Term 2 - Week 2 - 8th May, 2025

IMPORTANT DATES

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Start of Term
We have had a reasonably settled start to Term 2, and fine weather has continued into May. It has been pleasing to see so many children attending school in the Spreyton Primary School uniform. As the weather starts to cool, winter options include the Spreyton Primary School jumper or soft-shell jacket. Black Puffer jackets and Spreyton Primary School beanies may be worn in the playground.

Fire Safety
This was a well-timed education programme coming into Winter when we start using heaters again.  I hope families had a chance to talk about fire safety in the home.

Cross Country
This year, Mr Henry ordered the best weather possible for the Spreyton Primary School Cross Country: not too hot with a cool breeze. Well done to all those who participated, and thanks to our Sports Leaders who helped our younger students navigate the course. It was great to see so many families in attendance. Well done to those Grade 3-6 students selected to represent Spreyton Primary School at the Inter-School Cross Country on May 27.

School Association BBQ and Cake Stall
Many thanks to the School Association for their very successful election day stall. Thanks to those who cooked for the stall and those who volunteered on the day, the School Association raised over $1,000.

Sunsmart
It is time to put your school hats away until September 1^st. The school will give families plenty of notice leading up to September to allow children to try and remember where they put their hat.

Walk to School Day
Friday, May 16th, is National Walk Safely to School Day. We encourage students and parents/carers to walk from the Big Apple to school. This is planned to begin at 8:00am, so we can be at school by 8:30am. More information will be provided later in this newsletter.

John Hudson
PRINCIPAL

EVERY SCHOOL DAY MATTERS

As Term 2 kicks off, we wanted to share a timely reminder about the importance of school attendance.

We love seeing your child at school every day—it’s the best place for them to learn and grow. It’s a chance for them to be around their friends, learn new things (including life skills), spark their curiosity, and have fun.

Term 2 is packed with exciting things your child won’t want to miss:

For tips on creating positive attendance habits, visit the Anything Can Happen website.

Please talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help, and support is available.

STUDENT LEADERS 2025

We are delighted to introduce our elected Student Leaders for 2025. Chosen by their peers and teachers, these students have demonstrated outstanding commitment to our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Growth, Courage and Connection. Over the coming year, they will:

• Represent student voice at school and community events
• Support fundraising initiatives
• Lead house activities during Sports Days
• Hold values and sharing assemblies
• Support teachers with specialist subjects
• Mentor younger students and model positive behaviours

Please join us in congratulating each of these students on their roles. We look forward to seeing their leadership in action throughout the year!

Nathan Gratton
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Student Leaders 2025

FOYER DISPLAY 5/6 Butler - Natural Disasters

As part of HASS learning, students in 5/6 Butler explored the causes and impacts of natural disasters. Each student selected either cyclones or tsunamis to investigate in depth. Students researched how these events occur, their effects on people and places, and how communities can prepare for and respond to them. They also answered inquiry questions we had during class brainstorms. The posters on display showcase the students' learning and creativity.

Mr Ryan Butler
GRADE 5/6 TEACHER

5/6 Butler Foyer Display

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next

CELEBRATION OF LEARNING - 5/6 Barnett

Towards the end of Term 1 and the beginning or Term 2 in 5/6B, we have been working on persuasive writing.

We have been trying to convince people whether -

• Animals should be kept in zoo’s,
• We should have a school canteen,
• Tackling in school footy should be allowed,
• We should get paid to come to school,
• We need a school uniform or not,

among other classroom discussions/arguments with Mr Barnett. We think if we got paid $5 a week to come to school, our attendance would increase, and we would have money to buy houses and cars when we are 18. We even tried to convince Mr Barnett by telling him the school could use the payment as a reward/consequence to make our behaviour better, but he just whinged about taxes or something going up to pay for it!

Hopefully, our improved skills have ended some tantrums at home when we don’t get takeaway every night, but we haven’t become so good that we do get it every night. This term, we are focusing on multiplication and division strategies at home, so be sure to test us out!

GRADE 5/6CB STUDENTS

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING

What is Gratitude and Why Teach it?

Gratitude is the act of giving conscious thanks for all that we have, and even for what we don't have. It's more than just saying "thanks"; it's a mindset that chooses positivity over negativity.

Research by Froh and Bono (2014) suggests that grateful young people, compared to their less grateful counterparts, are happier and more optimistic, have better social support, are more satisfied with their school, family, community, friends, and themselves, and give more emotional support to others.

A wonderful way to expose students to a daily gratitude reminder is to create a gratitude tree. It's a simple and beautiful concept: students take a leaf-shaped piece of paper and write on it something they are grateful for. Then they add their leaf to the class gratitude tree!

The Spreyton Primary School Gratitude Tree is in the Wellbeing room. You are more than welcome to come in and have a look.

With gratitude

Mrs. Karen Allen
WELLBEING TEACHER

Gratitude Tree

JUNIOR LANDCARE

Let it Grow Veggie Growing Competition.

Students at Spreyton Primary School took part in the 2025 "Let it Grow and Soil Your Undies" competition, hosted by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (UTAS). Let it Grow is a vegetable growing competition that encourages students to get hands-on experience with agricultural science by racing other schools to grow the largest vegetable (this year, a black radish) in the weeks leading up to Agfest. Schools are then invited to attend a ceremony at Agfest to discover how their vegetable stacks up against other schools across the state, and there is a chance to win more than $1400 worth of prizes!

Our black radish weighed 54 grams, which was by no means the smallest entry, but it was surpassed by a whopping 1057g radish grown by Wynyard High School.

We also took part in the Soil Your Undies competition, which involved burying a pair of 100% cotton undies in the school veggie patch for eight weeks before digging them up to discover how healthy our soil is. There wasn’t much left of our undies, which is a good sign that the soil is healthy!

Comments supplied by Jemima Hamer

Communications Manager
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture

Let it Grow Veggie Growing Competition

SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY

This year saw the running of the carnival on Monday 5^th May. Students competed in races of varied distances on the school oval. It was wonderful having many parents and grand parents watching and cheering on the runners. The top 3 runners get presented with a ribbon to recognise their effort, there was not enough time to do this after the races. This will be done at the Friday, 9^th May values assembly.

After all the races we present a shield to the winning house. This year the finals scores were as follows:

1^st      Kelcey         953 points (81 competitors)

2^nd      Maidstone   828 points (68 competitors)

3^rd      Torquay        827 points (81 competitors)

Well done to all students who participated and gave their best effort, showing resilience to complete a physically challenging activity.

The primary students also compete for selection into the North-West representative team. The top 5 runners in all grades are selected to compete against students from across the NW of Tasmania. Congratulations to these students on their effort to be selected. Keep an eye out for them training on the oval in the coming weeks. They will compete at the Ulverstone football ground on Tuesday 27^th May, we wish them all the best for this great opportunity.

Cross Country

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 45

Next

NATIONAL WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY 16 MAY

It’s that time of year again when our school seriously starts talking about walking!

National Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. And although walking all the way to school isn’t realistic for many of us, it’s quite easy to figure out how you can build a walk into your family’s daily routine.

You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by:

• Walking with them the whole way to school
• If they get the bus, walk past your usual stop and get on at the next stop
• If you have to drive, park the car a few blocks away from the school and walk the rest of the way.

Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) beat chronic problems like obesity, heart disease, behavioural and mental health issues and diabetes. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic. Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids! For more information see link below.

Mr Henry, Miss Borlini, Miss Bramich, Mr Butler, Ms Davidson, and Mrs Klineberg will be walking to school along Sheffield Main Rd via the Big Apple (from 8 a.m.). As this occurs before school hours, we are unable to take any duty of care of those students who choose to walk—they are just walking in the same direction to school. So, we strongly encourage Parents/Carers to walk the whole way with their children.

Derek Henry
PE TEACHER

A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR WONDERFUL COMMUNITY!

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all the families and Woolworths Supermarket who generously donated hot cross buns for our Breakfast Club prior to the school holidays. Your delicious contributions brought joy and energy to our students’ mornings!  We had such wonderful support in Term 1 for our Breakfast Club from our amazing school community, along with the continued support we receive from Spreyton Bakery and Squibb’s Orchard Shop.  These donations, along with the Breakfast Club grant we received from the Tasmanian Community Fund, have already had a significant positive effect on the well-being of our students.

A big thank you also goes out to everyone who donated cakes, slices, and other treats for the School Association’s Election Day Cake Stall. Your support helped make the event a sweet success!

We are incredibly grateful to all the volunteers who helped with the sausage sizzle on the day. Your time and effort were invaluable.

Special thanks and appreciation to Kelly Grey and Tracy Cole for their time to coordinate and organise the sausage sizzle and the cake stall. Your dedication and hard work played a huge part in making this event such a wonderful success.

Thank you all for your continued invaluable support and generosity!

Mrs Karen Wicks
SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGER

ELECTION DAY Sausage Sizzle and Bake Sale

Our recent sausage sizzle and bake stall was a great success and raised just over $1,000 for our school.  The public, AEC staff and volunteers were very appreciative of our attendance.  Our presence added a welcoming and friendly vibe to the courtyard with many visitors sitting and relaxing with their food while having a chat.

A massive thankyou to the people who baked for our stall.  A number of people went to a huge effort to provide delicious goods for us to sell. 

A number of parents, students, staff, and community members volunteered their time on the BBQ and stall during the day. Thank you to everyone for donating your valuable weekend time. 

Finally, thank you to the student council, which used its artistic skills to produce fabulous signage for our stall. 

Our collective efforts and contributions resulted in a successful fundraiser. The profits will go to school projects that make a positive difference to our school.

Kelly Grey
SCHOOL ASSOCIATION CHAIRPERSON

COATS FOR KIDS 2025 UPDATE

COLLECTING AT SPS UNTIL - Friday 16th MAY 2025

Thank you so much to our Spreyton Primary School community for your donations to ensure no disadvantaged, vulnerable or at-risk Tassie kid goes without a warm coat this winter. We still have two weeks of collection time if you have cleaned out your cupboards of any coats that your children have grown out of or don’t wear anymore. Tassie Mums are asking for any of the following:

• Coats
• Jackets and Vests
• Raincoats
• Any other warm children's coats

At this time, we are only asking for the above items listed. Coats that are CLEAN with working zips and empty pockets mean we can help children in need quickly. All donations may be left at the school office or in the Wellbeing Room. I will then take donated items to the donation drop off address in Devonport.

Your donations and thoughtful contributions will make a significant difference in the lives of children in need this winter. Your kindness ensures that every child has the warmth and support they deserve. Thank you again for coming together to make a positive impact. Your actions embody the true spirit of our school community.

With gratitude

Mrs. Karen Allen
SPECIALIST TEACHER - WELLBEING

IT'S HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME

"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game"

• Kids play sports to have fun with friends, let them enjoy playing!
• The adult who has volunteered is doing their best.  If you disagree, volunteer next time!
• Kids that volunteer as officials are being enormously brave. Umpiring/refereeing is very difficult, never yell out or approach a game official.
• Junior sport should be fun, the result is not important. Oranges at half time, high fives at the end of the game and all the social interactions are what are important.

As we have several sports rosters underway it is important to remember that all these organisations have expectations around spectators/players and officials.  Please play your part to keep sport a safe and fun place for your child, and other children.

Derek Henry
PE TEACHER

BOOK CLUB - Issue 3

Book Club Issue 3 order form and money is due back on Tuesday 20th May.

Deb Hamblin
LIBRARY TECHNICIAN

SUBWAY ORDERS

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Devonport Library After School Programs