A message from Margie    

Sustainability Fair Success

We thoroughly enjoyed Sunday's Sustainability Fair next door to the school. Suze Tume set up a wonderful display of children's artwork made from recycled materials. Students connected their projects to sustainability causes, and provided QR codes for visitors to scan to learn more, such as the one pictured here which talks about waste going to our local landfill facility - check it out! 

Children who attended the Fair were also able to use recycled or repurposed materials to create lavender bags or finger knitting.  Thank you to all of the students who helped out, and to our star stall volunteers Amanda Preskett, Belinda Wauchope, Eddie Comey, Emma Grovener and Mark Sloan. 🤩

Here's what the Sus Fair committee had to say about our student helpers: 

We had our wrap up meeting for the Sustainability Fair on Wednesday night and on behalf of the Sustainability Fair Committee, we'd like to thank the students from Uraidla Primary who volunteered to help on the day. 

The students who volunteered to set up the Fair received the highest praise from stallholders for their initiative, manners and genuine eagerness to help. We don't think we could have done the set up so quickly and efficiently without them.  

The "Cheap Eats" stall was a success with the students selling out by 1pm! The students involved learned valuable customer service skills and got to experience the pressures of working in a kitchen making toasties to order. It was chaotic at times, but we were really impressed how the students took it all in their stride.

We'd like to thank the following students for volunteering at the Fair: 

Elodie, Tyson, Louie, Arlo, Innes, Jameson, and former students Benji, Finn, Ethan, Patrick and Alby

Harmony Day 

We all enjoyed celebrating Harmony Day on Thursday this week, with a shared lunch, song and activities promoting harmony and inclusivity. 

The National Harmony Week 2024 theme is “Everyone Belongs”.  It’s a beautiful reminder that each person, regardless of their background or circumstances, has a place and a sense of belonging in our shared society. 

JAM Band wows us again! 

I'll let the photos below speak for themselves. Congratulations to India, Madi, Tillie, Layla and Ruby for an amazing prepared dance! 💃

New food guidelines for our school 

Recently the Department for Education has introduced 'Right Bite traffic light' food standards for schools to follow, with the aim of providing a positive food environment for all children: food and drink supply standards for South Australian Schools (Right Bite). In response, the Parents and Friends and the Governing Council have worked with me to develop some guidelines for our school. 

The main changes for families to be aware of are: 

• We ask that families do not provide lollies, chocolate or cake for children’s class birthday celebrations. Instead, birthdays will be celebrated with a song in class.
• We ask that students do not give out Easter or Christmas sweet treats (such as candy canes) to their friends or classmates at school.
•  Some foods ('Red 2 items' in the standards) will no longer be offered at school, even on tuck shop days. This includes foods such as soft drinks, caffeinated items, lollies and deep-fried foods.
• Days where we offer 'Red 1' foods (such as cakes, muffins, hot dogs, pizza, and sweet biscuits) will be limited to 2 a term. This generally includes 2 tuck shops in each of Terms 1-3, and 1 tuck shop and an optional class party in Term 4. 
• For tuck shops, the Parents and Friends are developing some new guidelines for running the tuck shop. This will include suggestions for the parents of the class providing food of what can be provided and a pricing guide.
• The Willow Café sits in a slightly different category to other school events involving food, since parents and carers can choose the food they purchase on behalf of their children. However, the Parents and Friends will attempt to make more green and orange items available, to fit within the ‘spirit’ of the Right Bite policy. 

Please note that these Rite Bight guidelines do not generally apply to the food that parents send along with their children for recess and lunch. The only requests we have is that children only bring water to drink at school, and that they do not bring any food containing nuts, since we are a nut-aware school (see separate UPS Nut Awareness Policy). 

We hope that you agree that these guidelines will help us to promote the idea of eating more of the foods that keep our bodies healthy, and to limit treats to smaller quantities for enjoying occasionally.  You can read the guidelines in full here: 

Welcomes and Farewells 

Welcome to the newest member of our school community, little Oliver born last week. Congratulations to Mum and Dad Lauren and Alexis Georgiou, brother Luca and big sister Isabella in Jess' Reception class. I used to teach Lauren years ago; it's so special to reconnect after all of these years. 🙂

Learning Discussions 

It was great to see so many families here for Learning Discussions this week. Teachers really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about their students from the people who know them the best!  Please remember that you don't need to wait for a formal interview process, you are always welcome to make a time to connect with your child's teachers or me about their learning or well-being. 

Sports day 

We are all getting excited about Sports Day next Thursday. A few points to be aware of please: 

• High School students should not attend our Sports Day; they should be attending their own school on that day. If your child has a Pupil Free Day and would like to attend, please seek permission from me via SeeSaw or a phone call. Thank you! 
• Families are encouraged to bring along a picnic to share with their children at lunchtime. Children are not allowed to leave school grounds (for example to get food with their parents), for child safety.  
• Please note there will be No Maria's Kitchen this week 
• The Willow Cafe will be open before 9 am, during morning tea and lunch, for adults to purchase hot drinks, cakes, etc. Please note there are no meals available for purchase at Sports Day. 
• The timetable will be sent out next week on SeeSaw. The day will start at 9am with a Peramangk Welcome to Country from Courtney Hunter-Hebberman. 
• If we finish early, children may leave early with their families as long as they are signed out by parents from their class teacher. 

And finally... 

Does anything warm a principal's heart more than coming across Year 6 students choosing to play fraction games in their free time? I don't think so!  :-)

I wish you all a wonderful fortnight! 😊

Margie