Principals` Message

Week 6 news

Starting school is an important and exciting time for all children and families. Over the next three weeks we are very excited to be welcoming our new 2024 Foundation students for transition to school!  Each Thursday from 9.30-10.30am starting 16th November we will be running our prep transition program. Some of the important learning that will take place is about what happens at school, meeting our new classmates and staff, and having fun at school. There will also be learning for parents and carers taking place at the same time. We look forward to meeting our new students and their families next Thursday.

Lately many of our students have brought Pokemon cards and Beyblades to school to use in games with friends. It is great that our young people want to bring games to school but we need to remind them to be careful about bringing special toys and games. Sometimes at school special things can be accidently damaged or broken, lost and misplaced, or there can be confusion about swapping and keeping of prized possessions. We want to encourage our students to be creative and imaginative in play and games, but perhaps to leave special things at home to keep them safe.

Over the coming two weeks we will be running a lockdown drill at school for students and staff. Evacuation and lockdown drills are an important part of preparing for possible emergencies that can take place at school. If we have regular practice, then if we ever have a real emergency everyone will know what they need to do calmly and safely. All schools are required to run two emergency drills per year as part of emergency management. A lockdown drill will involve everyone sheltering in place in their classrooms, making sure classrooms and the school building are secure. It will run for a few minutes and our staff will prepare their classes for the drill before it takes place. 

The warm and hot weather has now arrived and it has been glorious out in the yard during play and lunch break. Given how hot it is, I would like to remind everyone that all children are required to wear a broad brimmed hat, bucket hat or legionnaires cap when outside for PE or playtime. Children should also bring a water bottle to school and make sure they are drinking lots of water during the day. Any student without a hat will need to stay in the shade during breaktimes. 

Outside School Hours Care

Recently school council made the decision to open a tender process for our OSHC program and open the OSHC provision up to other providers. There are several reasons for this decision being made. Firstly, our agreement with our current provider, Big Childcare, is due to expire and now is a good point to evaluate the program and hear what other providers can offer. School council have also received some feedback regarding the current service, indicating that it would be a good time to hear from other providers. Ultimately, we aim to provide the best possible program for the children and families in our school. Expressions of Interest have been sought for the OSHC program and school council will soon be evaluating the submissions from interested companies. We look forward to providing further updates over the coming weeks regarding our Outside School Hours Care program.

Building Works Update 

This week on Wednesday I undertook a site visit at George St to check on the progress of the building works. The good news is that there has been a huge amount of progress over the past two weeks! The upstairs rooms have now been painted, lighting has been installed and the storage cupboards are being installed. Carpet in the upstairs rooms is being laid this week and the first floor is moving closer to completion. Painting has begun on the ground floor, with almost all plastering work finished. Cabinets and storage are also being delivered and installed in the ground floor spaces as well. Externally there will be a lot of work taking place from this week onwards. The external fences are being replaced with palisade fencing, which will provide a great lift to the school’s appearance and security. The front of the school on George St will see some changes, with the car park entry moving northwards for a new crossover and a pedestrian gate replacing the existing entry. Landscaping works are also commencing this week, with the area around the building receiving works for a new design. 

The building works are getting closer to completion and we are still expecting to have George St back next year. We are currently working to complete the 2024 plan and will be sharing through key information in our next newsletter.

-Nathan Moore & Andrea Hennessey