Out and about with Mr Walsh

The term is definitely flying by and we are only 2 weeks away until the end of term 1. It has been an action packed term with so much happening in and out of the classroom. We now have our Foundation students attending full time following their English Online Interviews and this week saw the start of the NAPLAN testing period. Our year 4's head off to camp next week so fingers crossed for some great weather. The weather has definitely been testing over the last couple of weeks with some extreme weather days and hopefully everyone can get some better sleep this weekend. To assist you over the next couple of weeks below are some important dates that will assist you all with planning and organisation:

Tues 19th - School Council at 5.30pm (Finance at 5.00pm)

                        Foundation MOPA Excursion

Wed 20th-Fri 22nd - Year 4 Camp - Anglesea

Thurs 21st - Breakfast Club 7.45am in the kitchen

Friday 22nd - Assembly @ 2.30pm in the courtyard, Student Awards

                         - Ride to School Day

Tues 26th - SSV Girls Football Lightning Premiership

Wed 27th - Year 3-6 Cross Country - Kingston Park

Thurs 28/3 - Last Day of Term 1 (Casual Dress Day - Gold Coin Donation)

                          Assembly @ 1.45pm (Easter Raffle)

                          2.30pm Finish

Fri 29th - Good Friday Public Holiday

2025 Sibling Enrolments 

It has been great to see our Prep students start full time and we are already planning our 2025 Prep enrolment tours and information sessions. Our enrolments for 2025 open on day 1 of term 2. If you have a younger child that is ready for school in 2025 we would appreciate you letting us know  so we can ensure a place for you in 2025.  Please refer to the Prep enrolment timeline and guidelines below and this information will be in our newsletters throughout term 2:

The timeline will apply for children starting Foundation (Prep) in 2025.

You can find information and resources about the timeline, including factsheets, at: Enrolling in Foundation (Prep). You can also download the ‘Foundation (Prep) Enrolment Information Pack for Parents/Carers for the 2025 school year’ from the Starting School webpage. (available from 15th April 2024)

You will be able to apply to enrol your child in Foundation (Prep) 2025 at Surfside Primary School from 15th April 2024.

What you need to do:

1. Contact the school on 5256 1411, pop into the office or book a school tour when tours are available in 
2. Submit an enrolment application for Foundation (Prep) by Friday 26 July 2024
3. You will be notified of the outcome of your application between Monday 29th July and Friday 9th August, 2024. If you receive an offer of placement, you should contact our school to accept the offer by Friday 23rd August 2024.
4. Take part in enrolment information and transition sessions during Term 4, 2024
5. Your child will start Foundation (Prep) from Wednesday 29th January 2025.

Enrolment applications submitted after Friday 26th July, 2024 will be processed by our school as they are received, in accordance with the department’s Placement Policy.

Kiah Colour Run

Last Friday was an amazing day filled with colour, smiles and excitement. A sea of white tops started the colour run but the end of the afternoon saw kids covered head to toe in all the clolours of the rainbow. A big thank you to our administration staff, Gill and our student leaders for all of their preparation prior to the day. Most of all a big thank you to the surfside community as the Kiah Colour Run was an amazing fundraising opportunity for the school as we raised close to $10,000. This goes a long way to funding some play equipment for our Foundation area and continuing to support our amazing Kitchen and Garden program with facilities, staffing and resources. Please check out the awesome photos and video that definitely show the excitement level of the day!!! 

School Updates

Canteen News and Update

It is with sad news that we have to inform our school community that Julie's Tuckerbox will finish up as the provider for our school canteen at the end of term 1. Julie has been with us at Surfside for the past 6 years and we congratulate Julie who has now picked up full time employment and therefore unable to continue. Following school council next week we will advertise the tender for the school canteen. We are aware that this might impact school canteen operations but we will keep our school community updated over the coming weeks.

Science and Technology Building Update

We are very excited that the planned delivery of our Science and Technology relocatable buildings has been fast tracked. Today we saw the installation of temporary fencing and next Monday and Tuesday will see the installation of the buildings. Further services work will happen over the school holiday period and we are looking at the buildings being ready early term 2. Please be mindful of these out of bounds areas.

Maintenance Update

We are sad but also excited to announce that Damien Stimson our long time maintenance staff member will also be finishing with us at the end of term 1. Damien has been an integral part of Surfside over the past 8 years but we congratulate Damien who has picked up a full time Education Support role at East Geelong Primary School. We will definitely farewell Damien as a school community and thank him for everything he has done throughout his time at Surfside. We will advertise a maintenance position over the coming weeks

Parent Teacher Meetings

A big thank you to our staff, students and Surfside families for participating in our recent parent/teacher conferences. It is a great opportunity to discuss students strengths, goals and meet families. A big thank you to families for completing our feedback form which allows us to know your child a little better. It was also great to hear from a parent who said it was a great opportunity to sit down with my child and also get to know them a little better as a learner. 

NAPLAN

It was great to see our year 3 and year 5 students begin their NAPLAN testing this week. I did enjoy a few students coming up and letting me know that they have been looking forward to this week all year. A big thank you to all of our year 3 and 5 teachers and support staff for providing a comfortable environment for the students to have the best opportunity to be the best they can be. NAPLAN is a test in time to compliment many other forms of data that we have to guide student learning at their point of need. A big thank you to Mr Chapman and the year 3 and 5 teaching and support staff for all of their organisation. The background work and logistics is a massive undertaking to make this time happen smoothly.

Ocean Grove Police Community Liason

We were very excited to meet Snr Constable Eric Taylor on Thursday morning. Constable Taylor dropped in to say hello and introduce himself as our community police liason representative. Eric and his team are looking forward to getting into schools, meeting our young community and supporting our local community. This is a great opportunity to boost and support the positive perception of the role the local police play in supporting our local community. Whenever we see Constable Taylor out and about it would be great to give him and his team a friendly hello.

A message from our student leadership team

Creating a House Culture here at Surfside! 

On Wednesday the 17th of March the Year 3-6 students will be participating in the House Cross Country. Each person has the chance to earn points for their house by just having a go. We would like to see all students dressing up in their house colour. Next week on Thursday 21st of March the 3-6s will be meeting in their houses for the first time! The class teachers will let students know what house they are in if they don’t already know. 

The Surfside Primary School Houses each have an Indigenous totem animal and colour that represents that house colour. The Indigenous totem animals were kindly gifted to us by a local Wadwarrung elder. These special totems will be cherished and respected by our school. 

Introducing our Houses! We are so excited to see them come to life.

School Council 2024

We are pleased to announce our school council members for 2024 and look forward to meeting next week as part of our Annual General Meeting. 

Out and About 

There has been plenty happening out of the classroom over the past couple of weeks. These opportunities have enabled our students to continue developing a variety of skills and be supported by our school values of Respect, Honesty, Teamwork and Achievement.

SSV Summer Lightning Premiership

Our year 6's and selected year 5 students participated in a variety of sports against our local school district. A big thank you to Mrs Wolfe and Mr Fraser who continue to support our Sport and Physical Education program.

Clean Up Australia Day

Our year 5 team have been busy not only cleaning our school grounds in support of Clean Up Australia Day but also making the link to their numeracy classes in collecting a variety of data

SSV Division Swimming Championships

Well done to a collection of our students who participated in the recent SSV Division Swimming Championships on Tuesday at Kardinia Pool. The students performed to their best and displayed such amazing positive support and behaviour.

Year 4 Coastcare Ocean Grove Beach Excursion

Our year 4 students walked from school to Ocean Grove beach to participate in environmental activities including beachcombing, Hooded Plover walk 'n' talk and coast care games. We thank the team from Barwon Coast and parent helpers for supporting this great opportunity.

Year 3-6 Surfside Cross  Country Event

Call for family helpers

We will be holding our annual Cross Country event for students in grades 3–6 at Kingston Park on Wednesday, March 27th. The event will commence at 9.15am and conclude by 1.00pm. Race times are as follows;

• Year 5 & 6 event is between 9:15 - 10:45
• Year 3 & 4 event is between 11:30 - 1:00

To ensure the smooth running and safety of children we will require the assistance of parents or carers. If you are available and willing to help, please answer the questions and complete the details below. 

All volunteers must have a  current Working With Children's Card that has been presented to our office and completed the 5 minute annual Induction, before the day of the event.

CROSS COUNTRY HELPER EXPRESSION OF INTEREST LINK

Thanks so much in advance for your support with this event,

Mr. Fraser