Dear parents, families, students and community members, 

2026 Class Structures

I am pleased to announce our 2026 class structures and class teachers. We are still in the process of finalising some specialist classes, and these will be communicated with you soon. 

• Launching into Learning (Thursday): Mrs Elise Wells
• P/1 (Monday and Tuesday): Mrs Elise Wells
• K/P/1 (Wednesday - Friday): Miss Kate Pearce
• 2/3: Mrs Saskia Sparshott
• 4/5/6: Mrs Leah Kirkham-Phillips

You will note that these class structures and teachers remain the same from 2025, except for Launching into Learning. Miss Emily Van Galen will be taking time off for Maternity Leave, we would like to thank her for her work in the LiL and Pre-Kinder space this year. 

As always, a lot can happen between now and the beginning of next year. These classes are subject to change, and if they do, we will communicate with families promptly. 

School Surveys - Family Satisfaction, Staff Satisfaction and Student Wellbeing and Engagement

Term 4 brings with it lots of positive data from across the school year, including from school surveys that were completed throughout Term 3. I would like to take this time to share some positive outcomes of the surveys. 

Staff satisfaction:

School staff complete a similar survey to families in Term 3 each year. High growth areas for 2025 include:

• An increase from 7.7/10 in 2024 to 8.7/10 in 2025 for "student behaviour is well managed at this school". 
• An increase from 7.3/10 in 2024 to 8.4/10 in 2025 for "all students learning needs are being met at this school".
• An increase from 7.9/10 to 9.3/10 for "there is effective educational leadership in this school". 

Family satisfaction: 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Family Satisfaction Survey. The outcomes of the survey provide important data to plan for 2026. 3 areas of high growth from last year include:

• An increase from 6.1/10 in 2024 to 7.5/10 in 2025 for "staff at this school treat students fairly".
• An increase from 4.3/10 to 7.3/10 in 2025 for "there is effective educational leadership at this school".
• An increase from 5.6 in 2024 to 7.3 in 2025 for "families have the opportunity to participate in decisions about their children's education". 

Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey:

Students across the state, from Grade 4 to Grade 12, take part in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey every year. Our Grade 4/5/6 Class did this survey at the end of Term 3. Some positive results are: 

• An increase from 67% of students in 2024 with high wellbeing, to 75% in 2025, for "students feel safe at school". No students with low wellbeing in this area in 2025. 
• An increase from 46% in 2024 of students with high wellbeing, to 53% in 2025 for students for "cognitive engagement". No students with low wellbeing in this area for 2025. 

External School Review:

Over the first 3 days of this week, we have taken part in an External School Review. This review occurs once every 4 years, and involves an External School Review team talking to school stakeholders, examining data and procedures, and providing recommendations for school improvement for the next four years. I will be sharing more from the review over the coming weeks, but would like to take this time to share some positives. 6 Key Affirmations from the review include:

• A collaborative approach is supporting a strong and optimistic commitment to the priorities of Reading, Wellbeing and Engagement.
• DIBELS and PowerBi triangulation data is used during staff meetings to prioritise intervention, with all staff taking collaborative ownership of the data.
• Staff morale is high, built through a strong collegial culture of trust amongst all staff.
• Staff, students, and families highlight that being part of a small school community ensures students and families are well known. 
• Leaders prioritise staff involvement in professional learning, with a collaborative approach supporting collective growth in teaching practice. 
• Families express an appreciation for the variety of curriculum opportunities in a small community school, highlighting the connection with local community organisations.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in the External School Review. 

Kind regards, 

Anna Knowles
Principal

Reminder to families,

Please check the school calendar. There are lots of upcoming events advertised on the school calendar.

Please enjoy waching our K/P/1 Science and Technology video.

It's been a fun fortnight of hands-on maths in Grade 2/3.  We've had a wonderful time learning about angles and fractions, making use of our learning spaces in different ways.  Who knew that you could turn 15 grade 2/3's into a right angle? Some of our Grade 4/5/6 friends also joined in the fun, while their peers were at swimming squad.

We've also put our knowledge of fractions to the test by dividing everyday food items into halves, quarters, eighths, fifths and tenths.  We then used recipes with measurements such as 4 x 1/4 cups to create our ANZAC biscuits. 

This also links in with our HASS study on Remembrance Day.  We read the book Pidge's Poppies, by Jan Andrews and Timothy Ide, learning about various symbols that connect to remembering those who fought in wars before us. Keep a look out for our Remembrance Day posters around our school.

Swimming squad has also been a very exciting and fun addition to our last fortnight.  Our selected Grade 3's are very excited to be participating in the SPSSA swimming carnival in Hobart on Monday. Special thanks to Melissa for making these sessions fun and for helping us to develop our swimming skills, ready for our big day.

Until next fortnight...

Sunshine and smiles, 

Mrs Sparshott

So many great opportunities have already come to Grade 456 for exciting and fun learning opportunities this term. The Swansea School gym looked amazing when some educational team members from Hobart Parliament House delivered an interactive incursion that involved every Grade 456 student. We thoroughly enjoyed debating about making swimming lessons compulsory in all Tasmanian Public Schools. It was so interesting to see the possible future of Tasmanian politics with a passionate new potential Premier and new young ministers that shared up to date reasons for youth to be involved as active members of Parliament.

456 have also completed lots of PAT testing and although these tests can be challenging for some students, it’s always great to see the results and growth of each learner. Table Tennis Tasmania returned for our final session and several rounds were played to determine the champion table tennis player of Grade 456.

During our Art lessons Grade 456 have been sharing ideas about how special Swansea is to us. The 456 students then used stencils and created postcards, before determining their final concept of Swansea and printing this image.

Swansea Primary School would like to acknowledge the awesome achievements of some of our students outside of school:

Well done to the South East Cheer and Dance Panthers team for taking home second place with their cheer routine at the Infinite Spirit All Stars, Cheer and Dance Championships held in Hobart, along with placing 6th in their pom routine.

Archie Melrose has also been busy competing in the Parent and Child Pickleball Event at Devonport Slam.

Archie and his dad Ian, taking out Bronze, well done!

Lilibet has hit the ground running after her holiday at the start of term 4.

Lilibet had a wonderful time hanging out with her cousin Banjo at Margate. She made herself very at home and enjoyed her time playing.

Lilibet also had a great couple of fun days at Kip Doggy Day Care in Hobart, where she gets to hang out with all her dog friends.

Banjo and Lilibet 

This term, Lilibet's focus is on attending the classroom and learning that she needs to sit and listen with the students. We have had great success so far with her potentially not listening to the class instruction, however snoring whilst the class is learning.

The focus for the classroom visits this term will be with Grade 2/3 and Grade 4/5/6.

Lilibet gets to socialise in the morning also with K/P/1 before the bell goes, and often pops her head into the classroom to say hello to students.

The students are fantastic at ensuring she is listening and that she needs to be sitting for her to get a pat.

The library is also still a great space that Lilibet feels very comfortable sitting and listening to students share books or games.

Growing is something Lilibet is doing quickly, and we are already over the 8-month mark.

Lilibet's favourite time is belly rubs with her paw friends.

We have two documents that we would like to share with you before they are finalised that focus on our response to student behaviour. These documents have been created as a staff and aim to promote positive student behaviour at Swansea Primary School, in line with our DECYP/school values. 

Swansea's Behaviour Matrix and Behaviour Pathway. Our Behaviour Matrix maps student behaviour that we are looking for against our DECYP/school values. This matrix will be displayed in student classrooms.