From the Principal's Desk

Term 3- In the rear view mirror! 

A nine week term done and dusted with some great celebrations and achievements from all our students at Moriac PS! With three quarters of the term already complete and a rather busy term ahead with many major events and milestones, time seems to be slipping away. As our Year 6 students head into their final term of Primary School and transitions for our Preps  in 2026 the next focus, as well as students transitioning from junior to more senior classes into their next big steps, it is important to stop and take a moment to reflect, celebrate and look ahead with optimism. Our students laughter and voices are heard daily across our school and as I sit here writing this during a lunchtime break, you can't help but smile when you hear the joy young people project daily, one of the main reasons working in schools can be so rewarding. 

The cover photo featured on this page today is a picture of the students in Year 5/6 who participated in their senior elective Gardening program. This program was led by our Ed Support staff member Chris Kelly who has completely rejuvenated the veggie patch near the school playground. Chris helped our school attain grands that funded new plants, a shed and gardening tools and equipment! Swing by if you're ever at school to take a look. Thank you Chris, you're amazing!

RUOK? Day/ Jump off Day- Jump Rope for Heart 

RUOK? Day was a big hit this year for both staff and students who celebrated with many different activities, treats and even buddy sessions. Coupled with our Jump-off Routines that were created during their sport sessions this term, students really got to enjoy the day, promote health minds and bodies and some of this featured in our newly created Instagram page which is worth a follow. 

Miss Rhodes does a great job of keeping this page up to date!

Thanks also to Mrs Mather and Mrs Gleeson for organising many of the fun activities and treats on the day. 

As a school we raised $1,412 dollars for Jump Rope for Heart which is a really worthy cause!!

SunSmart Term 4

A small reminder that next term is a Sun Smart Term and therefore students will be expected to have their wide-brimmed hat for use at recess and lunch and during all outdoor activities. Please also make sure you child's hat is clearly labelled with their name to prevent sharing of hats as well as any bugs that might live in hair that we seem to have had many issues with this last term.

PNF- 

Working Bee- a reminder that our working bee is going to be held during the last week of the school holidays if you can spare some time and sign up, please see the poster for details! 

Fathers Day Stall- thank you to the kind mums that not only stocked the Father's Day stall, but manned it during the day allowing our young people the chance to purchase an item and gift it to their special person in their life. It was greatly appreciated!

Term 4 Fundraisers- 

Coming in Term 4 are a few key fundraisers which have been approved at School Council including the return of the Mango Drive, a new Tea-towel fundraiser which was sent out to families this week which will include a hand drawn picture of each student printed on the tea-towel and our annual Colour Run School Fundraiser. 

We appreciate our PNF crew and their efforts in this space!!

iPads to Chromebooks- BYOD program

During this year on School Council, we have had many conversations regarding iPads in our school and the effectiveness of their use, balanced with the many concerns that some families have with their child's regulation of the device once at home. One option which has been thoroughly investigated was the potential to change to an alternate device which better supported the skills we want our students to acquire in the tech space as well as support the technology curriculum we are required to teach.

As a council we looked at Chromebooks as an option which is a small and more compact, budget friendly, school ready device that offers everything a student needs for technology learning. 

Chromebooks have a 4-8GB memory with around 32-64GB storage dependent on the model and are a more suited device for schools. Chromebooks still connect to the internet at school and offer students the ability to learn to touch type and navigate a mouse and log in and out like we would on our own laptops and notebooks. In early August, a survey was sent out to all families in our school, asking you to indicate your preference whether keeping iPads or switching to Chromebooks was preferred. Overwhelmingly from the 90 responses we received, the preference to switch to Chromebooks was clear with 86% of responses in favour of Chromebooks.

The next decision that School Council then made was the preferred provider of our devices and how we would ensure we received the support and after sales service that we know we would want. I am pleased to announce that Edunet Computer Services will be the business we will be engaging with as we move forward which will include a custom built online portal for ease of ordering for our school. All accessories and warranties will also be able to be purchased through this portal, as well as services and warranty claims as part of the package.

Currently we are updating our BYOD Technology Learning Program Booklet and will send this out in the first week of Term 4 along with the information around the portal and how to order.

We will also be hosting a Parent Information Evening in early Term 4- Wednesday 15th October from 5pm where we will be explaining in detail further the new program and devices.

Edunet will be present with demo devices and our school technician Brody Frost will also be available for support. 

Please note, the BYOD program only requests that students in Year 3 in 2026, purchase the new device as a minimum and that there will be a slow change over period. Any family however, wishing to purchase the new device for their child in Years 4-6 in 2026, is most welcome to but we understand that this is an additional cost and we will support students regardless with a blended model as we change over with iPads and Chromebooks in use in Year 3/4 in 2026.

The school is also hoping to purchase some school-owned devices, however this will not be enough to cover all students and will be a good starting point overall. 

We thank you all for your support in this space and School Council for continuing to discuss this important element of education at our school.

Concert

We are excited and very much looking forward to our annual highly anticipated School Concert next term which again will be held at the Geelong Arts Centre.  Mr Smith has begun pre-planning dances, routines, song choices and costumes already and this is a hot topic in the staff room!

As occurred last year, there will be a limit on tickets initially when they go on sale to give all families the opportunity to buy first and then another allocation for whatever is left over. This year, tickets will be sold via the box office to alleviate the traffic and pressure on our front office and we will communicate this in term 4 after some further plans are finalised! 

Works over the holidays...

Finally I wanted to mention that over these school holidays there will be some works carried out which include some adjustments to some of our portable doors at school enabling the push button access as well as reconstruction of our disabled parking spaces in the staff carpark. I am aware that many families use the school over the holidays as a space to visit and bring their children so I wanted to give you a heads up that there may be some workers onsite at different times as well as the main driveway congested with some work vehicles.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school, we hope that you all have a safe and relaxing school holiday period if you are heading away and will see you all in Term 4.

Melissa Maccora

Principal