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