Principal's Report

Dear Parents/Guardians

What beautiful weather we are enjoying at the moment, it has had a positive impact on the start of term. I hope that you all enjoyed your Easter break. I would like to thank all those parents who were able to support our Food Stall on Easter Saturday. Despite being a bit quieter in town than normal, it was a successful event, with many helping out in the lead-up and on the day. A particular shout out to chief organiser Julie King and the time and skills volunteered in the kitchen by James Cleeve. 

I would also like to thank those parents who spent time meeting and organising the float for the Parade. It was a great success, and wonderful to see around half the school join in the parade. A fabulous turnout considering many were away for the weekend.

Renovations Update

At the end of term, our builders moved in and works have made great progress. Currently, the builders are finalising the works in the downstairs meeting/ intervention room. Once these works have been finalised we will move our library into this space. I thank students and families for your patience with the library.

Works continue as planned on the drainage and guttering project, with a focus on the roof over Mother’s Day weekend.

The corridor has been gutted, and it is exciting to see the space begin to open up.

As we know with any building project, timelines can vary. At this stage the project is on track and we hope to be finished around the end of term three, fingers crossed!

Thanks to those parents who are dropping off students at the top of the driveway. A reminder that any students arriving late or leaving early need to be signed in/out by a parent at the front office.

Due to the building works we have limited space for students arriving before 8:30 am. I thank those families who are working to accommodate this. Please note on the odd occasion you do need to drop your child off early, there is still space for this.

Wellbeing Opportunities

This term we are excited to be able to offer our Year 4/5/6 students exciting wellbeing opportunities.

Year 4/5/6 boys will participate in the Boys to the Bush program. 

https://boystothebush.org.au/ This is a great opportunity for our boys, thanks to Boys to the Bush in Wangaratta who have been able to accommodate all of the boys in our 4/5/6 group, as normally they have a maximum of ten participants. 

Year 4/5/6 girls will participate in Dragonfly Project: Empowerment Program for Girls and other wellbeing activities locally. Again an opportunity for our girls to focus uniquely on wellbeing. 

Wellbeing-focused activities for our F-3 students are being finalised and will take place later in the year, with a focus on connection to our environments.

On Wednesday 4th September we will welcome Georgina Manning to speak to parents with a focus on “5 Secrets to Develop Confidence and Resilience.” Georgina has worked with our staff previously and we are excited to have the opportunity for her to share her knowledge with our parent community in September. 

Class Spaces

At our recent School Council meetings we have discussed the use of spaces and how classes are working this year. I would like to commend all of our teaching staff and students for the shift in structure this year. Our Year 2-6 students have accommodated a larger number of students in the downstairs spaces, with a continued focus on learning, and awareness of others. Staff are working together in the classrooms to continue delivering focused learning for our students. 

It is a testament to all staff and students that despite a change in space, the focus particularly in literacy and numeracy sessions continues to support student learning and growth.

Lunchtime Run Club

Students from Grades 4-6 are invited to join the lunchtime Run Club. This will begin this Wednesday the 24th of April and occur every Wednesday at lunchtime thereafter. We will be running laps of the Hossie Grounds to build fitness at an individual level. It is not a competition in any way! We all know the proven benefits of fitness and the outdoors on wellbeing at any age- you might even see a few teachers join in (who knows!).

Pokemon Club

Our Pokemon Club has been going great and is very well attended by our younger students. The Club aims to teach the students the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The game is great because you don't actually "win" other people's trading cards- the cards you start with are the same ones you end up with. The school has two sets of the TCG for students to use, but students are also welcome to bring their decks to use. Mrs Bijker can help them set their deck up ready to battle. Pokemon Club will be held on Thursdays at lunchtime.

Our lunchtime clubs aim to build student engagement and well-being at a universal level. If you have any queries about our lunchtime clubs, please contact Mrs Bijker.