From Marie

What a great night we had at the Twilight Sports on Tuesday night.  The weather held and families settled in for dinner and games.  Thanks to our Parents' Association who sold ice-creams, drinks and popcorn raising $461.45 towards this year's fundraising target of $20 000. Here are a few snaps from the night:

Student Leadership 

At Friday's assembly we will be celebrating students who have been appointed to leadership positions across the school.  All positions are voted for by the classes or House groups, students will often be asked to prepare a speech to explain why they would make a good Captain and make these speeches in front of their peers. Congratulations to the following students who are taking up roles in 2025:

Environment Captains

Our Environment Captains are responsible for monitoring the collection of recyclable materials in their classrooms, disposing of these appropriately and communicating to the whole school about the seriousness of the paper waste collection.  

Junior School Council (JSC)

Our Junior School Councillors meet weekly with Lauren Lee to discuss student related issues and opportunities.  In 2024, our JSC successfully raised nearly $7000 by running the Colour Run.  We look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2025.

House Captains

On Tuesday night at the Twilight Sports you would have seen our House Captains in action as they set up and ran the races for all the students.  In 2025, we have for the first time introduced Grade 5 students as Vice-Captains.  We look forward to building their capacity to lead activities across the year.

School Captains

Lily and Pat were elected by their peers in December, 2024 and have taken to the leadership role like ducks to water.  Both students demonstrate exemplary skills and qualities that make them a great choice for this role.  You may catch a glimpse of them at assembly, their other roles include being a member of the Junior School Council, leading tours, supporting activities and talking to parliamentarians.

Break times and lunchtime activities

Our school day is broken up into hour blocks interspersed with breaks.  The timetable for the day is:

8:45 - Arrival at school

9:00 - 11:00 - Session 1 & 2 this is usually the two hour literacy block

11:00-11:10 - Supervised snack eating 

11:10-11:30 - Play outside

11:30-1:30 -  Session 3 & 4 which includes the numeracy 

1:30-1:40 - Supervised lunch eating

1:40-2:30 - Play outside.  At 2:00 a bell rings to indicate that lunchtime clubs are open.

2:30-3.30 - Session 

Term 1 Lunchtime Clubs include:

Activities run every lunchtime and are open for all students to attend.  

Instrumental Music

In addition to the classroom music program run by Mark Nunis, we offer a range of instrumental options for families wishing their student to learn a musical instrument.  This year we have:

Drums - Daniel MacKenzie

Guitar - Tom Glover

Keyboard - Diana Matthews

If you would like your child to learn one (or more) of the listed instruments, then please check out the flyers in the "Optional Activities" in this newsletter, or call in at the office for more information. 

Fathering Project

On Friday 28 February, all fathers and those who are father figures in a child's life, are invited to come along to the Ringwood Bowls Club at 7:00pm for lawn bowls (this is an adult only event).  Check out more details on the designated Fathering Project page of this newsletter.   

Parking

Thank you to all the families that are following the parking restrictions around the school. Can I please remind families that the yellow painted lines on either side of the crossings are not parking spaces from 8:00-9:00 and 3:00-4:00 each day.  Please  take care when in these areas. Over the last couple of weeks the parking inspector has been out during drop off or pick up times.  He simply takes a photo of your number plate and the Maroondah City Council send you a bill.  

Student Behaviour Matrix

During Term 4, 2024, we worked with senior school students and teachers to design a matrix that clearly shows students the expected behaviours at school and in life.  These Matrixes are in each classroom and are referred to by teachers when discussing incidences in the classroom or yard.  The school values of be kind, be respectful, be honest and be curious, are at the heart of the Matrix.  We share it here with you so you also understand how behaviours are understood at school.  The simple traffic light colours make it easy for all to understand.