From the 

Assistant Principal

Welcome back!! Wowee it feels like Winter has hit us out of the blue. I hope everyone had a restful, safe and enjoyable holiday break. The end of a great week back and we already feel like the holidays are far behind us. This week I spent three days on camp with the 5/6s in the beautiful log cabins setting in Creswick. A great reminder of how healing and nurturing nature is for the soul, in fact forest bathing is now taking off around the world. 

Quick updates this week as there has been a lot going on!

FOODBANK

Foodbank is supporting two great initiatives at our school. 

BREAKFAST CLUB

We know this is a tough time financially for many families. Don’t forget that all children are welcome at Breakfast Club, which runs from 8:30am every school day. Our friendly volunteers love seeing a lot of kids enjoying breakfast together, so do come down! Please ensure your child/ren are comfortable in knowing their own food intolerances and allergies and able to make correct selections as due to confidentiality, Breakfast Club volunteers do not have access to information about all the allergy and medical conditions across the school.

FOOD PARCELS

The Foodbank are delivering parcels of non-perishable food items on a weekly basis, we are in the process of setting up a convenient way for families to pick up some food for home if there is a need. We are planning towards having this set out for collection after every Assembly this term. In order for this to be successful, we need to set up the space to store and monitor supplies and organise for easy distribution, as well as find regular volunteers to set out the food for collection. Like the Breakfast Club, all families are welcome to collect items as needed.

If you have any time between 9-11am on the morning of Friday 3 May, we would love for you to join us for a mini working bee to get this wonderful initiative started. If you are available, please contact the office with your name and child/ren’s name by COB Wednesday 1st May so we can reach out to all the volunteers nearer the time. Alternatively or in addition, if you would have time on alternate Fridays to help set up food during assembly time (2:45 – 3:45pm) every fortnight commencing Friday 10th May) we would also love to hear from you. Note, for both volunteering opportunities, you do not have to be available every time nor for the whole time. Every little bit helps.

Importantly, we currently have some food available, so please don't hesitate to let your classroom teacher, the office or Ms Thompson or Ms Wan know if this would help your family. 

As always, if there are any other supports your family needs, please reach out. We work regularly with local services to connect families with external support. 

SECOND HAND UNIFORM SHOP

Our wonderful volunteers and donors to the 2nd hand uniform shop have helped us to raise $1500 so far which supports those families who are unable to finance camp attendance and helps to ensure our young people get every opportunity they deserve. If you are having financial difficulties paying for school activities, please contact the office for how to apply for the CSEF and if you would like support with paying for camp or excursions please do not hesitate to let any one of our staff know. 

Please continue to bring in clean unneeded uniform items, including shoes, bags. We are also often in short supply of spare underwear and socks for accidents at school, if you are willing to donate new items for this, we would be most grateful if these could also be dropped off at the office.

Thank you once again for being such a wonderful, inclusive and supportive school community.  

Trish Wan

Assistant Principal