Welcome back to what promises to be another big term for learning as we strive to be a collaborative, creative and innovative learning community. Term 3 is a term of action where we have an opportunity to reflect on the first half of the year’s learning through the mid-year report and parent–teacher discussions, and now the challenge is to ensure that we move that learning forward!
The student free day last Monday provided us, as a staff, the opportunity to continue to achieve some key outcomes from the drivers of our School Improvement Plan 2017–2020. We spent the afternoon at Ridgley Primary School with teachers from Somerset, Havenview and Romaine Park Schools reviewing the professional learning in reading that we have undertaken as a collective of schools over the last 18 months, and envisaging how we can continue this professional learning in writing for the next 12–18 months.
We welcome back Miss Meaghan Hosking who will be leading the learning in Grade 5H this Term while Miss Stephanie Hanson is on Long Service Leave. Mrs Rebekah Timms finishes with us tomorrow covering for Mrs Amanda Hyland in Kinder who will return from LSL on Monday. We also welcomed into our Burnie Primary School community two teachers from South Korea who have joined us for 8 weeks on a teacher scholarship from Jeju province. Jeju Office of Education has partnered with the Tasmanian Department of Education to place teachers in leading schools to learn about the quality teaching and learning programs on show in our schools.
I am excited to be learning alongside the Grade 4s today and tomorrow, in one of the oldest ‘classrooms’ in the world! We will be travelling to the Arthur River, ‘Kings Run’ and Preminghana (Mount Cameron West) to experience, learn and celebrate one of the oldest living cultures in the world - our Tasmanian Aboriginal culture. We will be joined by Aboriginal Education Discovery Ranger, Jye Croswell who will help enrich this experience! Staying at Riverbend in Smithton for the night is another valuable educational experience that is somewhat unique to Burnie Primary School, especially for students in Grade 4. We will continue this learning with Jye at Pinmatik (Rocky Cape) on Friday before our return to Burnie. This on-country experience is a real celebration and a high quality learning experience for all.
Starting next week, I will be filling in for the North West School Improvement Leader for five weeks. This will involve working with 21 schools, including Burnie Primary School, down the West Coast and along to Circular Head. In my absence, Mr Andrew Woodard will be acting Principal and Mr Stephen Dome will be acting Assistant Principal. I am looking forward to learning from all the schools I visit and sharing with Burnie Primary School on my return in the second week of September.