Principal's Message

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

It has been a rather warm week however staff and students have all done well to adjust and maintain focus throughout.  I’m sure the cooler weather today though will be a welcome relief, before we can expect some more warmer weather again next week.

Prep Parents Welcome BBQ and Chat

A reminder that we will be holding a gathering for Prep parents next week on Wednesday 28th February.  We will commence with a BBQ from 5:30pm and will then hold a chat with parents on how we teach aspects of the curriculum (e.g. our Sounds Write program for the teaching of literacy skills).  This will also be a great opportunity for parents to meet one another.  A flyer promoting this event has been distributed to prep families earlier this week. 

Athletics Sports

Training sessions for students to develop their technique and skill in the various track and field disciplines has been continuing this week ahead of our School Athletics Sports that are now only a week and a half away.  This is always a great event on our annual calendar, one that we all look forward to.  A notice with further details to families will be sent home by Monday, with a program of events to be sent home later next week via XUNO. 

School Council

Our first meeting of School Council took place on Wednesday night with a large portion of the night spent discussing school facility works that have taken place and future works that are planned or to be considered.  There are many roles of a School Council that are best outlined via the following link: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/school-council-powers-and-functions/policy  However to summarise, a School Council is primarily responsible for the overall financial management of the school, strategic planning and implementation, development of policies and procedures and maintenance and provision of resources to support teaching and learning needs, among other roles.

Our meeting this week was the final meeting of the current School Council, with Alison Quade, Mark Hibberd, Brad White and Michael Davies all completing their two-year term.  Any parent within our school community may now nominate for School Council.  New representatives will be elected for a period of two years.  Information is included further in this newsletter for anyone who would like to consider being nominated, or nominating themselves for School Council

Student Absence and XUNO

A reminder to families that when your child is away from school for any reason, it is a requirement that you notify the school of the absence at the earliest possible convenience.  The easiest way for you to do this is via the XUNO Family app.  On your home screen, select Attendance, select the picture of your child that will be away, click on ‘Send absence note’ and then ‘Send a note for a future date’.  Check that the date is correct, check the box and type in a short comment (e.g. Ben is unwell with a cold) and save, then the job is complete!  If at any stage you need assistance with using XUNO, pop into the office and we will assist you where we can.

Baby News!!!

One of our staff members, Miss Celeste Benoit returned for the first day of school and has since been on family leave but didn’t have to wait long!  Celeste and her partner Cody welcomed Archer into the world on the 15th February, a little brother for their daughter Evie, with all going well.  Congratulations to Celeste and her family on Archer’s arrival who we all look forward to meeting soon.

Mrs Sheree McGinley is another staff member who is technically on leave however we have Sheree working with us as a Casual Relief Teacher on a regular basis.  Earlier this week Sheree became a “granny” for the first time and as you can imagine is very excited.  Congratulations to Sheree and her family on the arrival of Delilah.

Have a great weekend!

Ben Kelson

Principal