Principal's report 

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People of the Kulin nation; past, present and those who will walk with us into the future.

We acknowledge the rich and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas, educational practices and the hopes of all First Nations Peoples. We do this in the spirit of reconciliation as we move to a place of justice and partnership - together we work, learn, play and care for one another and this land.

Term 4

Term 4 is always a very exciting and busy one at Kalinda. There are many highlights as we make our towards the end of the school year. Some of these highlights are our 5/6 camp, Yr 2 day camp, STEM dress-up day (see details below), 2024 Foundation transition sessions, Christmas Carols, and of course the Year 6 Graduation.

As well as being a time of celebration and reflection, it is also a great time for student learning. Throughout Term 4 it is really exciting to see new learning and concepts 'click' and the hard work done throughout the year translates into great learning growth.

The events of this term are only possible due to the support and time volunteered by our whole community. Thank you so much for the contributions you all make. Events such as our upcoming referendum day sausage sizzle are only possible because of the time that the P&F, parents, and staff volunteer to make this all happen. Thank you all so much.

STEM Day

Our Junior School Councillors have been working hard to put together our final fundraising event for the year and have decided it would be a great idea to celebrate Kalinda Primary School’s new specialist subject by having a STEM Dress Up Day.

Students are encouraged to dress up in something STEM related from the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics. These categories are very broad and we highly encourage you to think 'outside of the box' and encourage low-cost, homemade dress-up ideas.

STEM Dress Up Day will take place on Wednesday 25thof October 2023 (week 4) and we are asking that students make a gold coin donation via QKR in order to participate with all money raised going to Diabetes Australia. We look forward to seeing everyone’s creativity as we celebrate STEM Day together.

Staff Carpark

Can everyone please remember not to enter the staff carpark unless you have a valid accessible parking permit or have received permission to do so from me (which would only be given for a genuine reason). 

Extra cars going in and out of the staff car park create a safety issue for students and families at pick-up and drop-off time and there is very limited space.

2024 Class placements - well-being requests

We are currently working through our class structure for 2024. Setting the class structure, organising who teaches in each class, deciding which rooms they will be located in and arranging the students allocated to each class is an extremely complicated process that takes several months.

Whilst structured in largely single-year level classes at the moment, we may have to have some composite classes at certain year levels to ensure class numbers are not too large. In particular, we will ensure our 2024 Year 4 class is structured in a way so they have much smaller classes than the Year 3 classes this year.

As part of the planning process, students will have the opportunity to nominate 5 other students who they think they are able to work well with in their class. We cannot guarantee that students will be with one of their top choices, but we take many factors into account in order to create the best possible groupings.

Parent requests are welcome regarding other students your child will be placed with, but only if there is a significant reason for the request that would impact your child's well-being. We are not able to guarantee that we can meet your request, but we will take it into account. We are also not able to accept requests regarding the teacher your child will be placed with.

These placement requests with an explanation of the well-being rationale are to be sent to kalinda.ps@education.vic.gov.au and are strictly due by Friday 31st October.

Shaun McClare,

Principal 

Kalinda Primary School

We are kind. We are resilient. We are respectful.