Principal's Message

Thank you to everyone who supported An Evening with ACOS in Week 4. While I was unable to view the performance from the area in which students were supervised, feedback leads me to believe it was a fantastic celebration of public education, and the talents of our students and teachers. Thank you to families for enabling students to attend and teachers for supervising and organising the event. Special mention to Mrs Porter and Mrs Howlett for their excellent leadership behind the scenes.

Book Week

This week is Book Week. The book fair will operate out of the hall, and I look forward to seeing the creative costumes on display this Friday. Please see the Library News section of this newsletter for further detail. 

Book Week is an opportunity to celebrate literature and share our favourite book characters. Students have been asked to ensure that costumes are appropriate for school, remembering that characters from horror books and movies may not be appropriate viewing for our Kindergarten students. Any scary clowns, serial killers and similar characters will require a change into loaned school clothes.

Reducing our environmental footprint

In partnership with our SRC and Year 6 Leadership Team, Ben Venue recently installed new and more visually appealing bins in five locations in the playground, that allow for the separation of recyclables from landfill. The new bins will allow us to reduce the amount of waste created by the school and its 530 students. Our Year 6 Leadership Team are supporting the initiative through the development of educational presentations on how to use the new bins that they will be delivering to classes in the coming weeks.

Change to the COVID-19 Update section of the newsletter

The number of COVID-19 cases reported to the school will continue to be communicated in this newsletter. The section including this information will now also be used to communicate any other health related matters that may arise. For example, this week's section includes notification of the presence of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Stage 2. Any urgent advice will be provided via SchoolStream.

Asbestos removal

Works to remove asbestos from the sub-floor cavity of one of our buildings will occur on Saturday 26 August. This asbestos is rated as low risk and is in an area that has never been accessible to students. The removal is taking place as a precaution to enhance the safety of tradespeople who may access the space. There is no risk or disruption to students; however, families should refrain from attending the school site on this date. Please click here for further information.

Complaint Handling Procedures

At Ben Venue, we aim to develop and maintain open communication with families, so that any concerns can be constructively addressed as early as possible. Families are encouraged to speak with their child's class teacher if any problems arise. While this is the primary method of communication, we understand that not all issues can be resolved in this way. For this reason, schools work under the School Community and Customer Complain Procedures and develop their own Complaints Management Processes. It is a requirement of schools that this information is publicised.

Cam Pryce

Principal