Welcome to our 2025 School Year!

Schools are vibrant and exciting places when we are all here together and starting a new school year is both exciting … and a lot of work.

Thank you to all Staff for the tremendous effort in preparing our school and school community for the year ahead – so many fresh new opportunities for children, families and staff!

Thank you also to all families for your preparation to send children every day in uniform, with their hats and with everything they need to make successful ‘connections’ in their new class.

Good attendance habits can sometimes be hard to stick. But creating a solid routine, from the start of Term 1, can set your child up for success for the year ahead.

Check out these tips for starting the year off right.

⭐ Make every school day count

⭐ Get your child excited for school

⭐ Talk to your child about school

⭐ Celebrate the milestones

⭐ Talk to your child’s teacher or principal

⭐ Know when to seek help

⭐ Keep in contact with our School / Admin Office about any absence or medical needs

Seesaw – new and starting next week…

From 2025, DECYP is centrally funding a Seesaw licence for primary schools to increase data security and improved streamlining of resources and supported school apps.

Seesaw is an online application developed specifically for Prep–Year 6 students, teachers and parents. It can support class instruction, communication and collecting and sharing evidence of student learning with families.

Our school Administrator will shortly be generating family connections for Seesaw accounts for Parent/carers listed as either 1 and 2 listed and who receive school communication.  Families have updated their validation details at the beginning of the school year, and these will be used for creating our new accounts. There are mobile apps for Seesaw, one each for teachers, students and families.

Summary of key ‘Back-to-School’ Practices:

1. Classroom external doors are the main entry and exit points for all children and parents/carers for drop-off and pick-up times at school.
2. Classroom doors open from 8:30am and the learning day starts at 9am. The end of our student's school day is 2:45pm (All late arrivals or early departures must go to the school office)
3. ALL children and adults who are unwell are NOT to come to school – please inform the school office about the reason for a student absence either by phone contact 6442 3377 or via accessing the Schoolzine Absentee quick function.
4. HATS on for Terms 1 & 4 - please ensure you have labelled your child's hat
5. For 2025 we adjusted our Recess play and eat times:

 

6. Canteen is OPEN Tuesdays to Fridays (4 days this year) and is closed Mondays
7. We are really encouraged to see so many students choosing to walk, scoot and ride to school (where possible and age appropriate) – all healthy lifestyle choices. With each of these ways of travelling to school there are also safety considerations to discuss and follow to ensure your child’s safety and to minimise risks.  We ask that all students using scooters, skateboards (and board variations) and bikes wear a helmet to and from school.  Once students enter our school grounds, we ask that they get off their mode of transport and walk into school to avoid collisions on our pathways.  Bikes should then be secured in the bike rack and other devices can be carried to classroom storage areas – these are not used again during the school day. 

A reminder also to students that whilst waiting to enter the school buildings or when leaving at the end of the day we ask that they do not share their bikes or boards with friends on our school grounds to avoid any accidents or issues.  This also helps keep everyone safe when they are walking to and from school.

8. Walking pathways around our school are defined by our white concrete areas (mostly around all buildings). This simple concept of ‘walk’ on the white zones (pathways) and run on the black asphalt and grassed areas (play areas) is a way to help avoid any unnecessary accidental collisions with all members of the school community. Please encourage this schoolwide safety practice when on the school grounds with your child/ren.

We are an Anaphylaxis ‘Aware School’ 

Our school community plans and provides a ‘duty of care’ for all students who require additional support for anaphylaxis - for all students who have a life-threatening allergic reaction to identified foods, medications or stings, and requiring an immediate treatment of an EpiPen medication. 

We have a number of children from Kinder to Grade 6 who have a life-threatening allergic reaction to foods containing either nuts, eggs, specific fruit and milk.  We have a range of management strategies and protective practices in place to ensure that we can minimize the risks to keep our students safe at all times. These include: 

• Anaphylaxis Aware Posters/Signs clearly visible in and around all classrooms and our school 

• Anaphylaxis awareness information sharing with all families 

• All students washing their hands before and after eating morning tea and lunch 

• Students eating in their classrooms prior to recess and lunch; with exception for any ‘finishing off’ eaters to move to seats on our hard surface areas of the playground 

• Students do not share food from each other’s lunch boxes 

• Our classroom eating areas are cleaned after eating recess and lunch each day 
• All Table Cape Primary staff have been trained to administer an EpiPen in case of an emergency 

We request the support of our entire parent community to make careful choices about the foods placed in every child’s lunchbox.  Please help us to minimise the risk of harm from school lunchboxes where possible, by not including foods in sandwiches or snacks that have nut or nut related products (nuts (peanuts, cashews, pecans, walnuts), Nutella, peanut butter, fruit & nut mixes, …)  but rather save these for when children are at home. If any of these foods are the only choice for your child, then please discuss with them about safe eating practices at school (i.e. not sharing foods and leaving crumbs etc). 

We also have a number of children in our school who have been diagnosed with a severe life-threatening reaction to all nuts and nut products – from either taste or contact with the food. Our students’ families feel very reassured that we have established school wide awareness program/practices in place for severe allergy conditions. 

If you would like to have more information on how you may be able to support us in keeping all our students safe or some alternative products available, please feel welcome to discuss this with myself or your child’s class teacher. Keeping all students safe at all times is a priority for every member of our school community and we appreciate your support in this important wellbeing matter. 

2025 Term 1 - Sharing Assemblies

We invite family and school community members to join us three times a term for our Sharing Assemblies. For the first three terms of the year this will involve classes from Prep to 6 and our Kinders will join us in Term 4.

Our Thursday Sharing Assemblies commence at 1:30pm until 2:10pm in our Gymnasium and our format provides an opportunity for classes to have a turn to share ‘snapshots of class learning.’  Our classes are arranged into 3 groups to provide the best opportunity for everyone to perform and practice their audience skills. A mystery teacher is selected to award the “Best Class” at assembly Trophy.

After assembly, families are then invited to stay until the end of the school day and enjoy a ‘Cuppa and Catch-Up’ light afternoon tea (where pre-school children can also have a play) in our Large Multi-Purpose Room.

Please join us for some or all of our Term 1 Wednesday Dates in weeks 8, 9 & 10:

• 27 March, 3 & 10 April

(A reminder that, if you are at all unwell, then please do not come into our school (you may need to wait until the next opportunity to join us at an assembly) and we ask that all audience members are seated in the designated area.)

Bushfire Ready Schools Information for Families – School Bush Fire Safety Plan

The Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) maintain site specific bushfire risk rating and response plans, based on assessments conducted by the Tasmanian Fire Service.

Bushfire Response Plans (BRPs) contain contact details and planned assembly and evacuation points and routes for when bushfires are near a site. They are shared with Tasmanian Fire Service and other supporting emergency management agencies.

Following consultation with the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) the overriding principle of the Department’s bushfire response is to keep schools open when bushfires threaten, with students in the care of the school.

Under the Bushfire-Ready Schools initiative, a school’s bushfire risk is ranked either Low, 1, 2, or 3, based on an analysis of modelled bushfire attack. All schools have been reviewed for bushfire readiness by TFS. This review focused on the locality of the school and its surrounding environment, and the results have been documented in a written site assessment report.

Our school has been assessed as Category 1, which means ‘buildings will be safe to shelter in during the passage of the main fire front’. Our plan takes this assessment into consideration, and we adapt our actions using advice received and/or bushfire conditions.

Each individual schools Bushfire Response Plan (BRP) will have information that identifies where students and staff will position themselves. This will vary from school to school, and it is advisable for all parents/guardians/carers to be aware of our individual school’s action plan:

What have schools done to prepare for the fire season

Schools:

• Have updated their emergency management plans and Bushfire Response Plans in consultation with TFS, local emergency services, fire authorities and local government authorities 

• Have maintained mitigation strategies for vegetation

2025 Staffing Update

All staff look forward to fostering and developing strong and positive relationships with our families. This year we also welcome the following new staff joining our school community:

• Stacy Purdon – teaching Kinder A
• Catherine Gomez – team teaching in 3A & 3B
• Jackie McAlister – teaching Visual Arts
• Zoe Lucas – teaching 5A
• Imogen Beswick – teaching 5B
• Crystal Woods – School Business Manager on Wednesdays
• Mia Luttmer – Teacher Intern in 6B
• Teacher Assistants – Laura Chugg, Tiarna Docherty, Meg Robinson & Jessica Wells

NAPLAN 2025 – Grades 3 & 5

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 12 and 24 March 2025.

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

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; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

NAPLAN is now held in March so schools can have access to results earlier in the school year; and so, they can be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online

NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results. One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN.

Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging. Please note that students in Year 3 complete the Writing Test on paper.

Please contact the school (either class teacher/s or Jessie Type-Farrell, who is our NAPLAN Coordinator) if you have any further queries about your child’s participation.

The Smith Family – Learning for Life

Learning for Life Program works in partnership with families to support their children’s education and increase their chances of success at school.

Learning for Life provides:

• Support from a dedicated Family Partnership Coordinator
• Access to educational programs for the whole family
• Scholarship money to help with the cost of schooling
  • To be eligible you must:
    • Have a Health Care or Pension Concession Card
    • Have a child attending a partner school (Table Cape Primary School)
    • Support your child to attend school regularly

If you meet all the above criteria and would like to express your interest in applying to join your child/ren to the Learning for Life program, then please contact our school for an information pack.

For more information, please contact the Family Partnership Coordinator, Laura Ash 0448 386 251 or email laura.ash@thesmithfamily.com

Finally, today a couple of reminders for all families that...

• Breakfast Club operates daily from 8:30am to 8:55am every school morning in the Large Multi Area
• Our School’s Staff and Accessible parking is not for any drive-through ‘drop-off’ or’ pick-up’ or for family parking. Please use the allocated parking spaces on either side of Gibbons Street and ensure everyone uses the School Crossing
• Please remember that the school staff assume duty of care of your children from 8:30am each school morning. If you are transporting your child/ren to school, we ask that you please arrive between 8:30am and 9:00am
• Grades 3 to 6 Swimming and Water Safety Program – 10 days commencing from Monday 24 February to Friday 7 March
• Our Launching into Learning Programs for ‘Birth to 4yr olds’ have commenced on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – more information is available from Alice Wade and/or our school office
• Our 2025 School Photo Day has been rescheduled to WEDNESDAY, 9 April
  
  

Once again welcome to our 2025 school year …. are we are really looking forward to a positive and rewarding year for all students!

AND wishing everyone a very happy, ‘Valentine’s Day  

Lynette Grundy – Principal