A message from Tami -Jo
Colour Run
We have our Colour Run on Wednesday March 26th. This is a really fun day for our primary students, but it is also a fundraising opportunity. We are trying to raise money for another bike shed near Marram so we can house all our bikes adequately and each of the students can park their bikes/scooters near their classrooms. Please jump online and help raise money for this important initiative. The classroom that raises the most money gets to slime myself and their sub-school AP. At current count, we have 113 students out of 1300 primary students who are fundraising. It would be great to see if we could have everyone participate in some small way- every dollar counts. Your support in fundraising helps provide our students with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed—together, we can make a lasting impact on their future!
Scouts Clean Up DCC Day
On Sunday 2nd March, GL Williams Scout Group spent time cleaning up around the school for Clean Up Australia Day. A huge thanks to the scout group for taking the time to focus on beautifying around our school and being so community minded. We appreciate all your time and effort.
Attendance
As a school we have been working on improving our attendance in a variety of ways. One by building a stronger connection to school through the artefact activities and our cohort calendar of events; we are trying to connect students to each other and school by making the time and space to get to know each other better, understand their differences and highlight their similarities. We have also been clarifying an articulated response to students being away. Teachers will be following up with families around unexplained absences and those students who are having more than the expected number of days off school to find out how we can support the students to be at school and learning. We want students at school and on time; this supports individual students as well as the whole class to have calm, uninterrupted learning time.
We also want every student at school on time. Research is clear that students who start on time and are part of the set up for the day do better. Please work with your family to make sure that all students are at their classroom door ready at 8.35am.
NAPLAN
Last week we began NAPLAN testing in Years 3,5,7 and 9. The staff have worked incredibly hard to create an environment of safety for all the students so they can perform at their best. We will use the results later in the year to analyse in what areas of the curriculum the school is performing well in and in what areas we can improve. These results will also help teachers triangulate date to make decisions about reporting and how to plan effectively for students’ individual needs.
Changes to Semester Reporting
The Victorian Curriculum has been updated in both Mathematics and English and as a result, semester reports will be looking a little different. We will be providing more information about the changes in the coming months before our semester 1 reports at the end of Term 2.
Open Classrooms
Thank you to those families who came and visited the classrooms during our open classroom afternoon on March 11th. We had such positive feedback from the families who spent time with their children finding out about how their classrooms work, the routines and expectations in the classroom and spoke to the teachers about the programs in each of the year levels. Thank you to all those families who took the time to visit; both the teachers and children are grateful.
Celebrations of Learning
We look forward to families visiting the school to attend our Celebrations of Learning sessions where the children have the opportunity to share their work and their progress with parents and carers. These are on the Compass calendar and will occur during the weeks beginning March 24th and 31st.
School Council Members
We would like to welcome and acknowledge all the new and existing school council members for 2025.
The 2025 nominations for election were held and the places filled.
Congratulations and thank you to:
Parent members
Ken Wright
Andrew Corr
Erin Olsson
Nilam Shah
Aaron Enares
Ryan Amparo
Staff
Tami-Jo Richter
Malinda Vaughan
Jessica DeBono
Darren Nicholas
Students
Advik Vaid
Yashree Patel
We really appreciate all the time and effort given to support our school and community.
Tiny Town Update
We have some more work occurring in our tiny town with Tuscan topping being put down. The work started last weekend and will continue next weekend. It is such a popular place of our students to play. It is going to look amazing when finished!
Together, we are making a positive impact on our students' lives by working as a team. From supporting fundraising efforts to ensuring our students have the resources they need, every contribution matters. Your dedication to being present at school and on time each day truly makes a difference. Let’s continue to work hand in hand for the benefit of our students, creating an environment where they can thrive and succeed. Thank you for your commitment and continued support!