PRINCIPAL UPDATE
Dear Parents and Carers,
Chilwell Fair Friday March 31st 4-9pm
Under 3 weeks to go it is all action stations behind the scenes here at Chilwell. I cannot thank enough, the volunteers that have committed their time including Sarah Devlin and Calida Fifer for coordinating all food stalls, stock and supplies and Allison Henry and Sarah Jeremiah with novelty stalls along with Jo Cook, Ryan McCormack and Amarra Bowkett for marketing and promotions.
I would also like to thank all of the stall managers, such events cant take place without this support and hoping that many parents/carers sign up this week to volunteer some time with setting up, packing assisting with a stall.
Further Fair updates will be located in the Chilwell Fair 2023 page on this newsletter.
Respect Cup 2023
Grade 5 and 6 students enjoyed visiting the Respect Cup last week at GMHBA stadium to celebrate International Women’s Day. They were lucky enough to see football matches, St Joseph’s against St Patricks Ballarat, and then Sacred Heart play against Loreto.
We were the only primary school there and received really positive acknowledgment of our attendance. Past students enjoyed playing in front of current students, and it was such a valuable and enjoyable experience for our community.
Wellbeing
Cathy Burns and I continue our Melbourne University led course this week, Mental Health in Primary Schools. We have both really enjoyed engaging in this program comprising of three core modules; Mental Health Literacy, Building capacity and Supporting Need. A key strength of the Mental Health in Primary Schools model is to build upon existing school wellbeing and mental health structures while helping the education and health sectors to work together. Cathy Burns, our Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader will be supported by myself to build the capacity of the whole school around mental health and wellbeing through identification, promotion and prevention. We will build staff capacity to be advocates for and value student voice through research and evidence based strategies, creating clear supportive referral pathways through the promotion of a whole-school approach to wellbeing.
School Council
Thank you to parents nominating for school council 2023. Congratulations to Jo Cook, Evan Williams and Emma Purdue. I look forward to working with them this year alongside other parent and community representatives Tony Lee, David Meade, Kristy George, Nicky Muxworthy, and Domhnall McInerney and Department representatives Sarah Jeffreys, Louisa Blamires and one staff member to be confirmed. Thank you to India Hannam, who has completed her term on council.
New Website for Chilwell PS
We are thrilled to launch our new look website for Chilwell PS. The ‘Student Discovery’ section is a work in progress as we will be building this with the students, allowing their voice and agency to shine as they share their education journey and learning.
As this is new, there are still some features and finer points to improve. If you notice anything that requires fixing or is incorrect, please reach out and let us know – sarah.jeffreys@education.vic.gov.au
The updated website and newsletter format (and frequency) was based on parent feedback and we thank School Council for their support with these ventures.
Check out the website at https://chilwellps.vic.edu.au/
Grace Larobina – LOTE
After 14 years at Chilwell teaching Italian, Grace is finishing up at the end of Term 1 to embark on new projects and travel. We have been privileged to have Grace teaching here with such passion and enthusiasm for the Italian language and culture.
We wish her all the very best and look forward to hearing about her next adventures to Italy and beyond.
Have a great week all, and don’t forget to sign up to volunteer at the Fair.
Meg