It's kinda hard to believe that we are already in week 6 and Summer is behind us. It is almost so far in the term that we can no longer say, 'we have had a great start to the year'. Although, we have actually had an awesome start to the year! Our Foundation students commenced full time last week and are flying, plus our One/Two, Three/Four and Five Six students are soaring.

Parent/carer learning

Thank you to the families that joined us last week for our first parent/carer learning session, we trust that there was some value in there for you. Our goal this year is to lead more opportunities for parents/carers to learn with us, as we continue to improve the way we meet the needs of all students. In the coming weeks there will be some information shared about our Math Pathways in Five/Six, so stay tuned for that being published. There will be more opportunities are to come, please feel free to share your feedback and ideas. This way we can plan and schedule even more meaningful opportunities to learn together.

Community, Inclusion and Equity

Some very important international dates this term have further supported our learning and perspective in our central idea of Community this term. Off the back of the World Pride Festival in Sydney, celebrating Australia's brilliant and diverse LGBTQIA+ community, we rolled into celebrate International Women's Day, on the 8th of March! International Women's Day encouraged us to 'imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.' To further advocate, celebrate and recognise the beautiful diversity of our country, Harmony Week is coming up on the 20th of March. Harmony Week is 'about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.' These three important dates in the calendar, fortuitously at the start of the year, highlight the amazing diversity that exists in our community and encourages us to be leaders in it and live by that top value of ours... INCLUSION.

Students across the school are learning about community; who makes up our community and how they can be leaders within it. What better way can we build the next leaders in our community than by cultivating a true appreciation of the rich and diverse community we live in. Please continue the conversation at home about the value and importance of diversity and inclusion in our community, visit any of the websites linked above to find out more and support your discussion.

NAPLAN

Next week sees the start of our NAPLAN testing period, much earlier than we are used to. I just want to wish all of our students all the best for a successful NAPLAN testing period. Despite the early start, all students participating this year are well and truly ready to showcase their absolute best.

New School Council 2023

Our new school council for 2023 kicks the year off later this month, with some new faces joining the mix. A huge welcome to Debbie Harris and Benjamin Coss, who will be joining the council as parent members and Elyse Dickeson, who joins as a DE staff member. Looking forward to another great year ahead.

A huge thank you to last years' members who are not continuing into this year. Your contribution has been nothing short of amazing and the school definitely appreciates your commitment. John Kapriris, Scott Burns (DE) and Emily Lidgerwood (DE) all finished their time in our council coming into this year - thank you.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank one final member who not only completed their tenure as a school council member, but completed their time as president. Trent Danaher represented our community as the school council president through 2022, his contribution and dedication to our entire school has been a tremendous support for our work. We saw many significant achievements at Aberfeldie across 2022, with Trent being supportive and actively involved in many of them. Your work as president was greatly appreciated.

Final Note

Ticking over the halfway point of the term is an important milestone. One that we can pause and look back at how far we have come so far this year. Also one where we can take a breath and continue moving forward to our goals and targets. It is truly exciting to see how far we have already come this term, and it is hard not to be excited about what is to come ahead of us.

There are many important messages in this Newsletter, especially in the Assistant Principal Report and Imporant Dates & Events. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this information and support our work.

We hope that everyone enjoys the upcoming long weekend and are ready to dive into the second half of the term from Tuesday.

Team Kids