What a busy two weeks our Year 3 to 5 students have had. Our Swimming and Water Safety Program has come to an end for another year. Congratulations to each and every one of our Year 3 to 5 students who participated in the program. There was a lot of progress made in just two weeks! All of our swim teachers were very impressed. To continue our theme of Water Safety, last Tuesday 27^th February students were visited by Mr Michael Thorpe from Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST).

Each class developed their skills and knowledge of many important boating skills; what you need to think about before and during any boating activity, how to use inflatable jackets, how to check life jackets to make sure they work, what is required to take with you when boating and what these look like and how to use them, how to check fire extinguishers, how to use flares, the difference between each flare and how an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) works.  Our early childhood classes took home a book!

At lunch time, during Michael’s visit, we let off a red hand held flare and an orange smoke flare. Michael had to call the relevant authorities to let them know that he was going to do a demonstration for our school. It was amazing to see what a flare looks like in action!

We would like to pass on our many thanks to Michael from MAST for sharing this important knowledge with us and for Mr Ian Ross for organising this visit to our school! If you are interested in further information, check out the MAST website, they have some great resources: https://www.mast.tas.gov.au/