From the 

Principal

Dear Parents / Carers,

We congratulate Eva our school captain for being the recipient of the Barry Plant Scholarship, which was awarded to an outstanding student attending Rowville Secondary College in 2024. 

Today our Year One students enjoyed a visit from Josh, Shane and Steve, who are Bunurong men from the Bunurong Land Council. Students and visitors were welcomed to Country on Bunurong Land and witnessed a performance using the digeridoo. They listened to stories and learnt about ancient hunting tools. The students asked many questions about Aboriginal culture. It was a wonderful way to connect their "How the World Works" learning about First Nations culture from earlier in the year, and our visitors were very impressed by how much our students knew! It was a wonderful experience for our students. 

During Term Four, our Year One students have been exploring how they can connect and contribute with their local community. As part of a community project, the Year One students developed a plan to raise money for children who are less fortunate than themselves. After asking for donations of lemons from our school community, they researched and carefully selected two recipes to make and sell to their fellow peers. On Thursday 30 November, they successfully organised and ran a Lemonade Stand that sold cups of lemonade and lemon slice. With the money raised, they will be thoughtfully selecting a few gifts to purchase and place under the Kmart Wishing Tree. We are so proud of the work the Year One students have put into this community project and the way they have thought selflessly about others in our community!

On Tuesday we are having our grade swap day. On this day our students will move into their classes for 2024 and will meet their new teacher and peers. Our 2024 Foundation students will have their final transition session and will meet their Year Six buddy. Our current Year Six students will participate in an alternative program on this day and will visit their State Government secondary school on Tuesday 12 December.

Making changes to class lists once they are set is very stressful. We have tried to head off any changes by providing ample time for one-time opportunities for parents to provide information that they would like us to consider about the child and their learning and these are considered in the early stages of class formation. 

Usually, we don't make any changes after grade swap day because as professional educators, we have taken great pains in the development of homeroom classes. We have invested a great amount of time and effort into the construction of learning groups that consider the needs of individual children and the ways they relate to various teacher styles. 

We know which children work well together and those who do not. Each class is balanced as much as possible with an equal number of boys and girls, with a range of ability levels. We have also considered student requests.

These decisions are made very carefully by considering the best learning situation for all our children. Changes at this stage of the process undermine school attempts to provide the best situation for all children.

Kind regards,

Anne Babich

Principal