Dear Families,

In the blink of an eye Term 3 has been and gone. It feels like I'm always saying it, but it really has been an action-packed few months. The highlight for me was definitely LITFEST. Seeing our amazing community come together at the Reading Café was incredible - I hope that you enjoyed it as much as all the students and staff did! Our celebrations made a huge splash around the state featuring in the Saturday Herald Suns cover story on Book Week, In the Brimbank Start Weekly Local newspaper and most excitedly, we were celebrated in State Parliament by our Local Member Luba Grigorovitch who joined us on the day. Below is a video of our adjournment speech celebrating our school.

Take the two weeks away from school to rest up, because as always, the final 11 weeks of the year is going to be full of Albanvale Excellence. The whole school will be taking part in a swimming program, including the Grade 6s travelling to Port Melbourne to participate in a special surf life-saving program. The Grade 6s will also begin their Secondary School Transition Program as they reach the end of their Albanvale journey, culminating in the highly anticipated Big Day Out. And of course, there are all the End of Year events including our annual Christmas Carrols, School Raffle and Graduation Ceremony. There is so much to look forward to! Make sure you keep an eye on Compass for all the details.

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences

I want to thank our families for taking the time to attend Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences this week. I know the teachers appreciate the chance to sit down face to face with you to discuss how your child is doing at school, and what the next steps in their learning are. Having these moments of collaboration is what helps us excel as a school community.

Performing Arts is Back in Term 4!

It is with great enthusiasm that I share with you the fantastic news that Performing Arts (PA) is back as an Enrichment Subject for all students from Term 4 this year. After an extensive recruiting campaign, I am pleased to introduce Mr John Haythorthwaite as our new PA teacher. Mr Haythornthwaite has extensive experience in Music Education including as Director of Music at an independent school in London and more recently as the National Director of 'The Song Room' which supports schools across the country to implement high-quality music education. Please introduce yourself to Mr Haythornthwaite when you see him around the school.

Term 4 SunSmart in School

As the weather slowly warms up it's time for all schools across Victoria to implement their SunSmart Policy. This means all students must wear a wide-brimmed hat to school for all outside activities, be it playing in the yard, excursions or PE. You can read more about Albanvale's SunSmart Policy further in the newsletter. I'm aware, like all school uniform, there is a tendency for hats to get misplaced so please make sure they are clearly labelled with your child's name. Furthermore, students can now put their school beanie away somewhere safe until they are ready for use again in Term 2, next year as part of the winter uniform.

A reminder that school finishes at 2:30pm tomorrow (Friday 20 October). If you are unable to collect your child at the earlier finish time please make sure you make alternative arrangements, which could include Out Patch, our out of school hour care provider. Our Patch is also providing a School Holiday Program.

Enjoy your two weeks off, and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday 7 October.

Thank you for helping us Achieve Excellence, Together.

Michael Uzunovski

Principal