Principal's Message to the School Community

There is at present an increase in community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria.

You can help us keep our school as safe as possible by taking 2 important steps:

1. Ensure your COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date. Information on how and where to get vaccinated is available on the Get vaccinated webpage.

2. If your child shows symptoms of COVID-19, please ensure they stay home and get tested. The easiest way to test is to use a rapid antigen test (RAT). We have RATs available at our school for collection. If your child has symptoms but tests negative, please ensure they stay home until they no longer have symptoms. If the RAT test result is positive, please ensure they say home for at least 5 days and until there are no more symptoms.

Thank you for your support – these steps will help us all stay well.

Dear Year 5 Families

The Victorian Government is investing $1.5 million from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Fund to provide up to 95,000 Little Angler Kits to primary school aged children in Victoria.

The free kits provide a wonderful school holiday activity for children with their families and help ease the cost of living, providing a fun activity close to home.

Grade 5 students at all Victorian schools, including ours, will be offered the opportunity to receive a FREE Little Angler Kit. Grade 5 students have been selected based on the Victorian Curriculum focus, movement and motor development, and safety considerations.

The program is entirely voluntary. Schools were provided with the option to opt out of the program.  Our school has opted to stay in the program so that parents can decide whether they want their child(ren) to receive a free fishing kit. Parents of Grade 5 students can advise the school if they do not wish their child(ren) to participate for any reason whatsoever by emailing their decision to kyneton.ps@education.vic.gov.au by Thursday 30 November. Alternatively you can also let the school know if you would like to pick the kit up yourself from the office. We support parents in making decisions that align with their family values and beliefs. 

The roll out of kits at KPS will occur at the end of the school day on Friday 1 December so that all participating children will have a kit in time for the summer school holidays.

The kits include a rod, reel with line, tackle tray, some tackle and information on how to use them to catch a fish. Please note that the tackle tray includes fishing hooks. The tackle tray will be wrapped in cardboard and placed inside a pocket inside the fishing kit bag, which will be sealed with a cable tie to discourage students from opening their kits until they are with a parent or carer. Teachers will tell students not to open the kits until they are safely at home with a parent or carer.

The Victorian Fisheries Authority will create a Little Angler hub on their website, which will be live when the kits start being distributed. It will have useful information, instructional videos and online resources about where and how to fish linking to existing resources from Fishcare and new resources to be produced just for the Little Angler Kits program. This initiative aims to grow recreational fishing participation in Victoria by actively encouraging primary school aged children to learn how to fish, as well as learning more about marine life and the natural environment. 

Alistair Rayner

Principal