From the Principal

Dear Families,

Gratitude: Over the weekend my family visited 4 different basketball stadiums from Altona, to Bendigo, from Colac and back to Torquay – all for my kids. Each of my three play representative basketball and one is in a state development program. As part of the development program, there are parent sessions on offer to learn more about how we can support our children. I was pleased to hear about the approach they take with gratitude and encourage the athletes to reflect on what they did well - even when they may not have played their best, missed a shot - or three! It made me wonder as a parent how I can build on this more with my three kids and even personally. As gratitude has been a long standing aspect of our school - let’s not forget to use it in the wider community too.

Barwon Heads Triathlon: I have had a few conversations this week with various families, and many have mentioned the triathlon over the weekend. From all reports there was some great work done, some friendly banter and friendly fire! Congratulations to all involved and to those who supported their partners in training and motivation, well done. Great role modelling for your children in many ways. 

School Photos: Monday 6th March – next week is our day where the smiles are on show, and we capture those precious moments of primary school. Read on in the newsletter for more information. Please ensure your child is in full school uniform ready to go on Monday. 

Camp Australia: The Out of School Hours Care is open for bookings for Friday 10th March – our school Curriculum Day. Please ensure you book early to secure a spot if needed. 

School Council: We have a wonderful School Council who are extremely proactive and sometimes we have new members join as some ‘retire’ from council. I would like to sincerely thank Victoria Byrne, James Hyde and Miriam Leahy who are moving on from council. These three have each been instrumental in supporting Simone as President and Kristy and I as school leaders. You leave council having contributed and worked hard to ensure we continually improve as a school. I am extremely grateful to have worked with you all. With these great people finishing up, we welcome Louise Daniels (who was a community member in 2022), Ross Gibson, Anita Mullick and Simon Brommeyer (as our new Community member) to the team. Keep your eye out in the newsletter over the coming weeks for their photo and short bio about themselves so you become familiar with our councillors.

Gabion Walls: This week we welcomed the tradies back onsite to install the protective coverings (Modwood) over the gabion walls (the rock walls down in the northwest corner). We look forward to having this area being more safer and more open to start term 2 – fingers crossed! 

Education Support: This week Kristy led a panel for vacancies at our school in the Education Support roles and we have appointed Finn Chappell to the position. Well done Finn and thanks to Ryan and James for supporting Kristy on this panel.

Evacuation Drill: Yesterday we enacted our Evacuation procedures for a fire drill. I am so pleased with how our staff and students enact their responsibilities to ensure we are all safe. Please keep these types of conversations going with your children at home so our staff can keep all students safe in the event of an emergency.

Prep Information evening: Last night Kristy and I watched our wonderful Prep teachers inform families about what is happening and what is coming up in Prepland. They gave families an insight into the curriculum, how they can help as families and understand what their little Grover is experiencing. A huge thanks to the Prep team and to all families who engaged in the evening. Great to see you all so invested in your child’s learning. Keep up the great work.

WINC Feedback: As always we seek to improve aspects of school. We thank those who have provided feedback around WINC and we will pass this on to improve the process. 

Have a fantastic week everyone.

Scott McCumber

Principal