From the Principal
Thank you Bunnings Epping
At assembly on Monday 1 June, we had the pleasure of welcoming Priscilla and Julia from Bunnings Epping so we could acknowledge their generous donations for our Mother's Day stall. Bunnings generously donated plants and naughts and crosses boards to the school. The plants were sold at the stall and what was not sold, will be planted into our school gardens by the Gardening Leaders.
The naughts and crosses boards will be used for our Christmas Raffle in term 4.
We really appreciate donations from our community for our raffles and stalls. Every extra dollar we can raise makes a big difference to our school.
Our next fundraising activity will be the Father's Day stall in September. If you know any businesses you think would be willing to make a donation to stall, please let the office team know.
Coffee and Chat
It was lovely to have so many parents attend our Coffee and Chat on Monday 15 June. These sessions provide an opportunity for families to get to know each other and also provide an opportunity for us to share any exciting school updates.
Those who attended the catch up had the opportunity to meet Ollie and Walter who are training to be our new therapy dogs starting in term 3. Ollie is Grace's fur baby and Walter is mine.
Grace, Olllie, Walter and I have been completing on line and face to face training over the last four months to complete our Level 1 Therapy Dog Training Course.
Therapy dogs are linked to improved engagement and wellbeing from students and staff. Many of our students have already been engaging with the therapy dogs who have been visiting the school on a Friday during terms 1 and 2. Having Ollie and Walter at school will also help further boost everyone's wellbeing. Stay tuned for more updates in term 3.
Student Leaders
It is great to see our student leaders from Junior School Council, Gardening and Cyber Action being so active in our school community. In recent weeks the Gardening and Cyber Leaders have been conducting lessons in classrooms, the JSC arranged a very successful Crazy Dress Up Day. The JSC are hoping to raise enough funds to put towards a special fun event to run on House Sports Day. It is not something we have run before but it promises to be a colourful day! (I can't reveal more, my lips are sealed)
I think the desire to help others and make a positive difference in our school is one of our students' best qualities. From my experience, our students LOVE to help others!
The results on the 2026 Attitudes to School Survey reflected the high value our students place on having a say in what happens at our school. The grade 4-6 students who completed the survey in recent weeks, rated Student Voice and Agency at 81%! This is our best ever result for this factor of the survey.
We will be unpacking the survey results this week with our Student Leaders and I look forward to hearing what other adjustments they think we can make to further boost our results.
Holiday Fun
This will be the last Jumbunna for this term. We will finish at 1:45pm on Friday 26 June for a well deserved two week break. Even though the weather may be challenging, I encourage everyone to try to spend quality time outside and away from devices. There is so much beauty to be found outside if we just raise our gaze away from our screens and look at the world around us.
Spending time in nature, helps boost our mood and mental health. I recently spent some time in The Otways and was blown away by the gorgeous fungi I observed. You don't need to go to The Otways to enjoy the Autumn leaves or flowers and fungi can be found in the suburbs too. Remember, look BUT do not touch!
Whatever you do, stay safe!
LINDA RICHARDS
PRINCIPAL