Principal's Report

Mt Buninyong Fire

Last week’s fire certainly caused some challenges last week, but well done to everyone in the school community for handling the situation so well.  Staff and parents did a great job of staying informed, responding accordingly and keeping our children calm.  

As mentioned in communication from us last week, please rest assured that at school we follow the direct advice from local emergency agencies and the Emergency Management Team from the Department of Education in these situations.  As things unfolded last week, we were in direct communication with the CFA and police.  A big shout out to the local members of the CFA, who did an excellent job containing the fire and supporting us with up to date information throughout.

On Wednesday morning the staff at Scotsburn, the office team and Casey did an excellent job of quickly evacuating SC1, which was the immediate priority.  Completing this task without upsetting the kids wouldn’t have been easy, but they managed it. The office team then did an excellent job of fielding a high volume of calls throughout the day as parents sought to understand the situation.

A big thank you to parents with children on the Mt Doran and Yendon bus routes, who have been understanding as changes were made to these bus routes.  That made life much easier for us during a challenging few days.

Having the Scotsburn students and staff with us on Thursday and Friday was reassuring, and moving the Prep Teddy Bear Picnic to Buninyong on Friday was an easy decision to make.   

The fire is now under control and everything is back to normal.  Let’s hope that’s the last emergency we need to deal with for a while now. Thanks again to everyone for your flexibility in managing these changes and for keeping the kids calm throughout.

3-6 ATHLETICS

Last Tuesday we had our grade 3-6s enjoy the athletics carnival.  The weather was pretty warm, but that didn’t seem to deter anyone or stop the students from having a fun day.  Well done to Claire Morris for organising the event and to all of our staff and parent volunteers who did a great job looking after groups of students and running events. 

The kids certainly had a great day, enjoying each other’s company and the competition.  It was reassuring to see the attitude displayed by our students, each giving their best in a sportsmanlike manner.  The behaviour of the kids was outstanding, meaning staff and other helpers were able to enjoy interacting with the kids throughout and focus on the sport.  It was also nice to see so many parents and extended family members at the event to support the students.

We now look forward to the Cross Country in the last week of term and hope to have lots of parents come along to enjoy some weather and cheer on the kids.  

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS

The School Council election process is now complete, meaning we can now announce membership for this year.

·       Parent Representatives – Parent representation on School Council for this year will consist of Graeme Benn, Debbie Rybicki, James Jess, Kylie Bickerdike, Vanessa Munro, Kelly Dalby and Vanessa Vagg. We welcome Vanessa V, Kelly and Vanessa M, for their first stint on School Council and are delighted to have Graeme re-nominate for a new term.  Debbie, Kylie and James have a year to run on their current terms.  

·       DOE (Department of Education) Representatives – Department representation on School Council for this year will consist of Nicole Phillips, Narelle Sullivan, Ana Anderson, Jarrod Morgan and myself.  A big thankyou to Jarrod for coming onboard.

Our thanks go to those finishing up on School Council, those being Kartya de Graff, Amy Walker, Adrian Liston, Linda Wight, Jane Gilbert and Paula Dekok and thank each for their contribution.

On Monday March 24 we have our AGM and the March meeting, which will be the first meetings for our new School Councillors.  At the meeting we have the opportunity to fill a one-year parent casual vacancy on School Council.  If you’d be interested in being co-opted by School Council to fill that position, please give me a call.

FUNDRAISING PLAN FOR 2025

Fundraising is important for all schools, as it raises funds needed to run programs and embark on improvement projects, whilst getting everyone together to build community spirit. Raising funds for external beneficiaries can also be a great opportunity to encourage students to think of others.

In 2025 our major fundraising event will be the fete, which is coming up on March 21.  A big thankyou to parents that have already volunteered to help out.  The majority of funds raised through this year’s fete is targeted to updating classroom furniture and insulation for the gym.

After the fete our attention will turn to the smaller fundraising efforts that will run across the year.  Some of those will target school programs and improvement projects and others for external beneficiaries.

When developing a fundraising plan for the school, we have the following in mind:

·         Spreading fundraising efforts across a given year and ensuring fundraising demands on parents are reasonable.

·         Ensuring fundraising approaches and targets are appropriate and match the values of the school.

·         Ensuring the various school programs are accommodated.

·         Extending fundraising efforts to charities / causes beyond the school to build a deeper understanding of social justice with our students.

The plan we have developed for this year includes:

·         Four sausage sizzles (one each term), with funds directed to the Ready Set Grow Hot House project, grade 6 graduation and our Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebration events.

·         A Hot Cross Bun Drive to help fund our participation in VSSS (Victorian State School Spectacular).

·         A Book Fair to fund the purchase of more books for the library.

·         A colour run is booked in for term 4, with the funds raised going towards insulating the gym.

·         Mother’s Day stall and Father’s Day stalls to support the 2026 Japan Trip.

·         The Grade 6 Canteen Team raise funds through their Friday sales.  They will decide where to direct the funds raised later in the year.

·         A Bunnings BBQ run by the Scotsburn Team will fund a project determined by the Scotsburn school community.

·         A second Bunnings BBQ will direct funds to the Energy Breakthrough (EBT) Team.  EBT will also receive some financial support through the school disco.

·         Casual dress days at the end of terms 1, 2 and 3 will go to an external beneficiary nominated by the VOTS (Voice of the Students) Team.

We greatly appreciate the support of our community with fundraising, both in terms of helping to run events, but also in terms of making a financial contribution.  As you can see by the descriptions above, fundraising efforts enable us to do some pretty amazing things for the students at our school.