Principal's

Message

SWIMMING PROGRAM

Our swimming program for 2023 was a great success. Thank you to Can Osman, Christine Priddle and Matt Vines who organized the week-long event. Thank you to our teachers, support staff and parent volunteers who supported the children, even through some torrential rain on their travels over and back. Can has been collating feedback and does a wonderful job liaising with MSAC about how we can improve the program moving forward.

CAMP

Camp Sunnystones in Merrimu, brought out perfect weather and so many fun activities during the 3 day camp. It was so lovely to see the smiles on our kids’ faces as they persevered, worked as a team and challenged themselves. I would like to acknowledge the many hours of organisation undertaken by Andrew Beattie and the 3-6 teachers. And a HUGE thank you to the teaching staff, support staff and parent volunteers, Nicole Le Pou, Scott Barden, Mark Hedger and Simarjit Singh, who supported our kids on camp. I know there was not a lot of sleep to be had and yet everyone came back with positive stories to tell.  Our kids represented themselves and our school beautifully, and certainly developed their independence through the experience. So many wonderful memories have been made. 

Our School Council also wanted to acknowledge the staff as follows:

On behalf of the parent representatives on School Council I wish to express our sincere thanks to the staff who attended at camp this week. Mr Beattie, Ms Abbott, Mr Huynh, Ms Stephens, Mrs Elakkoumi, Ms Dillon and Ms Bruno all put in super human efforts to manage our kids with compassion, patience and humour (all with far too little sleep). I cannot emphasise how lucky we are to have such dedicated staff and what an incredible experience camp was for the 100 plus kids who attended. 

Nicole Le Pou 

AIR CONDITIONING

I am pleased to let you know that stage 2 of our air conditioning rollout was completed over the school holidays. We now have systems in our Performing Arts and Visual Arts rooms along with Ms Stephens’, Mr Beattie’s and Ms Davis’ classrooms. Parent contributions to the Building Fund have significantly supported the completion of this stage. A sincere thankyou to all families who managed to make a tax-refundable donation. We look forward to seeing the impact of the additional systems over the coming summer. After that we can better assess what stage 3 may look like. If you would like to contribute to the Building Fund you can do so at any time via the QKR app. You can also donate as part of your voluntary contributions for 2023, the details of which will be sent to you in the coming weeks. 

CLASS PLACEMENTS FOR 2023

We are currently in the beginning stages of structuring classes for next year. All classes will be developed with care. Next week, the children will be asked to provide 4 names of children that they work well with and who they would like to be in a class with. These names will not be ranked. We will endeavor to make sure that every child gets to be in a class with at least one person from their preference list. You might like to discuss some possible options with your child at home, in preparation. 

As a staff, we will do our best to create balanced classes based on many criteria and complexities. Parents/Carers who believe that there are extenuating circumstances which need to be considered during this time, should email the school, with the subject heading ‘Classes for 2023’ by Friday, 28th October. We will not consider requests for other students or for specific teachers. Thank you for your understanding with this.

NAPLAN

In 2023, NAPLAN will occur for students in grades 3 and 5 in Term 1. Testing will commence on Wednesday 15 March. This is a term earlier than previous years. We will send you more information about the purpose and make-up of the tests in the coming months, as it becomes available. NAPLAN is one standardised method of assessment that captures a student’s skills on one day.  Our staff use a multitude of observations and assessments in an on-going way, to monitor the growth of your children. 

ILLNESS

A reminder that children who are unwell should be kept at home. We want to keep everyone as safe and as healthy as possible, which can be achieved if we all stay at home when we are symptomatic in any way. 

Nicole Arnold

Principal