The Launceston Preparatory School Newsletter, October 24th
Happy World Teachers' Day - A tribute to our teachers
Friday, 25th of October, marks a really special day in the school calendar at The Launceston Preparatory School - World Teachers' Day! Here's to all our incredible teachers. We are so grateful; you make every day special!
Community - our backbone at The LPS
In our ever-changing world, the importance of community has become increasingly evident. That sense of belonging in a fast-paced world is more important than ever. Community provides connectedness and often validates our existence. At The Launceston Preparatory School, we always aim to value the many necessary and treasured members of our community, beginning with YOU. Families are the most important community group to our school. Parents, grandparents, and extended family members provide an essential link from home to school, fostering relationships and connections between these vital institutions.
Families are the basic and essential foundation blocks of any society. As parents, you provide your children with the link between your home and the outside world. Your role is crucial in educating and socialising your children. You instil in them the values, morals, and principles you wish to uphold and preserve as they grow into citizens of the future. These values will largely be reflected in society at large. Our role as a school is to support you in this endeavour. We aim to provide a safe and supportive place for your children to further build their resilience, knowledge, and social skills to grow into thoughtful citizens.
As a staff, we constantly witness a rich sense of community at events held at our school. This year, we’ve thrived on Mother’s and Father’s Day events, an amazing Winterfest, welcome-back drinks, and a soon-to-be-celebrated end-of-year production and picnic, just to name a few. We love the after-school ‘buzz’ that exists as families chat, forming strong connections that may last a lifetime. Many parents and visitors come by weekly, creating valuable connections with both staff and children. We appreciate your involvement in school gatherings, including meetings, social events, and fundraising efforts.
We also see our community thriving in subtle ways at drop-off and pick-up times, as families follow school protocols and interact respectfully with one another. We see it through informal and formal face-to-face contact, emails, Facebook, and other social media platforms. These family connections reinforce your child’s academic and social development and nurture a healthy mindset throughout our community and beyond.
Community is vital to the healthy growth and success of our school. More importantly, it remains an ongoing focus for the future of all our students. We thank you, the parents, for supporting us in this invaluable endeavour, as you are integral to providing a safe, happy, and secure environment at The Launceston Preparatory School. Let’s continue to make this a place where our children thrive, and that our city looks up to.
Ms Rebecca Howard,
Kindergarten
An invaluable sense of community here at The LPS
Philosophy Groups 2/3
Students are already thoroughly engaged in this term’s novel, Finders Keepers by Emily Rodda. We began this week’s Philosophy session by looking at the members of Patrick’s family and the information we know about them, then considered what makes a family and why they are important. We discussed what it means “to take something for granted” and discussed how family members sometimes take each other for granted and why this happens. Our Socratic seminar concluded by exchanging ideas on how we can demonstrate to our family members what they mean to us.
Mrs Leonie McNair
Philosophy Groups 4 - 6
The poem that inspired this week’s Socratic seminar is called Truth and it provided us with many ideas to discuss.
Truth
Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words can also hurt me.
Stones and sticks break only skin,
while words are ghosts that haunt me.
Slant and curved the word-swords fall
Pierce and stick inside me.
Bats and bricks may ache through bones,
but mortify me.
Pain from words has left its scar
on mind and heart that’s tender.
Cuts and bruises now have healed;
it's words that I remember.
Barrie Wade
Mrs Leonie McNair
2/3 Heritage Walk in Launceston
On Tuesday, the Group 2/3 children walked the streets of Launceston to learn more about it's history and architecture. We set off from Princes Square after looking at the churches, the Dr Pugh statue, the fountain and learning about the history of the square. We then headed down St John's Street.
We encouraged the children to look up and focus on the tops of the buildings as they can tell us so much. We stopped at the Synagogue, various old bank buildings and the Quadrant Mall. We talked about the architectural styles and distinguishing features of the amazing buildings in the centre of our beautiful city.
We then headed to Civic Square where we saw Macquarie House, the Town Hall and the Post Office. Cameron Street is full of interesting architecture which we stopped and looked at and ended up in the City Park after learning about the history of the Albert Hall.
Now the children have seen all these beautiful buildings, they are going to enter the Heritage Sketch competition being run by the City Council. We will be working on our entries in Art and the children are excited to see the photos and choose the building they would like to draw.
It was a fabulous excursion, and we really put Launceston "in the spotlight".
Mrs Harriet Thyne
Walk of Wonder!
Chess Club News
Our Chess Club kicked off Term 4 with a fantastic session! Hayden Shaw from Black Square Chess has been a wonderful teacher, and next week he will wrap up his sessions with us for the year as he heads off to Europe (hopefully to showcase how well Aussies play!). A huge thank you to Hayden for sharing his incredible knowledge and patience while teaching us some tricky moves and strategies.
We also had a special treat, thanks to Henry Holloway, who brought in his Longford Show-winning cake for everyone to enjoy. Congratulations, Henry, on taking first place in the decorated cake category (along with many other family accolades)! Thank you for generously sharing your delicious creation with us.
To end the year on a high note, the Chess Club has decided to host an intra-school chess tournament. This friendly competition will be open to all senior students, not just Chess Club members. Any interested students must register their names with Mr Barnes or Mr Green by Tuesday, 29th October, with the competition kicking off in Week 4.
We look forward to seeing some exciting chess battles to finish the year!
Mr Barnes and Mr Green
Staff Profile - Jody Onn Wilkinson
We don't doubt our Jody Onn Wilkinson has been supporting the everyday needs of our students and families since the moment you first engaged with our school. She may well have been the one who toured you around or sent out the confirmation email for enrolment! Jody wears many hats, and we appreciate all that she does. Enjoy watching what The Launceston Preparatory School means to Jody.
Sewing Inspiration with Mrs Pickett
The Preps and Group 1s have loved working with Mrs. Pickett on their sewing projects throughout Term 3 and 4. Their skills have been amazing! They’ve learned how to do a running stitch, sew on buttons, and, most impressively, how to be patient!
It has been wonderful to see Mrs. Pickett inspiring students to continue working on sewing projects even at home.
Miss Nicole England
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.