The Launceston Preparatory School Newsletter, 19th September

Excursions at The LPS

At The Launceston Preparatory School, excursions are an essential component of our learning program, providing students with invaluable hands-on experiences that go beyond the classroom. These outings play a crucial role in enhancing both the educational and personal development of our students, offering real-world insights that support their academic growth.

Each excursion is carefully planned with several key considerations in mind. These include the children’s interests, our current themes of study, specific subject areas, and opportunities offered by families or local organisations. Additionally, we take into account budget constraints and ensure thorough risk assessments are conducted to prioritise student safety.

Mrs. Thyne and I love to plan excursions for the Group 2/3s. Sometimes they are planned prior to the commencement of the term, and on other occasions, they have happened because another staff member or school family has offered an opportunity that fits well with the above criteria.

Our excursions are diverse and purposeful, ranging from visits to local landmarks such as the Launceston City Council Chambers, Beaconsfield Gold Mine, and Mole Creek Caves, to cultural experiences like the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Glover exhibition. Outdoor activities at locations like Cataract Gorge, archery at the Paringa Archery Club, and sports events at local facilities are also regular features, supporting students' physical development.

These excursions are not just about having fun—they are designed to align with current studies, sparking curiosity and a love for learning. Students often return excited to share what they’ve learned, with some declaring it “...the best excursion ever!”

Excursions at The LPS are far from routine—they are dynamic learning experiences that make education engaging and memorable. We look forward to many more exciting adventures that enrich our students’ learning journeys!

Melissa Freeland

Enrichment through Excursions

Philosophy - 2/3

In Paper Planes, Dylan’s mother gave him lots of advice about bullies:

• “She told him to ignore them unless they kept bugging him. If they did that, she said to step up and get in their face.”
• “Most of them are cowards. As soon as you stand up to them they back down.”
• “… everyone deserves a second chance …”

We discussed the pros and cons of each piece of advice and then the students’ suggestions for how to handle a bully.

This Socratic seminar showed how valuable our discussions can be in helping students to think through their decisions on how to manage the inevitable difficulties of life.

Mrs Leonie McNair

Philosophy - Seniors

This week in our novel NIPS XI, Lan receives about the duties of a team captain:

• “Remain cheerful.”
• “Go for a win and when that’s not possible fight for a draw.”
• “Never give up hope until the final ball has been delivered.”
• “Never overestimate the strength of your opponent.”

We discussed the merits of each of these, along with other advice the students would give to a team captain, and how these words might be relevant in all aspects of life.

Early Learning

Our Early Learners are developing positive attitudes towards differences, including differences of culture, history, traditions and lifestyles. With Minami (Lekha’s mum) the children learnt about Children’s Day and made carp kites to fly in the yard. They enjoyed learning about life in Fiji with a special visit from Sidney’s Grandmother and they made Aboriginal clapping sticks to use as they danced to traditional Aboriginal welcoming songs. Thank you to all our amazing guest speakers. The children and teachers learn so much from you and we love having such personalised insights to help deepen our understanding of culture and countries.

Mrs Alice Batten

Vistors to Early Learning Centre make our day!

Theatre Fun with Prep/1 - Winnie the Pooh Adventures

Prep One had the pleasure of attending the Launceston Youth Theatre Ensemble Junior Companies production of Winnie the Pooh this morning. 

Excitingly, our own Jude Brennan played Owl-one of the key roles in the production. 

A wonderful series of stories followed by a question-and-answer session where our children really shone.

If your child has an interest in theatre, Mandy Gibson-artistic director and owner would love to hear from you. Mandy@LYTEperformance.com

Winnie the Pooh

Athletics Carnival Fun

Some wonderful spirit was present throughout our 2024 Athletics Carnival Day recently. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and Mr. Payne, all staff, and some very dedicated parents did their finest to cheer on the students giving their best! And boy, did it work. Our students were so resilient, courageous, and, best of all, humble! How lucky are we? Congratulations to all involved. If any of the images look like keepers, please let us know at the office, and we will send a digital copy to you personally.

Athletics Day, 2024

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 48

Next

2/3 Highlights

Last week was action-packed and the 2/3s found it hard to decide what they most loved!  Our Weekly Resilience sessions always provide time for the children to share their favourite parts of the week.  This week the children chose:

• Our excursion to Panshanger Farm where Jan Schilling showed us how to fly his gliders and Thomas Mills showed us the plane he made.
• Learning about Easter Island and making Moai people in HASS.
• Going to Elphin Sport Centre and playing Pickle Ball and table tennis.
• In Drama, listening to some traditional Chinese tales and acting out our favourite parts.
• Sharing our fabulous hot air balloons in Assembly and finally being able to take them home and put them on display.
• Listening to our novel, Paper Planes.
• A visit from the Hurricanes to teach us cricket skills.
• Having Henry and Logan as our tutors on Friday.  They were a big help with the Maths work that we were doing and we loved playing board games with them.
• Cooking with parents.  We had Ari and Maclin’s mum, who taught us how to cook apple scrolls and vegemite scrolls.  Pete’s mum came and showed us how to make and cook burgers.  They were delicious!
• We had a puzzle building competition.  We split into two groups and as a team we had to build a 48-piece puzzle as fast as possible.  This required lots of team work and problem-solving. 

The children are loving all the theme-related work that the teachers have planned for them.  They are working hard and all showing great enthusiasm and progress.

Ms Melissa Freeland and Mrs Harriet Thyne 😊

Wholesome fun!

Sing Fest - A Hit!

On Tuesday, our choir participated in Singfest, a communal celebration of the human voice involving 250 students from eight different schools coming together to sing as one massive choir. During the day, we went to the Door of Hope Convention Centre to rehearse our pieces, then returned that evening to perform in front of an audience of nearly 1,000 people. Our choir members have been preparing since Term 1, and to say they delivered is an understatement. We had 14 students who were able to make it, and they sounded like a chorus of 40 angels. When it came to our turn to perform a piece by ourselves (“Wake Me Up” by Avicii as performed by Jessica Mauboy), our choir proudly displayed their talents and hard work, singing our hearts out. Well done to all members of our choir who made Singfest, and any other members who have sung with us during the year and helped us prepare. 

We were also lucky enough to be invited to provide a Master of Ceremonies for the event, and Amelia Andrews was just the speaker for the job. It was a mammoth effort to work with one other MC from another school to officiate Singfest and introduce important people like Mayor Matthew Garwood and our school singers. Amelia represented herself and the school beautifully.

Mr. Billy Green

Thank you to all members of our choir, their families, and a big one to Mr. Green for ensuring the preparation for such an occasion was so steadfast. We are super proud of all of you.

Proud to Represent The LPS

Parents of The LPS

Parents of the LPS would like to thank all the teachers, aids, parents and administration for supporting us to get all these lovely self-portraits together for our WHOLE SCHOOL annual tea towel drive. 

Each child in the school has drawn a self-portrait, ZOOM IN to find yours! 

We are really keen to do a version of this each year, a lovely thing to use right now or to keep for the future. 

CLICK THROUGH LINKS TO PURCHASE:

1 Tea Towel for $18

https://square.link/u/J8SNCOem?src=sheet

2 Tea Towels for $32

https://square.link/u/kDeDpT57?src=sheet

3 Tea Towels for $45 

https://square.link/u/UzUK88oD?src=sheet

MORE THAN 3? They’ll be $15 each. Contact Amelia 0438448199 

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.

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.