Principal's Report
Working Bee
We had a long list of tasks to be completed at our Year 2 and 6 Working Bee last Sunday. With perfect ‘working bee weather’ and an enthusiastic team of hardworking parents and students all tasks on our list and more were completed. It was really wonderful to see so many of our students working alongside their parents or on their own.
Thank you to the following school community members and families for helping to make both Campuses look extra neat and tidy or gave a donation: Ash family, Zillan Bagg, Mark Benton, George and Nuch Bilionis, Mark Bokser, James Brushin, Sam Burns, Dan and Elysia Ferguson, Dan Fine, Luke Fishley, Oren Flamm, Paul Foster, Aaron Freedman, Daria Gabriel, Frances Genovesi, Daniel Goss, Catherine Hayler, Holly Ife, Babak Kahvazadeh, Marlena and Vitaly Kiner, Adrian Koenig, Robyn Krawitz, Irene Lichomets, Liebhaber Leigh Family, Leon Lopata, Catherine McLoughlin, Tim McRae, Melissa North, Opperman Family, Viet Pham, Beth and Grant Poulter, Danny and Lisa Reiner, Carlos Schafer, Elad Shelzer, Andrew Smith, Amy Surkis, Andrew Sward, Thomas Family, Jennifer Wallman, Steph Wood, Shimi Zaguri and Vincent Zhang.
Sincere apologies if your name is not on this list but we appreciate your help all the same!
Thank you also to Nathan from Citywide who toiled hard all morning pruning and taking away most of our green waste.
Our next Working Bee will be for our Year 1 and 4 Families on Sunday 19th. May
The dates for the rest of the working bees this year are:
Term 3 – Prep and Year 4 - Sunday 18th August
Term 4 – Year 3 – Sunday 20th October and Whole School - Sunday 17th November
School Council
Our School Council Elections have been finalised: we didn’t require a formal voting process as we had five nominations for the five vacancies. Thank you to all those who have nominated to continue the valuable work of the School Council and support the school as we strive to improve and meet the needs of our community. Our new Council members will serve a two-year term and will come up for re-election early in 2026. Our new Council members are Amanda Berger, Rachel Bloom, Lauren Freeman and Kym Hayat. Lyla Hennig returns to our Council for a further two year period. Current Council Members from our community are Tricia Ciampa, Darren Krawitz, Lisa Liu, Leon Lopata and Nicky Martin. The Education Department employees serving on School Council are Julie Pitts, Judi Grossbard, Dimi Sfetsas, Christine Gesuato and myself. At our Annual Meeting, scheduled for Tuesday 26th March Council members will elect a President, Vice President and Treasurer from the 15 Council Members of the 2024 Council.
School Photo Day
School Photo Day is Tuesday 26th March. See instructions further in the newsletter about how to order. Sibling photos will be taken at a later date, mostly likely during Term 2.
World Down Syndrome Day
This Thursday, 21st March, is World Down Syndrome Day, it is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.
At Gardenvale we are supporting this day to help raise awareness of Down Syndrome by encouraging all our students and staff to wear mismatched, crazy and/or colourful socks to school.
Bush Bash
Next Wednesday, 27th March, at 2.15pm to 3.15pm we are holding our Big Bush Dance to raise money for the Cancer Council in memory of our loved colleague, friend and teacher, Sue Grant. This is a whole school event and will be held at the Senior Campus under the COLA - covered space. Students are asked to come to school dressed in their bush dance gear - jeans, check shirt, denim skirt or shorts as well as bring a gold coin donation. Parents and Grandparents are most welcome to come along and watch as the students perform the dances, they have been taught by Mr Pitts and Miss Cook during their Performing Arts classes.
First Aid
To all parents who have a child with a medical condition (Anaphylaxis*, Asthma, or allergies ) could you please ensure you have emailed an updated Action Plan to gardenvale.ps@education.vic.gov.au. (Recommended to be updated every 12-18months)
Any required medication must also be provided - clearly labelled with dosages and handed to either office and an authority form completed and signed.
*An Individual Anaphylaxis Management Plan ( IAMP) must also be provided for those students with Anaphylaxis.
For students with asthma a clearly labelled reliever and spacer must be kept in their school bag. Importantly these must also be taken by students to any excursion or sporting event.
Thank you for your assistance in helping us to ensure the wellbeing of your child.
Have a lovely week, for those celebrating Purim, hope it is enjoyable.
Janine