Richmond Primary School Newsletter 27th September 2023

Principals Address

Dear Families,

Open Maths Morning

On Wednesday we had our Open Maths morning, with 22 parents attending the information session at the start of the day. Following this session, the parents went into classrooms to see students working on problem solving across the school. These sessions were generally well attended across the school, and we had very positive feedback and requests for more opportunities for parents to come into classrooms and to see the learning.

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Lisa Ford –  Clinical Psychologist

At a recent staff meeting Lisa Ford (Clinical Psychologist) spoke with the staff about building resilience in our students. The resilience to be positive and engaged learners, to achieve their full potential. We can all help children to become more resilient by helping them to know their strengths and by helping them to develop their independence. When children see themselves as capable, they are more willing to have a go in new situations. By building their self-esteem, children learn to have confidence in their abilities and to see the positive things in their life.

Children need to have healthy relationships, with a growing circle of family and friends. They must also know that it is always okay to ask for help. By working on problem solving skills and helping children to develop coping strategies our children will be better able to manage their stress and anxiety levels.

Next term, Lisa will be working with our students in Year 4-6 to work on becoming resilient learners and how to have a positive attitude towards school and life in general.

Parent/ Carers session

We will be offering a parent / carers session to help parents and carers support their children to become resilient learners. The session will be held on Thursday 30^th November. Further information will be provided closer to the date.

External School Review  in Term 4

On the 30^th and 31^st of October our school will be engaged in an External School Review.

The Review Team will conduct a range of interactions including interviews and group discussions, with the focus of the lines of inquiry guiding these discussions. The audiences of these discussions include the principal and leadership team, teacher discussions, student discussions and family discussions; Community feedback is an essential part of the reviews, with staff, parents, students, and the community encouraged to have their say.

Further to this, the Review Team will also do classroom visits and/or classroom walk-throughs. On the final day of the Review, the panel will discuss with the principal and leadership team, what they heard and saw on their visit, celebrate the wins and provide draft recommendations.

Valuing Cultural Diversity at Richmond Primary

Recently we held our parent information session to inform parents and carers of the DECYP policy and the work, Working It Out does to support students in the LGBTIQ+. Four parents attended, and we had some robust discussions. The consensus from the meeting is that our role is to support students and families and to be inclusive of all students.

We seek to do this at Richmond Primary by:

• providing a supportive and respectful environment
• respecting privacy and confidentiality concerning all members of the school community
• recognising the gender identities of all members of the school community, supporting students and families to access information and resources on gender diversity, intersex and sexual diversity
• ensuring that curriculum, activities, policies and practices include the needs of all students
• challenging all forms of homophobia, transphobia and intersexism to prevent discrimination and bullying
• using Inclusive Language

The Supporting Sexuality, Sex and Gender Diversity in Schools Policy (the Policy) outlines the Department for Education, Children and Young People (the department) commitment to providing high-quality inclusive education and supporting all children and young people to have equal opportunities for learning and wellbeing outcomes, regardless of sexual orientation, gender diversity or intersex status in accordance with their legislative requirements. This Policy applies to all the department’s schools.

Class placements for 2024

As a staff we will be working to build our class groupings for 2024. If as parents/ carers you would like to have some input, sharing important information about your child/children, please email me directly at clare.mcvilly@decyp.tas.gov.au

I have included the Class Placement Policy for your reference. 

And now for several reminders about Term 4

With the UV increasing as the weather warms, students will need to wear a clearly named hat when returning in Term 4 for playing and learning outside (including before school when the UV rating is 3 or above). Students who do not have a hat will be asked to play in the designated shaded areas. Sun protection needs to be used until the end of April next year. Students are encouraged to bring sunscreen to school (please clearly name the container), and sunscreen is available for those who don't have their own in all classrooms. Sunglasses are optional (again, please clearly name these).

Student Free Day – Term 4

A reminder to parents that the student-free day is on Friday, October 27th, following the Public Holiday for the Royal Hobart Show on Thursday, 26^th, making a long weekend for students and families. This time allows teachers to engage in detailed planning for 2024 and to review the school's strategic and operational plans.

I wish everyone a happy holiday and a safe return to school on Monday, October 16th.

Next School Association Meeting

The Next School Association meeting will be held on Monday 23^rd October at 6.30 pm at the Richmond Arms. The committee are attempting to grow the Association by offering meetings at different times. Please add this date to your calendar.

Regards, 

Clare McVilly

Principal

Kinder Sandpit

Our new Kinder sandpit opened this week to the delight of the Kinder students, who have had great fun exploring this new space. 

Thank you to the Lance family for donating the rocks and, to David Coleman and Darren Bailey who constructed the sandpit. 

5/6 B Poems

We hope you enjoy a few of the poems our 5/6B students wrote about 'Blue'.

Maths Open Morning

Thank you to all the students, families and staff who helped make last week’s Maths morning a success. Feedback from parents has been extremely positive, check out some below:

" What an awesome event this morning! Thank you for the opportunity to learn about the maths curriculum, the intention behind the learning style and activities. It was so very insightful and I’d be keen to attend any similar opportunities for different streams/subjects. "

We hope you are getting the opportunity to talk about and play some of the activities that were shared on the day. Attached is a video made here at RPS of just one of many games you could play with your child to help their fluency.

Ben Johnston

NITA Education Excursion

As part of Richmond Primary School’s commitment to providing Aboriginal students with opportunities to connect with peers and build relationships, a combined excursion with St John’s was held on the village green last Friday.

Select students and families from both schools came together to share the experience and were joined by NITA education. Trish from NITA ran cultural activities, shared stories and had all students and staff up learning Emu and Kangaroo dances.

It was a great day out and we look forward to catching up with St John’s again soon.  

Japanese News

Welcome to Japanese in 2023, the “Year of the Rabbit.” To start off the Japanese program this year, students in all classes made origami rabbits; some students created “Year of the Rabbit” posters and were selected to represent Richmond Primary School in a “Year of the Rabbit” poster competition.

In the latter part of the year, students in Grades 5 and 6 have been focussing on learning the sounds and symbols in the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets. Students have been using their “alphabet charts” to “finger-type” words such as: konnichi wa; sushi; sakura; juusu and terebi.

Students are learning that if a word sounds like it has been introduced into Japan from English or another language, then they must select Katakana which is used for “loan words”, otherwise they select Hiragana.

All students from Grade 3-6 have been making Japanese-style business cards and origami “wallets”. Students have also been learning a self-introduction in Japanese as well as counting and writing Japanese numbers using correct stroke-order.

Students have recently been learning about a traditional Japanese doll called “Daruma”. The doll helps to teach children about being resilient; it has a weight at the bottom which means the doll will bounce back when it has met a challenge in life. In Japan, children draw in one of “Daruma’s” eyes and make a wish; if the child’s wish/goal in life comes true, the child draws in its other eye to say “thank you”, giving “Daruma” the gift of sight.

Robyn Spinner

(Japanese Teacher)

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MAT Relay

On Sunday the 24th of September Andrew, Hudson, Jenson, and Sam represented Richmond Primary School in the Southern Primary Mathematics Relay. 

The students had a fabulous day, placing 2nd out of 38 school teams. 

A big thank you to Mrs Easton for supporting our team, as well as all the parents who came to cheer on the Richmond Primary School team.

Kinder Art

Our Kindergarten students enjoyed an excursion to 'Our Place' Nature Play at Clarence Plains last week. Here's some of their amazing excursion artwork.

Playgroup Tas

Playgroup Tasmania is hosting a pop-up event at Coal Valley Playgroup at Richmond Primary School. Come and have fun by meeting new people and joining the activities for families with young children.

Aussie of the Month for August/September and Nominations

Assembly Awards Week 9