Term 4 Week 10 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 10 and the final newsletter for the year. There have been many accomplishments throughout the year and so much to be proud and thankful for. Many of these accomplishments have been listed and detailed in our school Yearbook, so make sure you order a copy through the QKR app for $25.

Last week we announced our School Captains for 2024. I would like to congratulate all students who were nominated for school captain and demonstrated their willingness to take on the role. We had many quality applicants, which is a credit to them and their families. Congratulations to the following students:

Laykin B

Jake K

Mackenzie C

Chloe N

This week we move through the remaining positions we have on offer for students in our school. They will be presented with their badges at the final assembly on Monday 18th December commencing in the stadium at 2.20pm. We will also be farewelling our Grade 6 students, families and staff that are leaving the school in 2024.

In our farewell assembly we will also recognise those students who have been successful in gaining scholarships as they move across to secondary school. Congratulations to those students.

Grade 6 2023 Delacombe

Phoenix Scholarship students

Kaylee R Community

Haydar V Academic

Reeni P Academic

Oscar D Academic

Benjamin H Academic

Ollie A Sport

Grade 6 2023 Delacombe

Ballarat Grammar Scholarship

Druv G Academic

On Tuesday 12th December student reports will be posted on Compass that will outline the accomplishments and growth of your child in 2023. We have been providing the reports a week earlier than previous years to provide any opportunity parents may wish to take up on what is written in the report.

On Tuesday 12th December is our Orientation Day (9.00 - 12.30pm) for our Prep students in 2024. It is also our “Meet the teacher” morning for Grade 1 to Grade 6 students. They will be informed of their classrooms at 9.00am by their current classroom teacher and then move to their new classrooms. We have a number of new staff joining us in 2024, that we look forward to making a difference in our school. Below is our classroom and specialist allocations.

Room	Class	Teacher
ROOM 1	Prep A	Ms Meg Sampson/ Ms Audrey Turnbull
ROOM 2	Prep B	Ms Hannah Smyth
ROOM 7	Prep C	Ms Jessica Sellick
ROOM 8	Prep D	Ms Bianca Gerrard
ROOM 3	Grade Prep/1	Mr Brendan Arriagada
ROOM 4	Grade 1A	Ms Helena Thomas
ROOM 5	Grade 1B	Ms Caitlin Story
ROOM 6	Grade 1C	Mrs Jessica Schwedes
ROOM 9	Grade 2A	Ms Jaime Skrobalak
ROOM 10	Grade 2B	Ms Rhiannah Dunstan
ROOM 11	Grade 2C	Ms Kellie Farquharson
ROOM 12	Grade 2D	Ms Emma Foster
ROOM 13	Grade 3A	Mr David Collins
ROOM 14	Grade 3B	Mrs Tanya Koenig
ROOM 15	Grade 3C	Mrs Deb Farnsworth
ROOM 16	Grade 3D	Ms Karla Bower-Hegert

ROOM 17	Grade 4A	Mrs Tess Watson (M,Tu,F)/ Mr Michael Columbro (W,Th)
ROOM 18	Grade 4B	Mrs Lauren Cottrill/ Kyra
ROOM 19	Grade 4C	Mrs Rebekah Richardson
ROOM 20	Grade 4D	Mr Brandon Egan
ROOM 22	Grade 5A	Mr Andrew Toan
ROOM 21	Grade 5B	Mr Josh Zerafa
ROOM 24	Grade 5C	Ms Brooke Jorgensen
ROOM 23	Grade 5D	Ms Lynn McCutcheon
ROOM 25	Grade 6A	Mr Daniel Welch
ROOM 26	Grade 6B	Mrs Emily Burns/Jess Bailey
ROOM 27	Grade 6C	Ms Olivia Jones

Specialist Roles:

Physical Education Mrs Suse O’Brien, Mr Adam Storey

Arts Mrs Mary-Clare Svilicic , Mrs Kate Peldys

Chinese Mr Jason Shorter

Music Mrs Aileen Shearer-Cox

Digi-tech Mrs Lucinda Wall, Mr Adam Storey

Tutoring Mrs Kyra Miller, Ms Gabby Williams

Music Mrs Aileen Shearer Cox

Our school in 2024 has grown to 570 students and we have placed those students across 27 classrooms. That is an average of 21 students per classroom which is lower than the average of what the department provides as a recommendation (P-2) - 22 students and Grade 3-6 - 26 students.

Below is the map of the school, the classrooms and the yard duty areas.

We also have a number of staff that will say farewell at the end of 2023. They are:

Jess Johnstone (Prep B)

Madeleine Pitts - family leave

Ryan Cox - moving to Footscray West PS

Abby Boyle - traveling overseas

Briella Christofferson (Fisher) - moving to Forrest St PS

Kate Austin - family leave

Rebekah Dawson - family leave

We wish them all the best and thank them for their contribution to the school.

We have some upcoming events that require some further explanation.

COLOUR RUN

On Friday 15th December we will be holding the Colour Run event at 2.30pm (NOT 12.00PM) on the school oval and it has reached over $20,000. More information is included in the Colour Run page.

PICNIC DAY

Below is a list of activities that will occur at the school on Picnic day. This will occur at the school and commence at 11.30am and wrap up around 1.15pm. The cafe will be open for parents.

How we encourage our students to manage student issues?

These simple posters have been created for classrooms for 2024 on how students are encouraged to deal with an issue at school.

There is a process for parents to follow in regards to student issues they may have.

BUILDING NEWS

We will have our Chinese and Music Modular building delivered to us on Tuesday 12th December. This building was purchased out of school self raised funds such as our DASH program that generates a profit for our school and goes back into school needs. This building allows us to keep class sizes low.

Our new P-2 area has opened and the younger students have had a wonderful time exploring their new space.

UPDATED POLICIES

SCHOOL HISTORY WALL

For some time there has been a team of people working on the idea of an Australian History wall that recognises the History of first settlement and our First Nation’s history in Australia. We are excited to announce that we are ready to proceed with this initiative for 2024. We plan to install two murals that recognise historical moments in our nation's history. These will be located in prominent locations in the school and we plan to utilise these murals in our school curriculum. They both indicate the timelines of significant events in Australia, Ballarat and in our school so that the students can recognise and connect with our school and country.

An example of our First settlement wall will contain the following (still to be finalised by Digital artist and dates continue up to 2020)

On behalf of the school we wish you all the best for the new year and look forward to seeing you next year.

Have a wonderful Christmas break – Scott, Marnie and Stephanie

Term 4 2023 & Term 1 2024 Calendar

TERM 4 2023

TERM 1 2024