A Message from David

Welcome to the first Dhumbadjirri for the year. As we approach the mid-way point of the term, the school has become settled into the rhythms and routines of the new year. On Friday we had our ‘Welcome BBQ’, and it was so great to see the number of people who came and to be able to connect or reconnect as a school community, something that had been significantly impacted by the pandemic. This sense of community is traditionally strong at Thornbury, however has diminished somewhat in recent years. Building community spirit and pride is a priority this year and will be a key focus area of the school’s new strategic plan.

In order to continually improve, we need to understand community aspirations and expectations and have planned a number of community forums. When schools and families work together, children can become more engaged with their schoolwork, achieve better academically, stay in school longer and develop better social skills. Effective partnerships enrich wellbeing, achievement and engagement by focusing on student needs (Department of Education)

These forums will provide an opportunity for our parent/ carer community to feedback and have input into the strategic direction over the next four years. This will also involve an examination of the school’s vision and values and whether they genuinely reflect what we hope to achieve as a school community. The dates/ times of the community forums are:

Wednesday 22nd March – 2.30pm
Wednesday 22nd March – 7.00pm
Friday 24th March – 9.00am

Ngoongodgin, thank you to the Social committee and the volunteers for their organisation and support of the ‘Welcome BBQ’.

School Council

Thank you for your support and participation in this year’s school council election. The school council for 2023 is:

Parent member category

Michael Finger

Samantha Lord

Bianca Dakin-Davies

James Crafti

Jill Sparrow

Department of Education member category

Stephanie Millar

Matthew Schouteten

Executive Officer

David Wells

Community members (2) will be appointed at the next school council meeting.

Student- free days 2023

There are four curriculum days and one common professional practice day which are student-free this year. The student-free days as endorsed by school council are:

27th January
10th March
13th June (please note the change -this was originally communicated as 9th June)
28th August
6th November

Working Bee

On Saturday 4th March, we will be having a working bee from 9am to 1pm. We will need volunteers for a range of jobs such as weeding, pruning, mulching and painting/oiling the playground in the south-west corner of the school. Working bees not only help in maintaining and tidying the school but are also great community building activities. No special skills are required and you can stay for as little or as much as you can. All help is greatly appreciated.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools-Privacy-Policy (education.vic.gov.au)

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice collection notice, found on our website. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools-Privacy-Policy (education.vic.gov.au) — Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents (education.vic.gov.au). This information is also available in ten community languages: *Amharic, *Arabic, *Dari, *Gujarati, *Mandarin, *Somali, *Sudanese, *Turkish, *Urdu and *Vietnamese