SBIS Newsletter - 20 August 2025
Emily's Message
We’ve had a vibrant and engaging start to the term, filled with rich learning experiences that have sparked curiosity and creativity in our students. These opportunities have been made possible thanks to the incredible support of our dedicated staff, families, and the wider community.
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of celebrating Book Week with our friends from the Nutgrove Room. The Book Week Parade was a joyful celebration of literature, with students bringing beloved characters to life through their imaginative costumes. While our school improvement focus in reading is the implementation of the UFLI Foundations Program, we also place great importance on nurturing a lifelong love of reading. Following the parade, our SBIS pirate crew gathered for a special Reader’s Theatre performance, where staff animated Pamela Allen’s classic story Where’s the Gold.
We are fortunate to share our learning space with Nutgrove students and educators and value our strong partnership with Lipscombe Childcare Centre. This collaboration enriches our school community in many ways. Recently, Lipscombe generously donated two new bikes for our playground, which have quickly become a favourite among our students. We extend our heartfelt thanks for this thoughtful contribution.
This term, our staff have been focussing on enhancing wellbeing through play. One area of inquiry has been improving play opportunities during recess and lunch. To support this initiative, we are seeking donations of items such as plastic funnels, measuring cups, play tents, large pieces of fabric, and milk crates. If you are able to contribute, please contact the school office, we’d greatly appreciate your support.
At Sandy Bay Infant we foster ongoing connections with local Rotary Clubs. Each Thursday, volunteers from the Sandy Bay Rotary Club join us to support students in developing their reading fluency through read-aloud sessions. In addition, we recently partnered with the Salamanca Rotary Club to install a ‘Peace Pole’ in our school garden near the flagpoles. Peace Poles are symbols of hope and unity, with over 200,000 placed around the world. We are grateful to the Salamanca Rotary Club for their generous donation and support.
Finally, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Michelle, who has been permanently appointed as Principal of Glenorchy Primary School. Michelle’s leadership at Sandy Bay Infant School has been truly inspiring, and her contributions have left a lasting impact. I know that you will join me in thanking Michelle for her outstanding leadership of Sandy Bay Infant School and wishing her every success in her new role.
Kindergarten
From little things, big things grow…
We are well into our Term 3 Inquiry inspired by our upcoming musical, There’s a Sunflower in my Supper. Not to give too much away, in our musical song the birds, bees, bugs and butterflies are singing ‘thank you for planting a seed’. We wondered why they would be saying thank you?
“Because they have pollen and honey and the bees need pollen to make honey”. This has sparked and interest in living things and looking at the relationships between the plants and the animals.
We have been learning what scientists look for to determine if something is living or non-living. We are investigating and researching what living things need to grow and survive and are super keen to grow some of our own plants.
We have become very interested in exploring our local areas; the garden, the beach and objects and artifacts we have found in our Kinder collection. On the beach we found dozens of soldier crabs and it was a perfect opportunity to discuss caring for living things. Jaythan and Adam found an old sunflower husk on our collectors shelf with seeds and wanted to plant them in the garden. We have been recording the things that we know are living and non-living in our playground. And on the green, we noticed a bare tree and have been ‘keeping it warm’ by wrapping it in wool!
Please come and look at our ever-growing and changing Inquiry wall onside out Kinder room to read more about our thinking and learning.
Prep Kookaburras
Being collaborators and communicators are two of our Learner Assets. In Prep, children are just beginning to develop these important social and communication skills. Working together on tasks helps children learn to listen, share ideas, solve problems, and build empathy. Collaborative activities also boost confidence and encourages a sense of belonging, as children discover the value of teamwork and mutual support.
The Prep Kookaburras have been practising these skills through teamwork in all areas of the curriculum.
Prep Koalas
Prep Inquiry
This term is all about Science as we delve into our inquiry aligned with our whole school musical There’s a Sunflower in my Supper! Prep students have been learning about living things; investigating how we know if something is living and what living things need to survive/thrive. You will see us on stage later in the term for the musical sharing our learning in these very areas! We are also learning about the external features of animals and plants which has led to both whole class and individual research. Here are some of our findings…
Year 1
Year 1 is in the process of diving into an inquiry about how the world works and how we share the planet. Here is the central idea which will underpin our inquiries:
Securing the future of places in the world, people must understand them, care about them and take meaningful action.
We will be investigating the following inquiries to support the children’s understanding of this big idea.
- Features of places and how they change over time.
- What makes ecosystems special.
- How people depend on living things to meet their everyday needs.
- The ways science is helping us to solve environmental problems in places.
So, what’s happened so far in our inquiry?
We’ve been looking carefully at how the beach place is changing each week, focussing on the weather, the tides and what’s happening in the zones on the beach. Already, children have noticed the impact of the wind on the boats, the wave heights, the amount of seafoam, the placement of seaweed, shells and crabs and the movement of the sand. Arlo even made a windsock at his home to measure the direction and strength of the wind.
Finn: Seafoam happens when the water is rough.
We have compared features of our beach place with features of our school place and discovered there were many features these places had in common such as plants, zones, signs and sand as well as features that are unique to each environment. The children have located their favourite tree in the school outside learning area and we will be transforming their sketches into diagrams to better understand the importance of trees. Visits from the Young Scientists at UTAS this week, gave us all an insight to how scientists work and how they are helping us to make better sense of the world. Before they arrived to do their presentations, we asked the children about their specialised fields of study.
Kate Newton: What is an astrophysicist? I wonder what they study.
Ethan: Astro… could be an astronaut?
Stella: They learn about the stars.
Ameya: The study stars and planets.
Billy: They look for signs of life on other planets.
What about a Paleoclimate researcher?
Billy: A person who studies the weather and climate.
Arlo: Paleo…..is long ago.
You can help build on to this inquiry by sharing scientific news that is happening around your children in their place and in other places.
Year 1 children have researched and designed a place somewhere in the world. Your children are thinking about desert, outback, jungle, polar and ocean places so we have a diverse range of areas to investigate and see what’s happening in them and gain an insight into any environmental issues that these places are experiencing. A focus of our inquiry will be report writing and non-fiction texts.
Year 2
Year Two Goes on an Array Hunt
Last week, we embarked on an Array Hunt around the school. After making and finding arrays in the classroom we were ready to find arrays in the wild! Armed with clipboards and keen eyes, they searched for real-life examples of arrays—objects arranged in rows and columns—such as windows, drain grates, fencing, and bricks.
This hands-on activity helped students deepen their understanding of multiplication and repeated addition by connecting classroom learning to the world around them.
This engaging experience aligns with the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, specifically:
- Year 2 – Number and Algebra
ACMNA031: Recognise and represent multiplication as repeated addition, groups and arrays.
Try It at Home: Array Activities for Families
Want to keep the learning going at home? Here are some fun and simple ways to explore arrays together:
- Laundry Arrays: Use socks or shirts to make rows and columns while folding laundry. Ask your child to count the total using multiplication.
- Dinner Table Arrays: Set the table with plates and cutlery in rows—how many forks in 3 rows of 4?
- Toy Arrays: Line up toy cars, blocks, or figurines in equal rows and columns. Count them together!
- Draw Your Own: Encourage your child to draw arrays on paper or a whiteboard. For example, 4 rows of 5 stars.
- Array Photo Challenge: Take pictures of arrays found around the house or neighbourhood
These activities help reinforce mathematical thinking in everyday contexts and make learning fun and meaningful.
School Science Incursion
We were so grateful to have four wonderful volunteers from our school community give presentations to students which connect to our Science learning this term as part of our whole school inquiry and whole school musical.
Poppy’s dad Alex taught us about plants which form relationships to help each other thrive such as mycorrhizal fungi which connect the roots of plants together, improving their access to water, nutrients and the soil as well as allowing the plants to communicate their needs with each other.
It’s not every day our school Principal Emily brings her mum to work but our next guest was Emily’s mum Natalie who is a Botanist. Natalie shared her experiences staying on Macquarie Island studying the cushion plant and collecting seeds in order to ensure it’s survival. Students were amazed to learn there were 18 species of Penguin in the world including the Rockhopper penguin which only lives on Macquarie Island.
Ella’s Mum Anna helped us to understand what plants (and all living things) need to grow and supported us to answer the question ‘how can trees grow so tall’? We looked at a cross section of a plant stem and saw the channels that nutrients use to travel up and down the plant.
Alessandro’s mum Jo shared her knowledge as a Marine Biologist and treated us with many specimen samples to view. We learned that earth’s surface is 71% water and 96% of that is ocean. We learned how scientists collect samples (some going out for up to 60 days at sea on the Investigator ship) and heard about how this research helps us to understand living things.
A warm thankyou to our wonderful volunteers for enriching our learning so deeply in the area of Science!
Young Tassie Scientists
We were lucky to have 3 visitors from UTAS share their area of expertise with us…
One session taught students about making weather predictions based on studying what has happened in the past. We viewed samples of the earth’s core and learned how we can see events in this sample (such as the ice-age) to understand it’s effect on living things. Another session taught us the importance of exercising to keep our bodies healthy, in particular our heart. Lastly we learned from an Astrophysicist about the things they study (the universe; stars, planets and galaxies) as well as the International Space Station.
Term 2 Hospital Fundraiser
On Friday 27 June I went with my mum and brother Thomas to the Paediatric Ward at the hospital to deliver the donated toys. We met Pip the playroom co-ordinator. She was really nice and grateful for all the donated toys. Pip said if people didn't donate toys they wouldn't have any. It was lucky that people had donated lots of bubbles because she said they didn't have any left and lots of kids liked them. Pip said some kids are sick and in hospital when it's their birthday. She said they will use some of the toys as presents to give them. If you are sick in hospital you can ask to see one of the playroom co-ordinators and they can help you. They are kind people and will bring you toys, games or art activities to use to make you feel better.
Thank you for all the donations.
Emily - Year 2 Peer Leader
Kindergarten 2026
Is your child born in 2021? if so, they are eligible for kindergarten in 2026.
Please contact the office on 61656423 or sandy.bay.infant@decyp.tas.gov.au
When your child should stay at home
As we continue to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our school community, we kindly ask for your support in keeping children home when they are unwell.
Even mild symptoms such as a sore throat, cough, fever, or upset stomach can be signs of illness, and staying home helps prevent the spread of germs to classmates and staff. We understand that this can be inconvenient, but it’s an important step in keeping everyone safe and ensuring a healthy learning environment for all.
If your child is showing any signs of being unwell, please keep them home until they are feeling better. If you're unsure, feel free to contact the school office or your family doctor for guidance.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
School Association
The School Association Committee have been busy working behind the scenes to get everything ready for our annual Quiz Night this Friday 22 August! This is always an amazing event and a highlight for our association - we have a lot of fun and it’s a great opportunity to connect with other families.
Tickets to the quiz night are on sale until this Thursday at 7pm! There are still a few left and you don’t need to fill a table - we will sort the seating for you, just let us know when you check out if there is anyone in particular you want to sit with on the night.
A bonus at this year’s quiz night is our silent auction, with many amazing goodies up for grabs! More information on the auction will be circulated this week. Thank you to everyone who has donated prizes for this initiative and for the quiz night :)
Finally - what feels like a lifetime ago - a massive massive thank you to everyone who donated goodies for our election day cake stall last month. It was an amazing turn out and we are so grateful for the generosity of our school community. We raised over $1100 for our association!
Looking forward to seeing many of you this Friday!
Please purchase tickets for the 2025 Quiz Night via the link below:
https://www.trybooking.com/DECGZ
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