From the Office 

Dear Families, 

It is great to be back at school after some time away. I would like to say a big thank you to our school community for your understanding and support as I took some unexpected leave before the end of Term 3 and it just so happened that this led into some planned leave at the beginning of this term as my family took our caravan and headed up to Northern Queensland and K'gari for a few weeks. Thank you all for your support and empathy. It looks like it has been a busy few weeks here at Raywood PS and we look forward to the second half of the term allowing us to celebrate a great year of learning and begin to transition into our new learning spaces ready for next year. A big thanks also to Mr Collins for filling in for me whilst I was away!

Urban Camp - Earlier this week we held our whole-school camp which was to Urban Camp in Melbourne for the night. This was a wonderful experience for students and it was great to be able to head away on camp as a whole-school group. I was really proud of the way our students managed themselves and their things and the resilience they showed as we navigated different types of transport and lots of walking. I was particularly proud of our junior students who not only went on their first camp, but for some of them - had their first night away from home. We look forward to some more camping opportunities next year!

2027 Uniform Orders - We will be placing a Uniform Order next Wednesday after school. Please ensure if you would like to order any uniform ready for the beginning of next year, that your order form is returned Wednesday next week at the latest. We will do another round of orders in mid-Term 1. No need to pay for your order until it is ready to be collected.

Bushfire Season  - Each year, we prepare for bushfires and grassfires to help ensure the safety of our school in Terms 4 and 1, but also in the summer holiday break. As part of preparing our school for the bushfire season, we have:

• Updated and completed our yearly Emergency Management Plan
• Prioritised maintenance works including gutter cleaning and regular vegetation management
• Limited the planting of flammable vegetation close to school buildings
• Ensured irrigation grass areas are kept green and watered regularly
• Held onsite and offsite evacuation drills to help students and staff practice what may occur in the event of fire at or near our school.

An important part of our bushfire readiness process is telling parents and carers what will happen on elevated fire danger days. 

Our school has been assessed as being at risk of bushfire or grassfire and is a Category 3 school. On Catastrophic fire danger days, Category 3 schools must take early action to reduce the risk to staff and students. Our school will close on a day forecast as Catastrophic fire danger in our fire weather district. 

On Catastrophic fire danger days:

• no staff or students will be on site 
• our school bus routes that travel through the forecast Catastrophic area will be cancelled 
• school camps and activities will be cancelled if a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast for the fire weather district in which the activity is located, or if travel to the camp passes through an area with Catastrophic fire danger

We will tell you if there is a chance of a Catastrophic fire danger day, or if one has been confirmed. Weather forecasts can change, so the timing of this may vary. 

For information on how schools manage bushfire risk, go to: www.vic.gov.au/bushfire-information-parents-and-carers. 

Book Fair - For the next two weeks our school we be hosting our yearly Scholastic Book Fair! The Book Fair will be set up in our foyer like in previous years and will be open for purchasing before and after school. Please ensure to pop in and visit, every purchase supports our school to be able to purchase books for our library.

Bingo & Kebab Night - Not long to go until our Bingo & Kebab Night on the evening of Tuesday 17th! This was a really fun night last year and we look forward to lots of fun this time as well. As with last year, we ask that you bring along a small prize to donate per person playing from your family and also $5 per person to go towards dinner (cash on the night preferred). Everyone is welcome so this is a great event to bring Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents and Friends along too. Students will bring home an RSVP slip this afternoon just to help us with rough catering numbers.

Christmas Raffle Donations - We are seeking donations from families and our community to be included as prizes in this year's Christmas Raffle. We have received some wonderful donations from local businesses and are just ready to put together our prizes and start selling tickets! Please considering donating something to go into our raffle if you can. 

150th Anniversary Meeting - On Tuesday 10th November we will be having a 150th Anniversary Meeting at 3.30pm after school to continue working on the organisation for this exciting event which will happen in February next year. Please come along if you are interested in helping out, all welcome!

Rebound Wall Installation - Our new Rebound Wall is finally being installed this week alongside our Basketball Court, where the old building used to be. We are looking forward to adding this resource to our P.E and play activities. Once the project is finished we will investigate adding some line marking to the wall to encourage different types of play.

Upcoming Pupil Free Days

• Monday 30th November will be a Pupil Free Day at school whilst teachers are working on this term's Student Learning Reports.
• Friday 18th December will also be a Pupil Free Day to allow teachers to plan and organise for the beginning of next year. This means the last day for students this year will be Thursday 17th December.

2027 Prep Transition - Our transition sessions will begin at the end of November. We can't wait to see all of your smiling faces on:

• Tuesday 24th of November 9 am-12pm
• Tuesday 1st of December 9am-1:30pm

• Tuesday 8th of December 9am-3:20pm (Whole School Transition Day)

   

Upcoming Events

Grade 3/4 Camp Kookaburra - All documents have now been sent out to parents, containing all of the necessary information for our Grade 3/4 Camp next week. Mr. Collins looks forward to seeing all of the campers at 11am on Monday out at camp. Grade 5/6 students from Mr. Collins' grade will be working with Mr. Sait for the first part of next week before Mr. Collins returns on Thursday.

Term 4 Gymnastics Program - We will start our four week block of gymnastics shortly, heading off to Summersalt Gymnastics in Bendigo near the Bendigo Airport. Please keep your eyes on uEducateUs for a permission form in the next few days. There will be no cost to families for our gymnastics program this term.

Grade 3-6 Cluster Summer Sports - On the 25th of November our Grade 3-6 students will be heading over to Elmore to join in some Summer Sports with their Campaspe Cluster peers. Further details will be added to the uEducateUs permission form when published.

Thanks Everyone,

James