Dear Parents and Carers,

The school year is off and running. It was a great start to the year with our 93 Preps commencing their school term on Tuesday and they all appeared to settle in smoothly. The rest of the classes in the school have well and truly settled into school and our learning to learn program that we commence with our students has meant our teachers and students have a very clear understanding of how to learn in their particular Grade level and have all transitioned well into their new grades.

Currently we have 29 classrooms in operation with 633 students enrolled in the school and we welcome our new families to our school and look forward to working in partnership with you.

Uniform

It is wonderful to see our students coming to school in the correct uniform. Uniform stocks have been a challenge for our uniform supplier and one that I have raised with the company. If you are waiting for some uniform items that are preventing your child from being in full school uniform, please let the classroom teacher know.

Lunchtime Programs

We pride ourselves on providing a range of lunchtime programs for the students at playtime, to provide a sense of connectedness to DPS. The Library and Deck areas are open every day from 2.00pm for quieter activities and are staff supervised. Below is a list of activities available for our students in the school.

	Activity
MONDAY	Lunchtime programs
	Wellbeing space open for students in need
	Grade 5 lunchtime comp
	DBK
	Art Club
	Coding Club
	VHAP
TUESDAY	Wellbeing space open for students in need
	DBK
	Coding Club
	Chess Club
	Energy Breakthrough (EBT)
	Garden
WEDNESDAY	Wellbeing space open for students in need
	Grade 6 lunchtime competition
	EBT
	Fann dancing
	Garden
THURSDAY	Wellbeing space open for students in need
	DBK
	Grade 3 lunchtime comp
	Art Club
	3-6 Choir
	Student leadership - Junior School Council
FRIDAY	Wellbeing space open for students in need
	EBT
	Koorie Club
	Grade 3-4 soccer ref
	Garden
	Assembly prep

Chess Club and Delacombe Broadcasting Kids (DBK) in action above

School Update: Open House in classrooms - Tuesday 18th February

On Tuesday 18th February we will be holding our Open House which is an opportunity for you and your child to visit the classroom, visit the specialist areas and see the teacher and physical spaces. This approach is less formal and flexible and an opportunity for you to come at any time between 4.00pm and 5.30pm to visit the classrooms. If there is specific information regarding your child that you feel the teacher may need to know, another meeting time might be best.

Attendance

We pride ourselves on our high level of attendance at school. Remember “it’s not okay to be away”, every minute of learning counts and if your child misses school for no reason they are at risk of missing valuable learning. If your child is sick and is absent from school please send a note to the class teacher explaining the absence or ring the office.

School Assembly

Our first school assembly will occur next Friday 7th February at 2.30pm in the stadium.

Grade 4 School swimming

Our swimming sessions for Grade 4 commence on Monday 10th February and will provide 5 sessions for the week. Notes will be given out to the students regarding more specific information.

Grade 2 School swimming

Our swimming sessions for Grade 2 commence on Monday 3rd March and will provide 5 sessions for the week. Notes will be given out to the students regarding more specific information.

Grade 6 Camp

Our Grade 6 Camp will begin on the 5th March for two nights and three days. It is always a busy three days for our students and teachers but a great way to make new friends and learn about the significant sights of Melbourne.

Grade 5 & 6 School swimming

Our swimming sessions commence on Tuesday 11th March (Grade 5) and Thursday 13th March (Grade 6) and will provide 2 sessions in each grade level. Notes will be given out to the students regarding more specific information.

House Athletic Sports:

Friday 28th Feb is our House Athletic Sports Day for students in Grade 3-6. This will occur on the school oval and is a fun day for students. Parents are welcome and a schedule will be sent out in coming weeks.

Parent Liaison Group

One of the ways as a parent you can become involved in the school is through the Parent Liaison Group.

The Parent Liaison Group aims to meet with school leadership members twice each term to discuss issues that are important to the effective running of the school. For example, the team will discuss issues like school reports, Parent Teacher Interviews, Special events such as Mother’s Day stall and raise any general matters that may assist the school to improve. These discussions allow the school leadership to get the parent perspective in order to plan more effectively for the future.

In order to get a cross section of parent representatives, we are looking for parents across a range of year levels to join the team.

The first meeting will be on Thursday 20th February 2.30pm - 3.20pm in the Planning room.

Other important dates:

Breakfast club starts next week and is on Wednesday to Friday commencing at 8.10am.

Have a great week – Scott, Marnie, Stephanie and Michael

COMMUNITY NEWS

Check out what is going on in the Ballarat community outside of school.....