Welcome to week 6.  We are now in the last half of the last term for 2022.

This week we started our Swimming and Water Safety program.  Unfortunately, because of damage at the pool it has been cancelled the past 2 days, hopefully we will back again tomorrow.  A big thank you to all the  students who even though they were disappointed were very understanding.  If possible these days will be offered later in the term.

For any families that have visited our office over the past couple of weeks, and for students who  arrive late, have been introduced to the new Kiosk.  Please remind your child if they do arrive late to school they need to go to the office to check in and take a ticket to their classroom teacher.

Meet and Greet on a Monday morning – all families are welcome to stay and join our assembly where we celebrate great learning and events and share any whole school messages.  There have been lots of certificates awarded to students for the amazing things they do. 

Today we are sending out a very quick poll as we have been discussing the possibility of adding a hooded zip up top as part of our school uniform.  When this comes through please take a minute to share your thoughts as a yes or no.

Keep checking in to make sure nothing gets missed as we head into this very very busy part of the year.  All classes are practising for the musical items for our end of year presentation assembly on Thursday 15^th December.  I know all students love it when they have a family member in the audience. 

Last Tuesday 15^th November our students were visited by Mr Ian Ross from Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST). They developed their skills and knowledge of many important boating skills; what you need to think about before and during any boating activity, how to use inflatable jackets, how to check life jackets to make sure they work, what is required to take with you when boating and what these look like and how to use them, how to check fire extinguishers, how to use flares, the difference between each flare and how an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) works.  Our early childhood classes took home a book to share.

Here are some comments from our students:

• Isabelle - you have to be safe in the boat. Before you get on a boat you have to wear a life jacket.
• Abbie G - Ian let off some flares at lunch time on the oval. The red flare was my favourite! It looked really cool.
• Mitchell - I got to wear the life jacket. When Ian inflated the life jacket it squeezed really hard! It was fun!

We would like to pass on many thanks to Ian from MAST for visiting our school! If you are interested in further information, check out the MAST website, they have some great resources: https://www.mast.tas.gov.au/

During our Swimming and Water Safety Program, our students in years 3-5, will use their boat knowledge from Ian’s MAST visit in their boat safety and survival component. Monday 21^st of November was our first day of our Swimming and Water Safety Program.  It will be great for our students to apply their MAST boating knowledge practically at the pool! I can’t wait to see our students progress their swimming skills and knowledge throughout the program. Here are some comments from some of our swimmers from day 1:

• Addison - Day 1 was a bit intense, I am in Renee’s group!
• Henry - I am looking forwarded to learning about wearing life jackets in the water!
• Mayson - I want to learn to swim backstroke!
• Bentley - I really enjoyed finding the underwater rings. I look forward to everything!

On Friday 11^th November, 17 of our finest swimmers travelled to the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre to represent Molesworth Primary School at the SPSSA Division E Swimming Carnival.

Molesworth were in lane 2 and looking up into the stands we were one of the smallest teams! The smallest team with the biggest effort. All of our students walked away with a ribbon, which was an incredible achievement for us. Another fantastic opportunity for our students to compete against other schools at a swimming carnival.

Congratulations to every single one of our 17 competitors!

Thank you to our school community who came out all the way to the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre to support our swimmers! Thank you very much to Mr Peter Jelkic and Mrs Finn Roberts who were our volunteer school officials at the carnival.

From the SPSSA division swimming carnivals, students are invited to the SPSSA Champions swimming carnival which will be held on Tuesday 29^th November. Congratulations to Palasa, Mitchell, Joseph and Alice who have been selected from our school to swim! Best of luck and we cannot wait to hear about your experiences at the champions carnival!

Look at how we roll - with great determination and precision! This term saw our early childhood classes practise and develop their lawn bowl skills. We have practised our aiming, learnt how a lawn bowl moves as it is rolled, and the terms used in the game. Over the last couple of weeks, our K/P, P/1 and 2/3 classes all visited the New Norfolk Bowls Club to put their skills and knowledge to the test!

Here are some comments from our expert lawn bowlers:

• Bailey - I enjoyed rolling the lawn bowls
• Jaylen - I liked hitting the kitty with the lawn bowls
• Krixus - it was hard to aim for the kitty! I had fun.
• Isla - I learnt not to roll the ball too hard or it will go into the gutter.
• Sonny H - I enjoyed not getting my lawn bowl in the gutter! I liked our excursion because we had lots of parents come and help.
• Silas - I enjoyed learning how to play spider lawn bowls, it was a very interesting game.

A big thank you to Mr Tim Morgan, President of the New Norfolk Bowls Club who assisted in organising our visits and for organising expert Lawn Bowl players to assist our groups! A fantastic opportunity for our students to access sporting facilities in their local communities.

Thank you very much to our parent/carer volunteers who assisted us on our excursions, Mrs Laura Duncombe, Ms Jodie Goggins, Mrs Sarah Saunders, Mrs Angela White, Mrs Courtney Watson, Mr Craig Cross and Mr Warwick Turner.

A reminder to families that end of year reports for Prep to Grade 6 will be sent home on Tuesday 20th December and Kinder KDC's on Tuesday 13th December .

You can learn more about school reports by watching the video accessed through the QR code or view the links below:

• School Reports FAQs
• Understanding the 9-point scale
• Visit the Department of Education’s website at: Reporting - The Department for Education, Children and Young People Tasmania (decyp.tas.gov.au)

Packing a healthy lunchbox is important for good health, wellbeing, and learning.

A healthy lunchbox will aide your child's growth and development now, and sets up healthy habits and choices that your child can maintain as they grow older. The future, long term effects of healthy food choices include maintaining a healthy body and preventing lifestyle related diseases.

When packing a healthy lunchbox, it is important to include foods from all five food groups as recommended by 'The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating'. The five food groups are; breads and cereals, dairy, fruit, meat and alternatives and vegetables.

Packing your child's lunchbox is a great time to have them help and be involved in the process. Visit https://healthylunchbox.com.au/builder/ with your child as a fun activity to discover fun and healthy lunchbox ideas.

Healthy Snacks

When packing your child's lunchbox, it's important to include some snack foods with their main meal (lunch). Snacks are important for a child as they have small stomachs and may need multiple snacks throughout the day, between main meals to meet their energy needs and growth.

When picking snacks, it is important to ensure they're healthy and avoid packing 'sometimes' foods as a treat. Snacks should be made from the five food groups mentioned above.

Examples of healthy snacks to include in your child's lunchbox:

• Fresh Fruit
• Dip and cut up vegetable sticks
• Air popped popcorn
• Boiled egg
• Cheese and biscuits
• Rice crackers
• Vegetable muffin
• Fruit bread
• Yoghurt

https://newnorfolknews.com/2022/11/robotics-success-for-derwent-valley-teams/