8 July 2024

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

I acknowledge, with deep respect, the traditional custodians of this land, the Mumirimina people and pay my respects to Elders past and present, to the Aboriginal people with us today and to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community who continue to care for Country.  I stand for a future that profoundly respects and acknowledges Aboriginal perspectives, culture, language and history.

Our School Values

Our Commitment:  In partnership with community, we provide a welcoming school of choice that inspires and supports all learners to succeed as connected, creative and curious thinkers.

Well, we are halfway through the year, and what a year it has been thus far! One of the wonderful things about Sorell School is seeing the diverse opportunities that are offered to our students from Launching into Learning through to Year 12 VET and TASC subjects. I would like to congratulate our students on the way they have approached this term, and we look forward to seeing lots of academic growth in terms 3 and 4. 

We would also like to thank families for working closely with us. We had terrific parent numbers for our recent parent teacher interviews. This is such an important conversation to ensure all important information and goals are well understood between home and school. If you couldn’t meet this term, please reach out to your child’s teacher to make a time to discuss term 3 goals.

Cyber safety Legal Aid session

Legal Aid gave several cyber safety seminars to our secondary students this week. The purpose of the session was to support and inform students to understand their legal rights and responsibilities when online. While mobile phones and the internet have so many terrific features and advantages, they are also linked to significant risk. Understanding those risks, and the responsibility that we all have, is an important part of online practices. As a community, we are working together to ensure everyone makes safe choices online.

Staffing

I would like to sincerely thank all staff for a productive and positive term 2. We have several staff returning from leave.

Karen Kenny - Support AST K – 2
Luke Hamilton - Week 3 Assistant Principal 11/12
Melissa Philips  - working full time Maths Science 7 & 8
Mary Hepher - 3 days 5/6 A alongside Craig Christian 2 days
Jamie Harwood will be joining the 5 / 6 team Assistant Principal
Brontie Birchall –  1/2 D

We also welcome Harry Winch - secondary HPE and Ange Chrisitan to the admin team.

We would like to thank Amanda Rowe for her leadership of 1/2 D while Brontie has been on leave, and we wish Danielle Shadwick every success on her new overseas adventure. We also wish Rose Cannan all the best in what is an exciting time for her and her family.

We wish all families an enjoyable holiday break. We look forward to seeing students Monday 22 July 2024 for the start of term 3.

Kelly Dyer – Principal

Email: sorell.school@decyp.tas.gov.au
Phone: (03) 6269 1100

100% Attendance Recipients

Congratulations to the following Year7-12 students who achieved 100% attendance for term 2; Caitlin, Oliver, Daniel, Heidi, Xavier, Lincoln and Natasha.

For those students with 90% or more attendance, they go into the draw for our attendance voucher.

Congratulations to the following students who won the attendance vouchers for this term:

Bradley – Kinder
Brooke – Year 5
Duke – Year 9

There will be two new vouchers up for grabs (one K- 6 and one Y7 – Y12) All students need to do is attend 90% or more in Term 3 – easy peasy!

Thanks to the continued support of Homelands Sorell who sponsor this wonderful incentive at Sorell School.

Uniform Shop Holiday Opening Hours

The School Uniform Shop will be open Thursday 18 July 10am -2pm.

Sorell Winterfest

We are holding our first Winterfest Friday 30 August 2024.

This event will be a school community event.

There will be food vans, plus lots of other things or our families to do. Stay tuned for more details.

Our art students have been busy preparing ‘lanterns’ for the event with help from our pre-service teacher Jeane.

School Lunch Programme Award

Back in May earlier this year Food Ladder held their inaugural summit Sydney. Attended by schools from all over the country. Sorell School won for the Outstanding integration across the school for maximum student impact.

We received it for the integration of the green house into our Paddock to plate and school lunch programs to assist in producing 85,000 healthy lunches over three years. With the aim of providing food security and making healthy lifelong eating habits to our students.

We would just like to thank the organisations who continue to support these programs. Tas Food Matters, Food Ladder, Food Bank, Southern Fields, Loaves and Fishes.

TFS Home Safety Programme Prep – Y6

A firefighter from the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) is visiting our school this week to present a Home Fire Safety Program to our Prep to Grade 6 students.

Kindergarten students, whilst not receiving a structured lesson, can expect a visit from the firefighter who will leave some free fun activities for the students to complete.

Parents and other family members are also encouraged to participate by reading the information and assisting your child with the after-school activities.

The TFS aims to deliver appropriate fire safety education to every primary school child in Tasmania and is part of the TFS’s ongoing commitment to create a fire safe Tasmania.

Key Fire Safety Messages include:

• Wake up - Install a smoke alarm in every bedroom
• Plan and practice a home fire escape plan with the whole family
• In a fire crawl low and go, go, go to the nearest exit
• In an emergency call triple zero
• Keep flammable material at least two metres from the heater
• If your clothes catch fire, stop, drop, rock and roll
• Keep matches and lighters away from children
• Cooking - Turn it off before you turn away
• Cool a burn under cold water for at least 20 minutes
• Most house fires can be avoided. Make your home fire safe

More information for parents, carers and teachers www.tfseducation.com.au

Exciting new website just for kids www.tfskids.com.au

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Allergy Aware

We are seeking your help to support the students in our school with severe allergies.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life-threatening. The most common causes of anaphylaxis in schools are allergies to food and insects (bees). We are as seeking your support in maintaining an allergy aware environment throughout the school.

We ask families to not pack or include any peanut / nut products or snacks.  This measure can help prevent accidental exposure and ensure the safety of all students.

Our allergy aware approach also involves the following strategies:

• training staff
• educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis
• teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with allergy looks sick.

For food allergies, we are also:

• encouraging students with food allergies to wash their hands before and after eating
• encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate or friend is allergic to
• teaching students not to share food with friends.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our allergy-aware policy, please don’t hesitate to contact our public email address sorell.school@decyp.tas.gov.au

Thank you for your cooperation and continued support.

Little Athletics

Little Athletics Tasmania is excited to announce that we are now opening up school spots for Terms 3 and 4. All information can be found on the link provided; 

This year we are more excited than normal with the Olympic Games being conducted in weeks 2 and 3 of term 3. Our normal program can be fitted in around your schools HPE classes but with the Olympics on we add a lot more elements to the session which include measurements and distance etc. based on how far an athlete has jumped, thrown or how fast they have ran.

As we make our way into late term 3 and early term 4 I know that there is a lot of schools that are getting into Athletics Carnival mode so this is perfect timing to get us to your school. 

Little Athletics is a hugely community driven sport and bringing us to your school is a great way for your school to drive your local community.

Our sessions regularly fill up quite quickly so please do not miss out on the opportunity to get us to your school and assist with you that community presence that you all have.

Southern City BMX Come and Try Day

We are pleased to announce that Southern City BMX Club will be hosting a FREE Come & Try Track Familiarisation event at their brand-new track located at Pembroke Park next week. The club will run on two 60-min sessions next Monday, July 10th, giving the public the opportunity to jump on the bike and be some of the first people to ride on this brand-new track. 

No experience required, no commitment, no pressure, just come and have some fun riding with the guidance of our coaches. Places are limited so get in quick to register. 

Rego link found here