5th55th October10th December, 2020

From the Teaching Staff…

The LPS Support Staff Have you ever wondered who else, apart from the teachers, is supporting your children at The Launceston Preparatory School? We have lots of additional teachers, parents and teacher aides who have timetabled, regular sessions throughout the week. This extra support is for work such as extension activities, emotional support, social skills, remedial assistance and special interest work. This is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to be supported in the way they need. Mrs McGuire, Mrs Crosby and Ms Bell all assist in our Early Learning and Kindergarten learning spaces at various times throughout the week so that there is always an additional adult in the room. They help to support the teachers and children and are a very important part of the Early Years team. The Prep/One students benefit from the Multi-Lit Reading programme as well as having Mrs Pickett, Mrs Edmunds, Mrs Crosby and Mrs McGuire work with them at various times throughout each week. They also get small group times on their HPE days where Mrs Howard and Miss England can focus on specific Maths and English skills with a smaller number of students. We have an amazing and committed group of parents who come in to assist with our Multi-Lit Reading programme. Each of these helpers gives up one morning of their own time every week to work with our Prep – Group 2 children on an individual basis each day. Our children are so lucky to have these helpers in their lives and they are all showing such wonderful progress (the helpers and the children)! We are so grateful for the commitment these parents have made to assist our children. In the Middle, some children go to Multi-Lit each day. The Group 2/3s also get small group time with Mrs Freeland and Mrs Thyne each Tuesday, while Mr Gunn takes the other group for HPE. They are fortunate to be able to work with our fabulous teacher aide, Mrs Turner, twice a week, as well as Mr Burgess who works with them on Wednesday afternoons. They also love tutoring the Kinders for Buddy Reading every Tuesday, where they get to help the younger students.

Our seniors have Mrs Edmunds who works with them four mornings per week. They also have the added benefit of our DEEP (Developing and Exploring Extra Potential) programme that is specifically designed to cater for interest areas that are not necessarily embedded in the regular curriculum. Regular tutoring opportunities with the younger students also provides an opportunity for our seniors to review skills and to help the younger students refine their knowledge and skills. With a combination of small class sizes, timetabled small group days, teacher aide time, student tutoring, wonderful parent helpers as well as their regular teachers, our Co-Principals have made sure that every child in our school is very well catered for and has every opportunity to reach their full potential. In “Truth and Happiness”, Melissa Freeland, Teacher and Executive Support Officer

Fun at The Launceston Preparatory School We have been enjoying a lovely array of activities at school this term. The whole school

enjoyed using the obstacle course equipment during our lunch time last week. Many

children of all ages loved the challenge.

The Prep/Ones finished their unit on Water Safety last Thursday. It has been delightful

to watch their confidence grow in the water. They have all done an incredible job over

the past term.

Rebecca Howard

Our last piece of art for the year was inspired by our

work about aboriginal art. We added our own pattern

and design work with oil pastels around our handprints.

The detail that the students now independently add to

their work is just divine. I am very proud of all the

amazing pieces of work that these students have

produced throughout the year. I hope that you are

proudly displaying these beautiful masterpieces in

your homes!

Well done Prep/Ones!

Miss Nicole England

Socratic Seminar –Prep/Ones.

Last week in Philosophy we discussed what is a

WANT and what is a NEED. Our definitions were:

A want is something that you would like to have,

but you could survive if you didn’t get it and a

need is something that you have to have for your

life. We then filled in our boxes with our wants

and needs for Christmas this year!

Miss Nicole England

Last week we had a special guest appearance from ‘Wombsy’, Monty and Ollie’s pet wombat. She is a rescue wombat and will be living with the family for a year before being released back into the wild. Most children enjoyed patting her soft fur and learning about some wombat facts and some of Womby’s habits and favourite foods. Thank you, Katherine, for bringing the adorable Wombsy to meet us.

A special message from the Group 2/3 recorder players… Scan the QR code or click the image here to view our performance.

Mrs Angela Chapman

Orientation Morning

It was wonderful to spend Tuesday morning with our 2021 Group 2/3s. The children created some clever frozen tableaux together, counted, wrote, read, found some clever ways to reach 100, and used the place-value chart to learn about the value of numbers into the millions. They also received a letter about the year ahead, as well as having the chance to meet our new students who will be joining us next year. Our senior students were great role models and very helpful for the younger students. We are all looking forward to 2021 with great excitement.

Mrs Freeland and Mrs Thyne

Cooking

Thank you so much to all the parents and grandparents who have made time to cook with us this term. Every child has had the opportunity to cook with a special someone. We’ve had paella, bliss balls, sushi, ravioli, biscuits, fried rice, chocolate truffles, spaghetti Bolognese, and much more. In addition to this, we’ve also created our own fruit juice and then surveyed the class to decide which we liked the best.

Cooking has been a great way to show how Mathematics is incorporated into our everyday lives.

Mrs Melissa Freeland

Come to the Grand Final!

There WILL be football but in name only! You have no doubt heard of the fabulous Debating program that we run through the senior years of our school. This culminates in the inter-house debating competition where volunteer representatives from each house vie for the Socrates Shield. On Tuesday, 15th December, from 11.45am to 12.30pm, Ossa and Esk houses will contest the grand final on the topic “That soccer is a better sport than AFL”. Parents throughout the school are welcome to attend – please just let the office know before Tuesday, complete the visitor screening process, and use the hand sanitiser on entry.

A Year of Growth…

2020 has been a year of growth in many different ways. In Mathematics, we start measuring height

at the commencement of the school year and take monthly measurements, the last being in

December. As well as graphing our heights monthly, we try to predict our final heights for the year.

We have just finished analysing the height data for all senior students to use Mean, Median, and

Mode calculations to try to find patterns and to compare each group’s growth. We also look at

individual growth against the standard height-for-age percentile charts. Lots of animated discussions

and comparisons take place as each student is very interested in their own data, as well as the

heights of their friends.

Mr Michael Burgess

“Other information …”

Reminder * Reminder * Reminder * Reminder

All parents, please remember - Clause 4 of the Conditions of Enrolment and Business Arrangements which you signed upon enrolment, states: “A full term’s notice in writing, to fall wholly within a school term, is required to be given by the parents before a current student leaves the school. If such notice is not provided, 30% of the annual fee will be payable. “

IMPORTANT DATES Friday 11th December Early Learning Orientation Session (9.30-10.30am)

Friday 11th December School Picnic 5.30 – 7.30pm

Tuesday 15th December Inter-house Debating Grand Final (11.45 – 12.30)

Wednesday 16th December End of Term 4

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Start of Term 1

Please note that any notices we include in this newsletter for providers of activities that occur outside of the school, are provided only for the interest of families and do not carry any endorsement by the school.