Principal's Report

It has been another busy few weeks at Port Dalrymple School.

Last week in particular we had students challenge themselves as they participated in the Year 7 activities day,  North East Cup, 5/6 Basketball and Tasmanian Primary School athletics.  Thank you to staff, parents and guardians who supported our students to represent our school with pride.

Professional Learning Communities

Teachers at Port Dalrymple meet on a regular basis in what is known as Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s). Recently all teachers identified an area of teaching and learning they would like to investigate further, gathered data, implemented some key actions and evaluated their inquiry.  Last week each team shared their inquiry at the PLC.  Some of the inquiries included – developing letter sound knowledge, using Readers Theatre to develop expression in reading.  The capacity to cross pollinate ideas across the diversity of a Kinder to Year 12 school were evident in the results that were shared.  Teachers commented on they growth not only in their practice but the direct effect on improved student learning outcomes as a direct result of undertaking an inquiry.

NAPLAN

This week students in Year 3, 5,7 and 9 have been participating in the National Assessment – Literacy and Numeracy otherwise known as NAPLAN.

Held over two weeks and encompassing Writing, Language Conventions, Grammar and Punctuation and Numeracy NAPLAN provideds teachers with one set of data that can be used when examining student learning progress.

School Photos

School photo information was sent home with students on Monday.  Accompanying the photo information is a timetable for May 31 and June 3 outlining when each class with have their photos taken.  This is a guide and some times may change.

If you have not received your photo information pack please contact the school office.

 
Assistant Principal

Lisa Bailey

Year 7 – Team Building Excursion at the YMCA Launceston.

 The two Year 7 classes recently spent the day at the Launceston YMCA. We had an awesome day playing team games and challenging ourselves to try new experiences.

Some of our favourite activities of the day were the Bubble Balls, Gymnastics and the Rockwall.

Some student reflections on the day were:

“Being the record holder and winning a voucher” – Joel

“Jumping on the trampoline” – Leevi

“The rock climbing wall” – Owen

“It was fun because no one could get me down in the bubble balls” – Kaleb

“It was interesting, there were experiences that we haven’t had before and we were out of our comfort zones” – Mia H.

“I turned into a gymnast” – Finny

“I’m not happy because I only got to the first step on the rock climbing wall, but at least I tried and had a go!” – Kobi

“Scary on the rock wall but got to the top. Jayne is the best because she shouted us all ice cream” - Zaide

"The gymnastics part was really fun i learnt how to do a survival safety roll" - Imogen 

Sector Report

Across Years 9, 10, 11, and 12 students and teachers are busy engaging in a wide range of activities and learning.

Building and Construction students have been undertaking a project for our school, building bench seats for the school gym. The seats will give the HPE students a practical and comfortable space to sit whilst undertaking their sporting activity. The Year 9/10 students have done a fantastic job with this project, having planned, designed, and sourced the material required. The bench seats will provide students a functional, accessible, and convenient option during their HPE classes. Thanks to Mr Bennett and Jade (Teacher Assistant) for guiding, supporting, and mentoring our students through this project.

Year 10 students have begun work creating their individual transition plans. Students have accessed the myfuture website and completed a range of surveys and questionnaires. The results generated from the website guide students to potential subjects, courses and careers that match their strengths and interests. Over the coming weeks student will have opportunities to meet with staff of Newstead College, Launceston College and Port Dalrymple School to explore options each facility offers. All students will then tour the schools on orientation days. At the end of the year all Year 10 students will have a transition plan that reflects their pathway in education or work.

The Year 10 Leadership Team continue to be busy, working within our school and in the wider community. The team have organised and are set to receive the Year 10 student rugby jumpers, they have represented the school at George Town’s ANZAC Day service, began work around creating a school-wide fundraiser and continue to provide vital student voice on a range of issues at Port Dalrymple School.

Within the Year 11 and 12 space, 2021 has provided the first opportunity for students to study face-to-face level 3 TASC courses. This option accompanies the online ‘virtual learning’ level 3 courses previously and currently accessed by our students. The result of this is students can now study at Port Dalrymple School as part of their journey to tertiary education.

Two of our Year 11 students are completing courses through VLT this year. Hayley is studying Cert II in Community Services and Briannah is studying Level 3 English and Legal Studies 2. VLT gives students the opportunity to select courses that are not offered as a face-to-face class but still enables them to stay connected with their peers and access support from teaching staff here at Port Dalrymple School.

VLT@Tasmanian eSchool courses have the same course requirements as courses delivered face-to-face, with students undertaking research and group activities, completing assignments and tests. The VLT@Tasmanian eSchool Delivery Teachers provide students with detailed feedback on their work, support student progress and write reports.  In Level 3 courses, students also complete external assessments as required. Students enrolled in VLT@Tasmanian eSchool courses meet with their Delivery Teacher and fellow students to discuss ideas, answer questions, undertake group work and provide feedback in 'synchronous sessions'.

Upcoming student survey for Collective Ed. Grades 8, 10 and 12

The Beacon Foundation is working with our school on a project called Collective Ed.  They have asked the University of Tasmania to evaluate the project.  One step is a survey for all students in Year 8, 10 and 12 in the six schools that are part of Collective Ed in Tasmania. Port Dalrymple students will undertake the survey in week 8 beginning Monday 7 June 2021.

The survey provides an opportunity for students in these year groups to reflect on learning experiences inside and outside school, and their plans for the future.  The survey is completely anonymous, and will be completed in class.

The researchers from the University of Tasmania will write a short report with the anonymous findings from the student survey for our school so that we can learn about the opinions of our students. The report won’t be about the answers of any single student, but about results from all the answers taken together.

The survey is completely voluntary. If you have a child in Year 8, 10 or 12, you will receive a letter with more information. If you are interested in finding out more about the survey, even if your child is not in Year 8, 10 or 12, you are welcome to contact Sherridan Emery on sherridan.emery@utas.edu.au.

The survey is completely voluntary.  If you prefer your child not to take part, you can let us know by:

• emailing Sherridan on sherridan.emery@utas.edu.au or calling the Peter Underwood Centre on (03) 6226 5735
• before Monday 31 May and
• letting us know the name of your child, their year and the name of their school.

Even if you’re happy for your child to do the survey, they can still decide not to complete the survey when they receive it in class. 

Premiers Reading Challenge

All students in years Prep to 6 have been busy reading books for the Premier’s Reading Challenge.  Please write the titles of the books your child/ren have finished reading at home on their reading log.  If you need another log, please see your child’s teacher.  It has been great to hear of many students who are well on their way to finishing or who have already completed the challenge. 

Keep on reading.

Home Reading

The more students read, the better readers they will be.  Encourage your child to read every night and record this in their Primary Communication Reading Record.  Please record each night your child reads including the weekends and holidays.

At the last assembly, we had many reading certificates to award with a number of students already reaching 75 nights of home reading.  Well done to all students who received the 25, 50 and 75-night reading certificates at the last assembly.  We look forward to awarding more reading certificates at the next assembly.

Reading Rockets

This term we are continuing our Reading Rockets program with Prep – Year 2 students.  Reading Rockets occurs on Monday and Thursday afternoons at 1.20 – 2.50pm in our LIFT room.  We are looking for volunteers to read with students and practice sight words on these afternoons.  The more volunteers we have the more students we can provide extra support to.

If you are available to volunteer or know someone who might be interested, please contact Cheryl Broomhall (Literacy Coach) on 63820500.