Wellbeing and Community Engagement

Patrick Halpin

Assistant Principal

The Kingswood Community celebrated together on Friday, November 17th at our school fete. Thank you to all of the students, parents and staff who supported the fete by planning, organising, making, decorating, wrapping, cooking, selling, donating, attending and smiling through the rain! Despite the terrible weather, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves with many of the rides continuing with queues of children waiting to board.

Alba Galban and Melanie White did a spectacular job of organising and coordinating everything and I think we can all agree that we are very lucky to have such a dedicated, committed and hard-working pair in our community. Thank you, once again, to both of you.

We have begun the process of transitioning the incoming Prep students and have welcomed them to Kingswood Primary School on three separate occasions so far. The teachers have been getting to know them, their personalities, strengths, abilities and social skills and this has led to a lot of discussion regarding class groupings for next year. We have our Transition Day on December 12th. On that day, as well at the incoming Preps students visiting Kingswood, our Year 6 students will go off to spend a day in their respective secondary schools. This is a sad day for Kingswood as we prepare to bid them farewell, but a very exciting time for the students as they look forward to beginning a new chapter. The skills, confidence, resilience, habits and curiosity they have developed during their time at Kingswood Primary School will serve them well as they continue their journey as 21st century learners.

There are lots of events coming up for us as we race towards the end of the year, so I would encourage parents to keep an eye on Compass for updates. If you need to check a date, please refer to the school calendar, which you will find on the school website. The calendar is updated regularly with the latest information but if you should have any trouble finding what you are looking for, please contact the school office by phone or by emailing kingswood@edumail.vic.gov.au.

This time of the year brings the very welcome warmer weather and longer days. We all start to get tired, however, as we plan and think about the upcoming holidays, I encourage all of the students and their families to keep pushing forward. We have several more weeks of learning this term so make sure you get lots of rest and persist for the next few weeks.

A Little Ray of Giving

Ray White, Dingley Village is, once again, teaming up with the Salvation Army to help local children who will otherwise go without a present this Christmas. A Little Ray of Giving is a Ray White initiative, with over 1000 offices participating across Australia and New Zealand, donating gifts to over 898,000 children.

“We are very grateful for Kingswood Primary School’s support in previous years and would love for you to come on board again and help place a smile on some children's faces this Christmas.” Dora Kambouris, Director – Selling Principal, Ray White, Dingley Village.

You may have noticed the Christmas Tree at the school office. Families are encouraged to purchase and wrap a gift, label it with a suggested gender and age and leave it under the tree before Friday December 15th. The gifts will then be collected and distributed to local organisations.

If anybody in the Kingswood Community has financial concerns at this time of the year, please feel free to contact Make a Difference, Dingley Village by phoning 03 9551 1799. Julie Davis is the Financial Counsellor and may be able to provide some advice and support.

Gratitude and Happiness in Children

The Washington Post recently published an interesting article on gratitude in young children. Written by Meghan Leahy, who is the mother of three daughters, a school counsellor and a certified parent coach, this is an easy-read article that presents a thought-provoking perspective regarding making your children happy.

Snapshot Surveys

Please click here to provide your feedback on the Umbrella and Fan Festival, which took place last Friday, November 17th.

Previous Snapshot Surveys

If you are interested in completing past questionnaires, please follow these links:

Let me know if there are any topics that you would like to see a survey on by clicking here.