Out and about with Mr Walsh
Thank you for an amazing Term 3
It has been a bumper term 3 with so many highlights and it has been fantastic to reflect each fortnight on what our school community has been able to achieve, participate in and learn from. We are thankful to all of the staff, students and Surfside community who contribute so much in and out of the classroom each and every day. Our staff have been proud of the engagement opportunities offered to our students in and out of the classroom environment and these opportunities definitely allow our students to be emotionally equipped to thrive. We want to wish all of our students, staff, families and wider community a happy and safe break and we hope that everyone can have a chance to rest, regenerate and prepare for an engaging and successful term 4.
Mrs Giggins Retirement
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the upcoming retirement of Mrs Linda Giggins. After 26 years at Surfside Primary School as a parent, classroom teacher, Assistant Principal and Acting Principal Mrs Giggins has been such a blessing for the school. Mrs Giggins provides such care and compassion for students, staff and our wider school community and she has had such an amazing impact over her 26 years. We look forward to celebrating Mrs Giggins impact and I am sure she will look forward to reliving some life long memories of past students, staff and families. We are extremely thankful for the knowledge and skills that Mrs Giggins has been able to pass on to our staff and she will be sorely missed.
An official welcome to Ash, Jack, Hollie and Lily
We recently undertook some interviews for our advertised Education Support positions and we are thrilled to officially welcome and continue the employment of Jack Havis, Ash Coghlan and Hollie Sheehan. This crew has been a great addition to our Education Support team and have been doing some great work across a range of classrooms and year levels.
Term 4 Preparation
It has been a busy and productive term 3 with plenty happening in and out of the classroom and term 4 is always a bumper of a term with swimming, Fresh Food Fair and 2025 transition programs. The holiday break is a great opportunity for students and families to take some time to recalibrate but here are a few important dates and notes to help with a settled start to term 4. Please always check the dates for your diary page to help with planning ahead:
October
Tuesday 8th to Fri 1/11 - School Swimming Program (Details on Compass per class)
Thu 10th - No Breakfast Club
World Mental Health Day
Mon 14th - Childwise Parent Info Session - Year 4 - 5.00-5.45pm
Tues 15th - School Council at 5.30pm (Finance at 5.00pm)
Wed 16th - Fresh Food Fair Cooking Day
Thu 17th - Breakfast Club at 7.45am
Band - Geelong Show Performance
Fri 18th - Assembly @ 2.30pm
Hats Compulsory for Term 4 & DCS Uniforms
Term 1 and term 4 are the terms that hats are compulsory for all students to be outside at recess, lunch, PE lessons and outdoor activites. This is supported by the Surfside and Department of Education Sun Smart policy. UV levels increase significantly during these terms and it is an important aspect around keeping our students safe. Students are required to wear a broad brimmed hat (caps are not ok). Students will be given a grace period in week 1 of term 4 but all students will be required to wear hats from week 2 or they will be required to be undercover during play periods and outdoor activities. Hats can be ordered from DCS UNIFORMS - CLICK LINK TO ORDER HATS HERE
What an Amazing Art Show - Thank You Surfside!
It was amazing to see so many students, families, grandparents and special visitorscross the draw bridge and enter the 2024 Surfside PS Medieval Art Show. It was a great opportunity for our students to showcase their creative and supported work throughout the term with a medieval twist. Knights, castles, keeps, performances, catapults and so much more kept families engaged and entertained throughout the evening. The student work celebrated so many different styles, techniques, materials, processes and technolgies and the students were so proud to share their designs and creations. A big thank you to our school community who came along and supported and engaged in the evening as it was definitely buzzing all night. A massive shout out goes to the Art Department of Di, Larissa and Mel who were supported by the specialist team of Justin, Michael, Scott, Sally and Leanne and it definitely not only celebrated the visual arts but a broad spectrum of the arts. A big thank you to all of our staff who supported on the evening. A special shout out to the Snack Shack crew for providing us with many delights. We will now turn our attention to our concert performance in 2025!! Below is a recap of some performances, photos and displays of the evening.
Art Show Class Songs F-6
Art Show Theatre Group Production
Victorian State Schools Spectacular
Throughout 2024, a wonderful group of years 5 and 6 students have rehearsed their hearts out for the Victorian State Schools Spectacular. They met weekly to practice 6 dances to be performed as part of the Mass Dance ensemble at John Cain Arena. To say it’s been an amazing experience is an understatement! We are so proud of the enthusiasm and commitment the group showed. We hope to see lots of students keen to participate if we are successful with our application to participate again in 2025.
Here’s what some of our ‘spectacular’ students had to say:
On Thursday 12th of September our Surfside Victorian State Schools Spectacular team headed off to Melbourne for a jam-packed 2 days of practice. The atmosphere was amazing, and we met so many kind, new friends from other schools across Victoria. All together it was such a fun experience, and we are ever so grateful for being able to participate in this program.
We performed on the Saturday in front of a crowd of over 4000 people. It was so cool being on the floor next to the stage and dancing with everyone. Backstage everyone had to move very fast to get into the arena before our song started. We had some trouble getting in the arena on time at rehearsals, but practice made perfect. At the end of the day, and after 2 busy shows everyone was exhausted.
On our break, we got to go outside and there was a big event going on. When we walked closer, we realised that they were Olympians and Paralympians, and they were being welcomed home and we got to talk to some of them. It was such an amazing opportunity to say hi and we got some photos with them. We were so amazed with the event going on right next to us! It was a once in a lifetime experience.
We would like to thank everyone that made this opportunity possible for us. The teachers that really helped us were Ms Moss, Ms Griffiths, Mrs McCredden & Mrs Wright. Thank you all for your help and support behind the scenes and on the day, we couldn’t have done it without you guys. Thanks too, to Mr. Walsh for trekking into Melbourne to watch us perform. We would also like to say a big thankyou to our parents who supported us through this journey and who put in so much effort just so we could dance on that one spectacular night.
Written by: Alba, Sofia, Valentina, Viv & Emma
A big thank you to these 3 legends!
A big thank you to these 3 legends!
R U OK? Day - Pancake Morning
Got a feeling that someone you know or care about isn’t behaving as they normally would? Perhaps they seem out of sorts? More agitated or withdrawn? Or they’re just not themselves. Trust that gut instinct and act on it. Learn more about the signs and when it's time to ask R U OK? here.
By starting a conversation and commenting on the changes you’ve noticed, you could help that family member, friend or workmate open up. If they say they are not OK, you can follow the conversation steps to show them they’re supported and help them find strategies to better manage the load. If they are OK, that person will know you’re someone who cares enough to ask.
We all want to work towards a community where R U OK? Day is everyday but if we continue to raise awareness we hope that goal is not too far away. It is great that we can provide a community that gets together to connect and spark conversation. Remember that if you are ever in need for a chat please always feel welcome to pop in for a chat!
Rotary Volunteer of the Year Awards
We were very excited to hear that Kate O'Brien and Sabrina Lunn were nominated for the Rotary Volunteer of the Year Awards. These awards aim to recognise key volunteers who have gone above and beyond to support from a wide range of community-based organisations, charities, clubs or individuals. Their service can be in the arts, heritage, youth support, healthcare, environmental care, sport, recreation, emergency services, or any other service that supports individuals in need or the Greater Geelong community. Sabrina and Kate were recognised for their contribution to sustainability and supporting a school based program. Here is a little summary of the great work that Kate and Sabrina do and we are very proud of their contribution to Food Scrap Friday:
| Sabrina and Kate are parents at Surfside Primary School. |
| Every Friday morning, they arrive before school starts and set up a collection station to receive food scraps gathered over the week by the families attending the school. |
| The scraps are used for composting which is completed on site. The compost is then used on the school’s garden, which is an essential element of the school’s kitchen garden program. |
| There is not a single glamorous element to this volunteer role. |
| Often, Sabrina and Kate experiences the sights and smells of opening a bucket storing compost that has spent 3 weeks forgotten about in the corner of someone’s pantry. A common, genuinely enthusiastic response when this happens is: “Great, this one is already well on its way” and they will know exactly which one of the 10 or so compost bins it will be best to add it to. |
| The scraps are weighed in order to tally up the weight of the food saved from landfill. |
| Led by Sabrina and Kate, these volunteers scrape compost, clean buckets and push wheelbarrows, in all weather, to ensure the work gets carried out and that no food scraps go to waste. They also remind families to bring their food scraps and educate families on what can be composted. |
| Sabrina and Kate consistently show up each week, then quietly goes about her tasks. They support students at the school to help out and will support any parent who wants to participate as well. They immediately step in if another volunteer is overwhelmed by the occasionally overpowering fragrance of a forgotten bucket, quickly and calmly dealing with the contents themselves. |
| They provide inspiration for the entire school community. By doing this volunteer role, they set a clear example of how important sustainability is for our children’s future. They demonstrate that even simple tasks (saving scraps, composting) can contribute to big achievements (fertilising the soil to provide nutrients to the flourishing kitchen garden). This all encourages families to be mindful of food waste. |
So far for 2024 the crew have collected a massive total of 3,391.4 kg saved from landfill!
The crew will continue to collect food scraps during the school holidays on both Fridays at 9am, and they definitely need some more volunteers and compost bins.
For those already bringing their scraps - please lay off the bread, rice, doughnuts, onions and lemons and remove those fruits stickers!
School Based Events
School Band Rocks Out At The GPAC Band Performance
Yesterday the school band made their way to GPAC where they performed 3 songs and we performed them in the following order; Iron Man - Black Sabbath, Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana and The Greatest Showman- Panic at the Disco. We all had a great time.
Firstly, when we arrived we had a bit of a rest then we went inside to the green room and we met one of the other groups that played the violin and after a couple of performances we went on stage and performed, Iron Man then Smells Like Teen Spirit and then Angus one of the band members got taken on stage to answer a few questions.
After that we watched a few more performances then went on stage again to perform The Greatest Showman which we did very well. A big thank you to Mr Morzinek and Mr Murphy who support our music program,
Year 3 Excursion - Melbourne Museum
To support their recent unit of Australian historythe year 3's made the trek to Melbournet to visit the Melbourne Museum. They were able to learn about the First Peoples of Victoria and protocols associated with acknowledging their culture and traditions. The year 3's learnt about the diversity of the First Peoples of Victoria and their place in the complex history of the Australian continent.
Year 6 Excursion - Parliament House and Immigration Museum
The year 6 students travelled to Melbourne to take a tour of Parliament House that was able to link to their investigation of government. While attending Parliament they were surprised by a visit from Alison Marchant who was able to have a great chat to them around the different aspects of Parliament.
Students also had the opportunity to walk around Melbourne and discuss the history of how the city has developed over time.
To finish the day the students visited the Immigration Museum to reflect and revise their learning of Immigration from Term 1. It was definitely an action packed day!
Division Athletics
Recently a number of our students qualified for the School Sports Victoria Division Athletics Championships. The students performed at a high level and were up against some tough competition. We have a few students who have now qualified for the SSV Regional Championships in Keilor in Term 4. A big thank you to Mr Fraser for supporting them.
Division Softball and Basketball Championships
Our school Softball and Basketball teams recently qualified for the Division Championships. It was a hot field with some high quality teams. All of our teams performed at a very high level and showed great teamwork and sporting behaviours. A big thank you to Mrs Wolfe, Mrs Lord and our parent/carer helpers for assisting on the day.
Surfside Snack Shack Update
A big thank you to the Surfside Snack Shack who have provided an opportunity for some mid week snacks while supporting community and world issues through a sustainable approach. The crew definitely ended the term with a bang by organising a massive Hot Dog Day for the school. This has built some amazing skills for the students and they are already looking forward to planning out term 4. A big thank you to Clancey, Gill, the Surfside Snack Shack and parent/carer helpers for their great work. Keep an eye out for our weekly Snack Shack update.
School Council - October Meeting
Our next school council meeting will take place on Tuesday 15th October at 5:30pm with Finance meeting taking place at 5.00pm.
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