Newsletter Term 2

Students at Port Dalrymple School are provided many opportunities to connect and engage with learning that provides them with a foundation to experience success in many ways. I am proud of everything we do at Port Dalrymple School. Visiting classrooms, I observe the quality of teaching and learning and the level of respect students show to themselves and others as they navigate their learning journey. I wish to commend all students embracing our focus on our school wide expectations, ensuring an orderly learning classroom by being a learner and being respectful. Respect is an important human characteristic, and it is an expectation that all members of the Port Dalrymple School community show respect for each other and respect for themselves and our environment. Throughout this term we have introduced students to “This is how we do it” expectations, focusing on acknowledging students efforts in creating a positive school culture. These expectations were a collaboration of students, staff and parents as we continually focus on improving our school experience for all.

Teachers have been focusing on these messages and acknowledging students’ effort to apply these across the school community.

• Respect ourselves, others and our environment
• Accept the consequences of our behaviour
• Respect other people’s differences and strengths
• Follow instructions first time, every time
• Ensure our actions and choices impact on others positively

Our students have been engaged in an array of exciting activities this term. From Hands-on Learning to participating in insightful industry talks, representing the school in a breadth of sporting programs and attending events that connect learning to our community, they are truly exploring the world around them. Recently, students have also attended college presentations and secured work placements that provide real-world experience. We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and the dedication they show in all their endeavours.

Every Day Matters- School Attendance

Students attending school every day is so important for their social and intellectual development. Research has proven that when students attend school all day and every day, they achieve much better results and give themselves a greater chance of a successful future. School helps students build important life skills such as teamwork, communication and resilience along with developing their academic understanding. Parents need to be aware as well that it is a legal requirement that students attend school. Under the law you must make sure that your child attends school every day unless you have a reasonable explanation. It is very important that you don’t keep you child away from school for minor reasons. You can expect Port Dalrymple School to do the following: -

• Monitor student attendance.
• The office will communicate every time your child is absent from school via a text message. Please respond to this.
• We will follow up on any unexplained absences.
• Provide students with real-life authentic experiences to engage them in their learning.
• Work with you around strategies to encourage your child to come to school.
• It is important that if your child is absent from school, you contact the office and provide a reason. If you have any problems getting your child or children to school, please contact us for advice or support.

We recently acknowledged students who had attended school every day of term 1 with a certificate for 100% attendance. This term the class with the highest number of students attending 9 out of 10 days will receive a special class luncheon and next term individual students who are attending 9 out of 10 days will have the opportunity to attend an excursion to an activity in Launceston.

Regular attendance at school is important. The recommended minimum attendance rate over the course of the year is 90%. To put this in different terms, with 192 student attendance days in 2025, this means that a student must attend 173 days (i.e. no more than 19 days absent for the year) to achieve this threshold. Nevertheless, the higher the attendance rate the better. Please also note that arriving late to school or leaving early also contributes to overall attendance rates. 

As we head into the colder months, a few important reminders:

• Uniform Expectations: While the weather is cooling down, our expectations around school uniform remain the same. Please continue to wear your full school uniform with pride.
• ‘Off and Away’ Policy: Mobile phones should remain off and away during school hours. If students need to contact home—or if parents need to reach their child—please do so through the front office, where our friendly staff are always happy to assist.
• Attendance Matters: Every day at school counts. We encourage all students to be present and on time each day. Consistent attendance is key to staying connected, engaged, and on track with learning.

Reporting

As part of meeting our requirements under DECYP’s Communicating Learning Progress with Families Procedures,  teachers have commenced preparing mid-year reports. Reports will be shared with families during progress conferences with teachers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the final week of term. We encourage all families to make a time to meet with teachers. Staff will share your child’s progress through the evidences of learning and give you a copy of their report. More specific information about reports and progress conferences has been emailed to all parents/carers. Meaningful communication is integral to supporting the partnerships between families and schools that effectively promote student learning progress and wellbeing. As part of quality teaching practice, teachers regularly elicit evidence of student learning through assessment. This evidence is used to:

• assess where learners are in their learning, at a point in time
• adjust teaching practice to progress learning
• communicate learning progress with learners and families to support learning

Parent/Teacher/Student interviews will be held shortly.

An email has been sent to families.

We invite all families to make a time to meet directly with class teachers to discuss progress and future learning focus.

Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the code r352x

Or CLICK HERE to book.

1. Enter your details.
2. Select the teachers you wish to see.
3. Select the appointment time that suits your family best.

When you click FINISH your selected bookings will be emailed to you instantly.

 If you do not receive your email INSTANTLY, please check your junk-mail AND your SPAM folder, or enter the event code again and check your email address spelling. Update your details if the email address is incorrect.

The email will arrive from bookings@schoolintervie.ws

DO NOT DELETE the email you receive. Keep it somewhere safe. You may need to refer back to it at a later date.

REMEMBER TO ADD YOUR APPOINTMENTS TO YOUR CALENDAR - reminders will not be sent.

Bookings must be finalised by Friday 27^th June, 2025.

If you need to view, cancel, change or print your bookings:

• Click on the link in the confirmation email you received after you made your bookings
• OR return to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the code and the email address you used when making your bookings.

Lunch Program 

Project Lifesaver 

Project Lifesaver is an initiative to equip eligible DECYP sites with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to enhance emergency response capabilities and improve safety. St John Ambulance Tasmania has been secured as our supplier of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). This initiative is part of DECYP’s ongoing commitment to enhancing safety and wellbeing across sites by ensuring that more locations are equipped to handle cardiac emergencies effectively. This project demonstrates DECYP’s dedication to providing timely and effective emergency response capabilities across the state, ultimately saving lives and fostering a safer environment for everyone. While we already have an AED on our site at the pool,  additional devices will be most welcome, particularly for out of hours user groups. The new AED is in Administration block and the Trade Training Centre.

Students from Years 3 - 6 represented Port Dalrymple School in an outstanding manner on Tuesday 17th June at the All Schools Cross Country at Symmons Plains. Some of the results were:

Overall the students did better than they have in previous years and recorded very fast times.

Over the past few weeks students in 9/10 Art Class have been busy creating artworks to enter the 2025 kinimathatakinta/George Town Youth Art Prize. We are delighted to have many of our talented students selected as finalists in this year’s kinimathatakinta/George Town Youth Art Prize.

These artworks will be on display in an exhibition of finalist’s work, at The Jim Mooney Gallery, George Town Memorial Hall.

The official opening and announcement of the winners will be held on Thursday, 19th June at 10am, at the Jim Mooney Gallery, George Town Memorial Hall. Family and friends of the finalists are warmly invited to attend the opening and celebrate the success of our creative, talented students.

Sarah Hallett 9/10 Art Teacher

During week 5, students from Years 7-10 who placed in the top 4 of our PDS Cross Country Carnival travelled to Kings Meadows to represent our school at the NHSSA Cross Country Carnival. During the day we had some outstanding individual results with Will placing 5^th overall and being chosen to represent the NHSSA at the All School Cross Country. Matilda and Mahalia also placed 4^th and 5^th in our division. Throughout the day we had numerous top 10 finishes. High places in our Year 8 boys resulted in PDS winning the team pennant with our Year 7 Girls narrowly placing second. Throughout the day all students who attended pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones and showed great resilience and support for their fellow teammates. Special mention to Kaeden, Mason and Nate who not only raced in their own division but filled in other races!

Learning Intention: We are learning about animals that have structural adaptions used to protect themselves from predators.

Success Criteria: We can apply our knowledge of camouflage to blend our butterflies into the classroom environment.

In our classroom we have been learning about animal adaptations which help animals to survive. We have learnt about camouflage which helps the animal protect itself from predators by blending in with the environment it lives in. We were challenged to make butterflies that used camouflage to be hidden around our classroom. Check out some of our amazing butterflies!

By Wyatt 5/6A

Port Dalrymple School students had their annual TPSSA Cross Country at Beaconsfield Primary School today. All students showed courage and resilience and performed extremely well.

The Year 3/4 students ran 1.4km with the Year 5/6 students running 2.8km. There was a slight hill and a nice big puddle making this a challenging but fun event.

Zachary and Rani both finished strongly in 2^nd position and Lachlan and Laurence also had fantastic races finishing 3^rd  and 4^th  respectively.

Other students to finish top ten were:

Ms Leslie and Ms Dorlott have been giving the class the opportunity to follow our Youth Networker as she travels internationally. Each week students have researched Jaynes location, mapped her location and connected their learning with the language and foods from across the world. Students have enjoyed trying an array of foods, exposing them to a multitude of textures and flavours. Our students have looked forward to Jayne’s return and to share their learnings with her experiences.

The class have also appreciated the donation of new water bottles from Bell Bay Aluminium and have been collecting data from their hydration station as they focus on healthy bodies, healthy minds in their day-to-day learning tasks.

Ever wondered what it would be like to write an actual book in just 12 hours? Sounds impossible, right? Well, that’s exactly what a group of dedicated Port Dalrymple students took on during this year’s Write a Book in a Day challenge on Thursday, June 6th.

Students from Years 5 to 10 teamed up in grade-based groups to craft inspiring stories for children battling cancer in hospitals across Australia. It wasn’t just about coming up with fun plots and beautiful illustrations—this was a serious test of teamwork, time management, and resilience. With each group functioning as a mini publishing house, students stepped into roles like writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, and leaders. Every detail had to come together perfectly before the clock ran out! It was a whirlwind of creativity, teamwork, and—let’s be honest—a lot of frantic scribbling!

The challenge wasn’t easy. There were moments of chaos—writer’s block hit, ideas collided, pages went missing, and illustrations had to be redone. Some teams had to scrap entire sections and start over. But instead of giving up, students pushed through, supporting each other with determination and encouragement.

As the final hours ticked away, everyone kicked into high gear—editing, tweaking, and making sure the books were as polished as possible. The pressure was real, but so was the excitement of seeing their creations come to life. And just when energy levels were dropping, the school provided a well-earned dinner of pizza and chips, giving students the boost they needed to push through to the finish.

Beyond the challenge itself, Write a Book in a Day is more than just a competition—it’s about making a difference. Every book created is sent to children in hospitals, offering them a moment of joy and escape through storytelling. Plus, the event raises funds for childhood cancer research, helping kids not just survive, but thrive beyond their treatment.

Write a Book in a Day is more than just a challenge; it's a chance for students to use their imagination for a meaningful cause, knowing that their stories will bring joy to kids who need it most. And after 12 intense hours, our teams walked away not just with finished books, but with a sense of accomplishment and pride in what they had created together. This year’s teams proved that creativity, teamwork, and perseverance can achieve incredible things. Despite every obstacle, they didn’t just write books, they created stories that will brighten the days of young patients across Australia.

We can’t wait to see what next year’s round of literary magic will create!

By Ella Yr 10 Creative Writing

The trench was a long, festering wound, stitched into the Earth’s flesh. John, huddled in a shallow indentation in the earth’s crust, felt the damp cold seep though out his worn out, woollen greatcoat, a consistent reminder of his loyalty yet a constant subtle embrace. The air, thick and sickly, tasted of wet soil, stale fear, and the metallic tang of distant blood, a bitter flavour that coated his tongue like rust. He reached out and pulled out a small, smooth river stone in his pocket and clutched it harshly, it was his only tangible link to the world before, its cool temperature was a fleeting comfort against the tremor in his fingers. The silence was alive, a heavy shroud woven from the absence of birdsong and the muffled screams banging like a drum in his memories. It pressed in on him, amplifying the skittering of rats and the incessant, maddening drip of water from the dugouts sagging roof to the right of him. Each drop was like a tiny hammer blow, chipping away at the brittle walls of his sanity. The distant rhythmic ‘thump-thump-thump’ of German mortars, a long, guttural heartbeat of the frontlines, was a constant reminder that the Earth that he used to know as a comforting melody, was now a monstrous beat of a drum, produced by unseen hands. He stared at the stone, its grey surface polished by the continuous hours of worry and desperation for hope. It was a fragment of a long-forgotten river, a symbol of a life that felt as distant as the stars that pricked at the bruised canvas of the night sky above. Here, the sky was like a lid, pressing down, trapping him in this purgatory. The mud was like a vicious, starving beast, that swallowed anything and everything, boots, hope, and sometimes, men. It clung onto his trousers like a second skin, prompting them to remember the grave of a thousand men beneath his feet. Abruptly, the world had torn itself open, a whistle, shrill and piercing, ripped through the silence, followed by the grotesque roar of artillery. The earth had kicked and screamed, like a wounded leviathan. Shells shrieked overhead, descending with the speed of vengeful deities, exploding with blinding flashes and concussive blasts that slammed into John’s chest, taking his breath away. The trench became a hypnotising kaleidoscope of noise and light, the earsplitting ‘bang!’ of explosions, the hiss of shrapnel, the desperate shouting of men, all a chaotic symphony of destruction, orchestrated by avengement. John pressed himself deeper into the mud, the clutched stone digging into his palm. The ground shook violently, a living tremor. He could taste the small fragments of coarse soil, the bitter taste of cordite, and the metallic taste of fear. The air became a solid wall of sound, each explosion consistently echoed in his skull. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the flashes still seared through his eyelids, he heard a man’s bone-chilling scream, which rapidly ceased to exist by the roar of artillery. His mind, a fragile glass, began to crack. The stone in his hand felt like a burning coal, then a feather, then nothing at all. He hesitantly opened his eyes, the world was like a distorted, melancholy painting. The trench walls seamed to writhe, the sandbags dissolving into weeping expressions, and the mud was no longer, it was a thousand grasping hands, reaching for him, whispering forgotten names. He saw a familiar soldier, his young face pale, reaching out, then disappearing into the thick smoke. The river stone, his anchor, was gone, swallowed by the midst of the chaos, or possibly, by his own unravelling mind. The bombardment, as suddenly as it began, had subsided.The grotesque roar faded to a ragged, echoing cough. An eerie, ringing silence descended, broken only by the pained groans of a wounded man and the slow, agonising drip of water coming from the dugout. John laid there, unmoving, his face covered in mud, and his eyes were wide and vacant. The world had returned to its muted tones, but something fundamental had shifted within him. He pushed himself up, his limbs stiff, and his body became a hollow vessel. He looked at his mud-covered hands, no longer noticing the absence of the river stone he once cared so much for. The trench was still a wound, but now it felt like his own. He had survived the storm, but the echoes of its fury would forever reverberate within the shattered landscape of his mind. The war had taken more than just his body, it had taken the river, and the man who remembered it.