From the Co-Principals …

From the Co-Principals …
16th October 2014
We welcome all students and their families to an exciting last term for 2014! Several new families
have joined our school community again this term and we hope they quickly feel part of our larger
school family.
Students throughout the school are already immersed in our theme – “Superheroes” – as you will
see from some of the activities reported on in this newsletter. Weekly newsletters are a great way
of keeping in touch with children’s classroom activities so that parents can discuss them further
and build on school experiences.
At School Assembly yesterday we loved seeing the first instalment of the Kinder Superheroes’
costumes. They have made and decorated their arm cuffs and new items will be added each week
until we have fully fledged (or at least dressed) superheroes at the bottom of the school garden!
Early Learners are working towards gaining full superhero status too as they complete tasks
demonstrating each of their amazing powers.
Children in Prep and Group One will be enjoying the novel, “The Tale of Despereaux” – a beautiful
story of a mouse who is in love with music and stories and on a quest to save the princess he
loves! They will also investigate outer space (clearly the habitat of many superheroes) and reflect
their enquiries through artwork.
Middle primary students are developing super vocabularies as they enjoy their rich English
experiences based around their shared novel, “Flora and Ulysses”. These children will also be
investigating the “superheroes” we have in our community – people who are extraordinary in the
services they perform for others.
Senior students will be inventing superheroes and delving into their lives, considering the rules
and laws that all people have to follow (even superheroes) and investigating the scientific
principles around their special skills like flight!
All of this will culminate in our end-of-year production based around the theme. Get ready to hear
superhero songs and some very dramatic performances!
We look forward to sharing with you a very enjoyable and interesting term.
In “Truth and Happiness”
Leonie McNair and Susan Wright
Co-Principals
“At the beginning…”
Superhero Science!
The Early Learners were faced with a challenge! We discovered our Ninja Turtles had
become stuck in blocks of ice! How could we rescue them?
Charlie – “We can use our hands”
Zara – “Yes, we can dig him out with our hands”
Charlie and Zara tested this theory. Charlie concluded, “No, it’s ice!” and Zara added that
“Ice is too hard for our hands.”
Iona – “We can smack it.”
Arwen – “Get our sticks and crack the ice?”
Percy – “Poking and pushing it will be better.”
Mrs Chugg then posed the question, “What else could we try?”
Charlie – “We could tip it out?”
Zara – “We could put our fingernails in and scratch him out.”
After trialling these methods unsuccessfully, Mrs Chugg suggested the children could try
sprinkling salt onto the block of ice. After a few minutes, water began to appear on the top
of the ice block. Where did that come from?
Somma – “It’s from the ice!”
Zara – “We’re nearly there! It’s got all melty!”
Arwen – “It’s getting free! We put a bit more salt on it.”
Iona – “When we put the salt on, he gets out!”
Arwen – “The salt is great! It’s melting!”
We left the block of ice and returned after 15 minutes to check it. We discovered that the
salt had made interesting patterns in the block of ice and were also excited to be able to
rescue our Ninja Turtle! This play-based experience supports learning in relation to Outcome
4 (Children are confident and involved learners) of The Early Years Learning Framework. It
was also great fun!
Mrs Chugg 
“In the middle …”
Socratic Seminar – Terrible Things Can Happen To You
Terrible Things Can Happen To You is the name of the comic book Flora in our novel loves to read.
It is full of advice about what to do in the event of something terrible happening to you. She has
read what you would do if someone swallowed a piece of plastic fruit or what to do if you were
wearing a striped shirt and a swarm of locusts descended.
In our Philosophy session this week we discussed:


What does TERRIBLE actually mean?
Do we often exaggerate when we are telling others about something terrible
happening?
The children each related a story of something they felt was terrible that had happened to them
and we were on the edge of our seats at times!
Our Super Novel
The Group 2/3 children are very excited about our Superhero theme this term. In English we are
reading the novel Flora and Ulysses by Kate Di Camillo. This is a wonderful tale of a girl called
Flora and an unassuming squirrel who ends up with amazing superpowers after being sucked up in
a Ulysses 2000x Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain Vacuum Cleaner.
The novel is full of the most amazing vocabulary (even some words that we have never heard of).
We are making a collection of these hard words on one of our display boards so please pop in
anytime and see if you know some of their meanings.
Mrs Harriet Thyne
“Towards the end …”
“Steven Lochran’s first novel is a fast-paced action text…the plot remains
tense and the sense of drama and excitement are maintained until the
closing pages. Lochran has created interesting and complex characters with
plenty of scope to develop them further and will appeal to readers in the 10
to 14 plus age range.”
This is what the Children’s Book Council of Australia says about
Goldrush, the first book of the Vanguard Prime series that is the
novel we are sharing in the senior groups. It tells the story of a boy
who suddenly (and disastrously) develops superpowers and joins the
Vanguard Prime team for training. We are only a couple of chapters
into the book but already it has grabbed our attention!
NIJSSA Interschool Athletics Carnival
Congratulations to our Group 3 to 6 students who qualified for the interschool athletics carnival.
The carnival will be held at the St. Leonards Athletics Centre on the 7 th of November from 9.00am
to 2.30pm. Students will be arriving at school in the morning and departing school at 8.45am
sharp, so please try to be on time. Students will be returning to school for the normal pick up time
of 3.00pm. Parents are welcome to collect their children from the carnival but it must be
organised (with a note to Mr Smith) by Thursday 6th November at the very latest.
We are in need of parent/family volunteers for the day, so if you are able to help please let
the office know ASAP (admin@lps.edu.au). Don’t forget, these types of events are truly not
possible without the ongoing support and help from parents and family members.
LPS Athletics Team
Group 6
Group 5
Group 4
Boys
Dylan Pearce
Timothy Wilson
Connor Barker
Liam Johnston
Harry Booth
Pawlos Barratt
Gabriel Walton-Clear
Stuart Stenton
Thomas Swan
Lachlan Cahoon
Dominic Brierley
Charles Mills
Connor Shephard
Shaiyen Chan
Brae Caplin
Girls
Charlotte Youngman
April Coulson
Gemma Wright
Coco Thyne
Sarah Adkins
Sophie Coe
Madeline Fenner
Bronte Valentine
Amy Florance
Jordan May Shephard
Alana Wright
Delia Muddle
Hannah Woolston
Ella Chugg
Ava Chugg
Group 3
Ned Adkins
Charles Skipper
Keanu Glynn
Jackson Nicholson
Ted Peck
Luka Cameron
Dale Coulson
Bella Espie
Layla Anderson
Zoe Armitage
Charlotte Rezaie
Zarah Morgan
Lilith Dell
Athletics Training
There will be athletics training sessions held at the Greenfield for the athletics team on Tuesday
afternoons from 3.00-4.00pm on the 21st, 28th, and 4th of November. These sessions will help our
students to prepare for the upcoming carnival and to ensure they are feeling comfortable and
confident about the events they are competing in.
If it is raining on any of the three training afternoons, the training session will be cancelled so
students will need to be collected at normal times, so please keep your eye on the weather
forecast.
Mr Lachy Smith
Request for Donations of Fabric Scraps
Senior Art students are making superhero puppets/dolls this term
and we would love to receive any donations of material scraps to
use for this project. Many thanks in advance for your assistance!
Mrs Jane Brown
“Other information …”
IMPORTANT DATES
Monday 20th – 24th October
Wednesday, 29th October
Thursday, 30th October
Friday, 7th November
Wed 12th –14th November
Waddamana Camp – Group Six students
Scholastic Book Club orders due
Waddamana evening for parents of Group Six students
NIJSSA Athletics Carnival 9am-2.30pm St Leonards
Port Sorell Camp – Group Four and Five students
We sadly advise that Mr Lachy Smith will be leaving our school at the end of the
year. He is moving to Canada to live!
Over the course of this year, Mr Smith has endeared himself to everyone and we
have loved having him as our Health and Physical Education teacher. However, we
wish him well for the future and look forward to seeing him whenever he returns
to Australia.
The school will be advertising for a new HPE teacher in this weekend’s Examiner
newspaper.
I hope that everyone is now aware of the All School Triathlon Challenge
event that is being held in Devonport this year for grades three to six.
Students are able to enter as an individual and/or as part of a two or three
person team. Students are able to compete in both events on the day.
Entries need to be in this Friday the 17th of October. It would be the parents’ responsibility to
ensure students are able to get to the event due to the small number of students that have
showed an interest so far. I truly hope that you consider supporting this event and supporting
your our students involvement with it. For further information don’t hesitate to talk to Mr Smith
or go to http://www.schoolstriathlonchallenge.com/
Mr Lachy Smith
Help Needed
Mrs Freeland would love a parent or grandparent to assist with the Multi-Lit Reading
programme. This is a one-on-one structured reading programme that has provided invaluable
help to many of our younger students. All training is provided.
We currently need help for 1½ hours on Monday and Thursday mornings. If you are able to help
out on either of these days please contact the office staff on 6334 0234 or catch Mrs Freeland at
the back gate.
General Reminders
Hats are compulsory in Term Four.
Coats should be cleaned and kept in school bags in case of inclement weather.
Playground equipment should not be used unsupervised after school.
Children should NOT be deposited at school before 8.15am. Whilst teachers may be at
school prior to this time, they arrive early to prepare for the day and are not on duty to
supervise children.
*SCHOOL HAT REMINDER*
Parents and children are reminded that school hats are a
compulsory uniform item in fourth term. If children do
not have their own hats to wear at school, they will spend
their recess and lunch times sitting in a designated shady
spot. We wish to make it clear to school families that this
is not designed as a “punishment”; rather, our Sun Smart
and Health policies provide for children to be safe during
these times of the year when the sun can be so damaging to the skin.
School hats are available from the office for $10.00 each.
**MOBILE PHONES WANTED**
We are after your old mobile phones for two reasons:
Firstly, we are in need of a working phone to replace our current
phone in the multi-purpose hall. It is important to keep a phone here in case of
any emergency or unforseen situation that might occur.
Secondly, the Australian recycling program is collecting phones to reduce the
impact Coltan mining is having on the mountain gorillas. If you feel you have a phone that
could be utilised by the school, it would be greatly appreciated if you could please drop it
into the office. If you have an old phone not in working order then feel free to collect or have
your child collect one of the recycling bags from Mr. Smith.
LUNCH ORDERS – TERM FOUR
(available from Friday for all students)
Monday:
Salad Roll (lettuce, cheese, tomato)
Salad Wrap (lettuce, cheese, tomato, carrot)
Vegemite Sandwich
Fruit Tub
$4.00
$4.00
$2.50
$1.50
Friday:
Banjo’s Pizza
Banjo’s Vegetarian Pastry Roll
Fruit Tub
$3.50
$3.50
$1.50
*For your convenience, lunch orders can be charged to your school account. Please email the
office if you would like this to occur (if you haven’t already done so): admin@lps.tas.edu.au *
LOST PROPERTY
Each week at assemblies, the Leavers hold up in front of all students those items
that have collected in the Lost Property box over the previous week. It’s amazing
what we find – sports bags and equipment, single socks and gloves, tubes of lip
balm, hair clips and ties, pairs of trousers, shirts and rugby tops!
When items are named, it is so easy to return them straight to their owners.
However, this is not commonly the case so many items are thrown out or put in
our spare clothing pool.
This week there were three rugby tops unclaimed after being displayed to
students since last term. One bears the name of former student, Seb Wright (size
14); the other two are unnamed (both size 8).
If these belong to your family, please collect them from the school office.