Primary

Thursday 31st  October, saw the school ground filled with zombies, witches and all manor of spooky costumes for our Halloween Dress up Day. The students participated in Halloween related activities through the day in their classes and welcomed the brief distraction from the normal routine. 

The Melbourne Cup weekend was a welcome break for families to cool their heels before the crazy train ride into the end of the year. I know the staff welcome this opportunity to get ahead of the game with some planning and admin tasks as they prepare for the assessments and report preparation that happens at the close of the term. 

After the fun of our dress up day for Halloween and the four day break for Melbourne Cup weekend, the Primary team have been very focussed on keeping the children on track, to ensure that they are completing all the necessary learning required before they move onto their new grades for 2025. There is always a mix of tiredness and excitement as we prepare for what’s to come as well as tying up loose ends for the year. 

As term 4 rolls along, the students are enjoying participating in the swimming program. We hope that this will equip them well for the summer ahead when they are around water. With a couple of interruptions to our Mondays, we are now on a smooth run for the rest of the program. 

As I mentioned previously in a Compass news feed, we will be switching over to Auslan as our second language next year. Chris Floyd will be taking all the classes for the program along with the support of the classroom teachers. She will be sending home some resources for the children to practice at home, and we invite you to join in with them to learn some Auslan yourselves. 

The Year 4,5 and 6 students are enjoying their Setting Up Shop unit this term. They are learning about the basics of setting up a business such as coming up with a business plan, doing market research, developing products, advertising their business and setting up the stall for their Market Day. The Market will be held in G Block from the beginning of period 4 and run into lunchtime on Friday 22nd November. Parents are more than welcome to come along to support the children and there will be more information on this event to come. 

On Monday 11th November, Remembrance Day, I took our Primary College Leaders on the train to Watsonia RSL as our representatives at the annual ceremony. Hazel and Elsa proudly laid a wreath at the cenotaph on our school’s behalf. We also attended a presentation for this year’s RSL ANZAC scholarship which is awarded to a year 6 student who demonstrates the values of mateship, courage and commitment. This year we nominated Zack Wolfe for this award. It comes with $400 to contribute to books, uniform and requisites for Year 7. We congratulate Zack on his achievement. 

Our move to Friday afternoon assemblies has been very successful. Our new leaders have now taken over the reigns and they are doing a very professional job. Don’t forget parents, that you are more than welcome to join us. It is a nice way to wrap up our week and reflect on and celebrate what we have been doing, as well as setting up for the week to come. 

Just a gentle reminder, to ensure that your children have a hat to wear when they are outside at school. The policy from the Education Department now is to ensure that students are wearing protective clothing such as hats as well as sunscreen when we have days of UV ratings of 3+ which is most of the time at this stage of the year. It is acceptable for the children to wear a spare hat in the meantime, if you are arranging to buy them a new school hat. If the students do not wear a hat in the school yard, they are asked to stay in the shaded areas for their protection. 

Please let us know if you are planning on moving your child/ren to another school next year, as soon as you are able to confirm, as we are in the middle of planning classes and staffing for next year and we need this information to inform our arrangements. 

Karen