From The Principal

Reminder:

Curriculum Day: Monday 22nd March

Dear Families,

Harmony Day: Tomorrow we celebrate and acknowledge Harmony day. It’s a great time to reflect on what and who Australia is made up by with over 49% of us born overseas! Please wear a touch of orange to raise awareness and celebrate Harmony Day. Also, the National Day of Action against Bullying: Friday 19th March might be one to focus on at home around cyber safety and as a follow on from Project Rockit. Perhaps a chat around the dinner table about yours and others’ experiences and some strategies to assist your child if they become involved in something online or in their social world and need support. Don’t forget there are so many great resources online too. 

Traffic: With so many students riding and walking to school our streets have become increasingly busier with bikes and foot traffic. This is great! Great for exercise and decreasing car traffic. As we all know Presidents Ave is extremely busy and we need students and adults to behave safely in all areas of the public. 

I have popped down to our local police station this morning and have asked them to have a presence near our school to ensure everyone is safe - cars, bikes and pedestrians! 

Students have had many verbal reminders in class and at the gates as they leave the school and I hope the message is being heard. I am asking families to have a conversation about safety on the roads and footpaths please. 

Let’s prevent an accident by working together.  

Rock Camp: Thanks to Dallas Holden and Caz Lawrence for taking the “New Generation” on camp for a night last week. I saw Dallas upon their return and she was pumped! She was so proud of the kids and said they were amazing and had a great time. Please see Dallas’s report later in the newsletter! Thanks to the families for supporting this venture. 

KESO: This week the Year 2 team have met and planned with our local Koori Education Support Officers, Richard and Ilona. The team are trying to create a rich and authentic learning experience and improve how we teach about indigenous cultures. It was great to have them onsite guiding us and sharing their culture too. 

Student Leadership Day: Last Friday, Carly Eddy took 18 of our wonderful Year 6 leaders in an online conference with a number of schools across the Region. There were guest presenters from Rotary and Jason Caine from the Quaglia Institute. The students were challenged on many levels and concluded with developing a plan of action. We look forward to seeing what these leaders now put in place to make their vision happen around the school. Thanks to Carly for spending the day with them!

Peer Mediators: Congrats to our 25 year 6 peer mediator team! Your work begins now and there is a big job to do! Use your training from Rhonda and your responsible decision making to ensure our school is even better now that you are in these roles. Thanks to Rhonda for training them and working through the selection process. I look forward to seeing the play pod in action engaging kids in great activities. 

Sport: Isn’t it great to know we are getting back into all things sport! Mr Hughes hasn’t been this excited in a long time and he is so busy teaching and organising events for Friday that we’ve hardly seen him. The school will host the boys basketball- indoors and outdoors. The cricket, girls basketball and tennis (hotshots) is at Memorial Reserve in Leopold, Teeball at Drysdale Reserve and Volley catch at Drysdale PS. Good luck Grovers!!! And how good were our swimmers on Tuesday!!!! Wow! We have some amazing athletes who represented us so well. I am sure Mr Hughes will report back to us all soon so we can acknowledge and celebrate their achievements.

Polo Shirts: Thanks to those who provided feedback on the tops. We appreciate your responses and are now working through the data and responses with School Council. We will provide an update in the near future. 

NAPLAN: It’s back! Gen Lee and Caroline Lawrence are our coordinators this year and are busy planning and preparing staff and students for this event. Year 3 & 5 families will have received a formal information letter recently and if you ha e any questions or concerns, please speak with your child’s class teacher or myself. Please check the calendar for dates. 

School Council: We met our new councillors last night and discussed many aspects of school life and various activities that support the school and wider community. We have many sub committees that families can become actively involved in without being directly on School Council. So if you like getting things done and adding value to your child’s school, drop an email to the office and we will be in touch. 

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Scott McCumber

Principal