Principal's Message

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Portland/Warrnambool/Hamilton Division Athletics

Today we had a team of 13 athletes venture to Warrnambool to compete in the Division athletics championships that were held at Brauerander Park in Warrnambool.  Our students were accompanied on the day by Mrs Clark and qualified to participate at this higher level of competition through their strong performances at both our school and district level.  We will share details of how our students perform in our newsletter next week.

School Cross Country

Our annual School Cross Country for all students in grades 3 to 6 took place on Monday of this week at Lake Hamilton.  Students in the 9 year age group ran a distance of 2km, with each age group (10, 11 and then the 12/13 year) starting further back in 75 metre increments.  Our girls all ran first with our overall Cross Country Champion for this year being Alaska Bremner.  The boys then had their turn with Manaia Bremner making it a household double, being the first of the boys to cross the line to be crowned our boys Cross Country Champion.  Congratulations to both Alaska and Manaia on their outstanding performances.

All of our students ran extremely well on the day with the Age Group results being as follows:

The winner of each age group was presented with an Age Group Champion Medal at our assembly this afternoon, along with ribbons for each of the place getters.  Students who were not able to attend our assembly today, including those at the Division Athletics in Warrnambool, with be acknowledged at our assembly next week.  Well done to each of these champion runners, and to all students who competed in grades 3 to 6, for their terrific achievements over this rather challenging running event!

HDSA Cross Country 

The Hamilton and District Sports Association Cross Country will be taking place next Thursday afternoon, once again around Lake Hamilton, with the first runners commencing at 2:15pm.  We will be sending along a team of 46 runners, comprising of students who finished in the top 6 in each of the age groups for boys and girls at our own Cross Country earlier this week.  Students will compete in either a combined 9/10 , 11 or 12/13 year age group with students who finish in the top 8 eligible to compete at the next level of competition.  Information was sent home with our students yesterday who have qualified for this event and we wish them all the best at this higher level of competition. 

School Beanies

With the cooler months now upon us, students are no longer required to wear their broad-brimmed hat when outside, but may instead wear one of our school design beanies.  These beanies may be purchased from the school office and are available for $20.00 As per our Student Dress Code Policy, students may only wear a school design, or a plain navy beanie (not available from school) when outside during terms 2 and 3.

2025 Prep Parent Information

A reminder to families that our 2025 Prep Parent Information sessions will be taking place next week on May 7th and 9th, with information included in the flyer below.  If you have a child in Prep next year but don’t plan on attending any of these sessions, please let us know so we can still get an enrolment pack sent out to you.

GRIP Student Leadership 

On Wednesday our two School Captains and two Student Voice Captains travelled to Mt Gambier, accompanied by myself, for the annual GRIP Student Leadership Conference.  At these sessions children learn what it takes to be a good leader and participate in a range of activities that help develop and foster these skills.  Our four attendees were a pleasure to take away for the day and will now work on not only developing their own leadership skills, but on sharing some of the skills and activities with their fellow  grade 6 students to support all of them in their development of leadership skills.

PAC Excursion

Earlier today our students in Grades Prep to 2 went to the Hamilton Performing Arts Centre to watch a performance of ‘Little Puggles Song’ provided to us free of charge by Orchestra Victoria.  This was highly entertaining and enjoyable for our students – we always appreciate when these opportunities are made available.

Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea

Next Friday afternoon we will be hosting a new initiative, a Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea, in place of the Mother’s Day Stalls we have held in the past.  All the mum’s in our school are invited to come into school next Friday from 2:15pm for an afternoon tea, where there will be some activities you can do with your child whilst enjoying a cuppa with others.  A notice with more details and a reply slip is being sent home with all students – please keep an eye out for this!

Have a great weekend!

Ben Kelson

Principal