For all upcoming events please see the Penguin District School Calendar

Walking around the school site this week, it has been wonderful to see the consistency and calmness of learning spaces across K-12. Families play a vital role in getting our young people ready for learning each day and the simplest of things (sleep, food, school uniform and conversations about school) can have the biggest impact. Combine this with consistent predictable routines, led by our dedicated teaching staff, and we are giving students the best opportunity to be successful at
school.

School Climate & Belonging Video
With this theme in mind, it was great to have Clint (a videographer from DECYP) at PDS this week to capture the thoughts and feelings of some of our students and staff after we were recognised as a school in Tasmania that has impressive data for school climate and belonging in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey from last year. If you ask our students what school ‘climate’ means they might tell you it means ‘the vibe of the school.’ Stay tuned for the video release in the coming months to hear about the good things that are happening at PDS in this space.

Year 7 Camp
One of the bigger items on this week’s calendar was the Year 7 camp to Fulton Park. The main reason for this camp happening so early in the school year is to continue to provide opportunities for students to feel connected to school and their peers. If the reports about the dance party and spotlight are true, we think that they must have had a great time.

Term 1 Focus Value - Respect

Respect can mean different things to different people, and it is important that we guide our young people to understand what respect looks like, feels like, and sounds like.
The language that we use at PDS aims to be suitable for all ages and easily transferable to the home, and community. It is also language that came from the students themselves.

Attendance
Whilst only 3 weeks into the school year, our school wide attendance rate is sitting at 94%. This is a fantastic start the year and we have an aspirational goal to keep our attendance above 90% for the year. Every school day matters.

Shout Outs
To the camp team – Mrs Van Essen, Mr Abblitt, Ms Lutwyche, Ms Solomon, Mrs Bingham, Ms Murphy, Dalton Stretton (Teacher Assistant), and Brodie Deverell (Aboriginal Education Worker). A power of time and effort that is greatly appreciated.

A group of four students attended their first Central Coast Council Youth Leaders meeting this week. The purpose of the termly meetings is to discuss matters that are relevant to our young people in the community with students from other schools in the region. Well done to Alex, Tempi, Rose and Mikaelah (Year 9/10).

Good news this week for some of our netball students. Eva, Harper and Alycia selected in the Netball Tas Futures Program, and Kaitlin selected for the Burnie U/17 state league team. Congratulations.

If there are good news stories happening in our community that might be worthwhile mentioning in the newsletter, please contact us using the public email address - penguin.district.school@decyp.tas.gov.au

Yours in Partnership

The first SAC meeting of the year occurred on Monday 17 February at 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm. This meeting saw great attendance and we welcomed new faces. Members of the committee will be seeking your interest regarding possible events for 2025. Events may include a school fair and upgrade of an unutilised grassed area into a sensory garden. These are ideas only and we are seeking your feedback and expressing an interest to be involved in working parties.   

Sensory Garden – Shiela Steel Penguin.District.Admin.Staff@decyp.tas.gov.au

School Fair – Elisha Franks rtandem@bigpond.com

The Annual General Meeting will occur on Monday 17 March at 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm this meeting will be followed by a standard committee meeting. (Note time change to 5:00pm start)

The School Association Committee has vacancies commencing 2025 School Association Year. There are 7 parent/staff/community member vacancies on the Committee.  Positions are for a period of 2 years. All members must hold a current Working with Vulnerable People Card and complete the Safe Guarding training (this is annually).

Nominations for these vacancies close on Friday 28 February. If there are more nominations than vacancies, elections will be held on 5 March 2025. If you are not elected we encourage you to continue attending meetings.

Further information on the School Association can be found at:

• The School Office
• Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations (TASSO)
• https://decyp.tas.gov.au/about-us/community-and-engagement/school-association-committees/

Penguin District School Association invites you to consider nomination for one of these positions.  To nominate please complete the information below. 

Students will be sitting NAPLAN between 12 and 24 March 2025.

The National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers.

NAPLAN has been held in March since 2023, having previously taken place in May. This change was made so school systems would have access to results earlier in the school year. These results can then be used to inform teaching and learning plans for the remainder of the year.

Why NAPLAN is conducted online
NAPLAN online provides a better assessment and more precise results.

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN.

Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging.

Please note that students in Year 3 complete the Writing Test on paper.

Parent information brochures and other resources

Your questions answered on NAPLAN and what it means for your child:

NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers

The link will take you to the official National Assessment Program (NAP) website.
Please contact the school if you have any further queries.

Our Prep classes have had a productive, settled and happy start to the year. We have been focussing on working as a team together. 

One of our first achievements as a team has been to create a fabulous collaborative art work, don’t you love our flowers in a vase? Look out for our completed artwork in our Prep space. 

We have also been working together to complete our literacy work and spend time both inside and outside playing and investigating. Everyone is getting along well, feeling comfortable in the combined prep space and loving learning new things. 

Primary HPE

It has been a pleasure to welcome students back to PE in 2025, and we have certainly hit the ground running!

Prep – Year 4 classes began their year with a Hurricanes Blast cricket session ran by Claire, Mitch and Caleb from Cricket Tasmania. This served as a lead in to their after schools program beginning Tuesday 3-4pm in week 5 and running for an option of 4 or 6 weeks. All interested students received a flyer to take home with information on how to register and this will also be posted on our school Facebook page.

Year 3-6 classes have begun some athletics run - offs in preparation for the NWPSSA Athletics Carnival being held on Wednesday 5 (3/4) and Thursday 6 (5/6) March. All students who are lucky enough to be selected in the team will receive further information in the weeks leading up to the event.

Being ‘Sun Safe’ remains a key message for students this term, particularly around ensuring they are drinking enough water (1 refill of their water bottle as a general guideline) throughout the day and wearing hats when playing outside.

What’s On in Term 1:

NWPSSA Athletics Carnival – Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 March

Prep – Year 2 Water Orientation Program – Monday 3 March to Friday 7 March

BTAS Primary Basketball Tournament – Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April

Secondary HPE

In PE, Year 7 – 10 students have made a strong start to the term. With the enjoyable weather allowing us to take to the Oval with great conditions. In PE, students been participating in our Sport and Games unit. In this unit, students will participate in various sport and games with either whole grade or class activities to promote participation and inclusion in the activities. Within this unit students are assessed upon their Movement, Skill Development, Participation and Socials; all of which are something that students can develop across the term. Students have set a high standard of participation early! A reminder to all students to bring a change of gear, especially during these warmer months.

Surf Carnival

The Secondary Surf Carnival is happening on the Tuesday 4 March. This week students were given a letter and consent forms that are required to attend the Surf Carnival. It is imperative that these are returned no later than the 28 March. On this day students have opportunities to spend time in their groups participating in various beach events as well as aquatic events. Everything that is required was included in the information that was sent home. We also thank the Penguin Surf Life Saving Club for their ongoing support in this event.

Sports Science

Our sport science students are diving deep into the fascinating world of the human body. This term, we're focusing on the skeletal and muscular systems. Through hands-on activities and engaging lessons, students are exploring how our bones and muscles work together to support movement and overall health.

Outdoor Education

Students have started the year with a series of team initiative and problem-solving challenges. The focus has been on students getting to know each other and building communication levels through fun activities outside. A range of outdoor gear and equipment has been looked at and discussed prior to students undertaking more practical activities this term. The ‘Minefield’ activity where students guide a blindfolded partner through an obstacle course has been the highlight so far.

If you have any questions regarding HPE, feel free to get in contact through email.

 Alex Baldock – Alex.Baldock@decyp.tas.gov.au

Arianne Popowski – Arianne.popowski@decyp.tas.gov.au

Chris de Ruyter – Christopher.de.ruyte@decyp.tas.gov.au

Jordan Taylor – Jordan.taylor@decyp.tas.gov.au

Tom Abblitt – Tom.abblitt@decyp.tas.gov.au 

The LIFT Library is again ready for borrowing! Find a variety of books for you to borrow on the shelves outside the main office.

Pleae use the below link to RSVP to the whole school BBQ. 

https://forms.office.com/r/KfTKJCNbXc?origin=lprLink

To the Penguin community,

A group of Year 9 boys are looking to build some bathtub worm farms in Science. We are hoping there are some out in the community that can be donated. If you can donate one and deliver it to school, please contact the office to organise a time to drop it off. We will happily provide a bottle of “worm juice” fertiliser in return once they are up and running.