Principal's Report
Dear Parents and Carers,
I am thrilled to announce that three of our students were selected to be ambassadors for children of Tasmania. A huge congratulations to Jaeger, Caitlin and Ally who all submitted written applications to be a part of this group. These students will be meeting with Mrs Leanne McLean the Commissioner for Young People and other children (approximately 40 from Northern Tasmania and 200 young people across the state) to discuss issues that affect young people. During the meeting, they discussed issues such as equity and diversity, bullying and mental health, safety, climate change and the environment, education and opportunities, support and necessities. They met at the State Library this week, to discuss these topics as a group and this will support the next phase of their work which aims to provide solutions to one of these issues. Well done to Jaeger, Ally and Caitlin. It was so great to listen to your enthusiasm and excitement, we are so very proud of you!
Launceston Competitions
Last week we had two groups of students represent our students at the Launceston Competitions. Our Grade 3-6 Choir did a wonderful job singing two songs and the Recorder group also performed well coming away with equal first. Our Choir will now work towards Singfest which occurs in September. A big thank you to Mr Tabe for all his work with our musical groups.
City Mission – Mission Possible Can Drive
A big thank you to the families that have already donated to our Can Drive. The boxes are filling nicely in the office area but we are still hoping for more donations!! We accept any non-perishable food items and also sanitary items. Thanks again for your support in helping those less fortunate in our community.
School Association
A School Association meeting was held on Wednesday evening, as a result there will be some changes to future meeting dates which will be shared once confirmed. We always welcome parents to our meetings which are held in the school staffroom once a term on a Wednesday night.
Bullying
Regularly as a school, we work on the concept of what constitutes bullying. As a school Punchbowl tries to be a safe and supportive environment for all students. There are varying types of behaviours that constitute bullying, such as physical, verbal, relational and cyber bullying. None of these behaviours are acceptable. There are a number of types of behaviours that are not considered bullying, including assuming someone is looking at them in a funny way, minor acts of conflict, not liking someone, not being invited to a party, being bossy, arguments and disagreements and a single act of meanness or spite.
Bullying is a word that is often used in the wrong context and may often need to be substituted with words such as being mean or rude. Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying is when one person (or a group of people) with more power than someone else tries to upset or hurt them. This power can come from being more popular, stronger or part of the group. They might repeatedly try to hurt the person physically, socially isolate them, or say and do mean or humiliating things to them.
It is really important that we keep school problems within the school context and allow teachers to support all students through restorative conversations. If you have concerns about your child please encourage them to seek help from their teacher or our leadership team which includes, Mrs Frerk, Miss Rainbow, Mrs Dean or myself.