Ryan’s Rambling 

Dear Families,

It seems as though our hot weather may finally be coming to an end. I know that many of our staff and students have battled with the constant heat over the last couple of weeks. Some more rain and relief would be most welcome! 

Our Grade 3 and 5 students embarked on their NAPLAN journey this week, with Writing and Reading tests being completed on Wednesday and Thursday.  At this time of year, there is considerable focus on NAPLAN. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy for communities to consider teaching and learning as aspects of importance; however, I do hold concerns about the unfair and unnecessary pressure that performance does place on our young people. 

I always like to remind our students that NAPLAN, whilst it is valuable to us as a school for feedback on the efficacy of our craft, does not measure how fast you can run, how creative you are, how musical you are, how kind and empathetic you are, or just how special you are. 

On Wednesday of next week, our school is hosting our annual Parent Helper Training, for parents and family members who are willing to volunteer in our classrooms. This training will cover the very important Child Safe Standards, as well as discuss our instructional approaches. If you are interested, please contact the school to book at seat. The training is from 9-10am on Wednesday, in the library. 

We have a couple of key fundraisers happening at the moment. Our annual Easter Raffle, and Hot Cross Bun Drive are both open. We thank the many parents and community who have donated Easter goods for our prizes, noting that the cost of Easter Eggs seems to have increased this year! Our Junior School Council really appreciates your patronage to support our school. Details are in this newsletter, if you are interested. 

Finally, we are looking at projecting our 2026 enrolments, before the beginning of Term 2. If you have a child starting Foundation next year or know of any families who are looking to enrol their child at Dana Street, please get in contact with the office as we are running school tours in the coming weeks. 

I hope you all enjoy the cool changed forecast for Sunday. 

Have a fantastic weekend.

Ryan 😊