From the Office

Dear Families,

Welcome to Week 3! We are enjoying a few weeks of uninterrupted learning at school at the beginning of this term, before a number of excursions and activities later in the term. Kitchen Garden has been a hit with Fried Rice Lettuce Cups and Savoury Muffins on the menu so far. Likewise, it has been pleasing to see many students sinking their teeth into some quality reading time at home, achieving well over 100 nights of reading so far this year.

Food Share Boxes - Just one more reminder please to return the cardboard boxes your family's Foodshare Hamper came home in at the end of last term if you still have these at home.

NAPLAN Results - This year's NAPLAN results were released last week and individual results were sent home with students. Once again, it was wonderful to see that many of our students are excelling into the Strong and Exceeding categories. These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, the ongoing support of our families, and the commitment of our teaching staff. Whilst NAPLAN is just one measure of student achievement, it provides valuable information about students' literacy and numeracy skills and helps us celebrate their progress and identify areas for future growth. We are particularly proud to see so many of our students demonstrating high levels of learning and achievement. Their results reflect the strong focus on a positive culture for learning we have here at Raywood PS; something all of our school community should be proud of.

School Photos - Our School Photos have been shifted again and will take place on Wednesday 26th August, first thing in the morning. The positive of our photos getting bumped back is that it gives families another week to get their order in. A reminder that the best way to order your photos is online. Please speak to James or Taylah if you need a hand.

100 Days of Prep - Today at school we celebrated 100 Days of Learning for our Prep students! A wonderful milestone to celebrate as it helps us recognise just how much our little learners have grown since starting school. It is always amazing to see the confidence and independence our Prep students develop, in such a short time.

Private Vehicle Travel Notes - Thank you to those families who have returned their child's Private Vehicle Travel Note which was sent home at the end of last week. The challenge of not quite all fitting on the bus anymore is a good problem to have and we are committed to ensuring that we can continue offering the variety of experiences we offer at Raywood PS, without that meaning costs become significantly greater by needing to hire a larger bus.

Upcoming Events

Please keep an eye on uEducateUs as this is where permissions and activity information will be communicated. Whilst at Raywood PS we make every effort to significantly reduce the costs of activities offered at school, some activities across this term will incur a cost to families. Where this is the case, we will make sure plenty of notice is provided.

Grade 3-6 Cluster Athletics - On Wednesday the 12th of August, Grade 3-6 students will be travelling to the Bendigo Athletics Track to participate in Athletic Sports with our Campaspe Cluster schools. Students will need to wear their school uniform shirt and wear suitable shorts/pants for competing in events along with runners/sports shoes. Please send along some extra snacks/fruit in the lunch box and a drink bottle. As students will be travelling by car and we haven't had to hire a bus, there is no cost for this activity. Families are very welcome to come along and spectate!

Science Week Incursion Day - To celebrate Science Week this year; on Thursday 20th August we will be holding a whole school Science Incursion Day with the team from Supreme Incursions visiting us at school. Over the course of the day, both classes will participate in fun and engaging Science and STEM based workshops. P-2 students will be participating in a Toy Science session, 3-6 students will participate in a Shelter Building session and then all students will come together in the afternoon for a Billy Cart building workshop. This activity will be partly subsidised by the school, with a cost to families of $58 per student. Payments can be made either via a Bank Transfer or Cash payment to the school. Families may also elect to utilise CSEF funds to pay for this activity if applicable.

Book Week Excursion to Bridgewater PS - On Friday 21st August, our school will be travelling across to Bridgewater Primary School to join them for a joint Book Week celebration day with our shared MARC Library teacher, Mrs. Rees; just like we did last year when Bridgewater came across to us for the day. This will be our Book Week Dress Up day as well. Students are encouraged to come dressed as a character from a book or story they love! There will be a Costume Parade in the morning for those families who may wish to travel across to Bridgewater to join us. For the remainder of the day, students will participate in a rotation of activities based around short-listed picture story books from this year. We will be travelling to Bridgewater PS by bus, with a couple of students travelling across in a staff member's car as well. There will be a cost of $7 per student for this excursion which will go towards covering bus travel costs for the day. Payment can be made by:

Cash payment to either James or Taylah.
EFT Bank Transfer to school account.
If your child has CSEF funds, this amount can be deducted from remaining CSEF. Please let James or Taylah know if you would prefer this.

Term 3 Swimming Program - In the last four week of term, all students will be heading to the Gurri Wanyarra Swimming Pool in Kangaroo Flat to participate in our Term 3 Swimming Program. We will be travelling by bus for our swimming program and as this program is supported by our school's yearly swimming funding, there will be no cost to families. Students will need bathers for swimming, a change of underwear, towel and we also ask that all students have goggles please. Please send all of this in a different bag to the normal school bag. Students will need to wear school uniform to school in the morning and then we will get changed into our bathers before heading across to the pool.

Further Term 3 Events - More information will be shared about these further Term 3 events in the coming weeks:

Student Learning Conferences
Rushworth P-12 Carnival Excursion
The Song Room Concert
Campaspe Cluster Science Day Excursion
P-2 Room On The Broom Theatre Excursion

Term 4 Events - Some future notice as well about Term 4 events as we have a number of camps that will take place in the first few weeks of term:

Grade 5/6 Anglesea Camp: 19th-21st October
- Further information will be sent home about Grade 5/6 camp in the coming weeks. As communicated earlier in the year, we anticipate the cost to be about $400 per student.
Whole School Melbourne Camp: 2nd-3rd November
- Further information will be sent home about our exciting whole school camp in the coming weeks. This camp will be heavily subsidised by school, with a cost to families of $50 per student.
Grade 3/4 Kookaburra Camp: 9th-11th November
- Further information will be sent home about Grade 3/4 camp in the coming weeks. As communicated earlier in the year, we anticipate the cost to be about $300 per student.

2027 Prep Transition - We are looking forward to seeing our 2027 Prep students again for some further transition later in the term. This term we are planning to run three transition sessions, from 9am-11.30am. These will be held on:

Tuesday 18th August: 9am-11.30am
Wednesday 2nd September: 9am-11.30am
Tuesday 15th September: 9am-11.30am

We are still accepting Prep enrolments for next year for any young ones not yet enrolled at school, please contact our office for further information and to book in a visit to our school.

Student Awards - Congratulations to our Friday Award winners across the first two weeks of term. Very well deserved!

It was also wonderful to be able to award Reading Night awards last week, including to a number of students who have reached their 100 Nights. Keep up the great reading!

Thanks Everyone,

James