Dear Parents and Carers

Last Friday our staff farewelled a long standing staff member, Mrs Lindy Cornish. Lindy epitomises the Department of Education values of Aspiration, Respect, Growth and Courage.  For many years Lindy had contemplated changing her career journey and starting all over again. This new career required her to apply in writing, complete numerous physical and educational testing and interviewing.  I am pleased to say Lindy was successful in her application to train as a Police Officer.  Last Friday the students in her class held a wonderful party to say farewell.  The staff also farewelled Lindy and presented gifts from both the School Association and staff.  We wish her all the best and look forward to seeing her hopefully on the streets of Launceston looking after our wider community.

Recently we were notified of some other staff movements.  I would like to wish Miss Lockwood all the best as she moves to Exeter Primary School in 2021.  Miss Lockwood has been with our school for the last 12 years and has decided that it is time to move a bit closer to her home. We would also like to welcome to our staff Ms Roslyn Faulkner as she is transferring from Norwood Primary School to our school in 2021.  We welcome her experience and look forward to working with her in our team.  There may be other changes to staffing and I will let families know about these as information comes to hand.

COVID updates

With the borders now open to mainland visitors, it is very important that we continue to be COVID safe.  This means we must continue to be vigilant with hand washing and sanitising.  We continue to follow Departmental guidelines and COVID safe plans particularly in relation to visitors on site, gatherings and social distancing.  Please remember that if students present with any cold or flu like symptoms they must have a COVID test and remain at home. 

Hay Fever – With the change of season, we are beginning to see students with Hay Fever like symptoms.  The Education Department has provided advice on how this is to be managed in a school.

“The symptoms of hay fever are similar to that of a cold, flu and COVID 19 so it’s hard to tell them apart without testing. Students or staff experiencing symptoms of hay fever (such as runny/blocked nose, sneezing, itchy eyes or cough), even mild symptoms, should get tested. They should stay home until they get their results.

Students can return to school once they have been tested for COVID 19 and returned a negative result, consulted their doctor to discuss a treatment plan and received a medical certificate or letter from their doctor advising that they can attend school.

If symptoms worsen through hay fever season or new symptoms develop, they should consult their doctor.”  Education Dept COVID updates

BOOK WEEK

When so many things had been cancelled this year, it was wonderful to see everyone embrace the Book Week celebrations.  Being literate and the enjoyment of books is a wonderful escape into an imaginary world.  The characters and effort that families went to make the day special was outstanding. Thank you for making this such a great success! To view all photos please see below.

Student Free Day

All state schools in the North of Tasmania have a Professional Learning Day allocated to them this Friday, 30^th October. Our teachers will be working on our school’s Improvement Plan and participating in professional learning.  The following Monday, 2^nd November is a public holiday, we look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday, 3^rd November. 

Events in Term 4

Grade 6 Celebration Evening – Tuesday 8^th December

This year’s celebration evening will change as a result of the COVID safety plans and venue density limits.  In previous years, it has been held at the Punchbowl Christian Centre and has been an event open to all families.  This year, however we will be holding this event at Newstead College Auditorium and it will be an invitation only event for our Grade 6 students and their chosen three invited guests along with Punchbowl Staff and the School Association Chair. As it is an after-hours event all numbers are counted for COVID density requirements meaning, students, staff, parents, babies and guests are included in the 200 maximum total. For this reason award presentations will be presented by staff as special guests will be limited.  More information about the event will be provided to Grade 6 parents at a later date.

Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival

We are excited to be able to go ahead with our Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival.  The carnival is designed to allow for participation for all students regardless of their swimming ability by providing a number of different race lengths and options. All students are expected to be involved unless unwell.  If students are unwell then they should remain home. Unfortunately due to limited space at the venue and the need to safely adhere to the public health guidelines we will unfortunately not be permitting the attendance of parents at this year's carnival.

Grade 5-6 LSSSA Swimming Carnival  

This event is going ahead and our schools swimming carnival will be used to select representatives for the Punchbowl team. Once again we have been advised that due to limited space at the venue for students, organisers, pool staff, school staff and parents to safely adhere to the public health guidelines we will unfortunately not be permitting the attendance of parents at this year's LSSSA Swimming Carnival.

Primary School’s Basketball Tournament

Once again, basketball hype has hit our school with students practising at every available moment in preparation for the upcoming tournaments. We have a total of three teams entered in the Grade 5-6 Tournament on the 7^th & 8^th November and four teams entered in the Grade 3-4 Tournament on the 14^th & 15^th November. It wouldn’t be possible for our students to enter weekend events without the great support of our volunteer coaches and managers both staff members and parents. We appreciate their support in enabling our students to be part of such a great event. Keep an eye on our Facebook page during the tournaments for photos and to keep up to date with game times.

School Association

Last night at our School Association meeting a question came up about when parents will be able to access classrooms and the school grounds as they did before COVID restrictions came into place.  The Education Department guidelines state that parents are encouraged to continue with ‘drop and go’ and if they do need to visit the classroom, keep the visit brief.  We value the relationships we have with our parent community and if at any time parents would like to meet with teachers for a more in depth conversation, we encourage you to email the teacher directly or phone the school office to arrange a time. A meeting of this type does require parents to complete a COVID screening form via the school office.  We appreciate that things have changed but we are trying really hard to keep connected through emails, phone calls, Facebook and our regular newsletters. Teachers are currently busy writing reports which will go out at the end of the year. We thank you for your consideration and patience.

Kind Regards

Liz O'Donahue - Principal

Uniform Sales

If you wish to purchase any uniform items for your child, to limit the number of adults we have on site and congestion in the main corridor, we would greatly appreciate orders and payment via telephone.  Clothing purchased and a copy of receipt will be sent home with your child.  Office staff are happy to assist your child try on clothing if you are uncertain as to what size is required.

The lost property baskets are located near the main office and outside 5/6 Frerk/Sutton.

Currently we have a lot of clothing that is not named in these baskets, so it would be greatly appreciated if all parents could please ensure their child’s clothing is clearly named. 

CHRISTMAS STALL

We are excited to be planning a Christmas Stall at the school on Monday, 7th December for students in grades Prep to 6.  Kindergarten students will have the opportunity to purchase a gifts the following day.

Students will be able to buy small gifts for family and friends priced between $1.00 and $3.00.

The money raised will be used by the School Association to purchase equipment and resources to be enjoyed by current and future students.

We are seeking volunteers from the school community to craft and create some gifts to sell at the stall. Items could include potted seedlings, handmade ornaments, gingerbread, lolly jars, candles, scrunchies, bath bombs etc.

Costs for materials can be reimbursed or made as a donation towards the fundraising effort.

Please contact Frith at frithmabin@gmail.com if you would like to help out, many hands make light work!

Our group of Grade 5/6 Gardenators have been very busy over the last couple of weeks.  They have worked together and built the 2 garden beds, filled them with soil and have planted some seedlings in them.

We would like to thank Bunnings Kings Meadows for the garden beds, seeds, various tools and gardening equipment, ABEL Landscaping Supplies for the soil and Coghlan Landscaping for the seedlings.

We can’t wait to see all our wonderful produce grow.

(from ECE Assembly 20th October 2020)

P Baker/Marshall	Sylvia, Shriste & Campbell
P/1 Lockwood	Henry, Edward, Shubhika, Macy & Tazmin
P/1 Millen	Fletcher, Zarlia, Cilla & Isla
1/2 Dunn	Kayra, Georgia, Samara, Alexander & Liam
2 Cameron	Ariana, Bray & Jorja
2/3 Wells/Skinner	Poppy & Shelby

To limit the number of adults on site our school gates will be locked at 9am and reopened at 2.50pm, all students arriving late to school to enter through Pencil doorway entrance, sanitise their hands and sign in.

If you child needs to attend an appointment is needs to be collected early, please contact the school office prior to collection time and we will endeavour to have your child waiting at the office for you collect them.

Are you ready to get out and about to enjoy the best things in life? Buy an Entertainment Membership to support our fundraising and your next adventure could be around the corner. Find out more: https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/2406h04

• Mobile Phones are to be handed into the office at the beginning of each school day.

• Please remember to bring your water bottle to school each day.

• Esk Band rehearsals are every Wednesday.

• Icypole sales every Thursday at lunch time: $1 Lemonade Icypoles & $1.20 Frosty Fruits                                                     

• If you have not already received your 2020 School Levy Refund, please forward an email to stas@education.tas.gov.au which includes parent's name, student's name and grade, school and description of your query.  The Student Assistance division will make contact with you to provide a resolution.

• If your residential address has changed or you have a new telephone number, please contact the office to request a change of details form.

• Just a reminder that during Terms 1 and 4, students are required to wear their school hat.  Children who forget to bring their hat, will have to sit on the deck area in the shade. Unfortunately, sharing or borrowing of hats is not permitted.  New hats can be purchased from the school office.  

The Department of Education (DoE) has released updated government primary and combined (district) school intake areas, to apply from Term 1, 2021. These updated intake areas will only apply to families who enrol a child in a government primary or combined (district) school for the first time from Term1, 2021.

This means that for parents with children already enrolled in our school, the updated intake areas do not apply to your family. If your child has a brother or sister who hasn’t started school yet, they can still enrol at our school.

Our school’s updated intake area map can be found here https://publicdocumentcentre.education.tas.gov.au/Documents/Punchbowl-Primary-School-Intake-Area-from-2021.pdf.  This map is the same as the Proposed Map released by DoE last year in stage two of the Intake Area Review consultation process.

Why do we have intake areas?

Intake areas ensure that every Tasmanian child can enrol at a high quality government school close to where they live. Attending a school close to home helps children feel part of their local community. Intake areas also help ensure schools have the facilities and staff to best support their students’ learning.

Where to get more information?

If you would like more information about our school’s intake area, or help finding out whether a particular address is within our intake area boundary, please contact us directly.

Alternatively you can contact Learning Services Northern Region: phone 6777 2440 or email Learning.Services.NR@education.tas.gov.au) 

Public Health advice is clear – it is safe for schools to be open. This is because we have a low rate of Coronavirus (COVID-19) community spread in Tasmania and there has been increased and expanded testing. To reduce the risk even further, schools have hygiene and physical distancing measures in place.

While it is safe to send your child/ren to school, we still need adults to maintain a distance from other adults, whilst on site.

To help us with adult physical distancing, we are asking all parents/carers to:

• Stop, Drop/Collect and Go’ for all drop offs and pickups. This means please remain in your car and we will direct your child/ren to your car.
• If you need to talk to your child’s teacher, please call the school office on (03) 6344 1382 or email your child's teacher

We want to make school as safe as possible for everyone. Feel free to ask questions if you require any further information. These things won’t be forever, but we all have a shared responsibility to act in a way that supports everyone being safe.

More information is available on the Department of Education website: www.education.tas.gov.au

The Tasmanian Government has announced the expansion of the Student Assistance Scheme (STAS), which waives the cost of Tasmanian Government levies for eligible students, for the 2021 school year onwards.

The eligibility for STAS will move to using the Health Care Card or equivalent as the assessment mechanism, replacing previous income thresholds that applied.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions has been developed to assist with any questions you may have. 

Further questions about STAS or Levies and Charges in general can be sent to the Department of Education’s Financial Services Unit at stas@education.tas.gov.au or by calling 1800 827 055.

The final School Association meeting will be held on the 2nd of December.