PE News

Welcome back everyone! We hope you have all had a wonderful holiday break with some down time but also hopefully enjoyed some physical activities together as a family!

We are ready to go again in 2025 and we already have a few sports events coming up!

2025 District Swimming: Year 3-6

District Swimming is one of our first major sporting events in Term 1 – Thursday 27th February (week 5) so for those who may swim competitively outside of school or for anyone interested in heading to the pools, you can trial your favourite stoke!

Qualifying times are below - students are required to be able to swim 50m in their preferred stroke confidently.

Please note: if you are not far off the qualifying times (2-3 seconds) we encourage you to still get in touch!

Qualifying Times:

Stroke	All age groups
50m Freestyle	Under 55 secs
50m Backstroke	Under 60 secs
50m Breaststroke	Under 65 secs
50m Butterfly	Under 65 secs

If you would like to submit your time to me, please email laura.yorke@education.vic.gov.au to be considered for District Swimming.

Senior Gala Day #1: Year 5 & 6

The first Senior Gala Day is also coming up on Tuesday 4th (week 6). Over the next couple of weeks, we will be trialling students for team selection of the various different sports: Basketball, Cricket, Sofcrosse, Tennis, Volley bounce & Tee ball.

If you are available to assist with trainings on a Friday (12:15-1:30pm) or help on the Gala Day (9:30 - 2:30pm), please contact Jarrod Butcher via email jarrod.butcher@education.vic.gov.au

A compass event will be sent out in the coming weeks for parent consent and payment.

Running Club:

Running club will kick off again in 2025 starting from next week (week 2) and this year we will have running club twice a week. If students are interested in building their fitness then feel free to join us. The middle & senior students have their cross country coming up early term 2, so this is a great opportunity to prepare!

Day: Monday & Wednesday

Time: 8:45am

Location: Middle sports oval

House captains will be leading students on a 1km run around the school or the other option is to run laps around the middle sports oval (approx. 120m per lap)

All welcome!

PE reminders:

Just a reminder for students to wear their sports uniform, runners & hat for their PE lesson and Friday Sport (year 1-6). Please also wear your hair tied up and bring a drink bottle.

Performing Arts News

Musical Excellence Choir – Auditions/Info

Welcome back to Croydon Hills for another musical year! This year our aim in Performing Arts is excellence. This year we will have two choirs, A Pop choir that rehearses Tuesday lunchtimes. Pop choir is open to all students from years 3 - 6. We will also have an audition entry choir called the Musical Excellence Choir (MEC) that rehearse on Thursday mornings, that will be a music extension program for students who wish to grow their musical knowledge, technical skill and will be aligned to the ANZCA (Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts) Voice syllabus.

Auditions for the Musical Excellence Choir will be held in week 1 and 2 of Term 1 on the following dates:

Friday 31st January (Lunchtime)

Thursday 6th February (Before School)

Thursday 6th February (Lunchtime)

Students will only need to audition once.

Auditions will be held in a group setting similar to the Australian National Choir, assessing the following skills.

Pitch - Can you sing the National Anthem tunefully?
Rhythm - Can you accurately clap/recognize a rhythm from known symbols?
Harmony test - Can you maintain a steady pitch?
Harmony test - Can you maintain a melody whilst a counter melody is occurring at the same time?

For your child to audition for the Musical Excellence Choir please register them for an audition using the following google form prior to the first audition date:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScL21EG1iiZk1fPMaXeYPug3Z9xr1h7PUsX3mH1GLUiIBjFmA/viewform?usp=dialog

CHAMPS – Croydon Hills Additional Music Program

The CHAMP Music Program is returning in 2025 offering classes in Singing, Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar and Drums. We are currently taking enrolments for term 1 classes and have some spots available on each instrument. If your child is interested in taking lessons please get in touch via one of the links below to secure a spot. Read more about the music lessons on www.champlessons.com or email info@champlessons.com for any further information. Enrolment forms available here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAE_5al89P51xnmLsp3gUWHddZ8-zso1cVFlqSyR5eJYvB7g/viewform

Library News

Welcome back for a new school year. We are excited to see all students back in the Library. Please remember, students need a library bag before they can borrow from the library. It does not need to be anything fancy – a named reusable shopping bag is fine. Most of the damage done to library books is caused by leaking drink bottles or squashed food (the natural enemies of the book).

We have a great selection of books for borrowing and we are constantly adding new titles to keep the library as exciting as possible. Relaxing with a good book, either reading it yourself, or reading to someone special, seems to be overlooked sometimes in our busy lives but with reading comes so many opportunities. For those of you with students in the Junior levels – please remember that library books are meant to be shared – your child may not be able to read these books on their own so please try to find the time to read with them.

Remember that reading is more than being able to recognise the words on a page. Comprehension is vital! Ask your child about the book they have just read or that you have just read to them. All children enjoy having books read to them and this is an important part of learning to read and comprehend. It also has other proven benefits such as improving speech, grammar and vocabulary and providing shared times between children and adults; giving your child the gift of your time is the best gift they can receive.

Students are able to borrow books for two weeks; Senior students have four weeks. Overdue notices are first sent home when a book is overdue for 2 – 3 weeks. Follow up letters and emails are also sent home fortnightly after this. If you receive a notice and are sure that the book has been returned please ask your child to see us in the library. A book is not considered returned until it is in the library. Also encourage your child to do a thorough check at home and in the classroom if they receive an overdue notice.

If you notice that a book is damaged please do not attempt to repair it yourself, return it to the library as soon as possible. We have the equipment to repair books and understand that damage can occur to our much loved books.

Also, please note that if your child had an overdue book at the end of last year and they have not yet returned it this year, it will still be out in their name – it does not magically disappear over the holidays. We still have 19 books out in students’ names from last year.

Happy reading.

Jess and Sue in the Library

Sick Bay

Please return all medical forms that were sent home, for parents/health practitioners to complete, to the office by the first day back in 2025.

Community News

Local Clubs & Activities