Principal's Message
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
As we head into the final term of the school year we welcome back our families from the break. We hope that everyone was able to enjoy the terrific spring weather that finally appeared in the second week. With daylight saving starting the longer evenings are terrific, but this can make keeping bed time routines a challenge. We encourage parents to continue to focus on keeping routines that help their children get a good night’s sleep as this will assist them with the academic and social demands each school day brings.
A reminder that we currently have three staff on Long Service Leave. Sylvia Murray, our Year 5/6 teacher, is away for three weeks and is being replaced by Ben Stephens. Janelle Harms is away for two weeks and is being replaced in 3/4 by Sheree McGinley. We also have one of our Educational Support staff on leave, Claire Hilsdon, who is being replaced by Becky Blanchett. Again, I am reminded how lucky we are to have CRTs who our students are familiar with and know our school well. I am also proud of the strong commitment to clear and purposeful planning our staff make to minimise disruption when staff are away.
This term we welcome back Mr Kelson as Assistant Principal who will work three days a week, Monday – Wednesday. Ben and I will be working closely together on completing priority Term 4 tasks. Currently this is ensuring all planning is in place for our upcoming school camps. In week 3 we have the Year 1s heading off to an extended day trip to Warrnambool, the Year 2s having an overnight stay in Port Fairy and our Year 3/4 students heading off to Grampians Retreat for two nights. Later in the term we will have our Year 5/6s heading off to Sovereign Hill. We thank parents for supporting their children in being able to attend these camps as they provide important social and emotional development opportunities. This includes teamwork, resilience and confidence-building through the various challenges that camp and being away from home provides. We know the costings of sending your child to camp can be challenging, particularly with all camps happening this term. This has been area of discussion with staff and School Council on what we might do in future to alleviate this pressure on families. Any feedback from our parents around this is welcomed.
Two school values this term our staff and students are working on, in line with the purpose and challenges of camp, are Resilience and Relationships. As part of this it is important we explicitly teach students how to be resilient, get along with others and solve conflict or problems. A school wide approach we have introduced to students is the importance of using their WITS when someone or something is bothering you. This approach includes the four strategies of Walk Away, Ignore, Talk it Out and Seek Help. Small problems can often be solved with the first two but larger problems or ongoing problems need the support of adults. These are great strategies for all ages and also may be helpful for our families at home.