Leadership updates and reflections
Hoping all of our families took advantage of the long weekend to relax and enjoy special time together. We had lots of stories in the 3C's this morning about fun weekend adventures camping, spending time at the snow, going to the footy or chilling out at home. A good break for all as we head into the last three weeks of term.
Today we farewelled our 25 Grade 5/6 students who have headed off to a 9-day camp at Somers with two of our Grade 6 teacher Jonah Read and Keely Brindley. It is a great opportunity for our students to meet students from other schools and enjoy the many coastal activities on offer at this wonderful Department of Education camp. We look forward to hearing how they are going over the next 9 days!
This week has also been busy for our Grade 4, 5 and 6 students who took up the opportunity to be part of State School Spectacular. Our 16 students who are going to be part of the dance team were very excited to receive more of their costumes at their rehearsal today and our students who are part of the mass choir will be attending their next rehearsal tomorrow. It will be an amazing experience to be part of. We will keep you posted about how to purchase tickets for the performances at John Cain arena later in Term 3.
Traffic & Pick-Up Reminders
Although we are seeing many more students and families walking to school and we generally see a steady flow of traffic at drop-off and pick-up times, we are receiving several communications a week from concerned parents and residents about cars travelling down the wrong side of the road to overtake vehicles waiting to enter the kiss and drop through the staff carpark. This could potentially result in a head-on collision with cars travelling south along Dudley Road. Pick-up time is busy at every school and to keep everyone safe we ask that everyone follows the road rules and shows patience.
To minimise the back up of cars along Dudley Road at the end of the school day we ask that families do not arrive for pick-up earlier than 3:25pm. Until students are dismissed at 3:30pm there will be no flow of cars through the carpark resulting in cars banking up unnecessarily along Dudley Road, sometimes from as early as 3:10pm. We often have buses that are trying to drop students back to school after swimming, gymnastics, excursions, camps etc. that cannot proceed due to this congestion. This results in anxious students and the school incurring extra costs for late drop-offs.
Although teachers do encourage students to make their way quickly to their pick-up point, sometimes children are not ready and waiting when their parent arrives at the front of the drive-through line. To help us keep the line moving we will ask parents to drive through and re-join the queue as we are noticing that these delays are also contributing to the back up of traffic along Dudley Road.
Please note that there is a ten-minute window to pick up students and there are yard duty teachers who are supervising students while they are waiting. Please consider arriving some time during that ten-minute window to reduce the traffic congestion.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Clay and Chardonnay Fundraiser
Congratulations to Kristy Salisbury and Kath McGreevy for hosting a wonderful 'Clay and Chardonnay' event last week to celebrate the arrival of the new school kiln and raise funds to cover the lease repayments. Around 40 parents had a fun night catching up and creating unique masterpieces in clay. We hope this is the first of many fun art experiences for parents and teachers. Why should the kids have all the fun!!
Our Coffee and Chats this term have been very successful and are a great chance to meet other parents, ask questions, share ideas, and find out more about what is going on in the school. Our next Coffee and Chat is on Monday 15th June at 9:00am in the staffroom. We would love to see you there!
Warm regards
Julie