Principal's Report

School Concert

Our Concert Team met again last Thursday and it’s clear we’re tracking well.  On Friday afternoon we reached the important stage of having an information booklet ready to go out to parents, which you should have received via Compass.  Another copy is attached to this newsletter.  This booklet provides families with general information that everyone needs to know.  Apologies for the amount of content, but there’s a lot going on with an event like this.   

In the coming week you’ll also receive a message from your child’s class teacher with information specific to their class and act.  If you have any questions, contact your child’s teacher or office staff.

Please make sure you get in early to secure tickets for the performance that works best for you.  As of this morning, there are just 98 tickets left for Friday evening performance.  As mentioned previously, the Thursday Matinee is perfect for grandparents and extended family members.

It has been really nice seeing the concert practices that has been happening around the school.  The kids are fully invested and clearly enjoying the experience and challenge.  

This is a reminder of why it’s so good to provide our students with experiences like this. 

Rating and Assessment for Base 1270

Every few years all Kinders, day care centres and outside of school hours care services have a team come in to undertake an official rating and assessment process.  These assessments are comprehensive and involve session observations, looking through documentation and speaking with staff to understand the routines, policies and practices that exist in the service.

We’re very pleased to report that Base 1270 was assessed as meeting expectations for each of the quality standards, those being:

·         Educational program and practice

·         Children’s health and safety

·         Physical environment

·         Staffing arrangements

·         Relationships with children

·         Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

·         Governance and leadership

All credit goes to the leaders of the program, Casey and Audrey and their team of educators.  We’re very pleased that the decision to run our own outside of school hours service was taken five years ago.  The program is providing a terrific service for families from our school and surrounding schools and continues to raise valuable funds for the school.  This makes the effort worthwhile.

Inter-School Lawn Bowls

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending the Division Lawn Bowls competition in Sebastopol with a 19 strong team of grade 5s and 6s.  Our students competed in teams of six against teams from across Ballarat.  Despite a bitterly cold wind, there was a great atmosphere at the event.  All of the kids were keen to do well and gave their absolute best.  Despite that, the sportsmanship shown from all schools was terrific and it was the norm to see and hear students acknowledging good bowls from opposing teams. 

In the end we narrowly missed having any teams qualify for the next level of competition, but overall, the kids had a lovely time and learnt a lot about bowls along the way. 

A big thankyou to the Buninyong Bowls Club, who sent a team of members to support our students throughout the day.  They organised the teams, provided encouragement, helped the kids understand the rules and gave them lots of little tips to improve their bowling.  We are very lucky to have their support.  And thanks to Maree Howard, who came along to help out as well.

Parent Surveys

Late July you received an invitation to participate in a Parent/Guardian Survey via Compass.  We’d really appreciate you spending the time to complete that survey if you are selected.

The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour and student engagement. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parents and Caregiver Opinion Survey will close on Friday August 30.

Surveys are conducted online, and only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.  

 2025 Prep Enrolments

A reminder if you have a child to enrol in prep for 2025, please access an enrolment form from the website or from the office, fill it out and send it in ASAP.  Once your child is enrolled, you’ll be on the mail out list for transition updates, which includes information about our Preschooler Program and Orientation Day.  Please pass this message on to anyone else who may be in the same situation.  Please feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.