Principal's Report

New Basketball Stands

The new stands are up and are certainly proving to be very popular.  Until the novelty wears off, we’ll give the 3-4s and 5-6s week-about access to the courts.

Hopefully contractors will be in soon to mark lines on the court.

Art Scholarship Program Update

Over the past few weeks, we have been using the newsletter to provide an update with respect to our 4 scholarship programs. 

This week we are featuring the Visual Arts Scholarship.  Thanks to Liz Morgan for this update.

A quick trip up the highway to the Scotsburn Campus each Wednesday afternoon has seen the Art scholarship team working both individually and collaboratively in a fresh, new environment. (Thanks, Mr Conlan! 😊)

Students have had the opportunity to contribute to the graphic design process with our Scholarship Teams’ T-shirts, which was a valuable experience in terms of creating art for a specific need and taking on feedback. Our T-shirts are now in production, and we are highly anticipating their arrival!

Students have also had the opportunity to explore a range of textile embellishment processes, creating decorative lab coats ready to protect their clothes during our Mural Painting unit. The focus for this task was on self-expression and experimentation, and it is great to see the students wearing them each week and taking the opportunity to add to them at home or during our sessions.

Mural painting has been our main focus for the semester, and students have been challenged to work in pairs or threes to brainstorm a message of encouragement that could be visually represented. After much discussion about the purpose of mural art and how murals could be installed along Simpson St to create a vibe of warmth, hope, happiness and growth mindset, students were encouraged to choose a specific message that they wanted to share with the school community.

We are aiming to have the murals completed before the holidays so that they can be installed and bring lots of colour and cheer to the fence-line for students to enjoy as they walk into school for Term 3. So much thought and planning has gone into their creation, and our artists have enjoyed learning some new techniques such as stencilling, spray painting, lettering and exploring paint markers. We can’t wait to present the finished products!

It has been fabulous to observe the teamwork behind the mural creations, and our artists have gained a lot from having the opportunity to bounce their ideas and seek feedback from fellow creative minds. The creative energy humming in the air has been the best part of being involved in this program from a teaching perspective, and I feel lucky to work with such an inspiring group of kids!

An Army of Helpers

At this time each year it can be a challenge to stay on top of the autumn leaves that fall in most areas of the yard.  Luckily, there is never a shortage of volunteers keen to use rakes, shovels, brooms, barrows and battery blowers to sort the problem.  The leaves don’t go to waste, as they serve as soft fall around the large log near the chook pen.

Changes to the Leadership Team  - for the last 3 Weeks of Term

I’ll be on Long Service Leave for the last 3 weeks of term.  Throughout this period Nicole Phillips will be Acting Principal and Paula Dekok will step into the Assistant Principal (Teaching & Learning) role. 

I’ll be back for the start of term 3.  In the meantime, I hope the term finishes well for you and that you have a nice mid-year break.