Newsletter - 12 June

Principal's Report

Communicating the Language of Everybody

At Mount Nelson Primary School, language is more than communication - it shapes our identity, builds connection, and strengthens our community. As part of our School External Review, we’ve been reflecting on how we engage with students, families, and staff to ensure our shared vision truly captures what makes MNPS unique.

In 2023, we asked: “What makes Mount Nelson Primary School special?”
Your responses, alongside those from students and staff, revealed powerful themes that now shape our evolving school mantra -

Nurturing | Empowering | Striving for Excellence 

These words are more than a motto, they’re the foundation of how we learn, grow, and support one another every day.

Bringing Our Language of Everybody to life!

We’re excited to work together to create a visual identity that reflects our shared values, celebrates our assets that drive our learning and inspires every learner to be their best. While we move forward with a fresh, forward-thinking vision, we also want to honour our past, recognising the journey that has shaped our school.

Student-led creativity - Our Art Teacher, Sarah Chiu, is already guiding students in exploring how to visually represent NURTURING, EMPOWERING, and STRIVING in meaningful ways. Staff are also joining in!

Community-driven messaging - We want our school identity to resonate with everyone - students, families, staff, and the wider community.

Your Role in This Journey - Our School Review has highlighted the importance of clearly expressing who we are and what we stand for. Now, we’d love to hear from you:

🔹 How can we best represent “The MNPS Way” visually?
🔹 What symbols, words, or imagery reflect the heart of our school?

Whether you’re a designer, an artist, or simply passionate about shaping our school’s identity, we welcome your ideas! Please send your design concepts to our school email.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved. Together, let’s create something that truly reflects the spirit of Mount Nelson Primary School.

Catherine Grace - Principal

Shaping Minds

As we have shared with you previously, we are excited to have been chosen by  DECYP to participate in a Shaping Minds trial—a structured and engaging way to build strong mathematical understanding.

All our teachers have participated in professional learning run by our Numeracy Team and have committed to trialling three Daily Review lesson per week.

A Daily Review is fast paced and teacher led and supports students to:

• review and practise fundamental facts and skills
• activate prior knowledge for the upcoming lesson

It involves explicit teaching, retrieval practice and independent practice.

Ask your child to demonstrate how they “Chin it, park it, bin it and hover it”.

Tasmania Science Talent Search

This year, a group of Grade 5/6 students are participating in the Tasmanian Science Talent Search, led by our STEM teacher Virginia Fleming. The Tasmanian Science Talent Search (TSTS) is an initiative of the Science Teachers Association of Tasmania. It has been operating for the last 60 years and has involved over 60 000 students across Tasmania.

The TSTS aims to inspire a lifelong interest in science, promote high quality teaching and learning, and highlight a national path to Science and STEM excellence.

There are a number of different challenges, and we have chosen to participate in the Innovation Challenge.

Each project should:

• Identify a problem in the community, environment, or daily life.
• Explain how a natural pattern, process, or system inspired their idea.
• Design and describe a solution based on this inspiration.

Keep an eye out for finished projects in the newsletter later this year.

Family Engagement

Welcome to the third edition of Engaging & Learning together.

Communication and conversation play a vital role in the development of a growing child's brain. Through everyday interactions, children build essential language skills, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen their ability to think, reason, and express emotions. Talking and listening not only supports cognitive development but also nurtures social and emotional growth. Regular, meaningful conversations lay the foundation for lifelong learning and healthy relationships. Here are some ideas to start those conversations.

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader

At Mount Nelson Primary School, we believe every child’s first big break begins with learning to read. It's not just the start of literacy—it's the foundation for a lifetime of possibility, discovery, and growth. Reading opens the door to every other learning journey, and we are proud to nurture that beginning.

Class Spotlight - Prep

Last week in Prep, we invited our families to school so we could teach them how we learn in maths. Did you know our mums and dads had to do boring lists of sums on the board when they were at school? In Prep we are learning to make and break numbers using ten frames, number bonds and blocks. If you don’t know what we’re talking about maybe you could visit too, and we’ll teach you! 

Staff Spotlight - Georgie Field

What is your current role at Mount Nelson Primary? Prep/1 teacher, Little Seeds/Pre Kinder Teacher & Early Years AST.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and experience before coming here? Before Mount Nelson Primary, I was AST at Herdsman's Cove Primary for over 14 years! I did a lot of different roles out there! From 4/5 teacher to Kinder!

What do you like to do in your spare time? We have a little shack in Bicheno on Tassie’s East Coast, and I love being up there, going for walks and runs on Redbill beach and spending time with my family.

Do you have any pets? I have one very old dog named Boris. He is 15! We call him the gentle giant!

Where is your favourite place to travel to? Besides Bicheno, we love going to Bali in the holidays for the warm weather!

If you weren’t in this role, what other career would you pursue? I would LOVE to be a florist! I love picking native flowers and arranging them! It is my calling!

Student Voice

Grade Six Hoodies - As you may know, the Grade 6s receive hoodies to celebrate their last year in primary school. We have been informed that we will be getting our hoodies in week seven. This is a very exciting time for us, and we can’t wait to get them.

School Executive Fundraiser - Friday the 20^th we are having a shorts day to brave the cold. You can wear any shorts you like, we just ask you to bring a gold coin (or more) donation. The organisation we’re raising money is a local charity called Speak Up Stay Chatty which raises money for mental health in Tasmania. (more details below)

Interschool Cross Country - Last Wednesday, some of our students had our interschool cross country.  Our school did well overall with some of our students winning ribbons. Our school came 3rd, but it’s not just about the ribbons we also saw some people really giving it a go. It was a fun day, and we all enjoyed participating

Canberra - Every year the Grade 6s are lucky enough to go on camp. This year we’re going to Canberra, this will be held at the end of August, there will be a parent meeting in a few weeks to share more details, including the itinerary.

written by the School Executives

Interschool Cross Country Report

We had a fantastic result at the Interschool Cross Country!

The weather held out, and our runners gave it their all, striving to bring on their best. Our Grade 3 boys were the stars of the day, taking out 1st place.

The combined effort by all of our athletes resulted in Mount Nelson Primary School placing 3rd overall.

Congratulations Team!

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School Executives Fundraiser

Our school executives are excited to have signed us up in the Shorts Day fundraiser for Speak Up! Stay ChatTY.

We all understand that talking about mental health can sometimes be uncomfortable, and so too is wearing shorts in the middle of winter! We are encouraging all of our students & staff to brave the cold on the shortest day of the year, and wear their favourite or wackiest pair of shorts to school! 

Shorts Day will be held on Friday 20 June. Cash donations will be accepted at the school office, or you can donate by scanning the QR code below. 

We would love to see as many people as possible getting involved in this great event and help raise money for such an important cause.

Grade 6 Hoodies

Wearing our Grade 6 hoodies is a proud tradition that represents our final year at primary school. It symbolises our role as leaders, showing responsibility, respect, and pride in our school community. As we wear them, we set an example for younger students and demonstrate the values that make our school a supportive and inspiring place to learn and grow.

Bonorong Excursion

Reporting

Student's Mid-Year Reports will be coming home tomorrow. This is a great opportunity to have a discussion with your child around their learning. We now have bookings open for Parent/Teacher conversations which will be taking place next week. Be sure to make an appointment as soon as possible as bookings close on Friday 13 June at 3pm. Bookings can be made via the SZapp or through the school office.

A Guide to Reporting

Prep- Grade 6

• Application to Learning Report (term 1) Prep to Grade 6
• Evidence of Learning in student learning folders: three work samples through the year for Maths and English, and one sample each for Science (twice yearly) HASS (Term 2 or 4) and each specialist subject (Terms 1,2,3 or 4)
• Parent – Teacher Conversations: Term 2 and 3
• Year 1- Year 6: 9-point scale rating for Math, English and Science (Term 2)
• Prep- Year 6: 9-point scale rating for Math, English, Science and HASS, and a 5 -point rating for specialist subjects (by Term 4)
• Year to date attendance percentage (Term 2 and 4)

Kinder:

• Parent – Teacher Conversations: Term 1, 2 and 3
• One evidence of learning against the outcomes of the EYLF (each term)
• KDC Check 1 – End of May 2025
• KDC Check 2 – End of October 2025

Celebration Assemblies

Save the Date!

Can you believe we only have 3 weeks left of term! We will be holding our Celebration of Learning assemblies in 2 groups, in weeks 8 and 9.

Group A will be held on Tuesday 17 June.

Group B will be held on Tuesday 24 June.

Both celebrations will take place in the school hall from 2:15pm. Families are most welcome to attend and celebrate the achievements of our students together.

Push Bike Safety

Talk to Your Child About Bike Safety

As the school year continues, many children are riding their bikes to school. It’s a great way to stay active and independent, but safety should always come first. The Mount Nelson area has many narrow roads, which means space is limited for both vehicles and bicycles. It’s especially important for children riding their bikes to slow down, stay alert, and be aware of their surroundings at all times. 

Please take a moment to discuss these important safety tips with our child and remind them to always ride safely and responsibly.

New Crossing Guards

Meet our new school crossing guards!

State Growth recently conducted a road crossing assessment at our school. Unfortunately, our student crossing does not meet the criteria for their support, so we are not entitled to a paid school crossing guard.

Our school is committed to the safety of all students, which is why we recently participated in a school crossing guard volunteer training program. Our keen participants braved a very cold, frosty morning to learn essential skills in traffic safety, proper crossing techniques, and how to effectively assist our students crossing the road to school.

Special thanks to Ange, Liz and Rob for taking on these extra duties and a special thank you to our parent volunteer Leonie for supporting us with this very important role.

If your child often walks to school, please encourage them to cross the road with the crossing guards.

Reminders

Illness & Absences

As winter is upon us, so too is the cold & flu season. If your child is unwell, please ensure you contact the school office either by phone or via the SZapp. 

Please view the attached image for a guide as to when to keep your child home and when students can return from an illness.

Volunteering/Parent Help

Here at Mount Nelson Primary school, we greatly appreciate the support we receive from our school community, and we encourage family engagement. To allow parents/grandparents and carers to volunteer in our school, you must have a current Working with Vulnerable People Card and have completed the 15-minute safeguarding training. The WWVP card must be carried with you at all times when volunteering in the school grounds or on excursions.

To apply for a WWVP card and to access the Safeguarding training, please click on the links below. Once the training has been completed, you can then e-mail your certificate to mount.nelson.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au

Certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of completion.

School Association

Thank you to all families who donated to our Mother’s Day & Special Person’s Day Stall last month. We raised almost $1400! The students had such a lovely time selecting a gift for their special person(s).

Upcoming events