From Daniel 

Semester Two Begins...

Welcome back!   We are looking forward to a fabulous Semester Two.  The weather may be on the chilly side, but the warm smiles from our students has really made the return from holidays a joyful experience.

We don't have any public holidays or student free days this term.  We do have some fantastic experiences planned.  Junior School students will have their first "sleep over" at school as a part of our Camps program.  Senior students are participating in some leadership building activities, linking in the I CAN network.  Middles are heading off to the MCG and our Foundation students have an action packed term celebrating their first 100 days of school, having visits from the Fire Brigade and sharing a delicious Fathers' Day Breakfast with dad.

As a whole school we have our 3-Way Conferences next week - these can be booked online through Sentral.  We also have our Whole School Athletics Day on Wednesday 30th July.  All students will be bused to Morrisons Reserve in Mt Evelyn for the athletic events.  Parents are welcome to join us.  (Yummy coffee and hot chocolate will be served to parents).

Each term we hold a twilight event for families.  In Term 1 we had our Twilight Family

 Sports night, in Term 2 we held our Twilight School.  This term we are holding our Twilight Family Arts night on Friday 15th August, from 5pm - 6.30pm.  Bring along a picnic dinner and your creativity and we will have a great time together creating some fabulous pieces of art.

Book week is also coming up in late August, so time to get your thinking caps on and dress-up planning underway!  

More details of what is to come can be found on the Upcoming Events page of this newsletter, and on the calendar in the Sentral Ap

All Cisterns Go! 

We are all systems go for our Toilet Block upgrade.  With works to begin next week, fencing will be going up and construction zones established.  We have been meeting with the architects and builders and will be working hard to keep disruption to a minimum.  

The first area of work will focus on the Hall toilets and then the Toilet block in the Main Building, next to the Junior Playground. Fencing went up today and the hall toilets will be inaccessible from now until (most likely) the end of term.  At this stage, students will have access to the Main Building toilets and the BER toilets during recess.  

The work on the main building toilets will commence a little later, however there may be a time when both toilet blocks are out of service.  I am awaiting confirmation of these arrangements and will let you know as soon as possible what will be happening.

The builders will remain in their compound and, for Child-Safe reasons, have been instructed not to interact with the students. I will be explaining to students that, for OH&S reasons, we are not to distract them and interrupt their work.

We are anticipating the works will be completed by Mid-Term 4.  During the construction period, a temporary toilet block will be positioned behind the gym.  A copy of the plans for the new toilet blocks are on display outside the office.

How can you get involved this Semester???

We have a hugely active parent group here at Kilsyth PS and we truly value the support you provide.  You make so many of our activities possible.  Without you, many of our events just could not run.  We also know that students' connectedness to school increases dramatically when their parents get involved - even if that involvement is outside of school time.

Some activities run on a weekly basis:

• Breakfast Club (Thursdays 8am - 9am) - we need 4 people per week to run this event.
• Milo and Cookies (Wednesdays 10.30am - 11.30am) - we need 3 people per week.
• Junior School Literacy Support (Daily - 9.30am - 10.20am) - we welcome 3 people per day, come as many times as you are willing and able.

Others are one off events:

• Whole School Athletics Day (Wednesday 30th July)
• Excursions - Eg. Middles MCG trip.
• Fathers' Day stall (details to come)

You can always check the "Links" area of Sentral to see what is coming up and use the SignUp  tool to let us know you are willing and able to help out.  

Thank you Mr Harman, all the best.

This week we have said "Farewell" to Mr Patrick Harman who has been teaching Middle B this year.  Mr Harman has resigned his position to focus on supporting his family through some health issues.  We wish Mr Harman all the very best for the future.

Some New (and not so new) Faces!

A familiar face around our school, Mr Nathan Shanks is taking on the role of a newly qualified teacher and will be working with Middle B for the remainder of the year.  Mr Shanks has been working here in an ES classroom support role whilst studying and is now ready to take on a teaching role.  He knows our students, our routines and teaching approach well and is looking forward to his new role.

Returning from family leave, Karina Ely is back on the team and working in an ES classroom support role this semester.  We are thrilled to have Karina back.

We also welcome some new faces to our ES team.  Taking on placement positions, Sarah W, Sarah M, Nathalie and Aaron are all spending some time with us this semester.  They will be working in a range of classrooms across the school.  Please join me in making them feel welcome.

All the best

Daniel