Important Notices

Year 5/6 Camp Update

Our Year 5/6 students are currently at the halfway point of their week-long camp to Canberra.

The reports from camp are all very positive with the students and staff very impressed by their luxurious standard of accommodation at their base for the week.

So far, writing on Wednesday afternoon, the students have managed to fit in visits to;

Old Parliament House
The Museum of Australian Democracy
The Electoral Education Centre
The National Capital Exhibition
Mount Ainslie Lookout
Questacon
A game of ten-pin bowling
The National Gallery of Australia
The High Court of Australia
The Australian institute of Sport
The National Arboretum
A drive around the different national embassies

The week finishes tomorrow with a tour of Parliament House and a meeting from Josh Burns MP, a visit to Government House, the residence of the Governor General and a visit to the Australian War Memorial.

Unsurprisingly, the students are both exhilarated and a little exhausted by so many visits and so much new learning. They will come back understanding so much more about the Government, history and culture of our country.

Beyond all of this learning, our camps are such a great opportunity for students to develop independence and resilience, build connections and new friendships and push themselves out of their comfort zones. They allow the students to have huge amounts of fun.

We are looking forward to welcoming our campers back after-school on Friday and will update Year 5/6 parents with likely arrival times as the campers travel down the Hume Highway.

I want to acknowledge and thank that SKiPPS staff who have attended this year's camp. Spending a week away from home, supervising 88 children and getting very little sleep and absolutely no 'down time' is really hard. The fact that our staff are willing to sign up for this in order to give such an unforgettable experience to our students is a sign of their commitment and selflessness.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the amount of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

School Council Election Update

A few weeks ago we put out a call for nominations for parent members to join our School Council. As we approach the end of February, four parent councillors are finishing their 2 year terms as councillor - Kaisu Tonkyra, Hannah Liddeaux, Mathew Saliba & Hannah Lawson.

We are excited to announce that we received four nominations from parents interested in joining Council. Their details are below;

Name of Parent	Nominator
Claire O'Boyle	Elisa Casagrande
Andrew Saunders	Brook Saunders
Hannah Liddeaux	Self
James Lawson	Self

As per Education Department School Council election rules, as the number of nominations is equal to the number of vacancies, the election process is now completed and we will welcome Claire, Andrew, Hannah and James onto School Council to begin a 2-year term starting next month and finishing in March 2026.

Our next meeting is at 6:30pm on Wednesday 27th March.

This meeting is our Council AGM and also the presentation of the 2023 Annual Report to the School Community. At this meeting the new Council will meet for the first time and office-bearers (President, Vice-President and Treasurer) will be elected.

All community members are welcome to attend this meeting (and all Council meetings). The meeting will be held in the school staffroom.

Our new mural is finished

Like us, you would probably have spent the last couple of weeks watching our brand new mural take shape in the school yard.

Using the sports shed, the amazing Bianca Loiacono, local artist and SKiPPS parent, has created a colourful, fun mural to bring even more life and joy to our school.

Bianca's vision for the mural was

Focussing on creativity, diversity + inclusivity. I will be illustrating a series/'lineup' of bird characters of all different shapes, colours and sizes to represent our points of difference yet our unity in a playful, creative way. The birds will be full colour on a sky blue background and will make you smile.

I am sure you will agree that Bianca has more than succeeded against this brief and we love the new characters at SKiPPS. We thank her for her hard work to complete the mural in time for our upcoming fete.

I want to thank Bianca and let her have the final word by way of this poem that she shared with us;