21st February 2025

Dear Families,

Welcome to our second newsletter of the year! Thank you to the families who attended our information sessions last week. We had a fantastic turn out across the three nights and hope that the information shared has helped you understand what your child is experiencing at school. If you were unable to attend, the slide decks from each night were shared on Compass last Thursday.

Reading and Math Fact Fluency are both crucial ways you can support your child’s learning at home. Encouraging your child to log onto Numbots or Math Fact Lab, depending on the year level they are in, is a really easy way to help them practise Maths Fact Fluency at home. Having your child practise their reading fluency by reading the same text a number of times throughout the week also supports them with building appropriate pace when reading. Any additional practise at home is another opportunity for them to master the skills we are working on at school.

Teams are in the process of sending home your child’s log in information for the different platforms we are using across the school (Numbots, Decodable Readers Australia, Math Fact Lab) and don’t forget to look out for the SeeSaw invitations to access your child’s digital journal.

Welcome Prep C:

Since the start of the school year we have received a number of additional late enrolments across the school from families living within our zone. Nine of those enrolments have occurred in our Prep Neighbourhood and, as a result, our Prep class size increased from 22 to 26 students per class. This has presented challenges in supporting our Prep students during the beginning of their primary school life.

To better support our learners, we have created a third Prep class to reduce the student-to-staff ratio. This will bring the class sizes down to 17 or 18 students, which will be much more supportive for our youngest children.

From Monday, Eda Kaya (Eda to the students) will be the Prep C Mentor Teacher working alongside Miss Weir and Miss G. She has been getting to know the Prep students this week, team teaching in the Neighbourhood, and is very excited to join the Prep team.

A social story has been read with the Prep students at school to support them with this transition. This story was also shared with all Prep families via Compass and we encourage you to read this at home as well.

Beginning of year Assessments:

We are currently working through a number of different assessments with all year levels in spelling, reading, writing and maths. Whole school trends are tracking very positively showing that our students are retaining and applying the skills they are learning at school. We are very excited by the data we are gathering and look forward to the growth and learning to come in 2025.

Year 5 Swimming:

Congratulations to our Year 5 cohort who completed the first swimming lesson block for the year last week. The staff at SPLASH provided outstanding feedback on the behaviour of our students during the week long intensive program. We are very proud of them for the respectful way they participated in the program and the flexible way they negotiated the different timetable and groups for the week.

Year 3 Swimming:

Our next cohort heading off to SPLASH is our Year 3s towards the end of this term. Families have until March 14th to provide consent and pay for this event on Compass.

Inter School Sport:

Today KPS hosted Roxburgh Rise PS for Inter School sport. We were lucky to have perfect weather conditions for the sports to take place. Our students were magnificent hosts and enjoyed their morning of sporting competitions.

School Council Meeting Dates:

Our final meeting for the 2024 School Council is occurring this coming Tuesday, 25th February. The AGM will take place the following month on Tuesday, 25th March at 6:30 PM, and all parents and carers are welcome to attend. The 2025 School Council’s first meeting will occur right after the AGM. We have now called for nominations for the 2025 School Council. Please see the Compass post regarding nominations and submit your paperwork if you are interested in joining this important team.

Parent Volunteer Induction Sessions:

A reminder that we will be hosting Induction sessions for parents who are interested in volunteering at school on the dates listed below. Volunteering can include attending excursions and camps, helping at special events and at school. Please note, in order to volunteer at the school, you must complete an Induction session each year and hold a valid Volunteer’s Working with Children Check. If you attended the session last year, you will still need to attend again this year.

Thursday, 27th March from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
Tuesday, 4th March from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

These sessions will be held in the Library. To confirm your attendance, please register using the link provided below.

https://compasstix.com/e/5c9wmwzdac

Fly High Night:

Our 5th Annual Fly High Night is being held on Thursday, 3rd April hosted by the School Community Association. We hope to see you all there! More information will be provided by the SCA in the coming w.

Next week we look forward to welcoming Miss Loren back to KPS and continuing the brilliant start we have had to the schooling year at KPS. Have a fantastic weekend.

Sam Birrell

https://keelonithps.vic.edu.au/

https://www.facebook.com/KeelonithPrimarySchool

FLY HIGH FORTNIGHTLY

Learning without limitsBe curious | Be Caring | Fly High | Find Joy

Issue 2 · 21 Feb 2025

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Learning without limits
Be curious | Be Caring | Fly High | Find Joy