Punchbowl Primary School eNewsletter

Dear Families,

As we conclude our second full week at school we would like to thank you all for your support as your children have settled into their new classes and new school year.

It is hard to believe that we have already had 12 days at school!

Launceston Cup Day

Next Wednesday, 28th February, is a public holiday for the Launceston Cup. This means that it is a Student Free Day. Our school week consists of 4 days; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Drop Off and Pick Up Zone

As we move into the new school year it is important that we

ensure that our students are safe, particularly as they arrive in the mornings and leave at the end of the day.

The Drop Off and Pick Up Zone at the front of the school is for you to stop and either drop off or pick up only.

Unfortunately we have had several cars parking there for extended periods of time whilst children have been walked into school. This is impacting on the traffic flow and the overall safety of the area around our school.

If we could all follow the signage and work together to keep our children safe, that would be much appreciated.

Gate (beside Multi-Purpose Hall)

Also for safety reasons, the gate near our Multi-Purpose hall, will now be locked from 9.15am until 2.45pm.each day.

If you need to access our school during these times please come through the pencil entrance and via our school office.

Meeting new staff

Over the next few months we will be introducing you to our new staff members. This week we will be meeting Mr Nic Beckett and Mr Andrew McPhan who both teach in our Grade 3/4 area.

Assemblies

This week we held our first school assemblies for 2024 and we would like to thank those parents and grandparents who attended. Our thanks are also extended to Grade 5/6 Airey and Grade 1/2 Cameron who both did a wonderful job hosting these events. It was a wonderful opportunity for our children to share their work and also for our Grade 6 leaders to be introduced to our school community. We wish our Kinder, Early Childhood, ICT, and Outdoor Leaders and members of the Student Leadership Board all the best for a very successful year.

Art Gallery

It was very exciting this week to see our Art Gallery appear at the end of our main hallway. Artwork from 5-6 Spangaro is currently being featured and we invite you to view this when you next visit. Thak you very much to the artists from 5-6 Spangaro for sharing their work with us.

Reading Survey

As mentioned in our last newsletter, the Department for Education, Children and Young Children are gradually changing their approach to the teaching of reading. Many of the effective practices that we currently undertake will continue, but in some areas there will also be changes. To ensure that we can communicate these details to you in the most efficient way, we are inviting you to complete a parent feedback survey. This will then guide us on how we can best share upcoming information with you.

The parent survey can be accessed via the following link.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=xzq-qWAMHkmLO6Mvj0auyNnqORZ_8eNJm-0oE5u46V5UMUNZNllKTkdXT0c0UFNQMFkxMUNZREhFNi4u

Finally I would like to share a clip with you that you may like to view with your children. It is a very inspiring story that is a wonderful example of the importance of resilience, determination and courage.( Panyee FC short film).

I wish you all the best for an enjoyable weekend.

Kind regards,

Jane King - Principal

The Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) provides assistance to low income families towards the cost of levies for students enrolled in a school from Kindergarten through to year 12.

STAS is provided through school and college resourcing rather than payments direct to families.

Applications for 2024 will be open mid November

Eligibility

Parents who have a current concession card as listed below can apply for dependent students for assistance under the STAS:

Services Australia – Centrelink Health Care Card
Services Australia – Centrelink Low Income Health Care Card
Services Australia – Pensioner Concession Card or
Department of Veteran Affairs – Pensioner Concession Card.

Families who were approved for STAS last year should have received written notification regarding their eligibilty (approved or not approved) for 2023.

Application forms for 2024 will be available from the school from mid November.

To apply for STAS please complete the Student Assistance application form.

For further information please view the Frequently Asked Questions.

Financial assistance

Families on low incomes who meet the eligibility conditions of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) will not be required to pay school levies. Grandparents raising grandchildren may also be eligible for STAS.
Families who are not eligible for STAS, but who may experience financial hardship should talk to the school about payment arrangements and other financial assistance which may help.
School staff understand that financial matters are highly sensitive, so your questions will remain completely confidential.
These matters will also be dealt with directly with you and not through your child.
Your child’s participation in learning will not be affected.

Where can I get more information?

Talk to the school business manager or principal at your child’s school.
Contact the Department for Education, Children and Young People, Finance and Budget Services on 1800 827 055 or email stas@decyp.tas.gov.au
For information on Centrelink assistance programs, contact Centrelink’s Youth and Student Services on 13 24 90 or visit the Services Australia website.

Alternatively, parents/guardians who have not applied for STAS previously (and do not have an existing STAS file) can apply online for STAS 2024 at Student Assistance Scheme (STAS) or simply Google STAS to be taken to the link.

Letters advising of STAS approval (or otherwise) will be posted to all families with existing files in the STAS database in mid-November.

If a parent/guardian has received STAS in 2023 and wishes to add a new/additional student to their STAS record they simply need to email their name, the student’s full name, date of birth, school, and grade in 2024 and we will add them to the existing STAS file.

For queries please contact stas@decyp.tas.gov.au

School photos this year are on Tuesday, 12th March.

If your children are intending on having sibling photos taken please ensure you are at the Multi-Purpose Hall by 8:30am on this day. Sibling order forms will be given to you from the office upon request. If you are a split family and require the shootkey code for your child/ren's school photo ordering, please let the school office know and they will provide you with an ordering code.

Our School Association held their first meeting for 2024 on Wednesday, 14th February. It was so lovely to see new faces joining us.

This year we will have some vacancies for our Association positions. Nomination forms to become a member of our School Association Committee will be sent home with students soon. These will be due back to the school office by Friday, 22^nd March.

Please remember that you don't need to be a member of our School Association team to come along and have your say. We would love to hear some fundraising ideas for 2024.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, 27th March at 7:00pm. If you have any questions please pop in to the office and ask or call on 6344 1382.

We can't wait to see you there!

Meeting dates for 2024 are as follows and will all be held at 7:00pm:

27^th March

8th May ( AGM followed by meeting)

19^th June

31^st July

11^th September

23^rd October

4^th December (TBC)

Subway Days - Term 1

27^th February

5^th March

12^th March

19^th March

26^th March

9^th April

26th February	Esk Band forms due back to office
28th February	Launceston Cup - Student Free Day
4th March	2:00pm - Primary Assembly - Hosting: 5-6 Marshall Sharing: 3-4 McPhan/Sutton & 3-4 Beckett
5th March	2:00pm - ECE Assembly - Hosting: 2 Richardson Sharing: Prep Peachey & 1-2 Cameron JCP Youth working with Grade 6 students Easter RaffleDonation/Free Dress Day Subway Lunch Day
6th March	3-6 Athletics Carnival
7th March	Grip Leadership Conference (selected students only)
8th March	Brixhibition Winners Announced 1500m race - 5-6 only
11th March	Public Holiday - No School
12th March	Subway Lunch Day School Photo Day
13th March	3-6 Athletics Carnival Rain Date
15th March	Esk Band commencing (TBC)
19th March	Subway Lunch Day
26th March	Subway Lunch Day 5-6 Camp to Camp Clayton
27th March	5-6 Camp to Camp Clayton
28th March	LSSSA Athletics Carnival Easter Raffle Drawn
29th March	Good Friday
1st April	Easter Monday
2nd April	Easter Tuesday
3rd April	School returns after Easter break

We are looking forward to starting our LiL program in Week 5 this year. We will be offering 3 sessions including LiL for our 0-4yrs, Baby Group & Pre Kinder. More details will follow and please look out for further information on our LiL Facebook page or contact Jess Bennett - jess.bennett@decyp.tas.gov.au

We welcome parents, friends and carers to come along and support students participating in the upcoming 2024 Punchbowl Primary School Athletics Carnival for Grades 3-6, on Wednesday, 6^th of March from 9:00am - 2:30pm.

Children will still need to bring a full lunch, drink bottle and wear a bucket styled hat. We encourage students to dress in their house colours (Esk or Tamar). We are looking forward to a fun day of athletic events.

Please note that Punchbowl Primary School performs impressively every year at the Launceston State Schools Sport Association (LSSSA) Athletics Carnival and moves between Division A & Division B. This year we will send a representative team to the Division B event.

Only 1 child may be selected for each event (except the relay team) in Division B.

A Team will be chosen to represent Punchbowl Primary School following the Athletics Carnival results and times achieved during our athletics module in class.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working through our Athletics module with the support of Zane Patmore from Little Athletics and am looking forward to seeing everyone share their newly acquired movement skills.

The Rain Date for the Grade 3-6 Carnival will be Thursday, 20^th March.

The ECE Carnival will be held on Tuesday, 9^th April.

Kind regards,

Lou Padgett - HPE Teacher