Dear Parents and Carers,

It is the sixth week of the term and we are well over the halfway point of Term 1. We have been well and truly blessed with the weather this term and that was no exception with weather on the Grade 3-6 Athletics day. It was terrific to see so many parents and carers attend the House Sports day and support their children. Mr Storey and Mrs O’Brien managed to organise an efficient day with it all running to schedule with the highlight being the parents winning the relay race at the end. The end result was a win to Moneghetti house (Green House), followed by Blue, Yellow and then Red. Thank you to all those extra supportive parents who in the Parents and Friends food area that raised further funds for the school.

This week I will be attending the Grade 6 Camp with the students and staff. Our Grade 6 students will visit various sites such as the Shrine, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Ice Skating in Docklands, the Melbourne Aquarium, the Melbourne Gaol and visit the Queen Victoria Market. Camps are a great way for our students to learn about new things and experience it with their classmates and we appreciate our school staff supporting our camping program for the 2 nights and 3 days.

On Monday this week we also had our Grade 2s commence their Swimming program and enjoy a 5 day program amongst the continued warm weather. Our Grade 5s and Grade 6s will experience their program in Week 7.

PARENTS AND FRIENDS SPORTS DAY LUNCH

A huge thank you to the Parents and Friends who organised the sports day lunches on Friday 28th Feb. The fundraising from Parents & Friends is valuable funds that the school uses to enhance the school grounds. Last year the funds were used to upgrade the back entrance to the school. This year we will be accruing the funds to look to put towards a new Grade 5-6 playground space.

Parents and Friends helpers in action - 29 classroom orders delivered at 1.30pm! Great effort from all involved. The next big event is the Easter raffle, followed by the Mother's Day stall.

DELACOMBE PS SCHOOL FETE FRIDAY 28TH MARCH 4.30 - 7.30pm

At the moment we have over 40 stalls that will be operating on the night of our Delacombe PS Fete. There is a variety of food stalls, games and rides and activities for kids to do on the night but the majority of the stalls will be cash only.

The Fete fundraising will go towards the planned Grade 5-6 playground for 2026. The anticipated cost of this will be approximately $150,000 to remove the current one and install a new one.

Please see the Fete page for more information.

Sport the yard duty supervisor

At times we have children say to their parents they couldn’t see the yard duty supervisor. In the morning play and lunchtime play we have a number of staff (up to 4 teaching and

ES staff) in every significant playing area. We encourage students

to see the staff on duty when an issue arises that can either be dealt with on the spot or

may need further support.

The pictures of staff in various locations show a number of staff on duty.

Lunchtime programs

We pride ourselves on providing a range of lunchtime programs for the students at playtime, to provide a sense of connectedness to DPS. The Library and Deck areas are open every day from 2.00pm for quieter activities and are staff supervised. Below is a list of activities available for our students in the school.

Communication platforms

We have three main forms of communication to parents and the school community. These communication platforms are:

Compass

Compass is a parent portal that provides

parents with information on the following:

• Excursion/Camp Notes

• All news items

• Attendance notifications

• Reflections received

• Sick Bay entries

• Student reports

• Newsletter links

For student wellbeing issues:

Contact your child’s classroom teacher explaining the concern. This can be done via Compass email.
Your classroom teacher will then respond.

School website

We have our school website that is updated over the year. You will find information such as:

• Policies

• School enrolment forms

• DASH enrolment forms - https://www.delacombeps.vic.edu.au/d-a-s-h

• Key information about the school in Teaching & learning and Wellbeing

• Key staff

School Facebook

We have our school Facebook page that looks to promote weekly and daily activities. It can also be used as a reminder to certain events that are occurring. Parking around the school

We understand that parking and collection of children is a challenge in a school of over 600 students however safe parking and driving is extremely important to ensure no child is injured or hurt. Please keep this in mind.

Advanced Notice:

Some key dates and events coming up:

March 12th -March 21st is NAPLAN testing for our Grade 3 and Grade 5 students
Next assembly is Friday 21st March at 2.30pm

Have a great week – Scott, Marnie, Stephanie and Michael