Principal's Report 

Dear Parents, 

Welcome back to school, and to what is often the busiest term of the school year. This term we have Italian Day in week three, our Halloween disco in week four, swimming in weeks nine and ten as well as our end of year  celebrations, graduation and Christmas just to name a few! 

In exciting news, we currently have 44 students who have signed up for our Cave Hill Creek camp next year which almost takes us to the number we need to proceed. If you have a child currently in grade two or three and are yet to inform us of your decision regarding next year's camp please do so asap by contacting the office. The second $100 instalment for camp is due this term with a XUNO notification coming out in the coming weeks. If the cost of camp is a challenge for your family, please contact the office so we can assist accordingly so all students whose parents want them to attend can attend. 

Last term I sent out a lengthy 'Mackellar Buzz' regarding changes to our school's homework process. That process commences this week with students having had all activities in our homework matrix explained to them last week in preparation. 

As part of the change, we have also aligned the way in which take home reading is organised with students taking home books approximately two reading levels lower than what they read at school. This may raise some eyebrows for some, so to explain this aspect of homework we have arranged for our Literacy Consultant, Stephen Graham, to present to parents the rationale for this. The presentation will be this Friday morning from 9:00 - 9:30am in The Hive with all parents welcome. 

As mentioned briefly in the first paragraph, our Italian Day is next week on Wednesday, October 18th. Whilst Signora Cugliari will have more information coming out on XUNO, I did want to extend this invitation to all family members to attend the morning and take part in the festivities as we celebrate all things Italian.  

A reminder to parents wanting a copy of the video of our school production last term, these are available by contacting the office, however time is fast running out. 

Finally, a reminder that on Friday November 3rd and on Monday November 6th students will not be required at school. TheirCare will be available on both of these day should children need supervision. Then Tuesday November 7th is Melbourne Cup Day giving students a well earned five day break in the middle of term. 

Kind Regards, 

Simon McGlade

Principal