Assistant Principal's report

Camps 2025

I'm pleased to let you know that planning for camps in 2025 is already well underway and as published on our Save the Date page we are looking forward to:

Grade 3 and 4: Phillip Island Adventure Resort 30th July - 1st August 2025

Grade 5 and 6: YMCA Anglesea Discovery Camp 15-17th September 2025

When choosing and planning camps, we take a great number of things into consideration including student needs, variety of activities, quality of food and accommodation, price, and links to the curriculum. Camps are such a fantastic opportunity for trying new challenges (whether that be adventurous activities,  sleeping away from home, or simply managing one's own belongings) but more importantly for students and staff to build stronger connections. There is nothing quite like the bond of shared experiences and the feeling of belonging that comes with a shared joke or anecdote. 

That is why, we are always planning to make these experiences as accessible to every student as we can. We are very aware that with the rise of living costs and other responsibilities, families need time to plan for this expense. Therefore we have recently been prioritising camp planning so that families will receive information and payment options this term ready for next year. I encourage families to take up the opportunity to enter into a 10-month payment plan that will be outlined in the communication. This will allow for the bulk of the camp payment to be made in much smaller instalments, with one last payment to be confirmed a month before camp. 

I want to thank  3/4 and 5/6 staff who together with our Business Manager Melissa O'Rorke have worked on this 12 months early to make life easier for families in this way! 

Illnesses and exclusion

Like all workplaces and schools we are noticing a definite uptick in the the number of virus' circulating at the moment. Please check out the First Aid page in this newsletter for information regarding Whooping Cough (Pertussis) in particular which we know is circulating in Melbourne at the moment.

With certain illnesses, there is a specific exclusion period for school children. Gastro for example has a 48-hour exclusion period - this is 48 hours from the last incident of vomiting or diarrhea. 

If a case of Whooping Cough is confirmed, there is a 21 day exclusion period OR after 5 days of prescribed antibiotics. 

If your child is unwell and you are not sure about the rules of exclusion, please check this Health.vic link. 

Take care Kalinda, you matter to me. 

Lauren Hopkins

We are kind. We are resilient. We are respectful.