We have had some extremely cold, frosty mornings lately and then beautiful days to follow. There does seem to be a touch of spring in the air which is nice to see.

Staffing challenges

Right across Australia we are experiencing a teacher shortage, which does not seem to have a clear solution at the moment.

Luckily, we have a full allotment of classroom and specialist teachers at the moment, but finding replacement teachers is extremely hard.

Of late, we have had to split grades across the school for parts of the day, as we have been unable to cover some classes. This is not ideal but it is a reality unfortunately at the moment.

We endeavour to always find replacement teachers, but many of these are either working in schools already, booked up in advance or semi-retired.

This is a struggle that all schools are facing, and hopefully a solution to this problem is forthcoming.

Athletics

Our Grade 3-6 students competed at the Waranga Athletics in Kyabram last Friday, against other schools from our nearby area.

Our students, often competing against the larger Kyabram schools performed extremely well, with a number of students now qualifying for the Regional Bendigo Athletics in September.

Congratulations to the following Age Champions:

Thomas G - 8/9 boys

Nate C - 10 boys

Ella F - 10 girls

Tilly F - 12/13 girls

Thomas G has also set a new Waranga Athletics record in the 100m and 200m sprints. An amazing achievement!

AFL Auskick/Superkick program

Our Auskick/Superkick program began this week, with over 50 participants registered. It was great to see so many boys and girls of all ages taking part in such a great initiative from the AFL Goulburn Murray.

This program runs each Tuesday after school, from 3:30pm for an hour.

Book Week

Book Week 2024 - Reading is Magic has been an amazing success. Our Book Parade on Monday was incredible, with so many great costumes, and great imagination on display.

We have also had some great Library Art sessions with Mrs Dullard, and taken part in a special Book Week performance at St.Pats.

Girls Empowerment Program

Last week was Week 1 of our Girls Empowerment Program. A group of our Grade 6 girls, accompanied by Mrs Pearce, are travelling to Wickhams Martial Arts Centre to learn Self-defence, and then spending some time together, having lunch and reflecting on what they learn.

We have also secured Murray Ross to do some Art lessons with the students as part of the program. A huge thank you to the Community Bank - Tongala and Mathoura for sponsoring this great initiative.

Indigenous Sensory Garden

The grand opening of our Indigenous sensory garden will be happening on Monday, 26th August at 10am.

We have a number of special guests in attendance, and a traditional smoking ceremony by Uncle Rick Ronnan.

Following the opening, students will be participating in a range of Indigenous based activities, run by our local Koorie Education Officers and other Indigenous leaders.

Fathers Day

Our traditional Fathers Day stall and Sausage sizzle will be held on Friday, 30th August. The stall will be taking place in the morning, and the sausage sizzle will be from 1:30pm. Constable Fraser from the Tongala Police has offered to cook our BBQ on this day, which is greatly appreciated, and there will be games of footy, downball and soccer happening.

Camps

Our camps program is fast approaching with the following camps all locked in.

Grade 2 Pioneer Settlement - September 2/3

Grade 5/6 Urban Camp - October 16-18

Grade 3/4 Murray Life Adventures - November 20-22

All notes have been sent out via Compass, giving plenty of time for deposits to be paid and existing camp amounts to be paid off.

Thank you

A big thank you to Mark and Damien Watson for coming in and levelling off our old playground area, in preparation for a re-development of this space.

The have also been able to level off the old shelter shed area in readiness for the construction of a Gaga pit for the school.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Rob

Community News