Principal's Report

DISCO FUN!

What a wonderful night our students (and some dancing staff!) had at our Disco on Friday night. I must admit it has been a while since I had danced ‘The Nutbush’ and I certainly felt it on Saturday! A big thank you again to our wonderful Parents’ Association for all the planning, decorations, food and music provided on the night. The students certainly had a lot of fun!

Parent Teacher Meetings and Reporting to Parents

It was wonderful to see so many parents (and students in Year 3-6) meeting with teachers over the past week to share the wonderful learning progress of students. We are so proud of the work students achieve and I know that the children LOVE seeing their efforts shared and celebrated by the adults in the lives that matter to them.

Similarly, I have been pleased to see so many of our parents/carers accessing the student mid-year reports on Compass. This is a vital communication and assessment document that teachers in all lessons spend many hours on to ensure each parent/carer has an accurate understanding of the progress their child is making and next steps in their learning. At school, we are able to monitor which students have had their report read by a parent/carer through the Compass portal. If you are having difficultly accessing this important document, PLEASE contact your child’s teacher for a hard copy. We want to be sure that every student has a parent/carer with a full understanding of their learning progress across all specialists and curriculum areas.

Working Bee 23rd June

It is not too late to come and support your child’s school by assisting our team of parents and staff at the working be this Sunday 9am-12pm.

Bring your gloves, hedge trimmer, broom- or come and use ours at school! We are planning a massive clean up of the area to the North of the school where our beautiful native garden, frog bog and quiet spaces have become a little overgrown!

Everyone is welcome, and there is a free BBQ at the end of the morning!

A flyer was sent home recently with details, and is also attached in this newsletter.

Parent Support an Donations

Our school hugely values the support of our parents at special events and fundraisers, such as the DISCO last week. The funds raised supports the ongoing costs of running a school on a day to day basis, and are also targeted for special projects each year.

In previous years, fundraising through the Parents Association events enabled the installation of new basketball rings, purchase of new furniture in STEM, funding of additional laptops for use by students in Year 3-6, and so much more.

Currently we have 4 big projects that we are focusing our fundraising efforts on:

Heating and Cooling upgrades for Before and Afterschool Care and the Art room
Neon LED communication signage for the front of the school
Audio - Visual upgrades in the Hall (including highly visual Data projector)
New Soccer nets on the oval.

The financial support we receive through fundraising events enables us to plan and purchase important and eagerly awaited resources and facilities upgrades for the school. Without this financial support, none of these projects would get off the ground.

Many thanks again to all the families who understand the positive impact your contributions and supports for these big fundraising events has for our whole school community.

Student birthdays, celebrations and parties

A friendly reminder of the requirements for celebrating a student’s birthday or other milestones at school. Some parents like to send something small to school for their child’s class to share when it is their birthday instead of having a party elsewhere. At ARPS, this is allowable. However, there are strict parameters that must be adhered to for Child Safety, including medical and equity purposes. Please note and ensure the following:

Only individually pre-packaged food, where the ingredients are clearly visible is allowable. OR
A very small, inexpensive, non-food party favour such as a fidget toy to take home.

Please note that any items brought to school to share must be:

Given directly to the child’s class teacher at the beginning of the day by the parent.
Will be shared with the class at the end of the day by the teacher.
Taken home by each student to show their parents who will decide when it may be eaten / played with.

Classes will often sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to students or teachers on their celebration day. This is a lovely way to celebrate at school. However, if you do wish to send something for your child’s class, the above requirements must be adhered to please.

Invitation: Hotham NDIS Forum

The Hon Clare O’Neil MP, Federal Member for Hotham, invites you to a NDIS Forum with The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Minister for NDIS.

This forum will be for anyone wanting to better understand the NDIS. It will also be an opportunity for Minister Shorten to gain an insight into our community’s concerns, challenges and needs.

Tuesday, 16 July 2024

6pm - 7.30pm (Panel commences 6pm sharp)

Accessible venue: Register here (https://www.clareoneil.com/NDIS) for your free ticket and to be notified of the venue in Hotham closer to the event. Please feel free to contact the Hotham office at 03 9545 6211 or Clare.Oneil.MP@aph.gov.au with any questions or for registration support.

Clare wants to make sure you are heard even if you cannot make the event – so please email Clare.Oneil.MP@aph.gov.au with a question, story or feedback for Minister Shorten and they will collate as an insight into our community's needs.

Kind regards,

Clare

Early Finish June 28th

A reminder that Term 2 ends on Friday June 28th at 2:30pm. If you are unable to collect your child/ren at this time, please make arrangements for supervision with Camp Australia. CA’s holiday program will run throughout the fortnight ahead at a local venue (see Camp Australia page in this newsletter) and bookings can be made online.

Judy DREW

PRINCIPAL

School Holiday Programs