School Photo Day

Class photos and student individual photos will be taken on Wednesday, 9 March. We expect to see all students in full school uniform with black or white socks and school coloured hair ties. The day's running schedule is quite tight, so please avoid appointments for students on this day. It would be a shame for a student to miss their class photo. Year 6 students are asked to bring along their Year 6 tops and wear their black polos (if they have one) for their class photo.

All students have an individual photo taken for our school records. The Photographers will take leadership group photos on the day, time permitting.

Curriculum Days for 2022

Tuesday 15 March is our second Pupil Free Day for 2022. This follows the Public Holiday on Monday 14 March. Staff will be taking part in professional learning with professional consultant, Tracey Ezard. Tracey will take the staff through her framework – The Buzz - Creating a thriving and collaborative staff learning culture on Tuesday. Tracey is working with the staff throughout the year, as well as the leadership team on Ferocious Warmth, to increase their ability to balance both results and relationships.

The remaining Pupil Free Days are set for Friday 27 May and Friday 22 July. Students are not required at school on Pupil Free days as teachers and staff participate in Professional Learning. TeamKids offer a program for working parents.

Parent Contributions

Thank you to all the families who have paid their 2022 Parent Contributions or have contacted Sarah McDonell to set up a payment plan. If you need any assistance with parent contributions or would like to discuss your individual situation, please contact either Sarah McDonell or Lyn Rodda.

Staffing News

Louise Chalkley, one of our Integration Aides, has picked up an integration aide position for 2022 closer to home. We wish Louise all the best in this new role at Frankston Primary School. Michael Badrock, who worked as an integration aide in 2018-2019 has returned to his position at Solway after some time overseas. We welcome Michael back to Solway!

Swimming

Congratulations to the students who represented Solway at the Division Swimming on Tuesday. They did a fabulous job, with one student Ben S in Year 4 making it through to the Regional Swimming Championship on Friday 18 March. Ben showed great commitment to his swimming, making the effort to train every morning before school. This demonstrates how dedication and training support success! Congratulations Ben we wish you all the very best at the Regional event.

Bikes and Scooters

To ensure everyone’s safety, students are not permitted to ride their bikes or scooters in the school yard between 8:30am-3:45pm. We ask all parents and community members to follow this safety rule.

Clean Up Australia Day

A huge thank you to the 2021 and 2022 Green Team members and Mrs Sarah de Jong, who took part in our annual Clean Up Australia Day on Friday at Gardiners Creek – for a full run down please see the Sustainability section. A big thank you to the rest of the school for taking part in Clean Up Australia Day at Solway on Friday afternoon! It is wonderful to see our grounds looking cleaner.

Resilience Project Parent session

On the evening of Wednesday 23 March, Solway Primary School parents and carers are invited to join an online session with the Resilience Project. This marks the second year of our work with The Resilience Project. Staff are involved in professional learning throughout the year and are leading the students through the curriculum. With the challenges and complexities of the past few years, this is highly recommended for all families. Further information can be found in the Wellbeing section of the newsletter.

Working Bees 2022

Working Bees are a way to minimise maintenance and repair costs across the school, ensuring school money is spent on our students and school programs instead. We rely on Working Bees to complete a myriad of jobs including weeding, raking of leaves during autumn, clearing of drains, spreading of new sand-pit sand and soft fall under the playground equipment, and minor grounds improvements.

We try and minimise the impact on our families by staging these throughout the year and encouraging families to give only an hour or two of their time. The working bees are deliberately ‘short and sharp’. We hope every family will contribute to at least one of the Working Bees throughout the year.

Our first Working Bee for 2022 will be on Saturday 26 March 8:30am-11:30am, and will focus on a clean-up of the gardens and weeding. This will also involve some cleaning and recycling of old school furniture and supplies. A notice will be sent home soon to assist our planning. Due to COVID restrictions we are unable to have everyone convene together, so ask people to social distance when attending.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Lyn Rodda

Principal

Student Leadership