Camps & Excursions

NZ Playhouse Performance

On Tuesday, NZ Playhouse will be visiting our school for their annual performance. It will start at 2pm and there is a charge of $8 per student to attend. If you have paid the 2023 excursion levy, this cost is covered. For those that are pay-as-you-go, these charges have been raised on your account. Statements were emailed today. EFT or BPAY only please.

Whole School Excursion

The Werribee Open Range Zoo has been booked for our whole school excursion on Friday October 20th. We are looking for parents that would like to attend for the day. There will be a charge to attend and to assist with costing. We are asking those interested to please complete the expression of interest form available on Xuno by tomorrow. We can not cater for siblings not attending school, or toddlers on the bus, but you are welcome to drive and meet us.

Final costing details will be advised and payment must be paid to attend the excursion. This cost will be covered for those that paid the 2023 excursion levy. 

School Swimming Program

Our school swimming program will be going ahead this year and forms part of the excursion levy. We have received some department funding help deliver this program at a reduced price. Our booking is for for Week 1 of Term 4, each lesson is for 45 minutes each day for the week. At this stage, session times will run as follows.

Grades have not been allocated to times slots. This will be done when we have final numbers and completed forms.

Final costing and permission form will be available on Xuno next week. 

Camps

Thank you to those families that responded to our camps questionnaire, this helped us with calculating costs. We received a small contribution towards the Canberra camp and have now finalised our costings for camps below.

• Grade 3/4 camp to Toolangi will be $365 per student (2 nights/3 day)
• Grade 5/6 camp to Canberra will be $560 per student (4 nights/5 day)

Both these camps are on a user-pays basis and payment will be required prior to camp. Those that are eligible for CSEF, can use these funds towards your child's camp.

Fees have been raised on your account for those wanting to make instalments for these camps.

Preparing for camp

School camp is an exciting time for most students, however some students can have small or more significant worries about attending camps. Most of our camps occur in Term 4, however it is not unusual for students with these worries to start thinking about them as early as Term 1. The story in their head (the narrative) can be to focus on the negative aspects and the more the child dwells on these aspects the bigger they seem to become. Worries are like tomatoes – the more we feed and water them (with our thoughts) the bigger they become! The skills below can be a big help, but they need continual rehearsal so that they become second nature – like any skill we have to practice them.

Resource: https://www.counselorkeri.com/2019/05/12/help-kids-deal-with-worry/

This website has a really excellent guide for parents on how to start preparing their child to manage their anxieties about camp, which in turn makes sending a child to camp that much easier. There is a printable guide for kids on the website that is a fantastic way to start the conversations and build students’ confidence: https://www.superpowerkids.net/2021/10/14/school-camp-anxiety-10-strategies-for-a-stress-free-camp/

It can be helpful for schools to be aware of students who might be experiencing these issues well ahead of time so that they can support students in collaboration with families.