens in our garden and have been trying different ways of using spinach. Here are a just two of the recipes we have used.   

P.E

We have lots of exciting events in Term 4.

We have a Hurricanes Cricket Clinic for Kinder to Grade 4 students on Thursday the 31st of October. This will be held at school.

We have our top swimmers heading off to represent the school at the Division C Interschool Swimming Carnival on Wednesday the 6^th of November at the Aquatic Centre. We are still looking for some volunteers if you can help out on the day!

On the 7^th of November in Thursday afternoon, we have our Kinder - Grade 2 Athletics Carnival. This will be held at the Richmond Oval from 1 to 2.30pm. I am looking forward to seeing our students showing their speed and endurance on the day!

Mr Nichols

Run Club

The run club students have started this term strong and committed, continuing to work hard on their endurance and pace. 

At the end of last term, all runners showed impressive growth on their 1km time. We are looking forward to seeing all they can achieve throughout this term. 

As the weather continue to warm up, it is important that the runners stay hydrated and sun safe. Please support your students by reminding them to apply sunscreen, wear shorts when warm and bring a full drink bottle on Fridays. 

Upcoming Term 4 Dates

Crazy Camel & Expressions Tea Towel/Apron Fundraisers

2024 UTAS School Solar Boat Challenge

Are you a parent looking for a hands-on STEM project to work on with your child or students during November? If so, look no further than the Solar Boat Challenge!

This competition challenges primary and high school-aged children to design and build their own model solar powered boat to then race in early December at Queens Walk in New Town.

The last of our free starter kits are now available to help individuals get involved at little to no cost.

Please see the attached flyer, facebook page and website for some more details as well as the rules for this year's event. Simply get in touch with miseli@utas.edu.au to register your expression of interest and find out about getting started today!