Principal Report

Dear Families,

It is an exciting term with all students finishing school at the same time. It is great to see everyone onsite again at the different pick up points.

KITCHEN GARDEN

It was exciting to have our official opening of our kitchen garden. Thank you to the school council members that were able to attend and to Sarah Connolly who officially opened the space.

We were fortunate enough to be awarded an Inclusive Schools Grant to create this space.

The aim of the kitchen garden program is to provide experiences for students of all ages to learn about growing food successfully and harvesting for consumption in an inclusive environment. The garden has paths that can be easily accessed, raised garden beds, different plants for sensory needs, seating throughout the garden as well as being a part of our Community Hub for the wider community to access.

Students learn about: 

• the fresh food cycle and growing process from seed to harvest
• native plants including Indigenous ‘Bush Tucker’ (food native to Australia)
• different growing conditions and seasons across Australia and which is specific to their local area
• safe use of gardening tools and their purposes
• discovering various types of materials to build gardens sustainably
• positive impacts of gardens on our environment, community, and families
• taking care of plants (pruning, mulching, supporting, maintaining plant health)
• responsible water use and conservation, discovering gardens as eco-systems with living creatures, composting and waste reduction, using produce in the kitchen

Students who are involved with this program have already begun transferring the skills learnt at school into their homes by planting winter vegetables, mulching and watering, and identifying and removing weeds to maintain healthy gardens. 

We want to build community involvement and sharing of knowledge across our diverse cultures. Support from families and community will be essential to growing this into a hugely successful program.

BUILDINGS

This week we met with the builders and we had a walk-through of the building site. It was great to see the two new buildings and basketball courts up close and see the amazing work that has been completed by the builders already. These buildings will be ready for our primary school students to use next year. Each building has a capacity for approximately 200 students. That is space for an additional 400 students for next year.

Later in the year, we will have tours through the new buildings and section of the school.

STAFFING TERM 2

We would like to welcome:

Robert Song - Performing Arts Teacher

Jing Jing Chen – Mandarin Teacher

Thea Canonigo – Speech Pathologist

Rachael Fisher – Grade 2 Teacher

Renata Rice – Secondary School Assistant Principal