Dear parents, families, students and community members, 

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope that you all had a happy and safe Easter break. Students have settled back into school well and we have had a great first two weeks back. 

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day is one of the most important dates in our annual calendar, recognising the service men and women who have served our country in conflicts, wars and peacekeeping operations. Thank you to those students who marched in the Swansea ANZAC Parade or attended a service. You were fantastic ambassadors for our school.

Swansea Car, Bike and Truck Show

The Swansea Car, Bike and Truck Show was held over the school holidays. We had a stall at the show and are pleased to say that the SRC raised over $500, which will go towards the Canberra trip. Thank you to Mrs Leah Kirkham-Phillips and to the students who helped at the stall over the course of the day. We would also like to say a huge thank you to the committee of the Car, Bike and Truck Show, who have donated funds raised over the weekend to go towards this year's Canberra trip.

School Uniform and Grade 6 Hoodies

It is wonderful to see so many students in their school uniform. As the weather is getting colder, please consider sending a jumper with your child each day. A reminder that students should be in school jumpers and it is not permitted for students to wear non-school jackets over their school clothes. Grade 6 students were presented with their "Class of 2025" hoodies this week. The hoodies will be part of their uniform for the rest of the year and they were very excited to start wearing them! 

Lilibet the Labrador

As many of you will know, we have had Lilibet the labrador puppy onsite. Lilibet is Melissa's new puppy and we are very excited for her to be used for pet therapy at Swansea Primary. Melissa and I have worked together to create a Risk Management Plan to ensure that the benefits associated with having Lilibet onsite far outweigh any perceived or actual risks. As you can see below, students have taken it upon themselves to make sure that Lilibet is the best looked after labrador in Swansea! 

Attendance 

Attendance continues to be one of our main focuses for 2025 and our attendance goal is to be above 88% by the end of the school year. As you can see, we are very close to this goal! If your child is not sick, it is important that they are attending school every day.

Kind regards, 

Anna Knowles
Principal

Thank you to the staff and students who attended the Anzac Service at Swansea over the Term 1 break.

Thank you to Mrs Leah Kirkham-Phillips and her tribe of helpers! A very successful event, raising over $500 towards the upcoming 456 Canberra Trip.

Well done to Archie's grandfather for guessing how many Easter Eggs in our competition!

Happy Mother's Day to our mothers, grandmothers, and special people in our students' lives. We hope that you have a wonderful day on Sunday. Here is a song performed by our students in celebration of Mother's Day. 

It has been great to welcome everyone back this term, especially Jaxon! 

Without giving too much away…The early primary class have enjoyed creating gifts for the Mothers and special people in their lives.  A lot of time, effort and curriculum learning has gone into these creations.

A very warm welcome back to Term 2!  We're hit the ground running with our learning this fortnight. Here are a few highlights:

HASS Rules

We've been learning about rules in HASS and how these differ in different contexts.  We have discussed game rules and how these change from game to game. Grade 2/3 have created games with rules and have worked hard on writing skills for informative texts using lists.  We've tested our games with each other, focusing on making improvements as we play.  We've had a discussion about classroom rules with a Respect focus and how we follow these. Next week, we will adventure through Swansea to see what kinds of rules members of the community should follow (road signs, crossings, signs on shops etc).

Our new 'student'

Lilibet the puppy has spent some lovely time in our classroom this fortnight to support our maths learning.  Grade 2/3 have been using our measurement skills to weigh and measure Lilibet, gathering data and using this information to create column graphs.  We don't have much data to plot yet, so we'll update on this in the future.

Woodwork Fun

This Tuesday was our first woodwork session for 2025.  Our group consists of 4 grade 3's who absolutely loved their first experience in the Community Hub with Pia and Ingrid (Steve will be back next week).  We've had a safety talk on how to use the facilities in the hub. We've learned how to use a mallet and a chisel to remove waste material from our jobs. Here's what our students had to say:

Lucas: I really liked the sandpapering because our wood became smooth. I'm excited to use the saw to cut wood soon.

Abbey: I think woodwork is fun because it's creative and arty. You get to build really cool things. I like the sound of the sandpaper on the wood and I really like cutting off the little bits of wood with the chisel.

Bella: I am really happy that I could go to woodwork. I'm excited because we get to be like builders and build really cool stuff that you could use for a really long time.

Max: It was fun going to woodwork because I got to use a chisel to get off the side of the wall of the pencil box. 

What a fabulous fortnight!

Smiles, 

Mrs Sparshott

456 have started Term 2 with a blast! It was awesome to be able to welcome Emmett back to Swansea Primary School and into our fantastic 456 class. Our Year 6 leaders enthusiastically participated in a bKinder zoom learning session. We’ve been busy practising for our upcoming cross country and the 456 students have been extremely artistic, creating some special art gifts for Mother’s Day. We’re looking forward to taking more of our learning outdoors and we can’t wait to head back to Jubilee Beach for some great Art lessons. One thing that we know for sure is that it’s going  to be a fabulous term!

Well done to Ella W and Abbey S for their outstanding efforts at the Champions Athletics Carnival.  Ella has been fortunate enough to attend the State Championships with her shotput achievements.

Congratulations to Ella W on being selected to represent Swansea Primary School at the PSST Athletic Carnival, Ella was selected from the SPSSA Champions Athletics Carnival for shotput.

As Term 2 kicks off, we wanted to share a timely reminder about the importance of school attendance.

We love seeing your child at school every day – it’s the best place for them to learn and grow. It’s a chance to be around their friends, learn new things (including life skills), spark their curiosity and have fun.

Term 2 is packed with exciting things your child won’t want to miss:

• Swan vs Oyster Cross Country
• Puppet Shows
• Scholastic Book Fair
• Hong Kong Children's Choir at the Swansea Town Hall
• K/P/1 Learn to Swim day at Oatlands Aquatic Centre
• Grade 2/3 excursion to Molesworth Environment Centre
• Grade 4/5/6 excursion to Parliament House

For tips on creating positive attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Please talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help and support is available.

Well done to Abbey for having her lego creation in the Northern Brixihibition Competition.

Great Start - Activities at home

Great Start - Extra support for your child

Working Together - Department for Education, Children and Young People

Early learning services are provided through Early Childhood Education and Care service partners – sometimes known as childcare centres.

The Working Together team also works in partnership with families to support them to build on their strengths and achieve their goals. Taking part in early learning supports a great start to life, helps prepare children and families for school, and can lead to a healthy future.

Explore the sections below to learn more about the Working Together program and how early learning can benefit your child’s development and wellbeing.