Principal's Message 

Another wonderful week of learning and engagement in our classrooms this last fortnight. We have had the opportunity now to see our new timetables in action and it has been a great success. Specialist subjects spread throughout the week have allowed for greater core learning in our generalist classrooms, and calmer students transitioning to and from specialist classes. Many students, parents, and staff have commented about the changes and how they feel more relaxed come Friday afternoon, which is exactly what we were hoping for. It is early on in the year, we know there is a long way to go yet we are excited to build upon our positive start.

Parent Information Night

We greatly appreciate the time parents made to attend our Parent Information Night on Wednesday. We hope you found this useful and now have a clearer indication of the direction, organisation, and structure of our classrooms in 2024. 

Thank you to Kelly Club's, Josh, for running some tabloid activities for the children while the sessions were being held.

If you would like to speak to your child's teacher further then please make a booking with them. We do have regular weekly staff meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons so please respect these times. 

School Council 2024

Ever thought of being on the School Council? A school council can directly influence the quality of education that the school provides for its students. Parents on school councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a school council find their involvement satisfying and may also find that their children feel a greater sense of belonging.

The Ceres School Council consists of 12 members, 8 parents, 3 staff representatives, and 1 community member. It meets usually twice a term at 5.30 pm and is an opportunity for parents to have input into school operations. Our first School Council meeting for the 2024 council will be on Tuesday 19th March 2023. This will follow our AGM on the same meeting date which will commence at 5:30pm.

Four of our 2023 school councillors completed their appointments at the end of 2023 and therefore we now seek 2024-2025 expressions of interest for the 2 vacant parent positions (2-year position), 1 staff representative (2-year position), and 1 community member (1-year position). 

The 2024 School Council process will be run over the next few weeks (see timeline below). Please collect the various nomination forms from the office if you are interested.  These are available now. You can either nominate another person with their consent or self-nominate. Nominations will close at 4 pm on Monday, 19th February.

All nomination forms must be received by the Principal.

Please contact the office if you would like more information or pop by to grab a nomination form.

SCHOOL COUNCIL TIME/LINE

• Monday 12th February 2024  - Vacancies declared & nominations called for
• Monday, 19th February 2024  - Nominations close at 4.00 pm with the Principal.
• Tuesday, 27th February 2024  - If nominations exceed positions, ballot papers will be prepared and distributed for community voting.
• Tuesday 5th March 2024  - Close of ballot, if nominations exceed positions.
• Tuesday 19th March 2024  - Annual General Meeting and first meeting for 2024 School Council

Junior School Council 2024

Congratulations to the following students listed below who will be our Junior School Representatives for 2024. We are having an increased focus on student leadership across all year levels at Ceres. We value all student voices and cannot wait to see and hear about the wonderful achievements of our 2024 JSC group. Mr Murrell will lead this initiative and he already has grand plans.

Badges will be presented to our Semester 1 JSC reps today at assembly with Semester 2 reps receiving theirs at an early Term 3 assembly.

Yard update

Our new School Council climbing equipment is in and open for student use. It looks fantastic and has been immensely popular with the students on their morning laps, brain breaks, and, of course, at recess and lunch. 

A huge thank you to our School Council President, Emily Hansford, for all of her organisation and to the band of merry helpers that helped spread the soft fall mulch in record time on Saturday morning. 

Great news too with our ISF Playground. I had a call on Wednesday night to confirm that works will begin in early March and conclude before the beginning of Term 2. Please see the designs below of what will be a wonderful space for our kids. The equipment chosen meets the criteria required for the funding given perfectly and will look brilliant once complete. There will be some disruption in that area obviously, and a meeting next week will determine how we manage the space during the build. Exciting developments!

Punctuality **reminder**

We've had a positive start to the new school year in this department but there's always room to improve, therefore a reminder remains.

Please ensure all endeavours are made to ensure that children arrive at school no later than 8.45 am, to enable classes to commence on time and without interruption. If students arrive after 8:45 am they miss important introductions and instructions to learning sessions. This disadvantages the student who is late and also impacts negatively on the other students and the teaching time for the whole class as the teacher often needs to stop teaching to re-explain instructions to the late member of the class. 

Students who are late need to be signed in by an adult at the office and obtain a late pass before proceeding to class. 

If students are required to leave school early, parents are to sign them out the office also.

Subscribe to our Newsletter 

Our newsletter is private to our school community and is not shared on our website or Social Media.  However, you may want to have a grandparent or other family member be able to receive our newsletter.  If you do, you can subscribe to our newsletter with the link below and then when the newsletter is published it will go to them.  You can also subscribe if you would like to receive the newsletter directly into your email instead of via Compass.

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Reminder: Our student led Assembly is on today at 2:30 pm. (JSC badges will be presented today) 

Our assembly is a very important part of our school. It is an opportunity to proactively reinforce our school culture and expectations through the acknowledgement and celebration of our students and school. 

Have a great fortnight.

Tim Callaghan

Acting Principal