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- Penguin District School Calendar
- Assistant Principal's Report
- Clever Penguin
- Green Penguins
- Primary DigiTech
- North West High School Basketball Championships
- Year 9/10 Digital Technology Sound and Lighting
- Year 9/10 Outdoor Ed Camp
- Year 7-10 Christmas Social
- Arts Evening
- Prep - Year 6 'Tis the Season Dress Up day
- Book Club
- End of Year Library Returns
- Launching into Learning - Teddy Bear's Picnic
- Penguin Carols in the Park
- Penguin Christmas Parade and Market
- Blue Gum Calendar for December
- Big Summer Read
- School Calendar
For all upcoming events please see the Penguin District School Calendar
I had the pleasure of experiencing our Beauty and the Beast production multiple times over the last couple of weeks. The growth in our cast over the two weeks was quite extraordinary. I would like to take one final opportunity to thank our community, staff, students and of course our very talented cast for continuing to support the Arts. We are extremely proud that every one of our primary students was able to watch the production across the fortnight. Comments such as, “I can’t wait until I’m in Grade 6” or “I’m gonna be on stage just like….” were common place and testament to the high quality of the production . To Mr Davis, Ms Murphy and the team, thankyou for putting smiles on over 2000 faces across the fortnight. Congratulations also to Millie Walker who was the winner of our Production raffle.
Celebrating Learning Successes
Whilst the end of Term 4 is always extremely busy, it is also a great opportunity to celebrate the successes of our students and staff. Whilst we all feel like the last weeks of term just fly by, I would really encourage everyone to slow down and take time to talk to your child/children about what they feel like they have achieved this year. Our Evidence of Learning samples and End of Year reports are great opportunities to prompt these discussions. Primary and Secondary reports will come home on Wednesday of Week 10 (Dec 18).
School Improvement/Annual Review
Growth is one of our schools and DECYP values. This week our leadership team has worked hard on finalising our Annual Review of our School Improvement Plan. We look forward to celebrating these outcomes with you in next week’s newsletter.
Walk to School Day
In its 25th year, National Walk Safely to School Day (NWSSD) is an annual event that emphasises the importance of road safety in the community. Thank you to all our students and families that joined us for Walk to School Day. Walking to school really is a great way to start the day, even if we do have a big hill to climb sometimes.
Children’s University
Congratulations to PDS 2024 Children’s University Graduates. Our 19 Graduates from Year 3-6 enjoyed the graduation ceremony in Devonport on Wednesday. A big thankyou to Dr Mackenzie for her leadership with these students and the families who were able to attend and support our children.
Pre-Kinder
We are extremely grateful for the 100% of 2025 families taking time out of their busy schedules to join Jessie and the Kinder team for our pre-Kinder session over the last four weeks. Just a reminder that next week will be the last session. We can’t wait to meet our new Kinder students in 2025. Thankyou to Jessie Eberhardt and the team for the work they have done in welcoming our families.
Outdoor Education Camp
Our Year 9/10 students braved the elements at Paton Park this week as they experienced their own version of ‘Survivor’. Due to sickness the group was disseminated to a group of ten brave boys who overcame the challenging weather conditions to make the most of this enjoyable experience which included: pitching their own 12 person tent, cooking on fires and mountainbiking.
Primary Athletics Carnival Rescheduled
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t kind for us this week and we had to postpone our Primary Athletics Carnival. Please note the carnival will now be held on Tuesday 3 December Fingers crossed the weather looks a bit brighter next week. Thanks always to our Health and Physical Education team for the work they do in this space.
Grade 7 Orientation
Next Thurs (Dec 5) our secondary teaching staff are looking forward to welcoming our new Grade 7 class groupings to the Secondary Campus. We have over 70 students intending to enrol in our 2025 Year 7 cohort. The students will be participating in a range of learning opportunities across the day including MDT, Music, Science, HASS, Art and Japanese. I know Mrs VanEssen and the secondary staff are looking forward to hosting them in the Year 10 space on Thursday.
Hellyer/Don Taster Days
Just a reminder that for next year’s Yr.11 students that the Hellyer Taster will take place next Thursday (Dec 5) and Don on Friday (Dec 6.)
Primary “Meet the Teacher” sessions
Our staff have been working hard on finalising our class grouping and classes over the last month. This is a huge logistical jigsaw that considers the learning needs of ALL our students. Our Primary “Meet the Teacher” sessions will take place on Thurs 12th Dec from 9.00 – 10.30am. Students will meet their new teacher and class group on this day. A class placement letter will also be sent home at the end of the day for families.
Road Safety
As the end of year busyness begins, please ensure that we are all using the zebra crossing when walking students across Ironcliffe Road to the western side of the road. We have had a number of reports of students crossing the road unsafely resulting in near misses for students and drivers. Could we also please ask that students and parents are not walking between buses at any time to ensure everyone’s safety.
Students arriving late to school
If your child arrives late to school, they must present to the Admin block to sign in, regardless of what time it is they arrive. This procedure supports us in ensuring all students are safe and accounted for at school.
Upcoming events
Please ensure you are regularly checking in with the school SZAPP App and checking the calendar as this is our central and most current point of reference for key and upcoming dates.
Yours in partnership
Adrian Beard
Estella Year 6
Estella is representing Tasmania as part of a 39-participant team in the School Sports Australia Primary Track & Field Championships at Sydney Olympic Park!
Estella is participating in the 12-year-old Girls category in the 100 metre, 200 metre and the 4x100 metre events.
This is a result of Estella's pursuit of excellence her Athletics and we wish her all the best across the competition. Good Luck and well done Estella!
Task: Cyber Safety & Cybersecurity Focus: Privacy and Security
In DigiTech we have been looking at how to stay safe online, including understanding purposeful sharing of information and password practices and security.
The world of cybersecurity can often be inaccessible to school students. This terms task aims to provide students an authentic and accessible insight into cybersecurity. The first step in understanding cyber security is knowing how to keep you and your information safe from people and software seeking to do you harm. In this challenge, students begin by analysing the sharing habits of typical teen characters as they interact on social media.
The two modules of this challenge are:
- Purposeful sharing
- Simple passwords
Task:
Take on the role of a cyber security expert and get sleuthing, to learn about cyber security!
In this course students will:
- investigate the online sharing habits of typical teen characters,
- identify common security and privacy risks posed by sharing information online,
- understand the benefits of protecting online data using strong passwords, and
- explore the ethical issues associated with accessing the online data of others.
- Complete the Information Privacy and Security – Primary course to earn your Certificate of Mastery
Activity 1: Sharing Responsibly
Activity 2: Password Security
Recently, PDS entered 4 teams in the northwest championships for basketball. All teams enjoyed plenty of success across the weekend and represented the school with a high level of sportsmanship and pride.
- 7/8 Girls – Went undefeated across 4 games and were the winners of Division 2
- 7/8 Boys – Won 4 games and lost 1, narrowly going down in Grand Final in Division 2
- 9/10 Boys 1 – Won 4 games and lost 1 to finish in 3rd position in Division 2
- 9/10 Boys 2 – Won 2 games and lost 3 to be very competitive in all games in Division 2
A shoutout to all the parents, teachers and friends who helped out with transport, officiating, score bench duties, coaching and support.
A special thank you to Greg Miller and the Penguin Basketball Association for their continued support and assistance with umpiring.
For the last six months of 2024 the 9/10 Digital Techies have been learning or continuing their understanding of the HTML and CSS language to create web page design. Along with computer commands, editing and line design, the students have looked at colour mixing pixels in digital form which is a little different to mixing colours in art mediums.
The students then broke off into their passion projects choosing a pathway that interests them within the digital curriculum. These projects include gaming promotional videos and soundtrack creation, drone maintenance and videography, composition and editing digital photography, lighting and stage design, animation, and game creation. Creativity, problems solving skills and resilience underpin the learning outcomes through genuine pathways of interest.
The culmination of some of these projects will be on display in the arts evening coming up on December 10 in the Year 10 area.
On Thursday/Friday this week, 11 of our grade 9/10 Outdoor Ed students went on an overnight camp to Paton Park. Tenting on the campsite, students enjoyed bike riding, cooking and eating their own food, campfire games and challenge activities. Unfortunately, due to the weather the abseiling was cancelled, however, students kept themselves busy creating their own games and collecting fresh rainwater to drink. They also enjoyed the Ulverstone waterslide on the way home. All students conducted themselves in a positive manner and are to be commended on how well they interacted and supported each other throughout the trip - alongside some healthy banter.
Come one, come all to the annual Arts Evening on Tuesday, 10th of December, 2024!!! Expect to see awesome everywhere. Starting in the cafeteria at 5.30pm with an art gallery walk through, you enjoy students’ art works, Digital Tech photography, drone videography and animations. Then be wowed by both the girls and boys junior choirs, Vivace choir, secondary performances, Beauty and the Beast reprisals and snippets of drama comedy. Finishing around 7.30pm, this is not a night to be missed!
