Dear Parents and Carers
It’s been great to reconnect with everyone in the last week. There have also been a few new faces and a few students who seem to have grown exponentially in height!
While Term 4 has always been notoriously busy, in the last few years it seems that every term is busy. Just as you do with family life, we are constantly striving to achieve a healthy balance at school. This means examining where we are investing our efforts in terms of outcomes across the curriculum, outcomes associated with wellbeing, and a sprinkle of activities and events that spark interest and joy.
Term 4 kicked off with a highly successful Year 6 camp. Each year at Graduation, many graduands identify their time at camp as a highlight of their years at school, and judging by the Year 6 students’ responses, this year will be no exception. Once considered a ‘given’, each year I am very grateful that adults (staff and parents) accept responsibility for a cohort of Year 6 students for several days. While the venue and activities are thoroughly researched to ensure camp is safe, challenging and fun, we depend on these adults to effectively support students through anxieties, the management of health issues and those who are challenged by a break in their predictable routine. I would therefore like to sincerely acknowledge and thank Miss Lund, Mrs Scott, Mr McGuffin, Mr Smith and Miss Pickering for their willingness to accompany our young people on camp last week. Thank you!
Keeping Everyone Safe
It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned a few of the protocols we have in place to keep everyone safe. These include:
Please ensure that you and your child use the footpath (and not the driveway to the staff carpark) leading from Catesby St to the quadrangle. This applies to those on foot and those riding bikes and scooters. All those riding bikes and scooters are asked to alight at the top of the footpath and ‘wheel’ bikes/scooters down to the front of the school and subsequently to the bike racks.
Children arriving at the quadrangle before 8:30am are not expected to ‘line up’ or remain seated, but cannot run around, or play handball, basketball etc. We need to ensure that those walking to class, particularly adults pushing prams/carrying babies, very young children and toddlers, can do so safely.
Children are supervised in the quadrangle before school and at the front of the school when using Kiss and Drive after school. Families are invited to make good use of the playgrounds after school, and even prior to arriving in the quadrangle at 8:30am, but MUST be accompanied by an adult. Please do not ask children to wait at areas where they are not supervised after school (for example in the upper playground). We can’t support them if they have conflicts with peers if they are injured, frightened by a dog, or approached by someone they don’t know. The safest place for children to wait is in front of the school office.
What Else is Happening
- On Friday morning the School Councillor will be hosting a whole school assembly, and Mrs Mee will be running an information session for families who have a child entering Kindergarten in 2024. I’m disappointed to miss these events but have a previously scheduled off-site meeting that I need to attend.
- Swim Squad, for interested students in Years 3-6, will run on Monday mornings beginning next week.
- Both the School Board and the P & C will meet next week, on Monday and Tuesday evenings respectively. Given that this is the first Board meeting since I returned from leave, I have asked that the Board’s annual Open Meeting take place later in the term. I look forward to reporting back some key information from both.
- On Friday next week, we are looking forward to an assembly hosted by the Year 3 students in 3BC and 3H. It is also World Teachers Day and an opportunity to acknowledge the care and commitment of our teaching staff. In a nod to the theme ‘Hats off to Teachers’ children will be invited to wear a hat of their choice. ?
Best wishes
Elizabeth Blackwell