Principal's Report

100 Days

Our Foundation students celebrated 100 Days of Learning on Monday. 

We had a very exciting day filled with fun and lots of surprises including our parade during assembly where our students dressed up as though we were 100 years old!  Our teachers dressed up too!  Please see photo page of this event in this newsletter edition.

Camp Review

Last week our Year 5 and 6 students went to camp at Waratah Bay.  Camps are always a highlight of the school year, providing students with opportunities to further develop their social and independence skills, time to disconnect with technology and build lasting relationships with other students.  Activities included the Flying Fish (giant swing), beach volleyball, a ropes course and aero ball.

I am proud to say that our students were very well behaved, used their manners and were appreciative of the experience.  I would like to thank all of the staff who attended and cared for our students, as well as the following parent helpers, Simone Armstong, Rachel Condon and Nicole Dalton.

Curriculum Day

Monday 28th August is a Curriculum Day, which means no students can attend school. Staff are involved in professional development activities, where they will be learning about Respectful Relationships, trauma-informed practice and student mental health and wellbeing.

Book Week Celebrations

We are pleased to announce that our celebration for Book Week will be held on Friday 25th August.  The theme for Book Week is ‘Read, Grow & Inspire.’

We are inviting all students to come to school dressed up as one of their favourite book characters and to participate in our Book Week Parade in the gym between 9:15 - 10 am.  Parents and Carers are invited to come along and watch the parade.  The students will also participate in some fun Book Week related activities throughout the week with the Children’s Book Council’s short-listed books.  We hope to see you there!

BioEyes+

On Thursday 3rd August we were lucky enough to have a scientist from Monash university visit our school to run a biology incursion for some of our students in years 1-6.  The students learnt about Biomedicine and the importance of animals in medical research. They investigated whether the Zebra fish would be a useful specimen in this research and discovered just how similar biologically humans are to the Zebra fish.  The students observed the live adult species in small tanks and experienced used microscopes to look at the various stages of their embryos and larvae when exploring their life cycle.  The students involved in this incursion thoroughly enjoyed learning about the importance of biomedicine through this hands-on program.

Principal's Award Recipients

Congratulations goes to the following students...

Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school.  The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement.  The survey is optional but we encourage all families to participate.  Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. 

A random sample of approximately 30 per cent of parents / caregivers / guardians will be selected to participate in this year’s survey.  You will be notified if selected.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.  The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Building Update

You may have noticed a new playground has appeared at the back of our school oval.  We have recently installed a ninja course for our students in Years 3-6 which will open in coming weeks and is sure to create much excitement. This playground was not part of the current building works project, the ninja course was decided on by our School Council and funded through our fundraising efforts.  Over the past few years we have been banking our money from events such as sausage sizzles and raffles which has allowed us to purchase such a fantastic piece of equipment for our students.  We are waiting on installation of the shade sail above and some ground work around the structure before students have access.  Thank you to every member of our school community who have contributed to our fundraising efforts over the past few years.

Staff News

This Saturday we send our thoughts to Miss Bowler, who is  marrying her long term partner, Josh. We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. 

Production Update

Just a friendly reminder that we have 2 weeks left to have the Production Badge colouring competition entries completed.  They are due August 18th, as outlined in our last newsletter.  One student from each year level will have their design chosen by our Student Representative Council to be featured as a badge that will be able to be purchased by students.

Every student in our school will be involved in our school production titled "Zoo Trouble". Parents have been notified which costume they will need to organise and which date/s they will be performing on.  We are currently working out the ticketing system and pricing. This is a little more complex than previous years, as this will be the first time we are holding the event in our gym.  Our performances will be Cast A on the Wednesday 11th of October and Cast B on the Thursday 12th of October.  The show will start at 5:30pm on both nights. The day after the production, Friday 13th of October, is a student free day.

Year 6 'Big Day Out' Fundraiser

Policies

We have recently updated our school's Digital Learning, First Aid and Sunsmart Policy. Please have a read and if you have any feedback please contact Hayley Taylor.  This policy, along with our other current school policies can be found on our website here: https://clydeps.vic.edu.au/about-us/#policies