Principal's Message
Morning drop off
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it is really important that children aren’t dropped off in the teacher’s car park in the morning. Families also shouldn’t be walking through the car park. If you park in the gravel car park (the car park above the teacher’s car park) please walk across the basketball court and down the steps to access the classrooms.
At school drop off time we have teachers and education support members arriving at school and OSH Care staff leaving and it can be really difficult to see little children behind cars.
Father’s Day stall and breakfast
A big thank you to our wonderful Parent’s Group for holding a fabulous Father’s Day stall today. The gifts were of a high quality and our children loved the opportunity to bring some money to school to buy a treat for their dads.
The Father’s Day breakfast was very successful this year, the weather remained clear for us to have a lovely morning with dads and special friends. Thanks again to all the helpers who manned the BBQs.
Parent’s Group is made up of volunteers who put on special events for the benefit of all in our school community. We really appreciate their efforts and the fun and sense of community that they promote.
Year 3/4 events
Our Year 3 and 4 children have a very busy end to the term. This week they’ve had their swimming program. I ventured along to see them in action and they were having a great time practicing their strokes and learning important water safety skills.
The Year 4’s participated in Hooptime, which is a basketball tournament for primary school aged children.
Next week, our Year 3’s will finish their swimming program on Monday and then head off to Candlebark Farm Camp in Healesville for their first ever school camp experience. They’ll be hanging out for the holidays for a rest.
Foundation Library and ambulance excursion
Our foundation children had a fantastic visit to the Montrose Library this week. They listened to a story and browsed the books in the Library. This visit was part of their Humanities unit of work on communities. They had a great time but were very tired after the long walk back and forth from the Montrose township area.
They also had a visit from the ambulance service. A big thank you to Elijah’s Dad for showing our Foundation children an ambulance and for discussing the important role that emergency services play in our community.
Parent’s Group fundraising
Parent’s Group are committing $100 000 of their raised funds to go towards our new playground. Most of this money was raised last year. We expected to have a new playground by now but have been delayed by the red tape of the Department of Education.
If everything goes to plan we are hoping the playground installation will begin over the summer school holidays. As we are getting closer to an outcome we will involve our children in the decision making for the playground equipment. At an upcoming assembly we’ll show all students some options and then provide them with an opportunity to vote on their preferred playground items.
Parent’s Group are after further ideas to continue to enhance our spaces. Some of the suggestions so far include:
- The installation of a big fan in the Gym
- Additional playground pieces for the Year 3-6 playground
- Synthetic grass and a slide on the bank at the front of the school and/ or on the adventure playground.
- Outdoor table tennis tables
If you or your children have any additional ideas to enhance our school, please let me know and I can pass them onto Dionne and the Parent’s Group team.
DEAR Day (Drop Everything and Read) – Wednesday 10 September
A big thank you to our dedicated SRC team who have organized a DEAR Day (Drop Everything and Read) for Wednesday 10 September. On this day students are invited to wear pajamas or something comfortable to school. Throughout the day all classes will have the opportunity to read and complete reading-based activities. This is a wonderful way to promote our love of reading at Billanook. Year 3s will be on camp but they have already had their DEAR Day earlier in the year.
Regards,
Michael Puddy