Welcome back to Penguin District School for the start of Term 3! A special welcome to the students, families and staff that are joining us for the first time. Miss Tegan Townsend will be continuing on Year 3-4P for term 3 and we have Miss Hayley Marshall joining Ms Jenny Slater with the Year 1-2’s. Miss Paige Blackett will also be working in Year 3-4 as Mrs Mudford enjoys some long service leave. Maree Lowrie will be joining our team of teacher assistants and Trevor Ward will be working with our education facility attendants this term. We will be farewelling Mrs Sarah Carr as she returns to England after having the first half of the year working with our Year 1-2 class. Thank you Miss Carr for your contributions to our school, particularly in the early childhood classes.

Welcome to our new students that have joined us; Kayl, Thea, Jesse  and their families. I am sure that you will find the school community as genuine, friendly and caring as I have. Our pre-kinder programs will commence Fridays from August 20^th and we will see close to 60 of our littlest learners and their parents joining us in preparation for the transition to kinder in 2022.

Thank you to our staff that have assisted in the preparation for Term 3. A number of our staff have undertaken professional learning in their own time to add value to the work that they undertake at our school in working with young people. We’re grateful for the commitment that our staff show to growing their skills and knowledge!

School Life in Term 3
Public Health announcements have required us to respond and be adaptable to the many changes that are needed from all Tasmanians. I’d like to personally thanks our parents and students on how they managed these changes, and as a result, the following steps must be followed in relation to school

• All visitors over the age of 16 must sign in via the Check in Tas app before entering the school building. If you do not have the app, you are required to complete a sign in form at the front office at either the primary or secondary campus. This applies for any pick-up/drop off of children inside of the school building.
• If any of our families have travelled interstate, please as a courtesy, contact the school so that we can ensure that Public Health guidelines in relation to attendance at schools are being met.
• Currently we have a number of staff that have been affected by interstate quarantine arrangements that are beyond their control. All staff are required to remain at home if they are unwell, and/or have any cold or flu symptoms. In some cases, this may mean that your child has a different teacher for a short period of time.

Mobile Phone Policy

All Tasmanian government schools are required to have an ‘Off and Away All Day’ approach to student mobile phones in school. Our students are all aware of this and understand that procedures that are in place around turning their phone off and securing it on arrival at school, through to the end of the day when they can access their devices after 2:50. Our school’s policy/approach can be accessed from here!