26th September 2025

Welcome to our Newsletter

Principal's Report

End of Term Celebration – Thank You!

As we wrap up another successful term at Margate Primary School, I’d like to extend a genuine thank you to all our students and their families.

This term has been jam-packed with opportunities for connection, creativity, and community spirit. Here are just a few highlights:

Teachers VS Students

The friendly rivalry between staff and Year 6 students has brought a new energy to our weekly sports matches, with teachers taking out the first games of netball, basketball, badminton, and futsal. Each week, the students have come closer to victory, showing impressive determination and teamwork. This competitive spirit has led to a noticeable improvement in Year 6 attendance, as more students are eager to join in and challenge the teachers for the top spot on the podium. The excitement is building, and it’s only a matter of time before the students claim their first win!

Winter Sports Day

Thanks to Miss Bell, our Winter Sports Day was a great success. Students showed fantastic sportsmanship and energy, embracing the chilly weather and representing the school with pride.

Volleyball Come and Try Day

We were proud to host schools from across the Huon and Channel region for a Volleyball Come and Try Day. It was a great opportunity to build connections and enjoy some friendly competition.

Margate’s Got Talent

What an incredible showcase of talent! From singers to dancers to joke tellers, our students amazed us all. Congratulations to every entrant, and a special shout-out to our finalists who bravely performed on stage in front of a packed Gymnasium!

Book Week

A huge thank you to Miss Longey for organising our wonderful Book Week Parade! The costumes, stories, and love of reading was visible throughout the school.

Science Week

Our Grade 3 students were thrilled to welcome scientists from UTAS, who sparked curiosity and wonder with hands-on experiments and engaging discussions. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect classroom learning with real-world science.

Lantern Parade

Rescheduling due to weather turned out to be a great decision, resulting in a beautifully attended Lantern Parade. Thank you to the MPS School Association & Parents and Friends for your support in making this event so special.

Terrapin Puppets

We were delighted to host Terrapin Puppets for a magical performance about community, climate and responsibility. The show captivated students and staff alike, sparking imagination and laughter.

Student Wellbeing Survey

This term students in Years 4-6 participated in the DECYP Student Wellbeing survey, as a staff we are looking forward to using this data to shape our direction in whole school planning during Term 4.

As we head into the break, I hope everyone enjoys a well-earned rest. Thank you once again for your continued support and for making Margate Primary School such a wonderful place for our students to learn and grow.

Warm regards,
Nathan Fitzpatrick

Golden Tickets

Margates Got Talent 2025

It was another great year for displaying the wide range of talent we have at Margate Primary!
We had over 40 performances during the auditions. Golden by the K-Pop Demon Hunters was the most popular song  - with a mix of singers and dancers using this song.

It was very hard to narrow down the field for the Grand Final.

The picture below is all the students who participating with much courage and pizazz in the Grand Final.

After a lot of deliberating, and leaving a cliff hanger over the weekend until Monday Muster, the judges – Mrs Reschke, Cindi and Mr Fitzpatrick gave the following awards

Best Gr 3-6 Group – Sub Zero – Will, Bodhi, Theo and William  - playing and singing In Bloom

Best P-2 Group – Beatrice, Hazel and Sophia (Playing Guitar and singing Riptide)

Best Acapella – Eadie and Manuka – singing When I’m Gone

Best Dancer P-2 – Mae – dancing to Naughty from Matilda

Best Dancer 3-6  - Poppy – Dancing and signing to You’ll Be Back from Hamilton

Tasmanian Japanese Speech Competition

On Friday, September 13th, students from Grades 3–6 proudly represented our school in the Tasmanian Japanese Speech Competition. Each participant memorised and delivered a speech of 14–22 sentences entirely in Japanese—a fantastic achievement! Only two students were selected from each year level, making it very difficult to choose which video to upload.

Our representatives were:

• Year 3: Georgia and Hollie
• Year 4: Eadie and Harrison 
• Year 5: Evie and Laine
• Year 6: Matilda and Isla 

The standard of competition was incredibly high, and all students performed with confidence and enthusiasm. We are proud of the effort and courage each student demonstrated.

Special congratulations go to Harrison, who received 2nd place in Year 4, and Laine, who achieved 1st place in Year 5. Both students will be honoured at an award ceremony hosted by the Governor at Government House, where they will receive their certificates.

Well done to all our participants—it was another successful year, and we are so fortunate to have such a dedicated group of students representing our school!

Amazing Job Evie

Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee

The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is an online spelling competition where you are given 30 words to spell. A voice reads the word in a sentence that you see on the screen, with the spelling word missing and you have a maximum of 25 seconds to type it out. Students get a randomly generated list of words at their level and need to answer as fast as they can. There is also a hint button you can press which gives more information about the word, like its origin and a definition. There are three categories – Years 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. The highest scores in the quickest time make it through to the next round. After having a try on the site’s ‘practice page’, some students in the 5/6 Sea dragons took up the offer to officially participate in the competition, picking up some spelling tips and learning new words along the way.

Evie competed in the school round, scoring a perfect 30 (!), then the State round and finally, the National round, where she finished 2^nd in the whole country, which was the best result for a Tasmanian, ever. We are all so excited and proud to hear how well she had done, and we asked Evie some questions about her amazing achievement.

Q: What made you decide to enter the Spelling Bee?

A: I had never heard of the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee until this year, so I thought I’d have a go.

Q: How did you feel when you heard the news that you had come second in Australia?

A: I was amazed but I would have felt happy either way because for me, just getting into the National Finals was a great achievement. It feels pretty awesome to be a runner up.

Q: Did you get nervous during the competition?

A: The days leading up to the final were quite stressful, particularly the finals. I was very nervous, but I knew I would try my best and feel pride in the fact that I had done it.

Q: What did you like about the Spelling Bee?

A: This was my first time having the experience of doing a spelling bee. I like the fact that you get to test yourself and just give it a go to see what you’re good at and which words you can improve on. Even if you’re not the best at spelling, getting words wrong is a step closer to getting them right, and you can always learn from your mistakes.

Q: Do you read a lot?

A: I love to read, and I do it a lot in my spare time, because I think the sensation of being enveloped by the magic of a good book is wonderful. Some books I really love are the Skulduggery Pleasant series, the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, the Nevermoor series and Hedgewitch.

Thanks Evie and congratulations on an incredible result!

If you’re interested and love a challenge, you can have a look at some of the words you could expect to come across and even have a go yourself. Go to the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee website and click on the ‘Try the bee’ tab near the top of the page to have a go! We’re looking forward to having another go in next year’s Bee.

Maths Relay

On Sunday, 21^st of September at 10am, four Margate Primary students Liam, Johanna, Alma and Evie went to Rosny Collage to compete in the 2025 Maths Relay. It was an intense 40 minutes filled with highs and lows as we rushed to complete the 20 questions. The questions got harder as it went on but the harder the question, the more points we could earn. We got up to the 17^th question and got around 50 points. It was super exciting, and we can’t wait to do it next year.

Johanna, Year 5

School Netball

Teams from Margate have recently begun playing in the KNA school netball roster at the Kingborough Sports Centre. All teams have consistently improved each week and played as a team. There are four teams that entered from Margate, two teams in the 3-4 roster and two in the 5-6 Roster. This week in the 3-4 Roster it was Margate vs Margate with the Margate Bombers taking the win. While in the 5-6 Roster both Margate teams enjoyed well deserved wins.  A big thanks to everyone who helped in organising the teams and those parents and family members helping with coaching and refereeing the games in their spare time.

Neve Year 5

Volleyball Tournament

On 26^th August, teams from Margate hosted the 2025 HCSSA Volleyball tournament. The day was filled with fun and smiles. Other schools from the Huon and Channel area came to our gym and enjoyed a heap of volleyball games. We had volunteers from Volleyball Tasmania refereeing and giving us tips and tricks to improve our skills. Margate Team 3 took the win on their court with Mary and Riko getting awards for good sportsmanship.  It was extraordinary opportunity for everyone who competed, and we are looking forward to participating again next year.

Johanna, Neve and Emily

Year 5 Students

2025 National Futsal Championship

Five Margate students (Johanna, Emily, Alma, Riko and Hugh) are travelling to represent Tasmania in the National Futsal championships in Brisbane this coming school holidays. The trainings have required lots of dedication and hard work, with our coaches determined to get us to playing our best. The Tasmanian teams have improved out of sight, and we are ready for anything the national championships will throw at us. We will update you next Term.

Emily and Johanna Year 5  

Well done to U8 Turbo Titans

On the weekend 5th – 7th September Lochie, Jasper, Levi, Xander, Henry, Noah, Arthur, Dian, Will and Mac – coached by Jasper's dad - competed at the Hobart Cup.

The boys played seven games undefeated over three days and found themselves in the Grand Final which they also won! U8 Hobart Cup Champions!!

Over the weekend the boys showed so much positivity and support towards each other and showed just how resilient they can be.

Well done to all!

Kinder 2026

Gumnuts Early Learning

MPSA News

Stepping Stones Before & After School Care

DECYP Volunteers - Safeguarding

Safeguarding Children and Young People

All DECYP employees and volunteers must complete Safeguarding training every year, before working with any children or young people. This is compulsory under new laws determined to better safeguard children in Tasmania from sexual abuse.

The volunteer training is a 14-minute video, you do need to register and will receive a certificate on completion. Please download certificate and provide a copy to the school (in person or via email).

Compulsory Safeguarding Training for Workers - Department for Education, Children and Young People

Certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of completion.

Kiss and Drop off Zone Mornings Only - Top Carpark

Please remember this is a drop-off zone only in the mornings and is not to be utilised in the afternoons due to many buses entering and exiting this space and to ensure safety.  Please be mindful that the carpark is for staff members only.  There are alternate parks at the bottom of Area 4, the hall and the cricket club.  

Duty of Care

We have had a number of students at school well prior to 8.25am.

We would like to remind families that the school does not have duty of care for children before 8.25am and encourages families to drop student/s off from then onwards.

The school office is open during each term from 8.25am - 3.30pm Monday to Friday.  

Safety on Van Morey Road

Van Morey Road is very busy around school times with buses and cars going everywhere.  This is why we had a school crossing installed.  For the safety of yourself and your children please only use the school crossing to cross Van Morey Road.

Booking of the Gym

Just a friendly reminder if you wish to use the gym after hours for training, please make sure you ring and speak to the office first to check that there are no other bookings.  Thank you.

Collecting your child from school within the school day

If you are collecting your child from school within the school day for an appointment or other early departure reason, please come by the office first.  The office will then assist in calling your child up to the office and you can sign your child out.

Attendance Notifications

Please contact the Office with attendance notifications no later than 9.30am to avoid receiving a phone call from our office staff.

Phone 62 672 238

Text Attendance's Only: 0437 294 856

Email: margate.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au 

Facebook

Please follow us on our School Facebook page for infomation about upcoming school events and celebrations.

Lost Property

Please help us by coming along and looking through the lost property items. Named lost items will be returned to the student (where possible) and all un-named items will be passed on to the uniform shop at the end of term.

Community Notices