Principal's Report

What a great start to School Life for our Preps

It is with great excitement that we look forward to welcoming our Preps for their first Wednesday of school on 11th March. It has been wonderful to see the joy and enthusiasm radiating from each of the Prep classrooms, and how confidently the students have embraced their very first year of primary school.

The children have settled beautifully into school life and are already becoming familiar with daily routines, classroom expectations, and new friendships. We are so proud of the positive way they have begun their learning journey and look forward to watching them continue to grow in confidence and independence throughout the year. Here are some wonderful photos of the children actively engaged in their classroom learning and thoroughly enjoying a treasure hunt in search of the ‘Green Sheep’! It was delightful to see their curiosity, teamwork and excitement as they followed clues and explored their surroundings together.

Working Bee

A reminder that we have our Working Bee for the Year 2 and 6 families on Sunday 15th March from 9.00am to 11.00am. We encourage and would love to have many families, Mums, Dads, and children attend and help make our grounds and buildings spick and span!

District Swimming Carnival

On Thursday 19th February 32 of our Year 4 to 6 students represented our school at the District Swimming Carnival at the GESAC complex. Our students gave it their best as they competed and cheered their peers on. We were very excited to hear that Gardenvale came first overall in the competition and won the Balaclava District Ian Thorpe Trophy!  Thank you to Kirsten Travis, Nathan Grant and Sharon Westwick for their organisation and support of this event and to all the parents that were able to be there at GESAC to cheer and encourage the swimmers. Eleven of our students have qualified to represent the Balaclava District, in the Beachside Division Championships on the 24th March. 

Year 4 to 6 Camps

It's been a very busy couple of weeks with school camps. Our Year 6s were on camp last week at the Ranch in Boneo, and Year 5 at Camp Wyuna, Queenscliff. This week it is our Year 4s heading off for a three-day camp at Arrabri Lodge, Warburton. An extraordinary amount of work goes on behind the scenes, by our teachers and admin team prior to the camps taking place, to ensure all runs smoothly.  I am so grateful to our amazing staff who have, or will, give up time away from their family and normal activities to enable these camps to happen. Camps can’t run without this, so my sincere thanks to all teachers, teacher aides and parents who attended and worked so hard to give our students a fabulous and memorable experience. 

NAPLAN 

Next week from Wednesday 11th to Friday 20th March, the Year 3 and Year 5 students will be undertaking the annual NAPLAN tests. Students in both year levels undertake assessments in numeracy, reading, writing and language conventions (spelling, vocabulary and grammar). Students will be completing the NAPLAN tests online, except for the Year 3 Writing test.

Curriculum Day

Last week, School Council approved a Curriculum Day on Wednesday 27th May. This will be a Report Writing day for teachers. The day will be ‘Pupil Free’ and Team Kids will be running a full day program.

Have a lovely long weekend,

Janine