Assistant Principal's report 

Taking a break

Mr McClare is taking a well-earned break visiting family in Japan. As a pretty fluent Japanese speaker Mr McClare is looking forward to coming back and sharing his experiences with our Japanese classes. 

As we head into the September holidays, I'm hopeful that we can look forward to some warmer weather and the opportunity to get outside, stock up on Vitamin D, and air out the winter germs. I hope that you will take the opportunity to afford yourself a break as well. 

According to Beyond Blue, taking a break helps to manage stress and build on well-being. They say "Being busy all the time doesn’t always mean you’re getting more done. It can make you less productive and also lead to burnout." Consider how you will prioritise some time to do that for yourself, and most importantly - don't forget to be specific in how you speak about it with your family - this sets a great example to children of healthy well-being practices. 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Team Kalinda in its entirety for a wonderful term. Staff, students, parents, school dogs, extended families, volunteers, and cheer squads: we couldn't do it without you!

Disco

Despite the wild weather on Friday, our Daytime Disco was a huge success, and the students had such fun. It was lovely to see them really 'letting their hair down' with some pretty fancy dance moves and lots of laughs. Most heartening was the long list of gracious volunteers who gave their time and good humour to organising and supervising such a wonderful event. We are so fortunate to have such an active community and we are very grateful to the Parents and Friends team and for everyone's time. 

Hats

With the weather warming up, it is a good time to ensure that your child has a broad-brimmed hat for the playground and sport activities. It is compulsory to wear one outside at school (PE, playtimes, class games, gardening etc) from Day 1 of Term 4. There is also warmer weather beginning this week and we are strongly encouraging students to begin wearing hats from now. 

Parent-teacher interviews

We feel so fortunate at Kalinda that we have a community so strongly and actively interested in their child's school life, and the strong attendance at our Parent Teacher Interviews is evidence of this. Teachers enjoyed the opportunity to discuss your child's progress and next goals with you, and as always, we welcome your feedback on the process. 

Research from longitudinal studies has shown that an active home-school partnership, where parents or carers are involved in their child's learning has a definite impact on student academic outcomes as well as psychosocial adjustment and wellbeing. You can read more about this research in places like here. 

Furniture update

Our Grade 6s were excited last week to take delivery of new furniture for their classrooms. This is the beginning of a planned rollout to occur over the next few years and we started our process by surveying Grade 6 students about their preferred furniture types and best learning environments. It was really fantastic to hear from students who obviously very clearly understand their learning needs. 

Playground works - please be aware

During the holidays there will be some works in the yard, including rebuilding the steps up to the Foundation playground, power cleaning of the stadium exterior and a mandatory Division 6 Asbestos Audit in our school toilets (as part of our toilet upgrade). 

The Asbestos Audit will be happening on the first Saturday of the holidays (16/9) and we recommend no visitors to the grounds. The main school buildings will be inaccessible to all visitors and staff. In other parts of the holidays please just be aware of moving vehicles and equipment.

Dates to remember

Our Save the Date page has some key dates for 2024 already so if you are planning holidays or other special family events please take note of our term dates, camps, and School Photo Day. 

Footy Maths Day

Our Footy Maths Day is this Friday, students and staff will be joining in on some fun footy related activities both outside and in the classroom. Don't forget a sports outfit with a number between 1-99 to join in our traditional number challenge. Although my beloved Saints bowed out with grace, I will be proudly wearing Red White and Black nonetheless! 

Due to our Footy Day assembly, there will be no Pupil of the week this week. Assembly will be held at 2pm in the stadium and students will be dismissed from there at 2.30pm (end of term early dismissal).

Take care Kalinda, you are very important to me. 

Lauren Hopkins