Principal's Message

Monday 6th November

STUDENT FREE CURRICULUM DAY

TUESDAY 7th November

MELBOURNE CUP PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Wednesday 8th November

STUDENT FREE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAY

PRINCIPAL REPORT

As you would be aware from previous editions of the newsletter, we have pupil free days over the next week.

• Pupil free day Monday 6th November, 2023. Curriculum Day.
• Pupil free Day Wednesday 8th November, 2023. This Professional Practice day will be used for report writing purposes. 

Big Goose Farm Year F-2

What a fantastic time our students in Year F-2 had the ‘Big Goose Farm’ yesterday. Students learnt about a whole range or wild, native and domestic animals. They were able to feed the kangaroos and deer, see horses and geese, and learn so much about living things and how they are cared for.

Many thanks to staff and parents who supported this great excursion!.

Remembrance Day

Next Saturday 11th November 2023, is Remembrance Day.  This day has special significance as we recall, above all days, the women and men who, through personal sacrifices, contributed to the evolution and the identity of this country.  Due to the day falling on a Saturday, we will be honouring this Remembrance Day with special class activities and observing a minute of silence at 11.00am on Friday 10th November, and Assembly at 2.45pm.  Our school captains will address the whole school and talk about what the day means.  

Commemorative Poppies are now available for sale at the office - $2, $3 and $5.

All proceeds from the sale of Poppies goes towards the Returned and Services League of Australia.

CLASS PLACEMENT 2024:

I would like to thank all the parents who have taken the time to share information with me recently, regarding their child’s class/group placement for next year. 

Our staff are working  hard to set up balanced, fair and productive classes across the whole school. As staff continue with the thorough process of allocating children to class groups, many meetings occur and all children will be placed into a class group for next year, with at least one friend of their choosing. 

PLANNING FOR 2024:

We are currently putting together our plans for 2024.

We will be running 10 classes again next year. This is based on the funding that we get from the Department of Education and 10 is the maximum that we can afford. Numbers wise, all year levels will be a combination of ‘straight’ year levels and multi-age classes.

The Department of Education have also provided funding for tutoring (Tutor Learning Initiative or TLI) for the next 2 years, though this has been greatly reduced (cut by more than half) as it is linked to our NAPLAN results and the number of children identified as “needing additional assistance.” We would obviously have liked to have been funded the same amount as this year but that would mean we have more children not meeting expected benchmarks. It’s a good problem to have.

As you can see, we are finalising what we can set up and afford for 2024 so if you are doing a sea change, chasing warmer weather, getting away from Melbourne’s traffic or moving to more traffic and an inner city life, can you let us know in writing as soon as possible.

DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING:

It is important to recognize that all classes are effectively multi age classes, in that the teacher must cater for a broad range of abilities. This is called differentiation of the curriculum. This means that the teacher must assess your child’s ability in English and Mathematics, Personal and Social Capabilities and provide each student with learning opportunities which will be appropriate to their level of understanding, but also allow them to be challenged and grow in their learning. This approach happens in ‘straight’ classes and ‘multi age’ classes regardless of the age of the child. Therefore, straight or multi age classes makes little difference.

I also believe that there are great social benefits from having multi age classes in that the children get to make friendships with children in the year above and the year below and not just the children in that year level. A wider social network of friends leads to happier children.

Whether we have multi age classes relate to how the Education Department provides us with funding and set number of buildings based on the total number of students. Based on our current numbers, as mentioned above, it is anticipated that in 2024, we will have some muti-age classes and some straight classes across the school.

SCHOOL TERM DATES FOR 2026 – Original dates re-instated 

There have been changes to Victorian school term dates for 2026. Following the announcement that the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria will not proceed, the original 2026 school term dates have been reinstated.

The 2026 Victorian school term dates are:

· Term 1: Tuesday 27 January to Thursday 2 April 2026

· Term 2: Monday 20 April to Friday 26 June 2026

· Term 3: Monday 13 July to Friday 18 September 2026

· Term 4: Monday 5 October to Friday 18 December 2026.

For the list of school term dates until the end of 2030, refer to School term dates and holidays in Victoria.

School term dates and holidays in Victoria | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au)

Parent Contributions 2024

By the Monday 13th November, we will inform the school community of the Parent Payments for 2024. The Department of Education has asked schools to itemise the payments. The cost for Parent Payments is discussed and approved at our Finance and School Council meetings prior to being announced to the school community.

Final assembly of the year:

One date that our community look forward to is the final assembly of the year because we farewell our grade six children for their final day of primary school after a 7-year journey. 

The date and time for this is Wednesday 20th December commencing at 12.30pm

At the assembly we will listen to the Year 6 graduates sing their farewell son, watch the Year 6 PowerPoint and celebrate the year we have had. We will also have our traditional farewell ‘guard of honour’ on the oval immediately after the assembly presentations.

Our final assembly also includes the presentation of Leadership Roles for 2024, including School Captain and House Captain roles. Students are currently working hard to develop their speeches and presentations as part of the process to acquire these important school leadership positions.

Parents are reminded that the Staff Car parks at the front and rear of the school are not for parent parking. Parents with a valid disabled pass may use the designated space at the front of the school..