Welcome to the Week 9 Newsletter!

We have had a busy past couple of weeks at school since our last edition of the newsletter. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to families for the hold-up in receiving the email with the link to our Week 7 newsletter. The Department's system had a major outage and this saw the newsletter be held up in sending and arriving with families until the following week. This has since been rectified and we are hopeful of no further issues. I appreciate everyone's understanding!

Sports Day 2024

Today was a wonderful celebration of Sports Day! This was my first taste of a Marion Sports Day and I was incredibly proud of the efforts of everyone involved. Some special mentions to Ros Mazurek for your outstanding work in coordinating and organising such a smooth and successful event. To our teachers and staff, thank you to each and every one of you for your work in ensuring you were prepared and ready to run the day with students and classes. A massive thank you to our students for your amazing sportsmanship and participation in a fun-filled day. Thank you to the Fundraising Committee and parents who were able to help out in the lead-up and on the day! Finally, to all of the families and our community, thank you for all of your support of our school, our students, and your children.

We will have a special Sports Day page and a report regarding the event in our final newsletter for the term in Week 11. Keep a lookout!

Pupil Free Days and School Closure Day - Approved by Governing Council

Our Governing Council has now approved all of the Pupil Free Days and School Closure dates for 2024.

The approved dates are below:

Monday 29th April 2024 (First day of Term 2) - School-based Pupil Free Day
Friday 9th August 2024 (Week 3, Term 3) - Partnership Pupil Free Day
Monday 14th October 2024 (First day of Term 4) - School-based Pupil Free Day
Friday 6th December 2024 - School Closure Day - a day of local significance following the School End of Year Concert on Thursday evening.

Canteen changes to take effect from Term 2

Alice and the canteen staff have been working with the Governing Council regarding the ongoing financial feasibility of our canteen services on Thursdays. Unfortunately, the sales and trade on a Thursday for over-the-counter sales are not financially sustainable to continue to offer. In an agreement between the Governing Council and Alice on behalf of Manna Food Services, we have decided to no longer offer over-the-counter sales on Thursdays. We will however continue to offer the usual lunch order services that will be brought to school and distributed to students as per the usual process. We appreciate our community and families' understanding with this necessary change to our canteen service.

Learning Conversations

Learning Conversations are taking place at school over the next two weeks following the Easter Long Weekend. Our late night is Tuesday 4th April. Thanks to everyone who has already booked in. If you haven't booked in yet, it's not too late. Please contact your child's classroom teacher who will arrange a mutually agreeable time.

Governing Council Subcommittees

Our Governing Council had their first meeting for the year in Week 8. During the meeting, we discussed the processes of our Governing Council subcommittees and how we can further improve engagement with families. We wish to provide a final call to our community if you wish to be involved. The subcommittees we have are:

Grounds
Fundraising
Sports
OSHC
Finance (School and OSHC)

There is no requirement to be a Governing Council member to join any of these subcommittees. We welcome the involvement of any interested parent. These subcommittees meet in Weeks 2 and 7 (the week proceeding Governing Council meetings) of the term at a convenient time for the committee members.

If you would like any further information about the subcommittees or to register your interest, please contact the Front Office.

Coffee Mornings with Deny (PCW) are back by popular demand...

We are planning to recommence coffee mornings with Denys in Term 2 starting on Tuesday of Week 1. These will occur each fortnight on a Tuesday morning of the odd weeks of Term. We look forward to seeing as many families as possible come and share in a cuppa to start their day! Many thanks!

SRC News

This week, classes and the SRC have decided on the charities we will support through our fundraising this year. Please see below for details. More information to come on our Term 4 fundraising initiative.

	Charity	What	When
Term 1	R.S.P.C.A	Casual Day	Last day of term	Gold Coin Donation
Term 2	Make a Wish Foundation	Casual Day	Last day of term
Term 3	Smith Family	Casual Day	Last day of term
Term 4	Red Cross	TBC	TBC

Have a safe and happy Easter Long Weekend

I would like to wish all families a wonderful, safe, and happy Easter Long Weekend. We hope you have a relaxing time with families and friends and safe travels to any of our families who are away and on our roads over the weekend.

We look forward to Learning Conversations and the final two weeks of term.

Regards,

Guy Walmsley

Principal

Important Dates

Term 2 - Calendar dates