The Launceston Preparatory School Newsletter, 12th September 2024

Prep at The Prep -Fundamental Foundation Fun!

Prep is such an exciting year, particularly at this point of the school year, where this amazing group of students are really beginning to blossom with their confidence, academic skills, making connections in their learning, and most importantly, their communication and social skills. Mrs. Cook and I are so proud and excited about their progress.

Prep is the first compulsory year of school and provides the foundation for your child’s education. It is a full-time program held in primary schools. Children attend Monday to Friday for the full school day. We use the Foundation Year of the Australian Curriculum to guide the children’s learning. At The LPS, our Prep year group works with the Group Ones in a vertical group and also has some teaching time as a peer group. This is one of the huge advantages of our small class sizes.

When children start Prep, they move to a more structured learning environment, but they continue to learn through hands-on investigation. Children make decisions, solve problems, develop thinking and teamwork skills, communicate, and develop a positive sense of themselves. We are very fortunate at The LPS that our Prep students have a fabulously rich curriculum that includes timetabled subjects such as Digital Technology, Musical Studies, Art, Drama, French, and Sport & Health every week, as well as ample time for English, Mathematics, Science, and HASS.

Here are some examples of what this year’s Preps are enjoying:
- **Darcy: I love doing hard sums and Speed Maths.
- Alice: I like doing French with Madame Dean.
- Nora: I like that we get to do extra Art and Craft jobs with Mrs. Pickett. This term, it’s sewing.
- Rosie: I love doing science experiments.
- Ari: Sport and Health is fun, and we go on the bus to different places.
- Hugh: I love that we still get to play with the ELs and Kinders, and we see our old teachers.
- Sammy: I like doing lots of Art.
- Sebastian: I’m really good at maths, and we play lots of games. Rollie Dice is my favourite.
- Bronte: I like Prep because we have a really big yard to play in.
- Winnie: English is fun. At the moment, we are going on magic carpet rides!
- Josh: Prep is really great. I love that I have been the first Prep to ever get the Principal's Award.
- Violet: I like learning how to write.
- Lottie: I love coming to this school every day, and I have made lots of friends.
- Junji: I really love Digi Tech with Mr. Green; it’s really cool.
- Henry: I love playing tag with my friends.

Mrs. Cook and I are a great team and have enjoyed our first year working together with the Preps and Group 1s. We love this age group and are very proud of all that the students are achieving. We already have many interactions with this year’s kindergarten students and staff. Next term, we will be doing even more with our Kinder friends as part of our regular transition program. We will keep you updated in Term 4.

Miss Nicole England

Introducing our lovely, Manor McGuire. A Teacher's Assistant for over 16 years, she's still creating smiles for staff and students. We value all she offers and love her sentiments about what the school means to her. Enjoy the viewing.

End of Winter Fest, in reflection...

How lucky are we to have had the most precious winter evening together just a fortnight ago? We wish we could do it all again! Thankfully, we had Sidhonie Page-Smith—our resident videographer and photography specialist—and her team from Eclictica Create on hand to capture the night. Look out for photos in the upcoming weeks' editions of the Newsletter. For now, relive the moment through this beautifully put-together video. With compliments, enjoy!

Seniors - Mathematics

At the beginning of August, 31 of our Group 5 and Group 6 children participated in the Australian Mathematics Competition. The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) is a competition run by the Australian Mathematics Trust for students from Year 3 up to Year 12 in Australia and their equivalent grades in other countries.
The AMC is an engaging 30-problem competition that demonstrates the importance and relevance of mathematics in students’ everyday lives.
Huge congratulations to all of the children who competed in the AMC; I am so proud of them for opting to take on this challenge. A special mention goes to Henry Hannay, recipient of a Distinction and the ‘Best in School' certificate!

Fractions, Percentages, Statistics and Sports
During the Olympics, the children investigated the media headlines about Paris 2024 being Australia's most successful Olympics ever. Using fractions, percentages, and statistics, they concluded that the 1956 Melbourne Olympic team was Australia's most successful team ever. One of the measures that led to this decision was that the 1956 team won 13 gold out of a possible 153 (13/153 = 8.5%), compared to the 2024 Paris Olympic team’s 18 gold out of a possible 329 (18/329 = 5.5%).

After our Athletics Carnival, I thought we could use this knowledge of fractions, percentages, and statistics to solve an ongoing debate: "Bass is only winning [the sporting carnivals] because they have more people than Esk and Ossa."

We analysed all the data from the Athletics Carnival: the number of athletes by house, by gender, and by group; the number of "gold medal" wins by house, by gender, and by group; and the number of points won by house, by gender, and by group.

The children worked in teams to find the percentage of gold medal wins and points per house and to determine which house was more successful in each group, which led to a hypothesis as to when Esk or Ossa might start to win a carnival!

To answer our burning question, "Are Bass only winning sporting carnivals because they have more people?":

• We divided the number of "gold medals" by the number of athletes in each house across Groups 2-6 to provide us with a 'gold medal per athlete' statistic.
• We divided the number of points won by the number of athletes in each house across Groups 2-6 to provide us with a 'points per athlete' statistic.

In both cases, the answer was a resounding "no!" Bass deserves to be leading the Athletics Carnival based on their performance, not because they have more people.

Congratulations (so far), Bass! We are looking forward to the Junior Athletics Carnival and the Tug-o-War to find out the final result!

Miss Mel Andrews

Group 2/3 - Panshanger Estate Plane Excursion

After our visit from Jan Schilling a couple of weeks ago, when he brought in his gliders and remote-controlled planes, this week the Group 2/3 students travelled to Panshanger Estate at Cressy to watch Jan fly those planes. Jan belongs to the Phoenix Flying Club, and Panshanger is their home base.

The children were amazed as Jan launched his glider into the stiff breeze and saw it soar above them. Jan had told them at school that he had to be particularly wary of nosy eagles trying to attack his planes, and sure enough, two eagles appeared out of nowhere to see what was going on in their patch of the world. Jan expertly launched and flew his plane on three separate flights, and the children cheered each time he successfully landed it right in front of them.

The children then walked over to the property's hangar and met Thomas Mills, an aeronautic engineer by trade, but also an avid pilot and plane enthusiast. Thomas had taken over 6,000 hours to build his own plane and was a wealth of information. The children asked amazing questions and were able to see up close how a plane is put together.

The children have been loving listening to our shared novel Paper Planes, and this excursion delved into many of the questions Dylan (the main character) has as he tries to fold the perfect paper plane to win the World Junior Paper Plane Championships. Power, thrust, wing shape, distance, and altitude are all terms the children have become very familiar with, and they came away with a lot of information that will help them as they continue to experiment with paper plane making.

It was a fabulous excursion, and we are very grateful to Jan and Thomas for giving up their time to be with us. We also thank Megan Mackinnon for her assistance in organising our trip to Panshanger.

Mrs Harriet Thyne

Plane Trip Fun

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Philosophy - Group 2/3

When Jason (from our novel) gets to test his plane inside a CSIRO wind tunnel in Sydney, Dylan complains “How am I meant to compete with that? I mean, really! I can’t even afford the … airfare to Japan!”

This provided an opportunity to discuss what opportunities wealthy people have that other people might miss out on and whether these opportunities mean that wealthy people are happy people. We also considered what the signs of wealth are and how we know when we have “enough”.

Leonie McNair

Philosophy - Seniors

We based our Philosophy this week on Timeless by Kelly Canby, which was recently announced as Australia’s Picture Book of the Year. Next week, Meerkat Productions will be visiting our school to perform their interpretation of the story.

Emit is the central character of the book and his parents turned back time to name him! (This is just one of many plays on words within the story.) Everyone around him is too busy to read him stories or play games and Emit’s brother and sister are too busy doing nothing at all. Emit tries desperately to get more time but it is only when he tries to buy some time that he uncovers the central message of the book – if you want more time, you must make it.

The story is a deep (and timeless!) one, leading us to explore our connections to the plot, and consider why families are getting busier and busier, what “quality time” really is and how you make it.

I am sure all families in our school can relate to these themes!

Mrs Leonie McNair

P/1 Nicole England

In HASS, the Prep and Group 1 students have been investigating houses and homes. Last week, we made posters featuring photos of our own homes and explored the building materials and features of each house. A big thank you to the parents for helping us with our homework!

Miss Nicole England

Fantastic Friday Fun in Kindergarten!

We look forward to Friday each week. Our program for Friday is always a great opportunity to expand our learning. 

This week, we enjoyed celebrating Khitha’s birthday, baking cupcakes and learning about rainbows, with the support from our tutor, George Archer.

More and more our children are emerging as confident and involved learners. Through our program, children are developing into effective communicators full of wonder and joy. 

Thanks to George for being part of it all!

Lawson Girls' Success!

We are all excited to share that Olivia and Emily Lawson participated in the 2024 Tasmanian Rhythmic Gymnastics State Championships over the weekend, and they achieved fantastic results! Their hardwork and dedication was on full display as they wowed judges and audiences alike. Congratulations to you both, such a tremendous feat that celebrates the energy you both put into your passion. 

Notable Standings:

Olivia Lawson (Level 3)
🏅 1st - Category 1 Pair
🥈 2nd - Level 3 Team

Emily Lawson (Level 4)
🏅 1st - Category 1 Hoop Quad
🥉 3rd - Freehand
🥉 3rd - Ball
🥈 2nd - Level 4 Team

What champions we have amongst our ranks!

Olivia and Emily on show!

Junior Athletics Day is Coming...

We are pleased to announce the new date for The LPS 'Little Athletics' Day, which will now take place in Term 4, Week 2, on Thursday, 24th October.

This exciting event will start at 1:30 pm and will run for approximately 75 minutes, concluding at 2:45 pm. We look forward to seeing everyone there for an afternoon filled with energy, sportsmanship, and community fun! Please mark your calendars and prepare for a fantastic day!

The older students will culminate their Athletics' experiences for 2024 on the same day, competing in a fun-filled Tug-o-War House battle. 

The Parents of The LPS' own, Steph Brake, to do Tassie Backbone Walk for Charity

Free Parent Workshop

Check out this free parent workshop by scanning the QR code below.

STEM CLUB

Please note that any notices we include in this newsletter for providers of activities that occur outside of the school, are provided only for the interest of families and do not carry any endorsement by the school.