Friday Notice

What's happening during Term 1:

March:

9 Monday: Eight Hours Day Public Holiday
12 Thursday: Prep Environment Day
12 Thursday: 5/6 Environment Day
13 Friday: Ride2School Day
19 Thursday: 3/4 Middlies Camp start
19 Thursday: Kinder Environment Day
20 Friday: 3/4 Middlies Camp finish
26 Thursday: 5/6 Bike Day
26 Thursday: 1/2 Middlies Environment Day

April:

2 Thursday: 3/4 Middlies Bike Day
2 Thursday: Prep & 1/2 Middlies Bike Day
9 Thursday: Last Day Term 1

A GENTLE REMINDER

When parking in Queen St to drop off or pick up your child, please remember not to park over yellow lines near the bus driveway. It makes getting the bus in and out nearly impossible.

From Julie

Annette will be forwarding to you a letter from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment to advise that the department has requested us to provide them with a statement of residential addresses. The purpose of this collection is to help in decisions relating to Commonwealth funding for non-government schools. See the letter for more details. I believe we will do better financially as a school under the new system based on residential addresses.

Policies that have been under review recently have been: Counselling and Discipline, Committee Member Conflict of Interest, Performance Management. Policies that have been updated are Induction and Probation. The School Improvement Plan has been reformatted thanks to Carron’s fine work and will be presented to Committee next week as will be the Risk Register.

I have attended a meeting run by Independent Schools Tasmania’s Michael Shorter about managing emergencies where we discussed increased bush fire risk, flood risks and managing the risks associated with coronavirus. On the basis of the information shared at this meeting and via email I have developed a coronavirus management plan for the school which I have shared with the Committee. The best thing we can do as a school and as parents is to ensure that we are using, teaching and insisting that our children use basic hygiene practices like washing hands after toileting and before handling any food or putting hands to our faces. Coughing into your elbow rather than your hands also helps reduce the spread of droplets. Another way we can reduce the spread of this disease is to keep home any children, or staff, who are not feeling well and/or exhibiting the signs of the disease. Thanks in anticipation of your support in relation to this as I know how tricky it can be to make alternative arrangements for children in this situation. For information about how to talk to your child about coronavirus CLICK HERE

At the risk of sounding like the food police I want to remind people of our Cottage School Food Policy that you signed up to when you joined our school. See link here. Please remember not to send nuts or yoghurt or yoghurt covered things either. Please keep this policy in mind as you talk with your child and pack your child’s snacks and lunch for school each day. We have the luxury of having a cooked lunch provided for us on Mondays and we expect each child to at least have a go at the food on offer by trying at least a small amount of the main dish and at least 2 salad vegetables. If you do not think that your child is able to manage even this much then please speak with your child’s teacher to negotiate some mutually acceptable alternative. The aim of the policy is to keep our children healthy and willing to try different nutritious foods. We hope that the negotiation and publication of the menu each term (see 28/2 Friday News) will help you to have reasonable conversations with your children about what they can expect and how they can best manage with what is on offer each week. Our Food Policy will work best if we work together in managing expectations and guiding children to healthy options suitable for their needs.

Middlies 1/2 Choosing

It's nice to be back.

In the Middlies (as with many of the other classes I’m sure) Choosing is a highlight of the week. It is through this program that children direct their own learning, they are free to follow their own interests, modify and redesign, adapt when participating in an activity with others, and let their creativity take over.

In any given session you hear from the mouths of the children, language of encouragement, cooperation, curiosity, celebration, compromise along with language found in our curriculum like measurement, estimation, innovation (just to name a few).

The play element of some options in the choosing program allow for a time of experimentation. The doctors and babies corner has sparked much delight in the beginning of this term. Snippets of conversations that escape the corner have brought a smile to Marina and I. One snippet in particular I thought I should share. The doctors were gathered around their patient, with one explaining that the caesarean was about to begin, “is everyone comfortable? Ok, I’m going to start, stay very still.” Later I heard “Now, here is your placenta, you might like to take this home to plant under a tree”.

This is a great time for the adults to take a step back. The child led learning that evolves during the choosing program cannot be under estimated, and this is why at Cottage School, choosing is held in such high regard and is cherished by us all. Hana

Head lice

We have a case of head lice in the school community. Lice are very contagious so please check your child’s hair for head lice and nits (eggs) carefully. Keep your child at home until you have treated the hair (including removing ALL eggs). Please remember that products from the chemist may kill lice, but they do NOT kill eggs. Eggs must be removed manually. Children found with lice and/or nits will be sent home.Thank you for your diligence.

What's happening during Term 1:

From Julie

Middlies 1/2 Choosing

Head lice

Did you know?

Are these yours? Found near the bottom green gate of the public walkway.

OUR LOCATION

CONTACT

www.cottageschool.tas.edu.au

W E ARE HERE

What's happening during Term 1:

From Julie

Middlies 1/2 Choosing

Head lice

Did you know?

Are these yours? Found near the bottom green gate of the public walkway.

OUR LOCATION

CONTACT

www.cottageschool.tas.edu.au WE ARE HERE

www.cottageschool.tas.edu.au

W E ARE HERE