Our theme for this year is

STEP UP! BE MORE!

It has been wonderful having all the children back onsite. We are all starting to settle back into the routine of school life, although, despite last week being a short week it seems that everyone was just a little bit exhausted. It is great to be able to welcome Annika and George in year one and Alexander in Year 3, who are all new students to our school. We hope they are feeling very welcome in our school community.

Thanks to those who filled in our MACSSIS surveys. Your responses will help inform our direction for the next four years.

Swimming Prep - Year 4

We have just been given the go ahead for our swimming program. The children in year Prep, One, Two, Three and Four will commence a 2 week intensive swimming program from Monday 29th November - Friday 10th December. More details will be sent home with the permission forms at the end of the week.

2022 Organisation:

We have begun the process of organising our class structure for next year and in the coming weeks teachers will be beginning the process of organising classes for 2022. Teachers take a broad and balanced view when considering the needs of all students. It is our intention, as always, to provide well-balanced class groupings. To achieve this, we must consider the academic, emotional, social, and behavioural needs of all students. Teachers draw upon their collective knowledge of the students and expertise to arrange the classes. Individual parent requests, compromise this process and inevitably inhibit our capacity to deliver balanced classes. Therefore I ask parents to refrain from sending messages about the placement of students for 2022 to classroom teachers and school leaders.

If you feel there is a need to have an issue of placement discussed, please make a time to come and see me before Friday 19th November.

Calendar Changes:

There are a few dates we have started to confirm for our end of year events. We will not be going ahead with all our usual events due to density limits and vaccination requirements. However so far we have confirmed the following:

Year 5/6 Camp to Harrietville on the 29th November - 1st December

Year 6 Graduation on 7th December - for fully vaccinated parents and all year 6 students

Year 3/4 Sleepover - date TBC

Billy Cart Event - students only - date TBC

Bakers Delight Lunch - 19th November - rescheduled from earlier in the year

School Advisory Council Meeting:

We have our next SAC meeting on Tuesday 9th November at 7.30 p.m. via Google Meet.

Prep 2022 Orientation sessions:

We have the first of our Prep 2022 orientation sessions on Thursday 18th November at 2.45 p.m. The children will work in the performing arts area with St Kevin's staff and fully vaccinated parents will attend an information session in the library. Those who are not vaccinated will be able to join via a google meet link and drop off and pick up their children from outside the performing arts room.

Uniform Update:

We have decided to make a slight alteration to our uniform rules for the remainder of the the 2021 school year. We are aware that some children may well have grown out of their school shoes or other items of school/sports uniform without having hardly worn them. Rather than asking you to buy new things now, we have decided on a compromise. From now until the end of the 2021 school year the children will be able to wear either their school uniform or their sports uniform any day of the week. Whatever uniform the children choose to wear must be worn correctly - i.e. if choosing to wear the summer dress or school shorts and polo then school shoes must be worn, if wearing the sports shorts and sports polo then runners would be worn. School sox must be white with both the school uniform and the sports uniform (No other colours are permitted - despite children's preferences). Obviously we still need the children to wear their sports uniform on the days they have sport.

If we find children abuse this rule and start to mix and match uniforms or wear items that are not part of our uniform then we will have to rethink this decision. Please support your child to wear the correct uniform - whether it be sports or school uniform. If everyone does the right thing, then we will be able to continue this way until the end of the year.

School hats will still be compulsory outdoors - NO OTHER HATS CAN BE WORN.

We have a no hat no play policy in Term 1 and 4, which will be enforced from Wednesday 3rd November.

Once the 2022 school year begins, and all children have school shoes and uniforms that fit them comfortably again, we will go back to only wearing sports uniform and runners on the days the children actually have a PE/Sport lessons.

We hope this helps a little and means you do not need to go out and buy new shoes or replace items of uniform that have become too small. We do however, have a second hand uniform shop that parents are welcome to purchase required items from if needed. See Robyn in the office.

A stark reminder about the tragedy of covid and the importance of vaccination.

Please read. https://apple.news/A4d79DB7TQbidfb_dIGgN4g

Covid Reminders:

Get vaccinated
Please ensure you and your children stay home if unwell and get tested
Regularly check the Covid exposure sites list on the Vic Gov website and follow the instructions listed
Continue to practise good hand hygiene
Please do not enter any of the school buildings/learning spaces except the school office.
We encourage you to email or phone if you have inquiries/messages rather than come onsite.
Please remember you must wear a mask and register using our QR code if you need to enter the school office.

2022 Enrolments:

If you are aware of anyone who has a child starting prep in 2022 please encourage them to contact us for an enrolment pack. If you have a child starting school in 2022 - feel free to access the enrolment form on our website or by accessing the link below.

Kindest regards

Frances Matisi

Principal

Wellbeing/Curriculum News