Important Notices

Father’s & Special Person’s Day – This Friday!

This Friday, 5th September, we warmly invite all families to join us for our Father’s & Special Person’s Day celebration before school at SKiPPS.

From 8:00am, there will be a wonderful range of activities for families to enjoy together, including:

• Fun games to play
• A SKiPPS photo booth to capture the memories
• Craft activities, including card-making

• Breakfast available to purchase – pastries, chia pudding, and coffee

   

This special morning is being proudly organised by SKiPPA, our wonderful Parents Association, and is a fantastic way to start the day while celebrating the important people in our children’s lives. We look forward to seeing you there!

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Recently, we were advised that a student attended school with an illness which was later confirmed as pertussis (whooping cough). Whooping cough cases are continuing to increase across Victoria, particularly among school-aged children. Whooping cough is a very contagious infection, mostly spread through coughing or sneezing. 

Symptoms include:

• blocked or runny nose
• tiredness
• mild fever
• severe bouts of coughing, often followed by a ‘whooping’ sound on breathing.

Whooping cough can lead to life threatening infections in babies.

If your child is unwell, they should not attend school. Please see a doctor if you or your child develops whooping cough symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the spread of the infection.

Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school.

If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, they must not attend school for 21 days after the onset of the cough, or until they have received 5 days of antibiotic treatment. You must notify the school if your child is diagnosed with whooping cough. To further reduce the spread of infection to your child and the school community, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 require that some students who were in the same classroom as a student diagnosed with whooping cough should not attend school.

Your child should not attend school for 14 days after they were last exposed to a person diagnosed with whooping cough, or until they have taken 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment if they are:

• aged less than 7 years; and
• not fully vaccinated with 3 doses of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.

This exclusion is required by law – refer to the School exclusion table for primary schools and children’s services.

If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.

More information For more information about whooping cough, refer to Whooping cough on the Better Health Channel.

Vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of whooping cough. The Department of Health recommends staying up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. A free booster dose of the pertussis vaccine is covered under the national immunisation program for students aged 12 to 13. If you are unsure about your child’s vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor.

We appreciate your support in keeping our students safe and well.

Final Week to Complete the Premier’s Reading Challenge!

This is your last chance to complete the 2025 Premier’s Reading Challenge—it closes on Friday, 5 September 2025 

 If your child wants to be presented with a certificate at assembly later this year then here’s what to do this week:

• Register or log in to the Challenge app (visit the official Challenge page) 
• Record the required number of books by Friday:
  • Prep to Year 2: 30 books, at least 20 from the official book list 
  • Years 3–9: 15 books, at least 10 from the list 
• Get verification: We will then verify your child's completion

Once completed and verified, children will receive an official Certificate of Achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former premiers—a lovely keepsake to celebrate their reading journey 

📣 Spread the word, complete the reading logs, and let’s end the 2025 Challenge on a high note—happy reading!

Sun Protection measures

With the Spring beginning this week, students are now required to wear their Sun Smart hats when outside every day (including during sport activities and break times outside) from Monday 1st September as per the school policy. 

In addition, each child must have a container of sunblock in his/her bag.  

A roll-on sunblock is recommended, and parents are expected to supervise the application of sunscreen before going to school in the morning.

Sunscreen is also available in classrooms and, on days of high UV levels, teachers will encourage application prior to break times or outdoor sports lessons.  

Wide brimmed hats can be purchased from the school office for $10 if required. 

Working Bee Success

A huge thank you to the many families who braved the wind and rain on Saturday to take part in our school working bee. Despite the weather, there was an incredible turnout and an even more impressive amount of work completed.

Jobs tackled on the day included:

• Moving and filling four new wicking beds in our school garden (generously donated by Kara Barbuto and Big Tree Gin Distillery)
• Cutting down self-seeded palms around the school
• Clearing the weeds and vines growing on our back fence
• Pruning trees
• Fixing the piano castors so that we can once again enjoy piano performances at assembly
• Clearing out the Performing Arts room and storeroom
• Organising sheds to create more storage space

• Weeding, tidying, cleaning and mulching across the grounds

   

These efforts make a huge difference in keeping our school looking great and functioning well. We are grateful to everyone who gave up their Saturday to pitch in—it was a real team effort!

A particular thanks to Allison Shanahan and the Buildings and Grounds team for running the day.

We’ll be holding another working bee in Term 4, and with some warmer weather on our side, we hope to see even more families joining us for what is always a rewarding day.

Bee Hotel building workshop

A huge thank you to the wonderful parent and grandparent helpers who assisted in the Bee Hotel building workshop last week with our 3/4 Green Team students. 

Sawing, drilling, screwing and hammering were some of the many skills learnt during the workshop. It was the first time for many to use a drill and there was much excitement to create the hotels for our local native bees. There are around 2000 different varieties of bees in Australia and over 99% of these bees will use a Bee Hotel. 

These species do not produce honey but they are great pollinators and fascinating to watch. Solitary bees like the Wasp mimic Bee and Leafcutter Bee will lay their eggs in the  small holes of the hotel, they will bring back pollen, nectar and building materials back to their nest. It will be wonderful to observe this in action and the behaviour of these insects over the next few months. 

The hotels just need a splash of paint and be installed near some native plants (all hotels need to be near a good restaurant). This project has been a huge success and we cant wait to install these hotels around the school and in local parks and back yard gardens.

Many thanks to Nadav and the Port Phillip EcoCentre team for collaborating with us on this project.

Education Department Parent/Carer Opinion Survey

Each year the Department of Education runs the Parent/Carer Opinion Survey, which gives families an opportunity to share their perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.

• The survey is open from Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September 2025.
• It takes around 20 minutes to complete and can be done on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

• Families can complete the survey in English or in 10 other languages.

   

A Compass message with the survey link and PIN was re-sent to all families today (Wednesday 3rd September). Participation is optional, but we encourage all parents and carers to take part. The results help us identify areas for improvement, guide professional learning, and inform school planning.

Term 4 - Extra Curricular Activities now open for bookings with Kids Unlimited

Dads' Camp - ticket sales on hold

As shared in last week's newsletter, tickets for our annual Dads' Camp went on sale this Monday (1st September). As always, demand was high for such a wonderful SKiPPS tradition and the first batch of tickets are now sold out.

The Camp organisers are currently working with the campsite owners to see whether we can secure more camping spots at Wye River. If they are successful in doing this, a further round of ticket sales will be communicated to families via the newsletter and year level WhatsApp groups. 

A reminder that Dads' camp is NOT a school organised event but a parent-run, privately coordinated event. No school staff are in attendance and supervision of children remains the responsibility of individual parents all weekend.