Across Oliver's Desk 

Dear Parents,

I looked back at my newsletter 12 months ago which was all about the first lock down, early holidays and all the breaking news about the Corona Virus.  Even though I am well aware that we are not yet finished with the virus, I am so happy that each day I walk down our corridors and see happy children loving their teacher and their learning.  What a difference from this time last year.  In our school oath there is a line that says, ‘we are lucky that Australia is our home’. Absolutely we are!

ON GOING REPORTING

As a school we are always looking to improve. We are still trialing the best way to report to parents in an ongoing way.  This term we will be releasing some blitzmaster sheets for parents to see through our Compass system.  If this goes well we will continue to release more work samples on a regular basis to inform parents about their child’s progress. 

CLOSE THE GAP

On Thursday the 18th the school ran literacy lessons around ‘Close the Gap’. Many of Australia’s First Peoples are still denied the same access to healthcare that non-Indigenous Australians take for granted.  Despite a decade of Government promises the gap in health and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other Australians is widening, not closing. On average Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people die 10 years earlier than other Australians.  In a country such as ours this is unacceptable.  We hope that with education across Australia we can finally start seeing equity with the way indigenous people are treated.   Sophie Young is doing a fantastic job of coordinating our curriculum learning across the school.  On the Thursday, 25th March, we are lucky enough to have local Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Joy Murphy coming to the school to perform a smoking ceremony.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE AND BULLYING

On Friday, 19th March our school will participate in the National Day of Action Against Violence and Bullying. The National Day of Action is Australia’s key anti-bullying event for schools and in 2021 we certainly want to educate our students on what bullying is and the consequences of bullying.  We also want to make sure all our students understand what to do if they are being bullied.   Every class at Woori Yallock P.S. will participate in Anti Bullying lessons this Friday.  Remember if your child tells you they are being bullied at school please make sure that you contact myself, Flick or Rachel so that we can put a stop to the behavior and educate the bully. 

HOUSE SPORTS 

Unfortunately I wasn't at school on House Sports day; I was very sad to miss one of my favourite days of the year. I hear that many parents attended the day which is terrific.  From all reports the children had a great day with lots of ribbons handed out. I must congratulate Muyan house for winning the day.  Well done to the captains and the whole team.   The most important event of the day was the parents Vs teachers race again which again was won by the teachers for the 8th year in a row, I was sent a video of the race, and I can see it was pretty close this year.  I know some of our parents like Jacinta van Eijk trained up for the event, but unfortunately it’s back to the drawing board Jacinta!

I would like to thank all the parents that ran our canteen and our special lunch order day, we have an amazing parent community that I’m extremely grateful for.

DOGS

Woori Yallock Primary School’s school council put forward a policy two years ago that dogs are not to be on our school grounds (unless there is approval from the Principal and the teacher of the class the dog is visiting).  This policy was put forward to protect all our students.  As a dog lover myself I understand that most dogs on a lead would not be a threat, however, dogs can be unpredictable around children.  If you bring your dog at pick up or drop off time, please keep your dog outside the school boundary fence. Thank you for your understanding with this. 

DISABLED PARKING AND LOCAL PARKING

I am well aware that like most schools, parking is a big issue around pick up and drop off times, believe it or not we are better off than most schools.  Because of our lack of parking we have had some parents parking in the disabled parking spots. This has caused some real hardship for a few of our parents that need to use the disabled parking because they have a disability themselves or they have a child that has a disability in the car with them.  Can I please ask all of our school community to be understanding and not park in the disabled parking bays unless you have a disabled parking sticker. 

I know that some of our parents are now parking on Symes Road and walking up to the school.  I appreciate everyone for their understanding while will continue to have a lack of parking.  The school was built for 420 students in the 1980’s but in the 80’s most students walked to school.  The Yarra Ranges Council is aware that we need more parking but funding is the issue.

Only two weeks of school left, hasn’t it gone fast?

Oliver Thockloth

Principal