Filter Content
- Penguin District School Calendar
- PDS: Penguin Daylight Stories - Shining a Light on Our School’s Journey
- Year 9-10 Term 3
- Digital Technologies
- Thank you
- Friendly Reminder - Lost Property
- Attack Asthma
- Burnie Arts Holiday Program
- Blue Gum Event - Dads and Kids Play and BBQ
- Blue Gum September Calendar
- Little Athletics Tas - FREE Come and Try Days
- Australian Poetry Slam 25 Burnie & Devonport
- School Calendar
For all upcoming events please see the Penguin District School Calendar
It is lovely to have the chance to bring you more daylight stories, shining a light on our school’s journey. Amongst everything we do, it is nice to take the time to connect this way, share our updates and celebrate our achievements together. I am always so warmed when people mention something to me, they have read and connected with in our newsletter. With over 670 students and their families, along with 100 staff it is a pleasure to share our daylight stories and provide an update of all the amazing things happening at PDS.
As we reach the midpoint of the term, there’s a renewed energy in the air and not just from the sunshine! Spring is a time of growth, and it’s wonderful to see our students thriving in classrooms, on the sports field, and in all areas of school life. Thank you to our staff and families for your continued support. Let’s keep the momentum going as we head into the second half of Term 3!
If you are grabbing the newsletter in small, quick bites then just click on the stories of interest in the menu.
Communicating with families
We value strong partnerships with our families. Your voice matters, and we invite you to stay connected through our communicating with families in Week 9. It is an opportunity to share, listen, and collaborate.
Primary link
https://penguinds.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/66
Secondary Link
https://penguinds.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/67
2025 Families School Satisfaction Survey - Invitation
We want to hear from you, as input from families is very important to help us inform our school-planning and decision-making. Every year the Department for Education, Children and Young People conducts a School Satisfaction Survey to find out what your child(ren)'s school does well and where it may improve.
We would be grateful if you took part in our online survey about Penguin District School.
The survey is open from Monday 25 August 2025 until Friday 19 September 2025 and should take about 5 minutes to complete.
Each family should nominate one person to fill in this survey for their child(ren)
Take the online survey by clicking this Link, or pasting it in your browser: https://nam.dcv.ms/zOrgPX7dON
The survey is carried out on a secure website and all responses are anonymous and confidential.
All families in this school receives the same survey link and no identifying information is collected. A summary of the survey results will be provided to schools. Responses from individuals or small groups will NOT be disclosed to any Department for Education, Children and Young People staff.
Please contact the office if you require any assistance. Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey
Shout Outs
- Teacher Assistants – A huge thank you to our incredible Teacher Assistants—your dedication, care, and daily support make a lasting difference in the lives of our students and staff!
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Zander - Congratulations on your awards 2025 Young Archies Award Year 5 & Year 6 Category Highly Commended and Commissioner for Children and Young People Award. This is a fantastic achievement, you should be very proud.
- PDS Father Figures - Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, grandads, and father figures in our school community. Thank you for the care, encouragement, and support you give to our learners every day!
- EMusicians – Well done to Liffey, Abbas, Rory, Matilda and Eleanor for your part in the marathon fundraiser last weekend.
- NW Talent ID Program – An outstanding achievement well done on your selection Rayff, Elijah, Jhett, Rory S, Darcie
DECYP - Off and Away Phone Policy
All smart watches must be set to aeroplane mode during school hours. Let’s keep our focus on learning and respect our collaborative learning spaces.
Yours in partnership, Angela McAuliffe, Principal
Year 9 has been ticking along like a well-oiled machine. In English, we have been busy fine-tuning our research skills whilst doing our negotiated studies. Our focus in History has been World War 1 and what life was like in the trenches. Our Mathematics brains have been working overtime. We just finished a measurement unit and are now extending our knowledge of linear equations. Finally, in Science, we are looking at where carbon is found on Earth, the impact carbon dioxide has on our environment, and how we can make changes to alleviate climate change.
Recently in Year 10, we have been working hard in all areas such as Mathematics, Science and English. In Maths, we have just finished a unit on trigonometry and have now moved on to bivariate data in which we are strongly focused on constructing scatter plots and analysing outliers, best lines of fit, etc. In English, we have just finished a unit on creating podcasts, where we had to engage the audience with a topic of our choice. We are now studying Shakespeare. "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is English, and Romeo and Juliet are the sun." Lastly in Science, we have just completed our biology unit and will now move onto the theory of evolution.
In Transition, we have been completing our transition plans as well as learning about tax and finance. We have also discussed what sort of job opportunities there could be for us and talked about opportunities that may arise in Years 11 and 12.
A small group of our Year 10’s have embarked on a career path journey with some lovely ladies who are a part of the Beacon Foundation. These students have been working hard on understanding career clusters and homing in on our own, which are able to help us discover which career path may suit us the best. Recently, this group ventured out to the businesses Kinetic and Mount Gnomon Farm. Here we had the opportunity to discuss questions with business owners and open our minds to new areas in which we may not have considered in the past.
By Simon, Grace, and Olivia.
Digital Technologies continues to cater to Year 9 and 10 students’ passion projects; learning in their area of interests. Students learn different styles of coding including C#, C++, HTML and CSS as well as Python. Many exciting things happen in this space, including sending our previous state winners of the E-sports League AO Minecraft challenge in a Capture the Flag contest, run on Saturdays over the course of 5 weeks finishing in two more Saturdays.
Year 7/8 spaces are busy. Year 8’s learning cryptography and how to use critical thinking skills to solve puzzles to help with cyber security. Some students enjoying creating their own AI programs to run robots.
The Year 7’s looking at data switches and how to protect transmittable data using ciphers. All learning to protect ourselves when transmitting our valuable information.
This is an opportunity for dads to connect and play with their child(ren) at Blue Gum, outside of our usual playroom hours.
If this fits in with your scope of practice, we would love to have you join us on Friday 19 September, from 5:00 pm.
Libraries Tasmania will be hosting the Australian Poetry Slam 2025 along with a series of creative writing workshops across libraries state
This is a chance for Tasmanians to express themselves, connect with others, or take the mic in a national spoken word competition.