On Wednesday the Tongala community had the opportunity to farewell Luke and Benny Smith. Both boys were delightful young men who attended Tongala Primary School since Prep.

The service was a fitting tribute to the 2 boys, and the large attendance showed the respect that the Smith family hold in Tongala.

As a school, it was great to see our students decked out in blue on Wednesday as a mark of respect, and I thank the whole school community for the support and understanding shown on what was a challenging day for all.

Our thoughts remain with AJ, Leonie, Ryan and Olivia in what is an extremely difficult time.

School Savings Bonus

All families should have received an email in regard to the State Government School Savings Bonus initiative.

All government school students are entitled to a $400 one-off payment to assist with uniforms, camps or excursions.

The School Savings Bonus cannot be used for school fees.

If you have not received your School Savings Bonus email, please contact the school ASAP.

Last week organisation

We have a busy end to the school year, and the final week is a great celebration of our school year.

Monday: Final Assembly, followed by Xmas Sing a long.

The Christmas Raffle will also be drawn on this day.

Class parties will be held, with our Grade 6 students able to get their shirts signed on this day.

End of year reports will also go home on this day.

Tuesday: Graduation night at the Tongala Shire Hall. 6pm start. Please note there will be no meal or BYO food and drink. Dress code is neat casual.

Wednesday is unofficially our last day, as this is the final day for formal classes for the year.

Thursday and Friday is simply helping to tidy up, assist with moving classrooms and ensuring the school is tidy for the summer break.

Dismissal on Friday is at 1:30pm.

Statewide Transition

Next Tuesday is statewide transition day.

Our Grade 6 students will be heading off to their new secondary school at this time, and meeting new friends and connecting with new teachers. We wish them the very best.

Our 2025 Foundation students will be here from 9am until lunchtime on this day.

All other students will be spending the morning with their 2025 class and teacher.

Careful consideration is given to preparing these grades, and there will be no changes possible after next Tuesday, due to needing to get the administration side completed in preparation for the start of 2025.

2025 Start Dates

Staff Return to school on Tuesday, 28th January. The office will be open on this day.

Wednesday, January 29th is a Staff professional learning day.

All students return on Thursday, January 30th.

Student Leadership

On Monday at 9am, we have a number of our students nominating for the position of 2025 School Captain. The process for this is that they need to make a speech in front of their peers and take part in a leadership interview.

All students from Grade 3-6 vote for school captain, and the staff also will have a vote.

Our school has a thorough Student Leadership program, with the following positions also being available:

Young Leaders

Library Leaders

Ronny's Bank

Breakfast Club.

All of these leadership positions will be announced at assembly next week.

We vote on our House Captains early in 2025, prior to our Swimming carnival.

Good luck to all of our aspiring leaders.

ACHIEVE awards

This morning at assembly we introduced a new award that will be starting in 2025, known as the ACHIEVE awards. These awards are for academic excellence and showing terrific growth in any of the Key Learning Areas.

Today we acknowledged our first lot of ACHIEVE award winners, who have shown great aptitude in recent testing, displaying a high level of learning or outstanding growth over the year.

We look forward to acknowledging and celebrating our academic achievements even more in 2025.

Have a great weekend everyone

Rob

2024 Grade 6 Graduation