Principal  Message

Hello everyone,

It has been a very quiet week up at school with our Grade 3 - 6 students away on camp. This afternoon there were some very tired faces as students, parents and staff got off the bus. I am sure they will all sleep well tonight. 

I managed to get down to Mt Eliza yesterday to visit and I was very impressed with the facilities, the activities they were doing and the food. I arrived just in time to celebrate Dan's birthday with everyone. The students loved the 2 huge homemade sponge cakes.  Most of all, the children were enjoying themselves and taking full advantage of the games and outdoor activities during their free time. The GaGa pit was very popular, ping pong, basketball and tennis.

The students represented our school well and by demonstrating our school values and adhering to our Schoolwide Positive Behaviour expectations. I heard stories of students comforting others in their cabins at night, sharing things when someone forget something and generally just finding ways to resolve any issues that arose in a calm and respectful manner. The camp staff gave a glowing appraisal of our students behaviour and expressed how lovely and committed our staff are. Yesterday I had 5 minutes quietly enjoying a coffee on the bench overlooking the grounds and I was able to watch all the children playing various games with the backdrop of the sun shining down on the ocean and I was reminded of how lucky I am to work in such a wonderful school community. 

I want to thank the parents who came along to help again. Thanks also to Rick for organising the camp behind the scenes and for the teachers and education support staff that came along as it really is a 24/7 commitment. 

Art Festival

We are on track with our Arts Festival as we approach the 3rd session for the student's art projects. Don't forget to put the 30th of August down in your calendars for our evening Arts Show and Performances. The itinerary keeps growing as Kirsty and Eliza find more ways to dazzle us on the night. The multi aged groups are a nice change as the older students support the youngers ones with their projects. It's a great chance for teachers to get to know different students from different levels and for students to make new connections. Kirsty has arranged to have the whole process photographed and videoed so we can see how each of the projects developed across the term during the Tuesday Workshops.

We are hiring a large marquee for the occasion to help us with unpredictable weather, so we are doing everything we can to make sure the event is Melbourne ready!

2023 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey

Our school will be conducting its annual Parent Opinion survey. If you are selected via a random sample selection process, you will soon receive an email requesting you to complete the survey.  The Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. The survey is optional, but we encourage all families invited to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.  

Book Week - 21st August Parade

For over 75 years, the Children’s Book Council of Australia has promoted Children's Book Week®. Along the way, the fun of the book character parade has become a focus point, but really the week was designed to promote the love of books and reading. 

A meta-analysis of 99 different studies on early years exposure to books found that when children are exposed to book reading from an early age, it begins a ‘causal spiral’; being exposed to books stimulates language and reading development, and in turn children who are more proficient in comprehension and reading skills choose to read more. Significantly, this study looked at every age from preschool to university and found that the gap between readers and non-readers widened every year, culminating in greater academic success in university. There is also some evidence that people who read more live longer, and that reading fiction boosts social skills such as empathy.

This year, Book Week is this week (Aug 19-25), and the theme is Read, Grow, Inspire.  All classes celebrate Book Week in the classrooms and complete book activities as they explore the power of the book.

For our new families the Book Week Parade traditionally takes place on the Monday morning of Book Week and students are encouraged to dress as a favourite character from a book. The students parade their costumes in each year level and there are prizes of book packs given out. All parents are welcome to join in the fun.  The big question on everybody's lips is what will Katie wear as a costume will this year. Last year's efforts of a blow-up Hippopotamus suit representing 'There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake' was very impressive indeed. Can she beat it this year?

Carpark safety

Just a reminder that if you are parking up the top to drop off or pick up children, to not park in the no-standing zones across the street from the main gates or park in the zebra stripes in the staff carpark area. The bus is unable to turn or back out safely when cars are parked there. We are also aware that children crossing that road up the top to get to their car can be dangerous as the bus is blocking the view of residential traffic on Forbes St. 

Have a great weekend.

Nieta