Dear Parents and Carers

Year 5/6 Camp to Canberra

What a fun filled week of learning! My child could not stop talking about it! They were on the go the whole time! Thank you for taking care of my child!

These were just some of the comments the staff and parents received after returning from camp last Friday afternoon. The Canberra camp provided the opportunity for our students to expand on their understandings of Civic and Citizenship. Some of the experiences our students had included;

Old and new Parliament House, including their own role play in the House of Representatives
The Election Commision- How elections are conducted and the process behind preferential voting
Questacon- experiencing science in an interactive engaging manner
The High Court- the students were fortunate to see a case in action ( electric car taxes)
The museum and the history of Australia
And many many more

A huge thank you to the staff and parents who attended Camp. It is a huge undertaking to be responsible for 65 students 24 hours a day for 5 days. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by our community.

Students from our school have recently undertaken an educational tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Upcoming Changes to the new Teachers EBA.

As mentioned to our Yr 5/6 parents at the camp information session there are new changes to the Teachers EBA (enterprise bargaining award).

One of the biggest changes is that teachers who are required to perform out of hours duties e.g camp, are to be provided with Time in Lieu. This is to recognise the valuable time taken away from their own families. The Time in Lieu element of the award however is not funded!! This means that as a principal, the staff and I need to be creative in the way we manage this.

Over the year you will see changes to the way staff are allocated to attend school events.

Please be aware that as a school we are committed to providing our students and community with the extra curricular activities that enhance the students learning and the community feel of our school.

Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Thank you to Rachael Jeffress and her crew of wonderful parents who cooked and served over 800 pancakes to our students on Tuesday. I know the students thoroughly enjoyed them!

Yesterday Fr Vinh celebrated Ash Wednesday mass with our community. As you are aware Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent. At the end of mass I asked the children to reflect on how they can prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is also the appropriate time for us to reflect on the same question.

Lunchtime Clubs

For those who are unaware the school offers lunchtime clubs throughout the week. The clubs provided include; Lego, car, dance, games, Minecraft as well as the library being open twice a week.

Below are pictures taken from the Yr 3/4 Minecraft ( education version) club held this week.

Have a great week

Brian

Parish Picnic