From The Principal's Desk

Dear Parents and Carers, 

This will be our final newsletter for Term 2, signifying that we have almost reached half a year of schooling.  It only seemed like yesterday that our Preps walked in the door for the first day and before you know it they will have reached 100 days of school.   

This week you will have received your child’s report and this week our teachers are following up with the students to discuss elements of their reports.  We want all of our students to appreciate and acknowledge any growth shown in their report and understand what their next steps will be for improvements.

Parent teacher interviews will occur on Tuesday 25th June (students finish at 1.30pm), this will be an opportunity for you to discuss the report and ask any questions prior to the school holidays. Please make a booking via Compass or contact your teacher for a possible meeting or phone call.  Your child’ portfolio will also be sent home on this day.

Recently our Energy Breakthrough team for 2024 was announced. This wasn't easy as the team can only cater for 24 spots and 75 students were very interested. Training will increase next term and there is an expectation that students commit to the training as these spots have been competitive.

Last week we conducted the Student attitudes to school survey. This survey was completed by students from Grades 4-6 and we ensured we followed up with those students who were not in attendance on the day we conducted the survey.   Overall we had 215 students complete the survey, 30 more than last year.

As the survey is completed on the devices, you are able to view the results 24hrs later once the students have completed it. In the table below, it shows that some of our key improvement areas have seen improvements in these areas of the school from our last 2 years. This is a positive endorsement for the hard work our staff and leadership team have shown in addressing these areas. 

Looking back over the last two terms it has certainly been an eventful one, full of achievements and wonderful learning opportunities.

Highlights include:

• A successful whole school Cross Country day.
• Swimming programs for Gr 2-6.
• Gr 3-6 Athletics day 
• A number of students went on to the District and Zone level events.
• Parent Helpers’ Session saw  parents trained to support classroom reading programs.
• Curriculum day that saw us focus on student Handwriting, which has had a dramatic impact on student handwriting writing.
• The introduction of ten new teaching staff to our school and a number of new Educational support staff.
• NAPLAN for Grade 3 & 5 in March…. looking forward to seeing the results next term.
• A wonderful Grade 6 camp to Melbourne the students and staff had a terrific time away.
• The Young Authors’ Program kicked off for another year
• Pirate day & Special person’s day 
• A number of students being selected for the High Abilities Program.
• Art Show competition with over 100 entries
• The successful Book Fair and Simultaneous Storytime during this year’s Education Week.
• The DASH program has continued to go from strength to strength -we have strong numbers both before and after school.
• Our History walls were installed representing our first Nations peoples and our European Early settlers wall.
• A successful Winter Sports carnival for the Year 5/6 students. 
• We battled through the COVID, flu, influenza and a wave of absences and showed flexibility and persistence to ensure we had teachers in front of classes every day.

Staffing Farewells and Welcomes 

At the end of this Term we will be saying farewell to Bridie Boag (Educational Support) and Lynden Walker (Kitchen program co-ordinator).

Bridie has been with the school for the last 4 years working as an Educational Support staff member and has worked across a number of grade levels.  Bridie will be finishing up on the last day of term.     

Lynden Walker has been on leave from the school this year and recently made the decision to retire from full time working life.  Lynden was part of our Kitchen program for approximately 10 years and worked in collaboration with Wendy Ruddick.

We wish both Bridie and Lynden all the best for their future endeavours and thank them for their time at Delacombe PS.

Next term we have Tracey Stevens (office administration) who will be stepping back from 

4 days to 3 days a week to spend more time as a grandmother.

Joining us next term will be Abigail Willis to the Delacombe team. Abigail  has recently moved to Ballarat and will be working in the office on Thursday and Friday. 

Uniform meeting with the supplier 

On Monday myself and Danielle McCann met with Beleza to discuss some of the feedback on uniforms.  The main issue we discussed was the stock issues we have encountered. We also discussed the sale of the upcoming jackets that will be advertised soon for sale at the end of July.

The final discussion point is how we can be prepared for the $400 each child will receive from the government for uniforms and camps/excursions.  We don't have all the information on this from the Department but are aware that this will occur as payment in Term 4 and want to establish a smooth and efficient system for everyone. Please see the link below for more information.

Uniform Reminder

The school holidays are a good time to remind ourselves about the school uniform and update them as required.

A uniform dress code reinforces in students a pride in their own appearance, instils

recognition of themselves as an integral part of the school community and assists in developing pride in representing their school.

Ensuring your child attends in a clean fitting uniform assists them to feel connected to the school and proud of themselves and each other. 

Attendance Reminder

On average, at the moment, we are seeing a large number of students absent every day this is well above what we would normally expect. Although we understand that ill students should remain at home, please ensure they return as soon as possible. 

Every minute counts.

Thank you to our Parents and Friends for the Pie Drive 

Thank you to our Parents and Friends group who organised the Pie Drive 

and saw them delivered to our community on Friday.

School updates

On behalf of the school thank you for supporting the school over the first 6 months of school.  We look forward to a break and then finishing off the next 6 months of school.

Upcoming dates:

• Parent teacher interviews Tuesday 25th June - 2pm - 6pm
• Pyjama day - last day of school Friday June 28th 
• Hot milo and cookie available through QKR on Friday 28th June
• Last day - Friday June 28th June- school finishes at 1.30pm

Looking ahead into Term 3

Looking ahead to Term 3 we certainly have an action-packed term ahead that includes the following:

• The school concert in Week 6
• Indigenous cultural performance for Gr 1-3
• Year 5 camp to Halls Gap in Week 7
• The beginnings of the Kinder Transition Program.
• Father’s Day Stall
• The Young Authors’ Program
• Literacy and Numeracy week 
• Year 4 camp to the coast in Week 10

Book Week will not occur this year because it is Concert year and it occurs in the same week.

On behalf of the school, thank you for another term and working together with our team of teachers, educational support staff and office staff to achieving success for our DPS students.

Thanks again – Scott, Marnie, Stephanie and Michael