Principal's Report

And that's a wrap.... Congratulations to the AMAZING cast, crew and staff involved in putting together our wonderful whole school production, Zoo Trouble. This was the first time we have held a major event like this in our new gymnasium.  Both nights have been successful and our student performers have done a terrific job with learning their lines and practising their dances.  With both shows attracting large audiences, our students performed their songs with enthusiasm and brilliance, showcasing their talents in the performing arts. I would like to thank the school community for supporting such an event as well as our dedicated staff for their work leading up to and on the night.

All families will receive a link to the video recording of both nights of the production on Friday 20th October.

Planning for 2024

Whilst I think we have nearly all of our current family enrolments for 2024, if there is anyone out there who hasn’t completed the enrolment process yet, please do so asap. Term 4 is always dominated with planning for the following year, class and staff selection, budgets, enrolments and more. I ask that families please let the office know if they are intending to leave our school at the end of the year, as finding staff is incredibly challenging at this time of year.

Whole School Transition

Our whole school transition program will begin in November to help students prepare and adapt to their new year level in 2024.  The school is currently developing class structures and employing staff for the coming year.  In week four, staff will be asking their students to nominate four friends they would like in their class in 2024, this will assist them to create new class lists.  Students will usually get at least one of their nominated friends in their class.

In November, students will be placed into groups and will begin our transition sessions. The first few transition sessions that students participate in are not the final classes for 2024, but an opportunity for staff to observe different students together, making changes to groups throughout the weeks to find the best fit for each class.  Developing classes takes a lot of time as there are so many different factors to consider. 

The dates for our whole school transition sessions are:

Wednesday 22nd November

Wednesday 29th November

Tuesday 12th December (whole school transition day where students meet their 2024 classroom teacher and classmates)

Tuesday 19th December

Foundation 2024 Transition

Our first transition session for our Foundation 2024 cohort is on Tuesday 17th October from 9.30-10.30am.  Our staff are extremely excited to be welcoming this new cohort into our school and building relationships with these new students.  They have been busy preparing name badges and activities in preparation for this session.  Next Tuesday, students will be participating in a range of activities so they can start to become comfortable in this new setting and begin forming new friendships and relationships with different students and staff.  All transition sessions over the next few months will have a different focus and the more sessions they participate in, the more comfortable they will feel when beginning Foundation next year.

We are looking forward to welcoming this new cohort into our school.

Whole School Assembly

We have our second last whole school assembly on Monday 23rd October at 9:15am in the gym.  Our final whole school assembly, in which we will present our Year 6 graduating students will be held on Monday 11th December at 9:15am.

Traffic Safety and Consideration

I would like to remind all members of our school community to follow the road and parking rules in order to improve the safety and access of all of our children and as a courtesy to our residential neighbours when arriving or leaving school.  Could parents also please be mindful of the noise and language used around the neighbourhood. 

Please note that our kiss and drop off zone still remains at the bus stop, there is no kiss and drop zone out the front of the admin building, it is signed parking bays.

I will continue to work closely with the Casey Council's Road Safety Team and Parking Compliance Team, who will be monitoring, educating and enforcing compliance with parking at our school. 

Our School Community and residential neighbours appreciate your support with this!

School Run for Fun 2023

This year, our School Run for Fun will be held on Monday 20th November. 

Students will have brought home fundraising information on the School Run for Fun earlier this week.  More information about the day and how it will run will be communicated in the coming weeks.

Year 6 ‘Big Day Out’ Final Fundraisers

Our final Year 6 ‘Big Day Out’ fundraiser events for 2023 will be our Slinky Apples fundraiser on Wednesday 25th October and our ‘Bright Colours’ free dress day on Friday 27th October.  Participating in these days is a great opportunity to support our Year 6 students in their quest to reduce the cost for their final primary school celebration. Details regarding each event will be sent out to families through Compass.

Once these events are completed, Year 6 families will be provided with consent forms, including all the excursion details and final charges for the day.

Please speak to your child’s Year 6 teacher if you have any questions

World Teacher's Day

Australia will celebrate the teaching profession on World Teachers’ Day on Friday 27 October 2023.

The theme this year is ‘Hats off to teachers this World Teachers’ Day! ‘ On Friday 27 October, we will be showing our appreciation to our teachers for their skilled work in educating, inspiring and supporting our students with a morning tea and thanks from our students.

BYOD Information Night

In Year 5 and 6 students are highly encouraged to have their own laptops at school as this fosters the development of 21st century technology skills. Through this, students are able to access the Victorian Curriculum in a way that develops skills that students can use in Secondary School, when they join the work force and in their own personal lives.

On the 23rd of October parents of students in Year 4 and Year 5 are invited to participate in a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) Information Session from 6pm to 7pm. This session will provide families with information regarding the program and what type of device is most suitable to bring to school.  More information will be sent out regarding this session next term.

Walking Wednesdays

During the next few weeks we are promoting ‘Walktober’ to encourage students and families to walk or ride to school. Remember with active travel part of the way is OK, so feel free to park a bit further from school than usual and enjoy the short walk to school.

To support our students and families to get involved, we will be promoting ‘Walking Wednesdays’ for the next 3 weeks. These dates include the 18th October, 25th October and 1st November.  Each Wednesday students will be encouraged to walk or ride to school and classroom teachers will collect data to show how many kids have walked or ridden to school each day.

At the end of the three weeks we will announce a winning junior and senior class, celebrating the classes who had the highest number of students walking or riding to class on these Wednesdays. The prize will be an extra PE games session with Mrs Bevis or Mrs Murnane!

We look forward to seeing our community taking up this challenge and walking or riding to school.

Choc Tops for Sale!

After our Production nights we have found ourselves with left over Choc Tops that we would like to offer to the community to purchase in bulk at $30 for 10 Choc Tops until sold out.  Parents can purchase from the front office, please bring your own cooler bag for transport. These will be on sale from Monday.