Dear Parents, Guardians, and Community Members,

I am delighted to share with you the progress and achievements of Franklin Primary. It has been a period marked by growth, innovation, and celebration, reflecting our unwavering commitment to providing the best possible educational experience for our students.

Reading Growth: One of the highlights of this term has been the significant growth in reading proficiency among our students. Through targeted interventions, dedicated teaching staff, and the enthusiastic participation of our students, we have witnessed remarkable improvements in reading comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development across all grade levels. This achievement is a testament to the collective efforts of our entire school community in fostering a love for reading and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Introduction of Multi-Tiered Student Support for Literacy: In line with our commitment to personalised learning and academic excellence, we have implemented the Multi-Tiered Student Support for Literacy (MTSS-L) framework. This evidence-based approach enables us to identify and address the diverse literacy needs of our students through differentiated instruction, targeted interventions, and data-driven decision-making. By providing comprehensive support at multiple levels of intensity, we aim to empower every student to become proficient readers and lifelong learners.

Installation of New Signage: To enhance the community reach and aesthetics of our school environment, we have recently completed the installation of new signage with our values and welcome to school. These vibrant and informative signs not only improve wayfinding for students, staff, and visitors but also communicate important our vision and how important our school values are. We believe that a well-designed and visually appealing environment fosters a sense of pride, belonging, and community spirit among all stakeholders.

Swimming Carnival and Inter-Primary Carnival: Our school community came together during the recent Swimming Carnival and Inter-Primary Carnival. These events provided students with valuable opportunities to showcase their athletic talents, demonstrate teamwork and perseverance, and build positive relationships with peers from other schools. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the students, parents, staff, and volunteers who contributed to the success of these memorable occasions particularly Mr Josh Mitchell who facilitated these events.

As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, I am confident that Franklin Primary School will continue to thrive and uphold its reputation for excellence in education. With your ongoing support and collaboration, we will nurture the academic, social, and emotional growth of every student, empowering them to excel in school and beyond.

Student Engagement

This term has finished with a significant increase in attendance. Currently the school sits at 88%. This is an increase of just over 3% since last year. With winter coming I want us to really think about how we can maintain, sustain and grow our attendance data so that our kids are at school as much as they can be. If you need anything to support your children being at school, please reach out. I also want to celebrate a term with zero suspensions and minimal disruptions to learning. Continue to be proud of the community of learners we are producing and talk to your child about the importance of showing our behaviours at school.

Thank you for your work is supporting this as well.

Warm regards,

James Milne

 Principal Franklin Primary School

Term 1 has been a busy one in the Teaching & Learning Space. Students have gotten to know new teachers and classrooms, undertaken PAT and NAPLAN testing, and continued to develop their literacy and numeracy skills across the breadth of subjects at Franklin Primary School. Home Reading has continued to be very successful, and as usual we have had some fantastic participation in HPE, Art and Garden.

Teaching staff have continued to improve Reading results through inquiry cycles in Professional Learning Teams (PLTs). Like last year, we are already seeing some very impressive gains from students, and we look forward to continuing this trend throughout the year.

We have also implemented a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) for reading intervention, whereby we use student reading data to identify and schedule extra teaching sessions for students who require further support to develop their reading skills. This is an extremely important part of our school improvement plan, and there’s no doubt that the students are already seeing benefits from it.

Next term, we will continue to focus on our implementation of Structured Literacy, MTSS and the Big 6 of Reading. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

Regards,

Nick de Tarczynski (AST/QTC)

We have had a fantastic term in Gumnuts.  We have cooked pizza and muffins, visited local playgrounds, learnt new songs and had so much fun playing together.  Check in with the Gumnuts Facebook page over the school holidays for the full Term 2 program, but here are a few things we will be getting up to:  Excursion to Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre; bike riding at Heritage Park, Geeveston; building with boxes; sensory play and getting outside and muddy for International Mud Day! Can’t wait to see you there!

To finish off our pattern inquiry we were lucky enough to have a class visit from Cass’s baby blue tongue lizards.

They had the most amazing patterns on their body. The children had a chance to observe them and sketch them, as well as ask questions about their care.

We have done so well this term settling into the rhythms of kindergarten life. I’m very proud of all of them.

What a term! Term 1 is always very busy and tiring for Preps, and the adjustment to full time school and new routines can be challenging. Our Grade 1’s have been instrumental in assisting our Prep’s to learn these routines and we are very lucky to have them with us! We have all done a wonderful job of settling in to our new class and environment and we are ready to go full steam ahead with Term 2 when it begins.

We have already begun making some changes to our room for Term 2. We have swapped our home corner for a larger truck area, and also installed a little book writing area for all our budding writers! Watching the children follow their interests and being engaged in play is so valuable to us as educators, as well as the children. While playing they are practising role-playing within a safe environment, learning through doing, learning from others, extending their vocabulary, learning important social/emotional skills and much much more!!

Happy holidays to everyone, enjoy the well deserved break and we look forward to seeing you all fresh faced in Term 2!

Each day in Grade 1/2 Page we take the time to share some news or an item from home.  It is an opportunity for children to stand in front of the class and speak, answer questions and gain confidence being in the spotlight.  It is such a valuable time. Archie decided to bring in his puppies to share with the class.  Pictured here are some very cute pictures of his sharing time.

In our inquiry starting now, we are investigating how the roles of the people in our lives have changed over time.  We are creating a Family Tree so we know who our ancestors are (our holiday homework). Pictured here is our big family tree displayed in our classroom with our ‘wonderings’. Some people wondered what type of car their grandparents drove, while others wondered what their grandparent’s favourite sport was.

After weeks of preparation and learning, on Tuesday, the 4/5 class joined with the 2/3 class to attend an ‘Explore Sea Country’ excursion.

2/3 Morgan wrote an ‘Acknowledgment to Country’ and 4/5 Witts investigated the areas and people they are connected to and learn from.

On arrival we were greeted by a traditional smoking ceremony and able to cleanse ourselves with the smoke.  We painted ourselves in ochre.

We went on to draw, hunt and make.  Making traditional kelp baskets and noticing and documenting areas/items of interest and significance.

Students had a great time and we are grateful to be able to have this experience.

Embracing Community at Franklin Primary School! 

Dear Franklin Primary School Community,

We're thrilled to share some heartwarming news from our Student Representative Council (SRC)! This week, our SRC members had the incredible opportunity to visit Huon Regional Care and spend quality time with the residents.

From playing games to getting crafty and having heartfelt conversations, our students truly embodied our school's vision of "Embracing Community, Growing Together."

These moments of connection not only bring joy to the residents but also remind us of the importance of building meaningful relationships beyond the walls of our school.

Huge shoutout to our SRC for their dedication to spreading kindness and making a positive impact in our community! Let's continue to grow together and embrace the spirit of community.

Thursday we were lucky enough to have the Jack Jumpers and Huon Aquaculture visit our school. We were treated to scrambled eggs, salmon, fruit kebabs and toast. Then each class had the opportunity to learn some skills and shoot hoops with our special guests!

Children’s University will get kick started in Term 2.  CU is a great program to enjoy extending your child’s learning outside of school.  Students will meet with our school coordinator, Alex Frusher, the first week back, and with a representative from the University of Tasmania in Week 2 to collect their passports.  If your child is interested, please keep track of any sport or club commitments, or have a look on the Children’s University website for ideas to start collecting hours over the school holidays.    

Exciting News: Franklin Primary School Receives Grant from Variety Tasmania for Breakfast Club!

Dear Franklin Primary School Community,

We are thrilled to announce that Franklin Primary School has been awarded a generous grant from Variety Tasmania to expand our Breakfast Club program! This exciting opportunity will allow us to offer a wider variety of nutritious and healthy options to our student.

At Franklin Primary, we understand the importance of starting the day right with a nutritious breakfast. The Breakfast Club not only ensures that all our students have access to a healthy meal but also fosters a sense of community and support within our school.

Thanks to the support of Variety Tasmania, we will be able to enhance our Breakfast Club offerings, providing our students with even more delicious and nourishing options to fuel their minds and bodies for a successful day of learning.

We are incredibly grateful for this grant and the opportunity it provides to further support the well-being and academic success of our students. We look forward to sharing the positive impact of this initiative with our school community in the coming months.

Thank you to Variety Tasmania for their generous support, and to our dedicated staff and volunteers who make our Breakfast Club program possible.

Ella Heather

School Business Manager

These sessions are now eligible to claim for Ticket To Play State Government Initiative providing 2 x $100 vouchers for sporting activities, which now include circus. 

The Circus Studio Inc. are running the following programs in Cygnet in the upcoming April school holidays and after school during Term 2.