8 November 2023

From the Principal

Today is a proud day for many staff and students alike. Thanks to many people for feedback and input. Today we can launch with you the beginning of our visual imagery and messaging for our Cambridge Capabilities… Annnnnnd we present to you… EAGLES!

 The Eagles Social Tile_V2.mp4

 Eagles_social tile anouncement.jpg

Attached are our first, fully consulted visual references for our learning framework that seeks to make explicit the implicit dispositions that are needed for learning and life – as told to us by our students, our families and our staff. This framework is an organiser for all of the individual Cambridge Capabilities that we explicitly teach. We will spend time over the next few Newsletters explaining each of the elements and how the overall imagery has been composed – what is significant and why. Most importantly, our students had a very significant voice in what this looked like, the big and small details alike. We will add more Cambridge Capabilities to the list as time goes by. At this stage we believe that we will finish up on the drawing out and building next year. However, we know that these dispositions will always need to be tested built upon and worked on.

There are some segments of media and loud pundits that believe school is just a place for students to be taught information and that their “job” is to know what they are being told and to be compliant pupils. We know from your answers that you think otherwise, and so do we. Schools always have been and always will be a place to also inculcate values and dispositions, a sense of belonging and community identity. Our Cambridge Capabilities, organised under EAGLES are the dispositions that will help our students know what to do when they don’t know what to do both now, and later in life. Please click here if you’d like to leave some feedback for us and we can use this to iterate what we are doing. There are just 3 simple questions.

We will continue to build and share assets over the next 18 months. You will have something at home for you to reference and help organise the Cambridge Capabilities. We also want you to have something at home to help explain, discuss and grow both EAGLES and the individual capabilities.

A final question on the survey (the 4^th) is if you have any ideas on things you might like for home to help with the understanding and remembering this work. For example, fridge magnets, small poster or other ideas you might have. We have some ideas and will start to build things out soon.

Again, a huge thank you to all the students, parents and community members who have helped to build this framework and influenced all of the language, thoughts and perspectives on our Cambridge Capabilities. We are extremely proud to get to this point and are hoping you all are too.

Redevelopment Update

Our redevelopment was out to tender on Saturday. It is a really exciting milestone for the project. We will now spend 3 weeks in this stage and then look to award the tender to a builder in December. We will update you when we have this finalised. Otherwise, we will be quiet for a while as there won’t be any updates to share! It will be great to get the building process underway next year. Please see the artist render images of the build attached below.

Our School Association is attempting to work with the Clarence City Council to get a progress update on their engagement in Stage 2 (Our gymnasium).

My Leave

In less exciting news, I will be taking some longer leave. I will be taking leave from the day-to-day operations of the school for the last 4 weeks of this Term and all of Term 1 2024. I qualify for secondary caregiver leave and am looking forward to putting more time and energy into my number one job, being a dad and husband. I expect my daughter to be an excellent deckhand by April. Hopefully, we will have a great tomato crop as well. I will leave work on November 24 and return on the first day of Term 2 at the end of April. Our school has many embedded processes and routines that will ensure the good work continues.

I will be working 14 flexible days over the 5 months: on the build, the budget, high-level school improvement, long-term staffing, some staff professional learning and other key events. However, for all daily events, Alison Cato will be the Principal for the remainder of 2023. There will be a process run for the role for Term 1 in the coming weeks and Alison will let you know who the successful candidate has been from that process.

Enjoy your week ahead and I look forward to seeing you about soon.

Courtney.

Managing Safeguarding Risks in our Schools

Our staff play a key role in keeping students safe by proactively monitoring any risks.  

The Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) recently released new Safeguarding Risk Management resources for our schools to assist with this.  

These resources are designed to help us continuously identify, prevent and reduce risks to students of child abuse and harm, and support our school to be a safe environment where every child and young person can thrive and grow.  

During this term we will be developing a Safeguarding Risk Management plan for our school.   The plan sets out the risks that we can identify, and most importantly, how we can reduce them. 

As parents and carers, you play an important role helping us to identify safeguarding risks in our school, and I’m sure you may also have ideas on how we can reduce these risks to keep students safe.   

If you or your child/children have any questions, concerns or wish to report any incidents relating to child abuse or harm, I encourage you to reach out to me or a trusted staff member. We welcome your views and any feedback.  

The Tell Someone website is also another useful source of information if you are worried that a child may be at risk of harm or is being sexually abused or groomed.   

If you have any concerns, the website gives clear information about what to look for, how to make a report and who to speak to. 

For further information on the work being done on safeguarding in our school, please visit DECYP's website. 

Alison Cato, Safe Guarding Lead

Leaving Cambridge Primary in 2024?

Pre-kinder/Kinder – Grade 5 families please let the office know if your child or children will not be attending Cambridge Primary School in 2024. Email cambridge.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au or call 6248 5168.

2023 Combined Primary Schools Annual Concert Tickets

Division B Interschool Swimming Carnival

In week 3 of this term students from grades 3-6 participated in the Division B Interschool Swimming Carnival at the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre.  Cambridge students behaved admirably and represented the school well.  Their efforts in the pool were amazing with the Cambridge Primary team coming overall third in the Division B carnival.  Many ribbons were won and all of the students who participated should be extremely proud of themselves.  Organising the students for their races and watching them participate was a pleasure.

Ryan Thomas, Physical Education Teacher

Double Your Dollars Markets

Once again, the Gr5s and Gr6s will be holding the fantastic Double Your Dollars Markets. They will be on Wednesday 6 December and Wednesday 13 December, between 11.40am and 12.20pm, with goods and services selling from 50c - $5.00. All students, including Kinders, will be invited to visit these great events and all profits will be donated to charity.

Gr 5/6 Mural Painting

The Horseshoe Inn has been bought by the Young Group who asked Cambridge Primary to paint a mural for their new coffee shop. The 5/6 classes worked with Mrs Dobson and Mrs Sari and came up with the idea of painting the hill behind the school. We practised painting clouds, flowers and trees.

We roughly drew the hill line then started to sponge the sky right across the top, then worked our way down. We then worked on sponging the hill.  Mrs Sari mixed our colours and we gradually sponge painted the hill. Lewis, Gus M, Flynn, Gus B and Charlie designed a great Barilla Rivulet, so we decided to include that in the mural.

Then we added the trees. Noah and the guys used strips of cardboard and black paint to dot the distant trees across the top of the hill. Finn brush painted the trees, making them get bigger and bigger as they came down the hill to the foreground. Jessie and Amelie highlighted the trunks and branches using black and white. We sponged leaves on the trees then highlighted them with lighter greens and yellows to indicate the direction of the sunlight shimmering on the trees.

We added some interesting Cambridge symbols…the rivulet sign, a Par Avion plane, a pair of eagles and Hugo B painted the Black Belted Galloway that is in the farm up the road.

We decided to make the small boards ‘specials’ boards. Jonty and Noah and their crew painted the blackboards and the green surrounds. Zoe, Amelie and Emily added the flowers using a variety of sponges and brushes.

We really enjoyed this experience and learnt a lot about distance, perspective, light and colour.

Australian Childhood Anxiety Treatment Study 2023

The Tasmanian Department for Education, Children and Young People has approved an Australian wide anxiety treatment study for 7 – 12-year-old children which is being undertaken by Griffith University, Queensland. Does your child become very afraid of certain situations or objects, worry about a lot of things, get very distressed, or try to avoid things they fear? Click on the document below for more information about this study.

2023 End of Year Presentation Assembly

The Cambridge Primary School End of Year Presentation Assembly is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the many achievements of our students and to farewell the Grade 6s. This year’s Presentation Assembly will take place on Monday 18 December at Rose Bay High School, in the gym at 11.30am. Doors will open at 11.15am.  At this stage there are no Covid restrictions on gatherings, however, if you are feeling unwell, please do not attend. Prep – Grade 6 students and their teachers will travel to and from Rose Bay by bus. Parents/carers of Grade 6 students will be allocated 2 seats.

Assemblies in Term 4

Assemblies are held in the MPR and start at 1.40pm. All are welcome to attend. This term’s remaining Assemblies will be on:

Friday 17 November
Friday 15 December

Congratulations

Congratulations to the Gr 5 Boys’ Basketball Team who recently played in the 2023 Southern 5/6 Primary School Basketball Tournament in Hobart. They did such a good job and played really well together as a team. They should all be super proud of themselves. They were a Gr5 only team, up against a lot of all Gr6 teams and, although they didn’t get a win, they still came off the court each game with a smile and a joke amongst themselves. Well done. Celeste Schulze.

Congratulations also to the grade 5/6 girls’ basketball team who hit the Kingborough Sports Centre running! With the help of Coach Dave and Jackie the team won 3 out of their 4 games and had a lot of fun! Well done girls. 

Let’s Celebrate!

Lost Property

Please encourage your children to check the Lost Property at the top of the corridor for any lost clothes, lunch boxes, drink bottles etc.

Community Notice Board