Principal's update
Hello everyone,
Here is the first newsletter for term three.
Welcome back to school as we begin the second semester.
We have a had a great start to the term. If you haven't visited the P/1 and 2/3 classes this week, feel free to pop in and see the very imaginative and creative transformations Marcus and Emma made to the spaces over the holidays.
Emma has been on LSL this week and Julie has been teaching the class, we look forward to seeing Emma on Monday.
On Wednesday Dana started in the 4/5 class, replacing Sarah.
I would like to thank the very generous people who anonymously donated and delivered sand for our sandpit. The welcome top up has made the sandpit look much more appealing and has seen greater use by the students.
For anyone curious about the works at the Lyell St gate this morning, we are having a shade sail installed over the seating area and the GaGa pit, thanks to a grant from the DoE
If you have any questions or comments about anything, feel free to contact me.
Community composting
From Eve; Are you interested in dropping off your food scraps at the school to be turned into beautiful compost and worm castings? We are setting up a community composting hub with a bucket swap-and-go system. We’ll be using Bokashi, a microbial powder, so that all food scraps including meat, cooked food, orange peel, onions etc can be included. If you are interested please let us know so that we can gauge interest. It would be free to participate apart from the purchase of the bokashi powder from the school ($15 for a packet that will last about 3 or 4 months on an average family’s food scraps)
Volunteers
Thank you to the many volunteers that we have at the school. This includes people helping in the library, Breakfast Club, cooking, gardening, listening to children read and more. We welcome more volunteers at the school.
To volunteer at a school you require a working with children check. This can be completed for free online.
NAPLAN results
Naplan results for students in years 3 & 5 have arrived from the VCAA and have been sent home. If you have any questions, please see your class teacher or me. For year 5 students I suggest you keep the results somewhere accessible as some secondary schools ask to see them upon enrolment
Wellbeing
We now have a wellbeing page on the newsletter that I will use to share relevant wellbeing information and resources that we come across that may be useful at home or give greater understanding of some of the language children may come home using from school. I will use the school's website as an archive for the resources for future reference.
2026 enrolments
Last term I received a number of prep enrolments for 2026 as well as enrolments for students starting this term.
We are currently running tours of the school and taking enrolments for 2026.
With a large year 6 cohort leaving at the end of the year, next year we expect to be under our enrolment capacity and welcome enrolment enquiries from near and far.
If you or anyone you know is interested in knowing more about enrolling at Taradale PS, please contact me.
upcoming dates
- 25-27 August yr 3/4 camp to Swan Hill (info to be sent home soon once details confirmed)
- 01-05 September whole school swimming programme
- 11-12 September yr 2 camp to Boomerang Ranch
- 19 September end term two 2.00pm
- 06 October start term 4
Chris
Christopher Burgess
Principal