Principal's Report

Principal Report

Year 3-6 House Cross Country competition - TOMORROW

Our year 3-6 students will all be taking part in our House Cross Country (running/walking) event on Friday 28th February. Students will be walking with their teachers and classes to Southern Reserve in the morning to take part. Students will be taking their hats, water bottles and will be wearing their House Colours (red- Freeman, blue-Fraser, green-Bradman, yellow-Perkins).

Parents/carers are encouraged to come along and 'cheer on' students as well as act as support for teaching staff along the running route. Many thanks to those parents who have already volunteered to assist on the day. Please contact Nick Fergus (PE teacher) if you are able to assist tomorrow morning.

Brain Food

Brain food is generally something that is healthy/ sugar free, can be held in the hand without mess (eg. not yogurt), and generally wrapper free.

Examples might be: whole fruit, carrot sticks, celery, etc. Brain food is not a 'snack' food like chips.

The children eat fruit or vegetables at around 10.30am in the classroom and we call this time “Brain Food”. “Brain food” is an opportunity for students to take a break from learning and reinvigorate their brains by eating a healthy snack. It is a very healthy habit for the children to develop and assists with their concentration in class.

During this time children are only allowed to eat fresh fruit or vegetables and non-processed foods (eg carrot sticks, celery).

School Council Election Update

At the close of Nominations, the following nominated candidates have been duly declared elected.

Parent Membership Category:

1. Jade Horua

2. Aleisha Kinross

3. Naveet Legha

4. Amanda Lewis

Having called for nominations for 4 parent representative positions, we had 6 parents self-nominate for School Council membership. 

Additionally, the following parents have been co-opted into School Council in the Parent Membership Category (filling a one year vacancy):

Paul Scolaro

Andrew Muller

We are incredibly grateful to those parents for volunteering their time. 

School Council currently has a further casual vacancy in the parent member category. Any parent interested is encouraged to make contact with myself or administration staff, and complete co-option the form available at the office. 

I would like to welcome and to thank our new, and returning members, whose official school council duties commence on Wednesday 26th March. This meeting will also include our Annual Report to the school community.

REPEAT REMINDER: NAPLAN commences Wednesday 12th March – Year 3 & 5

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy. 

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.  

Our 2025 NAPLAN assessments for students in Year 3 and 5 are scheduled for Term 1 this year. All of the assessments this year are occurring online, except for Year 3 Writing which was a handwritten assessment.

For students who may be absent on the day of the assessment, we are arranging ‘catch up’ tests during the testing period, so students should be able to take part in all assessments, despite short term absences or illness. 

This is the schedule for NAPLAN at ARPS.

Parents or Carers who would like more information about NAPLAN can follow this link:

https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-information-brochure-for-parents-and-carers.pdf

Student Attendance - Every Day Counts 

The following extract comes from the DET website: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/studentattendance.asp.

‘We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.  Missing school can have a major impact on a child’s future – a student missing one day a fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end of the year.  By Year 10 they’ll have missed more than a year of school.  There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.  Coming to school every day is vital, but if for any reason your child must miss school, there are steps you can take to ensure they don’t fall behind: 

• Speak with your classroom teacher and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up. 

• Develop an absence learning plan with your school and ensure your child completes the plan. Remember, everyday counts.  If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher as early as possible.’ 

Labour Day Public Holiday and Pupil Free Day

Please be reminded that the weekend after next weekend is an extra-long weekend for students at GWSPS.  Monday 10th March is the Labour Day Public Holiday and Tuesday 11th March is our second pupil free day for the year.  Students do not attend school on both of these days. 

I will be on a brief 6 days of Long Service Leave from tomorrow. Many thanks to Michael Mottershead (Assistant Principal) who will be taking on the Acting Principal role in my absence.

Judy Drew

Principal