Dear School Community,

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Devonport Basketball tournament on the weekend.  Burnie Primary was represented by a number of teams and all students tried their best.  Thank you to the parents, carers and family members who attended to cheer on and support the students.  An enormous thank you to those parents and families who took on active roles for the weekend of coaching, managing, scoring etc.  Without your support these opportunities cannot go ahead for the students.  A big thank you also to Mr Dome for all of the management and organisation to ensure that Burnie Primary was involved in the event.

A fortnight ago Burnie Primary had a stall at the Burnie MakerX Fair that was organised by the University of Tasmania.  Nine students from Grade 6 organised and ran a stall that showcased the learning they are involved in when in the Makerspace and in STEAM education.  Over 2000 people came through the fair on the Sunday and it was an enormous success.  There were over 70 stalls at the fair and Burnie Primary was awarded the people's choice for the most popular stall.  Congratulations to the students who were involved and we look forward to being part of this event again next year.

Book Week was again a fantastic time at Burnie Primary School.  There was a fantastic range of costumes that children wore to school to represent a favourite character or book.  It was great to see so many staff also dressed up for the Wednesday.  At Burnie Primary we do not award a prize for best dressed as we believe that everyone who gets involved in Book Week and everyone who reads a book is a winner.

Please remember that every day counts for students attending school.  It is accepted that students may miss some school days due to illness or unavoidable family matters.  Unfortunately, ongoing absenteeism from school is very detrimental to a child’s academic and social wellbeing.  This includes arriving late to school and leaving early on a regular basis.  From an academic perspective, ongoing absenteeism means that a student is missing crucial learning opportunities that cannot be recovered.  Research shows that regular absenteeism has a direct effect on an individual’s success and wellbeing throughout their life.  There is also the impact that absenteeism has on the opportunities that a child has to interact on a social level with other students and the school community.  How we develop as a person is just as important as how we develop academically.  Parents and carers are required to contact the school to inform the front office as to why their child is not at school on any given day.  All student absences are recorded in a central database and ongoing absenteeism results in the school having to follow a legislated process of intervention with the family.  A new process that has been introduced is the involvement of an Education Registrar.  The involvement of this office is activated when there is no improvement in a student’s attendance, despite ongoing school intervention.  The Education Registrar is able to convene legally binding conciliation conferences that can result in court mandated requirements.  The reality is that every parent /carer wants the best for their child and attending school on time and as much as possible is in the best interest of every child.

Just a reminder that if you wish to discuss schooling matters with a teacher or senior staff member, please contact the front office with the request and this will be forwarded to the relevant staff member.  Please avoid non organised meetings before school or straight after school as these are very busy times for staff in setting up and finishing off a learning day.  Many of our staff use the SeeSaw app to communicate to parents and carers the learning experiences their children are involved in throughout the day.  Please do not use this platform as a means of discussing concerns with staff around your child’s learning and/or social interactions.  This is the same in regards to utilising staff emails.  It is always best to organise a meeting and discuss a matter in person.  Thankyou

Next week is my last week in the Principal’s chair and we will be welcoming back Mr Starick in week 8.  Thank you to everyone for their support during my time in the role and I look forward to continuing to work alongside you in my Assistant Principal role to support the learning and wellbeing of your children.

 Regards

 Andrew Woodard

Principal (acting)