PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Arts Festival Night

We are very much looking forward to our Arts Festival Night next Thursday 21st March. This will take place from 6:00 to 7:30pm. We will have a selection of fun art activities for families to participate in on the night including creating Aboriginal Designs on Wooden Australian animals, UV Black Light NEON room, Marble Rolling Pin Paint, Collaborative Weaving, Chalk Drawing (outside), Bubble Painting, Collaborative Painting, “Draw a Masterpiece” (drawing lesson), “Art Rocks” (selfie photos) and lots of other fun art activities!

Raffle prizes will be drawn on the night and we can’t wait to see you there!

HDSA District Athletics

The annual Hamilton and District Sports Association (HDSA) Athletics Sports will also be taking place next Thursday and we will be taking a team of 59 athletes to this event at Mitchell Park. Children in the 9, 10, 11 and 12/13 year old age groups have qualified for this event through their performances and results at our recent School Athletics Sports. We wish our students well at this next level of competition and look forward to hearing of their achievements.

NAPLAN Assessments

The annual NAPLAN assessments for students in Grades 3 and 5 commenced this week, with Writing taking place on Wednesday, Reading on Thursday and then Language Conventions (Grammar and Punctuation) today. Numeracy assessments will then take place on Monday of next week and any “catch up” tests will be conducted as soon as possible over the next two weeks. This is the second year that NAPLAN has been completed by students in March, having previously been scheduled for May of each year. We are aware that NAPLAN can cause some anxiety among students (and potentially adults!) however it is important to remember this is just one set of assessments, conducted at a certain point in time. Whilst the data we will receive provides an overview each year on overall school achievement, when assessing student achievement teachers use a variety of data assessments over an extended period of time. Our message to the students has simply been to do the best they can, that’s all we can ever ask for. Well done to all of the students on the way they have approached and applied themselves throughout these assessment sessions.

State Little Athletics Championships

Personal achievements have continued for some of our students, this time with Alaska and Georgia, both in grade 4, performing exceptionally well in Melbourne at the State Little Athletics Championships. Alaska competed in the 10 years 1100m walk and finished 2nd overall whilst Georgia, also in the 10 year age group, finished 3rd overall in the 60m hurdles. Outstanding achievement by both students at this State Championship event – well done girls!

Easter Raffle`

Our annual Easter Raffle is fast approaching and we will be conducting the draw at our assembly next Friday. We are still seeking donations of Easter eggs for prizes, the more donations the more prizes we can offer. If any final donations, along with raffle books (sold or unsold) and money could please be sent ito the office by Tuesday of next week this would be greatly appreciated.

Friday Assembly

As mentioned above, we will be drawing the Easter Raffle at our assembly next Friday. To ensure we have sufficient time to conduct all of our normal proceedings along with the raffle, we will hold our assembly at the start of the day, to commence at 9:00am. Parents are encouraged to bring children to school and stick around for the ‘big draw’, hopefully many winners will be in attendance to collect their prize on the day!

AFL Clinics

Next Tuesday students in our Grade P-2 classes will be given the opportunity to participate in AFL football clinics with representatives from Football Victoria. Students will participate in a range of activities that will help them develop kicking, handballing and marking skills that we are sure will be a lot of fun!

Have a great weekend!

Ben Kelson

Principal

Hamilton OSHC