What's Happening In Primary

Choosing Joy

With fewer hours of daylight at the moment, we can often feel the difference in our daily rhythms and energy. It is in moments like this that we are reminded of God’s truth: “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). His joy is not dependent on our circumstances, but is something we can hold onto, choose, and live out each day.

At our Monday assembly, we spoke about what it means to notice joy in our everyday lives. We can certainly find joy in simple, immediate things such as sharing a yummy meal, playing with friends, or enjoying a good story. But deeper and more lasting joy is discovered when we share it with others. Joy grows when it is given away.

This is something we see beautifully in our upcoming Primary Creative Arts Afternoon. This event is not just about creating artwork, but about sharing joy as a community. It is a time to celebrate creativity, encourage one another, and experience the delight that comes from doing something together.

As a family, you might like to draw out moments of joy at the dinner table with these simple questions:

• What was one moment today that made you smile or feel happy?

• Did you share joy with someone else today? How?

• Where did you notice God at work in your day?

As we near the end of term, let us be intentional about finding moments of joy and sharing them with one another.

Mud Kitchen Building

This term, Mr Scott and Mrs Bellchambers teamed up with some young boys to build a fun mud kitchen for our farm area. In doing so, they created not just a kitchen, but also friendships, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. The joy and laughter that fills playtime now are a wonderful reminder of the blessings that come from working together and exploring through play.

Year 6 and Year 7 Pizza Q&A

We are excited to share a wonderful opportunity for our Year 6 students as they begin preparing for the move into secondary schooling.

On Wednesday 1st July, from 11.30am-1pm, our Year 6 students will be joining with our Year 7 students for a Pizza Q&A session in the Jiloa Centre (a pizza lunch will be provided for all students as part of the session). This is a relaxed and friendly event designed to help ease the transition to secondary schooling by giving students a chance to:

• Ask questions about secondary school life

• Hear firsthand experiences from current Year 7 students

• Build confidence and familiarity in a supportive environment

Hearing directly from peers who have recently made the same transition can be incredibly reassuring and valuable for our students.

We look forward to this session, helping our Year 6 students feel more confident and excited about the next step in their educational journey.

Year 4 Camp: Parent Information Session

We are looking forward to our 2026 Port Arthur Excursion, which promises to be a wonderful learning experience for our students. Planning is well underway, and we are excited to start sharing details with you.

We warmly invite you to join us at our Parent Information Session on Wednesday 8th July at 3:30pm in Year 3/4 Dance classroom. This will be a great chance to hear more about the camp and have any general questions answered. If you are unable to make it, all the information will be sent home afterwards. 

As we prepare, we invite you to join us in praying for all involved, that this experience will be memorable, enriching, and full of growth for our students.  

Please feel free to contact Tom Evans (tom.evans@dcs.tas.edu.au) or Corina Barnard (corina.barnard@dcs.tas.edu.au)  if you have any questions.

2026 Tasmanian Premier's Reading Challenge

How many books can your child read in 10 weeks?

We are excited to invite our students to take part in this year’s Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC).

The PRC is open to all students from Kinder to Year 6 and runs from Monday 22nd June to Sunday 30th August, and is a wonderful opportunity to encourage a love of reading.

What can your child read?

Students are free to choose what they enjoy reading for the Challenge, such as fiction, non-fiction, blogs, comics, poetry, lyrics, essays, magazines, newspapers…it all counts in the PRC.  It doesn’t matter what their reading level is, everyone can take part.

How does it work?

Each student will receive a log book to record what they read as part of the challenge.  Every student who completes and returns their log book will receive a signed certificate from the Premier of Tasmania. 

Log books have been sent home with students, and extras are available from the Central Office,  or can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:

Primary Log Book

All completed log books are due to the Central Office by Friday 4th September.