Hello everyone,

Here is the newsletter for week five of term four.

Today our year 5/6 students headed to Melbourne for a camp with our friends from Elphinstone, Chewton and Langley schools. We are looking forward to seeing the photos and hearing about all the fun things they get up to. Check out our Instagram and Facebook pages for photos of the camp and other school happenings.

Squishy Minnie Bookfair - on now

We have partnered with Squishy Minnie Bookshop to run an exciting bookfair full of amazing books - board books, picture books, fiction (early, junior, middle, young adult), graphic novels, non-fiction for everyone, non-fiction for grown ups, wellbeing.

Samples are available for viewing in rm 2 (drama & library).

The Bookfair will run until Monday 11 November.

Here is a link to the available books:

Here is a link to the order form:

Printed copies of both are available at the book display

Smile Squad - free dental for children

Last week the Smile Squad began their visit to Taradale PS, seeing a number of students. They be here today and tomorrow then finishing up. . If you would like your child to see Smile Squad there is still time and availability, you can fill out an online or paper consent (available at the office).

Student disco - this Friday!!

All students are invited to attend The Taradale PS disco on Friday 08 November 5.00-8.00 at The Taradale Hall. As this not a school event, all children will need to be accompanied by an adult.

A big thank you to the Parents and Friends Group for organising and supporting this fun event.

• Parent volunteers are invited to help with serving food and drinks food & clean up

• Gold coin donation at entry

• DJ Tim wants peoples song choice before the night. A song request box is in the hallway opposite the office

Grade 6 graduation

Our grade 6 graduation will be held on Monday 16 December 11.30-12.30 at the Taradale Hall. All school families are invited to attend.

We will confirm the date of the grade 6 dinner asap.

2025 prep transition

We have had our three weeks of fun sandpit play sessions, now we begin our formal transition sessions. During these sessions, students will spend time in the classroom without parents familiarising themselves with the school routine.

The dates for the formal transition sessions are:

Wednesday 20 November 9.00-11.00
Wednesday 27 November 9.00-11.00
Tuesday 03 December 9.00-11.30
Tuesday 10 December 9.00-1.00

I apologise if people aren’t available for all dates. If you would like to visit on other days, let me know and we can sort something else.

For the first three formal sessions students will need to bring a hat, fruit snack and play lunch. For the fourth session they will need to bring lunch in addition to the other items.

For those who can attend, I look forward to seeing you at the final sandpit play session next Tuesday – feel free to bring along your favourite sand toy!

Please share this transition information with anyone you know who may still be undecided about prep for 2025.

Drama performances

This year's drama performances for the Year 4/5/6 and 2/3s will be happening on Thursday 5th December.

DRAMA PERFORMANCE TIMES

Year 4/5/6JC and 4/5/6H- Alices In Wonderland

Parents seated in the Taradale Hall by 9.10am

Performance from 9.15-10.30am (it should only go for around 40mins, but I always like to allow for extra time)

Pack up 10.30-11am

Year2/3- What the Ladybird Heard Next

Parents seated in the Taradale Hall by 2.40

Performance from 2.45-3.15 (should only go for around 25-30mins)

Pack up 3.15-3.30

Prep/one

We would like to invite parents into a drama session on Monday 16th Dec from 9-10am (our final one), where you can see what the students have been doing and join us for some fun end of year drama games and activities.

Taradale Cricket Club - junior introduction programme

The Taradale Cricket Club will be running the junior introduction programme to cricket at Taradale Rec Reserve for 8 sessions split across Nov/Dec and Feb - for 5-10 year olds.

Cost is $66 - includes a cricket set and personalised shirt.

Registration link here https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/e3eb8e

Castlemaine Food Pantry

See the community update page for details of the community food pantry at Castlemaine Community House. Access to the pantry is free and anyone is welcome to use it.

Breakfast Club - term four roster

The link to the term four roster is below if you are able to assist:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lpb0Xy9bmjXjt-wPEwoyi4xl7_c1A4lkowDNP-YqIJc/edit

All dates for helping at Breakfast Club are currently available

upcoming dates

year 5/6 camp 06-08 November
Thursday 05 December yr 2-6 drama performances
Monday 16 December year 6 graduation 11.30am
Friday 20 December end of term four 1.00pm
other dates to be added soon

Chris

Christopher Burgess

Principal

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden