Principal's Report
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, learn and play. We pay respect to Wurundjeri elders past, present and emerging and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and families of Bimbadeen Heights Primary School.
What an incredible evening we enjoyed on Friday night as we co-hosted with Bimbadeen Pre-School, our annual Bimbadeen Trivia & Auction event.
With 31 tables, we welcomed more than 280 members of our school community. It was a fantastic night with lots of laughs and good fun. As the biggest fundraising event for our community, and an important joint community event with Bimbadeen Pre-school, our annual Trivia Night is a great opportunity to strengthen connections within and across our school community. Thank you to our Bimbadeen PS and Bimbadeen Pre-school staff, parents and carers and community members who attended and/or supported the evening. A huge thank you to Erin and Chris Haspell who coordinated and hosted the event, including sourcing donations from local businesses who contributed prizes to our Silent Auction and raffle on the night.
Please see below, a list of local businesses who contributed to the event. Thank you to Bree King and members of the Bimbadeen Fundraising committee, and the Organising Committee from Bimbadeen Pre-school for their hard work and contributions to the event. We are still collecting final payments for some silent auction wins and hope to let you know in the next newsletter the amount we raised for the night which will support the wonderful programs and resources we provide for our students at both Bimbadeen PS and Bimbadeen Pre-school.
Plans are already underway to make our 2024 event even bigger and better!
Spartan School World has informed us that the RagTag'd system has come to an end, sooner than expected. Unfortunately, the operator of RagTag'd has ceased operations and will no longer monitor the RagTag'd system. We have switched off the RagTag'd sensor today. Shortly, any references and products relating to RagTag'd will be removed from Spartan School World website. Spartan School World has apologised for any inconvenience this may cause.
The Victorian Government is investing $1.5 million from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Fund to provide up to 95,000 Little Angler Kits to primary school aged children in Victoria.
The free kits provide a wonderful school holiday activity for children with their families and help ease the cost of living, providing a fun activity close to home.
Grade 5 students at all Victorian schools, including ours, will be offered the opportunity to receive a FREE Little Angler Kit.
Grade 5 students have been selected based on the Victorian Curriculum focus, movement and motor development, and safety considerations.
The program is entirely voluntary. Schools were provided with the option to opt out of the program. Our school has opted to stay in the program so that parents can decide whether they want their child(ren) to receive a free fishing kit.
Parents of Grade 5 students can advise the school if they do not wish their child(ren) to participate for any reason whatsoever. We support parents in making decisions that align with their family values and beliefs.
The roll out of kits will occur through the second half of 2023 (16 October - 4 December) so that all participating children will have a kit in time for the summer school holidays.
The kits include a rod, reel with line, tackle tray, some tackle and information on how to use them to catch a fish. Please note that the tackle tray includes fishing hooks. The tackle tray will be wrapped in cardboard and placed inside a pocket inside the fishing kit bag, which will be sealed with a cable tie to discourage students from opening their kits until they are with a parent or carer.
Kits will be handed out to students to take home with them as soon as the school receives them. Teachers will tell students not to open the kits until they are safely at home with a parent or carer, however parents can contact the school and request to collect their kit from the school themselves if they prefer.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority will create a Little Angler hub on their website, which will be live when the kits start being distributed. It will have useful information, instructional videos, and online resources about where and how to fish linking to existing resources from Fishcare and new resources to be produced just for the Little Angler Kits program.
This initiative aims to grow recreational fishing participation in Victoria by actively encouraging primary school aged children to learn how to fish, as well as learning more about marine life and the natural environment.
We hope you enjoy a lovely weekend.
Adele Gregson and Sabrina George
